Hi all,
Sorry I haven't actually been around like Jake promissed. I've been busy with the move and all. For those of you who have no clue as to who I am, I did art as well as some writing for TRoS and also did alot of whinning and giving of advice(all of it good, I swear). I also make inane posts in which I ramble about things I know little or nothing about. Fortunatly I make very few posts. Anyway...
Jake asked me to post to keep discution going but it doesn't look like the board is in great need of me. But I said I would so here we go...

What does everybody think of Book 5: the laws of nature?
Did you even read it?
Do you ever use anything from it?
If so, what do you like about it?
If not, then why not? What's wrong with it? What or how would or do you do differently?
And what do think of those swell encumbrance pictures?

Alright all, have at it.

Hehe, this isn't a personal question is it, Ben?

I skimmed over Book 5 before play, and read the encumberance rules. Then during play I referenced the section, mostly for movement (and chasing) rules -- we used those a lot. None of the other things like falling have really come up, but if they do it's nice to have them there.

It's a nice section in terms of size too. Many games have huge sub-books with endless lists of rules, most of which will never be looked at. Better to keep it easily referenced. On the other hand though, I would have liked a few more rules concerning travelling, like how your movement rates suffer with cold or lack of food... what sort of tests you can make to survive, that sort of thing. Of course, I can fudge it all pretty easily or invent my own rules, and the Flowers of Battle might be able to cover some of that (with troops moving about).

As for the art, it's nice :-) Quite a bit lighter in mood than much of what's in the book, but funny. Reminds me of a typical D&D party actually.

I've used the falling rules several times (body slam someone, or jerk them from a horse, and, oddly enough, they tend to fall.) and the encumbrance and travel rules once as well. It all seems to fit well in with the system. However, what I really think needs a lot more coverage is injuries, their effects, and healing, both assisted and unassisted. I've tended to simply fudge over those whenever they came up, and either declare the injured kaput, fastforward to healed, or ignore them entirely, due to the fact that I'm not particularly clear on them.

One thing I do like is the looseness of the encumbrance rules - nothing more pointless than a game where every piece of equipment has a weight and you have to add them all up and divide into your strength and add this and subtract that, etc.

tRoS' system is far simpler, so I actually use it, unlike most other systems :-)

Brian.

I second what most have said already.. "The Rules of Nature" chapter is, for the most part, good/useful/refreshingly easy to use. Encumbrance is a particular favrite of mine.. as are the falling rules. Woe to the arrogant knight lest he falls from on high.. random damage has such a nasty tendency to "clump" together.. very nice.

I do feel, however, that wounds and their longterm effects could have been covered in more detail.. But, now that I think about it, I guess we don't really have to worry too much about wounds and healing.. It's not like TRoS combat tends towards lethal or anything.

;)