I have been out of general circulation for rpg's pretty much since White Wolf released Mage, except for a few months here and there playing WFRP, and a few rather insipid AD&D campaigns (Undermountain, anyone?).

Why? The whole "Storyteller" style that White Wolf was trying to introduce promoted elitism amongst gamers around where i live, and i felt that gaming in general was getting pretentious. I was tired of GMing the "bag of hit points whacking things and taking their stuff" style of play (i came up with the term 'roll-play' in 87-88, myself, and it seems many others have also come up with it independently). Between White Wolf and Amber (diceless? WTF!), I felt marginalized, and frankly, i was feeling listless as well. I GMed WFRP because I love the world, and the combat system, but that wasn't really clicking with me either, especially as time wore on. Playing wasn't for me at all. I can't handle being a player, but i love GMing games. I've played, just to get the feeling of being a player, but i far prefer the role of GM.

I don't know what i was looking for....or i didn't.

I gave up....my dice collected dust....my tomes of mystic knowledge moldered....

For some reason, at the start of the year, around this time, i want to play rpg's. i felt the gaming bug biting me, as it always did, and while i didn't want to play WFRP again, and since i didn't want to play any white wolf games, gurps or d20 games (by the gods, i hate 3e), i began to search.

I heard about RoS on rpg.net, and the the way the sheer brutality of the combat system was described got me excited. So i checked out the quickstart, and wham! I knew this was the game i was looking for! Not just the combat system, but the way that Spiritual Attributes REINFORCE characterization and play through the characters! Brilliant!

I just special ordered the main book, and it'll take a couple of weeks to show, but i am stoked, like i was back in the old days, when i first discovered Basic D&D!


Thank you Mr. Norwood! You have revitalized a man who gave up over a decade ago!

You know, we used to sort-of advirtise TROS as "the FRPG for the jaded gamer." It really was created for folks like you.

Jake

You know, this is the sort of message that game designers live for. IMHO, in our heart of hearts, this is the sort of compensation that we really want.

Congrats, Jake!

Seth Ben-Ezra
Great Wolf

I had similar thoughts about RPGs. I have been gaming 25+ years now, and can't remember being this enamoured of an RPG in quite a few of them (and this is from playing everything from more than one edition of Chivalry and Sorcery, Gurps, DnD, Traveller, Space Opera, Morrow Project, ad infinitum). Particularly liked the comment on 3rd Edition DnD.

I particularly like the idea of having to think before you unsheath the weapon. Combat kills!!

The realistic feel of the combat system, in my mind, helps the suspension of disbelief necessary in playing an RPG. If you "believe" the combat is "real" then the rest of the game feels real as well.

The only other combat system that comes close is the one in Harnmaster.

OriginalFlash wrote: The only other combat system that comes close is the one in Harnmaster.

I picked up the first book of Harn (the main one) and was impressed with the amount of detail. When i saw the game system for it, i was thrown off by the apparent amount of complexity. As to whether or not it was a nightmare to play, I honestly don't know. It just reminded me of Rolemaster, which i had played just previous, and hated (Rulemaster/Rollmaster is more like).

I played Rollmaster a time or two. Didn't care for it being heavy on rules and excessive chartitis. (No accounting for taste, though, I taught myself how to play the current edition of Star Fleet Battles so I could run it at my FLGS).

I did find that Harnmaster and TROS (other than the damage tables) need nothing other than what is on the character sheets.

chartitis