Over the weekend, sponsors received their early access copies of the Black Book Beta. It’s kind of nerve-wracking to suddenly have this project out in the open after 3 years (or 8 years, depending on how you count).
But the whole point of having a Black Book Beta was to throw the dragnet out there and start getting wider feedback on the game. And I welcome the discussion! Use the comment thread here to discuss your thoughts. Tell me the good. Tell me the bad. Tell me whatever you’re thinking.
To get us started: Heromedel posted his First Impressions over on Heromeblog.
If you end up posting some thoughts elsewhere, comment here and leave us a link.
FACEBOOK FANPAGE: Legends & Labyrinths now has a Facebook page. Right now we’re just spinning things up to speed over there, but take a peek and thumbs-up us to your friends.
THE NEXT LANDMARKS: If we hit $3000 by the end of the month, all Labyrinth Prowlers (sponsors of $30 and up) will receive PDF copies of Mini-Adventure 1: Complex of Zombies and Mini-Adventure 2: The Black Mist when the funding project ends. If you’re currently just a Registered Adventurer or a Beta Warrior and like what you see, you can always upgrade your perk level by simply paying the difference at 8-Bit.
As we hit additional landmarks, there’ll be more bonus content for Beta Warriors and Labyrinth Prowlers alike! Spread the word!
And thanks for your support!
Thanks for mentioning my post and I hope you hit the next landmark.
How did you send out the betas? If they’ve gone out to everyone from the Beta Warrior up (as suggested by your post — I read the 8bit description as the betas going out when you hit your $3000 goal) I may have missed something somewhere. I’m pretty sure I registered as a Labyrinth Prowler.
Thanks,
K.
After taking some time to go through the book this morning, I’ve posted my impressions of the first five chapters.
This was largely off-the-cuff. I’m hoping to dig into the book in a more detailed manner sometime soon. I’m quite impressed with what I’ve seen so far, though!
http://dreamsanddice.blogspot.com/2011/08/legends-labyrinths-first-impressions.html
@Keith
Log into the 8 bit funding site, then get to the legends and labyrinths page. Just under the picture at the top of the page are a few buttons; click the one labeled “updates.” Scroll through the updates until you find the “super secret” one just for contributors. It has all the details you need.
And since I’m posting already Justin, check out page 53 (in the movement chapter). On the right it reads: “Swim check, page 47: 1d20 + Jump modifier vs. DC.” Figured I’d point that out in case you hadn’t noticed it yet.
You guys don’t make Swim checks using the Jump skill? 😉
Thanks, Josh.
There’s kind of a hasty review/overview (overreview?) of my skimming embedded in the middle of http://wanderinggamist.blogspot.com/2011/08/games-i-want-to-run-3-also-why.html
After skimming through it, I have a couple of edits and two comments.
Edits: pg. 56: “Spot check, page 47: 1d20 + Heal modifier vs. DC”
pg. 116: “make due” should be “make do”
In Equipment, a 0.5 lb stake costs 1gp, which is pretty steep considering 20 lbs. of firewood is 1 cp.
My first concern is that humans have lost their adaptable racial identity along with their bonus feat and changing favored class. Rather than fix their bonus feat to Diplomat, why not give them a +2 bonus to any two skills of their choice?
The second concern is that while the Wizard and Sorcerer are two nicely different flavors of arcane caster, the Fighter and Barbarian just don’t seem all that different. I feel like Barbarians should be hard-hitting, mobile combatants who don’t have much time for defense, while Fighters should be more tactically minded with a style which emphasizes skill over raw strength.
An off-the-cuff suggestion is to change the Barbarian’s “virtual feats” to Power Attack, Combat Reflexes, Cleave, Great Cleave, Supreme Cleave, and Pounce. This gives him ways to take multiple attacks in a round without using full attack so he can still move, and power attack nicely provides the hit hard but not accurately vibe. Since two-handed weapons don’t take greater advantage of strength in this ruleset, maybe make power attack work as the feat to encourage some barbarians to lay down their shields.
The Fighter, then, should not step on the Barbarian’s toes. Maybe leave most of her feats the same, but replace those the Barbarian has spoken for (with the exception of Combat Reflexes, which is still appropriate). 2nd: Two Weapon Fighting, 3rd: Opportunity Stunt (Can perform a stunt against a target instead of taking an attack of opportunity against that target), 6th: Combat Reflexes, 14th: Find Chink (Ignore first 5 points of DR on target while wielding favored weapon) 15th: Skill focus (any) 19th: Spirited Charge (double damage on any charge, mounted or otherwise)
This gets rid of the feats focusing on dealing lots of damage through force and cleaving through enemies. It replaces them with feats that use the fighter’s skills and ability with her chosen weapon. She keeps the defensive feats – combat expertise, quick healer, combat awareness, etc. I threw in two weapon fighting because right now there is no way to make this popular archetype effective in the current ruleset – this basically says anyone good at wielding two weapons has two levels of fighter.
All in all, I really enjoy the stripped down mechanics. The hazard and stunt systems are particularly nice. It might be a bit before I dive into the monster creation rules, but I’m certainly looking forward to it. Wonderful work here.
8Bit doesn’t recognize my login as a funder! paypal shows I paid $50. help?
98
@NinetyEightMPH: If you’re not the person I just sent an e-mail to, send me an e-mail and we’ll get you sorted out. (Click the “About” tab in the right sidebar for my contact info.)