Okay. You’ve read a little bit about Legends & Labyrinths. Maybe you’re a little curious. Maybe you’re skeptical that it’s worth your $12.
Fair enough.
Now: What would change your mind?
Is there a particular feature that would make it a “must buy” for you? What’s the one thing that no fantasy RPG has ever done that you’ve always wanted a fantasy RPG to do for you? Is there a section of the rulebook that you’d really like to see in a preview? Hit the comment button and lemme know.
I was thinking about posting this comment when you first announced, and since you asked…
Show me your polymorph spell and Balor entry, or something similarly complex in 3.x
That will show me if you are truly going in the direction I am interested or not.
-B
A good solid economy is what I would love. Maybe based off of actual labor. For example I believe in 3.5 it says a commoner makes about 2 sp a day. But a short bow costs 30gp (in L&L) So if I hand a short bow to a commoner that could be worth a months wages too him? Even though a shortbow could be made in one day.
I haven’t checked how crafting works in L&L yet but in 3.5 it costs 1/4 in supplies so too make a bow costs 7.5 gold in supplies. So If I go grab a curved stick a strip of hide (and yeah hide or sinew works well) then thats worth 7gp you don’t even need a knife a sharp piece of flint would work.
I’d just love an economy or price list that doesn’t hurt my head. A piece of wood and cord is worth 30gp. ok yeah I can only resale it for 15gp but still. I could trade a short bow (15gp resale) for 375 mugs of ale (4cp)
I feel like prices based on balance reasoning is just grabbing prices out of the air. And by what lvl 2-3 everything in the players hand book is chump change anyway.
I know this might be beyond the scope of L&L or beside the point but if ever an rpg was advertised as having a balance and working economy its be a must buy for me.
I just wanted too mention that there are alot of other examples of dnd economy being broken.
Economics you say……what if L&L was compatible with Adventurer Conqueror King in that regard, as that game has done all the heavy lifting on making the D&D economy work ?
I am not someone on the fence and already have my preview copy 🙂 However, just to say that the main selling point for me is that it is a simpler way to play 3rd Edition (and by extension Pathfinder).
Perhaps one selling point would be a set of “tools” that can simplify high-level play in 3.x, which can get extremely bogged down and complicated. I’m fairly new to actual PnP play, and as a GM I already I find the low levels challenging. If there were some to conduct high-level play with simpler mechanics and concepts that might make it useful. There is definitely a lot of interest over at the Paizo boards regarding a future guide to “mythic” play.
On a similar note, the “Christmas Tree” effect would be something to get rid of. Blecch!
In a few hours, I’ll chip in on one of the lower levels, but would get me to pay more would be for you to abandon the “compatible with 3.5ed” part, as I’m burned out enough on 3.5ed to not want that. As it is, I’ll be hacking off bits of your game to use with another game, which is awesome but not quite as awesome as being able to use a full game as is.
I agree with ronaldsf on the Christmas Tree Effect; there should be some way for characters to be effect without wearing tons of magical bling. I want my character to be epic, not merely owning lots of nice stuff. The Vow of Poverty from the Book of Exalted Deeds was an interesting step in that direction, but it was restrictive in its own right & ultimately ignored by later materials, thus making it a drop of bleach in a bucket of crap. What’s the point of increasing my personal stats, when I could just buy stat-boosting junk with my dragon’s hoard of coins? I’m working on a new non-D20 system that largely eschews items, focusing instead on the character’s innate abilities, but I’d love to see other game designers tackle this thorny issue.
Simplified character generation is starting to make me consider it, all by itself.
Re: Christmas Tree Effect. This isn’t something I’ve implemented in L&L (largely because I consider it an advanced option), but one of the easiest ways to shift this is to simply change what the PCs’ money is buying them.
IOW, instead of spending 18,000 gp on a +3 sword, the PC instead spends 18,000 gp receiving which gives them an inherent +3 enhancement bonus to attacks. This can be explained in all kinds of ways:
– It’s just really specialized training.
– It’s a magical tattoo.
– It’s a mystic kata.
– It’s a gift given by the gods in exchange for your sacrifice/donation.
You can do this with pretty much anything. Crystal ball? Sure, for 42,000 gp you can train with a mystic guru. Or afford the technomantic surgery to modify your eyes. Or implant a jade seeing stone in your forehead.
This is slightly more powerful because, for example, the +3 enhancement bonus applies to all weapons. (Or maybe you limit it to swords if that’s really a concern for you.) But if the idea is that your character is supposed to have that bonus in order to be “balanced”, does it matter what weapon he’s using it with?
It is slightly open to abuse if you mix-and-match the Christmas Tree with this system. For example, now I can buy a +3 enhancement bonus through specialized training and then pick up a +1 keen vicious anarchic sword of unholy wounding. The +1 doesn’t stack, but everything else is cheaper now. But this really only becomes a problem with weapons and armor, so you either just eliminate those. Or not worry about it. Or double the price.
I think the weapon/armor stacking abuse could be sorted out by saying that built-in enhancements to attack or defense only apply when unarmed/unarmored (respectively) or in combination with mundane equipment.
This would have the interesting effect that a +1 sword, which provides a significant advantage to most people, is actually a *hindrance* to someone with +3 built-in enhancement on attacks. Imagine an epic warrior casting aside some rune-encrusted sword (worth a duke’s ransom!) with a contemptuous grunt about cheap, clumsy enchantments that only slowed him down, then grabbing a fallen minion’s spear to replace it.