I'm very excited to see the full version of Ambition & Avarice released into the wilds, not least because I game with the writer and one of the artists ;) I've been playtesting this, and it is good. It's takes some of the usual tropes and twists them a bit, but it is solidly OSR.
I'm working off a Chromebook, so grabbing a copy will have to wait until I get home.
I know what I'll be reading before tomorrow night's game session ;)
From the blurb:
Ambition and Avarice is an action-adventure roleplaying game. It provides a rich tapestry of choice for the player while remaining light and fun. The adventuring mechanics are OSR compatible and allow easy integration with a variety of old school campaign material. You can pick up this game, grab an old module, and get playing in a very short amount of time.
The characters are rough and dangerous adventurers. No more clerics wagging their moralistic fingers at thieves. You are all thieves in some sense of the word, having come to feed on the treasured corpse of the past. There are 10 races and 10 classes that each bring a unique flavor to the classic dungeon crawl. The five magic-using classes have a varied selection of new and exciting spells. The non-magical classes have their own rich choices and don't fade away in importance as the magical characters advance in level.
The entire package is designed to allow quick character generation and presented in a format that is clear and easy to read. It is an ideal choice to hand to a new player who is looking to get into the great game, but turned away by thick rulebooks with byzantine organization.
I wonder what the 10 classes and races are. 98 pages sounds OK, but my players don't need another set of house rules to be ruthless bastards ... will you summarize at some point?
ReplyDeleteI will let Erik reply as he wishes, but I will jump in here.
ReplyDeleteThe races are: Dark Elf, Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Goblin, Halfling, Hobgoblin, Human, Lizardfolk, and Orc.
The classes are: Brigand, Conjurer, Cultist, Knave, Knight, Priest, Ranger, Savage, Shaman, and Sorcerer.
I mentioned in my post on G+ (which I don't fault you for missing, just saying I did), that my PC has been giving me a helluva time and that once I get that sorted out, I will work on upgrading the marketing to be more clear about the product. So stay tuned for that.
but as a short form answer, here goes:
The game has been designed in a way that encourages players to think differently from the base D&D ideas. A few examples: conjurers can set up circles to capture and bind creatures, cultists can sacrifice captives to steal their life force, sorcerers can counterspell, knights have a honor code to defend (which is not a Paladin's code), etc. Also, each class has a "companion" type of henchman that they recruit. Conjurers create imps to serve them, knaves have spies that go out and retrieve information for them, rangers have scouts that function similarly in the wilderness, knights retain strong fighting men, sorcerers train magic students, savages can enslave people like Viking thralls, etc. And the spell list is pretty damn unique, in my opinion.
But as I said, I will be working on marketing copy next week. I just had quite a few of my friends who couldn't wait for that, so I published today for them.
The first review is up on RPGnow, if you want to take a look. 5 stars.
ReplyDelete--------------------
These rules look both friendly and comprehensive. They are tight without being strained. The races, classes, and magic abilities and descriptions fire the imagination so you want to try them out.
A hallmark of the system is that it explains enough to clarify its intent, but it stops well short of being verbose. Frequent subheadings and colored text for important key phrases helps find things quickly. The author is aware of how the whole page fits together, and also how the concepts in the entire document string together.
There are small evocative pictures sprinkled through the text, as landmarks and as evocative inspiration.
Sections start with a framing essay, as if to say “This is a way to think about what we are going to talk about next. Not just the rules alone, but also why they exist, and what they are intended to manage.” A great example of this is explaining how to play before making characters. Another great example is explaining the levels of choice and the granularity of play, before getting into combat (and other rules.)
The magic uses fresh, exciting, and original spells that I would love to see at my game table.
This game manages to tread the same ground as other games before it, without a hint of acrimony, competition, or comparison. I sense love and delight in this work, not defensiveness or jealousy. The author wants to share the best campaign practices and “what if” revisions to give the reader the best experience at the game table. A combination of good writing, big enough font size, and careful ordering of information makes a very readable book.
The author concludes by saying he is not striving to be the perfect example, but rather a skilled coach who can give others what they need to run great games. I think he has done a fantastic job of doing just that.
just downloaded a copy for myself - I know A&A from the playtesting and proofing, but to have it all in hand - awesome!
DeleteSo, when's the POD option? ;)
As soon as I get my home PC to stop randomly rebooting so I can do all the fancy footwork of rebuilding the cover to fit their template design. There is no "strip of book binding" art in the PDF. And I need to rework the bleeds and stuff. Should be easy work I just need to actually get my PC working again to do it.
DeleteOr squeeze it into my lunch hours at work next week.
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