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If the discord is being used, could someone post another link? Old one is expired and I want to hear some ideas + opinions on this game.
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Jun 10, 2017 04:54
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ritorix posted:If the discord is being used, could someone post another link? Old one is expired and I want to hear some ideas + opinions on this game. link to the discord
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Jun 10, 2017 05:12
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Serf posted:I found a thread from the G+ community that might have what you're looking for Still have any openings? I bought the bundle and am definitely interested.
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Jun 11, 2017 19:18
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I'm interested in this game but am currently working through putting in some playtime with other systems (Night's Black Agents, Mutant Year Zero). I've enjoyed following the thread and it seems SotD is well received, but I know that goon opinion eventually turns on once darling games. To get out ahead of it, is there anything anyone dislikes about the system?
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Jun 11, 2017 20:00
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Bought the bundle and some other books, and ran two adventures this last week, A Year Without Rain & The God Below. We normally play 3.5e, 5e, and wfrp2e, so this game hits the spot. Aside from my character (ork lawyer/warrior) we have a human priest of the old faith who is a constable, a clockwork warrior who is a detective who can't help but try to solve the cold cases he inadvertently creates when his murderous split personality kicks in, a changeling rogue whose background as a pickpocket and ferryman made him an excellent narc for us, and a cowardly/former slave goblin mage who dabbles in cursed magic who has mad Stockholm syndrome for his deceased master. But yeah there are some questions: 1. Is there a link that more eloquently explains magic? Because it's written like hot garbage in the book (specifically the level 1 rules in regards to traditions and spell choices). quote:You discover one tradition associated with your religion, as shown on the Religious Traditions table. Then make two choices, discovering one tradition associated with your religion or learning one spell for each. 2. Every game we play that has orcs as a race automatically turn into warhammer orks. As I mentioned I'm playing an venerable ork warrior who is a trained lawyer and tailor (makes his own business suits). He fights for betterment treatment of his orky brethren, while also spouting off Charlie Day lawyer-isms. We finally hit level 3 and I'm honestly not sure where to take him. In wfrp2e I'd give him a class focusing in fellowship, but there not really anything like that in this game which leads me to just doubling down on his orky strength and leaving all social poo poo to RPing. Eventually I want his master path to be Executioner, but I'm not sure what his expert path should be. Maybe ravager from the ork pages? I don't know, any help would be appreciated. 3. How often do you come across magic items? Not seeing much in the core book about it. 4. Incantations don't use up a spell slot correct? Pastry Mistakes fucked around with this message at 21:39 on Jun 11, 2017 |
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Jun 11, 2017 20:15
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How easy/hard would this be to refluff into Berserk?
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Jun 11, 2017 20:21
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Trip report from Tales of the Demon Lord adventure 2 (spoilered): Ho-ho-holy poo poo, an island with nine hired killers on it at level one? I had them run into a single hired killer and his first damage roll was 12, which instantly dropped the rogue (I actually secretly fudged it - rules as written taking your health in damage is instant death). So far it feels like challenges are generally pretty easy to succeed at, but fights are lethal and swingy as gently caress. I need to keep a weather eye on the encounters in this book, they're generally about a million times too difficult.
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Jun 11, 2017 20:49
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LORD OF BOOTY posted:How easy/hard would this be to refluff into Berserk? Not too bad, though the magic is definitely more in line with what goes on later in the manga. You'd probably need to excise most of the priest classes, as they're mostly based in magic in a way that doesn't really fit with the clergy in Berserk. Also, Guts would be a maxed level character in all likelyhood.
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Jun 11, 2017 22:00
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Pastry Mistakes posted:But yeah there are some questions:
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Jun 11, 2017 23:20
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Pastry Mistakes posted:Bought the bundle and some other books, and ran two adventures this last week, A Year Without Rain & The God Below. We normally play 3.5e, 5e, and wfrp2e, so this game hits the spot. Aside from my character (ork lawyer/warrior) we have a human priest of the old faith who is a constable, a clockwork warrior who is a detective who can't help but try to solve the cold cases he inadvertently creates when his murderous split personality kicks in, a changeling rogue whose background as a pickpocket and ferryman made him an excellent narc for us, and a cowardly/former slave goblin mage who dabbles in cursed magic who has mad Stockholm syndrome for his deceased master. The only Path I can suggest is the Mountebank from The Demon Lord's Companion, which focuses around telling lies and using trickery to confound their opponents, which sounds like a lawyer to me. Pastry Mistakes posted:3. How often do you come across magic items? Not seeing much in the core book about it. The only suggestion the book makes is that a character shouldn't have more magic items than they have Paths. Other than that, I'd say hand them out infrequently, but remember that they're not game-changing and don't add static bonuses/are required elements of the gear treadmill like in D&D. Go with your gut, but you can be stingy. Pastry Mistakes posted:4. Incantations don't use up a spell slot correct? Correct. The scroll is just used up.
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Jun 12, 2017 03:36
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Pastry Mistakes posted:But yeah there are some questions: quote:2. Every game we play that has orcs as a race automatically turn into warhammer orks. As I mentioned I'm playing an venerable ork warrior who is a trained lawyer and tailor (makes his own business suits). He fights for betterment treatment of his orky brethren, while also spouting off Charlie Day lawyer-isms. We finally hit level 3 and I'm honestly not sure where to take him. In wfrp2e I'd give him a class focusing in fellowship, but there not really anything like that in this game which leads me to just doubling down on his orky strength and leaving all social poo poo to RPing. Eventually I want his master path to be Executioner, but I'm not sure what his expert path should be. Maybe ravager from the ork pages? I don't know, any help would be appreciated. quote:3. How often do you come across magic items? Not seeing much in the core book about it. quote:4. Incantations don't use up a spell slot correct? It's important to note that Shadow of the Demon Lord doesn't have spell "slots" like D&D though, every spell you know has a number of "castings" based on your Power stat that are completely independent of one another and consequently knowing more spells lets you potentially cast more spells in a day.
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Jun 12, 2017 03:46
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I don't know if anyone will be able to get this reference, but is spellcasting similar to Heroes of Might and Magic 1 where having a Knowledge stat of 3 means you can cast every spell you know 3 times each? EDIT: If you have a Power of 2: * You can cast every level 0 spell you know three times each * You can cast every level 1 spell you know two times each * You can cast every level 2 spell you know once each gradenko_2000 fucked around with this message at 04:41 on Jun 12, 2017 |
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Jun 12, 2017 04:38
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gradenko_2000 posted:I don't know if anyone will be able to get this reference, but is spellcasting similar to Heroes of Might and Magic 1 where having a Knowledge stat of 3 means you can cast every spell you know 3 times each? Yeah that's exactly correct, though it doesn't continue to scale in the manner that would imply (there's a chart that's superficially similar to a D&D spells-by-level chart So at Power 4: * You can cast every level 0 spell you know five times each * You can cast every level 1 spell you know two times each * You can cast every level 2 spell you know two times each * You can cast every level 3 spell you know once each * You can cast every level 4 spell you know once each
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Jun 12, 2017 05:03
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I posted this on the Discord, but still find it very funny so am sharing here too. I've signed up for a PbP of SotL on the big purple, and someone rolled 'A bizarre fetish' as their interesting object. Now, I personally interpreted that as owning a strange voodoo doll type thing. They've decided their character wants to gently caress caves.
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Jun 12, 2017 07:06
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Angrymog posted:I posted this on the Discord, but still find it very funny so am sharing here too. orlanthiheroquest.txt
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Jun 12, 2017 07:40
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The Malthusian posted:To get out ahead of it, is there anything anyone dislikes about the system? It really is a 5th E retroclone for better or worse. The math is better than many editions of d&d, but it still suffers from class balance and attention. Less so with the starter paths, but when you start looking at the master paths you have the entire range from phoned in "You get a boon when rolling attack on spells from <magic tradition>, and 1d6 extra damage" to actually well thought out enhancements to a tradition flavor, and power levels that range from "Cleave at 7, at 10 as an action immediately kill as many creatures with less than 20 HP in melee range as you'd like," to "Lvl 7 your pistol can hold 6 bullets, and no longer misfires, at lvl10 reloading is a minor action, and you get a boon on attack and +1d6 on damage"* It suffers from squeamishly wanting to keep a foot in the fantasy physics simulator boat and abstract game boat and so spends paragraphs justifying or obfuscating abstractions that can sometimes be clunky since they don't use those abstractions for other stuff. Time and duration for example. Some things last rounds or "until rest," other things last minutes, hours, or days. There's some attempts at unifying these like the statement "1 round =10 seconds," but that strikes me more as just lazy copying when writers for older d&d editions gave that answer, rather than actually balancing "duration=1 minute" as 6 rounds of combat. The game has a deadlift/carry chart and encumbrance system, that even goes so far as assigning money weight, but then says "You actually can carry `1 thing' per point of strength, and don't worry a pack or kit full of stuff only counts as 1 thing. Oh but here's some rules for chests counting as 3 things to get around a rules lawyer trying to say he can carry the inn on his back because it's only 1 thing." *Rules as written either you're tracking bullets or after 5 shots you risk being declared out of ammo until you replenish. In the book I could've sworn it was "roll a d6 every time you fire after 5, on a 1 you're out of ammo until you replenish," but the SRD is showing "if you ever attack and your total on the roll is 0 or less you run out of ammo" which is much more forgiving, hell by level 7, it probably means you'll almost never run out of ammo. Not to mention no one else is forced to spend 1 silver per basic attack. Coolness Averted fucked around with this message at 20:58 on Jun 12, 2017 |
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Jun 12, 2017 19:50
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Really seems like besides a few exceptions, you're better off taking a second Expert Path than going through with a Master Path.
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Jun 12, 2017 20:43
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Conspiratiorist posted:Really seems like besides a few exceptions, you're better off taking a second Expert Path than going through with a Master Path. I haven't crunched stuff enough to see that and haven't played a game yet so can't comment there, but I do sometimes worry when a book's examples of character building/leveling up and paths is always described from story perspective/narrative. This is a hack and slash game, not FATE or Dungeon World I want a solid and balanced engine for killing things and taking their stuff.
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Jun 12, 2017 21:10
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Coolness Averted posted:I haven't crunched stuff enough to see that and haven't played a game yet so can't comment there, but I do sometimes worry when a book's examples of character building/leveling up and paths is always described from story perspective/narrative. This is a hack and slash game, not FATE or Dungeon World I want a solid and balanced engine for killing things and taking their stuff. Really it comes down to the fact the crunch is tight, so as long as you're paying a minimum of attention to where your strengths (combat options) lie your character is going to be viable regardless of path combination.* But on the same vein this means that Paths which expand your options are going to be more engaging and fun unless you're truly aiming for a very narrow theme/gimmick. For example, all the magic Master Paths face veeery stiff competition from Sorcerer - assuming it wasn't already your Expert Path. And then you've got poo poo like Transmuter which offers the most boring loving thing, flat stat bonuses, but +3 to your combat stat is reaaally loving good. *Magic is really the only part where you have to be truly mindful of your choices, due to the limits on castings and needing to buy into traditions first before being able to access higher level spells.
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Jun 12, 2017 22:36
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I personally don't even bother with the encumberance rules unless I think someone is carrying an irrational amount of stuff. I agree with the range of values for the master paths in particular.
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Jun 12, 2017 22:38
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FunkMonkey posted:I personally don't even bother with the encumberance rules unless I think someone is carrying an irrational amount of stuff. Yeah, I'm in the same boat for most of the more finnicky bits and world simulation/really it seems like Schwalb was specifically designing a game without that stuff or that he wanted to be more rules light, but felt he had to frame it like 3.x to get grognards on board. That's kinda why I was describing it as a "5 e retroclone" it reminds me of how a lot of the more straight forward math or good ideas (especially ones cribbed from 4th) had to be presented in familiar 3.x format rather than just flat out saying the rule in a simple way. As if some of his audience wouldn't accept "The GM can award boons or trigger banes for a variety of effects such as being poisoned, surprised or under the effects of a spell" so instead still had to have a dozen or so statuses that almost all seem to read "Bane until X" or "Boon if y" To clarify I think this is a decent d&d-alike, I was just throwing out stuff that I'm not a fan of so far, since we had someone asking about flaws in the system. It does seem like Schwalb was going for a 'big tent' approach which is cool, since there are alternate rules for different group tastes and all and all just seems positive about gaming in general.
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Jun 12, 2017 23:18
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http://oneshotpodcast.com/podcasts/31-rob-schwalb/ This is a pretty interesting interview with Rob Schwalb that talks a lot about where he was coming from when creating Shadow of the Demon Lord. Definitely worth a listen.
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Jun 13, 2017 01:01
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Gort posted:Trip report from Tales of the Demon Lord adventure 2 (spoilered): I read over the adventure and listened to the Play Better Podcast put on a (houseruled for 3 PCs) AP of it Here's my thoughts: The players and the cultists are supposed to meet with the cultists and probably run into the Rude Boys together. I don't know how five cultists kill 9 hired killers as the adventure indicates, but it looks like something is busted. Level 1 characters are more robust that it seems, but when you add it all up they'll most likely be fighting 130~ Difficulty of creatures (9 hired killers, 6 cultists, 1 Possessed Candace and 1 Small Demon), which is 30 over the recommended number per day. I think its intended that some of this will resolve itself as Rude Boys and cultists kill each other, but overall I wouldn't take the risk. Change all but 1 Rude Boy into bandits and give the remaining hired killer the Leader role if you think the players are doing pretty well. That brings your budget down to 60~ Difficulty, which allows you to throw more enemies at them if you think they need the additional challenge, but is low enough that you're not gonna have a TPK outta nowhere.
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Jun 14, 2017 02:00
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Listed property costs in the companion ...is that per month or total purchase price?
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Jun 14, 2017 20:08
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I think this might be the first third-party SotDL setting: Mists of Akuma: Eastern Fantasy Noir Steampunk for Shadow of the Demon Lord
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Jun 15, 2017 04:18
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Man that sounds like a lot of different settings, no idea how well it will fit together.
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Jun 15, 2017 04:34
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Evil Mastermind posted:I think this might be the first third-party SotDL setting: Mists of Akuma: Eastern Fantasy Noir Steampunk for Shadow of the Demon Lord
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Jun 15, 2017 05:06
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I am rolling up a character for a SotDL game and her Interesting Thing turned out to be fear and loathing. I remain uncertain what to make of this considering that fear and loathing seem like the least interesting sort of thing in a grimdark setting like this one. 
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Jun 15, 2017 05:18
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MMAgCh posted:I am rolling up a character for a SotDL game and her Interesting Thing turned out to be fear and loathing. I remain uncertain what to make of this considering that fear and loathing seem like the least interesting sort of thing in a grimdark setting like this one. Watch Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas for inspiration  .
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Jun 15, 2017 05:22
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I might already be playing a junkie in a different upcoming game, so I'm not sure I want to be taking that route in this game as well. Then again the SotDL character is an apothecary who's a plague survivor but also still technically contagious. 
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Jun 15, 2017 07:30
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MMAgCh posted:I might already be playing a junkie in a different upcoming game, so I'm not sure I want to be taking that route in this game as well. Well there you go then, he's self-medicating in an attempt to cure the plague, it's just too bad PTSD from surviving a plague outbreak doesn't combine well with the psychotropics in the various coctails he keeps taking...
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Jun 15, 2017 07:35
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…on actually reading the roleplaying section I came to realise that "fear and loathing" is just that, something the character fears and something she loathes. Talk about overthinking stuff.
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Jun 15, 2017 22:41
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Trip report for running The Witching Wood via Discord + Roll20 for a good group of goons: Everything went better than expected! The characters had a little difficulty with the first fight against two burrowing centipedes that led to the changeling losing their disguise by going unconscious. The players then did some footwork in Respite and I was maybe a little too generous with providing equipment for them. They headed out into the woods the next day and basically aced the Intellect rolls to find Vizreen's hut and got the drop on her. I had to improvise in the final fight by bringing in two fomors, but the players made some lucky rolls and shoved the witch into her fire and killed her. They then finished off the fomors and won the day. Things could have gone much more poorly if they had not done so well on the rolls in the woods, and I can just as easily see that adventure going sideways real fast, but I had a blast running it. If you're looking for a good starting adventure, The Witching Wood is really quite good.
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Jun 16, 2017 04:37
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yeah giving us a pistol and a sword in addition to poisoned blowdarts and a spell was probably overkill.
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Jun 16, 2017 04:45
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Astro Ambulance posted:yeah giving us a pistol and a sword in addition to poisoned blowdarts and a spell was probably overkill. And yet immaterial in the face of shoving.
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Jun 16, 2017 04:54
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Is Tales of the demon lord only 49 pages and end with a short paragraph description for Mob of Animated Corpses? My copy from the bundle ends there and it seems kinda abrupt/there's no back cover. The index does say the monster list is the last section, but I just figured it would be more than 6 monsters. edit: Double checked the bundle page and it doesn't look my copy was a bad download. Looks like it either just ends on a weird/abrupt spot or bundle of holding was sent a cut off PDF. Coolness Averted fucked around with this message at 05:33 on Jun 16, 2017 |
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Jun 16, 2017 05:25
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Coolness Averted posted:Is Tales of the demon lord only 49 pages and end with a short paragraph description for Mob of Animated Corpses? My copy from the bundle ends there and it seems kinda abrupt/there's no back cover. The index does say the monster list is the last section, but I just figured it would be more than 6 monsters. Check the Table of Contents, it's complete. Edit: It's really just meant to be a series of short vignettes you can slot into your campaign and the appendix is so short because it only details the new stuff (otherwise you just refer to the Demon Lord's Companion or other books for monsters)
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Jun 16, 2017 05:34
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Yeah it's why I asked, it wasn't technically missing anything, it just felt very abrupt. Like a very short paragraph that could've been the end or there could've been more. Plus the no back cover like most of the other books. Though not all of them have that end page and advert for another product in the line. I will say another thing I don't appreciate about the format of the game: The monster layout/stats. It's so close to getting it perfect and largely copies the 4e model for statblocks but then has references to other sections and sometimes other books like "spawns an X on death" when X is in another book, or says "has the following spells," like older editions. Especially since most of these books are sold in PDF I don't think the extra page per splat would cost them much -Or the way it has bold names for monsters that'll be described later but then those aren't clickable hyperlinks to jump to that section.
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Jun 16, 2017 06:27
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Coolness Averted posted:Yeah it's why I asked, it wasn't technically missing anything, it just felt very abrupt. Like a very short paragraph that could've been the end or there could've been more. Plus the no back cover like most of the other books. Though not all of them have that end page and advert for another product in the line. Fair criticism. Tales of the Demon Lord has so many references to Cultist and Hired Killer that I wish they'd just put that 10 centimetre squared monster description in the adventure.
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Jun 16, 2017 09:30
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I don't disagree, but it's worth pointing out that the core books are also sold in physical form, so space can be an issue if they only make one version. But man I'd kill for a df pecial pdf version that ALWAYS put the rule in each reference, or perhaps used the height of 1970's text, a hyper-link.
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Jun 16, 2017 18:24
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