Has anyone picked up the Iron Kingdoms RPG yet? Any thoughts on it?

Wow. 45 views and nobody has even looked at it? Looks like I'll have to pick it up and report back...

I have it. A bit expensive for all the reused art in it, but I generally like it. The basic system (2d6 vs target number) is simple, and the combat mechanics are very similar to the wargame's.

Do you have any particular questions?

What are character creation and advancement like? How lethal is combat?

I'm interested in it, but haven't been able to afford it. Le sigh.

I have it.  It looks good.  I'll be playing in a game for the first time later today.

Quote from: LeSquide;591194Do you have any particular questions?

Too late! I picked it up already, but I've only breezed through it thus far.

It's certainly a beautiful book, but that relies on liking Privateer Press' art direction. If you don't like the art direction of their wargames, you're not going to like this.

They've also made an interesting choice in stuffing a rather long exposition on the Iron Kingdoms themselves (the first hundred pages or so) into the beginning of the book, making this as much a setting book as anything else.

The "bestiary" section is extremely small, which I find somewhat troubling in a book this size, particularly when I don't think any of the other announced books are supposed to be monster books per se. You'll be relying on the many character classes and races for now, and while I'm sure you can run an adventure with just this book, I find that kind of omission annoying, unless there's clearly going to be a book to address this very soon (maybe someone else knows of an announcement?). Even if there is, the question becomes about how many $60 (MSRP) books should I need to run an RPG?

The combat rules are very heavily slanted towards the use of miniatures. Playing without miniatures gets about a paragraph of mention near the end of the Gamemaster section. I can't tell whether it'll be easier or harder to do without ministures than, say, D&D3.5 until I get a chance to do a more detailed read.

I'd also say the rules are very squarely aimed at bringing their existing wargaming fanbase over to the RPG...while that might seem obvious due to the fact that the system is derived from the wargame rules (the combat rules appear to closely parallel the wargame), that's not why I say it. It's more in the feel...there's an infamous reference on the wargame side of PP's stuff to "Page 5," which is summarised as, "Play like you've got a pair!" It refers to an agressive, take no holds, don't whine, over-the-top gaming attitude. The rules evoke this mindset for me, and, again, that's not their similarity to the wargame rules, but something about the feel. I'm not sure if it's a good thing or not...the "Page 5" stuff is fine for tabletop wargaming, but I don't think it's a good headspace for more than a small subset of RPGing. I'll try and speak more to this as I get a chance to read further...

Quote from: Bobloblah;591324T

QuoteThe combat rules are very heavily slanted towards the use of miniatures. Playing without miniatures gets about a paragraph of mention near the end of the Gamemaster section. I can't tell whether it'll be easier or harder to do without ministures than, say, D&D3.5 until I get a chance to do a more detailed read.

My impression after one session is that it wouldn't be too difficult.  The main use we made of miniatures involved measuring range, using cover, and facing.  These are really things that if you can get by in most games, without a visual representation and relying on GM adjudication only, you can probably get by here.  That said, once characters start advancing and begin getting more abilities that interact with each other tactically, it's possible that this may get more difficult.  

Our experience with the rules today, was that they flowed pretty fast and were pretty lethal, our troll almost got one shotted early on by a single rifle shot, and I accidentally ended up blowing away one guy we'd hope to capture, because I underestimated the amount of damage I would do to him.  Taking advantage of cover in ranged combat is huge, which is nice, as my impression so far is that the tactical aspect of the game is based more on applying common sense rather than system mastery.

Quote from: The Butcher;591202What are character creation and advancement like? How lethal is combat?

I'm still curious.

Rise from the ashes, oh thread!

I'm still curious about character advancement.

Quote from: Bobloblah;591324The "bestiary" section is extremely small, which I find somewhat troubling in a book this size, particularly when I don't think any of the other announced books are supposed to be monster books per se.

The last 2-3 issues of No Quarter have each featured 3-4 monsters from their old Monsternomicon books.