Just got this game and reading through and I feel vibes of many ideas here, old and new school so to speak. The dice are interesting, and the tactical element made in how you manipulate dice is very, very cool. Not terribly keen on the setting (though the nation write-ups are quite nice). The Company rules are interesting - there's areas where things seem thin, but overall, nothing that can't be eyeballed and dealt with.
Overall, I like it (and it's cousin, Wild Talents Essential Edition). Impressed by what I see here. It would make a nice non-standard fantasy game (and I am not a lover of games that use Elves and Dwarfs and such - Warhammer excluded ov course ;) ).
Thoughts? Feelings?
I ran a REIGN campaign using a homebrewed setting (but borrowing the magic system because I quite liked it). It worked pretty well, and the Company rules are really useful, especially for "downtime" actions between adventures (and as a means of developing ideas for adventures).
Quote from: Warthur;319454I ran a REIGN campaign using a homebrewed setting (but borrowing the magic system because I quite liked it). It worked pretty well, and the Company rules are really useful, especially for "downtime" actions between adventures (and as a means of developing ideas for adventures).
Yeah, the magic system IS nifty, isn't it? I mean the Paths of course - really fun. In fact, I had an all-wizards game I've got in my mind, and at first thought I might do it with Burning Wheel, but now that I have Reign...well, it'd fit super well, and more importantly, give each player a VERY different style to use for magic, which would make everyone feel individual, and yet, very magical (especially the Attunement effects - just, wow).
Quote from: Mencelus;319456Yeah, the magic system IS nifty, isn't it? I mean the Paths of course - really fun. In fact, I had an all-wizards game I've got in my mind, and at first thought I might do it with Burning Wheel, but now that I have Reign...well, it'd fit super well, and more importantly, give each player a VERY different style to use for magic, which would make everyone feel individual, and yet, very magical (especially the Attunement effects - just, wow).
It strikes me that the Company rules could be very handy in an Ars Magica campaign - I like the way that, because they operate on a different scale from the character-level action resolution, you can drag and drop them into any game you want.
It´s for lazy & bland DMs; a shallow experience.
We have a great time with Reign at our table. It's a cool setting and allows for a broad range of fun characters. The mechanisms built into the characters for driving their story interests make things surprising for the ref as well as the players. The combat system is fast and tactical.
This is my first choice for fantasy gaming. It transplants nicely to other settings with little work.
Quote from: Halfjack;319570We have a great time with Reign at our table. It's a cool setting and allows for a broad range of fun characters. The mechanisms built into the characters for driving their story interests make things surprising for the ref as well as the players. The combat system is fast and tactical.
This is my first choice for fantasy gaming. It transplants nicely to other settings with little work.
Yeah, I hear that for sure. That's one of the things I like with BW as well - things are a surprise for me. I know other GMs like "being in control" or some such, but in a way, as I GM, I want to "play" too, so to speak. Reign lets that happen since I also have to strategize with the way the dice work and all that.
@Warthur - now there's an idea. I have also a thought to build a magic system conceptually with say the Magic Burner, and then saddle ORE mechanics for it, then do an Ars Magica game.
The original idea in my head (which the players want for our second or third game maybe after the current campaign ends) is that the PCs are part of a "mages guild" that happens to sort of run the world (i.e. like in Earthsea). A particular village has a particular secret which one mage has found, and has asked the Council to send people to permenantly protect the secret. Cue sending in the PC mages and their "company" to defend that village and the secret within.
Quote from: Settembrini;319552It´s for lazy & bland DMs; a shallow experience.
I know I'm going to regret this but what is this thought based on? Anything of substance?
For me, Reign has me EXCITED to GM, for the first time in a long while. It's got lots of fiddily bits that are at the same time easy to handle (whereas Burning Wheel, a game I love, has fiddily bits that I often just find cumbersome to wield effectively, no matter how much I love it).
The way the dice work, plus the meta-level company rules, the martial paths, and the way magic works really interests me. Each one, in and of itself, is enat - together they give players and GMs lots of options on how to manipulate things. I'm not even getting into the Missions and Passions stuff - that's just icing on the cake (and frankly, as a carrot system, easier to bookkeep that BWs Artha).
Did you already download the two first years of our reign Mencellus?
Quote from: boulet;319677Did you already download the two first years of our reign Mencellus?
Not yet but I will be doing so. I got so happy with most of the other downloads on the Nemesis site that I forgot. When I get home tonight, probably.
Thanks for reminding me.
Quote from: Mencelus;319663I know I'm going to regret this but what is this thought based on? Anything of substance?
None at all, considering the source.
My experience with the system is much like the OP. I like the system but the setting isn't that appealing to me. The company mechanics are good, but I'd rather broaden them to a one to ten rating instead of one to six.
Quote from: PaladinCA;319713My experience with the system is much like the OP. I like the system but the setting isn't that appealing to me. The company mechanics are good, but I'd rather broaden them to a one to ten rating instead of one to six.
Now that's an interesting idea, though I had thought Greg Stolze kept the numbers capped on purpose - by putting them low, it forces players to go out and do crazy things (or at least roll some stuff) to some sort of bonus to resolves company actions.
To certain extent, I see his point - nothing should be a sure thing with stuff like this, especially on the company level. Looking at, well, any war in history, something somewhere flubs, or isn't enough, or goes badly, etc.
I've enjoyed the Reign game I was a part of. The dice system is fun. Greg Stolze is a genius of fun dice mechanics (if Reign and Unknown Armies are any indication). It wasn't my book, so I'm not sure aout everything, but it's fun to play for sure.
Quote from: Mencelus;319663I know I'm going to regret this but what is this thought based on? Anything of substance?
And what other games provide these shallow experiences, so we know to avoid them?
Is there a source or preview for the company rules? It sounds interesting to me, but ORE isn't something I have to have, and I'm not quite in a position to buy the book blind.
I'm pretty sure there are a few reviews on RPG.net, if you check. In fact, I think there are like 3 or 4 of them, and they go into some detail about the Company. That's what originally convinced me to buy, actually.
Quote from: Mencelus;319734Now that's an interesting idea, though I had thought Greg Stolze kept the numbers capped on purpose - by putting them low, it forces players to go out and do crazy things (or at least roll some stuff) to some sort of bonus to resolves company actions.
To certain extent, I see his point - nothing should be a sure thing with stuff like this, especially on the company level. Looking at, well, any war in history, something somewhere flubs, or isn't enough, or goes badly, etc.
I just wanted more steps between "a minor crime gang" and "The Roman Empire." Plus the game uses d10's and that added an appropriate semantic to it. :)
Quote from: PaladinCA;319998I just wanted more steps between "a minor crime gang" and "The Roman Empire." Plus the game uses d10's and that added an appropriate semantic to it. :)
Personally, I think the system works best if you scale based on the sort of Company your campaign is centring around. If you're playing a game where the PCs are a bottom-of-the-pecking-order crime gang trying to make it on the mean streets of Freeport, then the top-tier stats are going to be for the major crime syndicates, and anyone more powerful than
that is simply going to be off the scale: the PCs' Company is simply never going to inflict an organisational-level injury on the Empire during the course of the game, so it's not really worth modelling it.
Likewise, if you're playing a game where the players are trying to keep the Roman Empire on an even keel, then the bottom-tier stats are going to be for minor client states and towns, and anything smaller-scale than that simply isn't going to be a threat to the PCs' Company on an organisational level, so it's not worth modelling.
Quote from: Warthur;320010Personally, I think the system works best if you scale based on the sort of Company your campaign is centring around.
That is an interesting perspective. Have you had experience with the game system yet? I'm still in the reading and learning stage.
Quote from: PaladinCA;320012That is an interesting perspective. Have you had experience with the game system yet? I'm still in the reading and learning stage.
I ran an approximately year-long campaign under it, in which the players were the ruling council of a revolutionary government which had just taken over a nation bearing more than a mild resemblance to Ptolemaic Egypt, and they had to steer the country from being a war-torn wreck to a world power. The smallest Company I generated was I think a desert tribe (or was it the broken and bloodied remnant of the ousted government? I forget), the largest was a terrifying international demonic conspiracy.
(Of course, I should add that in the examples in my previous post it'd always be possible for a member of the minor street gang to assassinate the Emperor of Rome if he managed to get in the right place at the right time - it's just that that's not going to bring the institutions of Rome tumbling down. Unless, of course, the Empire was due for a civil war anyway - but then it'll be the warring factions tearing the joint apart, not the street gang.)
Warthur's interpretation about company scale is interesting but it implies a wider house ruling than just hand waving. For instance Greg explains that Followers rank 5 is roughly equivalent to Might rank 1. He even reverse the logic and states that Followers 5 is the biggest band of armed man one can command without starting a company. That's some lead in the idea of flexible scale.
I believe the logarithmic nature of company ranks explains better the need of so few steps between gangs and nations. Or what you may do is to cap what group size a company is able to model. For instance you wouldn't have the Roman Empire whose Might models the whole Roman army. Instead you would model legions who are often obeying contradictory orders anyway depending on the leading general's ambition. That means probably extra ruling to model the emerging behavior of a nation through its various components (not just armies).
Quote from: boulet;320091I believe the logarithmic nature of company ranks explains better the need of so few steps between gangs and nations. Or what you may do is to cap what group size a company is able to model. For instance you wouldn't have the Roman Empire whose Might models the whole Roman army. Instead you would model legions who are often obeying contradictory orders anyway depending on the leading general's ambition. That means probably extra ruling to model the emerging behavior of a nation through its various components (not just armies).
This is where I am now, especially since I'll soon have the chance to run this game actually. My players have chosen to be a mercenary company quietly serving some nation, and I'm wrestling now with how many points to give their Company. Too few and they'll feel impotent (or challenged, I never know with this group). So I haven't decided yet. Work for me, work for me.
I like Reign and will be using it in the near future for something. Not sure what, yet.