What makes Birthright fun?

[AndrewTall]

I'm curious.

I like Birthright (as opposed to a different RPG) because:

1. Games inherently has a greater political / diplomatic background due to the formulation of the domain system and the expectation of player involvement at that level of play.

2. It gives the opportunity to mix adventure level games, war-gaming, and diplomatic chin-wagging in a single game where all of these lett you advance the cause of "team my character"

3. I'm a number geek and like the domain crunch, but at the same time the domain side isn't an excessively detailed system (well, depending on the ruleset you use)

4. By setting out the domains, they become more visible in-game and by extension the history becomes more visible giving the game depth fairly easily.

5. I like the writing and much of the setting - it isn't overly bleak and not excessively fantastical.

6. I love the idea of awnies and erhshegh -the idea that someone's actions can corrupt their physical nature, that monsters (and even monstrous races) can be born of monstrous actions, etc is at once something easy to understand and adding fascinating consequences to a game.

7. I liked what they did with the sidhe - and the halflings, interesting twists on old familiars. While they didn't do much with the Karamhul since the Sidhe are different making the Karamhul more akin to nordic dwarves or trolls is thematically easy to justify.

8. Bloodlines - I was a big Highlander fan when younger :rolleyes:

What about everyone else? What do other people like about Birthright?

[Birthright-L]

At 12:13 AM 9/7/2013, AndrewTall wrote:

>What about everyone else? What do other people like about Birthright?

I think you summed it up quite well. The only thing I would add is
that it is an "adult" setting in the sense that it doesn`t have a
bunch of cartoonish elements thrown in to mollify the sensibilities
of folks who like their wizards to wear pointy hats, and their
villains to say "Drat!"

Gary

[ebatalis]

I would also agree on most if not all points you have set. Gary filled the "adult" part I also feel about the game and as a personal opinion I would add the fact that the discontuniouty of the setting added a mystery that was left to the players to discover and usolve, it unraveled each and everyones fantasy to a point that it was not guided by canon books and corporate agendas. Birthright has the mettle to become a solid and world wide campaign setting run by players for players.

[AKjeldsen]

I agree with all the things Andrew listed, but another thing I love about the setting is the great level of detail that has gone into it. You could pick just about any place on the map and there'll be some interesting situation or plot hook that you can build a game or even a whole campaign up around. It's an endless source of inspiration for me.

[arpig2]

In short it is what the D&D game always wanted to be, remember itgrew out of miniatures rules.

[Elton Robb]

It feels real. That's the thing. It has something that the other RPG settings lack. It simply feels like a real campaign setting. It feels like some place in history. That's why I added Von Zarovitch to my version of Birthright, because he felt real too.

Aebyrnis feels like a real world you can visit. Glorion, not so much (because it's a patchworked world), Forgotten Realms, not so much; and Dragonlance is too much of an ideal.

[Arius Vistoon]

i agree with all the bullet point ;)

[linde]

I like the idea of the divine blood creating rulers who actually are more fit to rule than others. And I like the realm building and the diplomacy between domains with conflicting interests.
I also like the scope of birthright. The the feeling that your actions affect the whole world, and not just your own domain. This makes a goal like making the world a safer place possible.

[Lee]

I'm in with all of the above.

I also liked that it was a closed setting-- it was specifically not linked to the other AD&D worlds. There was no plane-hopping, we didn't have to worry about Elminster popping in, or demons, or spacejamming orcs.

There was a list of monsters that were allowed, and that was it. It seemed an advantage to the players, in the days before Knowledge (monster) checks, that there couldn't all of a sudden be a giant Gargleblaster, and it had been there for centuries, but no one knew anything about it. My enforcement of this over the years has been less rigid than it used to be; I would see something cool, and want it in my game, so I'd slide it in. My players haven't seemed to agree with me on this, so it's not been a problem.

Also, it had a low-mid-level feel to it. There weren't uber-high-level NPCs gadding about, accomplishing all the worthwhile deeds. But there were the awnshegh, so there the PCs had a "boss monster" to seek out (before that term came into use).

As it's developed, I have had very few players who would take up the regent's role and play that part of the game, usually someone would have to be pushed into it. So, for twenty years, it's been mostly my world to run non-blooded people through "normal" adventures. I've been high and low, reading all kinds of adventure ideas, looking to see what can be stripped out for use in my games.

[Gheal]

I can't argue with anything that posters before me said here.
One additional thing. This is one and only setting, where both I (history in university, wargamer from the age 11 etc. etc.) and friend of mine (quitted school after 8th grade, much more experience with the shady corners of our life) can see clearly how this political situation came to be and what looms on the horizon for nearest future. BR have sound internal logic, so we can apply our common sense and achieve good results. No other setting was built so good.
Just my 2cp. :)

[Jaleela]

I like the BR setting for a lot of reasons, many Andrew pointed out. I liked the “completeness of the setting”. It had personalities, domains, holidays, etc. That made it easy to drop players into the setting without having to do a lot of “World Building”. It had a real feel to it, with just enough magic to restore a sense of wonder in regard to magic wielders and magical events as well as breathing some new life into clichéd old monsters.

The political dynamics made it interesting to see how ruling players would interact and how their actions would filter down to non-regent PCs. The laws of unintended consequences.

Mixed levels of play: macro events to micro-events.

The opportunity to advance years within the world when the DM has no adventure or ideas, but may have a story arc that is a few years in the “future”, or slow it to a crawl. While many campaigns I’ve read about have pushed dynasties through several generations. I’ve only advanced the game three decades. There’s been plenty of action and domain building going on in that time. “By setting out the domains, they become more visible in-game and by extension the history becomes more visible giving the game depth fairly easily.” AT

The war-gamming aspect has always been key. The one thing I’ve found that I don’t like is the tendency for some players to think on Birthright like a game of RISK. One has to strike a balance between story and conquest.

I like the idea of bloodlines. Like the Ersheg and the Awnsheg. The medieval idea that a person’s outward physical manifestations reflects that of inner good or evil is appealing.
The only drawback to the bloodlines, if only blooded people can rule, is continents like Djapar, where no regents seem to be blooded and that any blooded people are viewed as aberrations or heretics for believing the old gods dead. (makes for interesting politics.)

The game world lends itself very easily to the more mature gamer. Dungeon crawls can be fun, but now that gamer demands reasons for events that transpire.

The Shadow World. A dark reflection of the daylight world. It’s allowed for some interesting story lines to be introduced. PC agents working to strengthen the barrier between the worlds while dark agents try to weaken the veil.

I’ve not been a fan of halflings since the early days of AD&D, specifically the fact that they were all fat hairy thieves or “Kender”. However, the way they are presented in Birthright has actually had me allowed me to let go of my bias and introduce some halfling heroes and villains.

[Viathon]

Both the "technical" aspects of the setting it's self and it's "feel" are vastly appealing to both old and new players of AD&D in it's various incarnations.
Personally I am a self-confessed "Power Gamer" at times (thankfully it's only a phase I go through every now and again...) and the concept of having the power of a God running through my veins without it unbalancing the game it truly exciting. Aside from this (benign) reason, the tales and stories that have emerged from the Birthright setting truly enchant and amuse. I mean who could forget Mother?