DanMcSorley
09-29-2008, 01:08 AM
John Wick recently released a game called Houses of the Blooded (http://www.housesoftheblooded.com/). I'm about halfway through its 436 pages, but I'm posting this now.
Wick likes to proclaim that he dislikes D&D and its tropes, and he wrote this game as his "anti-D&D". According to him, in D&D, you play a rootless adventurer, perpetually aged 25ish, who kills his way through the world looking for loot.
In HotB, you play a landed noble who grows and changes over time, tied to the land you rule, your vassals and liege, and the families you come from and marry into. Time marches on inexorably. Maybe your children will succeed you.
He claims never to have looked at Birthright. This is both good, and too bad. Too bad, because I think he would have seen stuff he liked there. Good, because if he had been satisfied with Birthright, he might not have written this game, and we wouldn't get to check it out.
You can read a bit more about the game in a review at rpg.net (http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/12/12816.phtml). It's already all nicely written.
To that, I'll add that a good chunk of the game revolves around domain rules. Provinces, income, maintenance, espionage, war, it's all in there, and very engagingly done. So far, I particularly like the way you can increase a vassal in effectiveness over time. A Personal Guard 2 is obviously more effective than a Personal Guard 1 in Personal Guard-type business (killing bad people what come to kill you, mainly). But from rank 3, you can increase a vassal to the status of NPC- for example, a Personal Guard 3 remains a Personal Guard 3, but is now captained by a Swordsman, who makes it more effective, has his own motivations, and can take domain actions under your direction (like a BR lieutenant).
There's an interesting gamey bit regarding income- each region in your domain generates a different resource (farms yield food, forests lumber or food, etc), and you have to manage all this to meet your obligations at the end of a given year, have extra to trade for resources you need, produce enough to build new holdings, bribe people, etc. It's a bit more complex than the BR-style GB and RP, but it could be fun.
The game is flavorfully written, though a little disorganized- the sidebars don't always match up with what's being discussed on the current page, for instance. A couple of rules are a bit unclear, but the game is a simple enough die pool system that you can infer what is meant. There's a clear philosophy that runs through the rules- if it fits the setting/genre, and Wick therefore intends it to be common in the game, it gives you bonuses.
For example, in the setting, the Blooded are both artists and patrons of the arts. Therefore, if you create or sponsor a great work of art, it gives you Style (the main game resource, fate/fudge/action/hero/whatever points) and gives you a bonus to actions relating to the art for a certain time period. If you create a work of art meant to inspire valor, anyone viewing it gains a bonus to valorous actions for a certain time afterward.
The reason I'm posting this now is that that PDF of the game is currently on sale for 5 bucks, and they claim this is a limited-time price. I'm liking the game, though I'm not sure I'll run it straight as written. But I'll certainly pillage it for parts. And, again, it's 436 pages. 5 bucks.
If my recommendation, the review, the website, or anything else piques your interest, you can find it at IPR (http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/product.php?productid=16617). I'll answer any questions people have if I can.
Wick likes to proclaim that he dislikes D&D and its tropes, and he wrote this game as his "anti-D&D". According to him, in D&D, you play a rootless adventurer, perpetually aged 25ish, who kills his way through the world looking for loot.
In HotB, you play a landed noble who grows and changes over time, tied to the land you rule, your vassals and liege, and the families you come from and marry into. Time marches on inexorably. Maybe your children will succeed you.
He claims never to have looked at Birthright. This is both good, and too bad. Too bad, because I think he would have seen stuff he liked there. Good, because if he had been satisfied with Birthright, he might not have written this game, and we wouldn't get to check it out.
You can read a bit more about the game in a review at rpg.net (http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/12/12816.phtml). It's already all nicely written.
To that, I'll add that a good chunk of the game revolves around domain rules. Provinces, income, maintenance, espionage, war, it's all in there, and very engagingly done. So far, I particularly like the way you can increase a vassal in effectiveness over time. A Personal Guard 2 is obviously more effective than a Personal Guard 1 in Personal Guard-type business (killing bad people what come to kill you, mainly). But from rank 3, you can increase a vassal to the status of NPC- for example, a Personal Guard 3 remains a Personal Guard 3, but is now captained by a Swordsman, who makes it more effective, has his own motivations, and can take domain actions under your direction (like a BR lieutenant).
There's an interesting gamey bit regarding income- each region in your domain generates a different resource (farms yield food, forests lumber or food, etc), and you have to manage all this to meet your obligations at the end of a given year, have extra to trade for resources you need, produce enough to build new holdings, bribe people, etc. It's a bit more complex than the BR-style GB and RP, but it could be fun.
The game is flavorfully written, though a little disorganized- the sidebars don't always match up with what's being discussed on the current page, for instance. A couple of rules are a bit unclear, but the game is a simple enough die pool system that you can infer what is meant. There's a clear philosophy that runs through the rules- if it fits the setting/genre, and Wick therefore intends it to be common in the game, it gives you bonuses.
For example, in the setting, the Blooded are both artists and patrons of the arts. Therefore, if you create or sponsor a great work of art, it gives you Style (the main game resource, fate/fudge/action/hero/whatever points) and gives you a bonus to actions relating to the art for a certain time period. If you create a work of art meant to inspire valor, anyone viewing it gains a bonus to valorous actions for a certain time afterward.
The reason I'm posting this now is that that PDF of the game is currently on sale for 5 bucks, and they claim this is a limited-time price. I'm liking the game, though I'm not sure I'll run it straight as written. But I'll certainly pillage it for parts. And, again, it's 436 pages. 5 bucks.
If my recommendation, the review, the website, or anything else piques your interest, you can find it at IPR (http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/product.php?productid=16617). I'll answer any questions people have if I can.