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  1. #1

    How about a SIMPLE BR/4e conversion?

    I imagine this thread is not going to be popular with a lot of the regulars to this site, but, nothing ventured...

    Anyway, I have been playing BR since it came out in 2nd ed, and really love the game. I wanted to give it a go in 3e, but, quite frankly, I found the downloadable 3e version to be an unplayable 187 page monstrosity.

    It seems to me that original BR should be interfaceable (that a word?) with 4e using nothing more than a single page or so of rules. There just really isn't all that much that needs changing.

    Has anybody tried this? Just making something very simple so that the original rules can be used, largely unchanged, with 4e characters?

    Thanks

  2. #2
    Site Moderator kgauck's Avatar
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    I don't think the idea is a bad one, but I will point out that the kind of people who write conversions are usually those who like crunch and so like to write rules. A single page (or three page) conversion would be a great idea, but would probably come from someone's game table, rather than a project. Rather more like, he's a hand-out I gave my players.

  3. #3
    I kinda did this for my pbp game without the complex conversions that I also work on here. I just said which races aren't allowed, which ones are, where to find the changed "racial" abilites (Halflings = Shadow Jaunt, Elves/Eladrin = Sidhelien = Tiefling "ability" (now the half-orc ability Furious Assault for gheallie Sidhe) and Watersoul Genasi Swiftcurrent. I just tried Bloodlines to the domain level of the system and used the 3E version because it was written up but you could just use 2E stock as well (which I wanted to do but I needed to provide the rules for the domain system which I can't or won't do with the 2E rules).

    It is probably better if you do use the 2E rules as I had to make changes to the 3E domain system because I dropped the extra 3.x skills.
    Last edited by dundjinnmasta; 04-18-2009 at 02:48 AM.

  4. #4
    Site Moderator AndrewTall's Avatar
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    The 'simple' conversion is easy - just use the 2e or an existing 3e domain rules system, and rule that bloodline has no effect on adventure level play and that PCs can't become awnshegh or ehrshegh - done.

    Getting domain rules down to 1 or 2 pages would be tough without radically changing the system though. The other big import you need is the wargame aspect. If you are playing at adventure level only then obviously neither of these is desperately important.

    The one tweak you might want to make to 3e would be choosing RP collection based on class, level, or skill - I'd stick with 3e domain rules otherwise as they have fixed income, permit non-scion rulers, etc

    The rest of the download is PC creation (replaced by your 4e conversion) and fluff (which needs no real change).

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by AndrewTall View Post
    Getting domain rules down to 1 or 2 pages would be tough without radically changing the system though. The other big import you need is the wargame aspect. If you are playing at adventure level only then obviously neither of these is desperately important.
    I agree, but I wouldn't be trying to get the RULES, down to that size, just the CONVERSION RULES.

    Really, I think this could almost be done out of the box (or out of the pdf, as that is what my copy is). I wouldn't want to use the 3e domain system, which I think is no fun compared to BR.

  6. #6
    Site Moderator AndrewTall's Avatar
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    The main change to the domain rules from 2e to BRCS was the fixed income stuff - there has been a lot of hot air about the regency switch from class to skills and removal of RP base cost for actions but those are trivial by comparison. From playing I'd suggest that fixed income is vastly preferable to random as it discourages 'just in case of a bad roll' hoarding.

    The bloodline changes are the regency storm, ability of unblooded types to gain a bloodline through usurpation, and various other bits that are a bit more complicated.

    Probably the easiest switch would be class 'X' gets regency from holding 'Y' to allow for class changes, income as per BRCS, and otherwise 2e.

  7. #7
    I have to admit that I do enjoy the fixed taxes better the random ones and the beginning of domain turns go so much faster that way too! I would definitely use the fixed income as it really is backwards compatible as it only deals with the level of the holding.

  8. #8
    Site Moderator AndrewTall's Avatar
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    Some of the changes, like the court actions, I found less useful - they can really stretch out the turn in PBEMs for example, but they were an attempt to broaden the 'any number of similar tagalongs' that 2e had which only helped certain kinds of regents.

    I think that most of the other changes were fairly minor or 'flavor', but I didn't get to play 2e much so could be wrong.

  9. #9

    nope

    If you want something SIMPLE try playing the birthright setting in a rules-lite system like FUDGE or FATE. Both easy to pick up and play and are easy to add pretty much anything you could think of for anything.

  10. #10
    Birthright Developer Raesene Andu's Avatar
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    There is certainly no reason why you cannot just use the original rules and substitute in the new 4E rules for adventuring/classes/etc. This has always been possible and indeed a lot of people have done this in the past.

    However, you have to remember that the BR setting is no longer in print, and what the BRCS did quite well was give newcomers to the setting a downloadable set of rules to use.
    Let me claim your Birthright!!

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