Post originally by Vargen at 2004-02-10 06:00:27
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I've been a player for years, but the odd time I've tried to run a game of my own things haven't gone very well. 50 Fathoms is the first thing I have attempted to run that I have actually been satisfied with at the end of the session. The Plot Point structure provides a nice "safety net" that I can fall back on if I get stuck, but it still allows enough freedom for me to experiment and try out my own ideas.
RE: This sounds interesting - anyone else used it?
Post originally by Jamie Herbert at 2004-02-10 09:59:18
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Mike Zebrowski wrote:
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You need Savage Worlds.
Mike Z
While this IS true, that is all you need just the rulebook and the setting book that's it, no splatbooks, no additional complete guides to specific geographic areas, or groups, nor are there plans for massive story arch module sets. this is part of the Savage world philosophy 2 books is all you ever need to run the campaign, and personally I think that's great!
Post originally by Regault at 2004-02-10 19:33:42
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I ran into some serious problems with the way the book is written.
Namely, the lack of anything resembling challenge ratings has lead to starting a fight with a monster rolled on the random encounters table that turns out to be one of the toughest creatures in the game.
Most Pinnacle loyalists will immediately bring up page 128. Um, no. Page 128 is a nice bit of rhetoric, but is essentially one big line of bull that boils down to "I think most GMs are too soft on their player characters, so I'm going to remove a vital tool for tailoring encounters to their playstyle."
Also, a great deal of the Plot Point savage tales are only written with a group close to Hensley's group in mind. Unless you have a large group or a group predominately composed of combat monsters, "Maiden Voyage" is a massacre. "Tressa the Red" is one step short of impossible without an air mage. Razorwinds (Mentioned before) are unkillable without an air mage or fire mage.
The razorwinds are truly the worst thing in the book. I've surveyed 20 different people now and not one of them thought seagulls would be a tough encounter. Let me clue you in on something: Despite all the hype, "The Birds" was an idiotic concept for a movie. Birds aren't unstoppable killing machines. As animals go they're rather fragile.
Post originally by Tim Gray at 2004-02-11 01:31:07
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Challenge ratings are really a d20 thing these days, so you shouldn't treat them as standard across gaming. And even if you have them, a GM should still think through the likely effects of throwing an opponent at the party. They're only a first-stage guide, helping you to shortlist, not a total one. If you take the results of a random encounter table without having a quick reality check then you're bound to get some encounters that are too hard or too easy.
Post originally by Jamie Herbert at 2004-02-11 15:51:57
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Here Here! also just look at the monster's stats and you can get an idea of how powerful most things are. I know it's a nice conveinience to have a single rating, but even that is not 100% reliable.
RE: This sounds interesting - anyone else used it?
Post originally by Casey at 2004-02-11 16:09:30
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Part of why they were able to cram so much into the book is because they didn't have to reiterate any of the rules.
It's an excellent book and one I highly recommend as it adds plenty of new ideas, a fresh and interesting way of making a non-linear campaign, and an interesting read even if you never do get to actually play it.
Post originally by Peter Hildreth at 2004-02-11 17:06:44
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Hi. I had the opportunity to play a demo at GenCon. When the razorwings attacked my PC, he quickly found out how bad they were and leaped into the tall grass, crawling quickly away as the razor wings acted like a huge lawn mower. It certainly gave him some speed to his wriggling!
The point is that you can use your head sometimes instead of attacking everything. If I had tried to attack the razorwings, my PC wouldn't have lived to tell the tail.
OTOH, there was an airmage and he did disperse them before they did more damage. But, that had more to do with what my PC could then do to the bad guys rather. I believe I would have lived until the razorwings dispersed.
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