[RPG]: Hero's Banner, reviewed by Calithena (2/4)

http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/12/12838.phtml

Calithena's Summary:

<i>Hero’s Banner</i>, by Tim C Koppang, is an excellent new fantasy RPG for short and longer-term storytelling revolving around hard character choices between family, conscience, and heroic ambition. Highly recommended.

Go to the full review for more information.

[Calithena]

Quick erratum:

A friend pointed out to me that the paper may actually be ivory rather than white. I'm not an expert on such matters....I just think it makes Keith's art look good.

I should check in to discuss the review off and on over the next couple of days, so if anyone wants to chat about the game or review, I should be around to answer questions.

[Pierce Inverarity]

Cali, thanks for a brilliant review of one of the two indie games that really clicked with me (the other being TSoY).

I was going to run Hero's Banner on two occasions, and each time I ended up not doing it, partly for reasons you describe.

One would have been for a group of four moderately experienced players, and I was daunted by the prospect of weaving their motivations into a coherent thread--on the fly, in game, all of the time. That seems also to have been the underlying problem of the playtest by Clinton Nixon and his group on the Forge. How to balance out screen time, how to synchronize the advancement of PCs, how to have goals be opposed but not destructively so... For this you need players who are constantly with it, AND who are constantly cooperative.

That said, I love the idea, I love the setting, and I might get used to the "generational fast-forward," all-drama-all-of-the-time playstyle.

[Calithena]

Thanks for the kind words, Pierce!

I think in terms of running the game the best way to weave it together (I'm just getting used to it) is with overlapping NPCs. Some of those might be the GMs and some should probably come out of character creation (hey! your enemy, that's my uncle! kind of thing). In a way I'm not sure characters should be in conflict with each other unless they really want to; plus even if they are creative interpretation might allow both to win or lose the same struggle in the end. (I'm thinking, like, 2 guys both want to be King of Ryeic, say; maybe the kingdom gets split in two, or maybe the Urani conquer the whole kingdom, or if they're male and female maybe they get married, etc.)

The pacing stuff has turned out to be more manageable than it seems for us in play so far...we'll see if that keeps up.

[Lord Twang]

That was an excellent review. A review I've been waiting for too!

[Lord Twang]

A game system that would actually get to the heart of playing out Crouching Tiger, Hero, Musa, or Flying Daggers--without getting obsessed over the martial arts, which are just icing and filler.

[Calithena]

Thanks, Lord Twang!

The martial arts epic take is a good one. And you could still have almost every important climax be a fight: just do a kind of free-form Wushu nemesis battle, and then when it gets to the crucial moment, roll the Influence, and use that to decide who wins and what it means.

I'd love to see an AP on that game, actually.

[Elder Evil]

Excellent review, Calithena. It told me more or less all I might have wanted to ask. Hat off to you. Please write more.
Andreas