Re: [RPG]: [Actual Play Week] Qin: The Warring States, reviewed by C.W.Richeson (3/3)
I ran it briefly last year until a TPK really killed enthusiasm for the game. By and large it manages to capture the nature of wuxia movie combat pretty well and the non-combat system works. I too noticed most of what you mentioned. A few things:
-There is substantial French-language support for the game online with things like stock NPCs, etc.
-From what I understand, there is a pre-written metaplot campaign the authors have in mind. That's why "big" NPCs get a lot of attention. This is a turnoff to me as I hate metaplot but of course YMMV.
-The English publisher is Cubicle 7, who are putting out translations (no clue what the release schedule is, tho). I'd see their web page, which I can't seem to load right now. The forum there isn't very active but has some good stuff.
-Players really need to get over some of their classic playerisms playing this game: It's OK to run when you're losing. Reverses will happen, often, especially if you have crits working. You MUST use tactics, spend Chi and make use of your special abilities. "Roll to hit, roll to damage" kind of play DOES NOT WORK. GMs also need to set up scenarios where players feel free to cut and run and hide for a while. The intro scenario in the book has a tight timeline and thus violates this rule. (There are some other issues with it, particularly metaplot related, though you can still get some mileage if you're willing to do some editing.)
-Crits are NASTY. And they happen 9% of the time. A 99 crit on an attack is just downright hideous. This wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the fact that the PCs are subject to way more crits than the adversaries, whose "job" is to die, after all.
-The multiple action thing is kind of wacky and too powerful IMO. It really drove the non-combat character nuts to sit there most of the time. I didn't overturn it, but made some house rules to clarify it (see the Cubicle 7 forum). Dodge is still quite potent because it lets you avoid nearly any attack, including missiles.
-The animals statted in the book are way out there. Buy a dog for everyone! It's worth it.
-To avoid totally creaming your party, the GM really needs to avoid giving "decent" stats to guardsmen and other extras. Full health to them is also bad. I'd argue that allowing them to crit is really, really bad and even argue that letting extras benefit from excess Yang on the die roll for attacks is bad. Getting killed by an extra just pisses on the wuxia movie feel IMO.
-Someone posted a house rule on the forum about using excess Yin on an active defense roll to reduce the damage taken in; good idea, you should implement it. Otherwise active defense isn't that great.
-Crits are NASTY. Did I say that already?
My rating: Style 4, Substance 4 (overall, but it deserves to be docked a point for disorganization as finding things in it during play can be challenging).
Re: [RPG]: [Actual Play Week] Qin: The Warring States, reviewed by C.W.Richeson (3/3)
I bought Qin at GenCon last year, and gave it as a gift to a friend who loves all things ancient China, wuxia, martial arts, etc. He intends to run it for our group someday, but he has mentioned concerns with a perceived lack of support for the English version of the game, and that the product line for the English-speaking market consists only of the corebook, and that the authors might have indicated that they're not that interested in developing it much further for the English market, since they didn't get the post-GenCon sales bump for which they had hoped.
Now before anyone starts throwing around accusations of English-language chauvinism and all that, I'm not passing any judgment on their marketing or development decisions, but I think that it is a fair question to ask of 7eme as to whether they're going to eventually port their French material over or not. If not, then the English-speaking audience should keep in mind that when they buy the book, that may be all they're going to see for quite a while, which may or may not be a problem.
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Re: [RPG]: [Actual Play Week] Qin: The Warring States, reviewed by C.W.Richeson (3/3)
Quote:
Originally Posted by madwabbit
I bought Qin at GenCon last year, and gave it as a gift to a friend who loves all things ancient China, wuxia, martial arts, etc. He intends to run it for our group someday, but he has mentioned concerns with a perceived lack of support for the English version of the game, and that the product line for the English-speaking market consists only of the corebook, and that the authors might have indicated that they're not that interested in developing it much further for the English market, since they didn't get the post-GenCon sales bump for which they had hoped.
There are some books planned for translation. No clue what the timeline on this is, though they seem to indicate GenCon this year, which makes sense.
Re: [RPG]: [Actual Play Week] Qin: The Warring States, reviewed by C.W.Richeson (3/3)
Quote:
Originally Posted by C.W.Richeson
That's some great feedback crimfan, thanks!
You're welcome. The game was fun but the TPK really blew the wind out of peoples' sails. (My players are really good but have a very limited range of characters they do. That didn't help.) I'm now running Conan using nWoD rules. The main reason (TPK aside) is the fact that there's more support, which means I can concentrate on running the game rather than having to come up with everything myself. I don't usually need or want fully statted adventures (obviously as I'm throwing out the published rules), but support material gives me ideas. I switched from D20 to nWoD because the freer rules fit the group of players better.
Quote:
We also noticed how nasty crits could be, with the big bad villain going from kicking ass to almost death with one particularly spectacular crit.
Yeah, it's a bit too random to be truly cinematic.... Extras can down the big hero just by getting lucky and you can't guarantee the big villain's survival for the main event if he gets involved in a combat. The fact that even chump guardsmen are really dangerous a few times in a hundred makes things tough to balance. The game could really use mook rules IMO.
Re: [RPG]: [Actual Play Week] Qin: The Warring States, reviewed by C.W.Richeson (3/3)
Quote:
Originally Posted by charmed_rpg
WA!? Style: 3 Substance: 3
Did we read the same game here??
what games would you give a 5 to?
According to the RPG.net database: AGON, Autumn Nightmares, Burning Empires, Changeling: The Lost, Deadlands: Reloaded, Delta Green, Dictionary of Mu, Eberron Campaign Setting, Exalted 2nd ed., Exalted: The Autochtonians, Faery's Tale, Lore of the Forsaken, Monte Cook's World of Darkness, M&M 2nd Ed. GM Screen, Og: Unearthed Edition, Player's Guide to Eberron, Predators, Primetime Adventures, Requiem for Rome, Scroll of the Monk, Sharn: City of Towers, Skinchangers, Spirit of the Century, The Compass of Celestial Directions Vol. 1: The Blessed Isle, The Manual of Exalted Power Dragon Blooded, The Manual of Exalted Power Lunars, Werewolf: the Forsaken, WoD: Asylum, and more.
Re: [RPG]: [Actual Play Week] Qin: The Warring States, reviewed by C.W.Richeson (3/3)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mechante_Anemone
According to the RPG.net database: AGON, Autumn Nightmares, Burning Empires, Changeling: The Lost, Deadlands: Reloaded, Delta Green, Dictionary of Mu, Eberron Campaign Setting, Exalted 2nd ed., Exalted: The Autochtonians, Faery's Tale, Lore of the Forsaken, Monte Cook's World of Darkness, M&M 2nd Ed. GM Screen, Og: Unearthed Edition, Player's Guide to Eberron, Predators, Primetime Adventures, Requiem for Rome, Scroll of the Monk, Sharn: City of Towers, Skinchangers, Spirit of the Century, The Compass of Celestial Directions Vol. 1: The Blessed Isle, The Manual of Exalted Power Dragon Blooded, The Manual of Exalted Power Lunars, Werewolf: the Forsaken, WoD: Asylum, and more.
Ebberon?!!, I'd give it a 2, a 3 max
most of the rest a 3 to 4 range
and a few like SotC and Faerys tale a 5
But Ebberon? you think Qin is 2 points less than that crapola ??!! lol
(Ebberon is sorta like a poor mans Iron Kingdoms, now that I'd give 5 )
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