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2018/12/02 18:58:10
Subject: Re:[Kings of War] Mantic Fantasy News & Rumors- Vanguard (Skirmish)
That's interesting, I own and have read the Conan RPG book and I think the system looks great! Mechanically I like it and I thought they did a good job of capturing the feel of Hyboria. I'm interested to see what this looks like!
2018/12/02 19:02:22
Subject: Re:[Kings of War] Mantic Fantasy News & Rumors- Vanguard (Skirmish)
To be honest, any generic RPG can work with Mantic's world, since it's so generic itself.
But it's true it's the last piece of the puzzle in KoW's setting - we have a skirmish game, a massive battle game, a dungeon crawler game...the RPG is gonna use all this material all the better, for sure. It's also an opportunity to truly dig the background and give life to the people inhabiting Mantica. To me, more than the rules themselves, that's what this can really bring for KoW in its whole. I expect some scenarios and stuff....okay, I'm more hoping than anything.
Just to be sure, it's not a Kickstarter, right ?
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/12/02 19:03:53
2018/12/02 19:29:04
Subject: [Kings of War] Mantic Fantasy News & Rumors- Vanguard (Skirmish)
But it's true it's the last piece of the puzzle in KoW's setting - we have a skirmish game, a massive battle game, a dungeon crawler game...the RPG is gonna use all this material all the better, for sure. It's also an opportunity to truly dig the background and give life to the people inhabiting Mantica. To me, more than the rules themselves, that's what this can really bring for KoW in its whole.
On this we agree. I also look forward to the CL Werner novel and the next Adventure Game Book. They should do wonders to give Mantica more of an identity.
Why?
They have quite a bit of Fluff in the different Rulebooks already. Had two major narrative Campaigns(Destiny of Kings, Edge of Abyss) and a minor one (Hellfire and Stone).
2 Books (Bloodstone of Cerillion /Eye of the Abyss) with more in the pipeline. a "choose your own adventure"-Gamebook, another one coming.
Tons of Artwork through Dungeonsaga. It's (insane how many RPG-worthy-Illustration they have on the cards for items,Skills and locations which are basicly unused.
Tons of Fanfiction(look at the ironwatch), even though that is no asset a developer would use directly. The ideas and Inspirations are still there.
Specialist-writers on hand: just look at the Warpath Scourcebook as an example.
What else is needed?
I m no RPG guy myself but a fluffmonkey. A Scourcebook/RPG-Worldbook for Mantica would be very much apreciated by me.
PS: I wonder if the city overview of the golden horn in the vangaurd rulebook was/is meant for the RPG. That is definitly a new Artwork and wasn t really necessary in the book...
This message was edited 8 times. Last update was at 2018/12/03 20:51:25
2018/12/05 08:35:22
Subject: Re:[Kings of War] Mantic Fantasy News & Rumors- Vanguard (Skirmish)
daisuke serizawa wrote: Why?
They have quite a bit of Fluff in the different Rulebooks already. Had two major narrative Campaigns(Destiny of Kings, Edge of Abyss) and a minor one (Hellfire and Stone).
2 Books (Bloodstone of Cerillion /Eye of the Abyss) with more in the pipeline. a "choose your own adventure"-Gamebook, another one coming.
Tons of Artwork through Dungeonsaga. It's (insane how many RPG-worthy-Illustration they have on the cards for items,Skills and locations which are basicly unused.
Tons of Fanfiction(look at the ironwatch), even though that is no asset a developer would use directly. The ideas and Inspirations are still there.
Specialist-writers on hand: just look at the Warpath Scourcebook as an example.
What else is needed?
A sourcebook like the one in Warpath would be nice. We have started to see some smattering of KoW fluff as you mentioned, but the setting is still quite generic and I would have no idea how to DM a game in Mantica without freestyling heavily. In my mind you establish the setting, then you release your rpg.
2018/12/05 08:47:46
Subject: [Kings of War] Mantic Fantasy News & Rumors- Vanguard (Skirmish)
This is some advance warning that these forums will be closing shortly. The last day will be the 17th December 2018. We have noticed over the past couple of years that traffic on the forum and regular users have both decreased. As a result we’ve taken the difficult decision to close the forums. We’ll still be able to answer rules questions via social media and we’ll produce articles on the Mantic Blog too.
Many thanks to all of you for your contributions and conversations on the pages here. Special thanks are extended to the moderators who have kept things ticking over for us in the background.
If there is any content you wish to keep, please download and save it before the final closing date.
Just in case anybody uses them occasionally and hasn't noticed (like me) the Mantic Forums are set to close permanently on 17th December
although if they hadn't had a long period when you couldn't get access to them because of various software issues and host changes I wouldn't have got out of the habit of doing so
2018/12/06 16:09:32
Subject: [Kings of War] Mantic Fantasy News & Rumors- Vanguard (Skirmish)
Yeah that long forum down time killed them dead, everyone who had been using the forums temporarily shifted to facebook groups, and then stayed there permanently
although if they hadn't had a long period when you couldn't get access to them because of various software issues and host changes I wouldn't have got out of the habit of doing so
Very, very much this.
It both didn't consider me registered and wouldn't let me register because I was already registered....
The Auld Grump
Kilkrazy wrote:When I was a young boy all my wargames were narratively based because I played with my toy soldiers and vehicles without the use of any rules.
The reason I bought rules and became a real wargamer was because I wanted a properly thought out structure to govern the action instead of just making things up as I went along.
2018/12/06 17:56:45
Subject: [Kings of War] Mantic Fantasy News & Rumors- Vanguard (Skirmish)
NTRabbit wrote: Yeah that long forum down time killed them dead, everyone who had been using the forums temporarily shifted to facebook groups, and then stayed there permanently
And the guys from Mantic themselves did not bother to respond or post on the forum, driving away those that were left.
So for everyone who doesn't want to use Facebook, Mantic community interaction is dead by now
PS: and there are people who actively try to kill Mantic related social media communities outside of FB, making the closing of the official forum a lot worse for non FB people as it seems
Harry, bring this ring to Narnia or the Sith will take the Enterprise
2018/12/06 18:37:47
Subject: Re:[Kings of War] Mantic Fantasy News & Rumors- Vanguard (Skirmish)
The Conan 2d20 RPG has three big flaws. The first is that armor in combat doesn't work. At best it can stop 4 pts. of damage (not counting shield soak dice). Players can easily make a character that puts out 13 pts of damage and pierces 4 pts of armor. That murders most things in game. Second, Magic is not well defined at all. The momentum needed to cast a spell that does damage equal to a melee attack is far more, and the difficulty level will be d4-d5. Why would anyone learn magic when it is so inferior? Finally, there are no lists of magic items and very little you can buy, so one of the prime motivations of dungeon delving is missing. On the plus side, the way you learn skills and create characters in pretty cool. I think it needs a rewrite with a more clearly defined magic system, a section on magic items and cool things to spend your money on, and a rework of the combat rules so armor is a factor. Maybe they will have that in the KOWRPG and I can just import it to my Conan games.
2018/12/06 18:41:07
Subject: [Kings of War] Mantic Fantasy News & Rumors- Vanguard (Skirmish)
Smellingsalts wrote: The Conan 2d20 RPG has three big flaws. The first is that armor in combat doesn't work. At best it can stop 4 pts. of damage (not counting shield soak dice). Players can easily make a character that puts out 13 pts of damage and pierces 4 pts of armor. That murders most things in game. Second, Magic is not well defined at all. The momentum needed to cast a spell that does damage equal to a melee attack is far more, and the difficulty level will be d4-d5. Why would anyone learn magic when it is so inferior? Finally, there are no lists of magic items and very little you can buy, so one of the prime motivations of dungeon delving is missing. On the plus side, the way you learn skills and create characters in pretty cool. I think it needs a rewrite with a more clearly defined magic system, a section on magic items and cool things to spend your money on, and a rework of the combat rules so armor is a factor. Maybe they will have that in the KOWRPG and I can just import it to my Conan games.
That sounds pretty faithful to the Conan universe
2018/12/06 20:03:26
Subject: [Kings of War] Mantic Fantasy News & Rumors- Vanguard (Skirmish)
Magic items in REH Conan were almost nonexistent. What appeared, and rarely, were (in D&D terms) "artifacts", which were powerful, but narrowly focused. The Heart of Ahriman from The Hour of the Dragon is one such.
As for otherworldly creatures, the usual rule was that if it manifested in the Hyborian world, it could be killed by physical means. Conan might have to go out of his way to fulfill the conditions (once he had to hurl a lighted silver chandlier to meet the "silver and fire" requirement, trapping the demon underneath), but they could be killed. REH was not always consistent: in The Phoenix on the Sword the aforementioned engraved Phoenix was needed to kill the demon, which had been placed there magically just before the assassination attempt.
Mysterio wrote: It's been a while since I've read the REH Conan stories, but I don't remember there being a lot of magic items about.
And most otherworldly creatures didn't need magic items it order to be battled/harmed?
Smellingsalts wrote: The Conan 2d20 RPG has three big flaws. The first is that armor in combat doesn't work. At best it can stop 4 pts. of damage (not counting shield soak dice). Players can easily make a character that puts out 13 pts of damage and pierces 4 pts of armor. That murders most things in game. Second, Magic is not well defined at all. The momentum needed to cast a spell that does damage equal to a melee attack is far more, and the difficulty level will be d4-d5. Why would anyone learn magic when it is so inferior? Finally, there are no lists of magic items and very little you can buy, so one of the prime motivations of dungeon delving is missing. On the plus side, the way you learn skills and create characters in pretty cool. I think it needs a rewrite with a more clearly defined magic system, a section on magic items and cool things to spend your money on, and a rework of the combat rules so armor is a factor. Maybe they will have that in the KOWRPG and I can just import it to my Conan games.
1) This is intentional. The designers wanted combat to be quick and deadly. Infinity, which uses the same base 2d20, has it's damage scaled back. Add 13 is the low end of player damage hit easily. My group was in the high teens with several in the 20's without much effort. It real flaw was you couldn't really make a tough single enemy boss fight without really playing around but even D&D has long been plagued by that. Armor is more for the players while the NPC stats to protected against a crappy role and to give you info on what armor players can scavenge since a core mechanic is players sacrificing armor to prevent life loss penalties.
2) Magic can be very powerful, but in terms of straight damage it was the middle road. You don't need to kill people to take out a group. I will agree the rules aren't written the clearest which is why Modiphius put out a spell casting FAQ based off of the most common questions. That cleared up a lot of confusion. But the magic system for Conan was unique to conan and not intended for an SRD (which I know they're working on and hopefully release) as each setting they have the tailor it to feel like the source (just like damage in infinity).
3) This was address by others. Conan is a Sword and Sorcery setting. Low magic. And the most basic of a D&D magic item would be crazy rare and worth a fortune. Again this is setting specific and not core to 2d20.
2018/12/06 20:47:50
Subject: [Kings of War] Mantic Fantasy News & Rumors- Vanguard (Skirmish)
although if they hadn't had a long period when you couldn't get access to them because of various software issues and host changes I wouldn't have got out of the habit of doing so
Yep. I started using them (or trying to) just as they became a total mess due to software issues and whatnot. Then they went down and I never went back.
Smellingsalts wrote: The Conan 2d20 RPG has three big flaws. The first is that armor in combat doesn't work. At best it can stop 4 pts. of damage (not counting shield soak dice). Players can easily make a character that puts out 13 pts of damage and pierces 4 pts of armor. That murders most things in game. Second, Magic is not well defined at all. The momentum needed to cast a spell that does damage equal to a melee attack is far more, and the difficulty level will be d4-d5. Why would anyone learn magic when it is so inferior? Finally, there are no lists of magic items and very little you can buy, so one of the prime motivations of dungeon delving is missing. On the plus side, the way you learn skills and create characters in pretty cool. I think it needs a rewrite with a more clearly defined magic system, a section on magic items and cool things to spend your money on, and a rework of the combat rules so armor is a factor. Maybe they will have that in the KOWRPG and I can just import it to my Conan games.
1) This is intentional. The designers wanted combat to be quick and deadly. Infinity, which uses the same base 2d20, has it's damage scaled back. Add 13 is the low end of player damage hit easily. My group was in the high teens with several in the 20's without much effort. It real flaw was you couldn't really make a tough single enemy boss fight without really playing around but even D&D has long been plagued by that. Armor is more for the players while the NPC stats to protected against a crappy role and to give you info on what armor players can scavenge since a core mechanic is players sacrificing armor to prevent life loss penalties.
2) Magic can be very powerful, but in terms of straight damage it was the middle road. You don't need to kill people to take out a group. I will agree the rules aren't written the clearest which is why Modiphius put out a spell casting FAQ based off of the most common questions. That cleared up a lot of confusion. But the magic system for Conan was unique to conan and not intended for an SRD (which I know they're working on and hopefully release) as each setting they have the tailor it to feel like the source (just like damage in infinity).
3) This was address by others. Conan is a Sword and Sorcery setting. Low magic. And the most basic of a D&D magic item would be crazy rare and worth a fortune. Again this is setting specific and not core to 2d20.
Honestly, I had more fun with the Mongoose D20 version.
But then I was focusing on some of the mass combat for the campaign that I was running in D20, not just the minor in character conflicts. Mongoose had a fairly nifty mass combat system for the game that was D20 compatible.
Armor in the 2D20 system version... sorry, the crappy armor system might have been intentional - but it was still crappy. You can be fun, or you can be realistic - it managed to be neither. It felt more like a punishment for player characters that wanted to wear armor than a reward for unarmored characters.
BUT - the reason I went in on the KS was that it included the Mongoose version and its supplements as well - while I do not much like the new system, I cannot argue that they did not give value for money. So, the company is still getting a thumbs up from me.
*EDIT* I will admit that the mental image of Conan doing battle with Mantic's new giant is entertaining... and I would put money on the Cimmerian. (Problem is that so would everyone else... the only way the giant could win is if they both knew about the betting beforehand, and Conan throws the fight for the lion's share of the wagers....)
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/12/06 22:27:00
Kilkrazy wrote:When I was a young boy all my wargames were narratively based because I played with my toy soldiers and vehicles without the use of any rules.
The reason I bought rules and became a real wargamer was because I wanted a properly thought out structure to govern the action instead of just making things up as I went along.
2018/12/07 05:22:04
Subject: [Kings of War] Mantic Fantasy News & Rumors- Vanguard (Skirmish)
PS: and there are people who actively try to kill Mantic related social media communities outside of FB, making the closing of the official forum a lot worse for non FB people as it seems
Who, why and how?
Is it pro-Mantic trying to redirect, anti-Mantic being toxic or something else entirely?
Genuinely curious.
2018/12/07 09:15:35
Subject: [Kings of War] Mantic Fantasy News & Rumors- Vanguard (Skirmish)
Who, why and how?
Is it pro-Mantic trying to redirect, anti-Mantic being toxic or something else entirely?
Genuinely curious.
Pro Mantic trying to redirect
got told that the RC answered some rules questions on FB, aksed if they could copy&paste the answers over, was told to go to FB to look for myself, told them that I am not on FB the answer was that only pedophiles who are banned from FB are not using the Mantic FB groups and if I want the RC answers somewhere else I should do it on my own
Harry, bring this ring to Narnia or the Sith will take the Enterprise
2018/12/07 10:46:40
Subject: [Kings of War] Mantic Fantasy News & Rumors- Vanguard (Skirmish)
Wow, as someone who is also not on Facebook and don't wish to be, I feel your pain, and I will also miss the official forums.
I wish that Mantic would at least keep a read only archive or similar, so much informations are on those forums that it will be a shame to see them disappear.
2018/12/07 12:05:54
Subject: [Kings of War] Mantic Fantasy News & Rumors- Vanguard (Skirmish)
While forums may be going out of fashion, having a non-mobile friendly, really buggy and way to split up forum did mantic no favors in keeping it alive.
Someone on dakka should take note about the mobile friendly-ness
