Anyone tried the game with non-forumites?

[Stempest]

Wondering if anyone has tried running the game for a group that isn't made up of "the faithful"?

I've considered it, and kind of floated the idea with my current group who generally appreciate the simpler, faster playing games (we currently play and enjoy Savage Worlds), but worry that the decisions in combat might be too much for them.

It's a bit of an interesting system, in a way, in the sense that outside of combat, the rules are actually quite simple and streamlined and able to cover a huge amount of ground, but then the combat rules are somewhat the opposite, taking a paragraph or two (or more) to describe a single type of sword swing. It goes without saying that it wouldn't be a Riddle of Steel successor without such a focus, of course, but it does make it somewhat trickier for me to get my group in.

I'm thinking of introducing the combat elements slowly, starting with just basic maneuvers and then working up to the more advanced stuff. That might work.

[higgins]

I have.

My advice is to build up the whole situation, setting and crew so that the focus is primarily on ranged combat. As they get the used to the dividing of dice pools, you can add simpler melee elements as things progress. That allows you to push for more melee as people get into it, or, tone it back if they're not, without the whole game breaking down.

It's solid advice that I've seen work in practice, but for your group, it seems to be spot on, as I'm sure you've probably been using the randomized "card deck initiative". So, they've already accustomed to the "initiative" being somewhat chaotic. Now they simply need to remember that Sequence is "SW-like initiative with dice instead of cards" and that we use the world Initiative for something else... which should lessen the learning curve considerably.

[dra]

Wondering if anyone has tried running the game for a group that isn't made up of "the faithful"?

I'm thinking of introducing the combat elements slowly, starting with just basic maneuvers and then working up to the more advanced stuff. That might work.

That's how I introduced new players to tros, blade or bob. Basic combat with few avarage pieces of eqipment can be very exciting for many game sessions anyhows. And when players understand basics well, I introduce exotic equipment and cool manouvers, mainly tweaking them to particular opponents or disccusing manouver before session and encorauging players to use them.

[Agamemnon]

That's the traditional way to introduce the game, and how I wound up doing the same with my own group. You can get a surprising amount of mileage out of the basic maneuvers, even more so now that we've designed that to be the default system.

I've also found that limiting weapons/armor at first is handy. Setting things in a "dark ages" or crusader setting dramatically reduces the amount of equipment you need to juggle for first time players.

[Kane]

I’ll be starting my game this week - running the Bastards Beta. My group has never played anything in the Riddle family; we bought the RoS book 15 years ago, but never used it. For me it was always too dense, over detailed, and book-keepy. BoB/SoS, by comparison, seems the perfect blend of complexity, functionality, and elegance. I’m honestly highly impressed with it - with the proviso I’ve yet to play it. The fact it’s as complete as it is, despite being a beta, is frankly staggering.

I’m going to start an in media res battle, gradually exposing the complexity of combat. I’ll be writing the maneuvers on blank playing cards, so I can introduce them one at a time.

The setting will be that of a MacBethian bloody Civil War (in a pseudo Scotland), with outsider “Orks” (as sun-hating cave dwellers, akin to tribal Neanderthals) thrown into the mix. Both players have chosen to play as Orks in a mercenary company fighting for one side in the war.

I’m looking forward to giving it a shot, as I’ve been reading, thinking, and preparing for months. I tried Runequest 6 a couple of years ago, and though I liked parts of it a lot, it wasn’t without significant problems. It also missed the realism mark in a number of ways, to me.

I have high hopes that Band of Bastards will prove to be the perfect system for emulating gritty fantasy/history.

[Tacey]

How did you Bastards Beta go, Kane? I always wanted to try it, but I feel the same as you do. It feels overly complicated.

[thorgarth]

I have high hopes that Band of Bastards will prove to be the perfect system for emulating gritty fantasy/history.

Why BoB and not S&S? Was this before the first release of S&S or do you prefer the 1st ruleset?