Brancalonia is an RPG setting born of pure, unbridled passion | RPG Review
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- Опубликовано: 3 окт 2024
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this setting is so good it makes me wish italians were real
We can all dream of such a world...
"You can't buy passion." Wow, that's a great line to end on. That goes a long way to explaining why the corporations with the most resources often have the most bland and uninspired content.
Uninspired = diverse. It's because the think genuine stuff is when you mix everything together. They literally piss on different cultures.
You will buy the uninspired adventure modules
Suits only know how to profit by exploiting other people ideas sucking them dry and then moving on to someone else they buy off.
Look at BioWare or Blizzard. Look at what Microsoft is trying to do with Larian. They buy talent and then constrict it into their exploitative money making schemes until nothing but mediocrity is left
Millions of dollars means CEO's and a horde of Marketing ghouls who don't understand the product and base their decisions on spreadsheets, statistics and business policy trends which turns the main products into afterthoughts and planned obsolescences. Many people seem to think that there's a huge conspiracy but it's just business - you don't think about the product, you think about the profit and if you can distract form your shortcomings by pseudoideological blabber then that's the way to go, because it's cheap, after all you have to pay your PR Monkeys anyways.
@@hadeseye2297Bro why did you have to make it weird
"Ora et Thumpora" comes from the medieval saying that depicted the duties of a monk: Ora et labora, pray and work. So, Ora et Thumpora translates to "pray and whack people" 😆
As an italian viewer I have been waiting so long for this video. By now I guess Italian designers will be on your radar for the foreseeable future. Now that you are at it I suggest you another Italian rpg loosely based on 5e (and I say loosely because really at this point there is only the bones of DND). The game is Farsight a sci-fi rpg, or better, a game system and toolbox for running sci-fi campaigns using a ruleset that is both familiar to dnd players and new at the same time, the dice mechanic has been changed to a 2d12 system, the inspiration system has been improved (and I thought that was one of the best innovations 5E popularized), there is a whole section on ship-to-ship combat that involves all the party as crewmembers undertaking different roles, and last, for this short list at least, a whole chapter on creating planets and star systems that is based on current understanding of astrophysics as one of the authors has studied for that, from what I recollect. I am not affiliated to them in any way shape or form. I am just an enthusiastic kickstarter backer.
Farsight. I'll look for it. Thanks!
@@DaveThaumavore the setting manual was also recently released with additional rules and many adventures for the Horror, post Apocalyptic and cyberpunk genres. Is named Chronicles of the Edge
zio ma ti chiami davvero Giulio Giuliani? Unlucky
@@neem4138 mi tratterò dal fare una jojo reference 😂
@@neem4138 ognuno ha la sua croce 😁
the "short rest is 8 hours, long rest is a week" rule is not an innovation of brancalonia but an optional rule from the dungeon master's guide of 5e, witch seems like the less readed manual ever written .
Damn you sounded so smart until the very end there
It's about the difference between a basic rule and an optional rule and in this Setting there is actually proper consideration how to implement the long downtimes into the game, which as far as I remember the DMG lacks, which in turn explains why this optional rule is rarely adapted.
It's supposed to be less read because it's manual for DM and Players always outnumber DMs.
Also it's a dumb rule which only exist for balance reasons.
Narratively, long rest = going to bed and calling it a day and short rest = break/dinner time.
@@TheNemesis432 what do you mean narratively?
In Brancalonia, long rests can last 1/4 weeks and it's meant to be like: so, our job here Is done, Just get shitfaced until the next job
The crawslaw (the Monster made of differents vegetables and fruit) is a reference to the art of Giuseppe Arcimboldo, which drew portraits of people but made of veggies and fruit
reminded me of the villain in one of the later fantaghiro movies :)
This seems like the PERFECT setting for a Princess Bride campaign
Will you skip the kisses?
It would if you make the protagonist Inigo instead of Westley.
Yea, this book sounds so good that i even considered piracy to get it to my motherland
7:47 that's a reference about Bud Spencer who played Soldier of fortune, a medievel film about the challenge of Barletta
There is also "Porgi l'altra guancia" for the Monk.
9:54 The illustration of the brawling friar is clearly an homage to Bud Spencer and his role in the movie Porgi l'altra guancia, which literally translates to "Turn the other cheek." The English title of the movie is Two Missionaries.
Bud Spencer and Terence Hill are/were a popular duo starring in various Spaghetti Westerns and similar. The movies are usually comedy and action oriented, and the plot quickly turns into silly situations where the characters try to outwit each other, followed of course by all kinds of funny brawls.
"Spaghetti Fantasy" That's all I need to know, I'm sold
It's insane how 3rd party devs are putting so much love and thought into their materials but WOTC continues to dribble out the most appalling arse gravy.
(I hope there's an adaptation to another system one day as I'd love to support this developer. But I'm not supporting anything 5e in the long foreseeable)
Arse Gravy!!! hahah! Why not support these folks, none of the money goes to Hasbro?
@@samurguybriyongtan146 I COMPLETELY understand your point but I feel that supporting 5e in any way just helps WOTC in the long run by increasing the game's cultural relevance. Let's say I run a game for some newbies to the hobby, well now they their first introduction to the hobby is 5e and by extension D&D, which they will likely buy products from WOTC for. I'm being a bit pedantic! But it's a simple code for me to stick to till the day WOTC stops being muppets, if that ever happens.
(I have to credit watching Stephen Fry on QI for introducing me to the beautiful phrase that is arse gravy.)
@@therocketboost Well stated and just having a quick shorthand to save you mental bandwidth for more important RPG issues. Stephen Fry is a treasure!
Always a good day when Dave Thaumavore releases a new video
Dave Thaumavore is a national rpg treasure
Wow! I have never even heard of Brancalonia but it's now on my list. Thanks for the informative post and analysis - it's extremely helpful.
You began saying you were bedazzled and you video was up to the set expectations, leaving me bedazzled too. I simply couldn't stop watching and want it now!
( at 27:27 ) Varamengo is the set of letters that you could hear from a Venetian who tells you to go to hell. Written properly it would be "Va ramengo/remengo" where "Va" means 'go' and "Ramengo/Remengo" is a Venetian term which in Italian means "Ramingo", i.e. 'wanderer', 'strider', but also used in Venetian to indicate that a thing or situation has fallen into ruin or is rotten. To indicate that an object is ruined, we say "L'è andà a ramengo/remengo", literally translated as 'It's gone to ramengo/remengo'. It is also a term used, although rarely, to say that someone has gone wandering or that a boat is drifting without steering. Ramengòn/Remengòn is a derogatory variant, used less frequently.
I love the Puppeteer class from the Macaronicon, and having Gepetto and Mangiafuoco as subclasses.
Bravo, I absolutely love this! The setting gives me Italian WFRP whimsical vibes. Mille Grazie.
Paraghoul's type is Undead that means you cant be healed by most healing spells. Plus you can be affected by a lot of spells that no one usually cares about such as magic circle, hallow etc
Nop, paraghouls are esplicitely written to be healed by healing spells, though spells against undead work on them. Look at the red box of text nearby the paraghoul's pic.
Too cheesy? What kind parmagana, Mozzerella, romano?
Heyy!
Amazing review of an amazing product. Thank you! This video made me even more excited to get my hands on the German translation, which is currently in the works at "System Matters" (support your local publisher).
Even so, as I understood, the German translation will be even more light-hearted in tone as the original. The reason for that is: In Germany every movie gets dubbed. In case of many of the inspirational Italien movies of that era (if you are form Germany, I just say: Bud Spencer and Terrence Hill) got an intentional more tongue and cheek German dialog written for the dubbing (mainly to make it more appealing to the average viewer of the time). And the German publishers, System Matters, got the okay from Archeron to use the "Schnodderdeutsch" in their translation.
Really love the lore and flavor of all the subclasses, and I love that they thought to supplement ribbon/roleplay features with combat oriented ones. So many 3rd party creators fall into the trap of giving a class a really cool roleplay feature, but then it's not well rounded or fun to play because it doesn't do anything in combat. I love the 3rd level features of the College of Guappery Bard, with its' two thematically linked abilities at level 3 for in and out of combat.
And that's yet another TTRPG rule set that I must have, my wallet cries yet again.
I was sold as soon as you got to the race that was clearly inspired by Fezzik. Amazing.
Yeah, I should have made that connection in the video. Nice.
The Inspiration in this Case is more likely the italian actor Bud Spencer who always plays the part of the big guy who simply whacks his opponents away like flies
Damn, that really looks interesting! As always, great video! I love your reviews and always come to you first if I start a new TTRPG or look for one, because imo you do the best videos on them! A great mix of setting, rules and all around review!!
Thanks, Mario!
Lovely book to read but too bad it is using 5e rules.
Great video! It's really cool to see all the folklore settings brought to roleplay gaming, helping to keep them alive in the modern world.
"the art is quite nice"... man, it's better than anything the 5E manuals ever came out with
Also I don't know what's your problem with books that are... errr... well... to be read!
I kind of assumed the "blood" stains on the pages were actually wine, seems more appropriate.
it is... the story behind the stains is written on the first page ;)
Frankly, I feel bad for this setting. It feels like they really wanted to make a unique setting but cynically knew it'd be a flop if it wasn't a 5e supplement.
i agree, so many settings benefit from using a different system that isn't a swingy d20 with a super limited skill system/bounded accuracy. It still looks so cool tho
The Marionettes race sounds a lot like Electric Bastionland's Mockeries race.
the star wars references kind of ruined it
I think its Fork because in Italian is forchetta witch is misspelled word for little force, aluding to the Force so I think some of the jokes are lost in the traslation, same for Forca and Forza - fork and force.
That makes a ton of sense. Thank you!
"forca" in Italian also means "gallows", which I think it's the most fitting reference. In general I think the translators made a superb work in adapting Brancalonia to English, but even in the best translations there are always some little details that inevitably go lost, and this is one of them.
yes but the joke only works in English, not in Italian (perhaps using "forca" instead of "forchetta" but by "forca" we mean above all the gallows ) The setting is very beautiful and nice but I think that sometimes you exaggerate and become cheesy when you make jokes about food, certainly something that people Italians won't like it much
Looks good, but in the end it is still just D&D 5e, so a hard no for me.
I can understand why it was made for 5e since this is the most popular game at the moment, but its just not a good game. Its a good idea to stop at level 6 (kinda) but you still start at level 1 and 2 which suck and since its just subclasses this means we still have to deal with the boring base classes (non caster).
Too bad they did not use a sstem like Fabula Ultima (also italian) or something on their own fitting the world.
Reminds me of the old MMORPG dark age of Camelot. The game is set in a world where British folklore and legends are all true. King Arthur, Robin Hood, and Celtic fairies all exist in the same world at the same time.
There’s quite a lot of art that homages Bud Spencer spread through the books.
I immediatly thought of "Hector" the medieval Movie with Bud Spencer (i don't know the original title)
The tone of this setting is pretty close to the tone of most d&d games I've played in. I do wonder how difficult it is to convert the setting to an old school system.
I wanted to get the setting but there wasn't an OSE version
Well, not much. Brancalonia is awesome, BUT it feels the strain of being adapted for the 5e. Some subclasses are just there, without a link to the class(like the talismanic warlock and eresiarch sorcerer). Therefore, it would be quite easy to adapt to OSE with some reflavours, or Barbarians of Lemuria.
yeah i wish t here was a conversion for like savage worlds or something
@@skittlesilly Savage Worlds would be really good. That game can actually work well for a gritty fantasy game.
I kinda wish a company like Larian would license some of these amazing RPGs and adapt them for video games. I love the worlds and fantasy ideas they create, but having no friends and social anxiety…
I’ve thought about buying the books, and reading them just imagining the world, characters and stories on my own, or playing it solo, if that’s even possible. But Idk if that’s kinda sad.
EYO you know it's gotta be good when DT has to apply the word "Bedazzled" Lol
Thx again for insightful, in depth and interesting review!
It took me a while to get in to this setting. But after reading it all again and running two one-shots, I love it :D Cool video covering this excellent third party product. One thing that I still find difficult is coming up with good adventures for this setting. I default back to the usual heroic adventure styles :-p
so many things to play, zero friends to play them with
Nice video. I remember this Kickstarter and thinking what a shame something so awesome was being wasted on 5E. Looks fantastic otherwise though
I had some rough idea what this setting might be about but seeing Bud Spencer on the tenth page pretty much cemented it.
As an italian, I'm literally WHEEZING because of @16:16 that was so unbelievably unexpected!
Fork Lightning? That's just what teenagers in highschool do for fun with toasters and outlets.
Seriously though the fork puns made me laugh way too much, because I just took them literally. Like I imagine fork choke just materializes a fork in someone's throat and all I could think of was the meme with squidward choking on a spoon and I was laughing my ass off.
Oh man, this looks amazing! I really want to try this setting now
Not in a good spot to back this but I did spend some time agonizing over whether I could afford to pick these up. Hopefully they'll be available for purchase when my finances settle down a bit.
Does it have anything to do with the movie "L'armata Brancaleone"? I absolutely love that movie.
I love a good pun, but I'm not sure the campaign book is up my alley. Regardless, I do indeed respect the fact that they went ALL in on a complete book of punny, SW inspired adventures.
I'm not a 5e player/GM, but the rule changes and additions are definitely something I'd look into adapting for other systems.
As usual, thanks for the great, fair review!
So, they fixed the lack of higher level playtesting and crap balance in 5e by stopping it at 6th level. Kinda brilliant.
Well, not touching anything 5e now until Tales of the Valiant is in my hands, so for once, no threat of your review costing me money! Ha!
That said, sounds interesting, and I might have to take a look when ToV drops. I was thinking of running Tal'Dorei Reborn with ToV, but this might be in the running then.
I don't think this is the reason: in a setting like this they didn't want warriors so powerful that they could defeat an entire garrison of guards, wizards who cast spells that can vaporize a building, clerics who perform very powerful miracles and things like that. It's simply a way to represent a low magic setting.
12:35 So they took the Epic 6 Hack for 3e and brought it over to 5e? That's really interesting.
I grabbed the quickstart for this when I first heard of it, because I'm always interested in RPG material exploring the motherland. But I haven't really had time to dig into it. This really inspires me to make time for a deeper dive. Thanks for the video!
Yes, is E6 for 5e with a lot of other nice ideas.
A whole lot of this sounds like it's a copycat of the concept for Kata Kumbas, a really genius RPG game made in Italy in the 80's, which was set in a fantasy version of medieval Italy and was full of puns, and scoundrels and food and so on. It had strange rules, though, and it remained a niche product. It was remade years later with Savage Worlds rules and it is quite nice, but again I guess it couldn't get out of its niche. It doesn't have an English translation, I'm afraid, but if you understand some Italian please chek those two manuals out because they are really inspiring
Well, they actually quoted in interviews that Kata Kumbas was one of the inspirations. While the setting and premise are slightly different, the tones are similar, but the rule system is far less atrocious.
@@federerlkonig330 I didn't know they quoted it: nice to know. Yes the first system for Kata Kumbas was... peculiar, but nonetheless I'd really like to try it out, stuff like the summoning could be truly game changing (meaning you'd have to really change the way you approach the game to be able to have any progress). The second Kata Kumbas system though is just Savage Worlds, I don't think it's atrocious at all (I was never able to play either, unfortunately, but I have played a campaign with SWADE rules and I truly like it)
I think you're too used to the D&D stat give and take; when describing the paraghoul you say "You do lose one point of intelligence but gain two points in any other stat." It's actually increase intelligence by 1 and increase two others, so plus 3 in total.
You're right. I misread it.
It's a good setting, the problem is DD5e just doesn't work well with the ideas of playing Knaves in Brancalonia
macaronicon? that sounds deliciously expansive
wew...I looked up one of those comics they mentioned, and i had forgotten how uh...risque european comics can be.
This looks impressive. Thanks for sharing - I've never heard of the game/setting.
This is great regardless, but if you happen to be Italian the amount of fun you can have just with the various regional accents and stereotypes would by itself make it hilarious.
I gotta buy this man...
I get why they made it for 5E but I so wish it was a Pathfinder 2E setting. That said, it looks like it changes almost enough to not feel like 5E. Sadly I'm the only lore fiend I know so I'd never get to run or play this as I wouldn't want to unless everyone at the table actually enjoyed reading the stuff. But I might pick it up at some point anyway.
they should be paying you to sell this setting. damn good video
"lazy swindler, lowlife scoundrel, listless dabbler" basically Italian XD ;) Impressive Game, Hope to play it next year.
So, it's basically En Garde, but as an RPG setting. I dig it!
I think Brancalonia is a great way for a foreigner to have a better understanding of italian culture both recent and old, the references have some movies that deserve to be watched.
the rolliking system seems like warhammer fantasy
I respect the fuck out of just making your setting map Italy., but mirrored.
Thank you for this video. It helped me discover Brancalonia. I've also backed the Kickstarter because of it.
I love their level cap at 6th lvl. It fixes or better said, it ignores what sucks at dnd
Yeah I agree. Really good rules tweak.
D&d meets Fantaghiro and Decameron 😁
I just found about this maybe 3 weeks ago. I have since bought ALL the BranCalonia stuff. 5E is a great system but bloated. Acheron games have shown us how you can focus the game and make it incredibly elegant.
Agreed. They really whipped the 5e system into shape with a few elegant tweaks.
@@DaveThaumavore DnD Beyond and 5e2e need to be tools for DMs and players to be able to do this.
@@DaveThaumavore I've ran two one-shots for Brancalonia, but not sure how you think it focusses 5e to be honest? EDIT: Ah, you mention it in your video :-) Guess you'll experience those changes more when running a few adventures in succession.
i think i would love a Battlebrothers style game set in Brancalonia
I’ve wondered with these adaptations from 5e - how much of 5e do you already have to know?
Like, could you pick this up, or Inferno, and be able to use it without having to have a DnD5e rule book as well?
They do require knowledge of the core D&D 5e rules, but you can officially get those for free online because the rules are now Creative Commons. Here's a link to the official document:
media.wizards.com/2023/downloads/dnd/SRD_CC_v5.1.pdf
Wow. Excellent review, of a game that looks pretty amazing (although I might just leave all that "fork" out. Lol). This, and that Inferno setting that you also reviewed, seem to be associated closely with each other...
looks great but 5th ed mostly kills it for me , still even then tempted
Weirdly I almost didn't even notice it was keyed to 5e when I read through all the books. I was just entranced by the setting information.
@DaveThaumavore good to know, maybe I'll get core book for my collection and see if I want the rest
That's a good approach.@@JamesTillmanjimthegray
Excellent deep dive once again, what great find and how brilliantly presented. Thanks a bunch.
I ended up buying this just out of morbid curiosity, and it genuinely makes me want to play 5E again.
IMHO, it gives 5E something it’s sorely lacking; focus and consistency.
9:58 clearly Bud Spencer!
I cant wait for a feat with some polish, french, spanish, swiss, british, german (and so on) group to have a collection of european country based handbooks!!!😍
People have already commented on the Bud Spencer and Terence Hill movies, but non-lethal brawls are definitely coming from their movies
I wish they released it for some other system.
Bretonnia lore and world building if it was good.
What's the music at the end? Love it!
I want to know more about these brawl rules; I like the idea of a bit of a narratively tiered combat system, where you have combats that are a bit lighter fare, and don't have to be about death being on the line.
My pile of shame grows. I mean I can finish Pendragon, the One Ring, and Dragonbane campaigns before fulfillment October 2024, right?
Campaigns? I don't know about that. Can you read those books thoroughly and enjoy them in that capacity? Absolutely!
Definitely looks like a neat product! Might even be worth all the work it would take to play it with something other than 5e.
100%
@@DaveThaumavore it seems like a never ending barrage of clever jokes I certainly would not be able to put together myself. Amazing for a tongue in cheek campaign that doesn't take itself too seriously.
Yeah, I was thinking of converting it to Savage Worlds.
Ok... Im sold. A Gentlemen bastards campaign would be so simple within this framework.
really appreciate you doing these - ty : )
This is impressive. Being of Italian ancestry, it is nice to see an Italian-influenced fantasy setting. I wonder if this could be adapted or backported to DND 3.x or Pathfinder.
Ah, yes, the 5e Italian Italian fantasy setting
I think I'll be ok without it. I already have Milton's Knave on the way and the PDF has been doing a great job. Also, wallet is kind o flight and shelf space is very limited.
Curse you, Thaumavore! I, too, kinda glossed over this despite backing Inferno and Apocalisse, and now I've backed the KS at a digital all-in.
You recognize quality.
Italy MENTIONED 🇮🇹🇮🇹🇮🇹💪💪
BRANCA BRANCA BRANCA!!!!!
Is the movie in the list of influences?
@@samurguybriyongtan146i think so!!
LEON LEON LEON!!!
@@samurguybriyongtan146 Definitely. There are also illustrations that pay homage to the Gassman in particular.
I was sold the moment I saw the illustration of the giant monk Bud Spencer eating beans.
The advancement rules sound a lot like the idea behind the D&D 3e E6 variant rules. I've been itching to rjn a campaign using E6, I think I'll pick this up and try a short campaign in Brancalonia.
Great review!
I like the setting but the cringy Star Wars parts I’m going to throw out if I run it
Polenta monster 10/10!
Have you checked out 7th Sea? If you like pirates, I highly recommend.
I haven’t yet but definitely heard of it many times.
Correction: "ora et thumpora" translates to "pray and punch"
a play on the Latin Rule of St Benedict: Ora et Labora “To pray and work” More obscure puns!
@21:53 the infinity gauntlet reference...