I cut my teeth of the first edition and there is a lot there that really worked for me. When I first read the 2nd edition rules I was put off because it was quite different. Its taken a few years now to revisit this edition and I'm really enjoying it thus far. I like the way characters build story, how they resolve conflict and problem solve. Back in first, tackling a brute squad could take 2-5 turns to defeat, now it can be done with enough raises, based on any skill (not just fighting) and has a really cinematic feel to it. Watching back movies like the musketeers, those guys are big heroes. They're not slowed down by anyone they face unless it works for the story. Im watching the starter kit lets play right now and converting, what I remember of my two first edition characters to 2nd
Absolutely intrigued by your review, because of this; not only did you sell me on picking this up within the week, but you have also earned my subscription!!! Keep up your enthusiasm and content, can’t wait to see what the future holds!!!🇮🇪🍻🇮🇪
This is a great video. You certainly mentioned the most relevant highlights of.the game. I played a year long adventure and found the game to be incredible fun and súper exciting for storytelling. Man, when a villain came in a.scene, you could feel the tension in the players side. One thing you guys mention that I think is super interesting is the hit points aspect. Dying is almost imposible except for the villains actions. The players get so creative when they know it will be hard to die. But at the same time, the most interesting aspect is that at first I thought that it could get boring for the players not having that consistent threat of dying from hit points loss, but it actually worked really well, as the players never took for granted that they would continue battling only minions and instead, were always careful of keeping their health up in case a villain showed up. This lead to some extremely creative actions in their part that certainly made this game stand out from all the games we have played.
working on my first session as a GM atm. Having played this game as a player, where it was my first ever roleplaying game like this, I loved it. if u love pirates, u are gonna find ur RP here
I checked out 7th Sea out of a whim of curiosity. I've been trying to get more story-centric games going with my group and to check out a variety of them. Call of Cthulhu was an immediate thought, though I'd never run it before. I was beaten to the punch by the other GM in the group... though it didn't go over very well. It was an original story he made up, but it was based off one of the Warhammer factions/species... and then set in 1920 Boston. The setting itself was great and we all enjoyed the RP and investigation. But then we had two combats and both were awful because of how cumbersome the combat it (and also a combination of being fully new to that game's combat as well as the GM switching to more "hardcore" combat approaches for what was supposed to be unfathomable aliens but felt like wargame-monsters being exceedingly action-efficient and 100% focused on damage output with very little narrative integration. Bad combo for that system. It's going to take some real cajoling on my part to get another CofC game going (though I'd want to start with a published scenario). I also looked into Runequest which genuinely intrigues me as game which can fill the D&D niche while also being about character and story and RP rather than being based so narrowly on combat and cartoonish characters. 7th Sea, however, is far more of a narrative-first kind of game with what appears to be quite flexible and lightweight mechanics as well as a fantastic glut of setting and theme/style content. I love that it's a far more grounded setting but it still has room for magic (which is a great fit for its setting and mood) as well as monsters (but they are generally uncommon if not just really rare). I've been running a Forged in the Dark game, and I quite like it, but I think that whenever we hit a wrap up point I'm going to make as good a case as possible for us to try out 7th Sea. My main concern, though, is that I've discovered my players are not the best at making proactive characters. We had our semi-weekly session earlier today and I had a sort of Session 0-B to revisit character goals and drives. And while I eventually got some sort of character motivators for most of them (things their character cares about and will pursue/avoid) one seemed to just not be into it. I pushed a bit but eventually relented. But I did at one point let slip out that if I as the GM wasn't forcing your characters to act -- having danger seek them out -- that "I think all of these characters are done... like, their stories were finished before character creation." But for that last player/character I asked "if left to his own devices -- if I as GM wasn't throwing story at your character -- what would be be doing, what adventures or trouble would he get into? What does he want, what drives him to act" and I got a long-winded response of "he wouldn't be doing anything." I rephrased that a couple ways, such as having the player try to think of his characters as the main character in a story, and still got the same basic answer. He'd just find a place to live and chill and avoid anything that might make for an interesting story. Not to say that isn't a valid character choice, but it's also the default one for the group, which means it is almost 100% up to me to keep the game interesting and to somewhat-railroad the characters into positions where they have to make a decision. So, anyway, a system that is meant to encourage players to be an active part of the game, rather than just completely reactive to immediate threats and be otherwise passive, are not the best fit for some of my current players. I'm trying to get them away from D&D and they are happy to try new things, but they clearly want to be more of a passive audience who get to sometimes roll dice rather than main characters affecting change in the world around them.
@@ReallyDicey Been running a 1st ed game over google hangouts for a few friends (including one of my 7th Sea Origins GM) for about a half a year now. :)
I wish I could join a game to play as a player before running one myself. I have most of the books, but I feel after years playing DnD, to jump into a new system requires practice playing. Do you have any reliable websites or discord servers I can look for to play 7thsea campaigns? I'm only super cautious after some DnD horror stories.
That's tough to answer. Personally I like looking at different editions and afterwards, picking and choosing what works better. If you are comfortable with 1st Edition, definitely stay the course. I would say purchase the 2nd Edition corebook as a pdf, and if it peaks your interests, you can collect the print version afterwards.
Thank you for the kind words!
I was on the fence and this video helped me decided to buy the system thank you kindly!
Excellent!!!
I cut my teeth of the first edition and there is a lot there that really worked for me. When I first read the 2nd edition rules I was put off because it was quite different. Its taken a few years now to revisit this edition and I'm really enjoying it thus far. I like the way characters build story, how they resolve conflict and problem solve.
Back in first, tackling a brute squad could take 2-5 turns to defeat, now it can be done with enough raises, based on any skill (not just fighting) and has a really cinematic feel to it. Watching back movies like the musketeers, those guys are big heroes. They're not slowed down by anyone they face unless it works for the story. Im watching the starter kit lets play right now and converting, what I remember of my two first edition characters to 2nd
Absolutely intrigued by your review, because of this; not only did you sell me on picking this up within the week, but you have also earned my subscription!!! Keep up your enthusiasm and content, can’t wait to see what the future holds!!!🇮🇪🍻🇮🇪
Awesome and thank you!
This is a great video. You certainly mentioned the most relevant highlights of.the game. I played a year long adventure and found the game to be incredible fun and súper exciting for storytelling. Man, when a villain came in a.scene, you could feel the tension in the players side.
One thing you guys mention that I think is super interesting is the hit points aspect. Dying is almost imposible except for the villains actions. The players get so creative when they know it will be hard to die. But at the same time, the most interesting aspect is that at first I thought that it could get boring for the players not having that consistent threat of dying from hit points loss, but it actually worked really well, as the players never took for granted that they would continue battling only minions and instead, were always careful of keeping their health up in case a villain showed up. This lead to some extremely creative actions in their part that certainly made this game stand out from all the games we have played.
working on my first session as a GM atm. Having played this game as a player, where it was my first ever roleplaying game like this, I loved it. if u love pirates, u are gonna find ur RP here
This has been on my "to play" list for awhile!
I checked out 7th Sea out of a whim of curiosity. I've been trying to get more story-centric games going with my group and to check out a variety of them. Call of Cthulhu was an immediate thought, though I'd never run it before. I was beaten to the punch by the other GM in the group... though it didn't go over very well. It was an original story he made up, but it was based off one of the Warhammer factions/species... and then set in 1920 Boston. The setting itself was great and we all enjoyed the RP and investigation. But then we had two combats and both were awful because of how cumbersome the combat it (and also a combination of being fully new to that game's combat as well as the GM switching to more "hardcore" combat approaches for what was supposed to be unfathomable aliens but felt like wargame-monsters being exceedingly action-efficient and 100% focused on damage output with very little narrative integration. Bad combo for that system. It's going to take some real cajoling on my part to get another CofC game going (though I'd want to start with a published scenario).
I also looked into Runequest which genuinely intrigues me as game which can fill the D&D niche while also being about character and story and RP rather than being based so narrowly on combat and cartoonish characters.
7th Sea, however, is far more of a narrative-first kind of game with what appears to be quite flexible and lightweight mechanics as well as a fantastic glut of setting and theme/style content. I love that it's a far more grounded setting but it still has room for magic (which is a great fit for its setting and mood) as well as monsters (but they are generally uncommon if not just really rare).
I've been running a Forged in the Dark game, and I quite like it, but I think that whenever we hit a wrap up point I'm going to make as good a case as possible for us to try out 7th Sea.
My main concern, though, is that I've discovered my players are not the best at making proactive characters. We had our semi-weekly session earlier today and I had a sort of Session 0-B to revisit character goals and drives. And while I eventually got some sort of character motivators for most of them (things their character cares about and will pursue/avoid) one seemed to just not be into it. I pushed a bit but eventually relented. But I did at one point let slip out that if I as the GM wasn't forcing your characters to act -- having danger seek them out -- that "I think all of these characters are done... like, their stories were finished before character creation." But for that last player/character I asked "if left to his own devices -- if I as GM wasn't throwing story at your character -- what would be be doing, what adventures or trouble would he get into? What does he want, what drives him to act" and I got a long-winded response of "he wouldn't be doing anything." I rephrased that a couple ways, such as having the player try to think of his characters as the main character in a story, and still got the same basic answer. He'd just find a place to live and chill and avoid anything that might make for an interesting story.
Not to say that isn't a valid character choice, but it's also the default one for the group, which means it is almost 100% up to me to keep the game interesting and to somewhat-railroad the characters into positions where they have to make a decision.
So, anyway, a system that is meant to encourage players to be an active part of the game, rather than just completely reactive to immediate threats and be otherwise passive, are not the best fit for some of my current players. I'm trying to get them away from D&D and they are happy to try new things, but they clearly want to be more of a passive audience who get to sometimes roll dice rather than main characters affecting change in the world around them.
1st ed 7th Sea is still my ride or die, warts & all...
My friend also loves 1st Edition 7th Sea. Wish I heard of it back when it first came out.
@@ReallyDicey Been running a 1st ed game over google hangouts for a few friends (including one of my 7th Sea Origins GM) for about a half a year now. :)
@@cygnia Nice! Let me ask you a question. Would you be interested in video reviews and discussions that pertains to 1st Edition 7th Sea?
@@ReallyDicey I would!
Me as well. I also have the Card game. I have almost collected all of the Ships original wooden chips.
I share your love of this game! It's a delight!
This was a really nice video, thanks!
I mostly solo play. Can this RPG work ? It sounds extremely intriguing
RJ should wear a monocle and call himself Dr Evil.
I wish I could join a game to play as a player before running one myself. I have most of the books, but I feel after years playing DnD, to jump into a new system requires practice playing. Do you have any reliable websites or discord servers I can look for to play 7thsea campaigns? I'm only super cautious after some DnD horror stories.
how do items work? cant find any in the core book.
Which items?
I have been playing this since the original AEG Release. Have all of the books and the Nations as well. Is it worth a switch to a new system?
That's tough to answer. Personally I like looking at different editions and afterwards, picking and choosing what works better. If you are comfortable with 1st Edition, definitely stay the course. I would say purchase the 2nd Edition corebook as a pdf, and if it peaks your interests, you can collect the print version afterwards.
@@ReallyDicey Thanks for the reply. I just might do that.
no, because the rules arent really what you will need if you loved the first edition. Dueling in particular
3:00 so I can breathe underwater forever, good rpg system
You awake in a cold dank cell.