Solar Blades & Cosmic Spells: OSR Science Fantasy Ruleset Review
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- Опубликовано: 16 апр 2019
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Solar Blades & Cosmic Spells is a massive toolkit for running space fantasy RPGs like Star Wars or Dune. Featuring fast streamlined rules and more solid, game-ready content than you could ever possibly use.
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Actually when you were talking about the Difficulty and that it didn’t explain what it meant if you fail, on the opposite page of the same spread was a big section of “Failure and Its Meaning”.
I can confirm that this is true.
I have a different gripe with these mechanics, Diogo, but it's not unique to your game. I see you have Difficulty but also Negative Dice. For Negative Dice, it starts the section with "Some situations may make tasks...more difficult." For Difficulty, the section starts "Some tasks are harder than others." These sound like the same thing to me. You give examples in each section, but I couldn't tell what was the salient difference.
I have the same problem with 5e having both DC and Advantage/Disadvantage. It's not always clear to me what conditions should affect the DC and which ones should cause Advantage or Disadvantage.
@@Semiotichazey Here's my take on the 5e thing: DC should be a static number, the same for anyone who tries to Jump over the Chasm, or whatever. If a character is good at jumping, that will be reflected in their higher Ability scores, so the Nimble Rogue will have an easier time of it than a Limping Wizard. But that DC number should stay the same, no matter which party member is attempting the jump.
Advantage and Disadvantage is a way of letting everyone know that the challenge for *this character in particular* has been altered, due to some remarkable event. It could be due to the character, that their way of leaping the cavern is either unusually clever--or just a horrible idea. Or it could be due to external circumstances: if Helpful Cave Pixies give **this one character** a boost... or Evil Cave Pixies try to shove them along the way, etc.
Of course all this cavern stuff is just an example, but I think that's how it's supposed to work. DC is the set target, but in special cases, you can give the low Dex Wizard a better chance to leap the chasm, because he thought of... something better than I can think of right now that would warrant it. :D
Semiotichazey well, the way I see it is this.
Difficulty measure the inherent difficulty of a task. Climbing a Tree, with branches and all, is Difficulty 0. Climbing a rough wall might be Difficulty 2 or 3. Climbing a very steep and almost smooth wall a Difficulty 5-6 task.
However, Positive and Negative Dice are applied when something else is affecting the task. You might be climbing the tree, which is quite easy (Difficulty 0), but it’s raining a lot, with strong wind (Negative Die). Or someone climbed first and is giving you a hand (Positive Die).
Does that make more sense now?
@@DiogoNogueiraXP It does, and I imagine similar logic is used for 5e. I guess there could be borderline cases, but the GM can always just make a ruling and continue.
Vc é brasileiro ou português? gostei do seu jogo!! parabéns!
This is now one of my essential core books. I originally bought the pdf to launch my players out of their Ultraviolet Grasslands campaign into a greater universe, _Spelljammer_ style. Now ordering the hard copy just because.☺️
Man, I'd love to see your bookshelf. All them hardbacks of awesome stuff!
This game is absolutely awesome. I bought it, then backed the Dark Streets and Darker Secrets kickstarter because of it. It's that good.
There are still a couple of criticism that can be addressed, though. I'm 100% with you about the organisation of the rules : you sometimes have to go back and forth in the book to find what you are looking for. Some rules are simply repeated, others are specified and explained in different parts of the book, sometimes through the examples.
Some stuff is mathematically unsound, too. The biggest offender is the multiple attack rule : make another attack, but all your attacks are +2 difficulty (or something like that). Unless the chances to succeed are already super low, you should always make multiple attacks, since the chances to hit at least once are simply better when you have multiple attacks (and, bonus, you also have a chance to hit more than once). The better the initial chances, the more attacks you should always make. I'll simply remove this rule in my games.
But all in all, it's really, really good. The last chapters are worth the price tag by themselves. Thanks Diogo!
I would use this to run my Thundaar the Barbarian campaign and my Moorcock Eternal Champion campaigns. Great review.
Eternal Champion might work better with Diogo's fantasy game, Sharp Swords and Sinister Spells.
Barbarians of the Ruined Earth is coming!
Some of Moorcock's Eternal Champion series contain sci-fi and fantasy aspects as well. But I can see what you mean.
You are a genius. Brilliant idea
@@Susrek I was just about to suggest barbarians of the ruined earth
I was going to pass on this, as I already have Stars without Number. But, the GM section with those sectors might have sold me. I'm always interested for toolbox content that can go in any game I might run.
I'm glad you've had time to make some more review videos Ben. I look forward to your videos.
The title of this book definitely made me think of the old Thundar the Barbarian cartoon show. That would be a fun wack-a-do world to play in.
This book is infinitely useful.
What I like about this book is that it is complete, no supplements that add things that should have been in the core book in the first place, 500 pages that tell you everything you need to build a world and fill it with npcs, a great book.
I'm a fan of these games, love the mechanics.
The reason why art is so diverse in the book is the same reason why it has a lot of wonderful art. You cannot get one single artist to illustrate the whole book.
Well since the book had a setting toolkit potentially allowing each group to have their own universe, I wanted various artist to show their unique visions about the universe too.
@@DiogoNogueiraXP I think that's valid; you're doing your own take on the sci-fi toolbox - the same kind of thing as SWN but with your own unique flavor. And SWN also has diverse styles of artwork, to similar effect, so there you go.
@@DiogoNogueiraXP It looks more graphically rich that way, I think. Even the two pieces I did look different from one another(4:00 and 7:49). It was great being able to experiment different styles.
Thanks for this fine video review of an interesting product. You have a great style and feature many products I would probably miss out on without you covering them. I have made a number of purchases based on viewing your vids including your own Knave. You definitely have your own very interesting niche. Please don't become just another 5e fanboy channel.
5e's not a bad game, you just need to tone down the super heroics a bit
@@QuestingBeast yeah, I don't hate 5e, not at all. Just like your independent OSR-ish focus better than the multitude of 5e worship channels like Nerdarchy. That's all I can say.
@@freddaniel5099 I've got my niche and I'm sticking to it. Much smaller audience, though.
@@QuestingBeast But the quality of the work is so high. Love your stuff!
This would have been even better as full color, IMO.
Kind of reminescent of White Star: Galaxy Edition. Would be interesting to do a comparison.
Great review. I'd love to see you review White Star Galaxy Edition.
I must admit I wish that Sharp Swords got this massive treatment. I'm not one for Sci Fi games, especially gonzo style. SS&SS is an amazing game, for sure, but I feel like this game got ten times as many tables. Oh well!
William & Polly Shires it will get the same treatment! Writing the revised edition right now!
@@DiogoNogueiraXP Right on. Thanks Diogo. I'm actually the same guy you spoke to on FB today about SS! Andrew Merzetti.
@@DiogoNogueiraXP I love what you have done with SB&CS and DS&DS, I really want a hardcover and slightly expanded edition of SS&SS covering the same ground in terms of hardcover digest, more tables, etc
. Any idea when the next edition of SS&SS will be published?
@@DiogoNogueiraXPAny news on this project? I'm about to start running a game in SS&SS!
All those random tables look like a lot of fun; though I'd probably flip the game to a roll + add system as that's my favourite.
How would you do that?
@@daddystabz I'd just need to set the target numbers to work for D20 + Attribute, rather than roll under the attribute.
@@euansmith3699 I've seen people do that very thing for some roll under d20 games. I'm just wondering how we would do it with this game. I'm interested in doing the same thing so we can make it a unified mechanic.
Great review as always! I admit I am not sure what the logic is behind reviewing 5e's core books. If your Patrons got you to that point by supporting your OSR content, isn't that jumping the shark a bit?
I think it would be interesting to do a more critical review of 5e, comparing it to the innovations made since then by the OSR
@@QuestingBeast Totally agree. 5e from an OSR standpoint would be interesting, and there's so much to compare it with out in OGL land.
If you're interested in 5e from a OSR point of view, check out my podcast "Spikepit" you may find the what's up with 5e Dungeons and Dragons? episodes interesting anchor.fm/spikepit
"Rules Light" huh? Right.
I'm running it right now. There are really only 5 dice mechanics you need to teach your players (roll under, positive & negative dice, opposed rolls, usage dice, and luck rolls), and one more you need to know under the hood (powerful enemies). That's it. That's the whole resolution engine. It's so damn elegant.
No skills in this game?