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Sunday, August 21, 2011

Out of the Frying Pan, Into The Secret Fire!

It's been DAYS since I've postured a horribly titled The Secret Fire RPG post, so here's the latest.

Today, I want to talk about the spell levels. In a typical D&D style OSR game, the spell lists advance every "Odd Level". This is a general statement as I know certain classes frequently buck that trend (clerics and druids are often the examples). In The Secret Fire, spell rank / levels advance along with character level through level 5. Which means at level 5 a spell caster has access to his / her most powerful magics.

Now, these powerful magics aren't necessarily being cast at their greatest strength - that still comes with level advancement. It does mean that by level 5, the spell casters have pretty much peaked.

Now, on my initial, haphazard, read-thru of the rules, I was still thinking about the traditional advancement in the back of my mind, even tho I read the new advancement and knew it was there. So it didn't full "click". Now that it is clicking, I need to go back and see if the casters (and classes that take a caster class as a talent) run away from the other classes in terms of power. Not that an absolute balance is required to enjoy a game, but you don't want your players feeling that they made a lame choice compared to others.

6 comments:

  1. These random mini-reviews have inspired me to get a copy myself. It sounds interesting, and while I'm not entirely sure if I'd run it as it is (well, not until I've got my copy and read through it), I do think there are bits and pieces I can use in my games. So thanks for bringing it to my attention :)

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  2. Tenkar - this is totally off-topic, but have you just ordered the C&C bundle from Troll Lord Games? If so could you contact me on acrobatic (dot) flea (at) gmail (dot) com - I think there's been a computer hic-cup with the order ;)

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  3. email sent - i just love computers ;)

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  4. Fantastic when they work, a nightmare when they don't!

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  5. I'm getting ready to jump on the TSF bandwagon, and you are pretty much solely responsible.

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  6. I'll take that as a compliment ;)

    Heh!

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