Battlelords of the 23rd Century (7e): You armor up or you die ⚡️ RPG Review & Mechanics

[@dustinwinslow5496]

Wowzers, thats some crunchy crunch to put on your crunch. Still, cool to see the concept still being supported in today's rules-light dominated scene.

[@HeadHunterSix]

Previous editions were a better middle ground, at least the opinion of someone who has played since (before) Day One of the original edition.

[@TheDreamForger]

I can imagine this working on a VTT software. It can help with the number crunching and keeping track of all the rules easier.

[@DaveThaumavore]

I totally agree with that. I wouldn't want to play this game analogue.

[@VVVHHHSSS]

This might just be a crazy late night thought, but running this with two DMs would be cool and maybe more manageable? Seems like everyone feels it a lot to handle. Also, I had no idea this game was first published in 1990, although it totally fits. I really love the creativity we saw in the 90s, but that might just be nostalgia taking hold. Anyway, solid review as always. Love these.

[@HeadHunterSix]

I've been a fan of Battlelords since meeting Larry Sims in a game store a few weeks before GenCon in 1990 (so my first edition was actually a pre-release). I love the background and setting. I wrote an adventure module for ODS that is my one professional game development credit. Personally, I find the 7e rules needlessly crunchy (as compared to every previous edition), and I'm really excited for the Savage Battlelords line for the more gameable Savage Worlds RPG. To help pronunciation, the "ch" in Chatilian is pronounced as in "cheese". "Mazians" is pronounced as in "mozzarella" (where the idea came from). "Mutzachan" is pronounced as "moot-zok-in"

[@erikbuchanan4648]

Currently proof reading the betas for SW Battlelords. Im worried it might push SW's fast, furious and fun credo to its limit as its much crunchier than basic SW. Still, I hope it finds an audience since i wouldn't mind seeing some military sci fi and gear porn in an official SW setting.

[@PeterKoperdan]

This looks like a nightmare to run O_o

[@battlelordsofthe23rdcentur81]

It’s not that difficult, really. Check out the free Quick Start Rules on DriveThruRPG and see for yourself. The game is designed to be scalable. You can add or remove as much of the crunch as you want.

[@guyljosey9770]

Not bad at all.

[@daddystabz]

@@battlelordsofthe23rdcentur81 How scalable is it? I never heard any other review say it was a toolkit basically and you can pick and choose what rules you want.

[@whitleypedia]

Definitely sounds like an RPG from the 90s

[@dustanmcarthur6658]

Interesting setting. Any chance you might review Talislanta the savage lands?

[@DaveThaumavore]

Maybe. I will check it out!

[@Sanguivore]

Aww, man. I LOVE Talislanta! Such an awesome, sadly-overlooked area of tabletop gaming. Thanks for bringing it up! (As an aside: I have no experience with The Savage Land, but I'm a huge fan of the original.)

[@dustanmcarthur6658]

@@Sanguivore if you don't already know. A Kickstarter for Talislanta is coming soon. They're calling it Talislanta epic edition. It's a 5e rule set, I'm not that thrilled about. But I'll take it! The artwork as always is awesome! Looks like full color this time. Hopefully the 5e rules will give it some exposure.

[@Sanguivore]

@@dustanmcarthur6658 That’s super awesome! Thanks for bringing it to my attention. :D And yeah, I wish it weren’t 5E rules, but that’ll probably turn a lot more people onto it, which is a huge net-plus in my book!

[@godfreemorals]

Personally I love crunchy systems but also know that 90% of my players don't! If I did buy this it would purely be to enjoy the reading and perhaps to magpie away some setting ideas...

[@HeadHunterSix]

Get the book for everything it's got to offer, and run a 6th Edition game for your players. They'll love it.

[@thanaphan4951]

Thanks

[@DaveThaumavore]

No problem

[@DarthRadical]

I've never been a fan of having a crunchy space combat sub-system myself. Rarely does anyone learn it, and everyone largely just avoids it IME.

[@DaveThaumavore]

Yeah, I noticed the new Alien RPG also has a whole space battle min-system too. But I've never heard anyone talk about it or use it.

[@DarthRadical]

@@DaveThaumavore Yeah, I found the same thing in all the Star Wars systems I I've played. And d20 Future. And... Both GMs and players actively avoided space combat because we didn't want to deal with having to learn a whole other system.

[@guyljosey9770]

I was one the first people to play the 1st edition game. Actually still have the original unbound books of the creator. Space combat sounds alot more difficult than it is...then again, we had an awesome GM.

[@The_Happywolf]

Looks interesting... Will you be doing a Expansion review of Forbidden Lands? :D

[@DaveThaumavore]

An expansion review? Do tell.

[@The_Happywolf]

Called the "Bitter Reach" just came out the other month or so i believe!@@DaveThaumavore

[@DaveThaumavore]

@@The_Happywolf Ah, yes! I'll check it out. I'm releasing a review of Vaesen in a couple of weeks so I'm a little Free League'd out at the moment.

[@The_Happywolf]

@@DaveThaumavore ah great! Vaesen is incredible so i am excited for your review!

[@daddystabz]

@Dave Thaumavore RPG Reviews: This looks soooo good to me except that I HATE crunch fest games. What a shame this game is a crunch beast. The devs of the game claim it is modular and you can use what rules you want and leave out what you don't. How easy would that be to do with the core rulebook, Dave?

[@DaveThaumavore]

Personally, I think this game is “modular” the same way a lot of crunchy games are “modular.” You can just drop rules and mechanics at will. There’s nothing particularly optimized for this, it’s just something you can do.

[@daddystabz]

@@DaveThaumavore Thanks for your answer. I am hard debating if it would even be worth me picking this up or not. I fear I'd have to excise a large portion of the rules to make it more to my liking. The setting and art look really cool, though.

[@SpencerRoberg]

I know you did a Mongoose Traveller 2e video, have any plans to do a Traveller 5e video? Would love to see it, if not just for the comparison between the two.

[@DaveThaumavore]

Yeah, maybe. I'll check out 5e. Although I have to say, I never faced more trolling and criticism than with that Traveller review.

[@SpencerRoberg]

@@DaveThaumavore oh really? I thought it was cool... Why the hate?

[@DaveThaumavore]

@@SpencerRoberg Thanks, Spencer! Certain games come with more territorialism than others. Devotees sometimes feel the need to defend their turf when "outsiders" are perceived to be trespassing on their patch.

[@SpencerRoberg]

@@DaveThaumavore well, hopefully you're getting more positive feedback than negative. I'm sure I don't just speak for myself when I say you're doing a fantastic job, and filling a much needed niche in for us ttrpg fans. Nice concise videos, good coverage, informative and not too cluttered. I'm glad you're doing the work here, and I hope you keep it up!

[@DaveThaumavore]

Spencer Thanks for saying that. Yeah, I get 99% positive feedback. I probably shouldn’t complain.

[@samchafin4623]

Too much crunch.

[@DaveThaumavore]

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