Lex Arcana Second Edition | Review and Page-Through

[@Vanret255]

Glad to see a quality review of this game out, been thinking about buying it but wanted to see a quality review for it first! The setting book for this game is fantastic. I don't even have the core rulebook but the setting guide is full of all sorts of information about the ancient roman world (specifically at the height of the empire between the rule of augustus and the good emporers), with info ranging from clothing customs, to the inns and outs of land and sea based trade, cults tolerated by the empire and info on them, a historic based poison and medicine guide, common food dishes (with several recipes sprinkled throughout), currency explanations, a rundown on the roman government structure under the empire, and a ton more mundane information to make games come to life in romanesque settings.

[@Thegaminggang]

Thanks for watching!

[@PaulSpurgeon]

Thanks, Jeff. I think this sounds really interesting. The dice mechanic seems cool. I've added it to my wish list.

[@Thegaminggang]

Hope you enjoy it!

[@denzelpanther240]

Looks good. Got the pdf and we will try it today

[@Thegaminggang]

Hope you like it!

[@paulll47]

This is an Italian classic, if you ever played rpgs in Italy then you played Lex Arcana, the setting is unique, nothing else like this on the market, the system is a pain in the ass but I will tell you this, if you think this was bad then you should have seen what 1st ed was like😆

[@WombatProphecy]

This is a useful review. One issue with the "unusual terminology" - I think long time gamers forget how unintuitive all of the bespoke terminology even for D&D can be. Lex Arcana is certainly not as user-friendly as 5e D&D, but it's probably less intuitive for gamers used to other systems than it is for total newbies who don't have existing hang-ups.

[@WombatProphecy]

This is a common thing I've seen - people used to D&D struggled a lot more to learn The One Ring in my home game than people who had never played an rpg.

[@jameshenderson4876]

Fair comment. But the preponderance of Latin terms really does make working through the rulebook more of a chore than it should be. That said, once at the table it moves quite well and the Latin overload becomes much less of a challenge. This from our group where we regularly play new systems (or revisit old).

[@lechevalier6261]

Fair review! It is really fun to play if you are in to the whole roman stuff.

[@xdviper4518]

Ive never played any rpg/5e games before, but this seems like the type i’d enjoy.

[@Wraithing]

Only paid any attention to Lex Arcana on your page throughs. It looks amazing - right up my street in subject matter. Kinda like a Weird Wars Rome, but with greater depth. On Memorex right now in catch-up. Stuck wallpapering - yes, I know it's a stupid time of year to be decorating, but my son's coming home for a while. Economy skewed to the big boys kicks the little people in the ass… and needs must!!

[@zorakzoran1]

Oh Jeff this game is sooo good and thanks for the video!

[@Thegaminggang]

You bet!

[@isaacfernandes560]

Anything that isn't clear and simple English presents a huge challenge for Americans... this trope is getting really old...

[@Thegaminggang]

Oh yes, because roleplaying games are mean to learned through obtuse and poorly localized English. European roleplaying games designed with unclear mechanics and unnecessary complexities, which add absolutely nothing to the game play experience and actually detract from it, is a trope that is getting really old...

[@isaacfernandes560]

​@@Thegaminggang well, there's this thing called "immersion" and it actually adds a lot of flavour to a game. Playing a game set in the Roman Empire it's extremely flavourful to have a few words in latin (and they're not that many, kind of easy to memorise) and helps a lot with immersion and the feel of the setting. Seeing that as a negative just because you can't be bothered to learn a few things is really petty. As an example in the opposite, the whole world has to play RPGs in Imperial System (which only USA use) instead of a proper metric system and we just learn it, you don't see reviewers putting a book down just because it has feet or burgers per baseball stadium. And that does add anything, not even flavour.

[@chrisrepine3489]

This looks like an interesting game. I was working on a D&D 5th Ed modeled Rome campaign awhile back but haven’t done anything with it lately

[@jameshenderson4876]

​@isaacfernandes560 The issue in this book is not that there are "a few words of Latin". Latin is used to cover a lot of fundamental things, and permeates the core rules. To me at least, this seriously impedes easily absorbing the information, and will drive a lot of people away. That said, once you wade through that, at the table the game plays well and the Latin bloat becomes less of an issue.