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RuneScape Kingdoms: The Roleplaying Game Reviews

4 Rating 20 Reviews
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Osprey House, 217-227 Broadway,
Salford,
Manchester
Stretford
M50 2UE

I'm disappointed to have to give this only 2 stars, but there are too many flaws for me to recommend this product to anyone else. First, the good things: I think the system is interesting and simple to explain: to determine success or failure, you roll 3d6, and try to get under a target number that is determined by one of the 3 core attributes plus your level in a relevant skill (out of 21 skills). As you level up, your attributes and skills can reach 8 and 10, respectively. It is possible to reach a point where success is guaranteed. Enemies don't roll to hit you, instead you roll to defend against them, and a success means that your armor prevents you from taking damage (depending on the values provided by your armor), plus the amount you succeed by reduces damage further. The physical book feels good, and I haven't found any spelling mistakes yet. I appreciate the lengthy starting section that serves as an introduction to the locations in the world. I'm sure many will be glad that they chose to go with OSRS's version of things, including Great Kourend (which it uses as the location of the Soul Altar) and Varlamore. Wrath runes exist. The armor types go from Bronze to Rune. There is no mention of Orikalkum, Necronium, Elder Rune, or Masterwork armors (although there is a picture of someone wearing Masterwork armor). And indeed, having that many tiers of armor may have been problematic for the balancing of the combat system. And now for the bad things: The book is replete with errors and half-finished mechanics. Bronze and Iron armor have the same values, as do Adamant and Rune. The lead designer has said in the Discord channel that he will publish Errata for these, but it hasn't happened yet. The armor system, which I think is one of the really compelling parts of what makes the system interesting, is just not described well enough, and many of the defence values don't make sense. A pair of Mithril boots is better than any tier of platelegs. Both use the Legs slot, and the boots are cheaper in materials and easier to craft than the platelegs. The platelegs do at least cost more gold to buy, if you're looking to waste your money on the strictly worse choice. Annoyingly, the slots that armor uses are only detailed in the table for crafting them, and not in the table that describes their defence values, so if you go looking to find the defence value so you can put it on your character sheet next to the item slot that armor will use (as you will do in character creation, since you're given some starting armor), you will be left looking around to no avail, unless you happen to check how you would craft that armor. A failure to properly describe the slots that items use also applies to weapons. There's nothing forcing you to use both arm slots for any two-handed weapon. There isn't anything I can find in the rules that prevents a player from dual-wielding a godsword in one hand and a longbow in the other, for example. But, once you find the table with the armor slots, you will learn that you can't wear gloves while holding a shield (both use the arm slot, and one arm slot is specifically for weapons). The crafting rules state that most items will need the Crafting skill, unless they're made with metal bars, in which case Smithing is used, or made with plant ingredients, in which case Herblore is used. Unfortunately, that encompasses almost every single item you can craft. There is nothing about crafting jewelry, or any other use for gold ore, besides perhaps selling it. Redwood logs are similarly listed as a resource you can acquire, but have no stated uses. There is no description of any kind of gear for a character who wants to use primarily Magic. They can just wear metal armor like everyone else. Even a staff is crafted with metal bars. The lack of any wizard robes is jarring, both from expectations that they would be included from the source material, and from the various illustrations showing wizards in robes. The crafting section's introduction is even over a background prominently featuring wizard robes for sale in a shop! Overall, I'm left with the feeling that, from a design perspective, this product is just not finished. The graphic design and actual physical production values are both pretty good, but unfortunately as a game system, there are too many things that just needed more work to be considered finished. I'm disappointed that I had to pay $40 + $20 shipping in order to find out that this product is not done. To anyone considering picking up this game, I recommend that you only do so if you are willing to put in a lot of work to finish this game yourself. Or maybe if they release a pdf version for only a few bucks.
3 Helpful Report
Posted 1 year ago
I cannot review it, as it has not arrived yet
Helpful Report
Posted 1 year ago
It looks great, and the amazing writing I've come to love bleeds through and through.
Helpful Report
Posted 1 year ago
I never got it or my other order
Helpful Report
Posted 1 year ago