How delicate is the balance and integrity of Freebooters on the Frontier? How compatible are the Perilous Wilds compendium classes, for example? How would you change them or not? Am I right in suspecting that if I wanted to introduce a new class altogether (a few in Grim World seem to fit with the idea of the campaign I want to run) the better idea would be to introduce advanced moves to the appropriate existing class?
Thanks!
One more thing: it’s perfectly legitimate to do less random character creation, right? Specifically, I wanted to let the players choose their class/heritage, distribute stats like core DW and then only roll for Luck. I’ll probably start them off with max HP and then do the SWN rolling for HP from then on.
I feel this randomness do a lot to the OSR feel of Freebooter and to distinguish it from vanilla DW.
However, it’s seems OK to have less randomness as long as the characters are still as frail as Freebooters wants them. Thus, stats should not be as high as in vanilla DW. My two cents.
Bastien Wauthoz I totally understand, but to me it seems like the only thing that stands between them and being stronger than vanilla DW character is random chance, nothing else. I definitely intend for them to be as a frail, heal at the same sluggish rate etc. etc. I just want the players to have a little more investment in their characters.
I think that if you’ve read over the rules you see places where you think changes will work, you should go for it. Your PCs will be a little more durable and heroic out of the gate than standard freebooters, but there’s nothing wrong with that at all. I never came up with a way to “translate” monsters, so there don’t need to be any changes there. I say go for it!
Jason Lutes Awesome! And on other class/compendium classes?
Ah whoops, sorry, forgot the main part of your question!
I think adding moves to existing classes is the better course than allowing full-on classes from a setting like Grim World. And I think most compendium classes in TPW or something like Class Warfare would work just fine. I’m trying to think of cases where some sort of balance might be thrown off, but I can’t see any glaring issues offhand.
If you’re concerned with characters dying too quickly, you might want to try Freebooters as written before you hack it. It’s set up to evoke old-school D&D, but it’s not nearly as brutal as that, since basic DW mechanics are quite forgiving. And if character investment is a concern, I’ve actually found that people get more invested in Freebooters than standard DW PCs, because nothing breeds affection like surviving against terrible odds. You know your group better than I, though.
Jason Lutes Thanks for the advice! I think I will do just as you say and try it RAW first.