Je suis un Barbare et un Voleur, ancien Esclave et Gladiateur originaire des Plaines Gelées. Mes ennemis doivent me craindre en m'apercevant et non me voir comme un être difforme et pathétique. I don't see the Hero points to be that much different than Warhammer's Fate points. The "points players use to edit the world" have been around significantly pre-swine, and even that control could easily be put in the GM's hands. AKA, my barbarian is screwed, I spend a hero point and the GM describes some in genre coincidence that I can take advantage of. AKA, instead of finding a loose stone to get out of jail, the guards secretly bring a noblewoman to my cell who promises me freedom if I slay her husband tonight. All you have to do is analyze how the structure of an RPG works. If you do that without projecting your wishes of how you might like it to work, you'll see that the function of an RPG is to:

BoL has character advancement options, and sufficient flexibility, to be able to sustain a 10-20 session campaign. In BoL characters allocate different pools of points to combat abilities and careers, and use Advancement Points to upgrade either independently. Skill systems like those in Traveller, Fate, various d100 systems, and D&D 3.5 group probabilities of success by type of action or knowledge.

One or more Boons, which provide an advantage (usually a bonus die, see below) in certain situations. As a side effect, human-scale weapons fall into three categories: small (d6L), medium (d6), and large (d6H).

The "Mysteries of Lemuria" chapter begins with a set of mechanics and explanations of Alchemy. Alchemists make alchemical objects, and to do so they use a mechanic called "craft points". You have a number of these points equal to your skill rank in Alchemy, which are granted each adventure and accumulate. You spend these to make alchemical objects (some of these also may require more than one adventure session to construct). A roll is also required, which if you fail means all the points you invested into the construction are lost. Some examples of potions and devices are presented, but it's implied that other alchemical objects besides those listed could be created. What about the SYSTEM enforces / supports / promotes / (whatever word you like) the Sword & Sorcery genre of the game? The Shade Ale was flowing freely in the gladiator’s quarters. The men drank toasts and oaths and dirty jokes, all in honor of the undefeated duo from the west.Nonsense. The largest native fauna on Boruna Kal is a relative of Tamandua tetradactyla, which typically only measures two to three feet in len…”

Update: I’ve dropped the Saturday night BoL game in favor of running an improvised/emergent adventure with Troika!– more on that in another post. But after that you get right into the base mechanic and other material. The basic mechanic of the game is based on a simple 2d6 mechanic in the style of Traveler: a roll of 9+ is a success, 8- is failure. A natural 2 is always failure, a natural 12 is always success. You can also get bonus dice, which means you roll 3d6 (or 4d6) and keep the best two, or flaw dice, where you roll 3d6 and keep the worst two. Once the dominant predator of Zhaartahl IV, Boorm Cats have been hunted to near extinction by the alien PsiLords of Vanth. A few of these terrifying creatures likely remain in the wilds, but none have been seen in more than a decade. A handful of specimens remain in captivity, where they are often well-cared for and highly prized. Wherein your humble scribe presents a couple of pulpy characters and a deadly foe done up in Barbarians of Lemuria/ Dicey Tales style. Unfortunately some skills get more use than others, so in a combat-heavy game investing weapon and athletic skills are better investments than knowledge or professional skills.If there's a redeeming faculty, it's that a clever GM could fairly easily edit out the storygaming atrocities (and the pretentious tone of the author) from their game and run this as a much more 'straight' (if rules-light) RPG. We wrapped things up in about four hours, so we ended early (to save Merle’s voice for the rest of the Con), which was fine. I needed mental time to prepare for running my Barbarians of Lemuria game, in no small par due to the fact that it was about to be the first game I’d run at a convention since 1985. When the adventure ended everyone agreed that a good time was had and I’ve since heard from some of the players that if I run a game next year they’ll be signing up for it. So that’s quite the compliment, really. rabble, anonymous NPCs with 1-3 HP Lifeblood and no effective armor who do minimal damage even if armed.