Trial of Blood

[ryhopewood]

Picked mine up today. The story and plot looks great but I think it will need a lot of work to run with my group. This is a bit disappointing since I was hoping to have something that can be run without too much extra work.

The most notable problem appears to be a lack of maps of any kind apart from a couple at the back of the book.

Ian

 

[Majestic7]

I'm afraid the lack of maps is very typical for Mongoose Conan... you just have to draw them yourself.

 

[Da Boss]

Can I ask - whats the interior art like, does it suffer from being B/W?

Is it more fluff than crunch (hopefully)? Ie: is there lots of pages of stats like in the books about regions - ?

is it Conan in feel?

thanks

 

[Hervé]

I finally got my copy.
For Da Boss: something like 85 pages out 248 are stat blocks of various NPCs and monsters. That's roughly one third of the book, which seems to me average for the D20 system (but quite a lot in other systems!:shock. Of course these stat block pages include also the descriptions and the motivations of the NPCs which make them less arid than the columns of numbers from regional sourcebooks.
As for interior art, it meets the usual Mongoose standards, ranging from poor to average (but you get another Chris Quilliams masterpiece! ).

Anyways the contents look interesting at first glance and the episodes of the campaign seem detailed enough, despite the usual lack of maps (except for Sicas and Lake Khnemu). Bryan Steele has a done a tremendous amount of work here and the book seem to hold most of its early promises.

I need a more thorough reading to give more details and impressions. More on the book on a previous thread:

http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=36892&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

 

[Da Boss]

Thanks - I may pick up a copy but mau need to have a look through first ........

 

[Strom]

Amazon split my order! I ordered 2 books and they are only sending me the one while they wait for Trial! Damn the high price of gas and the need for free shipping to cut costs! I should add that the one time I did order direct from Mongoose the product arrived immediately. Next time I'll probably suck up the delivery costs and order form the 'Goose - budget be damned!

 

[Hervé]

Stop ordering on Amazon and give your money to your LGS. There you'll get what you pay for... :wink:

 

[The King]

Stop ordering on Amazon and give your money to your LGS. There you'll get what you pay for... :wink:

It may be difficult to get if you're living in the Nevada desert.

 

[Strom]

Stop ordering on Amazon and give your money to your LGS. There you'll get what you pay for... :wink:

Last one closed up a few years ago - it's a freaking wasteland here. Used to be a few to choose from but now it's Borders or Barnes & Nobles or the internet. I would definitely stop at your store and buy some stuff if I could Hervé - talking shop about Conan would be worth the visit!

 

[flatscan]

Flipped through the book at a local store, looks great! Thought I was making a smart move ordering from Amazon, but they have yet to ship. :evil:

 

[Sedric the Hero]

I originally ordered 'Trial of Blood' through Amazon.ca..and now they're saying it'll be a MINIMUM of 6 weeks before its even shipped....(god knows why) so i cancelled my pre-order and bought it from Paizo..which has just, as of this morning, shipped it to me.

 

[Hervé]

Strom wrote:

Last one closed up a few years ago - it's a freaking wasteland here. Used to be a few to choose from but now it's Borders or Barnes & Nobles or the internet. I would definitely stop at your store and buy some stuff if I could Hervé - talking shop about Conan would be worth the visit!

Unfortunately, things are not going too well in France too. I've been doing this job for nearly twenty years but I really fear good times are coming to an end. I guess I'll have to turn to a more mundane job someday soon. Running a gaming shop is way cool, but I have a family to feed...
Anyways, should you ever come to Southern France, I'll be glad to meet you!

 

[MongooseMatt]

Running a gaming shop is way cool, but I have a family to feed...

If you ever need support or events to help drive business, give us a shout!

 

[maladaar]

Stop ordering on Amazon and give your money to your LGS. There you'll get what you pay for...

Our FLGS is not as gamer friendly as one would like.

First off - they shrink-wrap all of the books (including models) so you cannot browse through them.

Second - they selection has dwindled down to only WotC products

While they will do special orders, I do not like the fact that on the stuff they do carry you cannot look through the book first.

I am a strict PDF or Amazon guy.

 

[Style]

Stop ordering on Amazon and give your money to your LGS. There you'll get what you pay for...

Our FLGS is not as gamer friendly as one would like.

First off - they shrink-wrap all of the books (including models) so you cannot browse through them.

Second - they selection has dwindled down to only WotC products

While they will do special orders, I do not like the fact that on the stuff they do carry you cannot look through the book first.

I am a strict PDF or Amazon guy.

That's a shame. My FLGS is extremely gamer friendly, lets you browse through products from a variety of companies, and has an awesome game room in the back. I support my FLGS as much as possible.

The back is a great place to play games. We had a pick up game last night, and I met a couple great new players. Amazon's never going to help you meet people.

 

[Supplement Four]

Unfortunately, things are not going too well in France too. I've been doing this job for nearly twenty years but I really fear good times are coming to an end. I guess I'll have to turn to a more mundane job someday soon. Running a gaming shop is way cool, but I have a family to feed...
Anyways, should you ever come to Southern France, I'll be glad to meet you!

The answer is simple. Start an online gamestore with both shipped dead-tree and pdf download, and keep doing what you love!

Keep a storefront if financially viable.

 

[Supplement Four]

I get all my stuff online too. I usually buy through amazon, but I'll go to other places if I find a deal. I'm a bit of a "price" shopper.

When I play a game, though, I typically buy everything offered for the gaming line. I'm slowly getting there with Conan.

 

[Trantor]

...
As for interior art, it meets the usual Mongoose standards, ranging from poor to average (but you get another Chris Quilliams masterpiece! ).

I like the guy on p97, he looks like my car-mechanic

 

[Trantor]

Strom wrote:
Unfortunately, things are not going too well in France too. I've been doing this job for nearly twenty years but I really fear good times are coming to an end. I guess I'll have to turn to a more mundane job someday soon. Running a gaming shop is way cool, but I have a family to feed...
Anyways, should you ever come to Southern France, I'll be glad to meet you!

I'm a strong shop supporter here - best you can do.

Where in France are you, I happen to visit your great country some times ... ?

 

[Hervé]

Trantor wrote:

Where in France are you, I happen to visit your great country some times ... ?

Marseille (Marseilles in english, I never understood why...), what else? :wink: . Finest town in the world except when it comes to gaming... Must be the sun, the pastis (VERY dangerous local drink)or l'O.M (most revered soccer team), I wish I'd know... Southern France is a sweet place to live if you got the money as the region is not economically strong, hence the difficulties encountered by local shops, especially LGS...