umungus wrote:

mabon5127@hotmail.com wrote:

It seems we are trying to justify a forth combat ability in initiative that really isn't needed. Why not just use melee, ranged, and defense?

Im not sure what you mean by this. Are you saying that you shouldn't roll initiative?



As for Boons in combat and other situations. The boons allow for more succeses which make for a faster and less frustrationg game. It also makes it more deadly for PCs and NPCs. Remember though, a Boon is a specialization. It requires a special situation or a particular artifact or weapon to be used.
After a while characters tend to collect several Boons. So, they will have a variety of combat and non combat Boons. The rules tend to balance as characters advance. The player will see the need for more non- combat Boons. The Flaws tend to balance out the power of the Boons.

This is a game of Epic Heroes and unreal Feats. The characters succeed a lot. This may seem strange to RPGers used to the crawling die roll frustration of other big box games. I enjoy the looks on players faces when they roll success after success and them get to defeat 8 rabble in a single round. . . . . Play more games of BOL. The elegence of the system will revel itself to you.

In the draft of the mythic rules brawling has been replaced by initiative for combat abilities, I believe.  Actually I've played quite a bit and do love the system.  My fear is that things will become more complicated going into the mythic rule set.  I agree with everything you've said I just think the utility of the combat boons are too great compared to others.
 

mabon5127@hotmail.com wrote:

It seems we are trying to justify a forth combat ability in initiative that really isn't needed. Why not just use melee, ranged, and defense?

In the same way have three characteristics strength, agility, and mind. Appeal can be replaced with a boon used in social interaction.

It's always been 4 stats, 4 combat abilities (& 4 starting careers). I'm not justifying anything - there's nothing to justify. That's the system. You can drop initiative and appeal from your home-grown version, if that works for you. It doesn't work for me though.
 

I personally prefer the change in Mythic that replaces Brawl with Initiative. For me Initiative is an important stat and Brawl, quite correctly, can be incorporated in to the Fight skill.

The concern about the Mythic rules possibly making BoL too complicated is not an issue for me. In fact, I would like to see a number of optional rules added that allow a more detailed version of the game. I am presently working on some houserules that allow for specialization in careers and skills; I'm also looking at adopting some other houserules that use the combat roll to determine the damage dealt and the initiative roll for the next combat round (which is why I am so happy to see Initiative have its own stat).

The beauty of BoL is that it allows for so many tweaks and houserules while staying true to the intentions of Simon's original design (Honor + Intrigue and the other published settings demonstrate this very well).

I think my players were satisfied yesterday with BoL's engine. It works quite well, it's furious and fun. They have killed many rabbles but stronger creatures (f.i. Phongs - 3 per capita) were very, very hard to beat. Battle on the board of the small boat with Zathog and Phongs was epic   Than exploration of the crumbling ruins of the ancient T'leth (twin city to M'lor which was built near Satarla, on the other side of the Tyr, in the jungle) gave us more fun and... stress.
Mechanic is great.