My initial thoughts on this fun game...

[Eric the Shed]

Fortunately I have had to take some holiday (otherwise I would lose it) so yesterday my good friend John came round to the shed to introduce me to Frostgrave.

Sadly the camera wasn’t available but in this post I’ll layout some of my initial thoughts after two games.

I chose an Elementalist as my Wizard – his starting spells – Elemental Bolt, Elemental Barrier, Wall, Enchant Weapon, Summon Demon, Crumble, Blinding Light and Furious Quill. With the exception of Elemental Barrier I used them all during the two games we played.

In terms of my forces I had an Apprentice, two thieves, an Archer, A ranger, A knight and a War PIG (hound). The balance seemed to work.

I was facing John's 4th Level Wizard and the disparity between the two was not too great. Indeed some fortuitous Bolt spells (don’t you love that +8 shooting attack) soon fried as number of his troops and in both games I walked off with 4 of the six treasure tokens. The net result 700 XP earned in two games and seven levels of experience. 
Great Fun ! Some lovely moments and lots of atmosphere. However I am concerned about how fast you can level up. ( I appreciate there is a separate thread on this)

The rate of levelling is too fast !
These are my thoughts…
Reduce the number of treasure points – potentially to four. Also make them further away than the base line. This reduces the number of treasure tokens and hence experience on the table
Increase the rate of Levelling from 100 to 150 XP per level
Based on these my Wizard would probably be around the 4th Level and not 7th

Some other thoughts…
Personally I don’t like the idea that all characters can climb – we had a number of levels in our game. The idea a Knight in mail and shield can start climbing walls feels so wrong.
Perhaps only Rangers, Thieves, Barbarians etc have the scaling ability.(sheer cliff faces etc)

Plus I managed to summon an Imp (with Wings) – There appears to be no rules for flying creatures so any creature with flight can ascend the highest points with no penalty and suffer no damage from falling.

I’d also like to see the treasure harder to get – locked chests/traps etc – perhaps there could be %chance that treasure is trapped/locked? Again these could be removed by Thieves/Treasure Hunters (Will roll)  or Forced Open (Fight Roll). This would stop single figures from running up grabbing the loot and running away. Each item should be hotly contested.

Death – it would appear that all characters have the chance to recover at the end of the game and ready to fight the next day (assuming they get the right roll) – perhaps any character that drops to -3 or further is beyond recovery. This makes cash more valuable to restocking your warband 

We also has a scenario where my Ranger took down a magic item laden Apprentice – can he loot the body? Cannot find a reference to this. Perhaps this is a good option – it allows certain characters to target the opposition for those choice goodies, also makes players think more tactically.

These are my initial thoughts but will no doubt change as we progress with this great game…

 

[November]

Very good ideas of advancement on climbing, flying and locked chests. I think we all are just so excited about the game, that we tend to overlook its shortcomings. I for one put these ideas under houserule consideration.

[Elbows]

Mirrors a number of my thoughts. I like the book, I like the idea and I think Frostgrave has a lot of potential with a number of house-rules installed, but I did find it's not the "second coming" like a lot of folks put it on as.

It's a fun, good game.  My initial experience with it and the more I peruse the forum have put me off from investing heavily in a Frostgrave styled board etc.  If I do keep playing, I'll pick up a deck of spell cards or so...but my initial enthusiasm has diminished a bit.

That being said, I'm anxious to see some well-constructed home-rules expansions by folks.  If I were to really run a campaign I would likely do away with the treasure tokens all together, except where appropriate.  I'd much prefer objective based scenarios.  I think the treasure token ideas are okay for setting up a quick non-planned game, but to get any mileage out of the campaign elements, I think scenarios would be hugely more important.  Not a tough fix.

I think the spells are mostly solid and I think building your wizard is well done.  I like the way the apprentice carries on.  I'd add a few more tables to help mix stuff up in the after-game section.  There is a heap of depth which could be added with a few more random possibilities.  I think a bestiary deck would be ideal for games, and I'd nix some of the rules which involve 1.5x (like running, just double it).

I'm curious to see your thoughts after more games!

[Estarriol]

I would just put flying under climbing, but you don't need a piece of terrain to climb and if isn't difficult terrain (unless you want to start grading flyers) - just put a clear stand under the base with a die keeping track of inches.
I've been wanting a levitate/flight spell. Can you tell?