I'm a Veteran Lex Arcana Player and a Demiurge myself (from the 1rst edition to this new one). I have played an assassin with the cover of a diplomat. I have made an agreement with the Demiurge (the Game Master) to the real identity of my Custos had to be secret, and it have been revealed only in one of the most dramatic fights of the adventure. This approach requires a dedication from the player to be clever enough to not be discovered by the companion and to have a good understanding with the Demiurge. In other cases, one can want his Custos to be know of being an Assassin to his companions alone, it depends on which style a player likes most, and if the Demiurge is likely to permit.
Did you play in a homebrew campaign or did you play one one shot adventure after the other? I'm struggling a bit, because there are No full campaigns yet
Thanks for pointing out the kickstarter. I had no idea what was going on. I saw the book at my local gaming store fairly recently. Though they didn't have the core rule book ended up looking it up online and discovering the setting proper. The charavter creation was confusing at first but if you can do elementsry math you're fine I like the take on the dice in this. You could go for consistency with multiple dice or you can fish for exploding dice with one. Same with combat. You might scratch your head at it at first if you're used to something like DnD 5e or V5, but without Actions, Channel Divinity, spell slots that come back on a short rest or a long rest or feats etc etc it's way simpler in the long run. The biggest weakness is the advancement rules. The multipliers and point assignments for schools of [blank] is unnecessarily clunky. Breaking up to get equipment or better training and assistance is fine and while I like that aspect of the more experience you have as a Custodes the more benefits you get, the rest should've had a had the fat trimmed down more The setting is also fantastic. Barbarians in Germania? Druid cults in Britannica? Assassins in Jerusalem? Not to mention Rome being a world unto itself Overall i love this game and look forward to more
Recently got into this game and while I've yet to play it, have collected all the books (and backed the KS) because I love the setting and the books are so beautiful. Got to say this video has helped me wrap my head around some of the rules! Thanks! :)
Hi Dave, Having run both editions of Lex Arcana, I believe that one of the most difficult aspects of the game is understanding the actual position of the Custos. Many players arrive at the table expecting have the complete freedom of a classic fantasy adventuring party or people guiding them every step of the way but providing constant on-call support, like a rigid military hierarchy. In my opinion, both are incorrect, since the Custos are often right in the middle, which is a kind of situation we (as players) are quite unaccostumed to.
@@Skanah_ In terms of complexity, I don't consider Lex Arcana that hard, but it has one significant entry barrier. Each check (including combat checks) requires only a single skill and the player have to decide how to split their score. E.g. if you have De Natura (i.e. Nature skill) 12, you can decide to roll 1d12, 2d6, 3d4 or any other combination of die that provide a potential maximum of 12. Pick the die, roll, add the results together and you're gold. The entry barrier lie in the fact of choosing how many die you have to roll (instead of relying on a "one size fits all" like other games). Of course, rolling less die means having more chance of extreme results.
@Woodclaw thanks! Games been on my shelf since the 2019 kickstarter but i havent actually put it on the table as a choice for any of my groups yet. Been too intimidated
Supported Lex Arcana Kickstarter just 3 days ago, on the first day live. Was curious to see if you would pick it up, since you already reviewed their previous works in Brancalonia, Inferno, etc, not dissapointed, great review. I have run some adventures at the table of Lex Arcana, but I play it with savage worlds rules, use only the lore and history of lex arcana, but super excited to get my hands on Roma and The Fall to run my first campaign on the Lex Arcana setting, with savage worlds rules
I dont play lex arcanca but the setting encylopedia is amazing, such a great sourcebook on ancient rome at its height, and its filled with useful info, with a few recipes, a great section on historical poisons and treatments, information on naval schedules and practices in rome and much much more. Its also fairly game neutral, so you dont really need to know the game to get alot from it.
If you're looking for other Italian ttrpg to review i would suggest Farsight RPG it's a sci-fi RPG based loosely on 5th edition but it changes things so much that it almost looks like another system, battle are faster and more deadly, and character progression is far more customizable than 5e I highly recommend it
@@DaveThaumavore that's alright. Mainly commenting for engagement and to inform interested viewers. It's truly a surprisingly packed game line considering it's relatively niche but the game keeps growing with every KS campaign.
This sounds like a really cool game. Not averse to crunch but I do wonder if Mythras + Mythic Rome would do just as well to model the setting with less crunch
While the amount of crunch and complex mechanics is not for me, I do have the core book and the Aegyptus and they are absolutely fantastic as setting books that I slap a homebrew Mörk Borg onto. Great review as always!
@@lazarus-bastardus sure! It's just a small google doc, do with it what you want :) docs.google.com/document/d/1YQtoTndWWj4KK1w26wPwBYUIN3pQ9s3U5dNrUG17FrE/edit?usp=drivesdk
@@mre6659 Any chance of sharing it? I'll promise to share back, if I ever end up expanding it or home brewing something of my own. And I might do it in English instead of Finnish. ;)
@@DaveThaumavore I mean the devs cearly don't understand what makes Rome interesting based on the premise alone. So running a game based on IRL history with these rules would be much better.
Interesting premise and donsn't make sense and could be better... Like the romans are the best at magic but not the Jews/ a demigod/phophet/son of God? But later on towards medieval times all of rome's eneimes are catching up? LIke why not have Jesus be the chosen one and give the Roman magic to others? And you could have a 40k like setting were Rome is besieged on all sides including this Christian cult of OP magic users. Which if they wanted more a DND setting why not 1AD? Where you could help the Christian gain power or ignore it to do other things like politics or conquest. Honestly a medieval rome works better as a steampiunk setting then a magic is real one.
The one thing they ger it wrong is the outfit and armot of the Roman Empire for that time, the lorica segmentata when in to deseus by the second century, nobody use the same kind of clothes for 500 years.
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It has to be added that Marco Maggi and Francesco Nepitello are the designers of The One Ring 1e and 2e as well.
Yeah, good point.
And TOR (I played only 2nd ed) is the best:)
Is it that the same as adventures in Middle Earth? To many games.
@@TempoLOOKING No, AiME is the D&D 5e conversion.
I have to commend Dave for being able to explain this systems horribly complex and unusual rules with a straight face. Cheers sir
I'm a Veteran Lex Arcana Player and a Demiurge myself (from the 1rst edition to this new one). I have played an assassin with the cover of a diplomat. I have made an agreement with the Demiurge (the Game Master) to the real identity of my Custos had to be secret, and it have been revealed only in one of the most dramatic fights of the adventure. This approach requires a dedication from the player to be clever enough to not be discovered by the companion and to have a good understanding with the Demiurge.
In other cases, one can want his Custos to be know of being an Assassin to his companions alone, it depends on which style a player likes most, and if the Demiurge is likely to permit.
Did you play in a homebrew campaign or did you play one one shot adventure after the other? I'm struggling a bit, because there are No full campaigns yet
Thanks for pointing out the kickstarter. I had no idea what was going on. I saw the book at my local gaming store fairly recently. Though they didn't have the core rule book ended up looking it up online and discovering the setting proper. The charavter creation was confusing at first but if you can do elementsry math you're fine
I like the take on the dice in this. You could go for consistency with multiple dice or you can fish for exploding dice with one.
Same with combat. You might scratch your head at it at first if you're used to something like DnD 5e or V5, but without Actions, Channel Divinity, spell slots that come back on a short rest or a long rest or feats etc etc it's way simpler in the long run.
The biggest weakness is the advancement rules. The multipliers and point assignments for schools of [blank] is unnecessarily clunky. Breaking up to get equipment or better training and assistance is fine and while I like that aspect of the more experience you have as a Custodes the more benefits you get, the rest should've had a had the fat trimmed down more
The setting is also fantastic. Barbarians in Germania? Druid cults in Britannica? Assassins in Jerusalem? Not to mention Rome being a world unto itself
Overall i love this game and look forward to more
Recently got into this game and while I've yet to play it, have collected all the books (and backed the KS) because I love the setting and the books are so beautiful.
Got to say this video has helped me wrap my head around some of the rules! Thanks! :)
Hi Dave,
Having run both editions of Lex Arcana, I believe that one of the most difficult aspects of the game is understanding the actual position of the Custos. Many players arrive at the table expecting have the complete freedom of a classic fantasy adventuring party or people guiding them every step of the way but providing constant on-call support, like a rigid military hierarchy. In my opinion, both are incorrect, since the Custos are often right in the middle, which is a kind of situation we (as players) are quite unaccostumed to.
That’s a really interesting point.
Is the skill and combat system as cumbersome as it sounds? Could you compare it's complexity in practice to some other rpgs?
@@Skanah_ In terms of complexity, I don't consider Lex Arcana that hard, but it has one significant entry barrier. Each check (including combat checks) requires only a single skill and the player have to decide how to split their score. E.g. if you have De Natura (i.e. Nature skill) 12, you can decide to roll 1d12, 2d6, 3d4 or any other combination of die that provide a potential maximum of 12. Pick the die, roll, add the results together and you're gold.
The entry barrier lie in the fact of choosing how many die you have to roll (instead of relying on a "one size fits all" like other games). Of course, rolling less die means having more chance of extreme results.
@Woodclaw thanks! Games been on my shelf since the 2019 kickstarter but i havent actually put it on the table as a choice for any of my groups yet. Been too intimidated
@@Skanah_ no problem.
Love a good crunchy rules heavy Roman themed setting. I was on the fence to begin with but after this review, ive gone for all the pdfs
Hi from Italy. I thank you that this game is known in other countries.😊
Another great and unbiased review. Having said that,
a hernia sounds more fun and managable than running this game, unfortunately.
Yeah, love the idea of the setting but I’m much more into a rules lite setup. My max fiddlyness would be something like Warlock!
Supported Lex Arcana Kickstarter just 3 days ago, on the first day live. Was curious to see if you would pick it up, since you already reviewed their previous works in Brancalonia, Inferno, etc, not dissapointed, great review.
I have run some adventures at the table of Lex Arcana, but I play it with savage worlds rules, use only the lore and history of lex arcana, but super excited to get my hands on Roma and The Fall to run my first campaign on the Lex Arcana setting, with savage worlds rules
Lex Arcana has a really interesting dice mechanics.
If Dave reviews it then it must be great all together.
I dont play lex arcanca but the setting encylopedia is amazing, such a great sourcebook on ancient rome at its height, and its filled with useful info, with a few recipes, a great section on historical poisons and treatments, information on naval schedules and practices in rome and much much more. Its also fairly game neutral, so you dont really need to know the game to get alot from it.
Yeah I really need to find the time to dig into that one.
To bad the community is so small. I know what game I'm getting this year.
WE have to notify all romaboos
Cool as only one we have is Call of Cthulhu system based Invictus. However the rules seem pretty crunchy which is a shame
If you're looking for other Italian ttrpg to review i would suggest Farsight RPG it's a sci-fi RPG based loosely on 5th edition but it changes things so much that it almost looks like another system, battle are faster and more deadly, and character progression is far more customizable than 5e
I highly recommend it
Didn't hear you mention the Encyclopaedia Arcana, which is another supplement which further expands on mainly GM facing rules
That's right, I missed it and only later caught myself. There's a text pop-up in the opinion conclusion segment where I do mention it.
It's also currently out of print and they didn't send me a copy, which is why it slipped my notice.
@@DaveThaumavore that's alright. Mainly commenting for engagement and to inform interested viewers.
It's truly a surprisingly packed game line considering it's relatively niche but the game keeps growing with every KS campaign.
This sounds like a really cool game. Not averse to crunch but I do wonder if Mythras + Mythic Rome would do just as well to model the setting with less crunch
"You'd have to spend several months just to read through them all..."
Challenge accepted
While the amount of crunch and complex mechanics is not for me, I do have the core book and the Aegyptus and they are absolutely fantastic as setting books that I slap a homebrew Mörk Borg onto. Great review as always!
Any chance you could share your Lex Mörkana brew? 😊
@@lazarus-bastardus that's a better name than what I had going! it's in swedish though so I guess it depends... ^^
@@mre6659 My Swedish is rusty, but I’ll take that if you’re willing to share, thank you. :)
@@lazarus-bastardus sure! It's just a small google doc, do with it what you want :)
docs.google.com/document/d/1YQtoTndWWj4KK1w26wPwBYUIN3pQ9s3U5dNrUG17FrE/edit?usp=drivesdk
@@mre6659 Any chance of sharing it? I'll promise to share back, if I ever end up expanding it or home brewing something of my own. And I might do it in English instead of Finnish. ;)
great overview, thank you
I'm really interested in Lex Arcana too because I love Bronze Age setting.
Not Bronze Age. Rome was in the Classical Era to Medieval Era.
@@murmillo42 Thank you very much for the insight, Murmillo.
@@himurogentoku7117 no problem 😁
Gives me flashbacks to latin class.
Beautiful game, but too much math and tables for my taste.
Honestly the system is very smooth. It looks over crunchy but I'd argue DnD is more complex
Having played both versions of Lex Arcana, tables are only used for character creation, much else afterwards.
Cool settings, but I am not on board with the rules system.
Awesome!
its cute that you call this amount of supplements staggering. *laughs in The Dark Eye*
Wow
Love the setting, not really a fan of the mechanics
Would play it in ICRPG, EZD6 or as a Borg variant
oh how often amazing settings are plagued by awful mehanics...
Bump
I'm not sure movies about Rome is exactly the way to go into the setting... maybe some historical novels.. but really, read actual history
Yeah, if players are willing to read actual Roman history, I’d just have them read the Lex Arcana books.
@@DaveThaumavore I mean the devs cearly don't understand what makes Rome interesting based on the premise alone. So running a game based on IRL history with these rules would be much better.
This is way too close to Thac0
The Jesus Myth. Keep it.
???
I agree and have it be like 40k but set in 1AD .
Interesting premise and donsn't make sense and could be better... Like the romans are the best at magic but not the Jews/ a demigod/phophet/son of God? But later on towards medieval times all of rome's eneimes are catching up? LIke why not have Jesus be the chosen one and give the Roman magic to others? And you could have a 40k like setting were Rome is besieged on all sides including this Christian cult of OP magic users. Which if they wanted more a DND setting why not 1AD? Where you could help the Christian gain power or ignore it to do other things like politics or conquest. Honestly a medieval rome works better as a steampiunk setting then a magic is real one.
It's called fiction dude. It's not real.
Dude. Wut?
Ah, reading this must be what being on acid feels like
@@dixonbalzacs5881 That's no excuse for taking a good setting and making it bad.
@@mariodosantos I'm autistic...
The one thing they ger it wrong is the outfit and armot of the Roman Empire for that time, the lorica segmentata when in to deseus by the second century, nobody use the same kind of clothes for 500 years.
I would Put lorica hamata AS the Main Armor and lorica segmentata AS a high Tier Armor type