Being in the Main the Mouth of Olde House Rules

Sunday, August 30, 2015

Barons of Braunstein Is Reborn!

Barons of Braunstein is back, as promised, reborn as a fully licensed product of David Wesley!  Anyone interested in getting it have two quick and easy ways to go here...    

(1) If you've previously purchased the Braunstein! game, all you need to do is download the update in your Drive-Thru RPG game library, and some of you might have already gotten the message sent out to accompany the release.  Easy!

(2) Visit Drive-Thru RPG here and get your copy...easy!

Not only is the game greatly expanded (up to 30 pages), it now includes original material from David Wesely, an Essay aptly entitled "Braunstein in the Middle Ages" to help set the stage and support games in his eponymous little setting...

It's back, this time with more
content and material by David Wesely himself!

And for the uninitiated, here's the lowdown: 

First, a little history lesson.  Back in 1967, Napoleonic gamer David Wesely tried something different.  Instead of having his players command an army, he placed his game between battles in the little town of Brausntein and had each assume the role of an important towns-person, like the mayor, each with their own goals and personal agenda.  Modern role-playing was born!

For awhile, these games came to be known as a "Braunstein", an evolutionary step between war-game and RPG.  The eponymously named Braunstein! aims to capture the experience of these games, but employing entirely different rules:

First, these games emphasized personal interactions, where individual decisions had consequence and were often the deciding factor in critical situations.

Next, the rules were minimal and simpler, because they were being invented on the spot, and for reasons already stated.

Finally, they were historical because, well, they evolved from historical war-games, although the fantasy stuff came soon enough and changed everything.  Yeah, forever.

This game tries to capture the above ethos, being suited for adventures between the 4-15th centuries, although expandable to the following two centuries as well...

The new Table of Contents
pretty much says it all content-wise...

And although a historical title, there's very simple rules (as a footnote to Appendix I), allowing for working magic and witchcraft, which we're dealt with here, if you're interested. 

Barons of Braunstein is expanded from its original format, with advanced rules for armor, shield walls, and participating in historical battles and even medieval sieges!  There's also an added section on religious appeals, including sacrifices to win divine favor, whether Hellenistic/northern pagan or Christian, noting that we still encourage you to hit up your local library too...  

1 comment:

  1. Beautiful! And free, since I already had the first edition! Thanks--

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