Interest Check DSA/TDE

[Thraxas]

Hello there,

As a german gamer I have played a lot of DSA (Das Schwarze Auge) or translated TDE (The Dark Eye) and since i recently saw that there is not only a free read version of

the 5. Edition out but also that there is an english translation, I wanted to know if some people would be willing to play a game here.

For DSA:

DSA is a german rpg akin to DND in the sense that it is middle ages+fantasy for the most part. It plays mostly on the Continent of Aventuria, home to Humans, Elves, Orks and the usual Fantasy beings plus some fun extras. Most species are pretty much the same as in other rpgs, of course with sometimes special twists. There is a Pantheon of 12 gods opposing 12 Archdemons plus one nameless god (bad) and one Demonlord (also bad). In Aventuria you have all ranges of terrain from deserts to frozen wastes and djungles.

As for things that DSA does different (than dnd):

- its less combat focused, like seriously if you try to hit everything youre doing it wrong and your character will die. Sure most official Adventures feature that "final battle" somewhere but it isnt as common. (honestly in dsa3 every fight was a nightmare of calculating like 20 things before even starting)

- its less fantastical. That is not to say that you dont see magic and stuff, but for example the humble Shortsword+1 would be mostly unabtainable in DSA since permanent enchantments aren't a thing. In exchange if you get some magical item it will have some uses or perhaps a very particular use instead of just "numbers go up".

- in the same line PCs are less "heroic". While luckily 4. and 5. edition ramped PCs up quite a bit, you still are a mortal and can easily be overwhelmed by other humans even if you habe quite a bit of adventures below your belt. Regeneration is slower (no short/long rest, just d6 healing per rest) so you need to factor ressources you have, same for magic which is mana based.

- There is no dump stat. Different from most RPGs in DSA any skill is tied to not one but three Attributes and you roll a d20 against every single one and then look if your skill level is enough. I think this is acutally quite a bit more fun, but it can be clunky at times. Of course some Attributes are more important to certain Classes than others.

 

As for the group itself:

If there would be enough interest i would likely use 5th edition rules with quite a bit of hombrew from 4 and 3. Dont worry, just some extras here and there. You dont need to read the whole tome of 400+ pages there is to the rules, Im more than happy to help, though some background and character creation should be read there.

Edited September 26, 2023 by Thraxas (see edit history)

[Neopopulas]

I have The Dark Eye but i've never played it. My german isn't good enough - and by that i mean its basically non-existent i took two years of it like.. 15 years ago - But i have the translation and its really good, i love the theme and its a welcome change from more western games.

 

I'm not sure what edition i have, but its kinda old so i'd have to check, but it looked like a great system.

[Thraxas]

Yeah the idea and setting was always nice, sad thing was that character creation and development before the 4th edition sucked like really hard.

[Neopopulas]

I think i have the 5th. Its so hard to tell though. The cover art looks the same though.

[Thraxas]

I think they reuse most of the artwork, though as I said the 5th can be read online for free. But I think they made some things outside the core rules, I mean they cut like 50% of spells there.

[Neopopulas]

It has the same cover as this one. So it might be 5th

[Thraxas]

27 minutes ago, Neopopulas said:

It has the same cover as this one. So it might be 5th

Yeah seems like it then. Well if enough people have interest you’re very welcome. I’m honestly suprised someone knew about it as it isn’t even one of the options in creating a game.

[Malkavian Grin]

I too have that version of The Dark Eye (published 2016). I was gifted it from a friend but have never read any of it. He said it was "really good" though. I think he upgraded to a new version? I don't recall why he gave it to me.

Sounds like this is more Warhammer Fantasy than D&D, which I'm all for. I don't like Fantasy Superheroes much anymore.

[Neopopulas]

TDE really feels low fantasy low magic. It has magic but it doesn't feel like DnD magic, and it has less of a 'we're global heroes' sort of feel that DnD has. I'm pretty sure there is nothing like a fireball in TDE, that i remember.

I got the book the same time i got Symbaroum, which is also a stunning game and system that not enough people know about.

[Malkavian Grin]

1 hour ago, Neopopulas said:

TDE really feels low fantasy low magic. It has magic but it doesn't feel like DnD magic, and it has less of a 'we're global heroes' sort of feel that DnD has.

I'm sold! That sounds like a pretty cool idea. I'm not a fan of how outrageous d&d feels most of the time.

[Thraxas]

Actually there was (in this set of rules there isnt) a fireball but it was a super rare spell and super expensive in ae (mana).

Generally DSA spells be it for main casters or secondary casters, fall in one or more of these 3 categories:

1. Super specific but super good in that situation, like the invisible spell which in dsa only targets one person, without any clothes, weapons etc. So it can not be used
for an ambush, but to scout or get in somewhere its super good.

2. Very versatile but mostly of limited power, like the manifesto (which lets you a handful of elemental essence (like a flame or a glass full of water (without the glass))
or my absolute favorite spell (which is not in this edition, but i would allow it) which lets you reform one litre of a hard material in something akin to warm wax, so that you can form it. You can open doors for example or in one case end a boss fight early by making the edge of a bridge over a lava lake (yeah very classy) weak and luring the big boss there so he falls in.

3. Very strong but prohibitively expensive. Like the mentioned Fireball, or a Spell for cardiac arrest (still needed to touch the target). And by expensive i mean you litereally would blow more mana into it than you would have at level 2 or 3 as a dedicatet spellcaster.

A great spell (that i also would allow) was the shapechange spell which let you change in one animal (you needed to learn the spell anew for every animal form).

 

As for low fantasy, that depends honestly on the adventure though the high fantasy kind is decidedly rarer. For example if you play in the, apptly named, middle kingdom and dont have a spellcaster in your group you can go on a bunch of adventures without anything magical happening. In contrast if you go to the north where demons hold the fort down, you will likely have a more high fantasy feeling. I personally tried to balance this with the expecations of the group.

[Thraxas]

Well I’m trying to create a game, let’s see perhaps some people would like to try too

[elder.sign]

Yes, I would like to try TDE, too.

[Thraxas]

Yup I made a game, Hope this works as intended