What do you think?
Rate this book
Reign
REIGN expands the frontiers of fantasy gaming by elevating the action to an international stage. Monarchs, mercenaries and merchant princes gamble armies and fortunes to win nations in a rich and vibrant fantasy setting. REIGN’s simple but complete rules model the triumphs and disasters of societies as small as a village or as large as a realm-spanning religion.
With REIGN, your characters can defend threatened nations, bring prosperity to desperate provinces, make laws and perpetuate justice… or, if you prefer, loot conquer and pillage on a vast and awesome scale.
With REIGN, your characters can defend threatened nations, bring prosperity to desperate provinces, make laws and perpetuate justice… or, if you prefer, loot conquer and pillage on a vast and awesome scale.
365 pages, Hardback
16 people want to read
About the author
Greg Stolze
146 books57 followersGreg Stolze (born 1970) is an American novelist and writer, whose work has mainly focused on properties derived from role-playing games.
Stolze has contributed to numerous role-playing game books for White Wolf Game Studio and Atlas Games, including Demon: the Fallen. Some of Stolze's recent work has been self-published using the "ransom method", whereby the game is only released when enough potential buyers have contributed enough money to reach a threshold set by the author.
Together with John Tynes he created and wrote the role-playing game Unknown Armies, published by Atlas Games. He has also co-written the free game NEMESIS, which uses the One-Roll Engine presented in Godlike and the so called Madness Meter derived from Unknown Armies.
Stolze has contributed to numerous role-playing game books for White Wolf Game Studio and Atlas Games, including Demon: the Fallen. Some of Stolze's recent work has been self-published using the "ransom method", whereby the game is only released when enough potential buyers have contributed enough money to reach a threshold set by the author.
Together with John Tynes he created and wrote the role-playing game Unknown Armies, published by Atlas Games. He has also co-written the free game NEMESIS, which uses the One-Roll Engine presented in Godlike and the so called Madness Meter derived from Unknown Armies.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 27, 2021
I believe I first learned about Reign because it did something I couldn't find in other game systems - running organizations. Reign provides tools and rules for players to create companies, control territories, operate businesses, command armies, etc. The players collectively manage the company and the Might, Territory, Treasure, etc. that it controls. For my own groups I was looking at options for how they could control something bigger than themselves and yet still be player character and not abandon their individuality.
Reign achieves this. I think the company system in the game provides useful tools for those who want to engage in this sort of idea.
However, for me, I cannot wrap my head around the dice mechanics. The game has players roll pools of dice and getting matching sets. The value of the dice and the number of the dice matched provide the height and width. Though I read this entire book cover to cover it never sank in intuitively how to assess dice rolls and integrate them into the game. For me, it was the major stumbling block. If I were to ever run Reign myself I would discard it immediately for something more easily comprehensible to me.
I think the dice mechanic also hurt the game in other areas. Due to how the game uses dice things like items, abilities and spells felt stretched or forced to behave in particular ways to suit the system. To be fair to Reign this could be a sign of my own inexperience and ignorance rather than a failing of itself.
I thought the provided setting was pretty cool. It was unique and I hadn't encountered anything like a world with a sun frozen in place and the continents in the shape of two people embraced, laying in the ocean. I thought the cultures and societies laid out in the books were pretty strong too. For the most part I didn't get the feeling that I was reading some historical culture with the name filed off.
I quite enjoyed RPPR's Reign campaign, so I know it can be use successfully. I would say the system has potential and experienced GMs/DMs could probably extract value from it. I'd recommend picking it up, or the second edition to explore it.
Reign achieves this. I think the company system in the game provides useful tools for those who want to engage in this sort of idea.
However, for me, I cannot wrap my head around the dice mechanics. The game has players roll pools of dice and getting matching sets. The value of the dice and the number of the dice matched provide the height and width. Though I read this entire book cover to cover it never sank in intuitively how to assess dice rolls and integrate them into the game. For me, it was the major stumbling block. If I were to ever run Reign myself I would discard it immediately for something more easily comprehensible to me.
I think the dice mechanic also hurt the game in other areas. Due to how the game uses dice things like items, abilities and spells felt stretched or forced to behave in particular ways to suit the system. To be fair to Reign this could be a sign of my own inexperience and ignorance rather than a failing of itself.
I thought the provided setting was pretty cool. It was unique and I hadn't encountered anything like a world with a sun frozen in place and the continents in the shape of two people embraced, laying in the ocean. I thought the cultures and societies laid out in the books were pretty strong too. For the most part I didn't get the feeling that I was reading some historical culture with the name filed off.
I quite enjoyed RPPR's Reign campaign, so I know it can be use successfully. I would say the system has potential and experienced GMs/DMs could probably extract value from it. I'd recommend picking it up, or the second edition to explore it.
April 9, 2010
I ended up liking this game a lot more than I thought I would. I got it because it's a game that's apparently got a lot of play from the designers of Diaspora, a game that I really like, and I thought it would be worth taking a look at solely based on that.
My initial look at the book did not impress me. Something about the layout just left me cold, so I put it down without reading it and left it there for weeks.
Once I did actually pick it up and start reading my opinions began to change. The layout proved to be well designed for actually reading the book. The underlying mechanics, the one roll engine (ORE), seemed a bit clunky at first read, but as I read more and more examples of their use throughout the book I became more intrigued by them and now want to see how they actually play out in a game.
Of course, the biggest issue with this game is why another fantasy game? The main distinction is the Company mechanics that focus the game on both the characters and the organization they belong to, whether that be a social club or an empire. The Company rules are why you'd play this game instead of some other fantasy RPG.
The world is also intriguing. It reminds me a bit of Glorantha in that it follows the laws of myth rather than reality, with three dimensional continents on a flat ocean, and an unmoving sun in the sky. It feels like a fantasy world, and not just another medieval mashup with magic.
The artwork was another factor that I wasn't sure of at first, but the minimal line drawings have a mix of Asian and African style that perfectly fits the setting. Once I got more familiar with that setting I came to appreciate the art more.
Overall an interesting game that I'm now looking forward to giving a try.
My initial look at the book did not impress me. Something about the layout just left me cold, so I put it down without reading it and left it there for weeks.
Once I did actually pick it up and start reading my opinions began to change. The layout proved to be well designed for actually reading the book. The underlying mechanics, the one roll engine (ORE), seemed a bit clunky at first read, but as I read more and more examples of their use throughout the book I became more intrigued by them and now want to see how they actually play out in a game.
Of course, the biggest issue with this game is why another fantasy game? The main distinction is the Company mechanics that focus the game on both the characters and the organization they belong to, whether that be a social club or an empire. The Company rules are why you'd play this game instead of some other fantasy RPG.
The world is also intriguing. It reminds me a bit of Glorantha in that it follows the laws of myth rather than reality, with three dimensional continents on a flat ocean, and an unmoving sun in the sky. It feels like a fantasy world, and not just another medieval mashup with magic.
The artwork was another factor that I wasn't sure of at first, but the minimal line drawings have a mix of Asian and African style that perfectly fits the setting. Once I got more familiar with that setting I came to appreciate the art more.
Overall an interesting game that I'm now looking forward to giving a try.
April 27, 2017
OK, it's really 4.5 stars. This book is wonderful on so many levels
* the character creation system is breathtakingly fun and innovative.
* the world is both understandable and alien, completely eschewing the tropes of fantasy world building to set it in a place of which you have never seen the like.
* The flavor text is top notch. Easily some of the best I've ever read, bringing the alien world to life and sprinkled liberally throughout the book.
* the art and production design complements the world perfectly.
* the Company mechanic that is the core of the game is simple, clever, and brilliant.
The only complaint I have is that the action resolution mechanic in combat is so unusual that it runs counter to my usual play style. This is true of all of the One Roll Engine games, so I can't really complain - I knew what I was getting into when I bought it, and it clearly works for a lot of people.
Even if you just port the Company mechanic and the world over to your preferred game engine this book is still a hell of an investment.
* the character creation system is breathtakingly fun and innovative.
* the world is both understandable and alien, completely eschewing the tropes of fantasy world building to set it in a place of which you have never seen the like.
* The flavor text is top notch. Easily some of the best I've ever read, bringing the alien world to life and sprinkled liberally throughout the book.
* the art and production design complements the world perfectly.
* the Company mechanic that is the core of the game is simple, clever, and brilliant.
The only complaint I have is that the action resolution mechanic in combat is so unusual that it runs counter to my usual play style. This is true of all of the One Roll Engine games, so I can't really complain - I knew what I was getting into when I bought it, and it clearly works for a lot of people.
Even if you just port the Company mechanic and the world over to your preferred game engine this book is still a hell of an investment.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews