Obviously I've become a Savage Worlds apologist, I hold that no system is perfect, it depends on what you wanna do with it. Right now, I'm into the "keeping it lean, and mean and letting the good time roll." SW works for that across a lot of genres that allow me to do that. It's definitely not perfect, but since it's ridiculously modular I can skip the shit I don't like without losing *anything*.
Systems I look forward to becoming a Evangelist for Runescape/Mythras someday.
Savage worlds as well, also the ffg warhammer 40k line and wfrp any edition except 3rd.
Looking into mythras and some of the other d100 games out there but not sold just yet
None, really. I've played enough games over the years that I can appreciate many of their weaknesses as well as their strengths. If I make suggestions, I try to gear it toward the other person's expressed preferences, rather than just recommending my personal favorites.
Quote from: Pat on January 18, 2022, 02:23:04 PM
None, really. I've played enough games over the years that I can appreciate many of their weaknesses as well as their strengths. If I make suggestions, I try to gear it toward the other person's expressed preferences, rather than just recommending my personal favorites.
So what's your absolute GO TO?
Without having made my Universal Heartbreaker - I go with what hits my sweet spot in terms of flexibility, scaleability and "horsepower" (which is does it let my PC's do what my players want).
I should also obviously put Talislanta on my Evangelism list.
ACKS
Mekton Zeta (with or without Cyberpunk 2020)
Those are my top 2.
Mine are AD&D 2e (you remember you were happiest here ;) ), In Nomine SJG, and usually first editions of '90s games.
Talislanta was a surprise in practice and I've come to really enjoy its potential -- not yet an evangelist, but inching closer!
Greyhawk and 2E
I'm not much of an evangelist; I don't go out my way to convince anyone they should play this or that. I just play (and discuss) what I like. That includes original D&D, AD&D (1e), and BRP-based games, for the most part. I also like Rolemaster (1e/2e) for some things. Setting-wise I prefer homebrew. Out of the published settings I would typically lean towards Greyhawk. The Hyperborea setting from Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea is pretty cool, too. Sometimes I like Middle Earth as a setting. Young Kingdoms (i.e., Elric) is also cool.
Not very zealous evangelist but: Earthdawn!
Quote from: Ocule on January 18, 2022, 02:19:42 PM
Savage worlds
Figured as much. Wondered why you didn't put PEG in Yellow or Red on your "Woke" list, despite their MANY documented woke actions and association with a known sexual harasser (who is listed as "red" himself on your list).
*shrug* Guess the list of biased creators is also biased.
System: Strictly speaking? None, but hopefully my own system one day. I always find fault in everything, even things I might like. Closest contenders are:
- MSHRPG/FASERIP: Haven't played in years and wouldn't play it as is, but one of the most versatile systems ever created. This game brought me down the rabbit hole of effect-based design, with the idea that everything was a power with a Rank that determines how powerful its effects are, including damage, range, how difficult they are to resist, etc.
- D&D 3e: The pinnacle of D&D and most under appreciated redheaded stepchild of the editions. Wouldn't play it as is, but OGL brought us countless variations of it, even the OSR, arguably. Feats were crap in implementation, but great conceptually, d20+Mod mechanics streamlined and cleaned up D&D, while Attack Bonus was close enough mathematically and conceptually to THAC0 to still feel like D&D (unlike later editions, which changed so much they feel like a different game).
Setting: Dark Sun, the most under appreciated and greatest D&D setting ever created, illustrated by Brom, one of the greatest illustrators to ever have worked on D&D (and also co-contributor to setting's creation). Later released, plus the metaplot messed it up, but that is easily ignored, specially if you can get a copy of the original (early supplements like Elves of Athas, Veiled Alliance and Dune Trader were good, though).
*double post :P*
My evangelism is system and setting agnostic!
I know so little about other systems, I can't be fair.
\However, I love the elegant simplicity of MELEE / WIZARD so much, I try hard to plant the seeds.
I even created my own Unauthorized rulebook versions, with art from other sources, an index, compliations of magazine articles/variants, etc.
Quote from: tenbones on January 18, 2022, 02:36:49 PM
Quote from: Pat on January 18, 2022, 02:23:04 PM
None, really. I've played enough games over the years that I can appreciate many of their weaknesses as well as their strengths. If I make suggestions, I try to gear it toward the other person's expressed preferences, rather than just recommending my personal favorites.
So what's your absolute GO TO?
Without having made my Universal Heartbreaker - I go with what hits my sweet spot in terms of flexibility, scaleability and "horsepower" (which is does it let my PC's do what my players want).
I should also obviously put Talislanta on my Evangelism list.
I've switched around a lot over the years. I currently use B/X a lot. But I steal from AD&D1e, because it has such a large corpus, and from everywhere in the OSR for the same reason. For pickups, I like Searchers of the Unknown. I played a lot of Fudge at one point, and GURPS, and D&D third edition, and MSH, and Marvel Saga as well. Many indie games, too. For settings, I tend to do my own, so I read them more for entertainment and inspiration than direct use. But I liked the old pre-gray box Forgotten Realms, where it was a patchwork of rumors, with dark tragedies and cold weather. I like the zaniness of Over the Edge and the completely different zaniness of Teenagers from Outer Space. I like the not-trying-too-hard Hammer Horror feel of Chill vs. the very-much-trying-too-hard trashy tabloid feel of Unknown Armies. The sheer scope of Transhuman Space contrasts with the uncomfortableness of Eclipse Phase. The infinite mercantile wanderlust of planet-hopping Traveller vs. the more constrained and focused space cops with a clear enemy and distinct but not too alien aliens of Star Frontiers, or the new frontier of Blue Planet. Many more.
I've read Savage Worlds, but have no real experience with it. I do have the big blue tome of Talislanta around somewhere.
Classic Traveller, Mongoose Traveller 1e, and Cepheus Engine for medium to hard literary science fiction.
d6 Star Wars for Star Wars (science fantasy).
Mekton for anything anime or mecha related because it is just that good. Cyberpunk 2020 for high tech low life stuff from the genre.
Labyrinth Lord or Basic Fantasy for any D&D type gaming (especially since WotC hasn't seen a penny from me since 4E).
Not much of an evangelist for anything, though like Pat I like some thing for what they are even if they aren't a good fit for me. Besides, my system tastes have changed too much over the years to not appreciate "this thing I used to like I really had a lot of fun with at the time but now I'm not interested in doing that anymore".
The closest I come is thinking that BEMCI/RC is sometimes better than it gets credit for (and all of its related off-shoots, ditto), and that Toon and Dragon Quest are under-appreciated for what they do well and how they work (even if they both are somewhat narrow and thus won't appeal to a lot of people for that reason, plus DQ definitely has some warts). When people get excited about Traveller, various RQ versions, GURPS and Hero System, etc., I can see it, even though I don't (currently) share it. I'll hum along, but I'm not going to start the hymn.
There's also a fairly long list of games that I'd probably be at least a little more enthusiastic about (if not quite evangelical) if I had the opportunity to experience them as a player. For various reasons, they don't make it high enough up the list for me to invest in them as a GM.
Warms my cockles to see others who like Savage Worlds. To me it strikes a good balance between abstract and crunch and is modular enough to fit just genres.
Quote from: lazergoblin on January 18, 2022, 03:32:05 PM
Quote from: Ocule on January 18, 2022, 02:19:42 PM
Savage worlds
Figured as much. Wondered why you didn't put PEG in Yellow or Red on your "Woke" list, despite their MANY documented woke actions and association with a known sexual harasser (who is listed as "red" himself on your list).
*shrug* Guess the list of biased creators is also biased.
They were originally yellow, a lot of that has been discussed in the massive mega thread for the guide. I'm also kind of just watching to see what they do now. Anyway I don't want to hijack this thread if you want to talk more about it I'll talk about it in the original thread.
OD&D - via White Box, Fantastic Medieval Adventure Game
and
Basic D&D - via the Blueholme Prentice Rules
I hate that I didn't grow up playing such fun games. Hell, I was 24 or 25 before I was even exposed to D&D. That was AD&D 1E, and I couldn't find the books anywhere. All I could find was 2E, and my DM said "what is that?". I didn't get the simple fun introduction to D&D, that would have helped it make sense. I got a tidal wave of everything at once.
Rolemaster Standard System and Spacemaster Privateers occasionally ironically descending to the point of self parody
GURPS of course, I don't know, I evangelize GURPS to the point where I alienate GURPS people :D
Mutant Chronicles, I suppose, though I'm not a big fan of the current 2d20 incarnation, it's trying to be two things and winds up not being very good at either of them.
Traveller 5, I guess, I kind of got fed up with moose being better anti-tank weapons than advanced very heavy plasma cannons. I want very badly for it to be good.
My own games, Galaxies In Shadow and The Arcane Confabulation, of course.
My own systems!
I go out and try to convince strangers to try them. That's pretty evangelistic, no?
Quote from: tenbones on January 18, 2022, 02:15:05 PM
What Systems/Settings are you an Evangelist for?
The Total Party Skills system for 2022.
Mini Six (D6 System). I like 5e D&D and OSR D&D but don't feel I need to evangelise for them. Mini Six is sufficiently obscure-yet-cool.
Savage Worlds, I've a big soft spot for. Not that the mechanics are perfect, but I like the way it plays, and there are a myriad of sweet setting books.
Hostile, especially the setting. But I really like the Cepheus engine that is based of classic Traveler.
Beyond the Wall and Through Sunken Lands. OSR done right, near perfect for me.
WFRP 1e - because it's the best fantasy game ever made (in my opinion). And is low fantasy and damn dark.
OpenQuest - It's very elegant and doesn't have the 'crunch' that Mythras has.
I wouldn't call myself an evangelist for anything in gaming (as opposed to broader contexts, where I need to evangelize more for Christ and His Church :) ), but I will recommend Castles & Crusades as an alternative to 5E for those who are dissatisfied with it or with WotC.
Castles and Crusades was/is an interesting system for me - it's one that never made an appearance at the table. I have largely moved away from D&D-d20. And C&C became an unintended victim of my change in tastes. However - if I were to run a 1e/2e style game, I'd *seriously* consider going C&C, or at least use it as a source for my own d20 Fantasy Heartbreaker version of 1e.
I like a bit of C&C myself.
I'm a huge fan of the TinyD6 system, it's very simple and elegant with rules you can pickup and play with virtually anyone. If anyone asked what rules they would use for their kids or to learn how to play I point them to that direction to see if Story Telling and Dice rolling are interesting to them.
I would not run an entire campaign with it but I can sure make them want to know more about a D20 based game later on.
I like a lot about C&C. The concept of an AD&D1e compatible game, with the core mechanics stripped out and replaced with more modern ones. The art. That the Troll Lords are real gamers, who are clearly doing this out of love for the game. The general feel, like the bard, knight, and illusionist. But I'm not a fan of attributes as saves or the SIEGE engine. It's a solid miss for me, but I can see why people like it.
Cypher System, Star Wars d6, and D&D 3rd edition.
For me its probably Hyperborea. Love it immensely, setting and game.
For a pure setting i shill for, Mystara, and im taking a look at 4e's Neinter Vale setting and i kinda like it, not quite an evangelist fornit yet though
Quote from: David Johansen on January 18, 2022, 11:57:52 PM
Rolemaster Standard System and Spacemaster Privateers occasionally ironically descending to the point of self parody
SM Privateers is one you don't hear about that much. What's it like?
Quote from: Aglondir on January 19, 2022, 04:05:40 PM
Quote from: David Johansen on January 18, 2022, 11:57:52 PM
Rolemaster Standard System and Spacemaster Privateers occasionally ironically descending to the point of self parody
SM Privateers is one you don't hear about that much. What's it like?
Rolemaster in space with animal-people as alien species. The rules are solid, but the setting is pretty awful.
Quote from: Pat on January 19, 2022, 02:32:39 PM
I like a lot about C&C. The concept of an AD&D1e compatible game, with the core mechanics stripped out and replaced with more modern ones. The art. That the Troll Lords are real gamers, who are clearly doing this out of love for the game. The general feel, like the bard, knight, and illusionist. But I'm not a fan of attributes as saves or the SIEGE engine. It's a solid miss for me, but I can see why people like it.
Interesting points. C&C was actually my entry into the OSR, even if it's not quite a clone. I played it hard for about 18 months then discovered various other games like Swords & Wizardry, Labyrinth Lord, Hyperborea, etc., and played them, eventually mashing them all together. After my house rules got too unwieldy, I ended up going back to C&C because I wanted fewer house rules and you can still basically play it with the other OSR (and classic D&D) stuff. I wasn't always crazy about the Siege Engine either, but now I have a better appreciation of its elegant flexibility. And it does serve to keep high level play pretty lethal.
So now it's C&C as the norm, with occasional forays into Swords & Wizardry/White Box. For example, I've decided to convert The One Ring 2e to White Box because I don't like the TOR rules and my players don't want to learn them but they're up for gaming in Middle earth and we want the experience to be more streamlined than our C&C game.
HeroQuest/Questworlds for system and Gloranatha for the setting. I'm lucky my favorite system was created specifically for my favorite setting.
Quote from: HappyDaze on January 19, 2022, 04:17:33 PM
Quote from: Aglondir on January 19, 2022, 04:05:40 PM
Quote from: David Johansen on January 18, 2022, 11:57:52 PM
Rolemaster Standard System and Spacemaster Privateers occasionally ironically descending to the point of self parody
SM Privateers is one you don't hear about that much. What's it like?
Rolemaster in space with animal-people as alien species. The rules are solid, but the setting is pretty awful.
Sooo...I like some things about the setting, it's designed to be very easy to drop into and play. The races are deliberately archetypical and the setting gives the automatic PCs as privateers trying to stem the tide in a losing battle. If you got the Races and Cultures book and Datanets it gets a bit more depth and the races feel less flat. Too specialized, and too archetypical, with ratings like these it's very hard to play against type. The velociraptor Valesians are in particular nothing but murder hobos writ large. Even so, I think it would have made a great miniatures wargame setting. But for roleplaying it's too narrow, got too little material, there were supposed to be two setting books but they never happened. There's some fun enigmas going on that never got answered. The pacifist bear people are going crazy buy nobody knows why (but they were clearly carnivores at some point) and any android that logs into the sensenet dies instantly (I suspect the author had some bad experiences with netrunning in cyberpunk games) Earth was clearly intended to be a Valesian world but got hit by a comet so it was reworked for humans.
(I like to think it indicates that the precursors were actually Valesians) There's more of a setting than Star Frontiers has and I do like the basic setup. The pages in the core book that got wasted on fluff fiction could have been much better used for the skills and talents that got dumped into Future Law but hell they'd even have been better used for more setting information. I've run it twice and I don't think I'd use the setting again.
Mechanically it's a crunchy variant of Rolemaster with skill categories and training packages. Talents are left to the Future Law supplement. The neat thing is that the training packages have evolved into even more of a life path system than RMSS. You can build a background for your character. Sadly you'll need Future Law just to get the full skill and training package list. The other place SPAM really shines is robot characters. Easily the best implementation of robot PCs I've ever seen. Stuff like experience and skills verses programs really mesh with the system and given that robots are pretty fixed packages, they're actually easier and faster to roll up than organic characters. I also like the handling of vehicles. I think it hits the sweet spot between realism and detail. The design system is a pretty basic build a box and put in systems setup. It's a bit messy to follow at times and I know one dedicated individual actually went through it to create an errata and adjustments file. Really the worst thing about SPAM is the organization. The editing isn't great but it was originally intended as a three book core and got reformatted during ICE's darkest hour during the bankruptcy proceedings. Still, I think it's about my favorite sf rpg.
D6 Space-Adventure-Fantasy; WEG Star Wars D6.
Y'know, I just realized I don't promote WEG Star Wars and d6 enough. Good times, good times. 8)
For systems—early D&D editions, particularly OD&D. Those who like d20, Whitehack 3e is basically perfect.
Looking at settings, I primarily use my own, but I also think Dragonlance offers a little bit of everything depending on the age your game takes place in.
Quote from: FingerRod on January 20, 2022, 09:20:30 AM
Looking at settings, I primarily use my own, but I also think Dragonlance offers a little bit of everything depending on the age your game takes place in.
My relationship with Dragonlance is complicated, but I will still stand up for the SAGA Rules System and the original (pre-War of Souls retcons) Fifth Age.
I never fully got into Dragonlance (though, I did read several of the Elf novels dealing with the Silvanesti/Kagonesti split, which I thought were good at the time, but hard to recall details now), but I always thought it was one of the better "generic" fantasy D&D settings, which its own unique feel and idiosyncrasies.
One of my major hung ups with it, though, was the color coded magical schools, which required my character to dress a certain way and base their choice of clothing color around their school and alignment (announcing it to the world). So if I had a Chaotic Good mage, I was obligated to wear white, even if I preferred black, or blue, whatever. Then I eventually gave up on the idea of alignment and it became more of an issue.
Looking back on it I should've just handwaved or downplay the requirement, or handled the schools as just seeking their own agendas or styles of magical practice and forget about the alignment thing, but I was more focused on other settings at the time (Spelljammer and eventually Planescape for world-hopping adventures, often with Forgotten Realms as a base, despite it not being my favorite setting, cuz I always considered it the "default" D&D world. Also Ravenloft at one point, cuz one of my players, who sometimes DMed, was obsessed with it).
Quote from: Armchair Gamer on January 20, 2022, 10:41:30 AM
Quote from: FingerRod on January 20, 2022, 09:20:30 AM
Looking at settings, I primarily use my own, but I also think Dragonlance offers a little bit of everything depending on the age your game takes place in.
My relationship with Dragonlance is complicated, but I will still stand up for the SAGA Rules System and the original (pre-War of Souls retcons) Fifth Age.
The SAGA lore reference material is my single source for background. Love it.
Quote from: VisionStorm on January 20, 2022, 11:03:43 AM
I never fully got into Dragonlance (though, I did read several of the Elf novels dealing with the Silvanesti/Kagonesti split, which I thought were good at the time, but hard to recall details now), but I always thought it was one of the better "generic" fantasy D&D settings, which its own unique feel and idiosyncrasies.
One of my major hung ups with it, though, was the color coded magical schools, which required my character to dress a certain way and base their choice of clothing color around their school and alignment (announcing it to the world). So if I had a Chaotic Good mage, I was obligated to wear white, even if I preferred black, or blue, whatever. Then I eventually gave up on the idea of alignment and it became more of an issue.
Looking back on it I should've just handwaved or downplay the requirement, or handled the schools as just seeking their own agendas or styles of magical practice and forget about the alignment thing, but I was more focused on other settings at the time (Spelljammer and eventually Planescape for world-hopping adventures, often with Forgotten Realms as a base, despite it not being my favorite setting, cuz I always considered it the "default" D&D world. Also Ravenloft at one point, cuz one of my players, who sometimes DMed, was obsessed with it).
Kinslayer Wars trilogy! Was outstanding. Like you said, not sure how well it might hold up. I would guess slightly better than the mainstream trilogies though.
My issue with the magic was always tracking the moon cycles. Had plenty of adolescent jokes about that by the way. We ultimately ignored that AND the robe colors.
Quote from: FingerRod on January 20, 2022, 11:35:10 AM
Quote from: VisionStorm on January 20, 2022, 11:03:43 AM
I never fully got into Dragonlance (though, I did read several of the Elf novels dealing with the Silvanesti/Kagonesti split, which I thought were good at the time, but hard to recall details now), but I always thought it was one of the better "generic" fantasy D&D settings, which its own unique feel and idiosyncrasies.
One of my major hung ups with it, though, was the color coded magical schools, which required my character to dress a certain way and base their choice of clothing color around their school and alignment (announcing it to the world). So if I had a Chaotic Good mage, I was obligated to wear white, even if I preferred black, or blue, whatever. Then I eventually gave up on the idea of alignment and it became more of an issue.
Looking back on it I should've just handwaved or downplay the requirement, or handled the schools as just seeking their own agendas or styles of magical practice and forget about the alignment thing, but I was more focused on other settings at the time (Spelljammer and eventually Planescape for world-hopping adventures, often with Forgotten Realms as a base, despite it not being my favorite setting, cuz I always considered it the "default" D&D world. Also Ravenloft at one point, cuz one of my players, who sometimes DMed, was obsessed with it).
Kinslayer Wars trilogy! Was outstanding. Like you said, not sure how well it might hold up. I would guess slightly better than the mainstream trilogies though.
My issue with the magic was always tracking the moon cycles. Had plenty of adolescent jokes about that by the way. We ultimately ignored that AND the robe colors.
Oh yeah, the Moon cycles thing was a nice colorful touch from a backstory perspective, but in practice tracking in-game calendars and astronomical phenomena is a pain. I usually forget that stuff even exists during play.
Quote from: Opaopajr on January 20, 2022, 09:15:12 AM
Y'know, I just realized I don't promote WEG Star Wars and d6 enough. Good times, good times. 8)
D6 System is definitely a really good system for pulp-heroic level gaming that thanks to corporate shoe company shenanigans is nowadays not nearly as well known as it ought to be.
Quote from: FingerRod on January 20, 2022, 11:35:10 AM
Quote from: VisionStorm on January 20, 2022, 11:03:43 AM
I never fully got into Dragonlance (though, I did read several of the Elf novels dealing with the Silvanesti/Kagonesti split, which I thought were good at the time, but hard to recall details now), but I always thought it was one of the better "generic" fantasy D&D settings, which its own unique feel and idiosyncrasies.
One of my major hung ups with it, though, was the color coded magical schools, which required my character to dress a certain way and base their choice of clothing color around their school and alignment (announcing it to the world). So if I had a Chaotic Good mage, I was obligated to wear white, even if I preferred black, or blue, whatever. Then I eventually gave up on the idea of alignment and it became more of an issue.
Looking back on it I should've just handwaved or downplay the requirement, or handled the schools as just seeking their own agendas or styles of magical practice and forget about the alignment thing, but I was more focused on other settings at the time (Spelljammer and eventually Planescape for world-hopping adventures, often with Forgotten Realms as a base, despite it not being my favorite setting, cuz I always considered it the "default" D&D world. Also Ravenloft at one point, cuz one of my players, who sometimes DMed, was obsessed with it).
Kinslayer Wars trilogy! Was outstanding. Like you said, not sure how well it might hold up. I would guess slightly better than the mainstream trilogies though.
My issue with the magic was always tracking the moon cycles. Had plenty of adolescent jokes about that by the way. We ultimately ignored that AND the robe colors.
Yeah, i havent done dragonlance but i have tried tracking Hyperborea's calander cause theres a fee years of perpetual night every 13 year cycle and thats an awesome idea imo but it can be rough keeping up with the calander.
System wise, for me it's AD&D 2e. It's what I know. However, I'm really liking what I see with the new Hyperborea 3 (I missed out on one and two). Setting wise, nothing specific. If my players want FR I have enough material. Same with Greyhawk. But there are settings I don't like (case by case). Krynn (Dragonlance) was my preferred for years but I got sick of it (especially when a new cataclysm happened every couple of decades LOL)
Setting wise I think I could evangelize for Warhammer Fantasy (some mixed ephemera of various editions and some of mine homebrews not any official WFB/WHFRPG/novel version) and for Fading Suns world (though here I seriously think about making mine own feudal space setting, as some things irk me).
Pretty much anything by SNP as well.
System: Any OSR game based on OD&D or B/X is likely to please, but I sing the praises of Swords & Wizardry Complete in particular. It is the best version of D&D for traditional high fantasy and can be easily modified for other fantasy settings.
Settings: It's easy to praise certain literary settings like Middle Earth and Hyborea, but I can't really evangelize for any of the settings created specifically for gaming. Most are either overly detailed, which restricts my creativity, or are wedded to systems I don't like. The only published setting book I have found that leaves me enough creative space and is truly "system neutral" is Krevborna: A Gothic Blood Opera.
Quote from: S'mon on January 20, 2022, 01:07:40 PM
Quote from: Opaopajr on January 20, 2022, 09:15:12 AM
Y'know, I just realized I don't promote WEG Star Wars and d6 enough. Good times, good times. 8)
D6 System is definitely a really good system for pulp-heroic level gaming that thanks to corporate shoe company shenanigans is nowadays not nearly as well known as it ought to be.
How does d6 compare with savage worlds
Quote from: Ocule on January 21, 2022, 07:16:12 PM
How does d6 compare with savage worlds
There's a lot less spending of Bennies! In general there seems much less whiffing/missing to me, it seems less swingy, but I haven't played a huge amount of SW and have never GM'd it. D6 System is roll a bunch of D6s and add the result. Modern versions have a Wild Die that explodes on a 6, bit like SW but only the one die. Results in D6 are fairly reliable with occasional outliers.
The big thing in D6 system compared to D20 style games is that you can take multiple actions at once, you just roll one less D6 per action for every action after the first. So Sword 8D can make two attacks at 7D, three attacks at 6D, four attacks at 5D. This is a big power up and lets high dice heroes & villains wade through mooks at a pretty Wuxia level.
If you have seen Rogue One - that film seemed *very* closely modelled on WEG Star Wars D6, and gives an excellent sense of how it feels like in play. D6 is rather higher powered than the action seen in the original Star Wars film, but I got the strong sense the film scriptwriter had been a D6 player. The Stormtrooper battles, and Vader mowing down swarms of Rebels, both match perfectly with how D6 plays out.
Quote from: Ocule on January 21, 2022, 07:16:12 PM
How does d6 compare with savage worlds
I think d6 is outstanding. They're different animals that approach things differently. I'd say d6 is more granular in terms of mechanics. It does Pulp heroics very very well. I'd be really open to a refluff of the mechanics to introduce the one thing where Savage Worlds beats the hell out of it: Scaling.
Savage Worlds scales in power *extremely* high with extreme efficiency, and no loss to cohesion. You can go from normal blokes sleuthing around, to Sci-fi/Spellcasting Gods smashing mountains from the start (Savage Rifts) without missing a beat.
That said - I 90% positive that d6 could get very close to doing it too. The Star Wars games have scaling mechanics that could be reworked (possibly) to represent that kind of play. I'm not sure how it would "feel" though. Savage Worlds is slick because it uses small values, so any calculations are really easy to do. d6 gets numbers heavy, though the scaling and capping mechanics helps some, the reality is you're still throwing gobs of dice, which may/may not be okay for you.
d6's granularity is appealing to me, but it can get real tedious for players who want that gratification for progressing faster, and they pour all their XP into getting a Pip which has such tiny incremental advantages. So it's something I'd rework if I ever could convince my players to play it again. I think it works for certain genres, not so much for others without that necessary tweaking.
But it's a very good system, it's hard to compare to Savage Worlds in that they're so different.
Savage Worlds is (once you absorb the basic mechanics) - slick, fast, durable (in that you can tinker a LOT with it and not blow up your game) very scalable, and supports pretty much any genre.
D6 - more granular, slower progression (generally), more focused, not as scalable RAW (but potentially could be), higher-fidelity to the genre's it does support - there are stronger internal setting distinctions established by d6 than Savage Worlds ever will have.
Systems: Some OSR, Dungeon World, Lion & Dragon and The Invisible College, ICRPG and Mutants & Masterminds.
Settings: Blood & Snow, Dark Albion, Dragon Age.
Probably Cthulhu Dark Ages and the BRP d100 systems, ACKS, Lion and Dragon, and Alien the Roleplaying Game. Especially the last one.
I'm an evangelist for Free League, PbtA (including Blades in the Dark) and nuOSR like Mothership, Beyond the Wall and Troika!
Quote from: World_Warrior on January 27, 2022, 04:23:14 PM
Probably Cthulhu Dark Ages and the BRP d100 systems, ACKS, Lion and Dragon, and Alien the Roleplaying Game. Especially the last one.
Then I have to bring up Zozer's HOSTILE, especially their "Alien Breeds" supplement. A better Aliens RPG than any of the licensed ones.
Definetly Runequest and the world of Glorantha.
I will try to convert anyone that comes close to me into a Birthright fan.
GURPS. I keep hoping they get that setting/world/license that will allow them to move into being a bit more popular. I have about resigned on the hope and just enjoy it for what it is.
GURPS is starting to get rare to see out in the wild.
I rarely hear of people running it anymore. I have friends that are total GURPS Evangelists, but even they don't run it much.
I'm looking forward to running some Free League stuff. I'm hoping their house system, Year Zero, plays as cool as it looks on the page.
I started running Living Steel with it as soon as I got the .pdfs from Twilight 2000 v4. In that iteration at least, they've managed to do a good job of balancing the crunch from the setting with a quick, personal based system that gets the players involved. My only quibble with it is that the skills are REALLY broad.. like a single skill for Tech that covers everything from plumbing to microelectronics. And I can just not look at that for the purposes of the system.
Quote from: tenbones on January 28, 2022, 02:37:02 PM
GURPS is starting to get rare to see out in the wild.
I rarely hear of people running it anymore. I have friends that are total GURPS Evangelists, but even they don't run it much.
Over what time frame have you seen that happening? To me, 4e kind of felt like a turning point. They were shifting away from a game for everyone, to a game that catered primarily to their most ardent, gearhead fans. They'd always had that tendency, of course. GURPS started moderately crunchy, and things like Vehicles really took it to a new level. But while 4e did simplify a few things, they vastly increased the options in the core books, making it a lot more intimidating and encouraging decision paralysis. But that was a long time ago.
Quote from: tenbones on January 28, 2022, 02:38:25 PM
I'm looking forward to running some Free League stuff. I'm hoping their house system, Year Zero, plays as cool as it looks on the page.
I bought Coriolis and, while the setting looked pretty cool, the system didn't strike as looking cool on the page at all. Of course, I am also not fond of the way Savage Worlds scales (particularly in Rifts), so it's not a surprise we disagree again.
Quote from: Shawn Driscoll on January 19, 2022, 01:51:18 AM
Quote from: tenbones on January 18, 2022, 02:15:05 PM
What Systems/Settings are you an Evangelist for?
The Total Party Skills system for 2022.
He has some interesting and unique settings, and is an interesting dude.
Quote from: BronzeDragon on January 28, 2022, 06:03:42 AM
I will try to convert anyone that comes close to me into a Birthright fan.
I've already taken vows to its abbey! :) I love that setting world.
Quote from: Opaopajr on January 28, 2022, 11:04:13 PM
I've already taken vows to its abbey! :) I love that setting world.
All will be eventually be saved by the light of the Awnsheghlien...well, you know what I mean...
Castles and Crusades as far as systems go. Greyhawk for sure for settings.
Quote from: tenbones on January 28, 2022, 02:37:02 PM
GURPS is starting to get rare to see out in the wild.
I rarely hear of people running it anymore. I have friends that are total GURPS Evangelists, but even they don't run it much.
Pretty much this. My group used to play GURPS a lot but when the fad passed, it passed for good.
Speaking only for me I don't dislike GURPs, and think it's still nice for more gritty scenarios, but overall I prefer more agile games these days, as I don't have the time I had in my youth. Also, I think part of its appeal back then was its toolbox quality, but nowadays my group prefers pickup and play / "closed package" games, instead of ones which involve some degree of tinkering with systems/settings.
Quote from: Slambo on January 19, 2022, 03:42:30 PM
For me its probably Hyperborea. Love it immensely, setting and game.
For a pure setting i shill for, Mystara, and im taking a look at 4e's Neinter Vale setting and i kinda like it, not quite an evangelist fornit yet though
The Nentir Vale seems tailor-made for B/X / BECMI play. A well-run empire was suddenly destroyed by raging hordes of monsters. A hundred years later, safe places are uncommon and distant from each other. Monsters roam free. The magical wards and protections established by Imperial might are decaying. Abandoned strongholds and crumbling manor houses dot the landscape, just waiting for a small party of adventurers to explore them and reclaim the wealth that had been built up over centuries.
Even the world's creation myth—primordials created the world, but then the gods took it over and gave it permanence, causing a war, which the gods won—has a very "law versus chaos" feel to it. Supernal and Abyssal can serve as alignment languages.
I'm an evangelist for the obscure Feed rpg written by a lapsed VtM player funded through kickstarter back in 2013.
Feed dispenses with all the stupid shit and says "hey, you don't have to play in somebody else's sandbox. You can make your own settings. Here's some tools to help you with that." The rules seem to be pretty standard 2010s rules lite dice pool whatever, and it fully expects groups to wing it most of the time to the point where it includes detailed guidelines for ignoring the rules. The toolkit parts are nowhere as extensive as Night's Black Agents (which I also adore), but it was written by one guy as an experiment on kickstarter and he hasn't provided further support so...
Not that I've ever had any success with the evangelism bit. It doesn't have any community that I'm aware of since the author doesn't promote it because real life, and it's impossible to convince people to try it since D&D sucks up most gamers anyhow and the WoD fans are too fanatical. I've encountered at most like two other WoD apostates who have displayed any interest in the game. Pity.
Quote from: Pat on January 28, 2022, 03:21:04 PM
Over what time frame have you seen that happening? To me, 4e kind of felt like a turning point. They were shifting away from a game for everyone, to a game that catered primarily to their most ardent, gearhead fans. They'd always had that tendency, of course. GURPS started moderately crunchy, and things like Vehicles really took it to a new level. But while 4e did simplify a few things, they vastly increased the options in the core books, making it a lot more intimidating and encouraging decision paralysis. But that was a long time ago.
I'm speaking purely anecdotally and as a GURPS outsider. I've played it a few times with friends - never as a GM, so my opinions should be taken as purely observational with a cow-lick sized block of salt.
But that said, I've always got a barometer up for what people are playing around me and in my orbit online (which obviously is pretty wider). When I lived in LA (up to '95) I saw GURPS regularly played in my orbit at local gaming haunts in LA and at a few of my friends tables. This would have been GURPS3e mostly (but I know a lot of them used 2e rules).
When I got to Dallas - I've seen GURPS ZERO times at my local FLGS, which has a *massive* player-base. My FLGS is gigantic and there are tons of gamers there. I've never seen GURPS ever at any table, or even talked about. This doesn't mean it hasn't happened, but it is noticeably absent. so yeah - this would be the onset of 4e.
I'm always considering giving GURPS a go... but it simply never grabbed me because of its granularity. I'm sure it's just in my head, and someday I'll give it a go.
As an aside - I see a lot of people pointing out games that I rarely see threads about on this forum. Get out there guys and start preaching your games!
Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on January 30, 2022, 05:05:26 PM
I'm an evangelist for the obscure Feed rpg written by a lapsed VtM player funded through kickstarter back in 2013.
Feed dispenses with all the stupid shit and says "hey, you don't have to play in somebody else's sandbox. You can make your own settings. Here's some tools to help you with that." The rules seem to be pretty standard 2010s rules lite dice pool whatever, and it fully expects groups to wing it most of the time to the point where it includes detailed guidelines for ignoring the rules. The toolkit parts are nowhere as extensive as Night's Black Agents (which I also adore), but it was written by one guy as an experiment on kickstarter and he hasn't provided further support so...
Not that I've ever had any success with the evangelism bit. It doesn't have any community that I'm aware of since the author doesn't promote it because real life, and it's impossible to convince people to try it since D&D sucks up most gamers anyhow and the WoD fans are too fanatical. I've encountered at most like two other WoD apostates who have displayed any interest in the game. Pity.
Heard good things about Feed but never had a group to try it myself. It reminds me of Undying a bit, in the sense it's an attempt to do Vampire with less clutter and more substance, if that makes sense.
Quote from: Itachi on January 31, 2022, 10:36:24 AM
Quote from: BoxCrayonTales on January 30, 2022, 05:05:26 PM
I'm an evangelist for the obscure Feed rpg written by a lapsed VtM player funded through kickstarter back in 2013.
Feed dispenses with all the stupid shit and says "hey, you don't have to play in somebody else's sandbox. You can make your own settings. Here's some tools to help you with that." The rules seem to be pretty standard 2010s rules lite dice pool whatever, and it fully expects groups to wing it most of the time to the point where it includes detailed guidelines for ignoring the rules. The toolkit parts are nowhere as extensive as Night's Black Agents (which I also adore), but it was written by one guy as an experiment on kickstarter and he hasn't provided further support so...
Not that I've ever had any success with the evangelism bit. It doesn't have any community that I'm aware of since the author doesn't promote it because real life, and it's impossible to convince people to try it since D&D sucks up most gamers anyhow and the WoD fans are too fanatical. I've encountered at most like two other WoD apostates who have displayed any interest in the game. Pity.
Heard good things about Feed but never had a group to try it myself. It reminds me of Undying a bit, in the sense it's an attempt to do Vampire with less clutter and more substance, if that makes sense.
Yeah. Very abstracted rules lite systems intended to carry the themes without worrying about the nitty gritty. These are pretty common since the 2010s at least.
The two are similar in that sense, altho they have different intentions. Undying focuses on being a monstrous schemer, whereas Feed focuses on the schism between the vampire's competing natures. I prefer Feed because it's designed to be flexible and let groups invent their own settings with their own themes.
As someone who fell out of love with WoD, I find Feed especially appealing because it solves a number of longstanding issues I've had with WoD. Namely that clunky transhumanism bugbear: in WoD you can maintain both high humanity and a laundry list of superpowers; the "paths of whatever I was gonna do anyway" especially exemplify this. In Feed, the rules are abstractly structured so that as the character becomes more vampiric they literally replace human traits with vampiric ones. The character develops superpowers and connections that are statistically better than human traits, but at the cost of becoming steadily unable function like a normal person and becoming steadily less able to resist vampiric instincts when they come up. The process is unrelated to any kind of moral framework: you lose human traits by "alienating" them and then replace them with vampiric ones. E.g. you ruin your relationship with your girlfriend by pursuing your hunger, then you replace that connection with a vampiric one.
The sample settings are great too. One of them, "Dance Macabre", focuses on how vampirism sucks by designing its strain to be more of a curse than a blessing: their vampiric traits aren't blatantly supernatural and they don't even have fangs to help them feed. Another, "Los Satanicos," lets you play as stereotypical evil b-movie vampires and human traits are valued only as a cover to conceal your activities from the muggles. It's easy to create your own settings, or adapt other works of fiction. I've done a few conversions on my blog.
It's also released under a creative commons license, though I'm not aware of any third party supplements. I'm currently working on a hack designed to represent werewolves in a somewhat similar fashion, but with an emphasis on (hopefully) balancing the dual natures to better reflect the (admittedly sparse) tropes of werewolf fiction. You could represent
Nightlife-style pain-eating werewolves in
Feed, but that would be a variation of vampirism rather than an exploration of lycanthropy as a separate concept. I eventually want to do the same for other kinds of monsters like wizards, ghosts, fairies, and frankensteins.
I appreciate all the Savage Worlds mentions on the first few pages; I think it's a flawed system. Even in the new version, the Shaken rules are basically unfun as written, and that the raise mechanic artificially cuts things off at +1d6. I also disagree that it's truly generic; it's an action-adventure system at heart, with the Indiana Jones theme practically baked into die explosions, and to get it to do other things you have to over-compensate. However, these are admittedly the attitudes of a perennial nitpick with over 300 sessions in the system. It generally does D20-like gameplay better than most D20 systems do; the step dice downshift the arithmetic, so you have most rolls fall in the comfortable single digit arithmetic range, with a few critical hits which are obviously worth the extra effort going beyond that.
It's also one of the few systems I have ever played which lets you memorize most of character creation. I have played multiple campaigns where we used raw memory and only consulted the Wiki for Edges and Hindrances, and the GM provided a list of equipment. The ability to play a kinda crunchy game almost completely off-book is a massively underrated feature. SW is the system which fits what 95% of groups want 95% of the time if you can get over how much PEG relies on Bennies to cover for the occasional bad design decision or math hiccup.
On GURPS: my only experience with it is when I was in highschool I tried to use it to make a Final Fantasy VIII conversion. It did not go well; junctioning broke or ground down practically every system I tried, and I think fully custom is the only real way to go.
I never see anyone actually using GURPS, anymore. I think GURPS is a lesson that RPGs can, in fact, become obsolete. Ultimately, the newest version of GURPS predates smartphones, so it has zero design allowances for how much smartphones can drain player attention spans. I do notice that 5E's release corresponded in time with when I stopped seeing GURPS in the wild, but I think it was functionally obsolete before then. 5E pushed it off the table, and the fact it's obsolete prevented it from ever coming back.
Other systems I think need more discussion:
Feng Shui. This is more from the aesthetic presentation of the rules than anything else. The mechanics are unique, but time consuming for my tastes; 2d6 with Boxcar rules actually produces a lot of explosions and arithmetic, so I don't think this system has aged gracefully into the post-Smartphone universe. But describing the shot clock as camera shots adds a significant amount to the experience.
Cortex. I have only gotten two chances to play Cortex, so take this opinion with a pinch of flaky salt. I love the pool mechanic and think it has the best potential power-to-weight of any RPG currently on the market. The only thing which is remotely close is Genesys, and it's not really fair to compare a custom dice system with a standard polyhedral one. The key word in that is "potential." I don't think either of these games capitalize on all this potential, but Cortex especially suffers from missed potential because of it's narrative gameplay style. I think the reliance on plot points--which is part of the core mechanic--bakes a certain metagaminess into the game something akin to Savage Worlds' problem with over-reliance on Bennies. If the mechanic were altered to be crunchy and less reliant on plot points, I think we'd have something truly special, but as is, we have a near miss.
Quote from: Fheredin on January 31, 2022, 11:18:44 AM
I appreciate all the Savage Worlds mentions on the first few pages; I think it's a flawed system. Even in the new version, the Shaken rules are basically unfun as written, and that the raise mechanic artificially cuts things off at +1d6. I also disagree that it's truly generic; it's an action-adventure system at heart, with the Indiana Jones theme practically baked into die explosions, and to get it to do other things you have to over-compensate. However, these are admittedly the attitudes of a perennial nitpick with over 300 sessions in the system. It generally does D20-like gameplay better than most D20 systems do; the step dice downshift the arithmetic, so you have most rolls fall in the comfortable single digit arithmetic range, with a few critical hits which are obviously worth the extra effort going beyond that.
It's also one of the few systems I have ever played which lets you memorize most of character creation. I have played multiple campaigns where we used raw memory and only consulted the Wiki for Edges and Hindrances, and the GM provided a list of equipment. The ability to play a kinda crunchy game almost completely off-book is a massively underrated feature. SW is the system which fits what 95% of groups want 95% of the time if you can get over how much PEG relies on Bennies to cover for the occasional bad design decision or math hiccup.
I would not argue with you on any of this. Any level of real disagreement properly falls into the "personal taste" zone that is probably less than a hair's width. I'm sure we both would agree that any actual disagreement about the system could be houseruled with zero effort.
Quote from: Fheredin on January 31, 2022, 11:18:44 AMOn GURPS: my only experience with it is when I was in highschool I tried to use it to make a Final Fantasy VIII conversion. It did not go well; junctioning broke or ground down practically every system I tried, and I think fully custom is the only real way to go.
I never see anyone actually using GURPS, anymore. I think GURPS is a lesson that RPGs can, in fact, become obsolete. Ultimately, the newest version of GURPS predates smartphones, so it has zero design allowances for how much smartphones can drain player attention spans. I do notice that 5E's release corresponded in time with when I stopped seeing GURPS in the wild, but I think it was functionally obsolete before then. 5E pushed it off the table, and the fact it's obsolete prevented it from ever coming back.
Yeah I suspect it would take a real GURPS evangelist to bring GURPS back to the gaming consciousness it once "enjoyed". I think SJG has other business priorities, and the fact is, as it was then, D&D rules the roost.
Quote from: Fheredin on January 31, 2022, 11:18:44 AMOther systems I think need more discussion:
Feng Shui. This is more from the aesthetic presentation of the rules than anything else. The mechanics are unique, but time consuming for my tastes; 2d6 with Boxcar rules actually produces a lot of explosions and arithmetic, so I don't think this system has aged gracefully into the post-Smartphone universe. But describing the shot clock as camera shots adds a significant amount to the experience.
Cortex. I have only gotten two chances to play Cortex, so take this opinion with a pinch of flaky salt. I love the pool mechanic and think it has the best potential power-to-weight of any RPG currently on the market. The only thing which is remotely close is Genesys, and it's not really fair to compare a custom dice system with a standard polyhedral one. The key word in that is "potential." I don't think either of these games capitalize on all this potential, but Cortex especially suffers from missed potential because of it's narrative gameplay style. I think the reliance on plot points--which is part of the core mechanic--bakes a certain metagaminess into the game something akin to Savage Worlds' problem with over-reliance on Bennies. If the mechanic were altered to be crunchy and less reliant on plot points, I think we'd have something truly special, but as is, we have a near miss.
Feng Shui is a system everyone ranted about in the 90's and 00's, but I never knew a single person that played it. There were always recommendations on forums for it - no one really advocated for it much.
Cortex... I gave it a shot, I can't recall the exact mechanics of how it worked, I just remember going through this phase of looking for a new system and I ran through FATE, Fudge, Cortex all around the same time. None of them stuck at all. Oddly I played in Deadlands, and Savage Worlds conquered my gaming table with vengeance.
Quote from: tenbones on January 31, 2022, 02:53:43 PM
Quote from: Fheredin on January 31, 2022, 11:18:44 AMOther systems I think need more discussion:
Feng Shui. This is more from the aesthetic presentation of the rules than anything else. The mechanics are unique, but time consuming for my tastes; 2d6 with Boxcar rules actually produces a lot of explosions and arithmetic, so I don't think this system has aged gracefully into the post-Smartphone universe. But describing the shot clock as camera shots adds a significant amount to the experience.
Cortex. I have only gotten two chances to play Cortex, so take this opinion with a pinch of flaky salt. I love the pool mechanic and think it has the best potential power-to-weight of any RPG currently on the market. The only thing which is remotely close is Genesys, and it's not really fair to compare a custom dice system with a standard polyhedral one. The key word in that is "potential." I don't think either of these games capitalize on all this potential, but Cortex especially suffers from missed potential because of it's narrative gameplay style. I think the reliance on plot points--which is part of the core mechanic--bakes a certain metagaminess into the game something akin to Savage Worlds' problem with over-reliance on Bennies. If the mechanic were altered to be crunchy and less reliant on plot points, I think we'd have something truly special, but as is, we have a near miss.
Feng Shui is a system everyone ranted about in the 90's and 00's, but I never knew a single person that played it. There were always recommendations on forums for it - no one really advocated for it much.
Cortex... I gave it a shot, I can't recall the exact mechanics of how it worked, I just remember going through this phase of looking for a new system and I ran through FATE, Fudge, Cortex all around the same time. None of them stuck at all. Oddly I played in Deadlands, and Savage Worlds conquered my gaming table with vengeance.
Bear in mind that these days I've migrated almost entirely to homebrewing material, so I don't necessarily judge systems for raw quality, so much as parts I can steal. This isn't
exactly an actual play opinion that you should go play something so much as a source for inspiration.
I can totally see Savage Worlds wrecking most other systems in an actual play head-to-head matchup. It's a fast and optimized modern system which very few systems can keep up with. In fact, looking back on my commentary on GURPS, it probably makes just as much sense to say Savage Worlds ate GURPS's marketshare. To perform well in the matchup, a system needs to be decently fast and optimized...and have a beast of a killer feature.
However, I should explain my relationship to both SW and Cortex.
Cortex (Prime) works by having a poll of 3 (or 4) dice representing stats in a roll. When you roll, you add your 2 best dice. If any of the dice roll a 1, you get a Spoiler and the GM can give you a Plot Point in exchange for creating a complication. Later on, you can spend the plot point to add a die to another roll, or add all 3 dice together. I like how this system is loose. It does everything it can to make roleplaying your character and min-maxing a roll indistinguishable, and gives you a lot more space for nuance than "roll X dice when using Y skill." There's some space for customization and freedom when setting up a roll, which is actually very unusual.
I dislike it's dependency on complications and plot points.
I was toying with Savage Worlds some years ago, and started using the Wild Die to reflect second skills involved in the roll instead of doing two separate rolls. When I found Cortex, I realized that it was the system I was building, and that the way to improve Cortex would be to flip it upside down and count successes rather than sum dice instead of relying on plot points to produce a sum.
I get that.
I've got about two entirely different homebrewed systems in various stages of completion I'm always tinkering with but I never feel they're ready for prime-time.
As much as I love Savage Worlds, I look at it as a singular channel of ideas, I like it's abstract concepts, not necessarily its task-resolution systems. I mean it uses playing cards and poker-chips for God's sake. While yes, I totally unabashedly use them, I look at them like I look at FFG's funky dice in their Star Wars games - I keep them there, and use them nowhere else.
But! The abstractions of Savage Worlds sing to me. HOW they use their derived stats, HOW they use scaling success, HOW they are able to scale the assumption of Power to CRAZY levels while keeping the numbers low and playable without breaking the flow of the game is truly remarkable.
And it's caused me to reflect deeply on my own homebrews. What I don't need are the mechanics, I don't *want* Bennies, Fate dice or flippity-floppity Dice to be rolled for the sake of rolling more dice. Used to smooth out probability curves? Fine. But I don't need or want gimmicks in my own designs.
I've been eyeballing importing those concepts into a Talislanta like system (which is not to far from standard Talislanta) as a universal system. The issue is scaling. But I may have solved that.
Another longterm project has been trying to rehab MSH. That is a little trickier - but it has some glorious mechanics that you see echoed in 2e Gamma World with it's Column Shift percentile mechanics that make for BLISTERING powerful scaling mechanics. Sticking the landing of the design is the issue.
USR (U)nbelievably (S)imple (R)oleplaying
Created by Scott Malthouse. He has written for Tunnels & Trolls and this original creation, this generic, rules-lite system has surprising granularity withing the simple set up.
Hey. I love GURPS 4e!! I'm currently running a bi-weekly game. :-D
I also dig Savage Worlds, but trying to make a high-powered urban fantasy port from an IP has proved... difficult. I feel like a little more granularity would help, but it's a nitpick. Overall, it's fun to GM and with those Fantasy Add-Ons I can tune up Powers and Arcane Backgrounds to taste.
D6 is cool, but it desperately needs an update and standardization. Also, in Star Wars the bash-fest back-and-forth that seemed to go on forever was a problem. A SWADE combat is likely NOT going to drudge on and on...
I find it hard to get too evangelical about any game other than the ones I have created. I am biased that way. Also, I think I suffer from the same problems many players do... its hard to get players to try new things. My gaming buddies are open to new ideas but they don't have much time... We mostly play D&D 5e. It can be hard to get people committed to anything other than a one-shot, and even then that is when the scheduled GM has to cancel, or one of the key players cancel.
That said some of the older systems that I love and wish I could play more: Savage Worlds, Dungeon Worlds, Risus.
For D&D, I really like Eberron.
For Savage Worlds, I fucking love Day after Ragnorok. It's an awesome
Post-Apocalyptic/ alternate history/ modern fantasy setting that doesn't get nearly enough love IMO.
Quote from: trechriron on February 03, 2022, 10:02:27 PM
Hey. I love GURPS 4e!! I'm currently running a bi-weekly game. :-D
You've been a unicorn for some time already. This seals it.
Quote from: trechriron on February 03, 2022, 10:02:27 PMI also dig Savage Worlds, but trying to make a high-powered urban fantasy port from an IP has proved... difficult. I feel like a little more granularity would help, but it's a nitpick. Overall, it's fun to GM and with those Fantasy Add-Ons I can tune up Powers and Arcane Backgrounds to taste.
Agreed. Granularity is sketchy (but not impossible) with SWADE. It becomes part of the requirement that you as a GM will do all the fine-tuning. There has only been one Savage Worlds setting I didn't have to tweak (to varying degrees, and always in adding a little granularity) - and that's Rifts.
Quote from: trechriron on February 03, 2022, 10:02:27 PMD6 is cool, but it desperately needs an update and standardization. Also, in Star Wars the bash-fest back-and-forth that seemed to go on forever was a problem. A SWADE combat is likely NOT going to drudge on and on...
Agreed. I'm confident a D6 refluff and streamlining could really make it shine again. But I'm not the guy to do it. I have too many irons in the fire as it is, heh. My SWADE combats are pretty brutally fast, rarely lasting more than a few rounds unless chases or lots of tactical movement is required.
I run GURPS lots. And in a wide range of settings. I've long maintained that SJG has failed to give GURPS the kind of support it needs to thrive in the market and they've argued back that they have cases of unsold books in the warehouse and micro transaction pdfs are the way of the future because they make money.
Part of the problem is that people don't associate GURPS with the tight core game, instead seeing the bloated, over built templates in fourth edition and thinking of it as homework the rpg.
Steve Jackson Games has done a number of one book Powered By GURPS games: World War II, Vorkosigian, Girl Genius, Myth, Disc World, and Hell Boy before he was a movie. They haven't done as well as hoped.
I have long maintained that an official, free, GURPS Lite Fantasy supplement would do a great deal to promote GURPS and undermine the impression that it's over complex.
GURPS just needs more YouTube channels is all. Build it, and they will come.
Quote from: tenbones on January 28, 2022, 02:37:02 PM
GURPS is starting to get rare to see out in the wild.
I rarely hear of people running it anymore. I have friends that are total GURPS Evangelists, but even they don't run it much.
It NEEDS evangelists, IMO SW does not. It is a pretty easy sell to a person who has played games, or a person who has never played a table top RPG.
Quote from: David Johansen on February 04, 2022, 02:52:39 PM
I run GURPS lots. And in a wide range of settings. I've long maintained that SJG has failed to give GURPS the kind of support it needs to thrive in the market and they've argued back that they have cases of unsold books in the warehouse and micro transaction pdfs are the way of the future because they make money.
Part of the problem is that people don't associate GURPS with the tight core game, instead seeing the bloated, over built templates in fourth edition and thinking of it as homework the rpg.
Steve Jackson Games has done a number of one book Powered By GURPS games: World War II, Vorkosigian, Girl Genius, Myth, Disc World, and Hell Boy before he was a movie. They haven't done as well as hoped.
I have long maintained that an official, free, GURPS Lite Fantasy supplement would do a great deal to promote GURPS and undermine the impression that it's over complex.
I agree with that about the lite Fantasy Supplement. I also have to face the reality Munchkin cards are in Target. If SJG is moving Munchkin cards at what is essentially a grocery store, I have a feeling his desire to mess with books and a game system like GURPS might be limited to him playing the game himself and letting a few guys write digital stuff to sell for 7-8 bucks.
Quote from: David Johansen on February 04, 2022, 02:52:39 PM
I run GURPS lots. And in a wide range of settings. I've long maintained that SJG has failed to give GURPS the kind of support it needs to thrive in the market and they've argued back that they have cases of unsold books in the warehouse and micro transaction pdfs are the way of the future because they make money.
Part of the problem is that people don't associate GURPS with the tight core game, instead seeing the bloated, over built templates in fourth edition and thinking of it as homework the rpg.
Steve Jackson Games has done a number of one book Powered By GURPS games: World War II, Vorkosigian, Girl Genius, Myth, Disc World, and Hell Boy before he was a movie. They haven't done as well as hoped.
I have long maintained that an official, free, GURPS Lite Fantasy supplement would do a great deal to promote GURPS and undermine the impression that it's over complex.
Powered by GURPS died a long time ago, and instead of GURPS Lite Fantasy, we got GURPS Dungeon Fantasy.
I'm not sure how to turn around GURPS. They seem locked in a spiral of appealing only to their most hardcore fans.
Quote from: tenbones on February 04, 2022, 11:35:26 AM
Quote from: trechriron on February 03, 2022, 10:02:27 PM
Hey. I love GURPS 4e!! I'm currently running a bi-weekly game. :-D
You've been a unicorn for some time already. This seals it.
Quote from: trechriron on February 03, 2022, 10:02:27 PMI also dig Savage Worlds, but trying to make a high-powered urban fantasy port from an IP has proved... difficult. I feel like a little more granularity would help, but it's a nitpick. Overall, it's fun to GM and with those Fantasy Add-Ons I can tune up Powers and Arcane Backgrounds to taste.
Agreed. Granularity is sketchy (but not impossible) with SWADE. It becomes part of the requirement that you as a GM will do all the fine-tuning. There has only been one Savage Worlds setting I didn't have to tweak (to varying degrees, and always in adding a little granularity) - and that's Rifts.
Quote from: trechriron on February 03, 2022, 10:02:27 PMD6 is cool, but it desperately needs an update and standardization. Also, in Star Wars the bash-fest back-and-forth that seemed to go on forever was a problem. A SWADE combat is likely NOT going to drudge on and on...
Agreed. I'm confident a D6 refluff and streamlining could really make it shine again. But I'm not the guy to do it. I have too many irons in the fire as it is, heh. My SWADE combats are pretty brutally fast, rarely lasting more than a few rounds unless chases or lots of tactical movement is required.
Star Anvil Studios is working to update Open d6 and make it more playable from the pile of rpg parts that it's currently in.
Quote from: Pat on February 04, 2022, 06:27:13 PM
Quote from: David Johansen on February 04, 2022, 02:52:39 PM
I run GURPS lots. And in a wide range of settings. I've long maintained that SJG has failed to give GURPS the kind of support it needs to thrive in the market and they've argued back that they have cases of unsold books in the warehouse and micro transaction pdfs are the way of the future because they make money.
Part of the problem is that people don't associate GURPS with the tight core game, instead seeing the bloated, over built templates in fourth edition and thinking of it as homework the rpg.
Steve Jackson Games has done a number of one book Powered By GURPS games: World War II, Vorkosigian, Girl Genius, Myth, Disc World, and Hell Boy before he was a movie. They haven't done as well as hoped.
I have long maintained that an official, free, GURPS Lite Fantasy supplement would do a great deal to promote GURPS and undermine the impression that it's over complex.
Powered by GURPS died a long time ago, and instead of GURPS Lite Fantasy, we got GURPS Dungeon Fantasy.
I'm not sure how to turn around GURPS. They seem locked in a spiral of appealing only to their most hardcore fans.
Which is a shame because the game really isn't that complicated, i think the range/speed modifier was probably the most complex part.
I am working on Savages & Sorcery a system that borrows from Heroquest board game, Warhammer Quest and some other sources. So that would be the one I'm evangelizing the most, but its not complete yet. But hella fun in our playtests!
Right now we are playing Swords and Six-Siders heavily modified with rules and roleplaying charts from Five Torches Deep and Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells, and some other modifications to the characters to give them a few interesting abilities and choices they did not have before. The setting we are playing is loosely based on Cyberlore's computer game Majesty, but I am tempted to bring in more elements from Beasts & Barbarians.
One system I am very strongly in love with is Shadow of the Demon Lord and have modified some of the classes there to fit a Sword & Sorcery-like campaign. (The Witch, mainly, became the Sorceress) The kingdoms I made for that campaign were developed with the upcoming Realms of Solace map and adventure game.
We recently ran a Forgotten Tales of Swords & Sorcery campaign with several modifications to feel like Microprose's Master of Magic world. We ended up using the proficiency system from Adventurer Conqueror King System in that campaign to help flesh out the characters and their abilities a little better.
System I would recommend:
- BX/Becmi: I mean, Pundit demonstrated that it can do even Urban Fantasy.
- Over the Edge 2e/ Warp system ;
- Lex Arcana 2e;
- Ben Robbins' Microscope & Co (Kingdom, In This World) : very good for worldbuilding.
My go-to system is the Barbarians of Lemuria family of systems ( including Everywhen, Honor + Intruige etc). I think that's the one I'm closest to be an evangelist for. And also TSR/OSR D&D.
These days anything heavily inspired by our own myths and history is the type of settings I really care about.
Hyborian Age and Middle-Earth would be my most preferred settings in fantasy. And in recent years I've also started to favor Mythic Earth kinds of settings like Pendragon, Howards historically inspired stories, Hellas, ancient Scandinavia etc. It has also rubbed off on my preferred D&D settings. These days I embrace a generic but more medival-style kind of D&D campaign filled with classical D&D thropes. And not even bothering to come up with stuff like different pantheons but just use gods from real world mythology. Everything that is the antithesis of current year fantasy Seattle.
I enjoy many a game, and have attempted to convince folks to try about as many. That said, if I had to pick one it'd probably be Ascendant. I love how the stats all effectively have real world meaning. Helps me visualize and/or arbitrate. At the same time the resolution system is simple and elegant, being widely applicable enough that you aren't just buried in edge case rules that aren't easily remembered. To me it's simulation that has a very solid resolution system applicable to most anything, but with a meaning and ability to model most everything.
Also, I've tried and failed many a time to press for OSR within my group(s). AD&D was the one instance I really got to try DMing it for some folks, so I'll count it as the runner-up to recognize my prior evangelical efforts, lol. 8)
DELETE
I prefer Pathfinder 1st edition. Yes, there is a lot of number crunching, but the character customization is hard to beat.
It's a shame that Pathfinder 2nd edition was so bad though...
Quote from: Nameless Mist on August 25, 2023, 08:30:34 PM
I prefer Pathfinder 1st edition. Yes, there is a lot of number crunching, but the character customization is hard to beat.
It's a shame that Pathfinder 2nd edition was so bad though...
You should take a look at Savage Pathfinder - your character customization options will blow your mind.
I guess that the system I'm an Evangelist of is D&D 3/3.5E (with some of the "fixes" that Pathfinder did). I need to be a Evangelist because, somehow, it is usually dissed by the community.
My guess is that one must answer a key question: "Do you play the 'crunch', or the crunch is a method to express the 'lore' (AKA 'fluff')?"
To me and my players it is the latter. D&D 3/3.5E had, at least in many official products, a level of quality in the text, and even maturity, I seldom find in the competition. That's where I start from. When I read about the Malconvoker Prestige Class I immediately found the answer to a problem I had in my campaign. I even created the NPC but I don't think I ever used the stats. It was the character the important thing, not the related crunch.
Regarding the crunch... what I can say? I flatly disagree with all those people who min-max a 20th level character "proving" that you can use tactical nukes up stat, as characters evolve organically - they don't spring to life like Athena from the head of Zeus. I liked the feats because they reminded me of the Advantages in GURPS (and I missed negative feats in 3E).
Even here, some "min-maxing" feats were natural, as it is normal for any living creature to try to improve their natural inclinations. Others came from the background, campaign necessities, and/or from how you wanted to role-play the character.
The latter, BTW, comes from my experience with GURPS: back in the day we created characters, with the crunch simply being, again, a way to express the underlying ideas.
Lastly, I never understood "the complexities of the crunch and the workload put on the DM" when a simple program like eTools (which I still have installed right now) gave me a fast way to create from encounters to everything else - and print the resulting info ready to use (today I would create a PDF).
D&D 3/3.5E gave me all I needed to play Planescape, a campaign based on the Iran-Contra scandal, C.S.I. Waterdeep, and I still have in the pocket my version of "The Hunt for Red October" for Dragonlance. Every then and now I re-read some of the books, and I always pine because life is too short to do everything (we are currently happy with our CoC 7E campaign).
I've become a bit of an evangelist for the old FGU Daredevils game. I run a Kolchack: The Night Stalker adventure every year at North Texas using it. Since Kolchak was a throwback to noir journalism movies, it's a great fit. I've been thinking about starting a space archaeology game using it, as well. An away team of archaeologists and anthropologists on a Trek-like ship.
I generally like the way it handles being talented in something, which fits in well with golden age science fiction as well as noir. And how age brings experience. It's also reasonably simple, although firearms are a bit wonky.
Quote from: tenbones on August 26, 2023, 01:19:31 AM
Quote from: Nameless Mist on August 25, 2023, 08:30:34 PM
I prefer Pathfinder 1st edition. Yes, there is a lot of number crunching, but the character customization is hard to beat.
It's a shame that Pathfinder 2nd edition was so bad though...
You should take a look at Savage Pathfinder - your character customization options will blow your mind.
Thanks for the recommendation. I'll check it out.
Quote from: Nameless Mist on August 26, 2023, 10:03:11 AM
Quote from: tenbones on August 26, 2023, 01:19:31 AM
Quote from: Nameless Mist on August 25, 2023, 08:30:34 PM
I prefer Pathfinder 1st edition. Yes, there is a lot of number crunching, but the character customization is hard to beat.
It's a shame that Pathfinder 2nd edition was so bad though...
You should take a look at Savage Pathfinder - your character customization options will blow your mind.
Thanks for the recommendation. I'll check it out.
As an evangelist for Savage Worlds - if you have any questions, feel free to ask! The "crunch" is much less chonky than PF, but the flexibility of the system extends not only to character customization, but also to campaign customization, even on the fly.
Quote from: Reckall on August 26, 2023, 05:43:37 AM
I guess that the system I'm an Evangelist of is D&D 3/3.5E (with some of the "fixes" that Pathfinder did). I need to be a Evangelist because, somehow, it is usually dissed by the community.
My guess is that one must answer a key question: "Do you play the 'crunch', or the crunch is a method to express the 'lore' (AKA 'fluff')?"
To me and my players it is the latter. D&D 3/3.5E had, at least in many official products, a level of quality in the text, and even maturity, I seldom find in the competition. That's where I start from. When I read about the Malconvoker Prestige Class I immediately found the answer to a problem I had in my campaign. I even created the NPC but I don't think I ever used the stats. It was the character the important thing, not the related crunch.
Regarding the crunch... what I can say? I flatly disagree with all those people who min-max a 20th level character "proving" that you can use tactical nukes up stat, as characters evolve organically - they don't spring to life like Athena from the head of Zeus. I liked the feats because they reminded me of the Advantages in GURPS (and I missed negative feats in 3E).
Even here, some "min-maxing" feats were natural, as it is normal for any living creature to try to improve their natural inclinations. Others came from the background, campaign necessities, and/or from how you wanted to role-play the character.
The latter, BTW, comes from my experience with GURPS: back in the day we created characters, with the crunch simply being, again, a way to express the underlying ideas.
Lastly, I never understood "the complexities of the crunch and the workload put on the DM" when a simple program like eTools (which I still have installed right now) gave me a fast way to create from encounters to everything else - and print the resulting info ready to use (today I would create a PDF).
D&D 3/3.5E gave me all I needed to play Planescape, a campaign based on the Iran-Contra scandal, C.S.I. Waterdeep, and I still have in the pocket my version of "The Hunt for Red October" for Dragonlance. Every then and now I re-read some of the books, and I always pine because life is too short to do everything (we are currently happy with our CoC 7E campaign).
This is probably the most honest post about 3.x I've seen in a while. I'm curious since you openly admit how much you love the crunch for its mechanical benefits *as* an element of the game, if you've ever taken a look at Fantasy Craft, and what your opinions of it were? Because... (and I've said this many times on this forum and other places) Fantasy Craft is the apotheosis of 3.x design. It fixes *all* the mechanical issues of 3.x and PF and is even more high-octane.
I have always liked Savage Worlds. It was never my favorite, but it was always high on my list, and I always thought it did a better job of being a general system than d20. The current edition really knocked it out of the park.
I am an evangelist for my favorite games: 1e AD&D, Classic Traveller '81, 2e Classic Runequest, pre-7e Call of Cthulhu, pre-4e Stormbringer, 1e WFRP, FASA Star Trek TOS-era. Favorite settings: JG Wilderlands, Prax in Glorantha (as a gonzo game setting rather than an imaginary topic for an imaginary thesis), Gazetteer-era Mystara, ICE Middle-Earth and Gygax-era Greyhawk.
There are still plenty of things I'd like to try, but an overwhelming number of things I'm not interested in.
Palladium Fantasy 1st Edition. If you want to learn Palladium, this is the game. Its notably simpler than the following games. It also convinced me that D&D of the same time period was crap. Down with Armor Class & Thac-0, yes to strike vs parry/dodge.
I also am a fan of small, free RPGs. Getting anybody to play them is a problem, but they're my new fascination. Mini-6 Bare Bones, Pocket Fantasy, or cheap games like Dungeons and Delvers Dice Pool or Dark Star.
Quote from: weirdguy564 on August 28, 2023, 11:26:58 PMI also am a fan of small, free RPGs. Getting anybody to play them is a problem, but they're my new fascination. Mini-6 Bare Bones, Pocket Fantasy, or cheap games like Dungeons and Delvers Dice Pool or Dark Star.
Just in case you aren't already aware of it, Warrior, Rogue and Mage (http://www.stargazergames.eu/warrior-rogue-mage/) is a great light weight and free system. One of my personal favourites on that space.
Shadowdark, OSE, and 5E (this is petering off).
Levels 1-36 + Godhood. System-specific skills that fit associated settings. Real weapon proficiency. Mass-combat rules. Monster catalog. Built-in setting. Racial and class limitations.
Everything you need to play D&D as it was meant to be played is in the Rules Cyclopedia.
(https://www.drivethrurpg.com/images/44/17171.jpg)
Wildsea: From premise, playtest, art, system, layout, and fulfillment, I have never seen an RPG so flawless. It's designed to be played, and be played it will.
Cortex: Probably the most effective RPG out there at the moment, partly because it's so easy to configure it to fit your needs. I've even been able to 'fix' the narrative elements people so often complain about here. Sad how it continues to languish due to a lack of open license and series of unfortunate events.
Ron Edward's Sorcerer: Rarely play, but damn if that work didn't establish so many important principles designers are continuing to rediscover today.
Monsterhearts: Likely to never run it again because teen sexuality is a core theme. Best toxic relationship simulator I've ever encountered. All the moves are destructive in some manner. Strings turn relationships into currency. And none of it is an endorsement of such behavior.
Paranoia: Matt once said it's "lightning in a bottle" and I agree. Nothing will ever come close to its potential for social commentary even if it rarely reaches that potential in play. Ironically the best games for me have been ones where the players are trying to cooperate.
I don't evangelize much - but I will some for ones that very few people have heard of, or are largely forgotten.
Examples of weird-but-good games are The Play's the Thing, Hellcats & Hockeysticks, and Macho Women With Guns.
You heard that the Adventures of Indiana Jones game by TSR was the worst RPG of all time. You heard that it had no character creation rules.
You heard wrong.
The Adventures of Indiana Jones roleplaying game is one of the best games TSR put out in their heyday. I've run this many times at conventions and players are always surprised at how great the game is and how it captures the spirit of Indiana Jones!
(https://cf.geekdo-images.com/1MMco-uMGOnmR_Nd8NUfUg__imagepage/img/rIxIN-F7WkW-axO55sXW5VVgwyo=/fit-in/900x600/filters:no_upscale():strip_icc()/pic549165.jpg)
Quote from: Theory of Games on August 29, 2023, 05:02:49 PM
Everything you need to play D&D as it was meant to be played is in the Rules Cyclopedia.
Gods what a great book.
I wish each edition of D&D could be summed up like this. If I ran WotC I'd do a special edition set of every edition edited and compiled into a deluxe Rules Cyclopedia with era-appropriate art and layout in a hardcover edition with a slipcase. Release the collection for the 50th anniversary next year.
Quote from: Thor's Nads on August 30, 2023, 06:43:09 PM
Quote from: Theory of Games on August 29, 2023, 05:02:49 PM
Everything you need to play D&D as it was meant to be played is in the Rules Cyclopedia.
Gods what a great book.
It is one of the best fantasy systems ever in a book. The problem is that the errata, when printed, fill several pages. I always hoped for a PDF version cleaned up. Having said that, this book plus (choose a Gazetteer or two) contain years of playing.
Quote
I wish each edition of D&D could be summed up like this. If I ran WotC I'd do a special edition set of every edition edited and compiled into a deluxe Rules Cyclopedia with era-appropriate art and layout in a hardcover edition with a slipcase. Release the collection for the 50th anniversary next year.
For a Rules Cyclopedia cleaned up plus three Gazetteer in a slipcase (Karameikos, Glantri and The Minrothad Guilds IMHO) I would easily pay $150.
Quote from: tenbones on August 26, 2023, 01:14:27 PM
I'm curious since you openly admit how much you love the crunch for its mechanical benefits *as* an element of the game, if you've ever taken a look at Fantasy Craft, and what your opinions of it were? Because... (and I've said this many times on this forum and other places) Fantasy Craft is the apotheosis of 3.x design. It fixes *all* the mechanical issues of 3.x and PF and is even more high-octane.
No, I never tried it. But, since I found myself with some pocket money, I just bought it on DriveThroughRPG. I'll read it this week-end.
I may get some flak for this, but I won't apologise for it: the Adventure Game Engine system by, yes, Green Ronin, is a great system to introduce people to TTRPGS. You can say about GR what you want but the system as it is, is one of the best there is (I've played, I must add). Though as an introduction you're better off with the first edition. It's fast, it's simple and it gives a good taste of what TTRPG actually is.
Quote from: Kerstmanneke82 on August 31, 2023, 06:22:57 AM
I may get some flak for this, but I won't apologise for it: the Adventure Game Engine system by, yes, Green Ronin, is a great system to introduce people to TTRPGS. You can say about GR what you want but the system as it is, is one of the best there is (I've played, I must add). Though as an introduction you're better off with the first edition. It's fast, it's simple and it gives a good taste of what TTRPG actually is.
Green Ronin is too Woke for me. I'll never buy another one of their products, even though Mutants and Masterminds is in my top 3 best superhero games.
Quote from: Reckall on August 31, 2023, 02:24:05 AM
It is one of the best fantasy systems ever in a book. The problem is that the errata, when printed, fill several pages. I always hoped for a PDF version cleaned up. Having said that, this book plus (choose a Gazetteer or two) contain years of playing.
Which errata are you talking about? Do you mean the massive one that is posted over on Dragonsfoot? Because that one is actually full of house rules and not just errata per se.
Quote from: Reckall on August 31, 2023, 02:24:05 AM
For a Rules Cyclopedia cleaned up plus three Gazetteer in a slipcase (Karameikos, Glantri and The Minrothad Guilds IMHO) I would easily pay $150.
Agreed! Sadly the current darklords in charge of Watzi would never do that. They have no love or respect for the history of the game. Just like the evil witch in charge of LucasFilm has no love for Star Wars, just access to that audience to preach her sick twisted ideology to.
7th Sea Second Edition is the game I wind up talking about the most at conventions. I think I was annoying the Chaosium booth-folk this GenCon because a bunch of people asked what it was when I was looking to see if they had any new books and I spent much of time explaining the system when I got the impression the Chaosium folks wanted to move new customers to Glorantha or CoC. My friends who played 7th Sea 1e don't like the new edition, but I never played 1e so I don't have a frame of reference to compare the two lines.
The game is more cinematic co-operative narrative versus your more traditional RPG. You chuck a fistful of dice and do heroic stuff until you run out of raises then move on to the next scene where you repeat the process until you have thwarted the cardinal, tossed the defeated captain overboard, wooed the Countess de Quelestson Pantalon, etc. If you didn't get enough raises then oh well you get marooned on the island, Countess de Quelestcon Pantalon turns you over to her husband as a thief, etc. and the story continues.
The villain mechanics are really what win my affection. The big bad invests bad guy resources into schemes. If the schemes go off well the investment pays off and they get more formidable. If the PC manage to interfere then those resources are lost and the big bad gets knocked down a peg.
DCC/MCC It has the same feel as my games from my youth (early 1980s) with the right mix of silly and serious.
Quote from: Thor's Nads on August 31, 2023, 09:30:12 AM
Quote from: Kerstmanneke82 on August 31, 2023, 06:22:57 AM
I may get some flak for this, but I won't apologise for it: the Adventure Game Engine system by, yes, Green Ronin, is a great system to introduce people to TTRPGS. You can say about GR what you want but the system as it is, is one of the best there is (I've played, I must add). Though as an introduction you're better off with the first edition. It's fast, it's simple and it gives a good taste of what TTRPG actually is.
Green Ronin is too Woke for me. I'll never buy another one of their products, even though Mutants and Masterminds is in my top 3 best superhero games.
As I said. But credit where credit is due, I think the system is pretty decent.
Quote from: Reckall on August 31, 2023, 02:29:56 AM
Quote from: tenbones on August 26, 2023, 01:14:27 PM
I'm curious since you openly admit how much you love the crunch for its mechanical benefits *as* an element of the game, if you've ever taken a look at Fantasy Craft, and what your opinions of it were? Because... (and I've said this many times on this forum and other places) Fantasy Craft is the apotheosis of 3.x design. It fixes *all* the mechanical issues of 3.x and PF and is even more high-octane.
No, I never tried it. But, since I found myself with some pocket money, I just bought it on DriveThroughRPG. I'll read it this week-end.
An important word of warning - read every single page. It's very easy to skim over a section thinking "Oh this is just standard 3.x mechanics" - when in reality a slight change made completely changes how the system works in relation to other 3.x flavors.
I'm always curious about people's thoughts on it - especially if they're 3.x enthusiasts. I personally felt Fantasy Craft would have been a great 4th Edition... but it launched around the same time as Pathfinder...
Quote from: Kerstmanneke82 on August 31, 2023, 10:07:47 AM
Quote from: Thor's Nads on August 31, 2023, 09:30:12 AM
Quote from: Kerstmanneke82 on August 31, 2023, 06:22:57 AM
I may get some flak for this, but I won't apologise for it: the Adventure Game Engine system by, yes, Green Ronin, is a great system to introduce people to TTRPGS. You can say about GR what you want but the system as it is, is one of the best there is (I've played, I must add). Though as an introduction you're better off with the first edition. It's fast, it's simple and it gives a good taste of what TTRPG actually is.
Green Ronin is too Woke for me. I'll never buy another one of their products, even though Mutants and Masterminds is in my top 3 best superhero games.
As I said. But credit where credit is due, I think the system is pretty decent.
As I said, Mutants and Masterminds is in my top 3. They design great product. I also have history with the a-holes running the company and know about some of their nefarious connections.
Quote from: tenbones on August 26, 2023, 01:14:27 PM
Fantasy Craft is the apotheosis of 3.x design. It fixes *all* the mechanical issues of 3.x and PF and is even more high-octane.
FantasyCraft is the deal of the day on DriveThru! Highly recommended and this is the best price I've seen it.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/63884/Fantasy-Craft-Second-Printing
Quote from: Thor's Nads on August 31, 2023, 09:49:06 AM
Quote from: Reckall on August 31, 2023, 02:24:05 AM
It is one of the best fantasy systems ever in a book. The problem is that the errata, when printed, fill several pages. I always hoped for a PDF version cleaned up. Having said that, this book plus (choose a Gazetteer or two) contain years of playing.
Which errata are you talking about? Do you mean the massive one that is posted over on Dragonsfoot? Because that one is actually full of house rules and not just errata per se.
I have this file:
https://www.acaeum.com/library/cyclopedia_errata.pdf
It seems to me that the 9 pages of errata come from looking at the original sources and fixing what is either wrong or missing. There is some speculation when something in the rules is unclear, but I don't think that the document contains house rules.
RE: Fantasy Craft
I should also add... if you're gonna play Fantasy Craft, you *must* also get the Adventurer's Companion. It's filled with all the material that they couldn't fit into the core book, plus it has a few mini-settings for you to play in.
For fantasy I'm in for C&C. For Space Opera it Cepheus Deluxe. Both have pretty streamlined mechanics and flexibility. Cepheus is a modernized "Classic" Traveller.
C&C is a modernized "D&D" that Gary G. had considerable design input into as he was publishing a fantasy setting where it would be the RPG engine.
FASERIP
D100 (Basically a lighter version of mythras).
OSR (when well implemented like BtW or TSL).
Ubiquity
Settings:
Gothic horror (not that scooby do WotC shit).
Original Vampire (without all the splat books and certainly NOT V5!).
WFRP 1e Lore.
Deadlands
Hostile (sci-fi horror)
HEX
S&S (various)
Quote from: Reckall on September 01, 2023, 09:01:34 AM
Quote from: Thor's Nads on August 31, 2023, 09:49:06 AM
Quote from: Reckall on August 31, 2023, 02:24:05 AM
It is one of the best fantasy systems ever in a book. The problem is that the errata, when printed, fill several pages. I always hoped for a PDF version cleaned up. Having said that, this book plus (choose a Gazetteer or two) contain years of playing.
Which errata are you talking about? Do you mean the massive one that is posted over on Dragonsfoot? Because that one is actually full of house rules and not just errata per se.
I have this file:
https://www.acaeum.com/library/cyclopedia_errata.pdf
It seems to me that the 9 pages of errata come from looking at the original sources and fixing what is either wrong or missing. There is some speculation when something in the rules is unclear, but I don't think that the document contains house rules.
That is a good one, but incomplete.
This is the best one, unfortunately it also has tons of house rules you can keep or toss.
https://tinyvast.com/RCerrata/
I feel like I need a "top ten systems/settings you are an Evangelist for".
Because other underrated games I try to play any chance I get are Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness, and Ars Magica.
Ninja Turtles is junk food, a fully loaded combo pizza if you will. While Ars Magica is fine dining at a Michelin 5 Star restaurant (if you can bear the pretentious artsiness of it, which I can).
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9e/TMNT_and_Other_Strangeness.jpg)
(https://d1vzi28wh99zvq.cloudfront.net/images/408/329468.jpg)
Quote from: Rob Necronomicon on September 01, 2023, 01:21:09 PM
FASERIP
OSR (when well implemented like BtW or TSL).
Man FASERIP is an awesome game. Really, I think it is the only superhero game. All the other ones are broken and/or too fiddly in their futile attempt to be "balanced", even my own fantastic supers RPG (Guardians).
And of course OSR is the only thing interesting happening in RPG's right now.
Quote from: tenbones on September 01, 2023, 09:24:59 AM
RE: Fantasy Craft
I should also add... if you're gonna play Fantasy Craft, you *must* also get the Adventurer's Companion. It's filled with all the material that they couldn't fit into the core book, plus it has a few mini-settings for you to play in.
(Sigh...)
LUCKILY, it is the turn of the month, so my credit cards are maxed out again.
Word of Warning: right now,
nothing is beating "Raiders of R'lyeh" and "The Tideless Sea" in 2023. Let's see if we have a contender...
Quote from: Baron on August 27, 2023, 05:21:38 PM
I am an evangelist for my favorite games: 1e AD&D, Classic Traveller '81, 2e Classic Runequest, pre-7e Call of Cthulhu
May I ask why "per-7e Coc?" I like the system very much (even if it is in dire need of a 7.5e) - and, the most important thing, they were true to the promise that the Keeper could adapt CoC 1-6e on the fly (which is what I'm doing).
I understand that recently Chaosuim was hit by the COVID-Woke virus, but there was still no trace of it in the basic manuals - which are those I use (not even pronouns).
Why? I've been playing Runequest, Call of Cthulhu and Stormbringer for more than forty years. I began playing them because I liked the games as they were written when I started. The Cthulhu editions remained essentially the same until their 7th edition. Same with Stormbringer until 4th edition, and Runequest's history has been a hot mess so I stuck with 2nd edition.
There's absolutely no reason why I should be pleased when I game I love is replaced with a re-write. Quite the opposite, it pisses me off. No thanks, I'll stick with the games I fell in love with.
As far as settings go, Dark Sun.
Quote from: Kerstmanneke82 on September 01, 2023, 05:31:09 PM
As far as settings go, Dark Sun.
That's a good one. Possibly TSR's best.
For me their top 3 is Dark Sun, Ravenloft, and Mystara.
Quote from: Thor's Nads on September 01, 2023, 03:03:09 PM
I feel like I need a "top ten systems/settings you are an Evangelist for".
Because other underrated games I try to play any chance I get are Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness, and Ars Magica.
Ninja Turtles is junk food, a fully loaded combo pizza if you will. While Ars Magica is fine dining at a Michelin 5 Star restaurant (if you can bear the pretentious artsiness of it, which I can).
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/9e/TMNT_and_Other_Strangeness.jpg)
(https://d1vzi28wh99zvq.cloudfront.net/images/408/329468.jpg)
Good choice on TMNT. I had that sourcebook back in the day. I never really got to play it much, but the system was pretty neat.
I mean... Gosh. So many, I suppose.
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, 1st and 2nd edition. They're very different beasts, but I like them both in different ways, and WFRP has been my "go to" fantasy game for a long time. Both the setting and the system work for me. I'll talk about it at the drop of a hat, and I've pushed it in groups and group discussion.
For D&D... As heretical as it is, I'm quick to proclaim my love for 2E, and as for settings, the same for Birthright and Mystara.
I'll throw The Laundry Files, both as a system and a setting, out there. As Delta Green has for many people, Laundry Files has become more or less my go-to generic Cthulhu pastiche setting and system of choice.
Quote from: Baron on September 01, 2023, 05:08:26 PM
Why? I've been playing Runequest, Call of Cthulhu and Stormbringer for more than forty years. I began playing them because I liked the games as they were written when I started. The Cthulhu editions remained essentially the same until their 7th edition.
Same here (I actually worked on the Italian edition of CoC). However, when I watched Seth Skorkorsky wonderful review of 7E I realized that it was, essentially, the same game with kinda the best of the "house rules" integrated in it (which is why you can use the 1-6e supplements on the fly; the Keeper doesn't need to convert anything).
So, I like it because I feel that it is the same game, only improved in ways I like (and not
changed). But to each one his own I guess :)
Quote from: Thor's Nads on September 01, 2023, 05:50:12 PM
Quote from: Kerstmanneke82 on September 01, 2023, 05:31:09 PM
As far as settings go, Dark Sun.
That's a good one. Possibly TSR's best.
For me their top 3 is Dark Sun, Ravenloft, and Mystara.
Planescape and Mystara here.
The Forgotten Realms 3E were... well, the FR. However, they reached the apex of their depth (*) during this era, and some regional supplements were really good.
(*) Yeah, I, too, saw what I wrote here
after I wrote it...
Settings? Dark Sun & Greyhawk
While I'm not a fan of the company's politics, I love Fate Accelerated Edition for its ability to be easily hacked into nearly any genre for a one shot (or a series of one shots.) My gaming group used to run Harbor City (a shared D-list supers game, very campy) and a generic fantasy game that was very much old school swords and sorcery inspired (Moorcock, Burroughs, Howard, and Leiber.)
I also love telling folks about Wushu: Black Belt Edition and the various incarnations of it. Again, it is a super narrative game mechanic, but if you can think like a camera man, director, writer, stunt coordinator, you can have some awesome combat scenes with.
And, Hostile Solo (based on Cepheus Engine) is a hoot if you want to explore that sci-fi horror/survival itch.
I used to be for The Fantasy Trip. Now, I'm without an RPG home.
I'm more in the camp of "vastly preferred game/system for a specific genre" than a true evangelist, so here's my current list.
- Urban fantasy: Sigil & Shadow. The game is an excellent toolkit for creating urban fantasy settings and campaign, and can be easily hacked/expanded by adding content from other Barebones games (like Covert Ops)
- Hard(ish) sci-fi: Eclipse Phase. The setting, in this case, is what makes the game stand out. It's vast and detailed enough to cover pretty much everything from gritty cyberpunk to political drama and exoworld exploration; 2e also vastly improves the ruleset, which is always a nice touch
- Brutal realism: BRP/Mythras. My go to choice if I want to go old style and challenge players. Currently writing a sandbox campaign for it, vaguely inspired by the old manga Spriggan
- Space Opera: WEG Star Wars. Don't think I need to say why
Prowlers is about as close to perfect as anything I could imagine playing. I'm the kind of guy who will play a video game or watch a show with you for like ten minutes, and be like "oh dude, you know what we should play / watch instead?" So the fact that I've never once thought, "man, system X would be so much better for this" in all the time I've been running / playing this system is the highest praise I could possibly give it (this includes games that weren't even in the genre the system was designed for)
Quote from: Domina on September 21, 2023, 11:11:32 PM
Prowlers is about as close to perfect as anything I could imagine playing. I'm the kind of guy who will play a video game or watch a show with you for like ten minutes, and be like "oh dude, you know what we should play / watch instead?" So the fact that I've never once thought, "man, system X would be so much better for this" in all the time I've been running / playing this system is the highest praise I could possibly give it (this includes games that weren't even in the genre the system was designed for)
What is Prowlers? Care to post a link?
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/m/product/346742
Here's a link to the quickstart.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/269917/Prowlers--Paragons-Ultimate-Edition-Quickstart?manufacturers_id=22398 (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/269917/Prowlers--Paragons-Ultimate-Edition-Quickstart?manufacturers_id=22398)
Ohhh... Prowlers and Paragons... I'd have known what it was if you'd used the whole title. :P
Quote from: Domina on September 22, 2023, 08:59:03 AM
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/m/product/346742
I see you shilling this in several threads. That's a no-no. The way you're doing it will turn people off.
If you're just really excited about a game, you can always start a thread and tell people about it and talk about what makes it fun for you.
If you associated with the publication or distribution of the game, there's legitimate ways of representing a game on this site.
Quote from: BadApple on September 22, 2023, 11:07:59 AM
Quote from: Domina on September 22, 2023, 08:59:03 AM
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/m/product/346742
I see you shilling this in several threads. That's a no-no. The way you're doing it will turn people off.
If you're just really excited about a game, you can always start a thread and tell people about it and talk about what makes it fun for you.
If you associated with the publication or distribution of the game, there's legitimate ways of representing a game on this site.
Feel free to report me if you think I've broken a rule. Your opinion of my conduct isn't really interesting or useful.
Quote from: Domina on September 26, 2023, 12:04:07 PM
Quote from: BadApple on September 22, 2023, 11:07:59 AM
Quote from: Domina on September 22, 2023, 08:59:03 AM
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/m/product/346742
I see you shilling this in several threads. That's a no-no. The way you're doing it will turn people off.
If you're just really excited about a game, you can always start a thread and tell people about it and talk about what makes it fun for you.
If you associated with the publication or distribution of the game, there's legitimate ways of representing a game on this site.
Feel free to report me if you think I've broken a rule. Your opinion of my conduct isn't really interesting or useful.
I think he was trying to give you a friendly warning. We all make mistakes, but you don't want make them twice. That is called a nice thing to do. Your response 'isn't really interesting or useful'... and not very wise.
Thread Topic: What Systems/Settings are you an Evangelist for?
Post: Prowlers is about as close to perfect as anything I could imagine playing...
Chaos ensues. WTF?
I think there is additional context in the wider scope than this thread.
Having said that, I have not read the QS yet to ponder the mechanics. It is on the to-read list.
Quote from: zircher on September 26, 2023, 03:37:12 PM
I think there is additional context in the wider scope than this thread.
Whatever else there may be, this reply in this thread is as appropriate as can be. Any comments about the poster's alleged other behavior are out of context here in this thread.
Quote from: Domina on September 26, 2023, 12:04:07 PM
Quote from: BadApple on September 22, 2023, 11:07:59 AM
Quote from: Domina on September 22, 2023, 08:59:03 AM
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/m/product/346742
I see you shilling this in several threads. That's a no-no. The way you're doing it will turn people off.
If you're just really excited about a game, you can always start a thread and tell people about it and talk about what makes it fun for you.
If you associated with the publication or distribution of the game, there's legitimate ways of representing a game on this site.
Feel free to report me if you think I've broken a rule. Your opinion of my conduct isn't really interesting or useful.
Carry on with your bad self then.
Quote from: Baron on September 26, 2023, 05:33:21 PM
Quote from: zircher on September 26, 2023, 03:37:12 PM
I think there is additional context in the wider scope than this thread.
Whatever else there may be, this reply in this thread is as appropriate as can be. Any comments about the poster's alleged other behavior are out of context here in this thread.
I very clearly pointed out that Prowlers was getting shilled in multiple active threads at once. Everything that follows in my post is in that context. Yes, this was the thread to talk about and openly shill a game. The topics of Crits and Fumbles, 5e vs PF2, and others wasn't.
All that aside, I love learning about new games. I'm all in for learning about Prowlers and Paragons. I'm sure others are as well.
Savage Worlds all day.
Really, these days? Only my own and that half jokingly. ICE and SJG have pretty much lost any good wil I had for them. Not that I'm angry or hate them but I don't think I'll be supporting either of them in the future. I expect they're happier that way. I'm a bad fan :D
Quote from: Thor's Nads on September 27, 2023, 12:28:55 AM
Quote from: SmallMountaineer on September 26, 2023, 09:19:13 PM
Savage Worlds all day.
What is so great about Savage Worlds?
- Pinnacle is a good company that stays out of politics and frequently spotlights its Third Party creators - I disagree with them being placed on the Yellow List.
- Savage Worlds itself is a versatile toolkit with its current version supported by over a dozen settings.
- Savage Worlds quantifies skill by allowing the user to roll "bigger dice" as they advance. For example, a character may start with 1D4 in 'Notice', but advance it to 1D12.
- Savage Worlds replaces Hit Points with Wounds, both abstracting the overall damage taken while quantifying the progressive damage taken with penalties to checks relative to the number of Wounds sustained.
- Savage Worlds uses Mana Points - "Power Points" - and a "magic" system that is flexible enough to support all genres, from arcane spellcasting to futuristic psionics to superhero powers and everything in between.
- Savage Worlds does not use Classes, replacing it with a trait system - Edges and Hindrances - that allow virtually any character to be constructed with the necessary bonuses and penalties to properly represent them in-game. Want to create a blind monk? Covered. Want to create a religious sneak? Covered. Want to play an obsessive-compulsive flying elf? Covered.
- Savage Worlds incentivizes roleplaying the characters along the lines of their Edges and Hindrances via Benefits (or "Bennies"), which largely allow players to re-attempt checks.
- Savage Worlds includes what D&D-derived games would consider both Armor Class and Armor Soak in the form of Parry and Toughness.
It really is the most excellent game, and unlike the vast majority of its competitors was born and exists entirely outside of the greater Dungeons and Dragons family, having also originated as a tabletop wargame. I encourage you and everyone else to pick up one of its Quickstarts/Jumpstarts and take it for a spin for the sake of variety if nothing else.
Quote from: Thor's Nads on September 27, 2023, 12:28:55 AM
Quote from: SmallMountaineer on September 26, 2023, 09:19:13 PM
Savage Worlds all day.
What is so great about Savage Worlds?
If you like rules-lite RPGs but want a little more bite then Savage World is awesome. It is fast to learn, fast to play, and fun.
Quote from: Thor's Nads on September 27, 2023, 12:28:55 AM
Quote from: SmallMountaineer on September 26, 2023, 09:19:13 PM
Savage Worlds all day.
What is so great about Savage Worlds?
I'm actually not a big fan of Savage Worlds but it's a system that's easy to quickly pick up and play and very adaptable without feeling like you are either changing the system or shoehorning a setting into a system. I would play with the right table but it's not my system.
I would say that if you're looking to create your own mechanics, you'd be really missing out if you don't look at Savage Worlds core.
Quote from: BadApple on September 27, 2023, 12:23:15 PM
Quote from: Thor's Nads on September 27, 2023, 12:28:55 AM
Quote from: SmallMountaineer on September 26, 2023, 09:19:13 PM
Savage Worlds all day.
What is so great about Savage Worlds?
I'm actually not a big fan of Savage Worlds but it's a system that's easy to quickly pick up and play and very adaptable without feeling like you are either changing the system or shoehorning a setting into a system. I would play with the right table but it's not my system.
I would say that if you're looking to create your own mechanics, you'd be really missing out if you don't look at Savage Worlds core.
Yeah. My group and I bounced off of Savage Worlds very hard, but it is definitely a well thought-out system with some serious strengths. It just so happened that its weaknesses hit right where my group likes to play. But I won't knock it as a system, because it does what it intends to do well.
I don't get some of the love for Savage Worlds. I also don't get the love for the Fria League system.
I don't care if a system is crunchy if it effectively models that which it is intended to.
To that end, while I love BECMI, 1e AD&D and PF1, my go-to and the one for which I'm like a TV Preacher in terms of my levels of evangelism is Twilight:2013.
Yes, the world setting and timeline are a bit of a confused mess at the time the product was written (but surprisingly not so much nowadays) in comparison to the 1e/2e timeline.
Yes, the layout of the core rules seems to have been done by a maniac (meth is a hell of a drug).
But the rules themselves... The Reflex System is a thing of beauty. Dice pool using d20s (QTY based on skill level). Roll low against a target number for success. Margin of success or failure (rolling above or below target number) adds or subtracts from the result. Additional successes mean something. Damage system not based on "fully combat effective until hp = 0" with shock, bleeding effects. Damage from fire, falling, disease make sense. Fatigue separate from damage.
Yes, there are modifiers to dice rolls - but most can be pre-calculated and placed on your character sheet. Yes it is crunchy. See above paragraph.
:) BESM (Big Eyes, Small Mouth), and its generic Tri Stat, are pretty solid for TV show emulation. It captures enough details while still feeling cinematic to just run with it.
Not much of an evangelist for it. But it is a solid go to game for when people watch a show, typically anime, and say "Let's do that! :D "
I like the new Tri-Stat system. It's polished and perfectly serviceable as a generic game. I can't for the life of me recruit players for anything that is not mainstream 5e. I'm just learning to like it and run the best games I can.
Quote from: trechriron on September 29, 2023, 04:30:38 PM
I can't for the life of me recruit players for anything that is not mainstream 5e. I'm just learning to like it and run the best games I can.
I used 5e as a recruiting tool for a while. I ran a 5e game on Tuesday and set myself up a game for a system I wanted on Thursday. I'd get to know the players through 5e and then extend a "private invitation" to a super exclusive game "only for the best RPG players." It worked. The players that were at my Thursday night game really wanted to be there and I got to run things at the level I wanted. (If you are going to do this, you damn well better bring your A-game as a GM.)
Quote from: BadApple on September 29, 2023, 04:36:59 PM
Quote from: trechriron on September 29, 2023, 04:30:38 PM
I can't for the life of me recruit players for anything that is not mainstream 5e. I'm just learning to like it and run the best games I can.
I used 5e as a recruiting tool for a while. I ran a 5e game on Tuesday and set myself up a game for a system I wanted on Thursday. I'd get to know the players through 5e and then extend a "private invitation" to a super exclusive game "only for the best RPG players." It worked. The players that were at my Thursday night game really wanted to be there and I got to run things at the level I wanted. (If you are going to do this, you damn well better bring your A-game as a GM.)
Literally my plan between now and the end of the year. Lol
The games I most chat up are Talislanta, the Without Number trio, Castles & Crusades, and Savage Worlds above all others and not always in that order. But usually Talislanta first.
Quote from: squirewaldo on September 26, 2023, 01:05:41 PM
Quote from: Domina on September 26, 2023, 12:04:07 PM
Quote from: BadApple on September 22, 2023, 11:07:59 AM
Quote from: Domina on September 22, 2023, 08:59:03 AM
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/m/product/346742
I see you shilling this in several threads. That's a no-no. The way you're doing it will turn people off.
If you're just really excited about a game, you can always start a thread and tell people about it and talk about what makes it fun for you.
If you associated with the publication or distribution of the game, there's legitimate ways of representing a game on this site.
Feel free to report me if you think I've broken a rule. Your opinion of my conduct isn't really interesting or useful.
I think he was trying to give you a friendly warning. We all make mistakes, but you don't want make them twice. That is called a nice thing to do. Your response 'isn't really interesting or useful'... and not very wise.
I'll decide what's wise, thanks.
Quote from: Domina on October 04, 2023, 03:27:09 PM
Quote from: squirewaldo on September 26, 2023, 01:05:41 PM
Quote from: Domina on September 26, 2023, 12:04:07 PM
Quote from: BadApple on September 22, 2023, 11:07:59 AM
Quote from: Domina on September 22, 2023, 08:59:03 AM
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/m/product/346742
I see you shilling this in several threads. That's a no-no. The way you're doing it will turn people off.
If you're just really excited about a game, you can always start a thread and tell people about it and talk about what makes it fun for you.
If you associated with the publication or distribution of the game, there's legitimate ways of representing a game on this site.
Feel free to report me if you think I've broken a rule. Your opinion of my conduct isn't really interesting or useful.
I think he was trying to give you a friendly warning. We all make mistakes, but you don't want make them twice. That is called a nice thing to do. Your response 'isn't really interesting or useful'... and not very wise.
I'll decide what's wise, thanks.
'Cause that's been working so well for you up until this point...
Quote from: Eirikrautha on October 04, 2023, 10:17:09 PM
Quote from: Domina on October 04, 2023, 03:27:09 PM
Quote from: squirewaldo on September 26, 2023, 01:05:41 PM
Quote from: Domina on September 26, 2023, 12:04:07 PM
Quote from: BadApple on September 22, 2023, 11:07:59 AM
Quote from: Domina on September 22, 2023, 08:59:03 AM
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/m/product/346742
I see you shilling this in several threads. That's a no-no. The way you're doing it will turn people off.
If you're just really excited about a game, you can always start a thread and tell people about it and talk about what makes it fun for you.
If you associated with the publication or distribution of the game, there's legitimate ways of representing a game on this site.
Feel free to report me if you think I've broken a rule. Your opinion of my conduct isn't really interesting or useful.
I think he was trying to give you a friendly warning. We all make mistakes, but you don't want make them twice. That is called a nice thing to do. Your response 'isn't really interesting or useful'... and not very wise.
I'll decide what's wise, thanks.
'Cause that's been working so well for you up until this point...
Yes, it has, and I've been right in every case.
Quote from: Domina on October 04, 2023, 03:27:09 PM
Quote from: squirewaldo on September 26, 2023, 01:05:41 PM
Quote from: Domina on September 26, 2023, 12:04:07 PM
Quote from: BadApple on September 22, 2023, 11:07:59 AM
Quote from: Domina on September 22, 2023, 08:59:03 AM
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/m/product/346742
I see you shilling this in several threads. That's a no-no. The way you're doing it will turn people off.
If you're just really excited about a game, you can always start a thread and tell people about it and talk about what makes it fun for you.
If you associated with the publication or distribution of the game, there's legitimate ways of representing a game on this site.
Feel free to report me if you think I've broken a rule. Your opinion of my conduct isn't really interesting or useful.
I think he was trying to give you a friendly warning. We all make mistakes, but you don't want make them twice. That is called a nice thing to do. Your response 'isn't really interesting or useful'... and not very wise.
I'll decide what's wise, thanks.
Spoken like a total fool.
I often bring up Artesia, because that one RPG book is just choking full of goodies. The rules are pretty crunchy, but they make sense. You have tons of world building, interesting and different character development, lots of ways to get a spooky atmosphere if you like that, fairly detailed maps, and a starting adventure. I don't think I've ever seen anything quite at that level.
Quote from: trechriron on September 29, 2023, 04:30:38 PM
I like the new Tri-Stat system. It's polished and perfectly serviceable as a generic game. I can't for the life of me recruit players for anything that is not mainstream 5e. I'm just learning to like it and run the best games I can.
Wait, I missed this. There's a
new version of
Tri-Stat?
I really liked
BESM (well, for the most part) and the simplicity so I would love to read more. (The only thing that ever gave me pause was how "magic" worked in the system.)
* * *
To answer the original question, I have a lot of time/evangelise for:
- GURPS. Mea culpa and all that, but I just like using the system and feel that, if one can get past the tropes and negative stereotyping, that more people would love it within its niche.
- EABAv2. I just wish more people knew about this system. It also has some really, really great settings.
- Earthdawn / Shadowrun (etc.). The setting more than the mechanics, but I love these so much. Hence my recent thread. :)
- Pawn's Dream. This is a setting from Eric S. Nylund, but I would love for it to get an RPG treatment. I imagine it would be like Amber had a child with Lords of Gossamer and Shadow and a more rigorous mechanical representation.
Blue Planet, particularly the 2nd edition powered by the Synergy engine.
Setting wise, it's moderate to hard Sci-fi with a concrete high-concept: in the nearish future humanity discovers a wormhole at the distant edge of the solar system leading to a system with another habitable world.
This world is ~95% covered by oceans and is named Poseidon. We build a ship, genetically modify some colonists and send them to settle.
While they're on the trip (in cryosleep) a virus devastates the world's grain supplies and needs to near-apocalyptic conditions on Earth. A mostly benevolent world government arises.
Meanwhile the colonists land, and with no follow-up from Earth, settle the planet becoming the human natives with a tech level that varies between cyberpunk and Polynesian islands.
Earth gets its shit together and 80 years later, sends another ship to contact Poseidon and reclaim/resettle the colony.
Hilarity ensues.
System wise, a character has attributes, skills and aptitudes.
Attributes vary between -3 and +3 (unmodified human) and skills range 0-10.
To make a roll, add your attribute+skill for a target number (TN) and roll a number of D10 equal to your aptitude with that skill group (1-3).
Any dice rolling below the target number means you succeed.
Combat is a skill roll. If you hit you roll three dice against a target number of weapon damage - defender's armour rating.
One dice underneath the target is a minor wound, two dice is critical, three dice is a fatal wound.
Wounds have a dice roll penalty and critical/fatal roles also involve rolling attribute checks to not:
- Instantly pass out and;
- Die (in rounds or minutes)
It's a lightweight, but freaking deadly, sci-fi game with an awesome setting that has a lot of space to explore.
It also has up-lifted, sentient dolphins.
Some of whom have formed an apocalyptic, sex, death cult after interacting with the actuals indigenous sentients of the planet.
Settings I evangelize much more regularly than systems, and these are my favorites:
- Greyhawk
- MERP Ardor
- Blue Planet's Poseidon
- Eclipse Phase's future solar system
- Warhammer FRPG's Old World
- Kult's Metropolis
Some systems also go hand-in-hand with their settings, and are pretty much inseparable in my mind:
- Paranoia's Alpha Complex
- Ars Magica's Mythic Europe
- Vampire's World of Darkness
- Amber Diceless
Ignoring licensed media properties like Star Wars, Dune, et al.
Allan.