|
There's Fate Accelerated, which replaces the skill list with six general approaches. All the post-chargen rules fit on two pages, and that exact cheat sheet is at the end of the book.
|
#
?
Apr 5, 2015 04:16
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 18, 2024 01:33 |
|
|
Got an odd set of circumstances I could use a recommendation for. An old friend is moving across the country, and we're getting the high school gaming group back together for a final one-shot to send him off. I haven't gamed with him in years and have fallen deeply down the storygames rabbit hole in that time. I typically play games with three to five participants max, but this game is going to have seven, and I'm at a loss for what to run. Normally I'd default either to Fiasco or to The Gift con scenario for Burning Wheel with a group that size, but half the players at the table won't get (or enjoy) the genre Fiasco is built around, and The Gift is essentially a PvP scenario, and I don't want to run a farewell game where one side "loses." The only thing I can think of at the moment is some variant of Basic D&D, but I'm open to suggestions. In summary, we need something that won't bog down horribly with seven participants that doesn't rely on inter-player conflict. Ideas?
|
|
#
?
Apr 8, 2015 05:55
|
|
|
That's a pretty tricky set of conditions. 3:16 Carnage Amongst the Stars or Grunt could work. They're both about soldiers during war, 3:16 being sci-fi Starship Troopers-like and Grunt being in Vietnam, and both potentially allow for larger-than-normal PC numbers and have quick chargen. Both have the potential for PvP, but probably not much in a one-shot (it's the 'fragging your superior officers' kind of PvP, which shouldn't happen early in the story). Grunt is relatively lethal, which might not work well in your circumstances. Geiger Counter (particularly Pocket Geiger Counter: Hubris, which has 8 semi pre-set characters) can work with large player numbers. It's a survival horror movie game, so while the characters may sometimes work against one another the players are all working together to make a good (or, at least, genre-fitting) movie. The pocket version is a little more adversarial. The main issue is the game involves some/most of the characters dying, but as long as your players work together to make a movie and don't get stuck on making sure their own character comes out on top things should be fine. One Last Job seems thematically appropriate, but I've never played it and don't know whether it'll run well with so many players. The PCs are a crew of criminals on one last job that'll set them up for life. Chargen runs through the game and it's basically PCs telling anecdotes about how other PCs used to be harder/better/faster/stronger and telling them to stop loving up and start being as good as they were back then. I've considered re-skinning it as One Last Crawl, for ageing dungeoneers. If your group played a lot of DnD back in school they could make aged versions of their old characters. The problem is it would be pretty terrible if nobody could think of stories (either for one person, or at all).
|
|
#
?
Apr 8, 2015 09:59
|
|
|
Hmm... One shot, seven players, no PVP. And seven is tough to run anyway. My instincts here (and this may just be me being weird) are to throw together a semi-improvised Leverage heist. With the Mastermind given some advance warning and the rest of the players put together like the team from Mission Impossible. And then not telling the MC that the twist is they are actually playing in the World of Darkness because I'm evil. Either that or something funny and utterly irrelevant. Something like Kobolds Ate My Baby, Baron Munchhausen, or my own Houses and Wands (lightest Harry Potter game I know).
|
|
#
?
Apr 8, 2015 13:22
|
|
|
UnCO3 posted:That's a pretty tricky set of conditions. One Last Job or Havoc Brigade should do great actually.
|
|
#
?
Apr 8, 2015 17:21
|
|
|
One Last Job looks promising and, as mentioned, thematically appropriate. Thanks!
|
|
#
?
Apr 9, 2015 06:44
|
|
|
RULESET: Crunchy or normal SUPPORT: User-generated or below CHARGEN: Quick to Involved SETTING: Neutral or Universal  I'm going to be running a *Souls themed game, although probably cribbing a lot of the world from the King's Field series. I read the suggestions from last time this came up about a year ago, but they didn't jive with what I'm ultimately going for in the game. The key things I'd like out of the system being able to support are a classless system, high level of lethal, meaningful distinction between weapons/armor choices, and being able to use xp as currency. Players dying and TPWs happening will be a built in feature. I'd also like if possible to minimize the risk of poo poo rolls getting everyone killed. A good strategy, properly executed should result in the players winning the majority of the time. I realize no one system is going to be able to provide these things, but something that can get me a good chunk of the way there would be nice. I'll be working on this for a couple months, so I have time to hack a system as needed.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2015 01:21
|
|
|
I'm seriously tempted to suggest GURPS - it fits pretty much everything you ask for, though you're going to have to put in quite a bit of legwork to get absolutely everything working as planned. XP being spent as currency isn't the norm for that game - but you could probably remove the usual acquisition of Character Points and make it so that you buy them, which would amount to the same thing - then all you'd need to do is decide how much XP each monster gives and how much a Character Point costs. The combat is highly tactical (the Martial Arts and Low Tech supplements would be well worth your time if you want more options - as would a hex map for running the combats), with good tactics being rewarded and bad tactics being heavily punished. Given the 3d6 bell curve, truly poo poo rolls are fairly rare and there are often ways to give yourself bonuses - usually things which would make sense in a real fight. Like I said though; the downside is the amount of homework that's required. Thankfully, GURPS is designed with hacking in mind, so it at least makes that bit easy.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2015 02:21
|
|
|
TaintedBalance posted:RULESET: Crunchy or normal Pendragon, maybe?
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2015 04:14
|
|
|
hectorgrey posted:I'm seriously tempted to suggest GURPS - it fits pretty much everything you ask for, though you're going to have to put in quite a bit of legwork to get absolutely everything working as planned. XP being spent as currency isn't the norm for that game - but you could probably remove the usual acquisition of Character Points and make it so that you buy them, which would amount to the same thing - then all you'd need to do is decide how much XP each monster gives and how much a Character Point costs. The combat is highly tactical (the Martial Arts and Low Tech supplements would be well worth your time if you want more options - as would a hex map for running the combats), with good tactics being rewarded and bad tactics being heavily punished. Given the 3d6 bell curve, truly poo poo rolls are fairly rare and there are often ways to give yourself bonuses - usually things which would make sense in a real fight. Will start investigating this. I've yet to pickup GURPS, and it seems like a lot of people use it. Any recommendations on where to start with GURPS?
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2015 05:47
|
|
|
Haystack posted:Pendragon, maybe? Never even heard of this system before. Can you give me a high level of why it would be a good fit please?
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2015 05:49
|
|
|
TaintedBalance posted:Will start investigating this. I've yet to pickup GURPS, and it seems like a lot of people use it. Any recommendations on where to start with GURPS? Grab GURPS Lite as a free starting point, read through (and post questions in) the GURPS thread Just remember that GURPS is very modular, so it never has to be more complicated than you make it.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2015 06:02
|
|
|
The thing to remember about GURPS, and especially in that thread, is that people will simultaneously tell you "oh no, it's not that complicated at all" and "let me tell you all about my super-detailed gun rules for fighting werewolves in vietnam" and not realize that it isn't a good way to sell "not that complicated."
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2015 06:13
|
|
|
gradenko_2000 posted:Grab GURPS Lite as a free starting point, read through (and post questions in) the GURPS thread Thanks!
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2015 07:06
|
|
|
TaintedBalance posted:Never even heard of this system before. Can you give me a high level of why it would be a good fit please? Pendragon got a writeup in F&F a while back. I'm guessing it's this bit that might make it suitable: Pendragon posted:The world of Pendragon is more immediately violent than ours, and so combat is a regular part of the game - but combat in Pendragon is a more serious matter than in most other adventure games. The chance of death or permanent injury is great. Worse, healing from damage is slow and uncertain, and magical healing is rare. Thus actions must be planned carefully, and violence cannot be used to solve all problems.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2015 18:58
|
|
|
The thing with Pendragon is that it only does one thing: being a knight in Arthurian Britain, true to the old tales of King Arthur. It does that one thing incredibly well, but that's all it does. Not to mention that a single bad roll can quite easily get a character killed - or force a character into a PVP fight to the death. If you're cool with that, then great; if not, it is not the system for you.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2015 22:28
|
|
|
I'm looking for a minimum crunch sort of game that does low-powered "normal folks in abnormal situations" well, ideally while being capable of a smooth zero-to-hero track. Something approachable for beginners would be best.
|
|
#
?
Apr 19, 2015 04:53
|
|
|
Savage Worlds should work for that.
|
|
#
?
Apr 19, 2015 07:03
|
|
|
TaintedBalance posted:RULESET: Crunchy or normal Look into The Riddle of Steel/Blade of the Iron Throne, it's a very good dark fantasy/low fantasy setting thats based strongly on Conan/Howard (obviously) and it's got really good crunchy rules for combat. But more importantly it does everything you wan't it to do. The character creation is really awesome and is sort of a synthesis of games like Shadowrun and more storygame influenced stuff. But again, really good combat, the breakdown of what different kinds of weapons you can use is 10+ pages and the original author is a big name guy in Historical European Martial Arts. There are some differences between TRoS and BotIT, the second has a much much more stripped down magic system that isn't as game breaking but also very few spells (but it's clear how you could write more if you wanted to, and you could easily port the ones from TRoS into BotIT). Overall I'd say Blade is a better game, it keeps the good attributes of Riddle while adding stuff that is less aggressively crunchy and more cinematic (also uses D12's so be ready for that). El Estrago Bonito fucked around with this message at 08:45 on Apr 19, 2015 |
|
#
?
Apr 19, 2015 08:43
|
|
|
I haven't played paranoia in a while and was thinking about it to give my current DM a break with a one shot game they don't even need to learn rules for. Which edition is traditionally preferred and why? Second or XP?
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2015 20:30
|
|
|
I'm looking for shadowrun without the crunch. I've tried sixth world and sprawl but each had major flaws. Sixth world ties are kind off poorly executed with poor balance, requires a ton if homebrewing to make work. Sprawl has weird hacking and no magic I've heard there are a ton if shadowrun redone type things but I only know puff those two
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2015 23:29
|
|
|
Sgt. Anime Pederast posted:I haven't played paranoia in a while and was thinking about it to give my current DM a break with a one shot game they don't even need to learn rules for. Which edition is traditionally preferred and why? Second or XP? Whichever one has the simpler rules, because the players aren't supposed to know the rules and the GM's supposed to ignore them when it's funny anyway.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 04:41
|
|
|
Turtlicious posted:I'm looking for shadowrun without the crunch. I've tried sixth world and sprawl but each had major flaws. Sixth world ties are kind off poorly executed with poor balance, requires a ton if homebrewing to make work. Strands of Fate is a versatile Fate that I used before to play Shadowrun without the necessity of bringing 36 d6 for soak. Nowadays the Atomic Robo RPG is my absolute favorite for reskinning into any setting. It's my favorite incarnation of Fate and it's very flexible for reskinning.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 09:28
|
|
|
Turtlicious posted:I'm looking for shadowrun without the crunch. I've tried sixth world and sprawl but each had major flaws. Sixth world ties are kind off poorly executed with poor balance, requires a ton if homebrewing to make work. I think one of the problems with Shadowrun, and the cyberpunk genre as a whole, is that a massive part of the appeal is trying to trick out characters like a hot rod, and that is kind of dependent on a crunchy system that handles small variations of capability. Cyberpunk and Shadowrun character creation is one of the few times I ever look forward to trying to power-game. One of the problems is not so much the crunch as that the crunch is often kinda bad. I also really have trouble trying to figure out how to handle the gear fetishism inherent to the genre in a rules light game. I know the story's you tell in such a setting don't depend on it, but the feel is off when you don't have that kind of ability to customize. I love the genre too, but I really don't have any answers as to how do it to my satisfaction with current resources. "Cool StreetSam, what you got under the hood?" remusclaw fucked around with this message at 14:21 on Apr 21, 2015 |
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2015 14:05
|
|
|
Turtlicious posted:I'm looking for shadowrun without the crunch. I've tried sixth world and sprawl but each had major flaws. Sixth world ties are kind off poorly executed with poor balance, requires a ton if homebrewing to make work. Have you tried Technoir? Again, the heaviest part of the rules is the gear list, but it has this interesting mechanic where you are applying adjectives on your targets, instead of knocking down an HP value. EDIT: The setting is more traditional cyberpunk than the Shadowrun variety, though, so you'd have to find some way to hack in magic. agent blue fucked around with this message at 07:39 on Apr 22, 2015 |
|
#
?
Apr 22, 2015 07:32
|
|
|
Deep on my to do list is to run a Hyborian Age (Conan) sword and sorcery game for my group. I ran one last year and we used GURPS. Now it worked well and we all liked it just fine, but I have an infernal hunger for game systems and would like to look at and give my players some other options to choose from. Ruleset: Lite to Crunchy Support: Any Chargen: Quick or Involved Setting: Any The only system I will not consider is Savage Worlds. This is not because I personally dislike it, but rather because one of my players really hates it for some reason that I'm not entirely sure of.
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2015 01:25
|
|
|
Blade of the Iron Throne may catch your interest.
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2015 05:50
|
|
|
Dr. Tough posted:Deep on my to do list is to run a Hyborian Age (Conan) sword and sorcery game for my group. I ran one last year and we used GURPS. Now it worked well and we all liked it just fine, but I have an infernal hunger for game systems and would like to look at and give my players some other options to choose from. Dungeon World, Apocalypse World, or FAE
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2015 06:10
|
|
|
There's also Barbarians of Lemuria in editions old and new with some info about the system here (potentially outdated if you're interested in the Mythic Edition) and — if you want lighter or less traditional fare — Swords Without Master.
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2015 06:49
|
|
|
Yeah Blade is literally Conan with the serial numbers filed. You could also try HeroQuest/RuneQuest/Glorantha since it's pretty Conan but with less 1930's morals/racism.
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2015 08:28
|
|
|
El Estrago Bonito posted:Yeah Blade is literally Conan with the serial numbers filed. Howard was pretty bad even by '30s standards, though I guess that's more evident in his letters than his work.
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2015 08:38
|
|
|
Thanks guys, I'll check those out. Doesn't RuneQuest have like a zillion publishers and editions? I remember reading that Mongoose alone has come out with like three versions in the last few years.
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2015 12:53
|
|
|
There's also Jaws of the Six Serpents, a Conan-inspired PDQ game that is light on details but pretty fun and considers a lot of situations with suggestions for resolutions.
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2015 13:03
|
|
|
Dr. Tough posted:Thanks guys, I'll check those out. I'm no expert on the various RuneQuest versions, but yes there are a lot of them, although a basic/starter version of OpenQuest and the latest RuneQuest 6 are available on DTRPG.
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2015 15:10
|
|
|
There's old school RuneQuest, Mongoose RuneQuest 1 and 2 (the latter has been re-released as Legend and is very cheap), and RuneQuest 6 (the latest version). I personally reckon Legend or RuneQuest 6 are the better versions, but other people prefer the older ones - the only real agreement is that the first Mongoose iteration was a bit poo poo.
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2015 16:12
|
|
|
Modiphus has the Conan RPG license now and I just got sent the updated quickstart rules this past week. Haven't tried it yet though.
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2015 16:29
|
|
|
Humbug Scoolbus posted:Modiphus has the Conan RPG license now and I just got sent the updated quickstart rules this past week. Haven't tried it yet though. According to their website it doesn't launch until August but I won't be running my game until this fall at the earliest, so I'll check it out then. I check out some of the systems that were recommended and FATE and Barbarians of Lemuria look the most promising. Swords Without Master looks hilarious and would be a lot of fun for a one-shot, but I'm not sure it would work for a full campaign.
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2015 16:57
|
|
|
Dr. Tough posted:According to their website it doesn't launch until August but I won't be running my game until this fall at the earliest, so I'll check it out then. http://www.modiphius.com/conan.html You can sign up for the playtest there
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2015 17:24
|
|
|
Hello! Is there a good system for magical pet type games, aka Poke/Digi mons or How To Train Your Dragon types? Preferably with crunch, though normal isn't a dealbreaker, quick chargen would be best for the humans, though I'd prefer involved or pretend for the monsters. Setting can be established if it's a feral world, or easy to make feral, but otherwise should be closer to universal. Thanks!
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2015 16:09
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 18, 2024 01:33 |
|
|
Moriatti posted:Hello! Is there a good system for magical pet type games, aka Poke/Digi mons or How To Train Your Dragon types? I always recommend Monsters and Other Childish Things for this! It's a One-Roll Engine game available from Arc Dream and there are quick start rules available from their site. Crunch levels are light, especially for kids, and monsters are built with a budget of dice, so you can give them different powers based on different body parts. Monster combat can be more strategic if people want to play that way, but you can run it pretty quickly and light, too. It's great for making really strong, strange monsters and exploring relationships. The setting by default is "our world, kinda sorta" with blanks for each group to personalize. I have used it for a Team Rocket Pokemon game and been really happy with it - but it's been more of a "Fiasco meets the Pokemon cartoon" than anything on the mechanical level of considering Nature or breeding in the games.
|
|
#
?
May 10, 2015 19:28
|
|
