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I'm about to re-open the 5E thread so you can stop posting about it here. I'd appreciate it if you didn't continue this in that thread either, I think we've had enough posting about posting for now.
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Feb 13, 2017 14:15
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So as someone who's been really interested in the system for awhile: how does the OSR-ness of Stars Without Number's basic game gel with the mounds of additional rulebooks for mass naval combat, cyberpunk stuff, military games, etc.? Or is my definition of OSR (just a cool relatively simple game without all the cruft) just flat-out wrong? Does the stuff from the additional books play pretty seamlessly with the core book or does it just become super daunting?
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Feb 13, 2017 15:54
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The supplements don't really add a lot of "mechanics" at all. Something like 90% of the Starvation Cheap book is about describing what it's like to be in the military, how to add authentic flavor to a milwank-centric campaign, and generation tables on how to create militaristic NPCs, military missions, battlefield random encounters, and some additional milwank weapons. There are mass combat rules, and maybe single-page simple rules on artillery fire, nuclear weapons and turn-by-turn resolution of an army's campaign progress in the game world, but the core of the game is still the same as in the book. It really just a cool simple game without any cruft, but if you want the cruft to have been written for you, you pick up the books, and it still doesn't add too much mechanical material. It's like if you were playing OD&D and you "supplemented" it by picking up a book on the Crusades so that you have a more detailed description of your town of Not-Antioch, rather than pulling something out of your rear end - you're still not adding a bunch of modifiers to an attack roll or adding lots of new classes, you just know that there are xxx number of NPCs in Masada of so-and-so level and equipment.
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Feb 13, 2017 16:12
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gradenko_2000 posted:The supplements don't really add a lot of "mechanics" at all. I guess this is where I was confusing it with other systems that I'm more familiar with (FFG Star Wars) that just tend to add levels of crunch depending on your desire for it. Good to hear that SWN stays streamlined. Is there any particular reason that it's not PBP'd much here, besides PBPs generally losing popularity? Like, is the system inherently difficult to run in an asynchronous forum setting, or is it just one of those games that really is just best when played in a swashbuckling live setting over beers and pizza?
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Feb 13, 2017 16:31
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OSR games just aren't that popular here lately. I wouldn't object to a SWN game here on the forums, but I don't have the energy to run one right now since most of my creative output is currently focused on February's design contest. There's nothing particular about the rules that would prevent asynchronous gameplay like a PBP.
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Feb 13, 2017 16:51
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Well there aren't a lot of them being run, but Kevin Crawford in particular is well-regarded. SWN is one of his books I really don't care for that much; in design terms I'd put Godbound and Other Dust at the top. Running oD&D seems like a natural fit for PBP because, as I see it, a big problem with PBP is that people exhaust their enthusiasm in the character creation/campaign setup process. oD&D ain't having that poo poo. The problem is that in oD&D, everything except combat is resolved through conversation, normally in a very bit-by-bit way. Getting people to chatpost about dismantling a simple trap is also exhausting.
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Feb 13, 2017 16:59
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Just from a read of the material, I found SWN's character creation just a little too heavy for my taste, what with professions and skills, though I accept that that's a natural part of the demands of the subgenre/setting. I also found the depth and scope of the Tech Level system a bit too much, ranging from complete primitives to high-tech societies, though again, I know that that's part of the Traveller emulation that SWN does. I probably should try giving it a full run before passing judgement, though I did use the splatbooks to generate missions for Traveller.
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Feb 13, 2017 17:32
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How is Mutants and Masterminds? Might be doing a superhero game soon so I'm looking into picking that up. I read Masks and that's a little too specialized towards relationships and not general punch-man stuff.
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Feb 13, 2017 18:21
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SunAndSpring posted:How is Mutants and Masterminds? Might be doing a superhero game soon so I'm looking into picking that up. I read Masks and that's a little too specialized towards relationships and not general punch-man stuff. You get a million points to throw at crunch and if that's your thing then you'll dig it. Sometimes the power scaling goes wack, like the time my super speedster punched a kryptonian into space on accident.
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Feb 13, 2017 18:35
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SunAndSpring posted:How is Mutants and Masterminds? Might be doing a superhero game soon so I'm looking into picking that up. I read Masks and that's a little too specialized towards relationships and not general punch-man stuff. It's very good if you're down with a rules heavy-ish version of a game that ostensibly started as a d20 product. Very little of base d20 remains. Very much in the older vein of simulating everything about individual powers rather than painting with a broad brush. It's not as bad as Hero System but character creation will still take awhile. Actual play of the game is fairly quick once you get in the groove. Making up things on the fly is a bit of a chore but they do provide plenty of henchmen statblocks and such to help.
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Feb 13, 2017 18:35
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If you want to go down the rabbit hole with M&M 3e, there's tons of supplements as well, from the individually short Power Profiles series (basically a how-to for various powers with examples) to various NPCs and locations as well as the usual adventures.
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Feb 13, 2017 18:58
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Speaking of OSR and PbP, I've been considering running a Labyrinth Lord game with the Solo Heroes rules here. Running a PbP game solo would do away with one of the main hurdles of PbP, i.e. being reliant on multiple people posting for the game to progress anywhere. Especially when combat breaks out PbP games tend to slow down to a crawl because you have to wait for each player to take their turn in order and that's when things usually start slowing down if people have different posting habits and times. Running a solo game would alleviate a lot of that, since even in combat it'd be a simple "I go, you go" affair. Hell, make it even more simple and just let the player know the Hit Dice and Armor Classes of each monster so they can resolve their turns on their own, just telling you which mob of enemies they attack, rolling to attack, and then telling how many enemies they killed with their attack.
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Feb 13, 2017 19:26
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How are the Labyrinth Lord rules? Are they anything like OSR? Edit: vv thanks! vv Helical Nightmares fucked around with this message at 19:43 on Feb 13, 2017 |
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Feb 13, 2017 19:31
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Helical Nightmares posted:How are the Labyrinth Lord rules? Are they anything like OSR? Labyrinth Lord is Moldvay basic D&D with some extrapolation in order to bring it up to high levels as the Moldvay basic game originally did not get its third and final volume. It has two pretty good supplements that add AD&D and OD&D classes, spells, and monsters, for people who want to play with stuff from those games using the Moldvay basic rules. In general, what makes it better than Rules compendium basic is that the levels aren't so spread out and as such Thieves, while still awful, are no where near as bad as they are in the later set. Rules Compendium/Mentzer basic spreads out thief skill gains for 36 levels and in Labyrinth Lord/Mentzer they top out at 14th. remusclaw fucked around with this message at 19:42 on Feb 13, 2017 |
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Feb 13, 2017 19:37
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It also gives Clerics spells starting at level 1 instead of making them wait until level 2, which I'm not sure how I feel about. On the other hand it gives Clerics something to do beyond turning undead at level 1, but Clerics are also graced with one of the quickest level progression schemes so they're bound to get their first spell pretty quickly. Also, there's a free edition of Labyrinth Lord available, and the Solo Heroes rules are also free and they can be found easily by googling Black Streams: Solo Heroes.
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Feb 13, 2017 19:44
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IMO the best thing about Labyrinth Lord is actually Mutant Future, which is basically a version of Gamma World that is compatible with D&D Basic. (It seems most don't realize how different the editions of GW are from each other, and from D&D.)
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Feb 13, 2017 20:09
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Yeah pretty much the only versions of Gamma World that are compatible with their contemporary version of D&D are fourth edition and seventh edition which is the one that uses 4e mechanics (only technically compatible). Fifth edition was Alternity, and sixth edition was White Wolf doing a D20M game. I'm not even positive about fourth.
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Feb 13, 2017 20:22
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I like Mutant Future but I have one major problem with it, namely the fact that the combat charts work exactly like in B/X. Monsters use their HD to determine how well they hit whereas PCs use their level. Vanilla Mutant Future generally has tougher starting characters so monsters generally have more hit dice as well. What this means is that monsters will generally hit the PCs really often at 1st level whereas PCs will whiff most of them time. Besides that, yeah, it's great, and I love the fact that it's pretty much 100% compatible with Labyrinth Lord and has rules for introducing mutants into LL so if I wanted to offer psychic plants as a character class in Labyrinth Lord I could.
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Feb 13, 2017 20:25
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Kwyndig posted:Yeah pretty much the only versions of Gamma World that are compatible with their contemporary version of D&D are fourth edition and seventh edition which is the one that uses 4e mechanics (only technically compatible). Fifth edition was Alternity, and sixth edition was White Wolf doing a D20M game. I'm not even positive about fourth. Edit: Also this: 
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Feb 13, 2017 20:33
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This strangely reminds me of something last night. Ran the first session of Godbound. Went well enough, but, seriously, it is weird when they got into their first battle with a mob of tiny yokai and managed to consistently roll 1s until one guy got a hit with a blast attack and killed them all. Sure, the Fray die kept things moving and avoided them from making no progress each turn, but it was kind of funny for a bunch of demi-gods who just did things like gift people living Golden Elephants and just mindcontrolled a local, angry Kami into passiveness couldn't hit a horde of monsters to save their life.
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Feb 13, 2017 20:34
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SunAndSpring posted:How is Mutants and Masterminds? Might be doing a superhero game soon so I'm looking into picking that up. I read Masks and that's a little too specialized towards relationships and not general punch-man stuff. I rather enjoy it, I've played in and run campaigns in it for years, but it has its faults and I can see why some folks wouldn't like it.
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Feb 13, 2017 20:50
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SunAndSpring posted:How is Mutants and Masterminds? Might be doing a superhero game soon so I'm looking into picking that up. I read Masks and that's a little too specialized towards relationships and not general punch-man stuff. I only played first and second edition, but I loved it. It has a lot of flexibility for character types and the alternate power/power stunt system gives players a lot of options during play as well. As Asimo said, there is some potential for rules abuse so you have to be willing to veto some things, but the power level system helps keep it under control.
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Feb 13, 2017 21:54
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the first thing i self-published on DriveThruRPG hit $100 in sales!! after over a year!! i'm so proud.
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Feb 14, 2017 01:46
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Countblanc posted:the first thing i self-published on DriveThruRPG hit $100 in sales!! after over a year!! i'm so proud. Link it my man
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Feb 14, 2017 01:48
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it's in the strike thread OP since it's really only of interest to people who play that game (it's a class, the Psion) and I didn't really post that for exposure so much as not having anyone really to brag to other than this tiny rear end forum and twitter. e; eh whatever!! people might want to look at ferrinus' art he drew for it anyway The Psion class (preview) - A class made by yours truly, based off the 13th Age Occultist class. Deals in interrupts and reactions. Countblanc fucked around with this message at 02:04 on Feb 14, 2017 |
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Feb 14, 2017 01:58
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Countblanc posted:the first thing i self-published on DriveThruRPG hit $100 in sales!! after over a year!! i'm so proud. Congratulations, it's always nice to see stuff still selling over time.
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Feb 14, 2017 02:14
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Countblanc posted:the first thing i self-published on DriveThruRPG hit $100 in sales!! after over a year!! i'm so proud. Nicely done
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Feb 14, 2017 02:20
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Countblanc posted:the first thing i self-published on DriveThruRPG hit $100 in sales!! after over a year!! i'm so proud. Congrats
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Feb 14, 2017 02:21
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SunAndSpring posted:How is Mutants and Masterminds? Might be doing a superhero game soon so I'm looking into picking that up. I read Masks and that's a little too specialized towards relationships and not general punch-man stuff. (This is continuing on from what everyone else said about the game's balance) To be fair to the game, too, it's well-aware of how some powers will break the system (time control, precognition, super speed, clones, etc.) and usually accompanies entries like those with a sidebar that says "Yo, this thing can break the game so hard, my man. Don't be a dick and work with your GM on how to prevent that." It still feels the need to put them in there, though, since it's all about capturing mechanics for as many super powers as possible. Of the front end-heavy supers systems that try to systemize powers that way, it's far and away the best version. Nuns with Guns fucked around with this message at 02:50 on Feb 14, 2017 |
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Feb 14, 2017 02:48
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On a related note, could anyone recommend lighter, non-PbtA rulesets for supering? I heard BASH! was good, but that's it.
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Feb 14, 2017 03:06
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depending on what you mean by 'lighter' marvel heroic roleplaying is great and is far more about genre emulation than calculating how many square pounds the hulk can lift (if you can put up with games that are discontinued + involve dicepools)
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Feb 14, 2017 03:09
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How light do you want? Heroquest 2e is my goto narrative system.
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Feb 14, 2017 03:10
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Drone posted:So as someone who's been really interested in the system for awhile: how does the OSR-ness of Stars Without Number's basic game gel with the mounds of additional rulebooks for mass naval combat, cyberpunk stuff, military games, etc.? Or is my definition of OSR (just a cool relatively simple game without all the cruft) just flat-out wrong? OSR can cover some pretty crunchy aspects actually(after all both editions of AD&D are normally counted as OSR), the thing that keeps it from bogging them down like a lot of other systems is that OSR systems are usually pretty modular in nature, so it's easy to change around subsystems as needed
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Feb 14, 2017 03:17
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Mitama posted:On a related note, could anyone recommend lighter, non-PbtA rulesets for supering? I heard BASH! was good, but that's it. The Atomic Robo RPG is lightish, although it's scaled more for pulp heroes than it is for 4-color.
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Feb 14, 2017 03:24
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On the topic of superhero games and OSR: get you an RPG that does both
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Feb 14, 2017 03:29
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Between Asimo and I and a few other goon we have essentially seen every edition of M&M stress-tested so if you have any questions feel free to ask. I certainly have some opinions about fiddly bits in that game. Marvel Heroic I appreciate for its simplicity but the same time the mechanics mostly boil down to throwing handfuls of dice and shrugging which bugs me. I wish there was a little more think in the mechanics. What did people think of Worlds of Peril? I backed it and had mixed opinions but it didn't leave a strong impression, more kind of a vague "that was a thing".
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Feb 14, 2017 03:51
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gradenko_2000 posted:On the topic of superhero games and OSR: get you an RPG that does both I prefer Hideouts & Hoodlums for my OSR Superhero needs
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Feb 14, 2017 04:05
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Alien Rope Burn posted:
My impression was "This is certainly a game that could have used more examples of making characters in the book because holy wow, vague"
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Feb 14, 2017 04:08
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Alien Rope Burn posted:Marvel Heroic I appreciate for its simplicity but the same time the mechanics mostly boil down to throwing handfuls of dice and shrugging which bugs me. I wish there was a little more think in the mechanics. This is my big problem with Marvel Heroic after participating in a somewhat houseruled game of Exalted using it for I want to say the better part of a year...it managed to be simultaneously rules-light and offputtingly opaque at the same time. The resolution system has you stepping dice up and down, breaking larger dice into two slightly smaller ones, assigning some dice to beating a target number and some to establishing potency on an independent axis, and it's frustratingly unintuitive whether you should, for example, keep a 1d10 in your pool or use an ability to break it down into 2d8 instead. The answer to that one, btw, is that if you're concerned more about succeeding then breaking larger dice into smaller ones will give you a statistically higher probability of being able to stack up a larger Success Number at the cost of lowering your potential potency since you have fewer large dice to assign to that part of things, but also rolling more dice means you have more chances to roll 1's which get taken out of your pool and give the GM extra badguy points so maybe it's not a good idea? Stuff like this is why I eventually decided that as lightweight as it was in practice to just chuck dice and go "oh okay, I guess this thing happened" I didn't really feel like I was ever engaged with the system in a meaningful way so much as, well, throwing handfuls of dice and shrugging.
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Feb 14, 2017 04:49
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A bunch of people at work got the RPG bug from listening to The Adventure Zone podcast, and they just made me run them through a session of Dungeon World. They super loved it! The Princess somehow charmed a giant spider named Chauncey into helping them take down Todd the Dragon when they fought it on top of their own burning ship over a lich's life-giving chalice. Just spent 4 hours at a bar running some newbies through their first RPG sessions and they got into and are happy and want to make it biweekly and my otherwise exhausting and lovely day is so much better.  :Hi this has been a reminder that fun exists and is good.
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Feb 14, 2017 05:11
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