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Haystack posted:Take a look at Spellbound Kingdoms. It's got a solid, unique combat system, but also an absolute fuckload of stuff to do outside of tactical skirmishes, up to and including running your own shadow empire. It's got a decent amount of it's own setting baked into it, though. It's a fun setting, though! You could probably hack it into a renaissance D&D shape, if you put a bit of elbow grease in. Thanks, this definitely seems in the vein of what I'm looking for, based on that review. Interesting combat mechanics, but a lot of stuff to do outside of combat, and I like the swashbuckling vibe. I will say that the setting isn't very appealing (it's interesting, but definitely not what I'd be interested in running), and the magic seems to lean a bit too heavily on "weirdness" in a way that doesn't really appeal to me (when I'm running games I tend to prefer more grounded takes on fantastic elements), so I'd have to read a bit more and see how well I feel like I can adapt those parts. But otherwise it seems really cool. If there are any more suggestions in a similar vein, I'd love to hear them as well.
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Nov 24, 2020 19:42
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RULESET: Fairly light (something that a player can pick up with minimal/no effort) SUPPORT: Any CHARGEN: Quick SETTING: Doesn't matter So I'm thinking about running some pick-up one-shot games for a Discord group I'm in during Christmas, for those people who (thanks to the pandemic) are going to be spending the holidays alone. My first thought was to pull out Apocalypse World, since it's super easy to just hand out playbooks. Maybe even do a Microscope session beforehand to build up the world or something. My problem is that I have no idea how many people would be playing, and so I have to have a system that supports as many as like two players +GM to larger groups of 6/7 fairly well. I've only ever played AW and haven't GM'd it, but I personally have a hard time imagining running it for more than like 4 players given its narrative focus. tl;dr need a simple one-shot game for a group of indeterminate size and with varying levels of experience with tabletop RPG's. Side request: while not specifically AW, does anyone in general have any prewritten adventure modules that work well as a one-shot?
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Dec 11, 2020 09:23
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Drone posted:RULESET: Fairly light (something that a player can pick up with minimal/no effort) Parinoia is good for one-shots and should handle large groups fairly well. I think that XP was the last good version? Alternately, Spire can make for really great one-shots. Haystack fucked around with this message at 09:46 on Dec 11, 2020 |
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Dec 11, 2020 09:41
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If you're fine with something D&D-like, Beyond the Wall works reasonably well for those numbers, and uses a similar playbook mechanic to AW (though with a lot of random chance involved - each playbook is designed to give you the kind of character you wanted to play, but with a few curve balls thrown in). I tend to use it to introduce people to role playing, in part because the mechanics are pretty much just the simplest bits of D&D, and in part because between the scenario packs and the playbooks, even complete beginners typically have complete characters with some kind of background in around half an hour. Of particular note is that the village the PCs all grew up in is also generated during character creation, with the PCs drawing locations onto a map and adding important NPCs. The scenario packs are basically like a playbook for the GM, where you add NPCs and locations generated by the players, leading to very personalised experiences. Mechanically, combat is typical D&D combat with very few frills. Magic is split into cantrips, spells, and rituals. Cantrips require a stat roll (on a fail, either that cantrip fails and the character stops being able to use magic for the rest of the day, or the GM gets to decide what happens; which happens is up to the player); Rituals also require a stat roll (on a fail, the GM decides what happens), and take an hour per ritual level to cast; and you may cast a number of Spells per day equal to your level, which are guaranteed to work. Ability rolls are a d20 roll under mechanic, where if you have a relevant skill, you get a +2 bonus to the ability, and saving throws are of the old school D&D variety. This is perhaps the weakest part of the system, in all honesty, but being more of an old school style of game with a focus on a bunch of teens going on their first adventure, it does work better with larger groups than more modern games tend to.
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Dec 11, 2020 09:45
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Haystack posted:Parinoia is good for one-shots and should handle large groups fairly well. I think that XP was the last good version? Seconding the Paranoia XP recommendation, the mechanics are super light and easily ignorable at any given point so you can just pick the funniest option, because the game is best played as improv slapstick and not a "real" RPG. "Comedy game riffing on 1984 and the Red Scare" is also an easy sell to people with little to no elfgame experience.
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Dec 11, 2020 10:39
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What are some suggestions for systems where the GM can really go ham in tactical encounters? To elaborate, I’d like a system where I can design an encounter and then pull no punches. And it should have some interesting tricks and variety from the NPC side of things. I think this means that the system should be fairly accurate in terms of measuring how lethal an encounter is? And that the game shouldn’t totally collapse if the players lose an encounter? Which I suppose lends itself towards systems that have some robustness for either gracefully handling a TPK or player casualty, or escape, or similar. And ideally, makes losing encounters fun somehow and not a slog. I stopped playing TTRPG around D&D 3.0. Took a look at D&D 5E and found it requires me to bring my own game design for a lot of fairly common situations, including the above. We have some more narrative TTRPG options we like but would also like a tactical game. Worst case is we fall back to board games for tactical stuff but I’d like to know what goons think is state of the art in TTRPG tactical skirmish stuff first. Thanks
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Jan 3, 2021 21:50
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fozzy fosbourne posted:What are some suggestions for systems where the GM can really go ham in tactical encounters? D&D 4e is pretty good when it comes to measuring encounter lethality (it helps that characters are assumed to heal to full hit points between encounters, so you don't have to worry about how a harder than expected fight might hurt their chances in subsequent fights), and is by far the best edition of D&D at doing tactical combat. To be honest, I'm not sure any other game has done it better since. In terms of losing encounters, it's worth noting that only the attack that brings someone down to 0hp determines if the damage is lethal or non-lethal in 4e and 5e - as such, you can fairly easily throw in enemies who don't necessarily want to kill the party. Also, you can give the PCs and NPCs objectives, meaning that fights don't have to be purely to the death. If the objective is to take something by force, then if the attackers get what they're after, they'll probably take it and leave rather than remaining to fight to the death, for example.
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Jan 3, 2021 22:43
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hectorgrey posted:In terms of losing encounters, it's worth noting that only the attack that brings someone down to 0hp determines if the damage is lethal or non-lethal in 4e and 5e - as such, you can fairly easily throw in enemies who don't necessarily want to kill the party. Also, you can give the PCs and NPCs objectives, meaning that fights don't have to be purely to the death. If the objective is to take something by force, then if the attackers get what they're after, they'll probably take it and leave rather than remaining to fight to the death, for example. Yeah, totally. Justifying some way of the PCs surviving, recovering, or just simply meeting some new person has been a longstanding past time, heh. Narratively justifying weird unanticipated situations is a lot of the fun of GMing, anyways. Sometimes I’m lazy though (and already have my hands full rationalizing why the players don’t just long rest after 3 rounds of combat or whatever), and don’t want to rationalize why that pack of ghouls didn’t just eat everyone, and I think that can lead to me subconsciously pulling my punches in the combat encounter itself. Systems that have really easy character generation can avoid that; in ye olde days Dark Sun had players bring multiple characters in anticipation of death! I think some systems give the players meta resources where they can come up with their own deus ex machina if they bite off more than they can chew, I think? I’m mostly just curious if there is any serendipitous clever mechanics out there that make things a little easier when players lose a combat encounter, but I can DIY if not Edit: also thanks for the recommendation. 4E sounds like what I want, kind of dreading figuring out how to get it all going for a VTT though fozzy fosbourne fucked around with this message at 23:34 on Jan 3, 2021 |
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Jan 3, 2021 23:30
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fozzy fosbourne posted:What are some suggestions for systems where the GM can really go ham in tactical encounters? Have you looked into Lancer yet?
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Jan 3, 2021 23:31
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Lynx Winters posted:Have you looked into Lancer yet? Not yet but it looks promising. I will check it out for sure.
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Jan 3, 2021 23:36
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fozzy fosbourne posted:What are some suggestions for systems where the GM can really go ham in tactical encounters? 4e is good for hardcore tactics, you can really put the screws on. I strongly recommend the 4thcore approach, I ran revenge of the iron lich a couple of times and it was an absolute blast. Just everything turned up to 11, basically.
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Jan 3, 2021 23:53
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fozzy fosbourne posted:Yeah, totally. Justifying some way of the PCs surviving, recovering, or just simply meeting some new person has been a longstanding past time, heh. Narratively justifying weird unanticipated situations is a lot of the fun of GMing, anyways. Strike seems like a pretty good fit for what you're asking, especially since (a) 4E sounds appealing to you but somewhat daunting, (b) it has a good system for handling player losses and even degrees of victory with its Strikes system, and (c) the combat design math is very transparent and after you play a handful of fights you'll never really be surprised by how effective your monsters are.
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Jan 4, 2021 00:41
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I’ll check Strike! and 4thcore out, too, thanks!
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Jan 4, 2021 00:48
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RULESET: light/normal (something someone who has played 5e won't be put off by the intensity of SUPPORT: as deep as possible, but im flexible CHARGEN: involved SETTING: low/dark fantasy, weird fantasy. i dont care if its attached to the mechanics as long as its swords and warlocks in mud i'm looking to take some people who have played dnd 5e and some pbta games through a different kind of experience. they're kind of tired of those systems and haven't played anything outside of them. none are super into the crunch; i'm not looking to go super rules light, but i dont want people to be staring at their phones for 10 minutes while i determine the ladder climbing speed of a kobold on a cold day. the idea is to get as evocative in the storytelling as possible, so i'm hoping to keep combat for special occasions, if that makes sense. ideally the character creation would enable them to build backstory into the characters instead of just rolling some stats and slapping on a backstory. would like some adventures or splatbooks of some sort, at least to get things started. my ideal setting is something halfway between the boats of the glen-carrig and the chronicles of the black company. i'm totally fine reskinning/statting my own muck men or whatever. that's normal! but if someone's made a gloomy weird-fantasy setting like that, i'd be happy to not have to put in the man hours.
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Jan 11, 2021 07:30
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13th age? It's basically 5e but in a alternate universe, and it has the best campaign ever written in eyes of the stone thief
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Jan 11, 2021 08:48
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eh, it's still a bit too dnd-y, if that makes sense. i'd like to move away from basic big 6 stats and d20 roll-over stuff, more interesting/weird/evocative resolution mechanics would be preferred. someone mentioned spellbound kingdoms at the top of the page and the f&f on it rules--is it super complex to get on the table?
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Jan 13, 2021 02:37
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Mouse Guard? It's like Redwall, except you're actually mouse-sized mice, everything is bigger than you and hungry, and you're the Pony Express.
girl dick energy fucked around with this message at 04:42 on Jan 13, 2021 |
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Jan 13, 2021 04:07
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fozzy fosbourne posted:Not yet but it looks promising. I will check it out for sure. LANCER definitely feels like a sleek, cleverly put-together refinement of D&D 4e with modular builds due to the majority of your "character," mechanically, being defined as your mech. The combat in general is much stronger than the out-of-combat mechanics but the latter function well enough. The math is a lot less fiddly than 4e, too, as you don't have to juggle and keep track of a lot of small bonuses. The tactical decisions you make on a turn by turn basis also feel genuinely impactful in a big way.
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Jan 13, 2021 10:21
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RULESET: Lite, or within one step SUPPORT: DIY's probably fine, I'll likely be reskinning anything of use. CHARGEN: None to Quick SETTING: Universal or Neutral. There's already a setting established. I'm looking to run Bully Pulpit Game's Great Belt as a one-shot. Its different than anything I've ever ran before, and not sure how to go about it. Setup is, all the players are Danish civilians in the path of an oncoming Swedish army in 1658. Oh, and they're all actually timetravelers intent on loving with history and no-one is aware of anyone else's true identity to start . The setting is already set-in-stone and characters are pre-gen'd just needing adapting to the system mechanically. Conflict resolution should be mostly focused on handling social & subterfuge situations, although there will probably be one or two overt fights by the time its all said and done. Any recommendations?
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Mar 11, 2021 20:49
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I was thinking about running a game and using the PbtA system but was wondering if anyone had recommendations for one. I wanted the game to start as your standard rag tag group a la the A-Team with specialties and unique styles. But the real secret is after the first adventure, they get stuck in a freezer and wake up in a dystopian future a la Fallout. I sort of would like that part to be a surprise. Anyone have any recs, including other systems that are more fluid and storytelling and also easy to comprehend (a couple PCs are new to RPGs)
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Mar 12, 2021 09:38
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PharmerBoy posted:RULESET: Lite, or within one step Please playtest it on SA's scandi thread, I beg of you!!!
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Mar 12, 2021 10:43
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poly and open-minded posted:I wanted the game to start as your standard rag tag group a la the A-Team with specialties and unique styles. But the real secret is after the first adventure, they get stuck in a freezer and wake up in a dystopian future a la Fallout. I sort of would like that part to be a surprise. You might want to ask the GM thread about this, springing huge setup twists on players can be very tricky to pull off and needs careful handling. Think carefully about what it gets you vs just having the game setup be "your characters are government A-listers who got frozen in a vault thats about to open."
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Mar 12, 2021 13:35
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Honestly, I wouldn't. I've tried to do a twist three times as a dm and its never worked. The biggest was nights dark agents where I sprung that it's actually about vampires on them, and I got to the reveal a few sessions on and it felt so flat that I didn't continue the game.
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Mar 13, 2021 09:36
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Big plot twists are easier and safer to do when you're adding them to single story arcs or even one-session adventures to spice things up. If the entire game is based around a twist then you run the risk of either alienating players who were all in on the initial premise and might not actually be interested in the real campaign you've sprung on them, killing their motivation to keep playing. Or you might get the exact opposite problem that sebmojo had, where nobody shows any interest in the twist you centered the entire premise around and that can kill your motivation to keep playing.
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Mar 13, 2021 09:56
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Good tips everyone! I've decided to pivot and do something more common (an X-files esque type game except they work for a paramilitary wing of the IRS). Thanks
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Mar 15, 2021 00:14
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poly and open-minded posted:(an X-files esque type game except they work for a paramilitary wing of the IRS) I'm gonna need to know more about this. Making sure those aliens pay their back taxes?
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Mar 15, 2021 09:50
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Drone posted:I'm gonna need to know more about this. Now, Bill--can I call you Bill? Now, it says here that you wrote off 28 cattle due to unintelligible phenomena last year. No, no that's not why we're here--thats more common than you think. Stop being coy Bill, it says here you claimed a solid weightless sphere on your property made of "an unknowable metal alloy". No Lord, we don't want it, that's more of a customs thing or maybe the FBI. It's just--well that's extremely valuable, and yet you listed a net loss on your tax return. Are you aware that you could buy a small town right now and that you're in debt for-- oh OK, he teleported. Frank, Sherry, check the positions within 800 yards, that's a short range matter transmitter. He can't be far.
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Mar 15, 2021 10:09
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poly and open-minded posted:Good tips everyone! I've decided to pivot and do something more common (an X-files esque type game except they work for a paramilitary wing of the IRS). Thanks This sounds like a job for either Monster of the Week (PBtA game about, uh, monster of the week TV shows, I did a Fringe knockoff that was pretty boss) or maybe even ExtraCausal which uses Trophy. Not incredibly familiar with the latter, but it's got a good style to it.
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Mar 16, 2021 02:59
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RULESET: Crunchy SUPPORT: Ideally Established or Deep, but I could do something else if there are good guidelines for generating content. CHARGEN: Involved. Something with a lot of character options. SETTING: Preferably something high fantasy (or neutral but it'd work for same). We've done D&D 3/4/5, PF2e, LANCER, Strike, Valor, Exalted 2/3. I'd like to find something that's crunchy and has a lot of character options. My players love games with cool powers and other strong character identity and advancement. Any ideas would be helpful.
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Mar 16, 2021 03:51
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If you're in the mood for a whole different school of crunch, Ars Magica might be up your alley. You can get by with just the core book, but beyond that you'd probably want to look at getting the three Houses of Hermes books and a setting book for the area of Mythic Europe you're interested in playing in (eg, Guardians of the Forest if you're interested in playing in Germany). Joining the discord would probably a good idea while you're wrapping your head around the system, they love helping new folks. Also, as the thread resident who always recommends Spellbound Kingdoms, I recommend Spellbound Kingdoms. It's got tons of unique mechanics and great pulp-hero-to-epic-hero character advancement. The main downside is that there isn't much in the way of content for it. Maybe you could port over content from Seven Seas?
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Mar 16, 2021 04:23
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Haystack posted:If you're in the mood for a whole different school of crunch, Ars Magica might be up your alley. You can get by with just the core book, but beyond that you'd probably want to look at getting the three Houses of Hermes books and a setting book for the area of Mythic Europe you're interested in playing in (eg, Guardians of the Forest if you're interested in playing in Germany). Joining the discord would probably a good idea while you're wrapping your head around the system, they love helping new folks. I desperately want to play Spellbound Kingdoms, but my group isn't on board with the flowcharts.
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Mar 16, 2021 04:31
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Zarick posted:RULESET: Crunchy This is a bit of a longshot, but a reskinned Double Cross might be up your alley; that's the first game I think of when I think a game with cool powers.
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Mar 16, 2021 04:31
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Zarick posted:RULESET: Crunchy 13th age, eyes of the stone thief, done
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Mar 16, 2021 05:58
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Zarick posted:We've done D&D 3/4/5, PF2e, LANCER, Strike, Valor, Exalted 2/3. I'd like to find something that's crunchy and has a lot of character options. My players love games with cool powers and other strong character identity and advancement. Any ideas would be helpful. Try Fragged Kingdom, which is the fantasy conversion of Fragged Empire (which you'll need to run Kingdom).
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Mar 16, 2021 09:48
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Zarick posted:RULESET: Crunchy Black Crusade if you can stomach a different setting. WHFRP 4e if you cant
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Mar 16, 2021 23:45
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Lemon-Lime posted:Try Fragged Kingdom, which is the fantasy conversion of Fragged Empire (which you'll need to run Kingdom). Honestly any of the Fragged games would be worthy of consideration, I'd point out that Fragged Kingdom really tends more towards low fantasy, and they should look at Fragged Aeternum for a significantly "higher" fantasy implementation of the same system (albeit one associated with some distinct setting conceits) if you're down for low fantasy (and can handle its setting conceits, either through embrace or removal) Shadow of the Demon Lord is also absurdly well supported (especially in regards to character options) - it's not maximal crunch (and in fact will seem light compared to some of the listed systems), but there is enough there to engage with I'll also second both Ars and Double Cross as being good fits (and if you're ok with things being Anime As gently caress there's also Kamigakari, which currently only has an official English translation of the corebook, but has a poo poo-ton of supplemental content that has been fan translated)
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Mar 17, 2021 00:12
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Drone posted:I'm gonna need to know more about this. Sorry for the delay but it's mostly using a dumb tax reason to tie into whatever story. In one there was an evil mirror that essentially vanished a man from existence and they had to go there because his "widow" was the only one who remembered him (she caused it) and kept filing joint returns. Another one was a doomsday cult was setting up mutagenic and thermogenic chemicals and their company was writing off too many expenses in PPE for an insurance company. Also it's the not too distance future so it's the Internal Revenue Service, Brought to You by Pepsi
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Apr 12, 2021 06:13
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Let's say you were someone who JUST started watching Adventure Time over TEN YEARS after it first aired. And let's say that, despite yourself, you find you actually like it. And, you say to yourself, "Oh, this is just a D&D game on acid." And you say to yourself "woah, I could play this." And then you say to yourself, "but what system would I use?" Sure, there is Dungeons and Dragons, but that is like fitting a trapezoid peg into a pentagon hole. It doesn't fit. You'd have to cut off the sides of the setting to get it to fit into the system. That's true for every edition. Okay, that's out. But what about generic systems? Well, forget GURPS: to crunchy. FATE? Sure, but, as much as I love it, it would be like oatmeal. Savage Worlds? Maybe, but it feels like an off fit. Then, you start going indie. Well, someone made "Far Away Lands" for it and that might work, but no one talks about it so who knows? Looks a bit like someone's simplified D&D setting. My mind went to Chuubos for a second in the Adventure genre, but I've never got Chuubo's to survive three sessions even if it is absolutely amazing and y'all got to play it. PbtA isn't finding any results (is that just generic system at this point). And looking for some fan systems are getting anything. So, let's see, you now say to yourself: what makes Adventure Time "Adventure Time." What are your standards? What are you really looking for? Well, how about this:
So then that makes me think that I probably need some loose and open to crazy encounters. Maybe like MAID's random tables, but maybe not. It also isn't really about combat so combat centric games fall out: the fights are over fast and it's really about people and their personalities. And, if it is about people, it need to have robust systems for handling situations like that, like Golden Sky Stories perhaps or even Burning Wheel. So, what does that leave me? Chuubos, actually, but I am still open to alternative suggestions because no one ever wants to play that amazing game.
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May 28, 2021 22:03
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it'd require some work on your end since it's more of a generic toolkit, but Cortex Prime would seem to be an excellent fit (and is known for powering multiple well-received RPG adaptations of licensed TV shows) e: I'm probably underselling how good a fit it potentially is (go check out the Cortex thread if you're unfamiliar with the system), because "generic" often means "samey" and that's not necessarily the case with Cortex, which does a pretty good job emulating different genres - part of the "work on your end" I mentioned is deciding what a show's genre is (which you've got a good start on) and selecting/defining various modular components a cortex game using a traditional D&D-esque attribute array and the more involved combat options will feel pretty differently from one where a character's values mechanically drive the action and emphasis/detail on physical confrontations is dialed back LGD fucked around with this message at 22:32 on May 28, 2021 |
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May 28, 2021 22:10
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Adventure Time is absolutely, unquestionably Chuubo's material, to the point where I'd say just stop trying to avoid the obviously correct conclusion.  e: like "post-apocalyptic pastoral fantasy where the cosmic forces of good and evil had their grand battle, which ended inconclusively and now they have to awkwardly live with the results and each other, while the next generation figures out what they're going to do with what's left of the world, with a cute, light-weight tone that can get serious when context calls for it and then instantly revert to low-stakes fluff?" i'd be amazed if you found a more specific overlap Adventure Time even has a bunch of specific running gags (like Flynn's missing arm) that are basically the televised equivalent of Chuubo's experience arcs / quests. i know the arc system is designed to mimic storytelling so the resemblance isn't totally coincidental, but it lands right smack in the middle of an intentionally broad system Tuxedo Catfish fucked around with this message at 22:17 on May 28, 2021 |
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May 28, 2021 22:12
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