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Re: solo dungeon crawling, could also get your favoured ruleset and use a dungeon generation system, or have a look at Four Against Darkness and it's related games. (One of the supplement authors is very magical realmy, but there's nothing like that in the core games)
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Jul 29, 2021 19:44
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Some fun stuff in this thread:Captain Invictus posted:Friend of mine at work told me about a box full of Unlimited and Arabian Nights magic the gathering cards that got utterly obliterated in a package jam last night. Hundreds of cards turned into so much paper pulp. For those unaware, depending on the cards and their condition, bottom tier unlimited/AN cards can range from 5-20 dollars each, and top tier ones range from 2 grand to tens of thousands each. If there was a great condition black lotus in there, the most iconic and valuable magic card ever made, that's a down payment on a house by itself. Well, before they got turned into festive confetti, anyways. warning: Bee and fish death on the first page though.
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Jul 29, 2021 23:17
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Wait are bottom tier from back then really that expensive? poo poo I need to go through my collection and see if I still have some commons from back then. I also feel that much worse about getting my collection stolen as a kid. Like I know rares from the Unlimited era were ridiculously expensive, but I thought stuff like comic book shops selling sealed boxes for thousands of dollars was a gambling thing like "what if this has a lotus or mox in it?" Not "everything but lands are worth full dollars"
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Jul 30, 2021 03:44
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Splicer posted:Some fun stuff in this thread: Dang, I used to work at UPS back in the 90s for a year or so. I got to go on strike! It sucked incredibly! I'm gonna have to read through CI's posts in there, thanks.
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Jul 30, 2021 07:23
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Coolness Averted posted:Wait are bottom tier from back then really that expensive? poo poo I need to go through my collection and see if I still have some commons from back then. I also feel that much worse about getting my collection stolen as a kid. Like I know rares from the Unlimited era were ridiculously expensive, but I thought stuff like comic book shops selling sealed boxes for thousands of dollars was a gambling thing like "what if this has a lotus or mox in it?" Not "everything but lands are worth full dollars" Tell me about it - even in the early days of magic some cards were worth a fortune (I bought and insured my first motorcycle from magic card proceeds - I remember my Dad being so impressed when I just handed him the cash (he had to pay for the insurance because I didn't have a debit card); and I would have had even more money if some fucker hadn't stolen a deck of mine that had time twisters and time walks in it. 20+ years, and I'm still angry about that, especially as I know who did it, but could never prove it.
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Jul 30, 2021 08:46
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Whenever I think of things like that, I try to take small consolation in the fact that these things wouldn't be worth anything for other people today if 99% of us hadn't lost them. I'm another goon who started playing MTG in 1993 during Unlimited. Had tons of it from every set from Unlimited until Fallen Empires, when I got more into chasing girls than playing nerd poker with my friends. I've gotten back into it off and on at various points since then when an expansion interested me thematically, but my friends that still play are all netdecking singles-buying bastards, and that takes the fun out of it for me because I've always refused to acquire the cards in any way other than by trading or opening packs. I just canNOT make myself pay $20 or whatever for a piece of cardboard. Drafting, pauper and cubes are the best ways to play for me nowadays. The new D&D crossover set is really fun and well done, btw.
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Jul 30, 2021 14:14
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That Old Tree posted:
Rand Brittain posted:That didn't really happen. potatocubed posted:That was the 'Eat the Rich' anthology, right? Dawgstar posted:No, it was a Lasers & Feelings hack called "gently caress the Police" [snip]
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Jul 30, 2021 22:17
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I feel like I'm killing it running Tales From the Loop in a way I never did with dnd. People have said I'm a good DM, but everyone seems to have a blast with Loop and I really enjoy the high-improv format. What other RPGs really benefit from improv more than studious prep and adjudication of difficult mechanics?
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Aug 2, 2021 07:00
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Nehru the Damaja posted:I feel like I'm killing it running Tales From the Loop in a way I never did with dnd. People have said I'm a good DM, but everyone seems to have a blast with Loop and I really enjoy the high-improv format. What other RPGs really benefit from improv more than studious prep and adjudication of difficult mechanics? Apocalypse World derived games/pbta and stuff that draws inspiration from it like Blades in the Dark or Heart & Spire are great for GM improv vs heavy prep and book keeping. A good pbta game understands and is clear about a genre it emulates. All of the above are based heavily on reactive gameplay by the GM and 'playing to find out' rather than heavily scripting the thing ahead of time. Antagonists and threats rarely have dice rolls beyond damage, and instead are complications based on player actions interest and dice rolls. In Spire when players triggered fallout or even sometimes failed a roll or suffered complications I'd often ask what they felt was appropriate or fished for ideas and said "I'm leaning towards X being a cost, does that make sense, or does anyone have a better idea?"
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Aug 2, 2021 07:39
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The easiest improv games I've ever run are Blades in the Dark and its various spin-offs. I think they do require a certain understanding of how the game rules work so you can gauge appropriate responses, how big clocks are supposed to be, how much harm to inflict, etc. but Blades is the only game I've run where I could rock up with literally nothing and still create an entertaining session.
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Aug 2, 2021 08:23
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potatocubed posted:The easiest improv games I've ever run are Blades in the Dark and its various spin-offs. I think they do require a certain understanding of how the game rules work so you can gauge appropriate responses, how big clocks are supposed to be, how much harm to inflict, etc. but Blades is the only game I've run where I could rock up with literally nothing and still create an entertaining session. Yeah, you still should know the basic framework and what dice mean, but you absolutely don't need any prepped material.
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Aug 2, 2021 10:37
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Nehru the Damaja posted:I feel like I'm killing it running Tales From the Loop in a way I never did with dnd. People have said I'm a good DM, but everyone seems to have a blast with Loop and I really enjoy the high-improv format. What other RPGs really benefit from improv more than studious prep and adjudication of difficult mechanics? Splicer fucked around with this message at 11:39 on Aug 2, 2021 |
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Aug 2, 2021 11:26
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I'm guessing Fate also works for low-prep, high-improv? Coincidentally, there's a current Bundle of Holding offer with most/all of its rules and *worlds.
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Aug 2, 2021 12:12
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canepazzo posted:I'm guessing Fate also works for low-prep, high-improv? Coincidentally, there's a current Bundle of Holding offer with most/all of its rules and *worlds. Fate Core itself isn't really a game, it's a toolkit for making your own game, which means the GM has to put a lot of prep in to write their own rules using the system (or borrow them from other games running on Fate, or from the Toolkits which exist to give examples of how to write Fate rules) unless they're running something that's already a complete game (e.g. Shadow of the Century or Tianxia). You'll also usually have much better results by prepping your encounters ahead of time like you would in something like 4E, it's just that prepping these is much less intensive since statting up enemies and scenes is very easy. It's possible to completely wing it, but unless you're incredibly good at coming up with interesting encounters on the fly, it'll probably not be as good. Lemon-Lime fucked around with this message at 12:57 on Aug 2, 2021 |
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Aug 2, 2021 12:51
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canepazzo posted:I'm guessing Fate also works for low-prep, high-improv? Coincidentally, there's a current Bundle of Holding offer with most/all of its rules and *worlds. Fate is a relatively rules light relatively freeform game where the dice resolution mechanic is ultimately pass/fail. It's better for freeform than D&D but ultimately you prepare sessions the same way (if faster) and you can tell going into a scene the likely ways out. It being so rules light means that if you've a clear vision you can do all the mechanical prep you'd need at the table without ever having to slow down (oddly enough you can also do this in D&D 4e). In Apocalypse World, Blades in the Dark, and related games the dice resolution mechanic is one where success-with-consequences is the most likely outcome overall. This means that every action is likely to go at least slightly sideways and scenes will end up going in directions no one expected. NPCs have minimal stats because they don't need them (and the GM never picks up a dice). Scenes therefore have a richness because so many details are brought in and you seldom know how a scene is going to end when you start one.
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Aug 2, 2021 13:23
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The game I've been running (Wanderhome) is explicitly difficult to prep for and there's little motivation to do so. First thing I do most sessions is poll my players on "where are we." Really the list of games that need more prep than DND is much, much shorter than the list of games that need less. Apocalypse World remains my first recommendation because the GM advice in there is the best I've seen to date, even if you never play AW.
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Aug 2, 2021 13:24
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Lemon-Lime posted:Fate Core itself isn't really a game, it's a toolkit for making your own game, which means the GM has to put a lot of prep in to write their own rules using the system (or borrow them from other games running on Fate, or from the Toolkits which exist to give examples of how to write Fate rules) unless they're running something that's already a complete game (e.g. Shadow of the Century or Tianxia). Like, the book contains multiple examples of characters (a "swordguy, swordgirl and wizard" party, a mechanical kungfu ape, and a cop/exorcist) that work under the core rules as written. edit: actually on review, it has the first group, but for the cyber-ape it gives an overview on cyberware rules, and for the cop/exorcist on what magic rules could be. But it's very possible to play a game without creating any extras whatsoever.
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Aug 3, 2021 00:18
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bewilderment posted:Fate Core is a complete game in itself that does not require you to write any specific rules. The thing is, the base rules in Fate Core are a complete game, but they're also a bad game. You have a good core mechanic, but a good core mechanic and stunts that amount "you get +2 in a niche situation" aren't enough to make a game that's actually interesting. The reason people on SA keep saying Fate Core doesn't work as a full game out of the box is that a lot of people around here (including me, let's be honest) treated Fate as the be-all end-all of generic systems out of the box and it took a lot of games that felt really mediocre to realize that Fate kind of sucks if you don't tailor it to what you're trying to do in some way.
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Aug 3, 2021 04:32
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It's absolutely true that you shouldn't use Fate for everything and for most things I wouldn't if there isn't a better bespoke system available. I just thing it's not correct to call it 'not really a game'. It's a full game with a basic resolution system. Not a super amazing one that instantly works for everyone, just one a notch higher on the complexity ladder than Freeform Universal or Risus.
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Aug 3, 2021 05:49
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Fate Core is "a toolkit and not a game" because by design you are supposed to add mechanics created using the fractal (whether you create them yourself or take them from one of the examples provided) to model whatever things are actually important to the campaign you're running, rather than just running what boils down to a resolution system out of the box. It has nothing to do with whether or not you can run Fate Core vanilla; you can, and the end result almost certainly won't be good, which does a big disservice to Fate as a system. (The "real" Fate main game is Shadow of the Century, which replaces Atomic Robo as the best "generic modern" implementation of the core rules. It's good!) Lemon-Lime fucked around with this message at 09:37 on Aug 3, 2021 |
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Aug 3, 2021 09:21
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Yesterday I want live with EVERY GOD WILL FALL: The Sticker Set! I've got eight sticker designs based on the zany li'l boys from my book EVERY GOD WILL FALL for Mork Borg. EVERY GOD WILL FALL is a d8 "table" of eight supernatural hirelings with pretensions, delusions, destinies, or mistaken identities of godhood. They're good for pretty much any OSR game where you can befriend weird little dudes! You can also get the book for just $2.00 in PDF by clicking here for a special DriveThruRPG discount. Huzzah!
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Aug 5, 2021 10:03
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Does what you guys are saying about Fate Core, also apply to Fate Accelerated?
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Aug 5, 2021 20:08
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Leperflesh posted:Does what you guys are saying about Fate Core, also apply to Fate Accelerated?
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Aug 5, 2021 21:18
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PDQ felt like more of a game than Fate Accelerated.
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Aug 5, 2021 21:19
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Leperflesh posted:Does what you guys are saying about Fate Core, also apply to Fate Accelerated? Fate Accelerated leans more into being explicitly an extremely-rules-light generic system (think PDQ/Wushu) that you're not intended to bolt anything extra on, so it's mechanically unsatisfying by design. It absolves the GM of prepping the system, but you would still want to prep encounters.
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Aug 5, 2021 21:23
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I think Fate: Accelerated is fine for like demoing the system for a one-shot maybe, giving people a taste of the regular Fate gameplay. But Fate Core just seems way more fleshed out, and all the neat toolkit stuff out there is for it and won't work with Accelerated without further hacking (iirc).
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Aug 5, 2021 21:45
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The biggest problem Ive had with fate accelerated is players can usually concoct some explanation for why they always get to use their best approach for most tasks and so their character tend to act like weird cartoon characters who are obsessed with doing everything flashily or forcefully or quickly or whatever.
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Aug 5, 2021 22:01
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Alright, that sounds about right but I've only skimmed F:A and have never reviewed F or F:C so I wasn't sure.
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Aug 5, 2021 22:02
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I had a nice time playing F:A at a con, but the GM did a lot of prep and had a very specific scenario and genre in mind.
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Aug 5, 2021 22:04
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I think the genius of Fate is that Aspects smoothly handle things that are very fussy to create rules for in more "traditional" systems. Some people like Aspects so much that they want them to be the entire system, which is where FAE comes in. I'm not one of those people. I'm quite happy with a FUDGE base, with Aspects handling stuff like "Big Guy" that (for example) D20 would stat out as a slew of bonuses and penalties to this and that. Now that I think about it, I believe Fate was one of those games that was released during the Dark Age of D20 and got a lot of credit for being refreshingly simple in comparison to D20.
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Aug 5, 2021 23:22
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fool of sound posted:The biggest problem Ive had with fate accelerated is players can usually concoct some explanation for why they always get to use their best approach for most tasks and so their character tend to act like weird cartoon characters who are obsessed with doing everything flashily or forcefully or quickly or whatever. If your group is completely focused on story and not conflict and have more restraint than most, it could work... But kinda why?
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Aug 5, 2021 23:22
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I don't think that's a fail-state for approaches. The swashbuckling rogue trying to swashbuckle his way through everything is wholly appropriate for the kind of larger-than-life pulp action/drama characters that Fate as a system wants you to play.GetDunked posted:I think Fate: Accelerated is fine for like demoing the system for a one-shot maybe, giving people a taste of the regular Fate gameplay. But Fate Core just seems way more fleshed out, and all the neat toolkit stuff out there is for it and won't work with Accelerated without further hacking (iirc). It's just a very barebones resolution system for when you want an excuse to roll dice without detailed mechanics. There's not enough meat on that bone for any kind of campaign play, but it works completely fine for that purpose.
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Aug 5, 2021 23:46
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Halloween Jack posted:Now that I think about it, I believe Fate was one of those games that was released during the Dark Age of D20 and got a lot of credit for being refreshingly simple in comparison to D20. This definitely applies to Spirit of the Century and the original Dresden Files.
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Aug 6, 2021 00:06
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Fate and Dresden Files are a perfect match, because they're both the kind of thing where people talking about how amazing it is tend to just turn me off. For me, that would get old real fast.
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Aug 6, 2021 00:12
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The Dresden Files start off as just basic pulpy noir with wizards, but after a few books the main character starts Goku-ing out of control and they quickly start sucking terribly. The Dresden Files fate game can't actually handle those power levels for poo poo, but it's fine if everyone is playing a noir-y hedge wizard.
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Aug 6, 2021 00:39
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Leperflesh posted:Does what you guys are saying about Fate Core, also apply to Fate Accelerated? My own take on FATE Accelerated is that I am unclear on which of two different things it is supposed to be, and I don't think it succeeds so well at being either of them. Is it meant to be a simplified version of FATE which is easy to introduce beginners to? If so, it fails as a beginner-friendly product because it's so condensed that one of the things which has been excised is all the work of explaining stuff. I've found that people new to the game actually find it easier to learn via FATE Core because it has space to actually explain stuff. This goes especially for people coming from D&D, because Accelerated lacks almost any system feature they would find familiar. Is it meant to be a quick, easy-to-implement version of FATE that FATE users can use for one-offs? It sort of works better at that, except the system differs from FATE Core juuuust enough to trip you up in spots. And I suspect most people who are conversant with FATE can run something quick in FATE Core just fine.
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Aug 6, 2021 00:44
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fool of sound posted:The Dresden Files start off as just basic pulpy noir with wizards, but after a few books the main character starts Goku-ing out of control and they quickly start sucking terribly. The Dresden Files fate game can't actually handle those power levels for poo poo, but it's fine if everyone is playing a noir-y hedge wizard. For what it's worth, what's worth playing in urban fantasy out there? I keep wanting to play something in the genre and the closest I got was two sessions of Changeling before covid killed everything. I have some Vampire 5e books but it seems like a lot to learn before I even try to sell people on it.
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Aug 6, 2021 01:05
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Nehru the Damaja posted:For what it's worth, what's worth playing in urban fantasy out there? I keep wanting to play something in the genre and the closest I got was two sessions of Changeling before covid killed everything. I have some Vampire 5e books but it seems like a lot to learn before I even try to sell people on it. Well, I'm running a game of Strike set in Ravnica, using the D&D 5e sourcebook for it among other things, but it's 'urban very high fantasy'. I really like Esoterrorists for kinda urban fantasy/horror neonoir stuff.
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Aug 6, 2021 01:43
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Nehru the Damaja posted:For what it's worth, what's worth playing in urban fantasy out there? I keep wanting to play something in the genre and the closest I got was two sessions of Changeling before covid killed everything. I have some Vampire 5e books but it seems like a lot to learn before I even try to sell people on it.
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Aug 6, 2021 02:33
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Nehru the Damaja posted:For what it's worth, what's worth playing in urban fantasy out there? 
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Aug 6, 2021 03:40
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