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Nehru the Damaja posted:Any suggestions for an RPG with oldschool gonzo fantasy feel (e.g. crazy violence, wild sci-fi crossover, and a heavy emphasis on weird poo poo) but without trying to go all OSR in mechanics? DCC. It's only in the OSR by culture, it's actually closest to D&D 3e (without character optimization) in terms of mechanics.
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Aug 15, 2023 14:38
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Nehru the Damaja posted:Any suggestions for an RPG with oldschool gonzo fantasy feel (e.g. crazy violence, wild sci-fi crossover, and a heavy emphasis on weird poo poo) but without trying to go all OSR in mechanics? Gamma World, maybe 7e? It's basically D&D 4e but better.
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Aug 15, 2023 14:47
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Nehru the Damaja posted:Any suggestions for an RPG with oldschool gonzo fantasy feel (e.g. crazy violence, wild sci-fi crossover, and a heavy emphasis on weird poo poo) but without trying to go all OSR in mechanics? Empire of Dust.
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Aug 15, 2023 16:09
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Nehru the Damaja posted:Any suggestions for an RPG with oldschool gonzo fantasy feel (e.g. crazy violence, wild sci-fi crossover, and a heavy emphasis on weird poo poo) but without trying to go all OSR in mechanics? Gamma World,I think (someone will correct me here) 8th edition? The one that's a super streamlined 4E e: lol I should click next page before replying
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Aug 15, 2023 16:13
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Yeah, seconding that. It has a very 80s-90s JRPG feel. I don't know what OSRish mechanics you're trying to avoid, but if you just want it to be rules-lite, Furies of the Barrens is my favourite Black Hack based attempt at a Gamma World type setting. It's hard to beat Gamma World 7e for wackiness. Mutant Year Zero isn't exactly zany, but it's not complicated, not OSR, and certainly not hard sci-fi. And you get to build a little mutant town
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Aug 15, 2023 16:38
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Bucnasti posted:There is a Monthly TTRPG online convention, called TTRPG Pickup Con. Thank you! Gatto Grigio posted:I’ve had the best luck with tRPG Discord threads. Where do I find these discord server links?
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Aug 15, 2023 17:04
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When I think of OSR I think of games kind of intended for shorter form or at least "your character is gonna die, don't get too attached," along with gritty rules for death and injury, and kind of a limited character creation suite. Looking to avoid that in favor of broader character creation and something intended to tell longer-term stories with character growth. Whether it's complex or rules-light isn't really a concern. edit: This is in reply to the folks suggesting gonzo fantasy stuff for me.
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Aug 15, 2023 17:05
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walruscat posted:Thank you! SA TGers have at least three discords (I think they lean in one topical direction like one that is more about RPGs, one that is more about board games, one or two for Mafia, etc.), and someone will send you a link to theirs, I just want to make it clear these aren't "official" SA places - SA mods don't have any presence or power there. I only bring it up because there's been a certain amount of drama from time to time. I know that there are many very good folks on those discords including some folks I consider friends, so please don't take this as a negative.
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Aug 15, 2023 17:19
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Nehru the Damaja posted:When I think of OSR I think of games kind of intended for shorter form or at least "your character is gonna die, don't get too attached," along with gritty rules for death and injury, and kind of a limited character creation suite. Looking to avoid that in favor of broader character creation and something intended to tell longer-term stories with character growth. As mentioned above DCC can be the game you're looking for, but you gotta meet it half-way. On the surface it's all about the one shots, high lethality, quick character creation etc. Default character creation is a zero-level funnel. But once you get past those first levels the game actually can support a lot of character growth, it's just not mechanically defined, they expect you to develop campaigns your own way, and specifically state things like "You wanna learn to do something cool and unique? no problem, go on a quest to learn it." I really love DCC, but I think it suffers for the OSRy presentation.
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Aug 15, 2023 17:23
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I like DCC's acid fantasy style, and I like the Mighty Deeds mechanic. But I need spell failure mechanics like a loving hole in my head, and I don't care about the Gygaxian verbiage at the beginning of the corebook about how this game is for you if you love Erol Otus. Considering the game is synonymous with the "LOL your 0th level shitfarmer got eaten by Cthulhu" style they're specifically not looking for...yeah, I don't see any point in going with DCC. Like, there's also nothing wrong with Mutant Future. I like Other Dust rules-wise but it doesn't openly embrace the silliness of Gamma World. Y'know, if you count Metamorphosis Alpha and Omega World as editions, the 4e-adjacent one is the 9th edition. I can't think of any other TSR game went through so many actual rules revisions.
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Aug 15, 2023 18:49
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I feel like this one has to be an intentional joke, but it's funny either way.
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Aug 15, 2023 19:33
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PurpleXVI posted:I feel like this one has to be an intentional joke, but it's funny either way.
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Aug 15, 2023 19:44
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They actually do have the Elflines game thing for RED.
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Aug 15, 2023 19:54
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PurpleXVI posted:I feel like this one has to be an intentional joke, but it's funny either way. I went to look that up to see if it got anyone, and it didn't, but it's charming seeing a lot of replies from people having their first discussion about why D&D 5e is pervasive and endlessly hacked instead of trying other established games. Love this reply though: quote:First off, you're playing the inferior cyberpunk game. Switch to Shadowrun, immediately.
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Aug 16, 2023 02:39
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shadowrun ftw (not an endorsement of shadowrun)
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Aug 16, 2023 02:41
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I'm drat sure that the main thing that gave Shadowrun its evident economic success is, in fact, that it keys into the D&D globosphere so strongly, allowing you to, in fact, play an elf -- but with a computer!
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Aug 16, 2023 03:09
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Nessus posted:I'm drat sure that the main thing that gave Shadowrun its evident economic success is, in fact, that it keys into the D&D globosphere so strongly, allowing you to, in fact, play an elf -- but with a computer! My favorite thing about the Shadowrun world is that there are humans who get cosmetic surgery to change their ear shape. They're known in-universe as "elf posers." Elves of course react to them with bemusement, pity, or disgust. Also, why would you play an elf with a computer when you could play a troll mage or an orc physical adept who ginsus everything with swords and throws knives like a whirlwind?
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Aug 16, 2023 04:20
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Weird question, but are there any formal guidelines (in Fatal & Friends or elsewhere) for critiquing an adventure path? I’m finally clearing out my collection an adventure at a time and felt inspired to write about what I thought constituted good and bad modules.
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Aug 16, 2023 05:26
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Admiralty Flag posted:Also, why would you play an elf with a computer when you could play a troll mage or an orc physical adept who ginsus everything with swords and throws knives like a whirlwind? Sometimes I just want to look ethereal and fay.
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Aug 16, 2023 05:41
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I think the big reason Shafowrun was more successful than Cyberpunk is that FASA was a bigger company with much higher production values.
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Aug 16, 2023 05:47
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Halloween Jack posted:I think the big reason Shafowrun was more successful than Cyberpunk is that FASA was a bigger company with much higher production values. Cyberpunk was more like "well, here's a collection of stuff from every cyberpunk novel and movie and anime...have fun!"
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Aug 16, 2023 05:56
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Halloween Jack posted:I think the big reason Shafowrun was more successful than Cyberpunk is that FASA was a bigger company with much higher production values.
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Aug 16, 2023 05:59
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ItohRespectArmy posted:shadowrun ftw (not an endorsement of shadowrun) This is every Shadowrun fan, myself included. Shadowrun during the TTRPG boom of the early 90s was some top notch material. They really nailed the atmosphere and made it all a living breathing world.
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Aug 16, 2023 06:05
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FMguru posted:That's a big part of it, but it also had a defined default play loop, taken from D&D: "a mysterious stranger in a tavern (Mr. Johnson) tells your party of elves, wizards, and fighters (elves, wizards, and street samurai) about a dungeon full of monsters and treasures (high security corporate research lab) outside of town". It's slightly more refined than that, because you get a mission there. So you can get a good variety of gameplay options out of varying mission objectives. The defined default play loop even extends to the setting lore, which the Shadowtalk helps refocus setting stuff on how you use this particular bit of stuff in an actual game of Shadowrun. All this stuff was really remarkable when it came out, and there's still a lot of games that struggle with this poo poo.
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Aug 16, 2023 06:53
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Gray Ghost posted:Weird question, but are there any formal guidelines (in Fatal & Friends or elsewhere) for critiquing an adventure path? I’m finally clearing out my collection an adventure at a time and felt inspired to write about what I thought constituted good and bad modules. Not really. Libertad reads through them and gives his thoughts (see his recent recent one about a biblical adventure), and I've used a sample party to play through them and document thoughts as I go. Basically 
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Aug 16, 2023 07:34
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Ratoslov posted:It's slightly more refined than that, because you get a mission there. So you can get a good variety of gameplay options out of varying mission objectives. The defined default play loop even extends to the setting lore, which the Shadowtalk helps refocus setting stuff on how you use this particular bit of stuff in an actual game of Shadowrun. All this stuff was really remarkable when it came out, and there's still a lot of games that struggle with this poo poo.
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Aug 16, 2023 09:07
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I think with Shadowrun I would've preferred like, a fantasy setting that got to that era instead of the real world but suddenly fantasy, but then its heyday was the early 90s and being set in the real world was the thing to do.
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Aug 16, 2023 10:24
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Nehru the Damaja posted:Any suggestions for an RPG with oldschool gonzo fantasy feel (e.g. crazy violence, wild sci-fi crossover, and a heavy emphasis on weird poo poo) but without trying to go all OSR in mechanics? Electric Bastionland is very good and is 'OSR' but is not actually really compatible with old DnD in any way. Also it actually explains how to run the game well, and it even has a two-page "Player's Guide" spread that you can give to players to explain to them how the system works from a player perspective and what the expectations are! It's kind of like "what if Troika was good" and also "what if OSR people actually tried to properly build a system around their intentions".
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Aug 16, 2023 11:07
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Panzeh posted:I think with Shadowrun I would've preferred like, a fantasy setting that got to that era instead of the real world but suddenly fantasy, but then its heyday was the early 90s and being set in the real world was the thing to do. Shadowrun is technically both!
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Aug 16, 2023 12:54
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bewilderment posted:Electric Bastionland is very good and is 'OSR' but is not actually really compatible with old DnD in any way. Also it actually explains how to run the game well, and it even has a two-page "Player's Guide" spread that you can give to players to explain to them how the system works from a player perspective and what the expectations are! drat, that's a selling point for sure. I'll check it out.
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Aug 16, 2023 13:48
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Panzeh posted:I think with Shadowrun I would've preferred like, a fantasy setting that got to that era instead of the real world but suddenly fantasy, but then its heyday was the early 90s and being set in the real world was the thing to do. It would be interesting if they did a projection like this from Iron Kingdoms, which is the best 'fantasy game extends into the early modern period' I can think of.
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Aug 16, 2023 14:17
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Halloween Jack posted:I think the big reason Shafowrun was more successful than Cyberpunk is that FASA was a bigger company with much higher production values. I played Cyberpunk and Cyberpunk 2020 for a couple years before I tried Shadowrun. Right up until I played it, I thought Shadowrun was just silly. The moment I actually set down and read the rulebook, I knew I liked the Shadowrun system better. It was far from perfect (and after 3E it went downhill, kids get off my lawn) but it was more expressive and interesting than Cyberpunk's.
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Aug 16, 2023 14:56
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I never got too familiar with Cyberpunk's system, but having come from Shadowrun, it felt a little disappointing that the way to level up is just more chrome. Shadowrun not only had different types of magic, there were specific implants you could build your character around. (I don't know if you can have both Wired Reflexes and a Vehicle Control Rig, but who does that?) CP2077 kinda embraced that with the Cyberdeck/Sandevistan/Berserk options.FMguru posted:Cyberpunk was more like "well, here's a collection of stuff from every cyberpunk novel and movie and anime...have fun!" In Shadowrun, shadowrunners are mercenary commandos, usually attacking one megacorp on behalf of another. In Cyberpunk, a mercenary is just a mercenary--Edgerunners are people who fight the corporate status quo. Which is not to say that shadowrunners can't get involved in big political events, plenty of the modules do that. But the core game doesn't tell you to be some kind of anarchist, or give you a goal beyond the ¥10,000,000 price tag on a life of luxury. Cyberpunk 3.0 embraced the idea of Edgerunners as a political faction building entire communities. I'd like to see that come back. Imagine a Night City Commune taking over during the Time of the Red. Much better than the city being run by a 150-year-old samurai cosplayer and cultists who gouge their own eyes out. Halloween Jack fucked around with this message at 15:00 on Aug 16, 2023 |
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Aug 16, 2023 14:58
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I just wish I'd known how much better Shadowrun was on the Genesis than the SNES.
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Aug 16, 2023 15:16
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The SNES version had its own charms. I actually liked it better than the Genesis version.
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Aug 16, 2023 15:21
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The Genesis game has deeper gameplay and mechanics that more closely match the tabletop. The SNES game doesn't look like poo poo.
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Aug 16, 2023 15:28
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NinjaDebugger posted:Shadowrun is technically both! Shadowrun didn't hit the modern era as a fantasy setting, though. That's kind of a big point - if you're not human-sized and -shaped, the world was literally not made for you.
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Aug 16, 2023 15:42
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I like Cyberpunk’s world view and openness better, and RED is actually a pretty decent system, but Shadowrun definitely seemed to “get” what the game should be. It’s cool that Cyberpunk lets you be a noir detective or nomadic gun runner tribal dude or a corporate raider but what I usually wanna do is shoot up a bunch of red shirts and stick it to the Cyber Man.
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Aug 16, 2023 16:03
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Well Played Mauer posted:I like Cyberpunk’s world view and openness better, and RED is actually a pretty decent system, but Shadowrun definitely seemed to “get” what the game should be. It’s cool that Cyberpunk lets you be a noir detective or nomadic gun runner tribal dude or a corporate raider but what I usually wanna do is shoot up a bunch of red shirts and stick it to the Cyber Man.
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Aug 16, 2023 16:07
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Don’t bother me with such trifles.
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Aug 16, 2023 16:17
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