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unseenlibrarian posted:So what you're saying is that from a certain point of view it -will- be using the Rifts system. It blew my mind when I read that RIFTs was being re-made with Savage Worlds. I had been more or less on an internet hiatus the month when that was announced and so when I just ran across someone casually mentioning it I thought it was a joke. It may be the first Rifts book in like 15 years that I might actually consider buying...although I imagine they'll have to pare down some things pretty heavily to make it fit into Savage Worlds (not that that's a bad thing...Rifts is much more interesting at the CyberKnight/Juicer/Ley Line Walker/Crazy level than it is at the Dragon/Demi-Vampire/God-Phallus level).
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Jul 10, 2015 10:48
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| # ¿ May 13, 2024 08:36 |
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Tulul posted:What's cool about Savage Worlds? I remember it seeming ultra-generic from the look I took at it a while ago. Nothing really bad, but nothing exciting either. It hits a few sweet spots really well. It generally takes playing it for the claws to really sink in. It's got the style of a traditional game (list of stats, list of skills, etc) but without a lot of the "bulk". It is just on the lowest end of "medium crunch", which is just the right spot for a lot of people. It also uses the full range of dice, which may seem like an odd plus but I enjoy it. It leans very hard on the "fun" button. Almost all dice explode which just immediately triggers the same sort of "Whoooo!" response as a critical hit in standard D&D but it happens more often and the results are often more significant. Resolution systems are designed to be very quick and straightforward and fights will usually end quickly. Characters are badasses from the start but never invulnerable. They're very much on the "action hero" level so you don't have to worry about starting off at "dirt farmer" and going to "guy who picks arrows out of his teeth". The rules ensure that there's at least some sense of risk or the possibility of failure with any given encounter while still ensuring that the PCs will almost always come out on top. Character growth is extremely fast but relatively simple and doesn't involve huge spikes in power level. That said, don't try it if you get hung up on things like consistent math and smooth probability curves. Also, despite repeated attempts it just does not work as a system for super-heroes. EDIT: I've also found it absolutely perfect for "I want to play a D&D setting but I don't want to bother with any of the D&D systems". I've had very good luck with both Eberron and Dark Sun conversions.
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Jul 10, 2015 18:55
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Or quickly render said mystery completely unsolvable by utterly burning all necessary bridges and taking off for a different city.
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Jul 13, 2015 17:15
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That gives me flashbacks to the DM's suggestions from the World's Largest Dungeon where they basically went the opposite route. Their brilliant idea was that not only should players have to declare they're searching every room and door in their enormous mega-dungeon but that doing things like taking 10 or 20 was somehow "too easy" and so should be disallowed...or even better just increase all DC's by 10 to make sure it's utterly pointless, or require making Concentration checks whenever you try and take 10 or 20. They even suggest giving monsters deadlier weapons with better crit ranges...FOR REASONS. God, I hate that book.
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Jul 16, 2015 14:06
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Yeah, I'm not going to say everything the guy touched is gold by any means, but I think he's pretty fondly remembered and his legacy is pretty drat intact. He did what he loved, shared it with others and ultimately contributed to the growth of a hobby that I and thousands of others deeply enjoy.
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Jul 27, 2015 15:46
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| # ¿ May 13, 2024 08:36 |
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Being currently in the process of finishing up the F&F for that particular book (Unknown Armies), I have to say that I had a similar "why is this rear end in a top hat judging me?" reaction when I first got the book, but I've since come to understand it better. It's basically UA doing what it always does both best and worst: conveying the tone of the game, while completely confusing people about what the tone should be. One of the big reasons that's there is that players in most UA games have no "safety net". It's not D&D where you can simply fight the good fight against the forces of darkness, or even Vampire or Mage where you're part of a secret society that's been bamboozling and preying on mortals for thousands of years. It's not even like Call of Cthulhu where no one is expecting to survive past next week anyway so you might as well tie dynamite to the hood of the jeep. In UA you may very well be a literal hobo...at best you're probably a relatively ordinary person who's already a little unhinged. If you try to play this game with a "violence first" perspective there are going to be fairly extreme consequences: physical, mental and (definitely) social. UA leans on the wall of the "real world" as it vomits on the pavement, and if you try any sort of "cowboy wizard hobo" poo poo you're going to run into trouble. The book isn't judging you for having fun with your "murder simulator", it's just trying to remind you, in a round-about way, that this is a different setting, with a different batch of assumptions. It's sub-title is "a game of power and consequences"...but you aren't Exalted characters ripping up the landscape or becoming president...There doesn't need to be a lot of power for the consequences to get very severe. That's what the passage is trying to remind you of...you've got a gun and an enemy. Ultimately, you have the power of life and death in your small little world and your choice will have consequences. Not because choosing to fight is right or wrong, but because that's what happens when you choose anything. oriongates fucked around with this message at 15:13 on Jul 31, 2015 |
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Jul 31, 2015 15:10
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