|
I'm not sure which thread to ask this, I was debating the OSR thread, but is there like a TTRPG or card game that's centers around Conversions and Social situations? It would be neat if there's something that mechanically revolves around situations like maybe the players/characters are attending a masquerade ball and are trying to acquire information from the attendees; or there's been a murder and need to question suspects. Or maybe its a game about trying to be the most popular person in school and you're balancing making friends with avoiding making enemies with consequences and rewards for each, maybe your in a political game and you need to win debates and navigate through a speech to improve your popularity and so on? It's okay if there's no single game that covers all of the above, multiple suggestions that cover different aspects of what I'm looking for is fine. Update 1: I've found the following suggestions so far adjusting my search terms. - Burning Wheel, looks promising. - Hillfolk DramaSystem? - I've seen Monsterhearts suggested. - Blades in the Dark progress clocks, this seems interesting. - Legend of the 5 Rings maybe? I get the sense this isn't as mechanistic as I am searching for. Raenir Salazar fucked around with this message at 03:56 on Oct 21, 2022 |
#
¿
Oct 21, 2022 03:25
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 11, 2024 15:01 |
|
|
Thanks for the suggestions! I'll take a look at them, and any others people rec me.  After thinking on it a little, and maybe this will help with narrowing down my search; what my ideal system in my head that I'd love is like suppose you're trying to bargain down the price of something, so you enter into a Conversation challenge; in this case the goal is to Bargain. So maybe the player then has to draw from a deck of cards with conversation options, or they have a selection of actions, doesn't matter. But only a limited number you can play, and what's available might change depending on circumstances. This would provide a strategy element to the challenge, based on limited information (so the more you know about a NPC or another player character maybe this gives you extra actions/draws, or new options, etc) with some dice based adjudication where your odds are better the better actions/cards you picked. But the NPC or other player also plays cards, which might force the Player to make an inoptimal/inconvenient or counter productive move/card; or help the conversation along (i.e maybe they're naturally helpful but just need a little convincing). An example could be something like the player does a move that's meant to improve the NPC's disposition, but the NPC plays a move that turns out to be something the Player's character finds "Insulting" which triggers a random "Complication" (Like forcing the player to punch the merchant) which might just completely derail the negotiations! hyphz posted:I know this was probably a mistake, but a game where the combat replacement is converting people to your cause/cult/whatever sounds pretty keen. gently caress. I meant Conversations. Although converting someone to your cult by convincing them the Stars Are Right is definitely something I'd like a crunchy rules system for! That isn't just a straight up check or relies on mainly RP and DM/GM fiat.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 21, 2022 04:17
|
|
|
Thanks for the additional reccomendations! Adding to the list.  Whybird posted:Hillfolk is a brilliant game but it isn't what you describe at all. It's rules-light in the sense that there aren't many rules to keep in mind, but the rules that do exist are very important to follow to the letter because the game absolutely needs them in order to work. The rules are there primarily to maintain the flow of the story, you don't pull them out each time a character tries to do something. Excellent, thanks for the advice, this is also why I'm listing what I've found is for feedback on whether it sounds like what I'm looking for! It lets me better focus my reading up on the other suggestions.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 21, 2022 13:38
|
|
|
What are some suggestions for games that have a 5e mechanical compatibility or feel that are good for Xianxia or "Cultivation" style of rpg? If you're not sure what Xianxia is, basically think about the entire plot and progression of Dragonball Z from Dragonball until Dragonball Super and the introduction of things like King Kai and the other Kai's and the Supreme Kai and then Beerus, and you get the general idea of what some Xianxia's are like. Piccolo is basically a Xianxia character in the slightly wrong genre because his specific means of powering up/training by Meditation is generally a more Xianxia specific thing than "I'mma do pushups in 100 times Earth's gravity!" that's more the norm for the other main characters.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 25, 2023 16:35
|
|
|
PerniciousKnid posted:D&D is already kinda xianxia, I mean the lit RPG genre is basically just xianxia with explicit d&d mechanics. What you're really missing is just a setting book to reflavor the abilities. I think a lot of the base game would need to be recontextualized a LOT; for example depending if you're going more pure cultivation route or DBZ, leveling up would make more sense to occur as a result of downtime due to completed training arcs than plot milestones outside of very specific events (Krillin getting his potential unlocked due to meeting Kami Guru). And also a means of representing (if DBZ) "You lost this fight and now are stronger" without breaking 5e's core design philosophy. There's also the matter that the power curves don't feel at all the same, at least depending on your source material. The difference between level 2 and level 3 is a relatively small linear boost outside of specific class milestones; while Xianxia has a lot more of "And then I became Super-Saiyan and got 50 times stronger and your attacks can't even reach me anymore." My main reference point is My Disciple Has Died Again and I don't think just reflavouring is enough to really bridge the gap to get a game that feels like that particular novel and how cultivation worked therein. To go back to DBZ for a moment, while D&D does have aspects of where a class especially casters might feel like they're more powerful than another class of the same level at a particular milestone, I don't think you quite have that same thing within the same class for situations where like Gohan reaches Super Saiyan 2 and is like 20 times stronger than either Goku or Vegeta but one training arc later they're both way ahead of Gohan again. You'd need to have asymmetrical leveling at a minimum. Then also other ways where I think the system fights you, like tightly bounded AC/To Hit numbers and so on, I think it's hard to make it compatible with Xianxia where completing your training and gaining a level feels like a significant boost in power because the curve would probably need to be more exponential. Just taking 5e and running a Xianxia campaign I think requires a lot of homebrew.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 25, 2023 17:44
|
|
|
Yeah I'll check out those suggestions thanks! But to further expand on the discussion though. Mr. Maltose posted:I read 5E compatible game to mean something like any of the dozens of 5E compatible “campaign settings” that have come out that are basically jamming three new mechanics into D&D and the ask was if there was a fitting one for xianxia much like there’s one for Norse Sagas, Africa, Italian Folktales and all the other ones Libertad covered in the F&F threads, just calling them games because of unfamiliarity with detailed hobby terms. Yeah basically its this, sorry if I wasn't clear as I had maybe a couple of different vague possibilities in my head as to what I "wanted". But if there was a completely different TTRPG like Legend of the Five Rings that was a pretty solid game adaption of the Cultivation/Xianxia genre I'd be open to it. Runa posted:Raenir Salazar actually started with a question about xianxia as a genre and that is basically itself a high-level starting point area of progression fiction. It has different assumptions than baseline d&d does but the conversation moved to be about xianxia in d&d so I started from there. And the initial prompt naming DBZ as an accessible starting point for the thread was kind of spot on, as DBZ operates on a power scale closer to where xianxia does. Kinda, like Goku back in the original Dragonball is powerful but mainly like lower-Wuxia levels of powerful; he can defeat armies of normal humans pretty easily but the trained martial artist who did mostly "typical" martial arts training can still put up a fight. To my mind Base D&D 5e from level 1-10 is basically like Low-Wuxia/Early Dragonball. Not counting Wizards as they complicate things and make things weird and even succeed at making things weird even in Dragonball where Goku has to like, trick a witch into drinking her own potion and escapes like its a Brother's Grimm fairy tail or something. It basically kinda feels like levels 10-20 still feel like something akin to Wuxia, a level 20 fighter/monk maps pretty readily on characters like Shou Fu Kan from Thunderbolt Fantasy, he's a dude with some ki control who uses a wooden stick to break peoples bones because its just ki control; but he isn't shooting ki blasts and he can't fly (but he can Samurai Jack style JUMP GOOD). And Enigmatic Gale actually fits a level 20 Bard pretty drat good as well. And they're also pretty easily mowing through armies just like other Wuxia shows. So, to me, D&D 5e feels like with reflavouring can run a pretty convincing Wuxia campaign; but Level 20 D&D characters don't feel like DBZ fighters even before Namek and probably only ever for the fight with Radditz. The ultimate thing that made Xianxia such an interesting genre albeit I am getting a very slanted view of it via an affectionate parody, is just the way "the map gets bigger"? Is there a game design term for this feeling? Where you THINK you're at the end game and then the shoe drops, you open the door and then you realize you're just scratching the surface? The Map Got Bigger. A LOT Bigger. And you ain't hot stuff anymore! You've been effectively reset back to zero in this new world even if you're the singular most powerful being in the pond you just left. I get the web novel I'm reading is actually making fun of this aspect of the genre and is possibly exaggerating it, but I kept wanting to know figuratively what was over the next hill, I enjoyed it a lot, what's the next escalation? "What's can more powerful than a God? Oh my *pause* me, there is!" I think somewhere with this post I'm honing in on what kind of mechanic I'm looking for that captures the gameplay fantasy I'm interested in. Like you can't just literally reset to level 1 because there's still the possibility or revisiting your old haunts just to show how far you've come; but somehow your level 5 Xianxia character is basically barely untouchable to your past level 20 5e self while feeling like you had a continuous progression from that point to now. Raenir Salazar fucked around with this message at 04:20 on Mar 26, 2023 |
|
#
¿
Mar 26, 2023 04:18
|
|
|
What thread is best to ask for TTRPG system suggestions? In particular I'm wondering if there's any systems (d20 or 5e compatible preferred) that have something like the "blind" mechanics feeling like in some Isekai anime where the player maybe picks a class or an archetype but they don't really know what abilities they get to have, and some can be rare or need certain conditions to unlock or can proc as a result of where you are and what you're doing or what monsters you've slayed or items/gear you're using and so on? This kinda aligns vaguely with roguelike mechanics where some maybe give you a choice of abilities on level up but it'd be nice if something more like how it is in anime like Solo Leveling.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 27, 2024 18:43
|
|
|
Silver2195 posted:This sounds like the sort of thing that sounds cooler in theory than it is in practice. I mean maybe, or maybe not, I'll see depending on what systems are available that meet these needs.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 27, 2024 23:40
|
|
|
Part of the reason to ask is to see what's out there even if it doesn't necessarily deliver what is "asked", obviously its a high ask as-is but that's just what the ideal is and of course a bunch of different systems might have overlapping mechanics and ideas I like or are close enough while having the benefit of being curated/playtested which I can try to cobble together.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 28, 2024 00:28
|
|
|
Admiralty Flag posted:If 5E/d20 compatible is a non-negotiable but loose condition, then I'd say going back to 4E might be a good solution to this. Not only would you get to pick what abilities the PCs unlock as they level up, you could also sprinkle in multiclassing feats to get closer to the archetypes you're looking for. You could also do things like delay 'subclass' benefits (e.g., the beast master part of beast master ranger) until PCs earn them. I think I clearly said "preferred" not "non-negotiable", as I said systems that give me inspiration for potentially homebrewing or presents interesting ideas is fine too, I'm not necessarily looking for something I can plug and play, but that would be fantastic, but anything that could be even remotely of interest is of course fine too and I'll see what's there to scavenge. 4e I don't think offers the kind of gameplay I'm looking for to make the switch because I can basically do the same thing in 5e with more options. In general if I was to run something like this I would of course tell them, and also make sure that people don't get something that just objectively sucks in a "slot" that's otherwise meaningful.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 28, 2024 19:15
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 11, 2024 15:01 |
|
|
Thanks I'll take a look at it! I'm definitely aware of the fact that the main issue is that lots of ideas sound good on paper for a video game, like a Randomizer run of Baldur's Gate 3, that might not be remotely as fun in the context of a D&D campaign that isn't like a One Shot because unless every session results in some kind of forward momentum and progression, and unless every progression "feels good" or like you're progressing, it might not be fun. In one campaign I'm in one of the people I'm playing with has like a homebrew magic item that gives them Blue Magic like from Final Fantasy so they've been gathering special abilties from enemies we fight, which is very cool, but that's on top of being a bard which they have to fall back on for their basic progression.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 29, 2024 01:03
|
|