Quote from: oggsmash on May 08, 2023, 05:54:44 PM

Quote from: Ratman_tf on May 08, 2023, 05:47:32 AM
So the Embers of the Imperium RPG was recently released. An RPG set in the Twilight Imperium (Board game) universe.
I loves me some TI, but the Genesys system doesn't sound like something I'd like to play. The idea of drama dice, or whatever they're called.
Anyone got opinions on the system? Is it great and I'm being a moron? Is it awful and I should stay far away? Somewhere in-between?

  I have the system book and the Fantasy setting book....I want to like it a lot.  But it seems to just not be my flavor, I think I would have to try it as a player with a good gm first to see if it is for me.  I know I judged Savage worlds without playing it for years and it was a lot better on the table than on the page.  Could be the same with genesys....but for the past couple years it has rested on the book shelf.

I have a lot of experience with the system, and I can tell you that it plays much better at the table than it reads.  Players also pick up the dice system surprisingly very quickly in all my experiences with it.

Quote from: Grognard GM on May 09, 2023, 02:30:07 AM

Quote from: Valatar on May 09, 2023, 02:02:25 AMIn this instance at least their dice app is free, so there is a non-paying route for play, but I prefer physical dice when not on a VTT.

The App won't last more than a few years either.

The app has been out the better part of a decade or more already.  It started with the FFG Star Wars games.

Quote from: Valatar on May 09, 2023, 02:02:25 AM
Yeah, I'm not a fan of the concept of the custom dice, if nothing else because you're up the creek for finding any in 10-15 years down the road.  In this instance at least their dice app is free, so there is a non-paying route for play, but I prefer physical dice when not on a VTT.

It's the future. We have replicator technology.
Genesys Dice

Quote from: Brad on May 09, 2023, 09:27:31 AM
Not a fan of the system used in Edge of the Empire (to be as kind as possible) specifically because of all those damn dice. It feels way too meta and breaks immersion quite a bit. There's a big difference between rolling a d20 (or 5d6 if you're playing WEG SW for instance) and seeing if you hit a target number and trying to figure out what multiple symbols mean on multiple dice. Like two steps too many.

I think it'd make a decent mechanic for a board game or something which makes sense considering the publisher. As an RPG system, no thanks. There is an app to speed up play, but if you NEED an app to play an RPG, you're already moved past an RPG into something else.

I mostly agree.  It is not nearly as immediately intuitive as other systems.  In play though, most players I've seen pick it up pretty quickly. 

It's also nice for those math-challenged types. I've got one guy in my group that just can't do basic addition or subtraction without a calculator or his fingers.  I'm talking D&D 5e attack rolls or HP tracking type math.  With the Genesys dice though, he can immediately count the couple die faces of symbols.

I also like the range of results the dice give over the binary pass/fail.  I've mostly played the L5R version, which uses a slightly modified system from the SW or generic Genesys.  The way the dice help ramp up the social tension in game was a nice feature and made for some interesting meta choices (yeah, yeah, hang me for dirty immersion-breaking sins).

Quote from: Brad on May 09, 2023, 09:27:31 AM
Not a fan of the system used in Edge of the Empire (to be as kind as possible) specifically because of all those damn dice. It feels way too meta and breaks immersion quite a bit. There's a big difference between rolling a d20 (or 5d6 if you're playing WEG SW for instance) and seeing if you hit a target number and trying to figure out what multiple symbols mean on multiple dice. Like two steps too many.

I prefer it over d20 stuff specifically because I dislike a simple pass/fail resolution mechanic for skill tests.  There's no room for nuance in a d20 and a DC, and the skill system for d20 was still basically the same bolt-on that it was in 2E AD&D.

I miss when FFG was still just a comic book distributor. I knew them way back when Twilight Imperium was still just in the works. Still have several of the comics even.

Well, saturday was our monthly TI game, and afterwards I picked up the RPG.
I doubt I'll get around to playing it anytime soon, I mostly got it for the lore and art. But the punchline is, the book is a sourcebook, and does not include even a bare-bones version of the Genesys core system. At 50 bucks.

I just found that kinda wonky.

Quote from: Ratman_tf on May 08, 2023, 05:47:32 AM.
Anyone got opinions on the system? Is it great and I'm being a moron? Is it awful and I should stay far away? Somewhere in-between?

I like/dislike it. Having played FFG Starwars when you run the game as is (aka using the challenge difficulties the game suggests) it kinda sucks. But as soon as the GM pushed the difficulty down by 1-2 dice we had far more fun. The reason for this was pretty simple, it was to common to have 3-4 negative dice plus 2+ added onto the situation for average rolls. Which frequently took away your successes.When the GM changed the difficulty we saw success a bit more frequently and more importantly where able to use advantages far more often.

Now, when we then played again following the exact rules and where rping as scrappy heroes the base rules felt better as we succeed about half the time and the other half of the time was risk management which I'm a fan of. So I feel it's all about framing the game.

One thing which was a bit tedious was figuring out everything you could do with Advantages and Disadvantage and how alot of it was future proofing or future hindrances. So in that regard I'd say it was clunky.

But after we made some cheat sheets and we understood how the rules worked, we found the game overall fun. I think the core concept is pretty neat and I liked how the game tried to make use of Advantages as much as it could, like linking them to weapon qualities and special actions. But overall, I felt the game is clunky.

Still. I had fun with it. It's certainly not a great game. But it can be a fun game if you like rolling click clacks and then reading the runes. It however sucks that almost everyone prefers using the app because it's just more practical.   

Considering the old 2e D&D settings, my comment about Embers not including the core rules was probably unfair. Anyway...

After having read the book, I'm fairly happy with the setting work and scenario concepts. The characters are assumed to be members of the Keleres (A faction that wants everyone to play nice) who go around trying to maintain some semblance of civilized behavior while disparate factions vie for power. The thing I like is the concept of having personal agendas. So a Druaa (telepathic snake people aliens) character may work for the Keleres, but still wants the Naluu (Their racial faction) to get galactic power and influence. Kelres attitudes range from apathetic, to self-interested, to enthusiastic. It's a setup that fits the board game very well, IMO.
The extremely antagonistic factions are reserved to be bad guys. So you can't play a Nekro computer virus creature, or a Vul'Raith cultist. But you can play a Sardakk'Norr aggressive bug person.
Many call outs to the board game components are sprinkled into the RPG setting. All the ship types have stats, except the War Sun, which is probably for the best. War Suns are the equivalent to small Death Stars and rare enough to be a special event and not just any ship floating around.

If I had to DM it right now, I'd probably use Starfinder or Stars Without Number and wing conversions at the table. I may get the Genesys system eventually, but it's not a high priority on my gaming list right now.

I enjoy Genesys a lot.  I like dice pools.  I find doing math in regular D20 games to be immersion breaking for me.  You roll and then have add and subtract a bunch of things to see what happens.  With Genesys you just count the successes. 

I love the narrative options of the advantage/disadvantage mechanic.  I think the people that dislike it tend to be the rules lawyer type that want the system to define every outcome.  I like the creative aspect of the story telling that comes with it.

Quote from: ReadyPlayerOne on June 15, 2024, 03:57:17 AMI enjoy Genesys a lot.  I like dice pools.  I find doing math in regular D20 games to be immersion breaking for me.  You roll and then have add and subtract a bunch of things to see what happens.  With Genesys you just count the successes. 

I love the narrative options of the advantage/disadvantage mechanic.  I think the people that dislike it tend to be the rules lawyer type that want the system to define every outcome.  I like the creative aspect of the story telling that comes with it.

I think Genesys really benefits from knowing and using the soft rule of "if the outcome of a challenge isn't dramatically significant, don't roll for it" far more than classic rule systems. For roll-appropriate challenges, it's usually very easy and fluid to spend Advantage/Threat/Trimph/Despair. Conversely, if you are having trouble imagining what to do with those results, it was likely a situation that didn't call for a roll.

Quote from: Ratman_tf on May 14, 2023, 06:10:26 AMWell, saturday was our monthly TI game, and afterwards I picked up the RPG.
I doubt I'll get around to playing it anytime soon, I mostly got it for the lore and art. But the punchline is, the book is a sourcebook, and does not include even a bare-bones version of the Genesys core system. At 50 bucks.

I just found that kinda wonky.

That is fairly standard for campaign books. I assume it stats out stuff at least?

Quote from: Omega on June 15, 2024, 07:45:14 PM

Quote from: Ratman_tf on May 14, 2023, 06:10:26 AMWell, saturday was our monthly TI game, and afterwards I picked up the RPG.
I doubt I'll get around to playing it anytime soon, I mostly got it for the lore and art. But the punchline is, the book is a sourcebook, and does not include even a bare-bones version of the Genesys core system. At 50 bucks.

I just found that kinda wonky.

That is fairly standard for campaign books. I assume it stats out stuff at least?

Yes, it does have stats for the included species of aliens, several setting-specific talents, lots of gear, and vehicles from personal transports (bikes, etc.) up to dreadnoughts and carriers. Most starships are given a baseline and then modifiers for 3-4 species that signficantly diverge from that baseline. Very unique aliens (usually "Galactic Threats") get listings for their unique vessel types.

I have run and played a few different flavors of it.  It works okay.  Interpreting the dice pools can be a bit of a pain.  In a lot of cases, it's unneeded complexity.  I just need to know whether the character succeeds or not.  There are a lot of options for how to spend advantage that are spread out all over the place which can give some players analysis paralysis.  The more material you are using, the worse this issue gets. 

Quote from: Omega on June 15, 2024, 07:45:14 PM

Quote from: Ratman_tf on May 14, 2023, 06:10:26 AMWell, saturday was our monthly TI game, and afterwards I picked up the RPG.
I doubt I'll get around to playing it anytime soon, I mostly got it for the lore and art. But the punchline is, the book is a sourcebook, and does not include even a bare-bones version of the Genesys core system. At 50 bucks.

I just found that kinda wonky.

That is fairly standard for campaign books. I assume it stats out stuff at least?

Yep. It's got plenty of crunch to go with the lore.

I did eventually pick up a used Genesys rulebook and a dice pack. I've read over the rules a few times. I think if I had to run it, and honestly, I'd rather do that than spend time re-inventing the wheel for another system, I'd probably try to run it as a simple pass-fail system, and only use the advantage/threat/triumph/despiar where noted in the rules for skills and talents and gear.