Quote from: The Butcher;521091Now I like All Flesh Must Be Eaten as much as the next gamer (were that every genre had as comprehensive and useful a RPG as AFMBE), but Unisystem is an engine whose appeal as a system totally escapes me. Though I admit to not having actual play experience with it.

Therein, as they say, lies the rub...=)

I did both Classic (Witchcraft, All Flesh) and Cinematic (Buffy, Angel, Army of Darkness) Unisystem and I became a huge fan of it (especially the Cinematic version). Nowadays, I can't get excited about Classic, but I would still use Cinematic in a heartbeat (behind Savage Worlds).

Let's hijack this bitch for good.

Quote from: Tommy Brownell;521092Therein, as they say, lies the rub...=)

I did both Classic (Witchcraft, All Flesh) and Cinematic (Buffy, Angel, Army of Darkness) Unisystem and I became a huge fan of it (especially the Cinematic version). Nowadays, I can't get excited about Classic, but I would still use Cinematic in a heartbeat (behind Savage Worlds).

I'll bite, Tommy. What do they play like, Classic and Cinematic?

Quote from: The Butcher;521094Let's hijack this bitch for good.



I'll bite, Tommy. What do they play like, Classic and Cinematic?

Classic is incredibly lethal. It is NOT a combat game...with damage multipliers and generally human level stats, it is incredibly easy to turn the game into a meat grinder (though that applies to PCs and NPCs both...but you are not rewarded for being Big Damn Heroes). The different supernatural character types have cool and unique powers, but there is just a lot of extraneous book keeping with Life Points (hit points), Endurance Points (fatigue) and Essence (spiritual energy, used for powering most powers, but also mental stress).

Cinematic ditches all of that, ramps up the power level considerably (and by considerably I mean a higher end character can actually fight a demon or a vampire or what have you with a reasonable expectation of victory). Combat is still potentially lethal, but Drama Points can be used for health recovery, boosting offensive and defensive rolls, etc, making it much less of a meat grinder, especially on the lower end of the power scale, dumps Essence and Endurance without sacrificing the crunchier character options (it is pretty easy to reverse engineer the character "packages" to make your own supernatural character types and so on). It also moves entirely to a Players Roll system (no GM rolls), with simple, concise stat blocks for minor villains and the option of blowing things up into full sheets for Big Bads. Cinematic Unisystem was my "go to" system until I got into Savage Worlds.

Quote from: The Butcher;521094Let's hijack this bitch for good.



I'll bite, Tommy. What do they play like, Classic and Cinematic?

The mechanics themselves aren't anything to tap dance about...but I always found the system (especially Cinematic) to be simple enough that it wasn't a head ache to GM and flexible enough to do what we wanted most of the time, from the GM standpoint and the player standpoint (one aborted game was essentially Johnny Smith from The Dead Zone inheriting the Friday the 13th Curio Shop and joining forces with Ron Perlman's Beast from Beauty and the Beast to track down the artifacts...character creation was done and everything, we just never got the game started).

Unisystem isn't slick, but it's efficient and straightforward.

Quote from: The Butcher;521091This, I think, is a big draw of "classic" games (e.g. TSR-era D&D, Traveller, Runequest, Call of Cthulhu) for me: they've emerged from, and been refined through. years of actual play, rather than theory-wank and customer-focus groups and design-by-committee trainwrecks.

So that's why I like vintage game systems; I thought I was just an old (in late 30s) grognard!

On the Cortex+ front, a generic rulebook in is the pipeline. There is also a Fantasy game called Dragon Brigade due for release soon. A sampler can be seen here: http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/index.php?cPath=331_7766.

However, I suspect you are actually interested in Cortex, which I have little knowledge of.

Quote from: Skywalker;521132On the Cortex+ front, a generic rulebook in is the pipeline.

I can't see that on the website, do you have a linky..?

You know reading Cortex through I still like the idea of being able to use whatever stat as and when required. For example Strength for attacking with melee in once instance; then Aglility with melee for another.

I'd like the Cortex+ system as I think hacking it would result in my 'perfect' lite system. I'd like more attributes certainly with an equal mix of physical, mental and social attributes. It certainly seems easy to do with this,  less so with BRP...

Not that I've played Cortex, but I think similarities between it and Savage Worlds are fairly superficial. Cortex isn't particularly suited to mass battles and has a traditional hit point system (apparently fairly deadly); SW is more tactical and crunchy rather than being light. Cortex does attribute/skill crossmatching better and doesn't have all the exploding dice of SW.
 
If you want expert opinions from people who have played it, might be worth seeing what people are saying on the cortex forums.
 
http://cortexsystemrpg.org/index.php?action=forum

Quote from: elfandghost;521009(...)I've read some reviews of the Marvel system and it seems to be going down well? However, I've also heard it isn't getting a UK/European release; why not? I think that I'd like to pick it up!

Just (pre-)order from bookdepository:
Marvel Heroic Roleplay Basic Game on bookdepository.co.uk

Quote from: Tommy Brownell;521092Therein, as they say, lies the rub...=)

I did both Classic (Witchcraft, All Flesh) and Cinematic (Buffy, Angel,  Army of Darkness) Unisystem and I became a huge fan of it (especially  the Cinematic version). Nowadays, I can't get excited about Classic, but  I would still use Cinematic in a heartbeat (behind Savage  Worlds).

I think converting Classic games to Cinematic shouldn't be too difficult though I'm not particularly experienced or skilled at systems tinkering. Actually, Terra Primate, AFMBE and even Conspiracy X would probably be just as cool running them with Cinematic.

Quote from: HombreLoboDomesticado;521160I think converting Classic games to Cinematic shouldn't be too difficult though I'm not particularly experienced or skilled at systems tinkering. Actually, Terra Primate, AFMBE and even Conspiracy X would probably be just as cool running them with Cinematic.

I'm familiar with Classic by way of Witchcraft, Armageddon and AFMBE.

What does Cinematic bring to the table?

Quote from: Bloody Stupid Johnson;521147Not that I've played Cortex, but I think similarities between it and Savage Worlds are fairly superficial. Cortex isn't particularly suited to mass battles and has a traditional hit point system (apparently fairly deadly); SW is more tactical and crunchy rather than being light. Cortex does attribute/skill crossmatching better and doesn't have all the exploding dice of SW.
 
If you want expert opinions from people who have played it, might be worth seeing what people are saying on the cortex forums.
 
http://cortexsystemrpg.org/index.php?action=forum

Dude. You're almost selling me on Cortex here.

Pity it seems MWP has abandoned Cortex for the more storygamey Cortex+.

Quote from: elfandghost;521136I can't see that on the website, do you have a linky..?

It was raised as a possibility by Cam Banks IIRC. Now I think about it, I think it may have been reference to a generic Supers Cortex+ book. It may be years away yet as they have a pretty full schedule.

Quote from: HombreLoboDomesticado;521160Just (pre-)order from bookdepository:
Marvel Heroic Roleplay Basic Game on bookdepository.co.uk

Just be warned that the date it will be available through BD won't be tomorrow. That's the expected released date and considering that the books have only just landed with MWP, I would give it at least a month before BD have copies.

Quote from: HombreLoboDomesticado;521160Just (pre-)order from bookdepository:
Marvel Heroic Roleplay Basic Game on bookdepository.co.uk


I think converting Classic games to Cinematic shouldn't be too difficult though I'm not particularly experienced or skilled at systems tinkering. Actually, Terra Primate, AFMBE and even Conspiracy X would probably be just as cool running them with Cinematic.

Yeah, I agree. Cutting down the skills system (REALLY? We need a BEAUTICIAN skill? REALLY?!) and the Endurance and Essence bookkeeping...the few powers that might be floating around are easily converted to an Essence-free version...

Cinematic Unisystem streamlines skills.
It adds Drama Points.
It ditches Essence and Endurance points.
It uses a chart to show success levels against fixed foe stats (usually a shorthand "Stat+Skill+Average Roll."

Unisystem is exactly as Ghost Whistler said above. It isn't fancy, but it is nice, pat, and functional.

I prefer Cinematic myself, since it is MUCH faster play flow when used. On the other hand if I were running specifically Witchcraft or All Flessh Must be Eaten, I'd use classic, because they're supposed to be more deadly. Armageddon? No, I'd use Cinematic because it isn't supposed to be AS deadly as the other two.