So Brad on this thread (https://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?38996-Best-NEW-RPG-post-2001&p=1039795#post1039795) recommended the EABA system and I was wondeing if Brad and anybody would like to share the opinons and experience with this system.
So no one else replied? Here's a quick rundown of my experience with EABA, if you want something more in-depth I can try to expand on various points.
- The main die mechanic is pretty easy to use, and with hard cut-offs. If you only allow 3d+2 as the max (which is heroic), the highest possible difficulty it 20, which makes it pretty easy to scale really quickly. The main issue with something like d20 is that a DC 35 could possibly be ridiculous, or simple, depending on the PCs involved. EABA doesn't have this issue; 20 is insanely difficult no matter who is trying it, but super skilled PCs have a much greater chance of success. Think of it as a combination of GURPS/HERO and Silhouette, but better than either.
- Combat is simultaneously realistic and abstract, allowing cinematic fights confined by reality. Seriously. The main combat system is pretty simple, with an expanded combat system that has more options than anyone rightly needs. There are three tiers of damage, which mitigates some of the realism issues commonly seen with generic hit points or wound systems like Star Wars d6. I like D&D, and SW is my favorite rpg, so that's not a knock on either system; EABA just allows you to do either super realistic, cinematic, or a combination of both without any extra effort.
- The published settings are different, not just rehashed bs. Aethos is something else...hard to explain, but worth looking at. I played CORPS when it was first published, and the EABA version is better. There isn't a generic fantasy or sci-fi setting, but it would be trivial to port something over. I WOULD say that even though it's a "universal" system, it definitely handles modern and futuristic settings better than fantasy.
- It can do supers, albeit a gritty, realistic style. The power creation system puts GURPS to shame in ease of use and the ability to model everything you can think of. Again, I think this system is more suited to making psionics for sci-fi games or something, but you can use it for a variety of tasks.
- Overall, very elegant and easy to understand. There's really no need to look in the rulebook once your character is created. The writing is straight-forward and unambiguous, unlike most modern rules-sets. The main book is like a textbook, and touts that proudly. It's a system meant to be played, not a coffee table book.
I have a lot of other stuff to say, but that's all I can articulate right now.
THank you very much Brad! I really appreciate you taking the time. When I have a bit of spare cash, I may invest in this guy.:cool:
Nice summary Brad.
Some more points after re-reading a few of the rules this morning:
- The universal chart seems to be inspired by DC Heroes' AP chart. Figuring out distances/time/speed/etc. certainly is calculated in much the same way as APs, so I wouldn't be surprised if Greg Porter used that as a basis. This makes it super easy to figure out how much weight someone can lift, what the difficulty would be, how far they can throw something, the cost to buy something, whatever.
- Stuff! is the spiritual (and probably literal) successor to Guns! Guns! Guns!. If you don't know what 3G^3 is, imagine GURPS Robots, or Vehicles (David Pulver), for weapons, but a lot easier to use, like on the Heavy Gear level. Stuff! expands the weapon creation to include whatever you want to make for EABA.
- Vehicle combat is probably the best I've seen in a strict rpg; not quite as good as Star Warriors or the old FASA Star Trek combat simulator, but those were hex-based wargames. Beats any system I've seen in any version of Traveller for sure.
Is Stuff! even available anymore, I don't see it on BTRC's site.
Quote from: Ras Algethi;1040044Is Stuff! even available anymore, I don't see it on BTRC's site.
http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/3708/EABA-Stuff-v10?it=1
I think he's moving everything to Drivethru, the website hasn't been updated in a few years.
I liked the completeness of the EABA v2 rules and design rules. It has more bookkeeping than my players and myself prefer. I have a horrible memory, so the less bookkeeping and rules, the better for me.
Power and equipment design from scratch is ludicrously crunchy, but it is pretty neat, complete, and done outside the game.
The "programmed" PDFs help a lot, and it was fun designing modern characters based on ourselves.
Quote from: Brad;1040049http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/3708/EABA-Stuff-v10?it=1
I think he's moving everything to Drivethru, the website hasn't been updated in a few years.
Yeah, I ran into a few dead links there. (The BTRC site that is)
Quote from: Tod13;1040054I liked the completeness of the EABA v2 rules and design rules. It has more bookkeeping than my players and myself prefer. I have a horrible memory, so the less bookkeeping and rules, the better for me.
Power and equipment design from scratch is ludicrously crunchy, but it is pretty neat, complete, and done outside the game.
The "programmed" PDFs help a lot, and it was fun designing modern characters based on ourselves.
Well it's a "modern" design, meant to be used as a universal system. The bookkeeping is arguably easier than GURPS or HERO, the two systems it's intended to replace. Compared to Tunnels and Trolls, it's vastly more difficult, but try to understand Noblilis or Exalted or even D&D 4th and let me know what you think of EABA then...
Quote from: Brad;1040143Well it's a "modern" design, meant to be used as a universal system. The bookkeeping is arguably easier than GURPS or HERO, the two systems it's intended to replace. Compared to Tunnels and Trolls, it's vastly more difficult, but try to understand Noblilis or Exalted or even D&D 4th and let me know what you think of EABA then...
I tried to give the impression that I liked the system, but it just wasn't what me and my group were looking for. :D
Quote from: Tod13;1040197I tried to give the impression that I liked the system, but it just wasn't what me and my group were looking for. :D
Obviously you and your group are just retarded monkeys then!
Yeah, it's not for everyone...I'd recommend EABA, however, to someone who was waffling between HERO and GURPS, or True20 or something. For CORPS and some of the sci-fi settings I mentioned, it's pretty much perfect, just like GURPS for gritty fantasy (TFT) and HERO for supers (Champions) work so well. I might be making the case that a truly universal system doesn't even exist...
Quote from: Brad;1040207I might be making the case that a truly universal system doesn't even exist...
I feel like our system is universal, but probably isn't to your taste (or many people's taste here). Magic gets recast as "super hi tech" or "super powers" and so on. I know a lot of people here dislike that. No real setting. We run either using D&D modules or rewriting D&D modules into a steampunk Traveller setting.
Quote from: Brad;1040143Well it's a "modern" design, meant to be used as a universal system. The bookkeeping is arguably easier than GURPS or HERO, the two systems it's intended to replace. Compared to Tunnels and Trolls, it's vastly more difficult, but try to understand Noblilis or Exalted or even D&D 4th and let me know what you think of EABA then...
Yeah, EABA is vastly easier than those:).
Quote from: Brad;1040207might be making the case that a truly universal system doesn't even exist...
That's because a truly universal system doesn't exist. Some/most systems can do anything, but the question is how many hoops you'd have to jump through to achieve it.
EABAv2 comes real close to universal, though;).
Between this thread and a bit of research, I've been inspired to grab EABA2.01 and Aethos. Won't be running it any time soon, but if it's as interesting as it sounds, it's on the very short short list.
Just chiming in as an EABA fan...
The universal chart - I like it a lot, especially for modern and scifi games where players can figure out for themselves how hard it'd be to hit a target. That just feels right. There's some carry over there to missile combat in fantasy too, of course. And heck, it's also good for quickly figuring out how long it'll take an archetypal wizard to read some text.
The bounded range for skill resolution is incredibly nice, but especially so on the GM side, for world building.
The combat system is very cool in how you're driving toward resolution of the conflict one way or another.
The powers system. That's something that I'm not so good at. I managed to learn Hero, so maybe it's time to give powers another try.
Shouldn't it be BAEA?