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Here's an opportunity to tell the world just how awesome it is!!!

Mutant City Blues. Special Investigations Cops in a world filled with 2% (iirc) citizens that have some superpower(s). Superpower manifestations in a subject are statistically related, allowing to draw inferences about suspects. The GUMSHOE system has its flaws in supporting this particular set-up, however. Still, a brilliant premise.

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-7saeb588erY/UzCXcaAVTzI/AAAAAAAAIog/eQGEISelfA4/w465-h600-no/Coffe+stained+Quade.png)

I always thought the Whispering Vault seemed cool as hell, but I haven't had the opportunity yet to give it a go.  Basically you play supernatural agents (think Ghost Rider, Spawn, or a Hellbreed- empowered freaks basically) out to stop forces hell bent on tearing reality apart, and get to travel through space and time to do so.  And you also get your own little pocket dimension to live in, which you can describe.  Your character can mask himself as a mortal but when shit goes down the veil comes off and you can unleash with supernatural vengeance against the freaks who are trying to tear apart space-time.  It has it's own unique mythology (which I can't remember) but was cool as hell.  

I wanted to see how it played (but the rules seemed simple enough).

Well I'm not the best person to speak to it as I only found out about it 2 days ago -- though that certainly supports the "not enough credit" part -- but I am floored by how cool both Talislanta's setting and mechanics are. In theory, anyway, since it's not like I have tons of play behind me (yet!).

The rulebooks are free online ( http://talislanta.com/ ) and the suggestion I got was to look at 4E first.

I like the action table mechanic. The way the magic system is structured looks really cool too, with orders separating out into spellcaster types and spell libraries and mode ratings determining how good a character is at "that kinda thing",

The setting is fantastic, it's got a touch of sci-fi feel just because the populating races are so non-Tolkienian, a touch of the post-apocalyptic from one of the recent Big Events, but plenty of magical fantasy and heroic fighters. The magic traditions are novel and cool (cartomancy, crystalomancy, elemental magic, natural magic, necromancy, wizardry) and the way the magic system is structured there's no need to veer into magic users like cleric to keep the party from biting it. I love fantasy settings, don't get me wrong, but this one feels really fresh and interesting.

But don't take my word for it, here's what Rick Swan said about it, apparently: "It's as if H. P. Lovecraft had written Alice in Wonderland, with Hans Christian Andersen and William S. Burroughs as technical advisors."

(Hat tip to Dan Davenport for introducing the game!)

Houses of the Blooded (a "story game", eeeep!) is awesome fun and easy to run with minimal prep time.

Quote from: Razor 007;1089410Is there an RPG that is awesome, but doesn't get enough credit?

Serenity, from 2005.

TSR's Conan RPG from wayyy back Pretty good at capturing the feel of the setting.

Beyond the Supernatural: 1st ed: A great mix of different styles from the outright lovecraftian, to more Night Stalker style, to Ghost Busters and more. Great system and a blast to DM.

Albedo: 1st ed: Probably one of the more gritty and 'hard SF' military/political RPGs out there with a very lethal combat system that works great for other settings too.

and many others that should get more time.

I really liked FASA's Star Trek RPG. It was somewhat on the complex side. It was d100% based. It has a life path generation of sorts, not unlike Traveller.

Quote from: zagreus;1089427I always thought the Whispering Vault seemed cool as hell, but I haven't had the opportunity yet to give it a go.  Basically you play supernatural agents (think Ghost Rider, Spawn, or a Hellbreed- empowered freaks basically) out to stop forces hell bent on tearing reality apart, and get to travel through space and time to do so.  And you also get your own little pocket dimension to live in, which you can describe.  Your character can mask himself as a mortal but when shit goes down the veil comes off and you can unleash with supernatural vengeance against the freaks who are trying to tear apart space-time.  It has it's own unique mythology (which I can't remember) but was cool as hell.  

I wanted to see how it played (but the rules seemed simple enough).

The rules are very simple. Unfortunately, in play, I found that they don't support the premise. The PCs are supposed to be total supernatural bad-asses, yet my players kept getting beat up by the creatures they faced.

Spellbound Kingdoms (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/62332/Spellbound-Kingdoms-Combat-Primer) has one of the only truly original combat systems I've seen in an rpg, a neat skill system that allows you to tie in aid from organizations if you want to make use of that, some very neat lore and a cool equipment list.  And it never caught on, for reasons I still don't understand.  It doesn't help that the creator is now behind on a kickstarter, but it's still worth checking out in it's own right.

Mothership (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/245017/Mothership-Players-Survival-Guide) bills itself as a "sci-fi horror rpg", and succeeds at that premise.  It's an excellent Alien/Aliens rpg if that's what you want out of it, better than anything else I've seen, but you can use it for more than that.  It's a full, if short, rpg, so you could do a more traditional Traveller-type game, or other science fiction adventures.  This one's new, so hopefully it will grow.

Quote from: Dan Davenport;1089479The rules are very simple. Unfortunately, in play, I found that they don't support the premise. The PCs are supposed to be total supernatural bad-asses, yet my players kept getting beat up by the creatures they faced.

I agree, but it didn't take too much tweaking to achieve "badass-ness" (admittedly, it shouldn't need tweaking).

Quote from: Dan Davenport;1089479The rules are very simple. Unfortunately, in play, I found that they don't support the premise. The PCs are supposed to be total supernatural bad-asses, yet my players kept getting beat up by the creatures they faced.

I've heard that complaint before but it somehow didn't turn up in the couple of times I was able to get people to play it. Maybe because I sold it more as horror than superheroes, so the Players were more cautious... or maybe I didn't throw enough at them.
Either way, the setting/idea were fun/weird and I'd love to play it again sometime.

Quote from: Omega;1089468Beyond the Supernatural: 1st ed: A great mix of different styles from the outright lovecraftian, to more Night Stalker style, to Ghost Busters and more. Great system and a blast to DM.

Agreed.  But even Palladium Books seem to forget they publish this game, except for during the weekly updates when Kevin insists he will write the source books one day...

Marvel SAGA is my favourite superhero game, but it arrived at the tail end of TSR's time and reliance on custom cards (The Mighty Marvel Fate Deck!) means it can be hard to find at sane prices.

All of Palladium Books IPS and they never will as long as no attempt is made to update them with new editions of the rpg rules. Or just rewrite the existing rules in an easy to use, more player friendly manner. As well the fact that Kevin has to rewrite every damn book severely limits support for many of their other rpgs except for Rifts. Which is sad really because the rules are not that bad. Just imo clunky, inconsistent in some places and poorly organized.

Pendragon.
Undying.
Dictionary of Mu.

Harnmaster, the RPG where players role play because of combat rather than inspite of combat

I've had a lot of fun with FASA's Behind Enemy Lines, over the years.

Buck Rogers 25c. Talislanta(naturally), Atlantis (classic AND Second Age), Palladium Fantast 1e

Unisystem, especially  the cinematic variety, especially the Buffy setting. If I want a light to medium rules set, I use it.

Unhallowed Metropolis. An after the Apocalypse, zombie, gas mask and top hats, future Edwardian era British urban horror game.

A friend bought me a copy, but I've never had a chance to play.

Quote from: WillInNewHaven;1089578Unisystem, especially  the cinematic variety, especially the Buffy setting. If I want a light to medium rules set, I use it.

Oh, that's a great one. Did it really not get enough credit, though? AFMBE and Buffy seemed to be hugely popular to me.

Quote from: Dan Davenport;1089621Oh, that's a great one. Did it really not get enough credit, though? AFMBE and Buffy seemed to be hugely popular to me.

It depends on your definition of "enough credit," I suppose. In order to make a living, C.J. stopped designing games and started writing novels. Maybe he would have eventually even if he could make a living at game design but his stated reason was the better income. He still games but hasn't written any roleplaying material in years, unless you count a nice introduction for my game.

Quote from: Malleustein;1089522Marvel SAGA is my favourite superhero game, but it arrived at the tail end of TSR's time and reliance on custom cards (The Mighty Marvel Fate Deck!) means it can be hard to find at sane prices.

I have it still. Least the books. The cards no so sure on anymore. I actually just did not like the system compared to TSR's Marvel Superheroes RPG. Did not help that at the time I was getting progressively burned out on CCGs and card games at all.

Quote from: Omega;1089633I have it still. Least the books. The cards no so sure on anymore. I actually just did not like the system compared to TSR's Marvel Superheroes RPG. Did not help that at the time I was getting progressively burned out on CCGs and card games at all.

Never did like the SAGA system.  Too much crap to get lost too easily.  Lost cards weren't replaceable (or easily so).  They tried to foist SAGA onto the Dragonlance property, too, and it wasn't a success either.

Quote from: WillInNewHaven;1089632It depends on your definition of "enough credit," I suppose. In order to make a living, C.J. stopped designing games and started writing novels. Maybe he would have eventually even if he could make a living at game design but his stated reason was the better income. He still games but hasn't written any roleplaying material in years, unless you count a nice introduction for my game.

All true. I'm friends with CJ online and am up to speed on his situation.

If you mean that Unisystem doesn't get enough credit anymore, I agree. I kinda read the original question as games that never got enough credit. :)

SYSTEMS FAILURE
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_Failure
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/257178/Systems-FailureTM-RPG

I was surprised to see Palladium no longer has Systems Failure listed on their product website. Oddly, not option for POD on DriveThru either. It's Bill Coffin's Y2K setting which I find to be (a) the best presentation of PB's house system and (b) a really fun post-apocalyptic setting.  As the year 2000 dawned, extradimensional bugs which travel through electricity invaded Earth. Thus, any electrical outlet is a pop-out spot for a gigantic man eating bug. Human survivors now have to live without electrical lines and most cities are controlled by bug colonies which keep humans as food and breeding stock. Of course, the remains of the US gov't launched a man-bug hybrid program with some crazy superscience so in addition to the "normal" post-apoc classes, you can play a crazy mutant with techno-guns to blast bugs too (or you can leave them out as just crazy rumors told around the campfires).

Personally, I am burnt on zombies so I find Systems Failure a better game than Dead Reign, as the setting is more original and among post-apoc settings its "less grim" as humanity has a hard road ahead, but a strong possibility of victory.

Also, I like using the bugs in other Palladium settings.

SLA Industries.

90's alt-UK as fuck. Gives just as much fucks, too.

Quote from: kythri;1089643Never did like the SAGA system.  Too much crap to get lost too easily.  Lost cards weren't replaceable (or easily so).  They tried to foist SAGA onto the Dragonlance property, too, and it wasn't a success either.

SAGA would be my answer to the topic question, but I'd worked out how to adapt it to use a standard poker deck's distribution within a year of DL5A's release.

Nexus: the Infinite City. Here was a setting that literally could incorporate anywhere and anywhen, including other game settings, and was the original source of the Feng Shui system.

Big Eyes Small Mouth is an awesome RPG from the 90's

RECON was a classic 1980's RPG as well

Quote from: PrometheanVigil;1089658SLA Industries.

90's alt-UK as fuck. Gives just as much fucks, too.

Start a thread on SLA Industries! I remember hearing great things about it, but never saw a copy or a demo.

Someone had mentioned Mothership.

I remember it having the rule "Rolling 2d10 will give you a number between 2-20" while the picture of a d10 die had the numbers 0 - 9 on it.

WASTE WORLD by Bill King (Warhammer & 40k & WoW author)
https://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/13/13937.phtml

Definitely the best 40k RPG ever written!

Quote from: Spinachcat;1089674WASTE WORLD by Bill King (Warhammer & 40k & WoW author)
https://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/13/13937.phtml

Definitely the best 40k RPG ever written!

Ooooh, yes! Excellent game, and with a very slick system, too!

Quote from: PrometheanVigil;1089658SLA Industries.

90's alt-UK as fuck. Gives just as much fucks, too.

And has some of the best supplements ever.

Skyrealms of Jorune (http://skyrealmsofjorune.com/)

A sort of weird Scifi/Fantasy type RPG.
It initially comes off as Fantasy, but in reality is a sort of weird Scifi type setting.

I loved the world, setting, races, classes and so on.

The mechanics themselves were nothing remarkable and a bit unwieldy really, but it was such an interesting setting, I was willing to forgive that.

Seems there was a push to make it a thing again, but that effort has died.

Jumping in to mention Fantasy Dice (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/104345/Fantasy-Dice).

It strikes a really good balance of a sense of realism and easy character creation and gameplay for both the players and the GM. An NPC can be boiled down to a die pool, weapon, and armor. Compare that to other games that are roughly covering the same territory, like Burning Wheel and Mythras. Mind you, I like both of those too.

I wrote a bit (https://platonicsolid.blogspot.com/2012/10/gave-fantasy-dice-whirl.html) about giving the game a whirl.

Blue Planet -Biohazard Games
Upwind - Biohazard Games
Thoan - Descartes (in French)
Fading Suns

Allan.

Did I say Daniel Bayn's Wushu?

Quote from: grodog;1089969Blue Planet -Biohazard Games
Upwind - Biohazard Games
Thoan - Descartes (in French)
Fading Suns

Allan.

Fading Suns is getting another edition. Time will tell if it's as unplayable as the others.

Quote from: Warboss Squee;1090002Fading Suns is getting another edition. Time will tell if it's as unplayable as the others.

It's a neat kitchen-sink setting with a terrible system.  "Dune with the serial numbers filed off and Catholic Jedi" actually kind of works.

Quote from: ThatChrisGuy;1090004It's a neat kitchen-sink setting with a terrible system.  "Dune with the serial numbers filed off and Catholic Jedi" actually kind of works.

Absolutely. Love the setting. Never got a chance to play it because every time the subject is broached it becomes a talk about how busted the system is. And I've read the books, it's busted as hell.

Did I post "Spirit of '77"?

That game is so much fun. It hits the 70's action tropes so well you can't help but have a blast.

TORG.

I had a blast with that setting. You could do nearly everything with it but mecha. And I just enjoyed The Nile Empire and Terra so much.

Quote from: Darrin Kelley;1090072TORG.

I had a blast with that setting. You could do nearly everything with it but mecha. And I just enjoyed The Nile Empire and Terra so much.

Have you given the new version a try? It's fantastic. :)

Quote from: Dan Davenport;1090073Have you given the new version a try? It's fantastic. :)

Not yet. But I greatly look forward to it.

Quote from: Dan Davenport;1090073Have you given the new version a try? It's fantastic. :)

New version?

Allan.

Quote from: estar;1089532Harnmaster, the RPG where players role play because of combat rather than inspite of combat

I love that game; not so much the setting. :)

Quote from: grodog;1090076New version?

Allan.

TORG Eternity. Been available for a couple of years. I just haven't been able to get it yet.

The Living Land is the only cosm book they have put out so far. But they are really going all out wiith each cosm. Putting out a hardcover book for the cosm itself. And a hardcover book full of adventures for each cosm.

Quote from: Dan Davenport;1089621

Quote from: WillInNewHaven;1089578Unisystem, especially  the cinematic variety, especially the Buffy setting. If I want a light to medium rules set, I use it.

Oh, that's a great one. Did it really not get enough credit, though? AFMBE and Buffy seemed to be hugely popular to me.

They were popular during their heyday, but after the Buffy/Angel licenses expired, they never managed to put together the standalone version of the cinematic game, which was supposed to be called Beyond Human.

From what I have heard, Eden Studios was basically a sideline for its founders, whose primary business was running a game store. They tended to outsource most of the creative work, and after they lost the Buffy license most of their freelance team moved on to other things.

Quote from: Darrin Kelley;1090079TORG Eternity. Been available for a couple of years. I just haven't been able to get it yet.

The Living Land is the only cosm book they have put out so far. But they are really going all out wiith each cosm. Putting out a hardcover book for the cosm itself. And a hardcover book full of adventures for each cosm.

Thanks, will check it out.

Allan.

Quote from: Darrin Kelley;1090072TORG.

I had a blast with that setting. You could do nearly everything with it but mecha. And I just enjoyed The Nile Empire and Terra so much.

TORG was a great setting. We used to play that using the TORG system and using a GURPS hack back in high school

Quote from: Lurkndog;1090121They were popular during their heyday, but after the Buffy/Angel licenses expired, they never managed to put together the standalone version of the cinematic game, which was supposed to be called Beyond Human.

From what I have heard, Eden Studios was basically a sideline for its founders, whose primary business was running a game store. They tended to outsource most of the creative work, and after they lost the Buffy license most of their freelance team moved on to other things.

Beyond Human is just sitting on George's desk waiting to be edited, and will stay there for the foreseeable future. I don't think RPGs were always a sideline for the Eden guys, but they definitely are now. :(

Quote from: Dan Davenport;1090478Beyond Human is just sitting on George's desk waiting to be edited, and will stay there for the foreseeable future. I don't think RPGs were always a sideline for the Eden guys, but they definitely are now. :(

Which sucks frankly.

I will toss in Hackmaster 5e. I really dig the combat system. It's a tad crunchy, but I've never had a table of players all engaged throughout the entire combat as Hackmaster pulled off.

Thousand Suns was nice clean system for a utopian sci-fi stuff. I really wish it were more popular. I wonder if SWN or the big Traveller is actually better game?

Quote from: jux;1090539Thousand Suns was nice clean system for a utopian sci-fi stuff. I really wish it were more popular. I wonder if SWN or the big Traveller is actually better game?

I've wondered about Thousand Suns... there's not much out there about it.
When you say 'utopian sci-fi' does that mean more of a Star Trek vibe vs. Star Wars/Firefly/Aliens?

Not underrated in the German-speaking world, but nearly unknown in the English world:The Dark Eye (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Eye)

It has a stronger following in German-speaking areas than D&D or Pathfinder and I started playing it since 1984. It started as a D&D clone but has evolved over 5 editions to something that is very different from most of the English RPGs that I have played.

One key thing is that the world has an ongoing storyline for over 30 years. While classic RPG themes are available in TDE, games tend to be more story driven, since combat might not be more deadly, but it has a much longer last effect on characters. Also, while it's a fantasy world with magic, magic items are very sparse or low powered. In general, characters are at a lower power level (but very capable still) then in a D&D style game. People also say the world feels often more like 'Brothers Grimm' than 'Tolkien'.

The fifth edition, that was released in English in 2016, has a very high production value with great art. The game system has some unique mechanics that I really like: A triple D20 roll with a buy-down quality mechanic, that makes a high skill value either the chance to make something awesome (high quality) or make mediocre things regularly. And an active attack defense roll system, where armor reduces damage.

It is also a roll-under system, so a '1' is a critical success and a '20' is a critical fail, so a great system for ppl who are not good at D&D or Pathfinder ;) (or for all the dice you always wanted to burn).

Quote from: Trond;1089435Houses of the Blooded (a "story game", eeeep!) is awesome fun and easy to run with minimal prep time.

I wholeheartedly agree! I love the mechanics!
I'm running a one-shot on free rpg day at my flgs and handing out some printed up quickstarts.

Quote from: Vendolis;1090549Not underrated in the German-speaking world, but nearly unknown in the English world:The Dark Eye (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Eye)

I have the fifth (Ulisses Spiele) edition and it's a really solid game. It's a lot of fun. And as you mentioned, the production value is incredibly high, especially for the cover price.

How does the English translation of The Dark Eye hold up?

https://static3.paizo.com/products/btpy9id2?The-Dark-Eye-Core-Rules-Hardcover

Paizo was hyping it a while back, I remember getting marketing cards in a couple of orders from them...

The Ghost Dog RPG is almost unknown, but an excellent game for a GM and single player.

Quote from: kythri;1090604How does the English translation of The Dark Eye hold up?

I have to preface this with the fact that I am involved with the English translation since about 2 month ago.  What has come out is pretty solid, the Aventurian Almanac has won a Silver ENine for best setting. There are some complaints that there has not been very good errata support for the last year. I can say this will change very fast. There is currently a Kickstarter running for the Magic rules (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ulissesspiele/the-dark-eye-magic-of-aventuria (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ulissesspiele/the-dark-eye-magic-of-aventuria)).
There are very few games that can match the quality across rules, supplements and modules.  Funny thing, they also have some Choose-your-Own-Adventure-Style modules for solo play. (Though its only two in english at the moment, one out already, one in the Kickstarter)

I have been trying to promote this since it was released and ran games at GenCon and local conventions. I will run 34h of it at Origins next week, and then again a bunch of games at GenCon.

Interesting.  Was Paizo involved in any way with any part of the import/translation?  The way they were hyping it, it really seemed like more involvement than just being a seller/distributor of the book.

I ask, because some of the fonts look similar - most noticeably, the Pathfinder Core Rulebook and Dark Eye Core Rulebook, the specific font for CORE RULEBOOK.

Quote from: Dan Davenport;1090478Beyond Human is just sitting on George's desk waiting to be edited, and will stay there for the foreseeable future. I don't think RPGs were always a sideline for the Eden guys, but they definitely are now. :(

Thanks for the info, Dan!

Quote from: kythri;1090696Interesting.  Was Paizo involved in any way with any part of the import/translation?  The way they were hyping it, it really seemed like more involvement than just being a seller/distributor of the book.

They were only the distributor at the beginning. In Germany, Ulisses publishes all the Paizo products in their German Versions though (though they also translate and publish D&D, Battletech, Savageworlds, World of Darkness and some other systems).

Quote from: Vendolis;1090683Funny thing, they also have some Choose-your-Own-Adventure-Style modules for solo play. (Though its only two in english at the moment, one out already, one in the Kickstarter)

I did not know this. Added 'em to my to-buy list.

Quote from: Warboss Squee;1090049Absolutely. Love the setting. Never got a chance to play it because every time the subject is broached it becomes a talk about how busted the system is. And I've read the books, it's busted as hell.

Agreed, the Fading Suns setting deserves so much more than the kludgy Victory Point System, which put me off running the game for 17 years.  I finally broke down and converted it to the Barbarians of Lemuria engine.  Not a perfect hack (still a work in progress), but it was wonderful to actually adventure in the setting.

Quote from: nightlamp;1090926Agreed, the Fading Suns setting deserves so much more than the kludgy Victory Point System, which put me off running the game for 17 years.  I finally broke down and converted it to the Barbarians of Lemuria engine.  Not a perfect hack (still a work in progress), but it was wonderful to actually adventure in the setting.

My group tried to hack it with OVA (that's an anime style narrative game for you purity assholes) and it worked for everyone but me.

I want a game where a bullet, laser beam or plasma blast mean different things and different armors react accordingly. But without 600 pages of minutia like how to tread water with nine pages of modifiers thereof.

Genesys comes the closest, but doesn't fully scratch the itch.

Does Fading Suns d20 have any redeeming qualities, over the Victory Point system?

Quote from: Warboss Squee;1090952My group tried to hack it with OVA (that's an anime style narrative game for you purity assholes) and it worked for everyone but me.

I want a game where a bullet, laser beam or plasma blast mean different things and different armors react accordingly. But without 600 pages of minutia like how to tread water with nine pages of modifiers thereof.

Genesys comes the closest, but doesn't fully scratch the itch.

Not familiar with OVA or Genesys.  In my BoL-ish hack, I tried to address the weapon vs. armor issue by using Dungeon World-style "tags" for damage and soak types.  I ended up not really putting it to the test though, since only slug weapons were used in the adventure I ran.

Quote from: kythri;1090958Does Fading Suns d20 have any redeeming qualities, over the Victory Point system?

I never played the D20 version (and heard nothing but bad things about it), but I guess one possibly-redeeming quality is that you could easily reskin D&D monsters as aliens.

Quote from: kythri;1090958Does Fading Suns d20 have any redeeming qualities, over the Victory Point system?

No.  Any Fading Suns book is best seen as fodder for your sci-fi system of choice.

Quote from: Warboss Squee;1090952I want a game where a bullet, laser beam or plasma blast mean different things and different armors react accordingly. But without 600 pages of minutia like how to tread water with nine pages of modifiers thereof.

Genesys comes the closest, but doesn't fully scratch the itch.

Wait, how does Genesys have different damage types interact with different armors? I'm familiar with the FFG SW game, and it has almost nothing on this apart from some odd armors that might give an extra point of Soak against Blast weapons or something similar. I own Genesys, but I have never played or run it and have only read over the book lightly. Did I miss something?

Quote from: HappyDaze;1090968Wait, how does Genesys have different damage types interact with different armors? I'm familiar with the FFG SW game, and it has almost nothing on this apart from some odd armors that might give an extra point of Soak against Blast weapons or something similar. I own Genesys, but I have never played or run it and have only read over the book lightly. Did I miss something?

Genesys has weapon tags like Accurate, Pierce, Breach, etc, that determine how weapons behave, and with the exception of accurate how the weapons damage interacts with the targets armor.

So in FS terms, you could have a pistol equivalent of a .45. Eyeball it at dmg 6 (I'd have a 9mm at dmg 5) medium range because it's a pistol and a standard crit requirement of 3. No tags, so armor interacts normally, unless you mod the weapon, which we're not getting into here.

A laser pistol might be dmg 5 for sake of argument, still medium range with the same crit. But give it the Accurate tag so you get bonus dice to hit, and Pierce so it ignores some damage reduction. So in the end it's easier to hit with (and crit possibly due to the extra die) and better dmg.

A Plasma pistol would have higher dmg, likely an 8, a lower crit requirement at 2 or 1 with the same range. Breach means fuck your armor and your toughness, you take all the dmg and Vicious means crits hurt even more.

Quote from: Warboss Squee;1090952My group tried to hack it with OVA (that's an anime style narrative game for you purity assholes) and it worked for everyone but me.

I want a game where a bullet, laser beam or plasma blast mean different things and different armors react accordingly. But without 600 pages of minutia like how to tread water with nine pages of modifiers thereof.

Genesys comes the closest, but doesn't fully scratch the itch.

I get why OVA may've not scratched that itch for you, but treating weapons as customized attacks can get pretty close. But yeah, how health and endurance works mitigates that somewhat. Totally unrelated, I used MERP critical tables to spice combat up and yeah, it worked. Damage value alignment was close enough.

Quote from: Eisenmann;1090985I get why OVA may've not scratched that itch for you, but treating weapons as customized attacks can get pretty close. But yeah, how health and endurance works mitigates that somewhat. Totally unrelated, I used MERP critical tables to spice combat up and yeah, it worked. Damage value alignment was close enough.

We actually got a lot of use out of OVA for other things, just not that.

Quote from: Warboss Squee;1090974Genesys has weapon tags like Accurate, Pierce, Breach, etc, that determine how weapons behave, and with the exception of accurate how the weapons damage interacts with the targets armor.

So in FS terms, you could have a pistol equivalent of a .45. Eyeball it at dmg 6 (I'd have a 9mm at dmg 5) medium range because it's a pistol and a standard crit requirement of 3. No tags, so armor interacts normally, unless you mod the weapon, which we're not getting into here.

A laser pistol might be dmg 5 for sake of argument, still medium range with the same crit. But give it the Accurate tag so you get bonus dice to hit, and Pierce so it ignores some damage reduction. So in the end it's easier to hit with (and crit possibly due to the extra die) and better dmg.

A Plasma pistol would have higher dmg, likely an 8, a lower crit requirement at 2 or 1 with the same range. Breach means fuck your armor and your toughness, you take all the dmg and Vicious means crits hurt even more.

OK, so nothing more than SW did then.

Quote from: kythri;1090958Does Fading Suns d20 have any redeeming qualities, over the Victory Point system?

Sort of.

Having played both (one session only, since they both sucked) here's my take. D20 is better than VPS, but that's not saying much. FS D20 was one of the earlier attempts to graft an existing game onto the D20 engine and it shows. They tried to both convert some of the base 3E classes and invent new classes, and it doesn't entirely work. Some of the classes are obviously superior to others, but occupy the same concept space. So you have to steer players away from trap options. But trap options and exploitable combos are nothing new to D20 players.

On the plus side, the Psychic and Theurge classes are not reskinned versions of the Magic User and Cleric, and the "spell" system is completely new, not the same rehashed d20 grimoire. "Magic" is spell-point based, not Vancian. The star of the show was meant to be the Social feats. VPS has a Gurpsian approach, where you buy Edges (or whatever) with points and select Flaws (or whatever) to get points. In the D20 version, you "buy edges" by selecting feats. The Social feats are stuff like promotions, allies, contacts, favors, etc. Now if you are thinking that no player is going to select any of that stuff over Improved Critical or Power Attack, you are absolutely right. To make matters worse, FS D20 (like most early D20 incarnations) has dead levels, so you're still consuming a lot of feat slots to make the complex feat trees work.

A better design choice would have been Open feats on the odd levels and Social feats on the evens, but I'm not even sure that would work. Honestly if I were to run FS again, I'd use Gurps. The VPS version is essentially "a version of Gurps that doesn't work." (Point buy, atts and skills, roll under, ads and disads, spells, social status, etc.)

Quote from: HappyDaze;1090994OK, so nothing more than SW did then.

It's the same core system being used for different games. It half way works for Fading Suns abd I hacked it for 40k easily enough.

Quote from: Aglondir;1090999Sort of.

Having played both (one session only, since they both sucked) here's my take. D20 is better than VPS, but that's not saying much. FS D20 was one of the earlier attempts to graft an existing game onto the D20 engine and it shows. They tried to both convert some of the base 3E classes and invent new classes, and it doesn't entirely work. Some of the classes are obviously superior to others, but occupy the same concept space. So you have to steer players away from trap options. But trap options and exploitable combos are nothing new to D20 players.

On the plus side, the Psychic and Theurge classes are not reskinned versions of the Magic User and Cleric, and the "spell" system is completely new, not the same rehashed d20 grimoire. "Magic" is spell-point based, not Vancian. The star of the show was meant to be the Social feats. VPS has a Gurpsian approach, where you buy Edges (or whatever) with points and select Flaws (or whatever) to get points. In the D20 version, you "buy edges" by selecting feats. The Social feats are stuff like promotions, allies, contacts, favors, etc. Now if you are thinking that no player is going to select any of that stuff over Improved Critical or Power Attack, you are absolutely right. To make matters worse, FS D20 (like most early D20 incarnations) has dead levels, so you're still consuming a lot of feat slots to make the complex feat trees work.

A better design choice would have been Open feats on the odd levels and Social feats on the evens, but I'm not even sure that would work. Honestly if I were to run FS again, I'd use Gurps. The VPS version is essentially "a version of Gurps that doesn't work." (Point buy, atts and skills, roll under, ads and disads, spells, social status, etc.)

See, I'm the guy who would take the social feats.

Why have Power Attack, when I can have troops loyal to me that have Power Attack?

Quote from: kythri;1090958Does Fading Suns d20 have any redeeming qualities, over the Victory Point system?

Nope. I've run FS20 and FSVP and I had a much better time running FS using Classic Traveller.

It's a great IP, and probably would do well with a 5e version.

I played in a FS D6 campaign and D6 worked fine as always.

Quote from: Warboss Squee;1091004See, I'm the guy who would take the social feats.

Why have Power Attack, when I can have troops loyal to me that have Power Attack?

I can see your point, but in some cases it wasn't clear what a lot of the social feats did. What's the difference between Rank 4 Church Official and Rank 5? Is it worth dumping 5 feats into? And wouldn't it have been better to have that progression as a class feature of the Priest? Also, if "Military Rank 4" gives you troops, how does that square with the Leadership feat?  

In the end, it seemed like a good idea that needed more work. The Aeon D20 lines (Adventure D20, Aberrant D20, and Trinity D20) also did Social feats, but they were much better.

Quote from: SpinachcatNope. I've run FS20 and FSVP and I had a much better time running FS using Classic Traveller.

Yeah, FS Trav would be awesome. The VPS character creation is already sort of Traveller-esqe: for example, if you are a Priest you select Cathedral, country parish, or (something else) and each one gives you a different skill package. There are also three paths for Noble, etc. You could easily map this to the three specialties in Mongoose Traveller. And Traveller's Social Status att is perfect for the genre. Trav's psionics are a bit bland, and you'd need new rules for Theurgy, Hubris, and Urge, but otherwise Trav would be great.

Quote from: grodog;1089969Blue Planet -Biohazard Games
Upwind - Biohazard Games
Thoan - Descartes (in French)
Fading Suns

Allan.

Has anyone here actually played Blue Planet? If so, how did it go?

I was just talking about West End Ghostbusters RPG with my brother on the phone last night.   One of those more light hearted games that sounds goofy, but was tons of fun to play.  You play a "start up" franchise of Ghostbusters, inc, with all the financial and business struggles tied in to the super-natural elements.

In the process of googling it for the link below, I see it was written by Sandy Peterson, Lynn Willis and Greg Stafford! No wonder it was such a blast to run.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghostbusters_(role-playing_game)


What else... oh TMNT & Other Strangeness.  

I had a lot of fun running Immortal, the Invisible War but man does it seem dated now.

I was really into Earthdawn for a few years as a teenager / young adult.

Quote from: Trond;1089435Houses of the Blooded (a "story game", eeeep!) is awesome fun and easy to run with minimal prep time.

It's such a good game!!!

Quote from: Doc Sammy;1089661Big Eyes Small Mouth is an awesome RPG from the 90's

RECON was a classic 1980's RPG as well

I never did get the chance to run or play RECON, always wanted to try it. Was playing a lot of Morrow Project back in the day. When Twilight 2000 came out in the 80's, they made it really easy to expand Morrow Project, and it fit right in with the earlier Post-Apocalyptic game.

For those talking about SLA there was a kickstarter for a 2nd edition that just wrapped up - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nightfall/sla-industries-2nd-edition?ref=nav_search&result=project&term=SLA%20Industries

Games I think that should be on the list:
Palladium Fantasy 1st ed
Heavy Gear
Alternity

Quote from: Trond;1109357Has anyone here actually played Blue Planet? If so, how did it go?

Yes indeed, but I've only played with Jeff Barber, so my perspective is probably somewhat skewed.  You can listen to a BP RPR podcast at http://slangdesign.com/rppr/?s=%22blue+planet%22

Allan.

Tales of Blades and Heroes  (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/100334/Tales-of-Blades-and-Heroes-Fantasy-RPG-rules)
Index card sized characters, low complexity, highly tactical, unique fantasy roleplaying game with a word-based magic system that actually works

Honor and Intrigue

Which is basically 7th Sea done right.

I really wanted the second edition of 7th Sea to follow the ideas presented in Honor and Intrigue... but it decided to go it's own...very different, very storey gamey direction... Then also messed up a bunch of the cool lore and inserted worse lore.

So Honor and Intrigue stayed relevant for my swashbuckling interests, despite 7th Seas 2nd ed existing.

The original Dragon Warriors RPG.
It came in a paperback pocketbook size and there were lots of expansions books that added new classes, races, adventures, campaigns etc.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Warriors

There was a new edition in larger book, which was cool and all, but not as convenient.
There was something special about those handy smaller books.

Quote from: Orphan81;1109493Honor and Intrigue

Which is basically 7th Sea done right.

I really wanted the second edition of 7th Sea to follow the ideas presented in Honor and Intrigue... but it decided to go it's own...very different, very storey gamey direction... Then also messed up a bunch of the cool lore and inserted worse lore.

So Honor and Intrigue stayed relevant for my swashbuckling interests, despite 7th Seas 2nd ed existing.

Ooo.  Will have to check that out.

Quote from: Brendan;1109542Ooo.  Will have to check that out.

It's not at all like 7th Sea sadly. Still a fantastic game tho.

Sadly, I've found some games that have awesome settings but half-assed systems. Notable among them is Polaris (the underseas sci-fi game). Others have systems I like (such as Cinematic Unisystem) but are hampered by being tied to limited & largely dead properties (like Buffy, Angel, and Army of Darkness).

Quote from: HappyDaze;1109767Sadly, I've found some games that have awesome settings but half-assed systems. Notable among them is Polaris (the underseas sci-fi game). Others have systems I like (such as Cinematic Unisystem) but are hampered by being tied to limited & largely dead properties (like Buffy, Angel, and Army of Darkness).

Anything from FASA meets this description, IMO. Great settings, lousy game mechanics.

I've long thought Heroquest 2 and HQ: Glorantha have been massively underrated as more narrative games, particularly for supers or the epic-style questing in Glorantha (which I've always thought felt kludgy and difficult to implement and match thematically in vanilla runequest). The rules are a bit like a more freeform Over the Edge/WaRP. The rules for Masteries are cool and scale really well.

I'll suffer the slings and arrows -

I've become a pretty big fan of FFG's Star Wars. It's got some flaws. But it definitely captures the Star Wars I like to play. And it gives me room to use a lot of my d6 and even Saga books to round out the fluff and in-game material that they didn't think of.

this question seems awfully subjective and personal.

which is best, merlot or moscato  ?

I've gotten into minimalism lately. So:

OD&D (not well-known outside OSR online circles)
TWERPS
Fudge
SLUG
Ghostbusters
Star Wars 1E
Searchers of the Unknown

Nightbane/spawn-Has the usual cludgy Palladium mechanics but is a blast to play if you ignore that.

For me its Barbarians of Lemuria, basically a simple system that starts PC at low level heroic power scale and manages to remain fun for mid length campaigns. It's also incredibly easy to reskin for other genres, for example I use it for my current ongoing Cyberpunk/Military/Action manga game.

Barbarians of Lemuria are on my list. I need a revisit.

I like 'The Hero's Journey' as a great little D20 OSR ruleset, it doesn't get much profile but it's a great purchase.
Very tight little digest-sized hardcover corebook, comphrensive and sucinct
(with a cool character sheet available online)

Quote from: Mankcam;1110719I like 'The Hero's Journey' as a great little D20 OSR ruleset, it doesn't get much profile but it's a great purchase.
Very tight little digest-sized hardcover corebook, comphrensive and sucinct
(with a cool character sheet available online)

Do you have a link handy for this one?

I went a-searching and even after filtering out Joseph Campbell, I found multiple tabletop RPGs with this name (including one with a very glitzy website and no apparent link to their actual game??).

Cheers :D

I got my copy of The Black Hack 2e well after release, and I still got one from one of the 1st printing of 2000 copies. I feel like that it makes it relatively obscure, while at the same time it is a great distilling of D&D into it's most basic parts while being a very robust system.

Quote from: insubordinate polyhedral;1110745Do you have a link handy for this one?

I went a-searching and even after filtering out Joseph Campbell, I found multiple tabletop RPGs with this name (including one with a very glitzy website and no apparent link to their actual game??).

Cheers :D

Print:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/barrelridergames?searchTerms=hero%27s+journey

PDF:
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/177622/The-Heros-Journey-Fantasy-Roleplaying-Swords--Wizardry

I think the White Hack has some neat ideas. It's a kind-of-OSR game that is based on the Sword & Wizardry Whitebox. This review is good: https://dieheart.net/whitehack-2e-char-creation/

But, basically, the skill-monkey class, the Deft, has some interesting free-form character creation and mechanics. I feel like a scrub for not explaining it better than that, but it's been a while since I read it and I think my copy is down in my truck right now.

Kult. 1e, though, not that abomination wearing a Kult skinsuit that was 3e.

I mean, I could have said Fading Suns, but I think someone beat me to it...

Godbound could stand to be more popular.

Basically a way better version of the "I" in BECMI

Rifts

A great gonzo kitchen sink setting hampered by poor rules organzation, copy and paste errors and the general unwillingness by both the owner of the ip and some of fanbase to try and fix any issues.

Dead Reign. IMO the best zombie survival game out there. Tons of great random tables, excellent flavor text, and the rules work unobtrusively.

Magic World... which is Stormbringer without the Moorcock IP... still a great game, and with a minimal example setting that had a lot of potential.
Too bad old-Chaosium undersold it and nu-Chaosium declared it dead.
It's not pretty, and some folks make fun of its name... not that such things really matter at the table, but it really did deserve better than what it got.

Quote from: Simlasa;1111518Magic World... which is Stormbringer without the Moorcock IP... still a great game, and with a minimal example setting that had a lot of potential.
Too bad old-Chaosium undersold it and nu-Chaosium declared it dead.
It's not pretty, and some folks make fun of its name... not that such things really matter at the table, but it really did deserve better than what it got.

I'd never heard of this one before, and to be honest I'm not very familiar with much Chaosium stuff that was made after the early 90's, but it seems like a fleshed out version of the Worlds of Wonder fantasy role-playing stuff from much earlier. I think I would have loved this if it was released in the 80's, and they really could have used some kind of fantasy game that wasn't burdened by one kind of proprietary crap or another. When was it first published?

I don't know if anyone else in this thread mentioned DragonQuest. Not exactly a great game, and I'm sure it's real easy to get a copy of it in some version or other, but I have a soft spot for it since it was one of the first RPGs I saw that was a decent, playable, alternative to AD&D in the early 80's. Not that there weren't plenty of those, but DragonQuest popped up in chain bookstores and toy stores so it was easy to get as a kid.

For that matter, in a more RuneQuest vein, how about Element Masters (which I think was later released as Gate Wars, or something similar)? It was basically a straight RuneQuest steal, but it replaced the Gloranthan setting with the much more light-hearted & appealing Vinyan one. I also remember it having lots of idiosyncratic and detailed rules for frivolous things like drunkenness, and indigestion, and possibly a 'leering' mechanic.

Most of the games I like are pretty popular ones except for two:

The Warren: hack of Apocalypse World for rabbits (completely Watership Down). Real standby for convention one-shots, some friends and I play this every time at our local convensions.

Specifically the SECOND edition (not Atlantean Edition) of Conan d20 since it patches the only really annoying thing about the earlier versions of the otherwise excellent magic system: the stupid defensive blast rule by replacing it with much more flavorful defensive magic. They also fixed a few other things while keeping over 90% the same. Not a lot of people bought this version of the game since it came out when people were getting pretty burned out on d20 but it's really the best version of d20 rules I've played. However d20 rules have a lot of annoying niggling things that get under people's skin (like skill points) but I'd love to have a version of the rules ported over to 5ed.

Quote from: grodog;1109429Yes indeed, but I've only played with Jeff Barber, so my perspective is probably somewhat skewed.  You can listen to a BP RPR podcast at http://slangdesign.com/rppr/?s=%22blue+planet%22

Allan.

:-( Not a lot of Blue Planet on there http://slangdesign.com/rppr/?s=blue+planet (http://slangdesign.com/rppr/?s=blue+planet)

edit: Found some at  a different url http://actualplay.roleplayingpublicradio.com/category/systems/misc/blue-planet/ (http://actualplay.roleplayingpublicradio.com/category/systems/misc/blue-planet/)

Quote from: sureshot;1111437Rifts

A great gonzo kitchen sink setting hampered by poor rules organzation, copy and paste errors and the general unwillingness by both the owner of the ip and some of fanbase to try and fix any issues.

Savage Rifts my man. They have even updated it to the new edition now. 6 books of Rifts goodness in a good system (even if that system is not to everyone's tastes).

Quote from: Rhedyn;1111568Savage Rifts my man. They have even updated it to the new edition now. 6 books of Rifts goodness in a good system (even if that system is not to everyone's tastes).

As a backer of the second Savage Rifts (one of very few I've backed), I have to say I am pleased with the end products and I was very pleased with the communication and progress of the kickstarter too.

True Savage Rifts is imo much better. Still sad to see the untapped potential of the PB set of rules. Given how the fanbase expect a miraculous recovery while wanting nothing to change I expect no recovery of PB.  Is it six books with the original Savage Rifts 1E core or six with thd new edition?

Quote from: sureshot;1111587True Savage Rifts is imo much better. Still sad to see the untapped potential of the PB set of rules. Given how the fanbase expect a miraculous recovery while wanting nothing to change I expect no recovery of PB.  Is it six books with the original Savage Rifts 1E core or six with thd new edition?

The three original Savage Rifts books are updated (plus errata is included) plus three new books for a total of six books.

Quote from: yancy;1111523I'd never heard of this one before, and to be honest I'm not very familiar with much Chaosium stuff that was made after the early 90's, but it seems like a fleshed out version of the Worlds of Wonder fantasy role-playing stuff from much earlier. I think I would have loved this if it was released in the 80's, and they really could have used some kind of fantasy game that wasn't burdened by one kind of proprietary crap or another. When was it first published?

It has the name as a callback to Worlds of Wonder but the rules are from Stormbringer and some of its supplements... without any Elric stuff. It's fairly streamlined BRP, first (only?) published in 2013.

Quote from: HappyDaze;1111591The three original Savage Rifts books are updated (plus errata is included) plus three new books for a total of six books.

Those updated Savage Rifts books are free downloads if you already bought them at DTRPG. A nice touch I thought.

I picked up the Blood and Banes book and it is pretty decent, if the writing at times seems mailed in.

Shadow of the Demon Lord. Imagine if D&D and Warhammer Fantasy Role Play had a love child.

Quote from: Spike;1111432Kult. 1e, though, not that abomination wearing a Kult skinsuit that was 3e.

I mean, I could have said Fading Suns, but I think someone beat me to it...

Is Kult 3E the one they recently Kickstarted?

yes.

Quote from: Aglondir;1112224Is Kult 3E the one they recently Kickstarted?

Nope. The recently Kickstarted one is the 4th edition and is officially called "Kult: Divinity Lost". Looks pretty good, BTW.

Quote from: Itachi;1112237Nope. The recently Kickstarted one is the 4th edition and is officially called "Kult: Divinity Lost". Looks pretty good, BTW.

Ok, so I'm off on edition numbers, somehow.  Divinity Lost LOOKS beautiful. Its a gorgeous book, no doubt, but its a terrible take on Kult on just about every level.

Quote from: Spike;1112243Ok, so I'm off on edition numbers, somehow.  Divinity Lost LOOKS beautiful. Its a gorgeous book, no doubt, but its a terrible take on Kult on just about every level.

What do you think is terrible in it? Never played it, but Ive read it and it looked pretty good to me. I've always thought the original rules supported poorly the game's central themes, while the current ones seem to do it much better.

Quote from: Itachi;1112277What do you think is terrible in it? Never played it, but Ive read it and it looked pretty good to me. I've always thought the original rules supported poorly the game's central themes, while the current ones seem to do it much better.

I'm not sure what I did with my book so I'm mostly going off of my initial impressions from... last year? yeah...

You may be right about the system if its more to you taste.  I think Kult works better with a hard grounded system for characters to reinforce their perceptions of the real world before you start dragging in all the supernatural elements. On that, I really felt the Divinity Lost focused way too much on front loading Metropolis and all its weirdness, and then further compounded it by focusing on the writers (of the new editions) personal tastes, rather than giving you a more sandbox overview... if that makes sense.

Its weird that I can't find it... I could do with a good dose of nerd-raging over trivial shit :D

Quote from: Itachi;1112237Nope. The recently Kickstarted one is the 4th edition and is officially called "Kult: Divinity Lost". Looks pretty good, BTW.

If you like PbtA.

Quote from: Gagarth;1111537:-( Not a lot of Blue Planet on there http://slangdesign.com/rppr/?s=blue+planet (http://slangdesign.com/rppr/?s=blue+planet)

edit: Found some at  a different url http://actualplay.roleplayingpublicradio.com/category/systems/misc/blue-planet/ (http://actualplay.roleplayingpublicradio.com/category/systems/misc/blue-planet/)

Thanks, will check those out!

Allan.

Quote from: Gagarth;1112315If you like PbtA.

That is the biggest gripe I've had with Kult: Divinity Lost. Not a fan of PbtA games. That being said, I ran a few sessions for one player to try it out and we had a good time. The book is evocative and inspiring. The system did nothing to help that run smoothly, however the character creation was faster than 1e and we were able to get right into the game. The advantage of the PbtA type systems is the streamlined character creation.

Here, a review of Kult: Divinity Lost:

https://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/18/18031.phtml

QuoteCharacter creation starts by choosing an archetype out of the 25 on offer. Twenty are Aware (e.g. the Careerist, the Fixed, the Deceiver etc); the PC is knowledgeable of the world's inconsistencies. Four are Enlightened (the Abomination, the Death Magician, the Disciple, the Reverend), with an advanced understanding of reality and unlocked powers. These require different stories and challenges. One Archetype (the Sleeper) is special, and can only see play following a GM's approval seeing how disruptive it can be to the game. Rules are provided for players to create their own archetypes, should they not be satisfied with the ones on offer. An archetype covers the dark secrets, disadvantages, advantages, attribute modifiers, looks, and relations of the character. Some are mere suggestions, and the players can opt for something different.

Dark Secrets are windows into traumatic, mystical, or guilt-laden episodes in the character's past. I am counting 17 of them, each with a selection of personal drives. As an example, Forbidden Knowledge leads to 'reveal the truth to the world, 'acquire power or knowledge', 'explore the forbidden truth', 'fight the enemy', and 'escape your pursuers'.

...

The Madness is the part of the book that guides a GM towards organizing a game of Kult. The rules should be hidden, and everything should be translated into a narrative. The GM should use a blend of paranoia, of insinuation of the supernatural, of questions whose answers are slowly revealed, while at the same time offering opportunities to the characters to be cool. The game operates in scenes (what other games would have called encounters), which may be anything from an investigation of a murder scene to pillow talk between a PC and his lover. A story is a campaign, an amalgamation of many scenes that make narrative sense. Just as PCs have Moves the GM has some of his own. Soft GM moves are preventable, hard moves are not. Examples of moves include capturing someone, creating problems for future resolution, dealing damage, using disadvantages etc.

Due to the dark and horrific games that the game deals with, the players have to adhere to the Horror Contract; it is literally called that, i.e. the players agree to help the GM scare them along with the characters. This supposes a lot more than building atmosphere, staying in the scene, being purposefully unpleasant as a GM etc. It presupposes knowing your players, so that your can scare them. A simple method of communicating discretely and in advance which topics a player does not wish the campaign do deal with will eliminate the unwanted, as opposed to the wanted, unpleasantness.

Setting Up A Story is a short chapter with advice on how to create Kult campaigns. The advice is very practical, and almost becomes a formula. Kult is the only game I know with a 6-page chapter devoted to the First Session alone, with all kinds of advice on how the PCs meet up, what is the context etc. Kult is a contemporary game, yet it doesn't have to take place literally today. It can be situated in the last days of the Soviet Union, in Harlem in the late 2000s, or in Yugoslavia during the bloody wars. Amongst others, the GM will use an Intrigue Map, a web of hubs and links that connect people and events. The more a campaign progresses, the more the map will adapt and grow.

Some art from the book:

(https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcQBkVMCjZg9AajRThk8Kr3hgPwgedg6cLRurk8eQhWawxctCOSl)

(https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcStujfvIQSbEpHbJjCJCwLfZGmWkvbSbHnoujpwxBUcYMuStJBT)

(https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcRYCYHaT-2YkEp5ZUmcU4VqZq2k_2j-plaE5zKmrNJPSz8kzmjc)

Quote from: Itachi;1112343Here, a review of Kult: Divinity Lost:

https://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/18/18031.phtml



Some art from the book:

(https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcQBkVMCjZg9AajRThk8Kr3hgPwgedg6cLRurk8eQhWawxctCOSl)

(https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcStujfvIQSbEpHbJjCJCwLfZGmWkvbSbHnoujpwxBUcYMuStJBT)

(https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcRYCYHaT-2YkEp5ZUmcU4VqZq2k_2j-plaE5zKmrNJPSz8kzmjc)

Oh good, yet another classic RPG setting turned into a narrative shitshow.

Quote from: CRKruegerOh good, yet another classic RPG setting turned into a narrative shitshow.

Yeah, because a system that fits badly or completely ignores it's subject themes is the way to go. Yay for "classic" games. :rolleyes:

Okay, a couple more:

Beyond the Wall and other Adventures. One of the best things to come out of the OSR in my opinion. Mixes in some neat concepts of community belonging and protection and lifepaths. Unfortunately does not enjoy the popularity it deserves.

Undying: a diceless PbtA about Vampire politics and intrigue through the eras. You can have a game in the medieval Spain during the Inquisition, another one in belle epoque Paris and another in modern day America as part of the same campaign and it runs flawless. I've heard people call it the best PbtA implementation yet and it doesn't sound absurd.

Quote from: Itachi;1112403Yeah, because a system that fits badly or completely ignores it's subject themes is the way to go. Yay for "classic" games. :rolleyes:

Funny thing you can modify those classic systems to fit the themes you want.  It is called house ruling, or in this case additional official rules that the dev added.

Quote from: Itachi;1112343Here, a review of Kult: Divinity Lost:
https://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/18/18031.phtml

A review from RPG.net get the fuck out of here. I am sure this (//this) is one of your favourite scenarios for Kult:PbtA.

Quote from: Gagarth;1112457A review from RPG.net get the fuck out of here. I am sure this (//this) is one of your favourite scenarios for Kult:PbtA.

Sorry I don't get your point. The guy seems to give a pretty good description of the game, enough for people to know how it works.

Anyway, here is another one from a different site

https://www.geeknative.com/62413/uncommonly-adult-rpg-kult-divinity-lost/

Quote from: Gagarth;1112457A review from RPG.net get the fuck out of here. I am sure this (//this) is one of your favourite scenarios for Kult:PbtA.

RPG.net was known as a review site before it was known for its forums, and both predate the current orthodoxy by more than a decade. The review side of the site has been in a long decline, and hasn't exactly picked up a ton of new reviewers promoting the the latest dogma; most are holdovers from the times before, and few have a significant presence on the forums. So the reviews have been largely insulated from the political hardening of the forums. You probably won't find cheerleading for Trump because someone might notice, but that really doesn't belong in a review anyway.

Quote from: CRKrueger;1112400Oh good, yet another classic RPG setting turned into a narrative shitshow.

Nah. Their implementation of the AWE is actually really good. Much more classic than narrative.

Quote from: trechriron;1112734Nah. Their implementation of the AWE is actually really good. Much more classic than narrative.

That was also my experience with it.

Is the censored edition of inferior quality in some way to the uncensored one? I've heard some images got worse and even some texts got ommited. Not that it's that important to me, just wanna know.

Quote from: Itachi;1112761Is the censored edition of inferior quality in some way to the uncensored one? I've heard some images got worse and even some texts got ommited. Not that it's that important to me, just wanna know.

the only difference between the censored edition and the uncensored editions of Divinity Lost is the uncensored version has nipples on it.
that's it.
Uncensored may have been a kickstarter exclusive, but other than that. Nipples.  (they may have been bleeding I'd have to doublecheck)

I did not know there was a censored edition and uncensored editions, thanks for the information.


TweakBox (https://tweakbox.mobi/) word counter (https://wordcounter.onl/) Tutuapp (https://tutuappx.com/)

Quote from: Armchair Gamer;1089659SAGA would be my answer to the topic question, but I'd worked out how to adapt it to use a standard poker deck's distribution within a year of DL5A's release.

I agree about SAGA, specifically the DL version. I was never into DL that much, but I liked the simplicity of SAGA and the fact that it fit inside a neat-sized box. (Similar to the old OD&D box, actually.) I haven't played in a while but at the time I bought some supplements and extra decks and they are all stored in the original box. Also neat that they provided a conversion from SAGA to AD&D (2E, I think) in one of the products, so I could use my old school stuff with the SAGA system when I wanted. :)

Atomic Highway does not get near enough love. simple to run/play it is way underrated

MegaTraveller is great and hugely underrated. It had one of the best task resolution systems I've ever seen and the setting was amazing (an entire universe spiraling into post-apocalyptic decay).

Quote from: dungeon crawler;1114010Atomic Highway does not get near enough love. simple to run/play it is way underrated

I'm just planning to run this.

Quote from: grodog;1089969Blue Planet -Biohazard Games

You guys know there is a new edition coming out, right? The quickstart (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/282604/Blue-Planet-Recontact-Quickstart?term=blue+planet) has been released. I've taken a look, haven't played, on balance I don't particularly like the direction they're taking it, e.g. they seem to be bringing in player agency  through character traits.

I'll also chuck in Maelstrom (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/54233/Maelstrom). Default setting is Tudor England; the system is a sort of proto-WFRP (written before WFRP came out). I remember picking up the paperback when I was, er, about the same age as the author when he wrote it, 15 - although I am sure nobody would guess that from the maturity of the writing and research. There is a freeform magic system where the GM subjectively assigns a difficulty to the desired effect.

Arion Games have got the licence and have re-released the original book as well as adaptations for classic dungeon fantasy, Norman Conquest England, the Victorian period, and ancient Rome. Although I still prefer the original.

The same publisher has re-released Advanced Fighting Fantasy, a slightly expanded version of the system from the old gamebooks kicked off by the other Steve Jackson. It gets a lot of love as a rules-light option.

I've been trying, but not succeeding, in getting touch with Arion Games to see if they don't want to send me their Rome Maelstrom book for review.