I noticed a Rambo supplement for the Everyday Heroes RPG. I am not very familiar with the core game, but a sucker for Rambo movies. Is anyone familiar with the system and material?

You can get a little bit of insight into the game here. So, basically a cinematic game with its own version of "Bulletproof Nudity" to explain your John's (McClane, Rambo) and scene editing for the smart classes. At least based upon the above article. I would, however, love to learn more about it. While I'm a big non-fan of d20 and how it has handled licensed products before (I'm thinking about Wheel of Time as I type this), I am interested in more information, too. I just don't want to pay $50 for the core game and a splat to evaluate the content.

I'm kind of intrigued as to the publishing strategy, which seems sort or retro splat-mill. The settings that are being released:

• The Crow
• Kong: Skull Island
• Pacific Rim
• Highlander
• Total Recall
• Rambo
• Universal Soldier
• Escape from New York

Well, it's not as if they're really pushing the boundaries on setting complexity. With that said, the Rambo supplement does make some interesting claims.

I have the core book and a few of the splats.  I plan on doing a review in the reviews sub-forum.  I have a couple more cyberpunk games to finish reviewing but I could bump this up if you're interested.

Curious, so I looked up this review:

https://www.enworld.org/threads/everyday-heroes-review.693666/

QuoteCharacters are built from four main pieces: archetype, background, profession and class. Archetype and class are grouped like Class and subclass featuring a broad category and a specific focus for the character. The archetypes are where Everyday Heroes shows its strongest influence from D20 Modern with each one focused on the main attribute the characters use; Strong characters focus on Strength, Wise characters focus on Wisdom and so on. The Strong Hero archetype has a Brawler, Heavy Gunner and MMA Fighter available, while the Tough Hero has a Bodyguard, Commando and Scrapper. Many archetypes have classes that riff on a character type, such as the Strong MMA Fighter, the Agile Martial Artist and the Wise Master all being bare handed fighters that use their main ability to beat people up.

Smart characters are the domain of spellcasters but in a clever bit of design, the game recasts spells as Plans. They work in the same way as spells with usage slots and spells that increase in power as the character goes up in levels but they are built to service movie fantasy instead of Tolkien fantasy. The Hacker, for example, can manipulate technology to do everything from bricking a device to using an opponent's social media profile to gain advantage on attack rolls. Given how often my friends who are IT professionals complain about "magic hacking" in TV and movies, these plans feel like an excellent substitute for massive spell lists while still filling the slot for players who like to mess with reality in games.

Everyday Heroes also shaves away some of the legacy mechanics from both games. Levels run from 1-10 with explicit milestone leveling determined by the GM. Players gain feats every even level and class abilities on every odd. Feats really drive home the customization in the design. There are major and minor feats and when a character gains feats they can pick one major or two minor feats. The vast majority of feats are minor, which mean those levels allow characters to take two. Most of the boring stuff associated with leveling up are covered by minor feats such as gaining attribute points or extra skill proficiencies. Most of the major feats cover a very specific style of attack with the most interesting ones being multiclass feats. These feats let players dip into other archetypes and classes and it's a much more elegant way to make modular characters than what's currently available.

I never played or D20 Modern, but back in the D20 era, I got two other modern-military D20 adaptions. I was disappointed in the mechanics for both of them and never ran them. I would look for something other than a D20 system for Rambo.

Weird War II: Blood on the Rhine
https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/1362/Weird-War-Two-D20-Blood-on-the-Rhine

Afghanistan D20
https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/61616/Afghanistan-d20

Quote from: jhkim on November 25, 2023, 04:25:27 PM
Curious, so I looked up this review:

https://www.enworld.org/threads/everyday-heroes-review.693666/

QuoteCharacters are built from four main pieces: archetype, background, profession and class. Archetype and class are grouped like Class and subclass featuring a broad category and a specific focus for the character. The archetypes are where Everyday Heroes shows its strongest influence from D20 Modern with each one focused on the main attribute the characters use; Strong characters focus on Strength, Wise characters focus on Wisdom and so on. The Strong Hero archetype has a Brawler, Heavy Gunner and MMA Fighter available, while the Tough Hero has a Bodyguard, Commando and Scrapper. Many archetypes have classes that riff on a character type, such as the Strong MMA Fighter, the Agile Martial Artist and the Wise Master all being bare handed fighters that use their main ability to beat people up.

Smart characters are the domain of spellcasters but in a clever bit of design, the game recasts spells as Plans. They work in the same way as spells with usage slots and spells that increase in power as the character goes up in levels but they are built to service movie fantasy instead of Tolkien fantasy. The Hacker, for example, can manipulate technology to do everything from bricking a device to using an opponent's social media profile to gain advantage on attack rolls. Given how often my friends who are IT professionals complain about "magic hacking" in TV and movies, these plans feel like an excellent substitute for massive spell lists while still filling the slot for players who like to mess with reality in games.

Everyday Heroes also shaves away some of the legacy mechanics from both games. Levels run from 1-10 with explicit milestone leveling determined by the GM. Players gain feats every even level and class abilities on every odd. Feats really drive home the customization in the design. There are major and minor feats and when a character gains feats they can pick one major or two minor feats. The vast majority of feats are minor, which mean those levels allow characters to take two. Most of the boring stuff associated with leveling up are covered by minor feats such as gaining attribute points or extra skill proficiencies. Most of the major feats cover a very specific style of attack with the most interesting ones being multiclass feats. These feats let players dip into other archetypes and classes and it's a much more elegant way to make modular characters than what's currently available.

I never played or D20 Modern, but back in the D20 era, I got two other modern-military D20 adaptions. I was disappointed in the mechanics for both of them and never ran them. I would look for something other than a D20 system for Rambo.

Weird War II: Blood on the Rhine
https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/1362/Weird-War-Two-D20-Blood-on-the-Rhine

Afghanistan D20
https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/61616/Afghanistan-d20

I had d20 modern as well. I didn't play it much either. But I also had d20 Call of Cthulhu and played the heck out of it. So I think it comes down to execution for me. But if they have the license for Rambo, I'd be more than willing to give a variation of d20 modern a shot (I didn't have anything in a particular against d20 modern, I just remember it coming out as I was getting pretty fatigued with all the d20 stuff)

Quote from: Kage2020 on November 25, 2023, 03:11:42 PM
You can get a little bit of insight into the game here. So, basically a cinematic game with its own version of "Bulletproof Nudity" to explain your John's (McClane, Rambo) and scene editing for the smart classes. At least based upon the above article. I would, however, love to learn more about it. While I'm a big non-fan of d20 and how it has handled licensed products before (I'm thinking about Wheel of Time as I type this), I am interested in more information, too. I just don't want to pay $50 for the core game and a splat to evaluate the content.

I'm kind of intrigued as to the publishing strategy, which seems sort or retro splat-mill. The settings that are being released:

• The Crow
• Kong: Skull Island
• Pacific Rim
• Highlander
• Total Recall
• Rambo
• Universal Soldier
• Escape from New York

Well, it's not as if they're really pushing the boundaries on setting complexity. With that said, the Rambo supplement does make some interesting claims.

Damn, that is a pretty good list of movies they are drawing from (are these all officially licensed?)

Quote from: Bedrockbrendan on November 25, 2023, 07:19:49 PM
Damn, that is a pretty good list of movies they are drawing from (are these all officially licensed?)

I would presume so as they come from the publishers website. They all seem to be fairly concise settings that take little effort on behalf of the publisher. You could do all of them in your favourite generic with very little effort.

I mean, I'm with you. I love me the Rambo movies, warts and all. I'm just not seeing what would require a dedicated supplement to it. Or am I missing something other than "not having to do it myself?

Quote from: Bedrockbrendan on November 25, 2023, 07:19:49 PM

Quote from: Kage2020 on November 25, 2023, 03:11:42 PM
You can get a little bit of insight into the game here. So, basically a cinematic game with its own version of "Bulletproof Nudity" to explain your John's (McClane, Rambo) and scene editing for the smart classes. At least based upon the above article. I would, however, love to learn more about it. While I'm a big non-fan of d20 and how it has handled licensed products before (I'm thinking about Wheel of Time as I type this), I am interested in more information, too. I just don't want to pay $50 for the core game and a splat to evaluate the content.

I'm kind of intrigued as to the publishing strategy, which seems sort or retro splat-mill. The settings that are being released:

• The Crow
• Kong: Skull Island
• Pacific Rim
• Highlander
• Total Recall
• Rambo
• Universal Soldier
• Escape from New York

Well, it's not as if they're really pushing the boundaries on setting complexity. With that said, the Rambo supplement does make some interesting claims.

Damn, that is a pretty good list of movies they are drawing from (are these all officially licensed?)

Yes they are licensed and with one exception all are really top notch products. The Crow and Escape From New really surprised me on how good they are. These supplements are good. I learned more about Rambo than I thought I would.

I really like Everyday Heroes, it's my favorite 5e system rpg. They nailed the modern action genre with this game. It's only real flaw is that the designers went with a Milestone leveling system but that's easy to houserule. The game only goes up to level 10 and while it uses the D&D 5e system it's definitely its own game. Don't need D&D to play it.

Next year they are releasing an updated Urban Arcana version called Everyday Magic and they are working on a military focused expansion book as well. I think it's going to be called Everyday Military but I don't know for sure at this moment.

Quote from: RebelSky on November 25, 2023, 08:08:27 PM
Yes they are licensed and with one exception all are really top notch products. The Crow and Escape From New really surprised me on how good they are. These supplements are good. I learned more about Rambo than I thought I would.

Then that makes you he perfect person to ask. What makes this worth the sticker price? Is it the advice on adventure design or the custom rules for Rambo games? The ToC doesn't really scream anything that you could not find elsewhere other than, of course, if you like the home system and want pre-built rules. For example, there doesn't appear to be a great deal of information on, say, SFO in Vietnam as a baseline for Rambo, which is strange given that this would seem to be of fundamental importance for the character, Rambo. (As well as giving an insight in the operational and threat environments of SFOs.)

Quote from: Kage2020 on November 25, 2023, 08:03:09 PM

Quote from: Bedrockbrendan on November 25, 2023, 07:19:49 PM
Damn, that is a pretty good list of movies they are drawing from (are these all officially licensed?)

I would presume so as they come from the publishers website. They all seem to be fairly concise settings that take little effort on behalf of the publisher. You could do all of them in your favourite generic with very little effort.

I mean, I'm with you. I love me the Rambo movies, warts and all. I'm just not seeing what would require a dedicated supplement to it. Or am I missing something other than "not having to do it myself?

I guess what I would want is 1) a take on the system that emulates the Rambo movies (and the genre of movies covered) in a way that works for me (I like genre emulation). In terms of setting supplements, I would think for something like Escape from New York, that would really be helpful to have setting material on. On Rambo, i am more curious than anything what the supplement will include. Again I would expect some Rambo emulation material, I would expect they might include some setting stuff (things on the military background that the GM might need, locations, characters, etc). But I also imagine Rambo is more a thing where you are making a Rambo like campaign, not necessarily just walking through each movie. So I would think a key thing I would want from a supplement like that is an exploration of how to make the Rambo campaign work as a concept and long term campaign. I don't know, it really depends on what they focus on. I am less aquainted with military material than say medieval Chinese history or ancient Roman history, so for me personally if the supplement included background material to help someone understand the various weapons, military structure, etc that would be useful. Also going over various global scenarios could also be useful.

Quote from: Bedrockbrendan on November 26, 2023, 08:49:51 AMI guess what I would want is 1) a take on the system that emulates the Rambo movies (and the genre of movies covered) in a way that works for me (I like genre emulation). In terms of setting supplements, I would think for something like Escape from New York, that would really be helpful to have setting material on. On Rambo, i am more curious than anything what the supplement will include.

You might just want to check out the ToC that I posted the link to, above. (You have to click on the cover image and then swipe through to it.) While it looks a little anemic to me, you might find it different and fulfilling your requirements. Certainly, however, there's enough reason to go and check out the ToCs for the others to see how they handle things.

Again, though, I'm not a huge fan of the system. Class- and level-based systems never struck me as emulating anything well other than D&D.

Quote from: Kage2020 on November 26, 2023, 09:23:12 AM

Quote from: Bedrockbrendan on November 26, 2023, 08:49:51 AMI guess what I would want is 1) a take on the system that emulates the Rambo movies (and the genre of movies covered) in a way that works for me (I like genre emulation). In terms of setting supplements, I would think for something like Escape from New York, that would really be helpful to have setting material on. On Rambo, i am more curious than anything what the supplement will include.

You might just want to check out the ToC that I posted the link to, above. (You have to click on the cover image and then swipe through to it.) While it looks a little anemic to me, you might find it different and fulfilling your requirements. Certainly, however, there's enough reason to go and check out the ToCs for the others to see how they handle things.

Again, though, I'm not a huge fan of the system. Class- and level-based systems never struck me as emulating anything well other than D&D.

I don't play D&D or d20 that much anymore, but class and levels are fine for me with genre emulation.

Quote from: Kage2020 on November 25, 2023, 08:03:09 PM

Quote from: Bedrockbrendan on November 25, 2023, 07:19:49 PM
Damn, that is a pretty good list of movies they are drawing from (are these all officially licensed?)

I would presume so as they come from the publishers website. They all seem to be fairly concise settings that take little effort on behalf of the publisher. You could do all of them in your favourite generic with very little effort.

I noticed they have this one:

https://preview.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/457914/the-agency-files-part-1-the-mysterious-agent

Quote
Humanity lives in blissful ignorance. Interstellar warlords target our planet for the strangest of reasons. Extraterrestrial refugees seek sanctuary under our very noses. Travelers from beyond the edge of our solar system might just stop by to see the sights. All of this and far more is true - but 99.9% of humanity has no idea. This is because of the dutiful services of The Agency. Its well-dressed and well-armed Mysterious Agents protect Earth from threats no one can know about, defend our extraplanetary visitors from the consequences of human fear, and do so using alien technology and the power that enforced anonymity can bring.

So since they've done a Men In Black clone without labeling it as such, I assume the ones that have labels are properly licenced.

I'm going to download their quickstart and free scenario to have a look, and try them out if I like what I see. Does anyone here know how Highlander handles parties? That setting seems best for a single player, or maybe a pair.

Quote from: Bedrockbrendan on November 26, 2023, 10:14:50 AM
I don't play D&D or d20 that much anymore, but class and levels are fine for me with genre emulation.

As the saying goes, "Different strokes for different folks". And that's a good thing!

If they were cheaper and seem to offer more background I might snatch some of them up without touching the core book. When I look at the ToC, though, it seems that 30 pages of it are a sample adventure? Or, wait. Maybe that is the background and they just make it sound like a sample adventure?

Quote from: Bedrockbrendan on November 26, 2023, 10:14:50 AM

Quote from: Kage2020 on November 26, 2023, 09:23:12 AM
Again, though, I'm not a huge fan of the system. Class- and level-based systems never struck me as emulating anything well other than D&D.

I don't play D&D or d20 that much anymore, but class and levels are fine for me with genre emulation.

I think it helps to talk more specifically. There are some class-based games that I like - such as Hellcats & Hockeysticks. However, I didn't like the class-based D20 adaptations for modern-era military action games.

Trying to put a finger on it, I think characters in military action tend to be distinguished more by their personality than by their abilities. Some characters are specialists, but most of them overlap a lot in their abilities. They're all soldiers who shoot a gun. I think for a similar reason, Knights of the Round Table doesn't work as well for class-based. When the PCs are mostly variations of the same abilities, I think skill-based with options works better.