In regards to Cthulhutech, it sounds and looks like it's not for me, but I can't say I have any problem with the mention of "rape camps". Not only is it a horror setting presumably, but it's also pretty much in keeping with Lovecraft's depiction of the Deep Ones as has been pointed out. The only time I really have a problem with rape in a game (or any media for that matter) is when it seems to be presented as wank-fantasy fuel.

I am, however, interested in how the rules system works out. Anyone play this? How are the mecha rules in comparison to say Mekton Z?

Quote from: TristramEvans;512586Yeah, but since when have RPGs EVER appealed to the "average" members of society?

RPGs are a hobby for the smart people. One of the reasons it will always be a very small hobby. "Average students" spend their free time playing sports and videogames and chasing girls. It takes a certain kind of person to say "hey, you know what I'd like to spend my Friday night doing? Pretend to be an elf fighting monsters!"

I think RPGs will always have a market amongst the smart, well-educated, upper-middle class.  Eg I once had two American Hispanic RPGers in a group - very upper-middle-class Californian, the woman was a former NASA rocket scientist.  But RPGs don't have much of a market amongst working class Mexican  immigrants in the US.  IMO the size of the RPG market depends a lot more on how well educated higher-IQ working class teens are - this is a group that is 'vulnerable and at risk' in PC parlance. An effective education system that inculcates mass literacy and a love of reading in smart working class children - like my school friends, or the very similar group described in Mark Barrowcliffe's 'The Elfish Gene' - makes for a much bigger potential RPG market. In the US with its racial divides, this mostly means the rural white working class in poorer states, eg Troll Lord Games' Alabama - still a big market.  In the UK it's even more important as the working class are most of the population.

Quote from: Skywalker;512598In its later years it got a bad reputation regarding the inclusion of rape, particularly due to a group of very vocal RPGnet fans that built a snowball of hate that that site has unfortunately become renowned for.

Good old RPGnet.   I don't read 'General', but even in the d20 forum there was a thread recently demanding that 'race' and 'class' be removed from future iterations of D&D, because they were, of course, racist and classist.

Quote from: S'mon;512658Good old RPGnet.   I don't read 'General', but even in the d20 forum there was a thread recently demanding that 'race' and 'class' be removed from future iterations of D&D, because they were, of course, racist and classist.

Someone should make a WW 2esque retroclone, set in some arcane version of WW2, in the days of Stalingrad battle. You'd have to choose to have either a Race (Germans) or a Class (Soviets).

Quote from: S'mon;512658Good old RPGnet.   I don't read 'General', but even in the d20 forum there was a thread recently demanding that 'race' and 'class' be removed from future iterations of D&D, because they were, of course, racist and classist.

(sigh) The stupid there is amusing in small doses, but I have to take sabbaticals every now and again or it starts to get to me.

"Tangency Edition" D&D would have no classes or races, but 17 genders to choose from.

Quote from: Rincewind1;512659Someone should make a WW 2esque retroclone, set in some arcane version of WW2, in the days of Stalingrad battle. You'd have to choose to have either a Race (Germans) or a Class (Soviets).

That reminds me. I'm running an infrequent Godlike game right now, at the request of one of my players. At first I had a total block in trying to write adventures for that time period until I stopped thinking about it historically and just translated the whole thing in my head into classic D&D terms. Nazis were orcs, towns were medieval villages, etc. So far it's worked out brilliant, and I even managed to fit in a "dungeon crawl" at one point. My players say the game has a real "Indiana Jones" pulp vibe.


My favourite bit so far was a series of trapped rooms that I lifted from various D&D & online sources(I think at least one of them may have come from a thread on therpgsite from a few months back). The players ended up exploring a hidden tomb in the Alps that supposedly was the place where Brennus hid a number of important treasures he acquired after the sack of Rome.

In the antechamber of the tomb was the following riddle:

QUI QUAERIT TUMULUM BRENNUS
HAEC SUPERAVERUNT ET TRANSEUNDUM
MINERVIS AUXILIIS DUCAM MARS
AD PRAETORIUM IUDICAT
SI IVDKATOR IDONEUS MERCES VESTRA
EST OSCULARI VIRGINES
VIAM SAPIENTIAE SEQUI

roughly translanted as:

"He who seeks the tomb of Brennus
Must these obstacles pass
The aid of Pallas and Ares will lead
To the Hall of Judges
If judged worthy one's reward
Is the kissing maidens
Follow the path of wisdom"

The first room , labeled AULA DEORUM, was a 55' chamber with 5' floors surrounding a 50' wide pit of spikes. On the far side of the room, in the middle of the pit, is an open doorway, and in two antechambers on either side of the room were massive 18' tall marble statues of the goddess Athena and the god Ares. The Athena statue is holding a 21'-long staff of wood and the Ares statue holds a 16'-long bronze sword.

The trick here was laying the sword diagonally across one side of the pit and using it to prop up the staff which could then reach the doorway.

this room led to IUDICES AULA (The Hall of Judges), which was a long chamber with a dais along the far wall upon which sat 5 statues of Roman judges, each with a roman numeral inscribed below it and a circular lever. Some of the statues had their thumbs raised up and the others thumbs down. There were also two Satyr-faced fountainheads on either side of the room. When the players first entered the room they found a body that, upon examination, appeared to have drowned to death.

When the first lever was pulled, the door slammed shut behind the players. The lever beneath each statue rotated the hands of two other statues. the goal was to get every judge's thumb pointing upwards - if at any time all thumbs pointed down, water began pouring out of the Satyr's mouths and filling the chamber.

I. Started with its thumb down and caused the fists of IV & V to rotate
II. Started thumb up and shifted I & III
III. Started thumb down and shifted II & IV
IV. Started thumb up and shifted II & III
V. Started thumb down and its lever shifted the fist of statue IV.

Solving this led to the "kissing maidens" (OSCULANTES SE VIRGINES), a square chamber with a raised platform in the middle surrounded by a pool of lava. The platform was checkered, divided into a 5x5 grid, each square carved with a letter. If a wrong letter was stepped on, in an effect much like stepping on a rake, a metal rod topped with a bronze cast of a woman's face sprung up and hit the character in the face, potentially knocking them back a square.

The  gird was laid out as follows:

U E A V X
Z T S M R
S E V N E
I R N I Z
E A M E V

The way across was by spelling out the name Minerva.

Quote from: TristramEvans;512655I am, however, interested in how the rules system works out. Anyone play this? How are the mecha rules in comparison to say Mekton Z?

It's similar to Old World of Darkness. Not super light, but traditional, straightforward and skill based and not heavy. It's relatively brutal but with the ability for some cinematic flair.

Where I think it shines is that mecha combat is an extension of personal combat, much more so than most mecha games. You only have to explain the rules once and players who know their PC pick up the mecha side very quickly.

It also doesn't have detailed mecha creation or modification mechanics, like Mekton Z. Instead, it relies on premade mecha designs. IME this results on a greater focus on character and drama first, and the technical and combat elements second. Whilst not what I want all the time, it's a very good match for the genre mash of the RPG where character and their drama drives play even if they happen to be piloting a mecha

Outside of that, there is an excellent Magic system, which feels very much like Call of Cthulhu's (requires time, components and SAN) with some added "modern touches".

Quote from: TristramEvans;512655In regards to Cthulhutech, it sounds and looks like it's not for me, but I can't say I have any problem with the mention of "rape camps". Not only is it a horror setting presumably, but it's also pretty much in keeping with Lovecraft's depiction of the Deep Ones as has been pointed out. The only time I really have a problem with rape in a game (or any media for that matter) is when it seems to be presented as wank-fantasy fuel.

I am, however, interested in how the rules system works out. Anyone play this? How are the mecha rules in comparison to say Mekton Z?

The system is a D10 system which also uses "straights" as well as other wonky dice rolls, it looked liked they really wanted cards then switched to D10's at the last minute. In play its really rough and unevean and difficult to predict likelihood of success/failure.


Mecha have no real customization, you take what you get in the core game and cannot construct your own. They're not even well designed for the most part or fun to play. Mecha scaling works a lot like MDC but with four scales (Human, Power Armor, Mecha, Hull--I belive that is all.) Hull is for big airships and the like.


I've played a campaign and owned the books, and honestly would give them a pass. The mecha art is pretty. The writing is horrid, and they really don't know their stuff. (Example: They've a chart for something--missile bounce/grenades or something that is meant to use clock positioning, only they use a really erroneous understanding of clock positioning and how that works, at least if I recall their method correctly.)

In short. Mekton+Cthulhu, but preview art? Awesome. Cthulhutech? Not so much.

Quote from: Silverlion;512667The system is a D10 system which also uses "straights" as well as other wonky dice rolls, it looked liked they really wanted cards then switched to D10's at the last minute. In play its really rough and unevean and difficult to predict likelihood of success/failure.

At its base, the result is 1-10 from Attribute and 1-10 from the dice (you take the highest rolled in a pool). However, matches and runs add together, like in poker, so you get a few moments that break out of the normal range band.

Having followed the design from early on I don't recall cards ever being wanted. They did want a system that gave relatively predictable results that was capable of moments of awesome. I find that it helps get that gritty vibe with some cinematic flair across well.

Quote from: Silverlion;512667The writing is horrid, and they really don't know their stuff. (Example: They've a chart for something--missile bounce/grenades or something that is meant to use clock positioning, only they use a really erroneous understanding of clock positioning and how that works, at least if I recall their method correctly.)

I am not sure what you refer to here. It uses clock facing. 6pm is in front of target and 12pm is behind the target.  As the game only uses d10s, they take some of the points between the numbers i.e. 1.30pm etc, for an even spread. Not sure how else you would expect them to do it.

I wonder if bowling nerds have page after page of justifications as to why they're cooler than golfers.

Quote from: Skywalker;512669I am not sure what you refer to here. It uses clock facing. 6pm is in front of target and 12pm is behind the target.  As the game only uses d10s, they take some of the points between the numbers i.e. 1.30pm etc, for an even spread. Not sure how else you would expect them to do it.

It doesn't work that way: Clock Positioning


In short they didn't what they're doing, and didn't bother to research it. That's pretty much how the whole game functions. Brilliant art, poorly play tested or thought out game design that don't work well in play.

Quote from: Silverlion;512695It doesn't work that way: Clock Positioning

I could be being dense, but I still don't see what they got wrong from the link you posted.

Are you referring to the fact that the game puts the clock facings on the target from the attacker's POV and not the target's POV?

I'd imagine that most people, if they were doing a 'goodbye statement' about their failed business, would try to be positive ("Thanks to everyone for all the support..." and so on), regardless of whether they actually felt positive.

Maybe the fact that they went out with "We failed because Americans are stupid and gamers are thieves" indicates a personality that might relate to their business failure? At the very least, maybe someone with such a personality would ignore warnings about putting their life savings into RPGs.

Quote from: Age of Fable;512774I'd imagine that most people, if they were doing a 'goodbye statement' about their failed business, would try to be positive ("Thanks to everyone for all the support..." and so on), regardless of whether they actually felt positive.

Have you read the linked article? Its not a "goodbye statement" and leaving aside that one paragraph, its does have the tone you imagined.

I don't think that was a statement of goodbye: they have The Void coming out soon.