Hi all,
One thing about the current UK lockdown is that you can't go to the pub any more! So, some old gaming pals and I have started playing again (via Zoom and stuff) after about a decade away from it. While many of the old forums that we used to use seem to have gone (like the old UK Roleplayers site, if anyone recalls that), it's nice to see that many of the bigger chat sites - RPGNet, here, etc) are still going strong. Over the past few weeks we've played one shots of a bunch of older games - Starblazer (which we'd just got into when we stopped gaming), red box D&D (which was great fun, TBH), and some small press British games like Dead of Night. And we've thoroughly enjoyed it!
However, I realise that things have moved on a lot and that new games have come out. We're a fairly diverse group with broad tastes, but we're looking for solid recommendations of games that we can play for 2-5 sessions at a time that have come out since 2010-11. There seem to be loads, so it's hard to make a choice without some informed opinions! The current consensus of what we'd like to try over the next couple of months seems to be for games that have easy to medium mechanical difficulty, and are science-fantasy/science-fictional in flavour (although, we're very much open to any and all recommendations.
Thanks a lot in advance.
Franko
Quote from: Franko77;1127530science-fantasy/science-fictional in flavour (although, we're very much open to any and all recommendations.
Have you looked into Starfinder (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starfinder_Roleplaying_Game)? I'm currently playing it and enjoying it. It's built on the framework of Pathfinder 1.0, with a few tweaks.
Quote from: Ratman_tf;1127531Have you looked into Starfinder (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starfinder_Roleplaying_Game)? I'm currently playing it and enjoying it. It's built on the framework of Pathfinder 1.0, with a few tweaks.
I've not, no! That sounds right up our street. Being inspired by WH40K and Guardians of the Galaxy is no bad thing.
Thanks a lot!
Franko
Stars Without Number, which has a free version available here (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/230009/Stars-Without-Number-Revised-Edition-Free-Version?src=newest) is a sandbox science fiction game. It's mostly compatible with old-school D&D, so adding fantasy monsters is fairly simple.
Quote from: Ratman_tf;1127531Have you looked into Starfinder (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starfinder_Roleplaying_Game)? I'm currently playing it and enjoying it. It's built on the framework of Pathfinder 1.0, with a few tweaks.
For a few sessions I'd recommend the Starfinder Beginner Box. The core game is very complex being derived from Pathfinder which derives from 3e D&D.
On a similar theme, I like White Star which is an OD&D-based kitchen sink space opera 'SF film & TV' game - you can fight Daleks, Borg, & Cylons all in the same game! :D
5e D&D is the game everyone plays these days. It's a very good take on D&D.
I like http://https://site.pelgranepress.com/index.php/ashen-stars/ (http://https://site.pelgranepress.com/index.php/ashen-stars/) for sci-fi. Investagitave one shots in a trekkie mode are fun.
Not exactly sci fantasy, but Dungeon Crawl Classic is quick, easy, has a fairly inexpensive book, lots of adventures and is the zone of that you seem to be looking for. Mutant Crawl Classic is more or less exactly what you ask for as well. I would say mutant epoch might be what you want; but seems more crunchy ended with tables and charts.
Take a look at M-Space (http://www.frostbytebooks.com), great system.
Thanks for all the recommendations - we'll certainly give some of those a shot. Ashen Stars certainly sounds like a good bet for the kind of stuff we want to do.
Cheers,
Franko
I strongly recommend Stars Without Number, which was already mentioned. It's sci-fi, and the rules are fundamentally based on classic, pre-WotC D&D. It has a number of things going for it:
- Being based on the D&D ruleset, it's easy to pick and and learn for D&D players.
- It's DEFINITELY in the light-medium complexity range, more in light, really.
- Its basic assumed gameplay style is a bit like the TV series Firefly, or, I guess, the Traveller RPG, with the assumption that there are many worlds out there, quite a few with a backwards technology level. It can be, however, very easily customised, and some of the existing attendant material is already set out to do just that. You want more cybernetics for a Cyberpunk feeling? There's stuff for that out there. Transhuman sci-fi? It's there. Space Opera with laser-sword-wielding psionic monks? You can do it. Military sci-fi? Sci-fi espionage? There are books for that.
- Very importantly, it comes with a whole lot of support for GMs. Advice, procedures and tables for generating your worlds, NPCs and adventures. An entire faction management system that you can use to "simulate" large-scale events transpiring in the background, or which can allow the players to get involved in a bit of empire building of their own, where that empire can be anything from a polity through a megacorporation to a criminal syndicate.
- It has two editions, both of which have a free (but very, very content-rich) rulebook, so you can check them out for yourself, and which are perfectly sufficient on their own to run a campaign.
Personally, I would not recommend Starfinder. It's a sci-fi version of Pathfinder, which in turn is a serial-numbers-filed-off version of the 3.5th edition of D&D - which, from an old-school D&D fan perspective, was a pile of shit. It was rules-heavy, cumbersome, bogged down in a "character building" system with literally hundreds of Prestige Classes, feats and other shit you don't need, and both the rules and the surrounding game culture were solidly against any sort of creativity and all for doing everything by the numbers. Based on your post above I really don't think you'd enjoy something like that.
White Star is something I've had a look at, and while it's a great choice for someone who essentially wants "OD&D in space", I think it doesn't do quite as good a job at being a "Sci-fi game based on D&D." Which Stars Without Number does perfectly.
Quote from: Premier;1127684Personally, I would not recommend Starfinder. It's a sci-fi version of Pathfinder, which in turn is a serial-numbers-filed-off version of the 3.5th edition of D&D - which, from an old-school D&D fan perspective, was a pile of shit. It was rules-heavy, cumbersome, bogged down in a "character building" system with literally hundreds of Prestige Classes, feats and other shit you don't need, and both the rules and the surrounding game culture were solidly against any sort of creativity and all for doing everything by the numbers. Based on your post above I really don't think you'd enjoy something like that.
Dont play Starfinder because DnD is shit? Come one man, stay on target.
Quote from: Shasarak;1127694Dont play Starfinder because DnD is shit? Come one man, stay on target.
Oh, are you suggesting that the gameplay feel and general attitude towards rules are NOT fundamentally similar in Starfinder and 3.5E? I suppose you also have a bridge to sell me, so do go on.
Quote from: Franko77;1127530Hi all,
One thing about the current UK lockdown is that you can't go to the pub any more! So, some old gaming pals and I have started playing again (via Zoom and stuff) after about a decade away from it. While many of the old forums that we used to use seem to have gone (like the old UK Roleplayers site, if anyone recalls that), it's nice to see that many of the bigger chat sites - RPGNet, here, etc) are still going strong. Over the past few weeks we've played one shots of a bunch of older games - Starblazer (which we'd just got into when we stopped gaming), red box D&D (which was great fun, TBH), and some small press British games like Dead of Night. And we've thoroughly enjoyed it!
However, I realise that things have moved on a lot and that new games have come out. We're a fairly diverse group with broad tastes, but we're looking for solid recommendations of games that we can play for 2-5 sessions at a time that have come out since 2010-11. There seem to be loads, so it's hard to make a choice without some informed opinions! The current consensus of what we'd like to try over the next couple of months seems to be for games that have easy to medium mechanical difficulty, and are science-fantasy/science-fictional in flavour (although, we're very much open to any and all recommendations.
Thanks a lot in advance.
Franko
Well, you could try Lion & Dragon (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/226022/Lion--Dragon)!
Quote from: Premier;1127742Oh, are you suggesting that the gameplay feel and general attitude towards rules are NOT fundamentally similar in Starfinder and 3.5E? I suppose you also have a bridge to sell me, so do go on.
Don't want to sell you anything, you just need to dial down your TDS a notch.
Quote from: oggsmash;1127566Not exactly sci fantasy, but Dungeon Crawl Classic is quick, easy, has a fairly inexpensive book, lots of adventures and is the zone of that you seem to be looking for. Mutant Crawl Classic is more or less exactly what you ask for as well. I would say mutant epoch might be what you want; but seems more crunchy ended with tables and charts.
Dungeon Crawl Classics is one huge book full of good stuff. You don't need to purchase anything else, except for an exotic set of dice. There is also a phone app that negates the need for the special dice, but buy the dice. They are a very cool item. It's a throwback to how unique AD&D and polyhedral dice were long ago.
Quote from: Premier;1127684Personally, I would not recommend Starfinder. It's a sci-fi version of Pathfinder, which in turn is a serial-numbers-filed-off version of the 3.5th edition of D&D - which, from an old-school D&D fan perspective, was a pile of shit. It was rules-heavy, cumbersome, bogged down in a "character building" system with literally hundreds of Prestige Classes, feats and other shit you don't need, and both the rules and the surrounding game culture were solidly against any sort of creativity and all for doing everything by the numbers. Based on your post above I really don't think you'd enjoy something like that.
I wholeheartedly second this opinion. Starfinder is crunchier than dry cornflakes sprinkled over cracker-jacks. Avoid.
My group is just starting a campaign of Slipstream, which is a setting for Savage Worlds. It's medium crunch, mostly during character creation, and is very pulp Flash Gordon style. If you are looking for hard scifi, it won't really work (though Savage Worlds does have some settings like that: the Last Parsec, for example), it really scratches that pulp action itch, which is Savage Worlds's main wheelhouse.
Quote from: Razor 007;1127834Dungeon Crawl Classics is one huge book full of good stuff. You don't need to purchase anything else, except for an exotic set of dice. There is also a phone app that negates the need for the special dice, but buy the dice. They are a very cool item. It's a throwback to how unique AD&D and polyhedral dice were long ago.
Quoting my own post.....
I wouldn't jump into DCC without the intent of running a campaign of some duration. It's an awesome rule set, but it's too much of a buy in for just a couple of sessions. It's worthy of more devotion than that.
I'd want something half as robust, if it was only for a few sessions.
Quote from: Shasarak;1127830Don't want to sell you anything, you just need to dial down your TDS a notch.
I voice an opinion that you personally happen to disagree with, you attack me for it with a post in which you misrepresent what I said - and then
you compare
me to a right-winger. That's rich.
Wow, this escalated a little.
But back to the games! The consensus is that we try Ashen Stars, just to see how it goes. Thanks for all the recommendations - there's enough here to keep us going for quite some time! I think we're also going to give World War Cthulhu: Cold War a go as well at some point, as that sounds quite fun.
Cheers!
Franko
Quote from: Franko77;1128037Wow, this escalated a little.
That's our schtick. ;)
OP: I want something rules light or medium.
Someone: Starfinder.
(https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRPdLEKHndrOlT0sqdv4VHm58IZK8Yy5gpGtFMA9_njjyi9ajIy8sXNWLYpiA&s=10)
Come on folks, try to at least pay attention to what the OP wrote.
To the OP: the latest fad in the industry seems to be games that are simple to pick up and play, and very thematic. OSR and PbtA being two popular "engines" based on this. For sci-fi/fantasy in this mold I recommend Mothership and Blades in the Dark. The first being an Alien-like space horror, the second a Dishonored (the videogame) inspired heist game mixing a Victorian setting with supernatural and scientific trappings.
Quote from: Premier;1127926I voice an opinion that you personally happen to disagree with, you attack me for it with a post in which you misrepresent what I said - and then you compare me to a right-winger. That's rich.
I could be wrong, but I thought TDS was a left wing ailment?
Quote from: Itachi;1128043OP: I want something rules light or medium.
Someone: Starfinder.
(https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRPdLEKHndrOlT0sqdv4VHm58IZK8Yy5gpGtFMA9_njjyi9ajIy8sXNWLYpiA&s=10)
Come on folks, try to at least pay attention to what the OP wrote.
Quote from: Franko77;1127530(although, we're very much open to any and all recommendations.
Right back atcha, chief.
Personally, I'd consider 3/Pathfinder/Starfinder rules medium. YMMV.
Quote from: oggsmash;1128054I could be wrong, but I thought TDS was a left wing ailment?
I don't know what Trump has to do with any of this.
I've seen "D" as both "defender" and "derangement", and sadly enough both intepretation sound reasonable enough.
Since I started this little mess let me clarify, in this case TDS is Third edition Derangement Syndrome the symptoms of which are very similar to the other more famous TDS including the ability to see and complain about things which are not actually there.
For example the ability to see "Prestige Classes" in Starfinder.
Quote from: Itachi;1128043OP: I want something rules light or medium.
Someone: Starfinder.
(https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRPdLEKHndrOlT0sqdv4VHm58IZK8Yy5gpGtFMA9_njjyi9ajIy8sXNWLYpiA&s=10)
Come on folks, try to at least pay attention to what the OP wrote.
To the OP: the latest fad in the industry seems to be games that are simple to pick up and play, and very thematic. OSR and PbtA being two popular "engines" based on this. For sci-fi/fantasy in this mold I recommend Mothership and Blades in the Dark. The first being an Alien-like space horror, the second a Dishonored (the videogame) inspired heist game mixing a Victorian setting with supernatural and scientific trappings.
Blades in the Dark certainly sounds very interesting, I'll need to check that out in more detail, as I know that at least two members of our group would be really into something like that. Seems a little bit like the old UK RPG a|state from the early 2000s. It had a great setting, but the percentile system was really clunky and brought the game down a lot.
Cheers,
Franko
Sadly, I must add my voice to those who are not recommending Starfinder. My group is wrapping up the Dead Suns AP, and my impression of the game is that it did NOT get a lot of playtesting. It feels VERY clunky, even compared to Pathfinder, and there seem to be critical elements missing both crunch and RP wise.
Needless to say, I'm looking forward to the next campaign, which will either be Savage Worlds Rifts, or PF1E.
Fantastic Heroes and Witchery
http://www.dcrouzet.net/heroes-witchery/?page_id=79
Kitchen sink approach, can be played as high fantasy, swords and sorcery, B/X-style, pulp, sci-fi, or whatever. Mechanically easy as hell, on the level of B/X with some 3.X D&D thrown in for skills. This game doesn't get recommended enough.
Quote from: Franko77;1127638Thanks for all the recommendations - we'll certainly give some of those a shot. Ashen Stars certainly sounds like a good bet for the kind of stuff we want to do.
Cheers,
Franko
I'm glad to be of some help. Have a look at the Gumshoe system a bit first, I love it but it has a slightly different approach than the other systems people are talking about.
Quote from: Franko77;1128037Wow, this escalated a little.
But back to the games! The consensus is that we try Ashen Stars, just to see how it goes. Thanks for all the recommendations - there's enough here to keep us going for quite some time! I think we're also going to give World War Cthulhu: Cold War a go as well at some point, as that sounds quite fun.
Cheers!
Franko
And I missed this post in the argument. Let us know how it goes.
Quote from: Franko77;1128129Blades in the Dark certainly sounds very interesting, I'll need to check that out in more detail, as I know that at least two members of our group would be really into something like that. Seems a little bit like the old UK RPG a|state from the early 2000s. It had a great setting, but the percentile system was really clunky and brought the game down a lot.
Cheers,
Franko
Oh man A|State was reaaaaaly cool. I must have my old copy around here somewhere. But yeah, it's rules felt.. uninspiring somehow I agree. I wish someone re-released it nowadays with better rules.
EDIT: you must be kidding me, apparently it's really returning:
https://www.geeknative.com/70099/the-adult-astate-rpg-about-is-about-to-return/ (https://www.geeknative.com/70099/the-adult-astate-rpg-about-is-about-to-return/)
Quote from: Garry G;1128177And I missed this post in the argument. Let us know how it goes.
Will do! Hurrah for easy access to PDF versions of games.
Cheers,
Franko
Quote from: Itachi;1128201Oh man A|State was reaaaaaly cool. I must have my old copy around here somewhere. But yeah, it's rules felt.. uninspiring somehow I agree. I wish someone re-released it nowadays with better rules.
EDIT: you must be kidding me, apparently it's really returning:
https://www.geeknative.com/70099/the-adult-astate-rpg-about-is-about-to-return/ (https://www.geeknative.com/70099/the-adult-astate-rpg-about-is-about-to-return/)
Well, that's interesting. Hopefully the system they're using is better than the old one. I wonder, though, how much interest there is in re-releases of old games that some people liked, but were never huge? Seems like this time it's not even the company that originally produced it that's bringing out the new edition. Looked around and it seems that the original author isn't really involved in this one. Odd, as the setting really felt like one person's idiosyncratic vision.
I wonder what's next, a second edition of Tales of Gargentir!?
Edit: Aha, it seems like Malcolm Craig (the original author) no longer has anything to do with games.
Edit the 2nd: I must be one of the few people around who still has a copy of Tales of Gargentir!
Cheers,
Franko