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Satyr
2009-05-03, 03:39 PM
This thread will probably be only interesting for an absolute fringe of the playground forum users, but I am too proud right now not to boast this:

After a good year of work, the largest and most challeging project I have yet fulfilled is finally done: A complete conversion of the excellent Midnight setting by Fantasy Flight Games into the classic Unisystem rules. The complete conversion can be downloaded here. (http://www.unifans.org/index.php?action=tpmod;dl=item107)

It is also the first book I wrote (even though I wrote it mostly for myself and my direct group) and it feels just awesome to see it in a print version in my bookshelf. Okay, there are only five of these books out there, but still... my first real book.

I have always seen Midnight as a great setting, but even though the rules contained some quite innovative ideas, the setting was more or less wasted to the D20 rule set. After a short run of playtests of the new rules, I found the game greatly improved through less restrictive rules which fit better to the campaign world.

If you never have heard of Midnight: It is basically a remake of the Lord of the Rings with one major difference: The Dark Lord won, and he won conpletly. Now the remains of a resistance struggle for their freedom as well as their life, while the last bastions and retreats of the free people are sieged and the last heroes of the last age fight a glorious last stand against the forces of darkness. It is a grim but heroic setting, which is surprisingly well made and innovative in the details, despite the trite overall story. Really, it is much better than it sounds in my description above.

Now not knowing the Unisystem is ineqcusable. The basic rules (with the awesome Witchcraft setting, which is basically an improved version of the World of Darkness can be downloaded for free (http://www.edenstudios.net/witchcraft/WitchcraftCorebook.zip).

Apart from the setting-specific information, this conversion includes over 60 additional qualities and drawbacks which can be used for classic and modern Unisystem, a revamped skill system that is actually a compromise between the complex and the more simple skill list of the two different versions of the Unissyystem and which is well suited for fantasy gaming.

A wide range of typical fantasy setting occupations character classes and typical character roles allow for a quick and guided character creation which includes all the advantages of a class-based character system without any of the restrictions and similar flaws.

Basically, the core of the game without the setting-specific is a mostly complete Unisystem version for Fantasy gaming, and I think the rules are excellent (and in many cases way superior to the original ones) replacement for many fantasy campaign settings. Now, when Midnight is finally don for, the same mechanisms will be used for similar conversions of Dark Sun and A Song of Ice and Fire.

So, take a look.

Tsotha-lanti
2009-05-03, 05:18 PM
Downloaded! I'm not familiar with Midnight, but it sounds very interesting. I've got my own Unisystem Ravenloft conversion going, and I'm sure this will be a great help.

The Rose Dragon
2009-05-03, 05:24 PM
Hey, Tsotha-lanti, did you ever finish your Fallout conversion before switching to TW2K13?

Meanwhile, I'll take a look at this sometime. Unisystem is my second favorite system, after all.

Tsotha-lanti
2009-05-03, 06:06 PM
Hey, Tsotha-lanti, did you ever finish your Fallout conversion before switching to TW2K13?

Nope, unfortunately not - though I might work on it yet. No promises...

Somebloke
2009-05-04, 05:25 AM
Interesting idea. A while ago, our DM ran a midnight campaign based on the Rolemaster rules. The results were...bloody. Nothing like a killer crit table to really, really force the players to avoid fighting orcs unless absolutely necessary. I really, really loved the 'Sauron won' concept behind the setting.

Satyr
2009-05-04, 11:56 AM
Unisystem is not that deadly as long as the player characters are somewhat competent in what they are doing. The deadliness of a campaign greatly depends on the competence of the characters, but especially since supernatural healing is not always within the reach of the players, even the more experienced characters moved very careful.
With simpler, non-combatant characters, every fight can become life-threatening, and this is awesome for campaigns on this perspective, but the system also allows to tell the epic tales of outstanding heroes (who still have to fear fighting against superior numbers). I like systems where I can chose the scope of my campaigns and where I am not shoehorned into one or the other extreme.

And the rules are simple, without necessarily sacrificing complexity. Everybody who ever has played D20 understand almost immediately how Unisystem works, but it doesn't have the same problems and hangups. It offers options, both for the rule depth and the design of characters without being as overwhelming as Gurps. Overall, it is very good compromise between simplicity and complexity without making too much sacrifices in any of these areas, and even more importantly, it works, and it works without causing migraines through stupidity overload. And that is basically how roleplaying games should be designed.

And while this may sound like a sacrilege, there are parts of the fluff in Midnight I like much better than the counterparts of Tolkien's works, despite the very obvious similarities. Than again, Midnight is much simpler, less complex and has not nearly as much of an own mythology like Middle-Earth.

Raum
2009-05-04, 06:15 PM
I've skimmed it, looks like a well thought out conversion. You made more extensive changes to the underlying Unisystem rules than I'd expected, I'll have to look over them in more detail later. Were they changes intended to add grittiness or did you have other reasons? I also didn't see mention of any heroic paths. Did you find characters to be fragile?

First glance looks good! You obviously put a lot of work into it.

Satyr
2009-05-05, 01:05 AM
You made more extensive changes to the underlying Unisystem rules than I'd expected, I'll have to look over them in more detail later. Were they changes intended to add grittiness or did you have other reasons?

The idea to change the core mechanism to ability + skill +2d6 instead of 1d10 was mostly pragmatic, and due to preferences. I have argued for quite some time, that a game can easily become more streamlined and a bit faster if only one sort of dice is used. Indeed, this makes a difference, albeit not a big one, and you don't have to use the non-roling, backstabbing caltrops of d4's.

The other reason was that I found a basic target number of 10 was as intuitive as it gets. The people I play with are normally not that interested in rules and for these people I basically wrote, and a simple and easy to remember standard value was easy.

As far as I know, this change makes it a little easier to succeed in a skill test in average, as the average result is aa tad higher, even in relation to the higher target number. On the other hand, critical successes and failures are rarer, and therefore more spectacular through exclusivity.

Now, the added rules for injuries and the like are indeed a way to make the game a bit more dangerous and gritty, but mostly to create a framework for a more "realistic" feeling of the game. This works in both ways, as player characters can easily profit from this as well, and the Wound Fever is not only a very pluasible threat - in the "real" middle ages, the infection of wounds were generally more threatening than the wounds themselves - but also a mean to make players hesistate before they jump into a battle.

And the size table... I wanted to emulate a D&Dish concept of Size categories, especially since the core system was meant to emulate a D&Dish setting. It works surprisingly fine, since it actually means: Whenever being big is an advantage, get a bonus/malus for your size. Whenever it is a disadvantage, vice versa." The few passive changes are not that influential.


I also didn't see mention of any heroic paths.

I understood the heroic paths to be a metaconcept, a way to add an additional layer to a D&D character, to give the players a bit more influence on the character designation and talents. For D&D, this is an awesome idea, and one I eagerly borrowed for my own set of houserules, Serpents and Sewers.
But for the Unisystem rules, the heroic paths just aren't necessary, as the way characters are constructed is so very different.
In D&D, you chose your prescriptive categories and combine them. Every additional layer adds more versatility, flexibility and individuality to the character, which helps to flesh it out.
In the unisystem (or point-buy systems in general), characters mostly consist out of hand-picked abilities and traits and players have a lot more influence on the exact design of the character, his strengths and weaknesses and so on. An additional layer just wouldn't do anything, because it would mostly not even be recognized. Even the professional templates in the conversion are basically superfluous, as they are "only" an easy pick of roles.
That said, at least one heroic path found its way into the conversion in the form of a heroic package.



Did you find characters to be fragile?

Not really. I run the official "Crown of Shadows" campaign for Midnight with a small troup of heroic characters (the example characters in the appendix are the result of this... the one commoner character was a NPC though) and with one notable exception where the characters were just not that bright, the average enemy just wasn't a match for them, when they did not fight superior numbers - and the group had exactly two frontline warrior characters. You cannot expect combats to work as in D&D (injury matters, after all) and I generally think that the development curve is not nearly as steep as in D&D and that even a Veteran can be seriously injured through an ork bruiser who has a lucky day, but if carefully picked, most combats were winable, even against superior foes which would be unbeatable in a D&D game.

Raum
2009-05-05, 08:47 PM
<misc rule changes>I can see where most of the changes are coming from - 2d6 will certainly average higher. The flat failure rate of single die systems has often irritated me.

I commented primarily because it raises the entry bar. Knowing Unisystem isn't enough, players need to learn the Satyr Unisystem offshoot. Probably not a big deal but it does make it more difficult to use with different source material.


I understood the heroic paths to be a metaconcept, a way to add an additional layer to a D&D character, to give the players a bit more influence on the character designation and talents. <snip>Hmm, I always considered Heroic Paths as a way to give characters additional flexibility and power making it easier to survive. Sort of a replacement for magic items.

You're correct about Unisystem not having the same challenges though. However, it looks like your initial characters are given fewer points than standard Witchcraft characters...that's part of why I asked about fragility.


Not really. I run the official "Crown of Shadows" campaign for Midnight with a small troup of heroic characters (the example characters in the appendix are the result of this... the one commoner character was a NPC though) and with one notable exception where the characters were just not that bright, the average enemy just wasn't a match for them, when they did not fight superior numbers - and the group had exactly two frontline warrior characters. Sounds cool, thanks for the info...and the conversion doc. :)

Satyr
2009-05-07, 01:44 AM
You're correct about Unisystem not having the same challenges though. However, it looks like your initial characters are given fewer points than standard Witchcraft characters...that's part of why I asked about fragility.

The characters are base on the different character types from All Flesh Must Be Eaten, which are slightly weaker. Nonetheless the characters are quite tough when the hero or adept archetypes are used. The commoners are much weaker, but that is intended, as this archetype is meant for sidekicks or very different campaigns.


Sounds cool, thanks for the info...and the conversion doc. :)

You're welcome - and thanks for the feedback.