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NPCMook
2009-07-25, 01:33 PM
My group has decided to take a break from DnD 4e, we've been playing it long enough that we feel its break time from it. So we are looking to give some different systems a try, some games this can be difficult since we have about 9 people in our group...

We currently have:
Mutants and Masterminds 2e Star Wars Saga Edition CthulhuTech Call of Cthulhu Vampire: The Masquerade Shadowrun 4e Little Fears Cadillacs and Dinosaurs Rifts Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Traveller Vampire: The Reqiuem Exalted

So Giants, I ask you, got anymore recommendations? Also GURPS is a no go. Dark Heresy is also out since several of the players are already in a game of that.

Gorgondantess
2009-07-25, 01:35 PM
Dogs in the Vineyard, for some serious roleplaying; it's quite a gem, I strongly advise you check it out. You can download it online for about $5.

Myiven
2009-07-25, 01:38 PM
Since you posted in my L5R thread, you already know I favor Legend of the Five Rings and Legend of the Burning Sand.

I'd also like to recommend Unknown Armies. It's a very occult-oriented game. It can be summed up as "Something wierd is going on, and finding out what will probably get you killed. Let's find out." It's part horror, part counter-culture, and part acid trip. It uses a "roll under stat" percentile system on 2 d10s. The game focuses on all kinds of unique magic systems, but I rolled up a paranoid schizophrenic who had no magic powers whatsoever. It was FUN to play. It also has multiple sanity meters.
And McDonald's runs the world. Or part of it. It was well worth the $35 I paid. If only my group hadn't parted ways. *sigh*

EDIT: Oh, also, Unknown Armies is a little hard to find. It took a month for my copy to come in after I ordered it. Used on Amazon might be a good route if your local game store doesn't have it and can't get it.

RTGoodman
2009-07-25, 01:42 PM
Of those on your list, I might go with Star Wars Saga Edition. It's close enough to D&D 4E that you won't have to all learn a TON of new rules, it's a very good game, and though it's still d20-based, I think it does a good job of making it into a different genre than "kill things and take their stuff."

That said, I've wanted to play a Mutants & Masterminds game for a while because it looks so freakin' cool, so that could be a good option depending on your group. Also, I guess you could play Call of Cthulhu if you want to kill off those 9 players as quickly as possible. :smalltongue:

kjones
2009-07-25, 01:44 PM
When you say Call of Cthtulu, do you mean d20 or BRP?

(Also, is Cadillacs and Dinosaurs what it sounds like?)

NPCMook
2009-07-25, 01:45 PM
BRP version, 6th Edition to be exact

NPCMook
2009-07-25, 01:56 PM
Mutants and Masterminds, we tried to run once, but that fell apart when the GM revealed the Campaign idea... which was just TERRIBLE(I will explain more upon request).

SWSE, Same GM from M&M, he only knows the Movies Lore, and so the one person who played a Jedi was made the main character of the campaign, nothing anyone else did mattered.

CoC, we built characters, did a test combat, and have never gone back

V:TM, we ran part of an adventure with our large group which turned out fun, we already have characters for this.

Shadowrun, is a risk because majority of the group had one really bad experience with it

Little Fears, we have only read it, not actually played it... It gives most of us the creeps

Cadillacs and Dinosaurs... Its exactly what you think it is, I haven't read it yet, but I mostly have it because i found it to be hilarious.

Rifts, I don't care for the system, but I'll give it a shot

WFRP, I've only watched it played for like 3 before we switched over to DnD 4e

Traveller, we made characters for it for fun, but we'd like to try the actual game out.

V:TR, we'd use V:TM Fluff, with V:TR Crunch

Exalted, only one of the other guys has experience with this one

I know its not on the list, L5R, we built characters a long time ago and one of them was killed in test combat by a lowly bandit.

Edit: Totally didn't mean to double post :smallredface:

jmbrown
2009-07-25, 02:13 PM
Mutants and Masterminds, we tried to run once, but that fell apart when the GM revealed the Campaign idea... which was just TERRIBLE(I will explain more upon request).

I'd like to know more. MnM is a good game to play in large groups because combat is finger snap simple, improves with more players, and there's no tactical movement (the DM has to keep track of distance and stuff for crazy characters like teleporters, speedsters, and flyers though).

World of Darkness is a decent system because they encourage you to roleplay more than fight. Fighting is what bogs down most RPG's so anything in that vein is what you ultimately want to play.

Now, I'm very partial to Little Fears and it's another quick-and-dirty roleplaying game where most characters don't survive a few sessions. It's hard for new comers because you have to effectively roleplay little children but the way actions are handled is fast and simple.

Traveller has deadly combat as well so your focus is on exploration over shooting stuff. I don't care for the new series, though. MegaTraveller is still where it's at.

I can't recommend Exalted for a big group because there's a lot to familiarize yourself with and handle in combat.

My personal recommendation for a large group is Dread. It's a roleplaying game based around Jenga. Whenever you do something important, the GM tells you to make a pull. If you pull successfully then your action succeeds. If you knock the tower over, you die or something bad happens. It's really fun in large groups and let me tell you, when you're staring danger in the face and the only way to live is by pulling off a middle block and the sweat from your brow is dripping on the teetering tower... yeah, that's exhileration right there.

Finally, Savage Worlds is the best "quick-and-dirty" system that allows the easiest customization. Your skills are set to polyhedron dice (d4, d6, etc.) with the higher dice meaning you're better at that skill. Initiative is revolved with a standard deck of 52 cards so combat isn't a super slow "Okay, all nine of you roll initiative... wait while I roll initiative for the 10 badguys you're fighting... okay one of you delayed? That puts you here... okay you're readied action goes off putting you here and et al."

kjones
2009-07-25, 02:21 PM
Mutants and Masterminds, we tried to run once, but that fell apart when the GM revealed the Campaign idea... which was just TERRIBLE(I will explain more upon request).

Request! Request! Terrible campaign ideas are always good for a laugh.

Also: don't play Rifts, unless the GM has a really strong idea of what he wants to do with it - and this extends to party makeup as well. Otherwise, it can get pretty silly pretty quickly.

NPCMook
2009-07-25, 02:25 PM
Since ye ask, ye shall receive;

Our super group consisted of a Trekkie, a Pokemon Trainer, The Huntsman(from Freakazoid), Capitan Cultist(40K reference), Mrs. Cosmic Charisma and her minions, and Fat Man(Freakazoid). Our group was a bit smaller at this point...

So the GM was going to send us to a world where bad was good, and good was bad... in the literal sense... We were transported to this world, see a chance to do good, which is bad, and are promptly arrested for doing good, and our punishment is to teach an up-and-coming "hero" to be "Good" which is we teach him to do bad stuff...

Also, the Trekkie's Arch-Nemesis was going to be a Star Wars reference, Pokemon was going to be Team Rocket, I'm honestly not sure what the rest of the groups Arch-Nemesis was going to be, we never got that far...

Mando Knight
2009-07-25, 02:35 PM
MAID (http://www.maidrpg.com/index.shtml). It's so ridiculous an idea that it might just work.

jmbrown
2009-07-25, 02:36 PM
Yeah, that sounds pretty terrible!

I would have sent you guys to the Dinosaur Dimension. You can never go wrong with dinosaurs.

mistformsquirrl
2009-07-25, 02:42 PM
Yeah, that sounds pretty terrible!

I would have sent you guys to the Dinosaur Dimension. You can never go wrong with dinosaurs.

This one speaks true!

Myiven
2009-07-25, 02:54 PM
MAID (http://www.maidrpg.com/index.shtml). It's so ridiculous an idea that it might just work.

Oh my. The write-up for that product is so ridiculous that I laughed out loud! "Your master is a kind teenager who lives in the mansion alone, but is a bit of a train otaku. He is also a cursed werewolf. With amnesia."

Morty
2009-07-25, 03:03 PM
I've heard a lot of good things about The Riddle of Steel, but I have no practical experience with it. From what I know, it's a low-magic, heroic system with gritty, realistic and excellently designed combat.

Anakha
2009-07-25, 03:24 PM
NPCMook and I are in the same group. I am our DM for 4E, but i only DM because i have the modules, and the only other one we have uses DM as a way of doing the things he always wanted to do as a gamer, whether or not they work with the system, or make any sense.

Well, this might be easier if we break down our group by the members.

NPCMook and I are pretty much up for anything, as long as it isn't COMBAT ALL THE TIME!!! I recently have found my roleplaying niche, and now enjoy the RP, and not just the combat.

We have a 20 year old, COMBAT ALL THE TIME!, old edition ROLLplayer who loves the spotlight, and when he DMs, makes one person the main character, and everyone else becomes sidekicks.

We have an old veteran of DnD, whos a good roleplayer.

We have a player who would be home in Exalted, and trys to turn every game into Exalted.

We have an engineer who is a little new to roleplaying, but hes a good sport.

We have a Chaotic stupid, or Chaotic "for the lulz" player.

We have a player who i can't quite put my finger on.

And we have the obligatory nerd and his g/f.

potatocubed
2009-07-25, 03:58 PM
Honestly, I figure that any game with 9 people in is going to be a nightmare. In fact, you have enough people to split into two groups without any trouble.

That said, if you're hell-bent on sticking together I would recommend Vampire from the games on your list. It's got the least combat, and with that many players there's a lot of room for shifting alliances, betrayals, all that good stuff. Give the characters a compelling reason to work together, then give them an equally compelling reason to stab each other in the back (or the face, if they're not very subtle), sit back and watch the fireworks.

NPCMook
2009-07-25, 04:04 PM
Honestly, I figure that any game with 9 people in is going to be a nightmare. In fact, you have enough people to split into two groups without any trouble.

That said, if you're hell-bent on sticking together I would recommend Vampire from the games on your list. It's got the least combat, and with that many players there's a lot of room for shifting alliances, betrayals, all that good stuff. Give the characters a compelling reason to work together, then give them an equally compelling reason to stab each other in the back (or the face, if they're not very subtle), sit back and watch the fireworks.

This is the best solution, unfortunately a game on Saturday nights and a game on Monday night are to many games going on. We used to have a d6 Star Wars game on Friday nights, but since there too many games going on it was cancelled.

Mando Knight
2009-07-25, 04:07 PM
Oh my. The write-up for that product is so ridiculous that I laughed out loud! "Your master is a kind teenager who lives in the mansion alone, but is a bit of a train otaku. He is also a cursed werewolf. With amnesia."

It's true. You can also have secret agent fairies, or catgirl robots. Or an amnesiac succubus vampire. I am not making this up.

VirOath
2009-07-26, 01:51 AM
Okay, with you numbers, I'm going to HAVE to suggest Shadowrun. I know you've had a bad experience with it, but 4e fixes many mechanical problems (like 3e's no difference between 6 and 7, yet the exponential curve of difficulty) and many running problems are with the DM either not understanding or not being clear on things. It is a bit of a higher fatality system than DnD, but 4e has alot of optional rules to fit your flavor.

Hear me out. Play something group based. Ex-Mercs, Punks, whatever. Just be expecting to be a bit lower powered for starting as 4e basic characters. Have a reasonable DM for it all, and with that number you got enough not only to cover all the bases, but also do to survive the "No... Don't go off alone..."

Something to this convention would be wonderful with the system. Though, it is best done with the GM having a hands on approach to char-gen. But I just -love- Shadowrun, and 4e is my favorite so far!

Maybe if you explained this bad experience?

Aside form that, Exalted. It may be a bit learning the system, but with any new system you go through that. Sadly, a mostly 1e with 2e mixed in, or 2e with 1e mixed in works better. 1e combat is much smoother in time keeping, but 2e handles the opposed part of combat in much better ways by giving Passive Defense values, which makes it possible for characters to do more. But 1e also has Opposed tests (Which is often rolling about a pound of D10s on the table when it comes down to Exalted vs Exalted, and that always makes a person feel a bit awesome.)

With a good DM for either of these, the systems are great and work very well.


Edit: Oh, and Paranoia. That is always good for some fun and kicks! And if the players don't know the rules, the better! Means they will be learning as they go, and making actions based on thought and logic, instead of trying to play the rules. Just remember to Smile, Friend Computer Says that Happiness is Mandatory!

AngelOmnipotent
2009-07-26, 07:43 AM
Anything Savage Worlds really. Solomon Kane (late 1500's/early 1600's) is a mix of witchcraft and (tame) cthulhu-type gameplay. Very smooth and easy to play system that allows for some interesting characters.

Savage Worlds Sundered Skies - think of a cross between Eberron/Stardust (movie)/Final Fantasy and you come close. It's very quirky, interesting, and rather unknown too.

The Rose Dragon
2009-07-26, 08:50 AM
It's true. You can also have secret agent fairies, or catgirl robots. Or an amnesiac succubus vampire. I am not making this up.

Isn't that the premise of BESM?

Also, you can't really go wrong with AFMBE. Unless you want superheroes.

Eldariel
2009-07-26, 09:59 AM
Friend Computer would like you to know that not playing Paranoia is a treason and thus you must purchase the said game so you can report to its execution chambers for termination.

NPCMook
2009-07-26, 04:07 PM
[Snip...]

The bad experience wasn't mine personally perse, but several members of the group. When they first discovered the awesomeness that is Shadowrun, the GM didn't understand the rules and did not allow Build points to be spent on Gear, this automatically made Technomancers, Adepts, Mages, and Mystical Adepts 100% better since all their resources went to their powers. One person made a mudane Melee Ork, and later on another player came along joining the game and ran an Adept Ork Boxer, with like 3 levels in Killing Hands. So that player doesn't care for the system anymore since someone just came along and out shone him so greatly in the same area, but it was all the GMs fault for not letting them buy starting gear. Along with that the game he ran was just crap so people have been scorned on Shadowrun.

Apparently one of our other players actually has access to the old White Wolf Street Fighter Roleplaying rules... This of course sounded awesome on many levels, so we may give that a shot too.