Unisystem??

[DMfromTheAbyss]

OK a gaming group has contacted me about running for them. They mentioned using Unisystem by preference. (aka Buffy, Angel, Swords and Sorcery RPG systems)

I've no experience with any of said games, but I've enough experience with different game systems in general that I feel I can easily pick up just about any game quick.

For instance GURPS took me an afternoon. I have a few weeks, I'm not worried.

But what is everyone who has played it's take on the system?

Would it be worth picking up to keep them comfortable, or would I be better off sticking to a system I know for whatever genre they like?

Any systemic pitfalls a GM should be aware of?

Anything the system does particularly well or poorly?

I'm just looking for any input from people who have played it to get a general sense of what it's like.

[infinitypanda]

While I, unfortunately, have no personal experience with the system, I've read it through a few times. It looks pretty good.

Its method of conflict resolution is pretty much the same as d20's, except that the DC is static rather than variable. I like that. It's nice just being able to say, "Roll X," rather than having to make up a DC.

It uses a point buy system for character generation, and I've heard good things about it. Point buy is tied with rolling for my favorite method of character generation, so that's nice.

Really, from what I've heard, it's a good, solid system. It has its flaws, but so does every system. I don't really know what the flaws are, but I assume it has them.

So yeah, it'd probably be worth learning it.

[Raum]

But what is everyone who has played it's take on the system? Very briefly and superficially, Unisystem is d20 without levels and using a d10 in place of the d20.

There are a lot of things I like about the system. It does away with hit point and 'to hit' inflation. It also uses a much shorter power (spell if you prefer) list while allowing individual powers much more flexibility. Finally, it's generally easier to GM than d20 is...mostly because there's less accounting due to the lack of levels.

However, there are two potential drawbacks with Unisystem - it's poorly organized for gaming (perhaps this is a personal peeve but I detest haiving to search for a given rule) and it's just as unbalanced as anything WotC ever put out. Of course balance doesn't have to be an issue, it depends on how the group reacts to it. One clarification also, Cinematic Unisystem attempts to balance by giving the weaker archetypes more action points...so this may only be an issue with Classic Unisystem.


Would it be worth picking up to keep them comfortable, or would I be better off sticking to a system I know for whatever genre they like?If you're open to it, it's worth trying. Witchcraft is available free so there doesn't need to be much investment. Of course that's coming from someone who has played a bunch of differing systems...so if you're less prone to change than I, take that suggestion with a grain of salt. :smallwink:


Any systemic pitfalls a GM should be aware of? Text organization is my biggest pet peeve. You'll also want to watch for potential balance issues. (Don't allow PC undead unless you're playing a high power game, they're extremely durable.) In many ways play is similar to old school D&D - rules and powers create a framework but the GM needs to make occasional calls to fill in details.


Anything the system does particularly well or poorly? I like the flavor of most of the systems / settings. Both the story text and the mechanics do an excellent job of evoking a sense of 'this is how it would be...'


I'm just looking for any input from people who have played it to get a general sense of what it's like.Grab Witchcraft and try it! Even if you don't stick with the game long term it's a good resource for house rules in whatever games you do play.

[Raum]

Almost forgot, BBC had the Cinematic Unisystem rules available on their web site at one point. Not certain if they're still available or not - they were in the Ghosts of Albion section...which may or may not still be available.

I can try and answer any specific questions also...but good gaming to you whichever system you choose!

[Kiero]

OK a gaming group has contacted me about running for them. They mentioned using Unisystem by preference. (aka Buffy, Angel, Swords and Sorcery RPG systems)

I've no experience with any of said games, but I've enough experience with different game systems in general that I feel I can easily pick up just about any game quick.

For instance GURPS took me an afternoon. I have a few weeks, I'm not worried.

First up, Unisystem comes in two flavours. Classic/Standard you see in Witchcraft, All Flesh Must be Eaten, Armageddon, and so on. This is a solidly rules-medium game with a fair amount of tracking/accounting in it. You can preview it for free by downloading Witchcraft from Eden's website.

Cinematic Unisystem is that used in Buffy, Angel, Armies of Darkness and Ghosts of Albion. It's a lighter, simplified (and IMO better) iteration of the Unisystem engine that pares out quite a few dice rolls. Fixed damage, for example, rather than random. It also has Drama Points, a means to give players the ability to do things beyond what their character is capable of. That includes a "get out of death free" card if you're willing to cash them all in at once.

The BBC used to have a run-through of Buffy's rules available for free on their "Cult" website.

I'm going to talk about the Cinematic variant from here on out, which is the one I have most experience with.


But what is everyone who has played it's take on the system?

It's pretty solid, although making characters takes a little time because it's point-buy. While there are both archetypes and signature characters for quick pick-up, I suspect most people will want to make their own.


Would it be worth picking up to keep them comfortable, or would I be better off sticking to a system I know for whatever genre they like?

It's not a particularly complex or difficult system to learn, so unless you're just concerned about having too many on the go, not really an issue.


Any systemic pitfalls a GM should be aware of?

Dexterity is an uberstat. In combat, it's quite simply the best one there is; it gives you more actions, it means you go first, it allows you to avoid attacks, it's the basis of melee and unarmed combat skills. You really need to watch for how high PCs Dex goes, especially if they have access to demon powers (which allow you to go beyond the human max of 6).

Also watch out for people stacking up the package Qualities, or overloading on the Drawbacks (though you can't get more than 10). Again demon powers is where things can get a lot more abuse-able, that needs agreement amongst the group as to what is going on.

Some people replace the core rolling mechanic of D10+stat+skill with 2D6+stat+skill, depends on how you like your probabilities. Either way you'll hit a point where PCs will breeze through the standard difficulty once their stat+skill is over 8. In general, success levels matter more, though.


Anything the system does particularly well or poorly?

I'm just looking for any input from people who have played it to get a general sense of what it's like.

It does "people with powers" and low-powered/street-level supers very well. It's a bit harder to do gritty/realistic without getting rid of Drama Points, and that removes the balance between White Hats/Investigators and Heroes/Champions (which are two of the three tiers of starting character types).

It also does a really good job of balancing characters of disparate power levels in the same group.

It doesn't do really detailed tactical combat, if you like that sort of thing.

[Satyr]

First of all, you can get one of the Unisystem games, Witchcraft (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=692&it=1&filters=0_0_40050_0), as a free download, so you can easily look for yourself if you like it.

Apart from that, it is a really good system. It is simple enough to be explained in a few minutes, character creation may take a bit longer, but is quite intuitive as well, and the system works. It plays a bit like D20, but without the typical anachronism baggage like classes or levels and combines with more Gurps-y flexibility and advantage and disadvantage system.

The rules are very simple, and are based on the same old mechanism of the Talsorian games which were also copied by D&D: You have an ability, you have a skill, you roll a die, you add it all together. In combination with the Character Point system, it's like a class meeting of the most popular (meaning frequently ripped off) RPG mechanisms. Which makes it very easy to understand, and to run smoothly.


But what is everyone who has played it's take on the system?

The best way to describe Unisystem is something like that: Gurps and D20 met another on a Star Trek convention. As things go, they got severely drunk, and woke up the other day in a dirty hotel room, the floor plastered with broken champaign bottles. It was a shameful morning, and both were quite embarassed from the events of the night. So they decided to never see each other, since they were too different Gurps with its obsession of common sense and rationality was quickly bored by the superficial beaty and ultimate emptyness of D20, and since Gurps ocasionally used words with more than three syllables, D20 had difficulties to follow and found Gurps snobbish for using terms like "intrinsic logic" or "verisimilitude." And as everybody knows, D20 never calls.
So, if all this would have worked as usual, this would just have been an arkward con tale, but nine months later, Unisystem was born. It combined the best and the worst traits of both parents, and was unpopular with either one, so it developed a serious inferiority complex and got obsessed with Zombies, ancient gods and sentient apes.

I like the Unisystem dearly. It is not as flexible as Gurps, true, but it is a great improvement compared to D20 and very intuitive to use. The game is good, and if you are looking for a simple to use flexible rules, and for what reason whatsoever don't like Gurps or find it too cumbersome, it is a pretty neat alternative, way better than Savage Worlds (but then, there are a few games worse than Savage Worlds) and easily en par with Mutants and Masterminds (the other "let's create an interesting crossbreed by forcing Gurps and D20 to have a shameful hotel room one-night stand").


Would it be worth picking up to keep them comfortable, or would I be better off sticking to a system I know for whatever genre they like?

That depends on what you want to play, and what Unisystem game you prefer. Similar to Gurps, you could probably play about anything with Unisystem, but there are settings and genres which work better than others. It is by no means a bad game, but it is a compromise between D20 and a classless/levelless RPG.
I generally prefer a good generic game over a bad specific one - and usually the generic games are more adaptable, adjustable and usually better thought-out than the specfic ones anyway, which are all key qualities in my book. So, yes, I would probably use the Unisystem instead of most genre-bound games, even though that choice depends on the setting, genre and game in question.


Any systemic pitfalls a GM should be aware of?

Don't believe in any announcement of the publisher concerning new books. Which is a shame, because they books they have in developmental purgatory all look pretty awesome.
The game can be quite deadly, so it is sometimes surprisingly easy to kill a player character.
There are too few qualities and drawbacks, or at least too few good ones, so characters will often look very similar on the mechanical level.
Characters of different power levels are not balanced with each other is in my opinion no pitfall, because it is so obvious.


Anything the system does particularly well or poorly?
I found it very easy to homebrew stuff for Unisystem. I think Unisystem works best if you take it as a D20 replacement. You can very easily take pretty much any D20 game, kick out the old mechanics and replace them with Unisystem, and you are very likely going to have a better game afterwards.
The only genre I can think of which I would definitively not play with Unisystem is Hard Science Fiction, because here it is clearly inferior to Gurps (including the lack of a setting that can compete with Transhuman Space). For pretty much anything else, it should work fine. The power level is very flexible, and the game does not break down if you either play ordinary people or the incarnations of ancient gods. If you try to run both in the same campaign though, there will be balance issues.

So download the Witchcraft rules. Download the free Unisystem Midnight Conversion (http://www.unifans.org/index.php?PHPSESSID=95e114cb3286cdef5d28a46d974489 0d&action=tpmod;dl=item107) by yours truly to gain sixty or so new qualities and drawbacks, a small fantasy creature bestiary and an impression what you can do with the game if you want to, or if you prefer dinosaurs to the Lord of the Rings, darker and grittier version, have a look at this (http://edenstudiosdiscussionboards.yuku.com/forum/getrefs/id/60636/type/0).

[Anonymouswizard]

It looks like a good system from the rulebooks (but I only have access to the Buffy core rulebook (non-revised) and slayers handbook), and character generation is generally slightly more varied than d20 as I see it, with all the qualities. However, it can be to easy to make a powerful magic user with the core rulebook and slayers handbook in buffy (hero with Totem warrior (raven)+2 levels of sorcery+as high a occultism level as possible+ as high willpower as you can get (we'll assume 7 willpower and 5 occultism) and two points of drawbacks). With this build you can get a +15 bonus (+7willpower, +5 occultism, +2 sorcery, +1 totem warrior), or replace the totem warrior and drawbacks with two levels of sorcery and that +1 bonus goes to +2, but you lose the 7 willpower (+1 bonus from totem warrior), and the ability to put your willpower as high as you like and you can cast power level 4 spells automatically when fully rested.So how much magically power do you want in cinimatic (I say use drama points anyway though, their cool, and should be in d20).