PDA

View Full Version : Have World, Need System



DustinTheWind
2012-07-01, 12:55 PM
I've been slowly developing a fantasy world for...well, quite some time now. It originally was designed as a setting for a novel, but over the years I realized that such a goal was not feasible (read: I can't write protagonists) so I have been working on it as an RPG setting.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to find a rules system that really works for the world I have set up. It's a medieval fantasy world, but with a six-pronged elemental magic system (which cannot be discarded, as it is foundational to the plot). Any character who uses magic aligns themselves to one element (fire, earth/stone, water/ice, wind/lightning, light/life, dark/death) and casts spells primarily focused on that element.

Is anyone here able to suggest a gaming system which would work well with what I have with minimal modifications? I really don't think I have the knowhow to build dice rules and spell lists myself.

I have tried DnD 3.5, but the magic schools therein align poorly with what I have - and sometimes directly contrast. I have considered GURPS, but have heard the system is cumbersome and handles combat poorly, pitfalls I wish to avoid.

Jack of Spades
2012-07-01, 01:02 PM
The Giant used d20 modern to make a fantasy world with an alternative magical system in "The New World," but I personally don't know anything about the system.

Yora
2012-07-01, 01:44 PM
Maybe Dragon Age RPG?
By default, it has only four schools: Creation, Entropy, Elements, and Spirit. I thinks with a bit of shuffling and refluffing, you should be able to make it match your system.
But there's not a very high number of spells and mages do not get many, less than one per character level.

Or you could use the psionic system for D&D 3.5e. Just take the powers and sort them into the six groups. Then also select some of them as specialization-exclusive and use them as the Discipline Power-Lists.

vartan
2012-07-01, 05:01 PM
Mutants and Masterminds 2e using the Warriors and Warlocks supplements. Just require the magic users to have the same descriptor on all magic powers they have... Just a thought.

Jukebox Hero
2012-07-01, 07:20 PM
If you're up for a bit of work, may I suggest Savage Worlds? It allows for a ton of DM modification, and as it is, can be used as a barebones system, a skeleton to which you can add organs, muscles, fat, and other features.

Grail
2012-07-01, 07:51 PM
True20 (http://True20.com) would be a great system for this. All you have to do is break up the different Supernatural Powers into the 6 elements that you want and it should work a treat.

Raum
2012-07-01, 07:59 PM
Is anyone here able to suggest a gaming system which would work well with what I have with minimal modifications?FATE or Fudge would work well, so does Wushu if you want a purely narratively driven game. Savage Worlds works if you want action and low to mid magic. Almost any Supers system could be tailored to fit a high magic game.

What do you want the system to support / supply?

Xefas
2012-07-01, 09:22 PM
Blazing Rose (http://www.lulu.com/shop/edward-sabe-jones/blazing-rose-a-story-game-of-romantic-rivalry-ashcan-edition/paperback/product-4639945.html), of course.

People still romance each other in this new fantasy world of yours, I take it?

Man on Fire
2012-07-01, 09:28 PM
Can you tell us more about what style of the games you want to take place in that setting? Because that's the basis when you're choosing a system.

Also, consider GURPS.

Hiro Protagonest
2012-07-01, 09:39 PM
Blazing Rose (http://www.lulu.com/shop/edward-sabe-jones/blazing-rose-a-story-game-of-romantic-rivalry-ashcan-edition/paperback/product-4639945.html), of course.

People still romance each other in this new fantasy world of yours, I take it?

...I kinda want to buy that.

Anyway, Strands of Fate and Wushu both work if you don't mind the fluff molding to the mechanics rather than the other way around (for example, in Strands of Fate, rather than having Stone Fist, you have Melee Power Attack, which could be an earth-aligned briefly turning his fist into stone, a fire-user conjuring magical fire around her hand, a wind/lightning mage sending a shock through his hand, a water-user briefly turning her hand into an icicle stronger than steel, a light-user channeling his power to attack demons or undead (if it was limited to those enemies, then I think his Power Source would qualify for a Weakness, but only one, maybe two points since he could mainly choose powers that don't directly attack an enemy), or a death-user channeling the power of death into living creatures, or sucking its power out of undead creatures). Strands of Fate is rules-lite, but Wushu is one step away from being freeform.

Knaight
2012-07-01, 09:55 PM
Esoteric settings which need odd mechanics tend to take generic systems. As such, you have a few options, with the main ones highlighted below.

GURPS - It will work, and will require relatively little in the way of brand new mechanics. That said, it is crunchy, it is overly detailed, and it is a bit of a pain to GM (though it is incredibly fun as a player).

Fudge - Fudge was written by someone who came from a GURPS background, and it shows. It is essentially GURPS like in many ways, but is extremely rules light, even more flexible, and somewhat demanding of game designer skills as a GM. With that said, working from a Fudge chassis is much easier then designing a game from scratch. It is also a free download, and there are existing magic systems that can be plugged in with minimal fuss.

FATE - FATE is essentially Fudge, with the addition of several more narrative centered mechanics. It is more rules heavy than most Fudge implementations I've seen, but nowhere near as rules heavy as GURPS. I'd reccomend FATE 2 over FATE 3, though I would borrow FATE 3's Stunts in the generic form found in Dresden Files.

Savage Worlds - I leave this here as a mnemonic for those who like the system and might want to detail it. Suffice to say that it is fairly generalized, it works for heroic fantasy, and it is cheap. It is also in the running for my least favorite system, once the obvious contenders (e.g. FATAL) have been removed.

HERO - On the off chance you feel like GURPS just doesn't have enough mechanics, HERO is an option. It can model most anything, but the each of the two rules books are thick enough to block most bullets, and almost entirely rules. I'd personally recommend against it.

Tristat - Tristat is a questionable system for this, but it has its proponents, and it is relatively easy to transition to from d20.

Xefas
2012-07-01, 10:17 PM
...I kinda want to buy that.
You should! The PDF is only 5 bucks. It works with just about any setting, and has rules for a variety of tones (you pick stuff like comedic/serious, for instance). I first heard about it from the Walking Eye (http://www.thewalkingeye.com/?p=503), which has a relatively short audio actual-play, if you want to check it out. In their playthrough, Thor (the Norse god), Gabriel (the Christian archangel), Bast (the Egyptian god), and Merlin (of Arthurian legend) all vie for the affections of a mortal bookstore owner in the midst of the apocalypse.


Strands of Fate is rules-lite, but Wushu is one step away from being freeform.

I wouldn't call Strands of Fate all that light. Although, obviously lighter than d20. And IIRC, Wushu is a step or two more complex than Primetime Adventures, which DustinTheWind could also use for his setting without modification.

Blueiji
2012-07-01, 11:02 PM
You could just use the basic D&D 3.5 system, but make casters pick from specific spell lists themed after one of the six elements of your world.

It would be like school specialization, but much, much narrower.

zlefin
2012-07-01, 11:21 PM
I don't know if there's any tabletop equivalent of Age of wonders; but aside from that it'd fit your world quite well; and most of the rules for age of wonders would require very little, if any, adaptation to work in tabletop anyways.

Geostationary
2012-07-01, 11:44 PM
If you're feeling adventurous and want to run a potentially higher-powered game, you could always try adapting Nobilis. It's diceless, rules-mediumlight, and (believe it or not) can be run as a lower-power game by either giving people only 9 character points to start off with or by forcing them to buy each spell as a Gift. Each element of magic would be treated as an Estate for the purposes of Domain and Persona (these cover actual instances of the Estate and the properties thereof, respectively). You don't even need to give the players Aspect (magical physical/mental stat) or Treasure (cool swag/panoply) attributes, as they either don't apply or you can use the mortal action system! It's also quite excellent if you want to get more abstract with the use of elemental spells, such as allowing fire to inflame passions and the like.

That and there is no such thing as a character concept too absurd for Nobilis, but that's only relevant if your players/setting swing that way. It's fine played straight.

Driderman
2012-07-02, 11:03 AM
If you're up for a bit of work, may I suggest Savage Worlds? It allows for a ton of DM modification, and as it is, can be used as a barebones system, a skeleton to which you can add organs, muscles, fat, and other features.

I'll have to agree with Savage Worlds, it's a great system for tailoring specifically to whatever you'll want in your setting. I plan on using it for my own fantasy setting, if I ever get around to building it.

Rogerd
2012-07-02, 11:15 AM
Personally for ease of use I'd pick Cinematic Unisystem, it is simple and reasonably easy to use. I would also suggest using nWOD on the Hunter The Vigil side of things so that things are not overly powerful.

But all this depends on the kind of level of play you have in mind.

Sir Swindle89
2012-07-02, 11:26 AM
You could use the Ars Magica system and just alter the Forms to fit your magic system. It's already medival and mostly magic based.

Hiro Protagonest
2012-07-02, 12:15 PM
You should! The PDF is only 5 bucks.

Well, luckily, my netbook's getting fixed by my uncle (not sure if it'll help, we tried getting it fixed before), but I'm already going to get Guild Wars 2, which takes up two gigs, and the max I can have on that netbook is four.

I wouldn't call Strands of Fate all that light. Although, obviously lighter than d20.
I was kind of on the fence between light and moderate. I don't have that many systems, only SoF, D&D 3.5 and 4e, and Exalted. I want to get nWoD, though...

Driderman
2012-07-02, 12:36 PM
I'm not a big fan of the nWoD system myself. Sure, the setting(s) are interesting but the mechanics aren't much to write home about. Of course, they're perfectly adequate if you only use them for a rare dice-based resolution now and then (and I must admit I don't know the nWoD Mage mechanics, I suppose those could be good), but if you tend to use the mechanics frequently I'd advise against nWoD (or old, for that matter).

Hiro Protagonest
2012-07-02, 12:42 PM
I'm not a big fan of the nWoD system myself. Sure, the setting(s) are interesting but the mechanics aren't much to write home about. Of course, they're perfectly adequate if you only use them for a rare dice-based resolution now and then (and I must admit I don't know the nWoD Mage mechanics, I suppose those could be good), but if you tend to use the mechanics frequently I'd advise against nWoD (or old, for that matter).

Actually, Mage is terrible.

But this is a White Wolf game. I know what I'm getting.

Driderman
2012-07-02, 01:00 PM
Actually, Mage is terrible.

But this is a White Wolf game. I know what I'm getting.

And by that I assume what you're getting is "the fluff" since the mechanics are bollocks :smalltongue:

Driderman
2012-07-02, 01:02 PM
Actually, Mage is terrible.

But this is a White Wolf game. I know what I'm getting.

And by that I assume what you're getting is "the fluff" since the mechanics are bollocks :smalltongue:

Hiro Protagonest
2012-07-02, 01:13 PM
And by that I assume what you're getting is "the fluff" since the mechanics are bollocks :smalltongue:

...I did say I play Exalted, right?

Then there's also the masses that play D&D 3.5.

And in a pinch, there's converting to Strands of Fate.

JustPlayItLoud
2012-07-02, 01:50 PM
I'll go a different direction and suggest that Warrior, Rogue, & Mage since it's free and very basic to learn. The "From the Imperial Library" supplement brings the meager selection of spells up to a decent level. The added damage spells are just damage, devoid of elemental typing, with some suggested names. For example the 1st level Painful Touch spells suggests the alternate names of Frostburn, Embergrasp, Shocktouch, Grip of Corrosion, and Kiss of Venom. The game's author practically insists you add your own touches to the game, and it wouldn't be difficult to have a name for a damage spell for each category, and then divide up the other spells into their relevant schools. Then monsters could be created or modified to have elemental resistances and vulnerabilities.

Rogerd
2012-07-02, 03:17 PM
I want to get nWoD, though...

Get all the HTV stuff first then backup with Second Sight, Immortals, Mirrors and maybe Armoury and Armoury Re-loaded. If you must get some of the main corebooks as places to farm ideas from.

Of course there is always Framewerk which is used for C-tech as another system or Cortex or Runequest or Legend.

Geostationary
2012-07-02, 04:10 PM
Get all the HTV stuff first then backup with Second Sight, Immortals, Mirrors and maybe Armoury and Armoury Re-loaded. If you must get some of the main corebooks as places to farm ideas from.

Of course there is always Framewerk which is used for C-tech as another system or Cortex or Runequest or Legend.

Framewerk's not bad if you want a more lethal game (this can be fiddled with somewhat), but I'm not sure how well it would handle the magic system you have in mind. You'd probably need the Vade Mechum for the parapsychic rules if you don't plan on using lots of ritual casting. I'd also house-rule botches so they only apply if you roll greater than 1/2 ones.

Otherwise, it's a fairly solid system.

Hiro Protagonest
2012-07-02, 06:05 PM
Get all the HTV stuff first then backup with Second Sight, Immortals, Mirrors and maybe Armoury and Armoury Re-loaded. If you must get some of the main corebooks as places to farm ideas from.

Of course there is always Framewerk which is used for C-tech as another system or Cortex or Runequest or Legend.

And instead of playing Exalted, I should play freeform in the setting. Yeah, yeah, I've heard it before.

I don't even know what HTV is. I've heard of FUDGE, FATE, Strands of Fate, D&D, L5R, WW games, Anima: Beyond Fantasy, Legend as made by Doc Roc/Lord_Gareth... nope, no idea.

Rogerd
2012-07-03, 04:54 AM
And instead of playing Exalted, I should play freeform in the setting. Yeah, yeah, I've heard it before.

What's free-form got to do with this?


I don't even know what HTV is. I've heard of FUDGE, FATE, Strands of Fate, D&D, L5R, WW games, Anima: Beyond Fantasy, Legend as made by Doc Roc/Lord_Gareth... nope, no idea.

Hunter the Vigil it is without doubt the best part of nWOD with toned down power levels.

Legend is a Runequest type game with just a few tweaks.