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Logic
2012-07-10, 07:11 PM
I recently fell back into the RPG habit with a nice game of Pathfinder. But my desire to DM is back as well, and I want to recreate a fun game that had a horrible homebrewed system (read: rules were DM fiat and D6 only.)

It needs to be able to blend fantasy and science fiction, as the heroes are basically "Fighter-Pilots-from-the-Future!" that occasionally have to drop into magical fantasy worlds.

I have never played Rifts or Gurps, and need a system that I can learn to DM easily. If these two fall into that category, I'll give them a try.

I have plenty of DM experience with D20, some player experience with White Wolf's D10 system, and a tiny bit of experience with Dark Heresy.

Grail
2012-07-10, 07:29 PM
Try Green Ronin's True20 (http://True20.com), it's a d20 derivative so your experience with d20 will hold you in good stead. It uses only a single dice, the d20 and is a generic gaming system. Should work well for what you want.

Aron Times
2012-07-10, 07:45 PM
The World of Darkness is a dark urban fantasy setting that can support a wide variety of settings, from the default grimdark to lighter and softer settings to VAMPIRES IN SPACE, though the default setting is present-day Earth. There are seven main gamelines (Vampire, Werewolf, Mage, Promethean, Changeling, Hunter, Geist) and one gameline in development (Mummy).

It's a versatile system which can be modified with "hacks," which are basically optional rules that change how the game works. An example hack would be "Hollywood Reloading," which makes guns have unlimited ammo until you roll a dramatic failure (the rough equivalent of a natural 1 in D&D), if you want a cinematic gun-fu game where nobody needs to reload until the dice gods smite them.

Give it a try and come to the dark side. We have cookies.

Logic
2012-07-10, 08:50 PM
The World of Darkness is a dark urban fantasy setting that can support a wide variety of settings, from the default grimdark to lighter and softer settings to VAMPIRES IN SPACE, though the default setting is present-day Earth. There are seven main gamelines (Vampire, Werewolf, Mage, Promethean, Changeling, Hunter, Geist) and one gameline in development (Mummy).

It's a versatile system which can be modified with "hacks," which are basically optional rules that change how the game works. An example hack would be "Hollywood Reloading," which makes guns have unlimited ammo until you roll a dramatic failure (the rough equivalent of a natural 1 in D&D), if you want a cinematic gun-fu game where nobody needs to reload until the dice gods smite them.
How easy is it to learn to DM for? I tried reading that section (on an earlier edition) and had little idea of where to set difficulty for various actions.

Give it a try and come to the dark side. We have cookies.Well, you had better, because the cake is a lie.

Aron Times
2012-07-10, 09:05 PM
I'm talking about the New World of Darkness, where the difficulty is almost always 8. Basically, you roll your dice pool and count how many dice come up 8 or higher. Whenever you roll a 10, you get a successes and reroll that die. If it comes up 10 again, you reroll again.

For example, if I roll 6d10 and get 1, 2, 5, 8, 10, and 7, I get an initial two successes and reroll the 10. Suppose I get a 9 on the reroll; this gives me a total of three successes. This is how most dice pools are rolled.

In some instances, you can get 8 again or 9 again. The 8 again rule means that whenever you roll an 8, you get another die to roll, similar to how rolling a 10 gets you an extra die roll. 9 again is worse than 8 again but better than normal, and it lets you reroll 9s.

If you roll five or more successes on your dice pool, you get an exceptional success. In most cases, the extra successes are their own reward, but sometimes you get an improved effect above and beyond the successes rolled. If you are ever reduced to 0 dice on a dice pool, most likely due to penalties from your opponent's defense and/or armor on attack rolls, you can still make a chance roll. On a chance roll, you roll 1d10 and you get a success only on a 10. If you roll a 10, you can reroll as normal, but you still only succeed on a 10 on chance roll dice explosions. If you roll a 1 on a chance roll, you get a dramatic failure, the equivalent of a botch in the oWoD.

These are the basics, and there is more to know, but what I've posted is accurate for most of the system.

Diskhotep
2012-07-10, 10:07 PM
I'm a big fan of Savage Worlds. It is designed to handle cinematic action and incredibly versatile. You can download a test drive version of it for free at peginc.com (http://www.peginc.com), and there is a free adventure that works with the test drive rules as well.

Savage Worlds tends to employ the core rules + setting book model, so for most settings you won't need dozens of splatbooks. Settings include Victorian Monster Hunting (Van Helsing), Necessary Evil (in a world without superheroes, supervillains must save earth from alien occupation), 50 Fathoms (Pirates of the Carribean meets Pirates of Dark Water), and the flagship setting which started everything: Deadlands (supernatural western that I can't do justice in describing). There are also numerous licensees, with plenty of other systems.

The fan base is incredibly nice and helpful to new GM's, and their forums have a staff member dedicated to explaining rules and making new players comfortable with the system. It is well worth checking out.

obryn
2012-07-11, 08:22 AM
I also think Savage Worlds is a pretty good bet for what you're seeking. It's pretty rules-light, can handle multiple genres, and has both fantasy and vehicle support built in.

-O

The Dark Fiddler
2012-07-11, 10:35 AM
I'm always ready to suggest Mutants and Masterminds, especially if you already have d20 experience. It's a d20 based point-buy system, and although the book is written for Superhero games, the powers are pretty fluff-free and the system can be used for all sorts of games, as long as you use the proper fluff. You pick powers based on the end result, and then you add fluff after you've got the mechanics worked out. This means that you could use the same power, Blast (which deals damage at a range), to represent the lasers of the pilots, the arrows of fantasy archers, the spells of the mages, and the breath of the dragon. This makes it a good system to use when you might be changing genres, because the rules will be the same no matter what genre you're in; all that really changes is the descriptors on the powers.

Grail
2012-07-11, 11:10 AM
Mutants and Masterminds is almost True20. Both were spawned by Blue Rose, and was Green Ronin's attempt at having one game system.

Riverdance
2012-07-11, 09:29 PM
Cortex RPG (by Margaret Weiss Publications think). It's incredibly versatile and easy to learn. It can support any and every setting that I can think of although that doesn't necessarily mean anything. Give it a try. It's a really good system, and well put together.

LibraryOgre
2012-07-11, 11:45 PM
Put me down as a Savage Worlds enthusiast.

Stats and skills are a dx. When called upon to use one, roll the appropriate die. If the result is 4 or more, you succeed. For each multiple of 4, you succeed more. If the die rolls maximum, roll again and add. Major characters (PCs and big NPCs) get to roll another d6 with all of these.

It's fast, it's easy, and we made characters in under 30 minutes for a science fiction setting the GM had read in a novel. And that's on our first experience with it.

king.com
2012-07-12, 02:28 AM
It needs to be able to blend fantasy and science fiction, as the heroes are basically "Fighter-Pilots-from-the-Future!" that occasionally have to drop into magical fantasy worlds.

...a tiny bit of experience with Dark Heresy.

Rogue Trader can do that, if you actually like the Dark Heresy system that is.

Riverdance
2012-07-12, 07:42 PM
Put me down as a Savage Worlds enthusiast.

Stats and skills are a dx. When called upon to use one, roll the appropriate die. If the result is 4 or more, you succeed. For each multiple of 4, you succeed more. If the die rolls maximum, roll again and add. Major characters (PCs and big NPCs) get to roll another d6 with all of these.

It's fast, it's easy, and we made characters in under 30 minutes for a science fiction setting the GM had read in a novel. And that's on our first experience with it.

Ah yes. Never tried it myself but a well experienced friend of mine is a staunch supporter of Savage Worlds and I'm sure he would want me to second that.

Aron Times
2012-07-13, 12:59 AM
Now that Mark Hall has posted in this thread, you have to play Savage Worlds or you'll get banned There is no mind control, citizen. I will go back to my fun.

Logic
2012-07-13, 01:13 AM
Ok, so bonuses to a system are prioritized thusly:

Cost-I don't want to spend a whole lot of money on a system I may not like.
Ease-To GM for, to learn, to use, to play
Support-Main reason I haven't just steamed on ahead with D20 (Modern/Future, I own all these books) is because of how much I would have to overhaul the vehicle/starship combat. As it is written now, it's a mess. And I haven't seen any suggestions online (I may have not looked hard enough) to fix it.

Sidmen
2012-07-13, 01:29 AM
Ok, so bonuses to a system are prioritized thusly:

Cost-I don't want to spend a whole lot of money on a system I may not like.
Ease-To GM for, to learn, to use, to play
Support-Main reason I haven't just steamed on ahead with D20 (Modern/Future, I own all these books) is because of how much I would have to overhaul the vehicle/starship combat. As it is written now, it's a mess. And I haven't seen any suggestions online (I may have not looked hard enough) to fix it.

I'll second nWoD (new World of Darkness) as a cheap, easy-to-learn system. Basically, you just add up all the dots on your character sheet and roll that many dice. If the task is harder than usual, you subtract some dice (1-5 dice, depending on its difficulty); and you can get bonus dice from things like tools.

You can easily refit the vehicle combat rules for space travel (and there is a supplement that does exactly this), and White Wolf has embraced digital distribution and Print-on-Demand publishing, which has cheapened their product line.

Logic
2012-07-13, 02:44 AM
When I was first planning this campaign (for a different group of players) I was leaning heavily towards TRINITY, a White Wolf space game/campaign. At the time, I was still very new to the d10 system, and completely unfamiliar with the magic spectrum.

I don't recall why I set it aside, but I no longer own the rulebook.

Siegel
2012-07-13, 04:52 AM
I would suggest Savage World or Primetime Adventures.

LibraryOgre
2012-07-13, 01:43 PM
Now that Mark Hall has posted in this thread, you have to play Savage Worlds or you'll get banned There is no mind control, citizen. I will go back to my fun.

No, I won't ban him for not playing Savage Worlds.

Judge him? Yes. But not ban him.

:smallbiggrin:

EDIT: Incidentally, I picked up the SW Deluxe guide today. 160 full color pages for $30US. Worth it.

obryn
2012-07-13, 02:10 PM
EDIT: Incidentally, I picked up the SW Deluxe guide today. 160 full color pages for $30US. Worth it.
I got that for Christmas. My wife rocks. Really, really appealing system in a great presentation. If only the Explorers' Edition were still easy to snag.

-O

Sidmen
2012-07-13, 10:37 PM
When I was first planning this campaign (for a different group of players) I was leaning heavily towards TRINITY, a White Wolf space game/campaign. At the time, I was still very new to the d10 system, and completely unfamiliar with the magic spectrum.

I don't recall why I set it aside, but I no longer own the rulebook.

Just pulled the book out of my closet after years of it collecting dust... It did not age well. I don't blame you at all for setting it aside. nWoD is a lot easier to understand.

As for Savage Worlds, I got an older Core book (explorers) for a birthday present a while back - haven't looked into it much. Given the praise its getting in this thread I should probably give it a chance.

Arbane
2012-07-14, 02:09 AM
if 'realism' isn't an issue, there's always RISUS (http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/risus.htm). It's free on-line, the entire rulebook is about 6 pages long, and it only uses d6s unless you start modding it.

LibraryOgre
2012-07-14, 04:18 AM
I got that for Christmas. My wife rocks. Really, really appealing system in a great presentation. If only the Explorers' Edition were still easy to snag.


One of the players at Hackmaster tonight said they're coming out with a new EE next month!


As for Savage Worlds, I got an older Core book (explorers) for a birthday present a while back - haven't looked into it much. Given the praise its getting in this thread I should probably give it a chance.

Savage Worlds is a nice and simple system, great for people who don't want to revel in crunch. It does cinematics quick and well, with a lot coming back to simple skill checks involving only two dice, and the ability to divide by 4. I find it works well for games wherein the setting is a major character... for when you want to be able to appreciate what you're doing and where you're doing it, moreso than how you're doing it.

Logic
2012-07-15, 04:44 PM
Savage Worlds is a nice and simple system, great for people who don't want to revel in crunch. It does cinematics quick and well, with a lot coming back to simple skill checks involving only two dice, and the ability to divide by 4. I find it works well for games wherein the setting is a major character... for when you want to be able to appreciate what you're doing and where you're doing it, moreso than how you're doing it.

If I can find it in a brick and mortar gaming store, Savage Worlds will definitely win my dollar. I like the sound of it, and it seems to be able to replicate the "feel" (without the DM fiat) of the previous campaign I will be basing this new one.

vgunn
2012-07-16, 07:26 PM
if 'realism' isn't an issue, there's always RISUS (http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/risus.htm). It's free on-line, the entire rulebook is about 6 pages long, and it only uses d6s unless you start modding it.

Over the Edge's WaRP system is free now as well. Very similar to Risus and one of my all-time favorites.

http://www.atlas-games.com/warp/

BardicDuelist
2012-07-16, 09:10 PM
I absolutely adore the FATE system. Dresden Files Roleplaying Game is the latest and most complete iteration. It, like the book, is urban fantasy. Spirit of the Century is older and in a Pulpy setting. Dispora is hard sci-fi. Strands of Fate attempts to be generic.

Easy to GM and adapt. Very narrative oriented. Easy to introduce new players to, too.

Logic
2012-07-17, 04:38 PM
Gamers are always in hunt of new and versatile gaming systems. MMORPG is one such system that has fully catered the needs of millions of gamers. It is a nice gaming system. It is endowed with much charm and enthusiasm.

You aren't advocating a gaming system, but instead a genre of game available only on an electronic medium.