PDA

View Full Version : Any Experience with ORE, the d6 system or other fantasy-suited systems?



EccentricOwl
2013-01-20, 11:00 PM
Long Story Short: I am going to run a fantasy RPG in the near future and I'm looking for something new, ideally with solid combat mechanics that aren't too crunchy.

I've got experience with a wide variety of game systems, but I'm looking for something that would work well with an upcoming fantasy game.

I am interested in running a fantasy campaign to go hand in hand with the upcoming release of my own campaign setting in PDF form.

It's definitely in the sword-and-sorcery genre, and I'm looking for RPGs that have a certain amount of mechanical flexibility that lead to rewarding combats while not discounting the awesomeness of investigation and role-playing.

The only caveat; I would like to avoid the d20 system.

Does anyone have any experience with a good fantasy game for, say, ORE, or maybe a version of the Game of Thrones / L5R games?

I'm sorry, there are so damn many games it's easy to get overloaded.

Grod_The_Giant
2013-01-20, 11:51 PM
Dresden Files RPG? Sand off the fluff and replace "guns" and "drive" with "bows" and "ride" and you're probably good to go. FATE-based, so reasonably rules light, good for roleplaying and investigating/talking. (Can't speak for combat, since my campaign hasn't really had any of it yet, but it looks good.)

EccentricOwl
2013-01-20, 11:52 PM
I actually ran a Dresden Files RPG 3-session campaign. It was fun.

Here's a confession... I never once ever figured out how to use the magic.

Arbane
2013-01-21, 02:16 AM
I have fond memories of RuneQuest, but I haven't tried the new edition.

Exalted has a brilliant premise and setting, but a clunky rules-set, and it's not really adaptable to much else.

Feng Shui is relatively easy to hack for fantasy that isn't Tsui Hark-style, but it'll take some work.

I know you said 'no d20', but have you looked at Mutants and Masterminds? Like most superhero games, it'd be relatively easy to narrow the focus to do just fantasy, and it already has a fantasy sourcebook.

kyoryu
2013-01-21, 02:15 PM
I actually ran a Dresden Files RPG 3-session campaign. It was fun.

Here's a confession... I never once ever figured out how to use the magic.

Then maybe Fate Core, it has about 5 magic systems available as part of the Kickstarter, and the default scenario is fantasy-ish. It's pretty streamlined in comparison.

Burning Wheel isn't exactly rules-light, but it's also a lot of fun.

CarpeGuitarrem
2013-01-21, 02:31 PM
I actually ran a Dresden Files RPG 3-session campaign. It was fun.

Here's a confession... I never once ever figured out how to use the magic.
It's actually very tailored to Dresden-verse, so it might not be a good one for an S&S campaign. (I'll second the Fate Core bid, though. They've even got the core rules plus the magic toolkit currently up for a beta download for anyone who backs the Kickstarter.)

The DFRPG magic works on the principle of gather-shape-release that characterizes magic in the Dresdenverse. You gather a certain amount of power to yourself (thinking ahead to step 2, what you're going to use it for), then shape it into one of three basic actions (attack/block/maneuver), using the power you gathered as a strength for the action; finally, you have to release the magic, making a roll (equal to the strength of the effect) to control it. That's evocation, anyhow. But that's a side note.

I'll second Burning Wheel as a good S&S-style game, albeit one that is very meaty. It's not hard to learn, though. You start with a 74-page "hub" of core rules (with plenty of explanation) (http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/98542/Burning-Wheel-Gold%3A-Hub-and-Spokes) that you can theoretically use to run Burning Wheel on its own. You then add in various modules as you need them; each one extends the rules to cover a different area.

There's a module for more tactical combat (as opposed to making a single combat roll), a module for debates and other social contests, a module for chases, modules to handle buying things or finding contacts in one single roll, and so on. It all slots together, but the modules are optional. The core rules are dead simple: grab a bunch of d6s, roll them, and count a success for each 4+. Hope to achieve successes equal to the difficulty of the task (in BW terms, the "obstacle" or "Ob").

Ninjadeadbeard
2013-01-21, 02:33 PM
Warrior, Rogue and Mage is free to play and a very good d6 system. I very recently playtested it with my friends (playtested for ourselves, the game itself is a few years old), and we had a ball.

It's basically a Tri-stat classless system that makes a point of being very modifiable.

Pros:
Takes mere minutes to learn, and then to make characters while still allowing some versatility.
Fast, brutal combat. It usually only took one or two hits to kill something, even Players, so strategy and tactics were incredibly important.


Cons:
Lacks some rules/depth. Social skills are absent, so you might have to make them up (we went with adding Intimidate (warrior), Bluff (Rogue) and Diplomacy (Mage)). I also had to homebrew crafting rules on the spot, exacerbated by the fact that there are no "0-level" utility spells (the party blacksmith wanted to have a Produce Flame spell so he could heat metal with his hand).
Hyper-lethal. Everyone needs armor. In our test-adventure, the party ended up fighting werewolves and elves who had mastered massed-musket volleys. The party Tank lost his armor (Ameor = HP variant rule) against the werewolves' jaws, but survived due to the party gunslinger. With the elves, the Tank got raked with gunfire, lost his shield and most his armor, but survived.

I've found this game to be immense fun, but it really is more dependent on your group. Doesn't matter if you have the best game ever written, if you and your group don't work together, the game won't work. Good luck!

Grod_The_Giant
2013-01-21, 08:59 PM
It's actually very tailored to Dresden-verse, so it might not be a good one for an S&S campaign. (I'll second the Fate Core bid, though. They've even got the core rules plus the magic toolkit currently up for a beta download for anyone who backs the Kickstarter.)

The Laws of Magic/Lawbreaker bit, sure, but that's effortless to remove. The gather/channel power and evocation-thaumaturgy split is ingrained, yes, but I feel like it's acceptably generic-- it'd be pretty easy to re-fluff it just by changing the categories.

The writing of the book, yes, is very much ingrained in the Dresden-verse. Still excellent, though, and has better game advice than any other rulebook I've seen.

EccentricOwl
2013-01-21, 10:13 PM
Can you compare the FATE: Core rules to the Dresden Files rules? Any major rules differences I should know about?

kyoryu
2013-01-22, 02:11 PM
Can you compare the FATE: Core rules to the Dresden Files rules? Any major rules differences I should know about?

Hrm.

Well, of course most of the "Dresden Files" specific stuff is gone. Core is pretty much exactly that - the core stuff that's applicable to just about every game.

Major conceptual changes:

Blocks are gone. Just gone.

There are now four actions (Attack, Defend, Create an Advantage, and Overcome). "Blocks" and the like would now be Create an Advantage, which can give you up to two free tags of an aspect.

There are four outcomes of a roll - Failure (which can be "success at a cost"), Ties (which can also be success with a minor cost in some circumstances, or a Boost in others), Success, and Success with Style (beat the obstacle by 3 shifts, generally grants a boost)

Create Advantage is pretty much the go-to for lots of stuff - declarations, assessments, blocks, etc. Create Advantage allows you to create new aspects and get up to two free invokes of that aspect.

Free invokes of an aspect from Create Advantage *can* be stacked!

"Spin" is gone and replaced with Boosts - temporary aspects that you gain a single (free) usage of. Tying on an attack gives you a Boost, as does Success With Style

Smaller tweaks:

Stress tracks are reduced to starting at 2.

Consequence recovery is changed slightly... basically, all consequences recover kinda like severe ones now (change the aspect first, then they go away).

Typical refresh rate is 3, though this can certainly be changed on a game to game basis. Paying refresh for additional stunts has stayed.

Typical number of aspects is down to 5 (High Concept, Trouble, First Adventure, Crossing Paths X2)

NPCs don't track Fate points between scenes any more (with a minor exception for concessions). Instead, the GM gets a budget of one fate point per player.

CarpeGuitarrem
2013-01-22, 02:52 PM
Also, if the Fate Core kickstarter hits $400,000 (i.e., $100,000 more than it's at), they'll release Dresden Files Acclerated in 2014, an adaptation of the DFRPG to Fate Accelerated, which is a lite version of Fate Core.

Unrest
2013-01-22, 06:19 PM
As for Warrior, Rogue & Mage I can only say that you should be prepared to write about twice as much in material in houserules as there already is in the (admittedly short) books. I somehow love the system and love to look at the pdfs, but next to nothing is really defined in there. For instance, "Combat turns are generally short, a few seconds in duration, so characters can only perform a few actions. Running a short distance, drawing a weapon, attacking a foe, and cast-ing a spell are reasonable actions that can be performed during one turn." That's all there is on what happens in a turn - you might be comfortable with that or not (not to mention that it does not explicitly state whether it means all of these actions or only one of them). Also, I had a completely opposite experience to Ninjadeadbeard: playing with Armor as AC, you can easily get about 16 on your tank right off the bat. And enemies are not rolling a d20 to hit it, but d6 - if you pump them enough to hit the tank, they will slaughter anything that is not the tank. Otherwise, you'd need a boss to actually threaten him in any way. So, basically, charming, but severely underdeveloped.

Try PDQ#? It's flavoured towards swashbuckling, but that can be very easily disposed of; fairly simple, but customisable to the moon and back.