Decipher's RPGs and the Coda system

[Lord Herman]

Hi there,

A while ago, I was looking for a Star Trek RPG. First, I was hell-bent on finding a d20 version - the only system I was familiar with. But then I came across Decipher's RPGs, and the Coda system. The system looks a lot like d20, so I decided to give it a shot.

And wow, is it shiny. Just about everything I think is wrong with d20 - the steep power curve, the central role of equipment, the overabundance of magic, the extreme randomness of the 20-sided die, the number crunching - all seem to be fixed in Coda. That, and Decipher has its hands on two of my favourite settings - Star Trek and Lord of the Rings.

So now I'm running a Star Trek game on these boards (linky), and I'm planning on starting a Lord of the Rings game soon.

It's a pity that Decipher seems to have stopped making RPGs, though. They do say they're still releasing new books as .pdf's, but their site seems pretty dead.


So, does anyone else play Decipher's RPGs? What do you think of Coda? Any specific things you like/dislike about the system or Decipher's interpretation of the settings? Any stories you'd like to share?

[clarkvalentine]

I've played Coda LoTR many times, and like it a lot. Like you said, it seems to be d20-like wihtout some of d20's problems.

That said, I also found it exceedingly easy to munchkin. Comparing some of the PCs we generated to sample stats of LoTR characters, you can build a combat god that could easily wipe the floor with Aragorn in juts a few advances.

I think the system is great for game groups who agree on the sort of game they want to play and like building well-rounded characters. But it's not the sort of game you want to get five random strangers who generated their characters in isolation together to play.