Playing DnD with d10 system...

[Guinaur]

I was wondering whether it is possible to play a DnD game with the WhiteWolf d10 system? I was thinking that the "Mage" magic system would naturally be used for all spellcasting, but that would cause spellcasters to be very powerfull in comparison with non-spellcasters (even more-so than in dnd). I like the simplicity of WhiteWolf's system, but I love dnd's high-fantasy worlds. Can those too be combined?

[banjo1985]

Erm, I am at the minute actually! I'm running a WoD high fantasy game, airships, magic, orc & goblins, the works! For me it works absolutely fine, but that might be because me and my game group far prefer the WoD system to 3.5 anyway. The main problem is creating a convincing magic system, other than that WoD caters for the fantasy setting pretty well in my opinion.

[Skjaldbakka]

Attribute+Skill+Equipment is a simple yet elegant system. However, if anyone is a Mage, everyone needs to be. Just keep in mind that Mage is more of a template than a class. WoD is not a class system.

[Guinaur]

Banjo1985, any chance of you telling me some of the dinamics or rules you use for your High-Fantacy WoD game?

[Skjaldbakka]

You might also want to look into Exalted. I don't much care for it, but that is mostly because I like my high-fantasy games to be D20.

If you want more sane high-fantasy d10, pick up a copy of Second Sight and Armory. Armory has stats for medieval era weaponry, and Second Sight has merits that represent pyschic powers and hedge wizards pretty well. I would recommend against PC mages unless you are familiar with mage, and want the game to be about magic. The merits in the mage book might be appropriate though, particulary artifact and imbued item.

[banjo1985]

Banjo1985, any chance of you telling me some of the dinamics or rules you use for your High-Fantacy WoD game?

Sure. As a DM I'm pretty laid-back and rules light, so I don't really set anything in stone. However changing the skill lists from standard WoD sheets to ones that suit a high fantasy setting is a must. Replacing things like Drive and Science with Ride and Lore are good examples.

As far as magic goes, I don't have the Mage rulebook, so I based mine on elemental properties: Earth, Air, Fire, Water and Electricity. I created a merit called Mana Awareness, which anyone wanting to cast spells had to pick at character creation. The magic user then picks one of the elements, gains the corresponding weakness, and puts a single dot in my 3 magic attributes: Power, Repetoire and Soak. Power is obvious, and Soak is simply to resist other peoples spells and resist bashing damage caused by casting their own. Repetoire signifies how many ways the character can manipulate their element, one dot = one way. I put the options down as Evoke, Transform, Control, Shape, Enchant and one other that I've forgotten!

To cast a character says what they want to do, adds their Intelligence and Power dice together for a dice pool, then the amount of successes dictates how successful they are. They then roll Soak + Stamina to resist fatigue (Bashing damage) from their casting. It's fairly freeform, and might not be palatable to people more used to D&D, but it works for us!

Anything else you want to know then I'll do my best to help. I'm not saying what our group does is the best way to do things, just that it works in iour situation.

[Neek]

I was wondering whether it is possible to play a DnD game with the WhiteWolf d10 system? I was thinking that the "Mage" magic system would naturally be used for all spellcasting, but that would cause spellcasters to be very powerfull in comparison with non-spellcasters (even more-so than in dnd). I like the simplicity of WhiteWolf's system, but I love dnd's high-fantasy worlds. Can those too be combined?

I'm not sure how readily D&D ports over, but you can probably do it fairly easy if you redesigned new systems to represent each of the classes (i.e., having a Barbarian's rage function similarly to a werewolf in garou which also provides them the ability to soak aggravated damage; wizarding schools are dot-based, like take two dots in Necromancy and one in Conjuration; paladins must take the True Faith background; &c.)

I don't think the existing systems for WoD are readily available for D&D. Mage is an entirely different system with an entirely different set of mechanics. It's a whole new breed and feel, and doesn't fit the existing flavor. Going about and creating a fantasy with the Storyteller system would be a fun test of homebrewing, and it'd be cool to see the outcome...

[Dan_Hemmens]

There's two subtly different things being talked about here.

One is a flat D&D-Storytelling conversion. This is pretty much impossible, since D&D is more a system than a setting anyway (really, how similar is Ravenloft to Eberron?) D&D run under the Storytelling system isn't D&D in any meaningful sense. There's no levels or hit points, for one.

On the other hand, High Fantasy Storytelling is totally doable. You might want to fiddle with the way damage works, because ordinary humans in the ST system are pretty fragile.

Hmm... it occurs to me that what you could do is use the WoD "Human Plus Template" system to create "Heroic" characters, which you could even base on D&D character classes. Have, say "Fighter, Rogue, Wizard and Cleric" be default character archetypes which grant access to specific sets of abilities.

It'd still be nothing like D&D, but might be fun in its own right.

[Kurald Galain]

Elegant solution, Banjo.

You can do a lot of magical stuff in White Wolf for little work. I once converted all ElfQuest magics to WW, and it works fine.

D&D doesn't "transfer". Fantasy worlds transfer fine. If you want a sourcebook, you can start with the Dark Ages handbooks (vampire/werewolf/mage). Heck, if you skip the shapeshifting, you can make decent D&D'esque spells out of werewolf gifts.