Board Games!

[Nexus]

The Star Wars d20 system is good, although not sure if it's what you want.

[Anatole Kuragin]

The Star Wars d20 system is good, although not sure if it's what you want.

Thanks for the suggestion - I've run star wars d20 and star wars edge of the empire and enjoyed both a lot - but I just got out of a star wars campaign and want to use something a little different.

[GreyICE]

Eclipse Phase

- might just be the setting for you. Hard sci fi, with a strong transhuman theme. System is very reminiscent of GURPS. Not sure if you'd count it as "goofy stuff" - it definitely focuses on technology used to upgrade humanity, rather than the future simply having humans who use more advanced gizmos, but it's very good.

In the same vein,

Nova Praxis

is simply excellent. Fate based, so the rules are lighter and easier to get into, and quite flavorful.

Finally, if you just want a far-future flavor without really considering the ethical/moral issues of improving humanity (as well as the attendant DM issues of having to consider how transhumans approach a problem, which usually is very different from how humans might approach a problem) then

Dark Heresy

will be a nice breath of fresh air. Just don't get too attached to your characters, they are doomed to death.

[Brandi]

Getting Caverna soon its in stock again yaaaaaaay

[sthar8]

Savage Worlds is, of course, the best universal rpg system. And that is in no way a paid endorsement.

Also the new Firefly book just came out, and Dark Heresy got a new core book.

[GreyICE]

I'm not normally one to bitch about the math too hard, but Savage Worlds has one of the least intuitive systems ever for GMs. There is no fucking way that gaining more skill should make a task HARDER to complete, but Savage Worlds.

[Nexus]

This is good

I have playtest pdfs if anyone wants to check it out. My friend Grant is the designer, and it's fucking hilarious.

[sthar8]

I'm not normally one to bitch about the math too hard, but Savage Worlds has one of the least intuitive systems ever for GMs. There is no fucking way that gaining more skill should make a task HARDER to complete, but Savage Worlds.

I disagree that this is true in any meaningful sense. And it probably wouldn't affect my enjoyment of the system if it were. But of course, YMMV.

Eclipse is pretty great too.

[diginova]

This is good

I have playtest pdfs if anyone wants to check it out. My friend Grant is the designer, and it's fucking hilarious.

That seems awesome.

[GreyICE]

I disagree that this is true in any meaningful sense. And it probably wouldn't affect my enjoyment of the system if it were. But of course, YMMV.

Y'know, I'm fine with YMMV, but this is not YMMV. Going from d4 to d6 makes it less likely to succeed on many tasks due to exploding dice (namely difficulty 6, although 5 and 7 are virtually the same), and it's a system where even a master swordsman (d12) has a pretty good chance to lose to a neonate. Given that there's a bunch of things in the system that actually boil down to mathy bonuses (unlike Fate), you can't just shrug your shoulders and go "eh, math sucks". And even where a d4 isn't strictly better, having improvements in systems just doesn't feel extremely rewarding. It's a system where you will fail a moderately difficult task often, no matter what you roll (a difficulty 7 is only a 50/50 with a d12, after all).

I dunno. I feel the system has aged badly. YMMV, as you said, but I wouldn't pick it up when you can ALSO run everything with Fate, but with less fiddles and a system that scales nicely. And when you go from 2 to 3 it really feels important, rather than "oh yeah, well now I... I don't really know what happened". Although I will say rolling a big d12 FEELS really good, so there is that.

[quadz08]

This is good

I have playtest pdfs if anyone wants to check it out. My friend Grant is the designer, and it's fucking hilarious.

oh man, please can we find time to do this

[Mr. Flay]

I fucking hate Savage Worlds. It's so BORING to miss/fail all the time.

SciFi RPG... it's setting-specific, but I like the Cortex Plus system that's being used in the BSG RPG.

I liked the old West End Star Wars RPG, but its system may not have aged well (d6 basis).

[Nexus]

This is good

I have playtest pdfs if anyone wants to check it out. My friend Grant is the designer, and it's fucking hilarious.

oh man, please can we find time to do this

Come to a uk meet I will run it

[GreyICE]

I fucking hate Savage Worlds. It's so BORING to miss/fail all the time.

On that note, try any Powered By Apocalypse system (Apocalypse World, Dungeon World, Monster Hearts).

Failure is fucking amazing! In Dungeon World it's how you get XP. And it's never, ever boring (you do not 'fail to open the locked door', you 'alert the city guards' or 'break the lock so that it's obvious what you did' etc.).

It's really revolutionized how I look at games. Especially the "10+ = full success/7-9 = success at a cost" mechanic.

[Anatole Kuragin]

I'm going to try out Diaspora. If we're not digging it we may do Apocalypse World or Eclipse Phase.

[Mr. Flay]

Yeah, a friend just sent us AW, and I've been hearing lots of good things about it.

FATE also does well with the "succeed at a cost" aspect, of course.

[xRECKONERx]

I really found Savage Worlds appealing because of its simplicity. It felt like something that'd be very simple and easy to run, plus I

really really loved

the Deadlands Reloaded setting when I read through it. I was actually trying to get a group together to run through it... but no luck so far.

Why do you guys dislike SW? What other relatively simple system would you recommend that can have a whole fuckload of different settings/scenarios/etc and would be easy to run as a first time DM? I've run one-offs and fucked it up, I want to walk through a premade setting/campaign. I'm a big fan of twists and turns and shocking my players.

[sthar8]

Reck, GreyIce is referring to the fact that with the SW dice system there is a slight (read around 2%) advantage to rolling a smaller die type when looking for a specific number. For example, if your target number is a 6, rolling a d4 gives you a tiny advantage over rolling a d6. If the target number is an 8 you want a d6 and so on. Of course, that only matters for that specific number, and rolling a 6 is easier on a d8 than on a d4. Plus it ignores any ability bonuses and prerequisites for weapons or abilities.

He also thinks that leveling feels meaningless, but afaict he's looking at upping ability scores, where you should generally be upping attributes or taking new edges. That'll give you a much higher impact on regular gameplay.

Flay's issue is one I've encountered much more frequently in d20 than in SW, honestly. I dunno if it's a playstyle thing or what, it's just not something I've encountered.

FATE is another good simple system, although I personally hate it for irrational reasons.

If you're looking for a premade campaign, I would suggest the Deadlands Noir adventures for SW. If you want to play something a little closer to DnD, Pathfinder does an excellent job with their adventure paths.

[diginova]

I'm getting ready to run another game in person - which would your recommend between Cyberpunk or Shadowrun 5/e? I could also just say screw it and run a Numenera campaign instead.

On an unrelated note, anyone going to PAX Prime in Seattle this weekend and want to meet up for a board game or two?

[xRECKONERx]

DnD/Pathfinder has always been kinda overwhelming for our group.

[Elmo TeH AzN]

I heard 5.0 DnD is simpler. >_>

[sthar8]

I'm getting ready to run another game in person - which would your recommend between Cyberpunk or Shadowrun 5/e? I could also just say screw it and run a Numenera campaign instead.

On an unrelated note, anyone going to PAX Prime in Seattle this weekend and want to meet up for a board game or two?

Numenera is very visually appealing to me.

I'm a sucker for the Shadowrun setting but DICE POOLS.

I haven't played Cyberpunk in long enough that I don't remember the system.

All my gays are going to PAX, but I don't get to. You might be able to find them: look for a medium herd of mostly overweight man children in either obscure costumes or internet t-shirts. There will be a lot of inappropriate laughter and in-jokes, as well as disproportionate excitement over dumb things.

They love board games.

[Nexus]

hi i want to play d&d again i have the ITCH IT NEEDS SCRATCHING.

ne1 up for some skype and roll20 hot action?

[Nexus]

or any rp really

[sthar8]

Maybe. I do have more free time now.