Wushu: http://wiki.saberpunk.net/Wushu/CoreMechanics The link above sums up the 'mission statement' of the game. The mechanic here is simple: anything the players or DM says happens is exactly what happens. Want to spin-kick seven dudes in the head? You just did! Once the scene has been described, you roll dice to see how well it helps further the plot. The more detailed (and awesome) the description, the better your chance of advancing the story. The game is inspired by action movies and is basically the "Rule of Cool" come to life. As a bonus, the core rules are free under the Creative Commons, as well as very simple. Generic system (i.e. works for any setting), but lends itself to kickass movie-style action or whatever the players want.
QAGS: Quick Ass Game System: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QAGS As the name implies, this one is easy to pick up and run with. The mechanic is a simple d20 roll for everything. Characters have a few vital stats, namely Body, Brain, and Nerve, plus a Gimmick and a Weakness. (Ex. gimmick is "Can always find a parking space" and weakness is "Dies if he touches peanut butter.") And don't forget the most important stat, your Tag Line. Experience points are represented by actual pieces of candy, which can be used for anything from improving your stats, augmenting a roll, bribing the GM, or just for nomming on! Take a look at the free Qik Start Rules, the first link on this page: http://www.hexgames.com/component/option,com_doqment/Itemid,186/ I also have the actual book for this one. Generic system, but lends itself to sillier style games.
Microlite20: http://microlite20.net/ Another "free as in freedom" game, this is D&D 3rd edition distilled to its fundamentals. The site's intro tells you everything you need to know, so have a look. This would be a good opportunity to get in some old-school D&D gaming without having to bring a cartload of books and rules, while still being compatible with almost all of the resources available for 3rd ed. if you want them. Obviously, this one's for fantasy or medieval settings.
RTD: Roll to Dodge This little game originated on the Dwarf Fortress forums and has since become popular on various other forums and IRC channels. The basic mechanic is, when performing an action, roll a single d6. 1 is crit fail, 2 is fail, 3 is a partial success, 4 is success, 5 is a perfect success, and 6 is overkill (meaning you succeed but something goes wrong). That's it. This game tends to be hilariously lethal or just plain outrageous, as you can imagine with such wild swings in fortune from a die with 6 sides instead of 20. Of course the basic mechanic can be expanded to include some kind of skill bonuses for characters or re-rolls or whatever we like. Lends itself to quick narrative games and improv since there's not much mechanical depth. Generic system.
Eclipse Phase: http://www.eclipsephase.com/game Probably the most in-depth game and setting of the list, this one's "a pen & paper roleplaying game of post-apocalyptic transhuman conspiracy and horror. Players take part in a cross-faction secret network dubbed Firewall that is dedicated to counteracting "existential risks" - threats to the existence of transhumanity, whether they be biowar plagues, self-replicating nanoswarms, nuclear proliferation, terrorists with WMDs, net-breaking computer attacks, rogue AIs, alien encounters, or anything else that could drive an already decimated transhumanity to extinction." The mechanic is a percentile-based system. There are no character classes, everything is skill-based, and you can re-program yourself to have any skills, and upload yourself to any genetically modified transhuman body or synthetic robot shell. Quick Start pdf at the top here: http://www.eclipsephase.com/resources I've never played this game but the tone seems to be somewhere in the neighborhood of Shadowrun. Setting is distant post-singularity future, but lends itself to a variety of scenarios.
So there you have my suggestions, in rough order of my preference for running them (although David or anyone could run these too). All except the last one will have us playing in 10 minutes or less. For Eclipse Phase we might spend some time explaining the basics and we'll have to learn as we go. I'll bring some books and printouts of each system next week for your perusal. For the generic systems, I'd prefer a modern setting or perhaps near-future...maybe a crack team of government operatives with the latest experimental toys? Or the ever-popular zombie apocalypse scenario...or both? Maybe a Dwarf Fortress-themed game. What do you think?
Dark Heresy is a game based on the world of warhammer 40,000. The game mechanics are based on a standard status system, with player stats ranging from 1 to 100. When preforming an action, player attempts to roll under his status, with other modifiers. Combat works much the same way, but ranged and melee combat is independent of your strength or dexterity.
The system and the game set up makes it very easy for you to get hurt by either bad luck or poor choice of actions. When leveling up, your character learns new skills and becomes better at older skills, however your hit points rarely increase. Your survival will depend on how clever, lucky, or cowardly you are.
The game mechanics themselves are not the best compared to other games, but the real draw is the rich and wonderful game world. Unlike the fourth edition dungeon and dragons, you are at all points of time role playing.
The game world is based on the huge and beautifully frightful universe of the 42nd millennium, in which humanity has expanded through out the galaxy. Because of the distances between stars, the only viable means of transportation is through the subspace known as warp, in which normal laws of nature are twisted and corrupt. The only ways of navigation is through the use of a powerful physic known as God-Emperor of human kind.
The human society is degraded into unspeakable and vast bureaucracy, while the human population is tied together by lose connection of ideals.
Bottom line, is that this game is very dark, very dangerous, but very deep. There is almost limitless scenarios and situations for the characters to overcome, and the overall dark brooding background gives every action a string that controls the fate of the universe.
This is an interesting and dark game system that is different from the d% and usual d20 systems. It is a Steam Punk, Horror, Zombie apocalypse game, very similar to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
The game world is present day london, but with a slight change. During the Victorian era, a zombie apocalypse consumed majority of the world, and there are only few safe zones throughout Europe. Because of this, all intellect, all inventions and all advancement takes place in london, creating a society of technological marvel, that is on a constant brink of extinction.
For example, Nicolai Tesla was moved to london and create wireless electricity. It takes form of large metal spheres that are set up through the city and are always on. Devices draw power wirelessly from those charge station.
The world has many colorful and memorable concepts such as the female order of decapitators that are called mourners. These women are hired to sit by in the funerals, waiting. If a body should rise up as a zombie, they are practiced from early age, to decapitate the walking dead.
This mini adventure will follow a group of misfit heroes through the Eastern United States during the year 1939. These people stumble on evidence of unearthly presence that terrorizes the city.
Their monster hunt is however slowed and hindered by large pantheon of super heroes that are cleaning the streets of petty crime. Their ultimate power and authority is unquestionable and their ways, although often violent, provide justice and a blanked of law.
City officials themselves are relatively useless, and will not listen to our plucky anti heroes, assuming that any real danger would probably be dealt with by the super humans.
It is up to the heroes to fight off the evil of the darkness, using their mortal limitations, as well as discover the truth before it is too late....
My homemade RPG based on the games, and novels. I've run a test of it before and it didn't work out very well. I have been thinking about redoing things and trying it again. I would really like to try and run it with you guys again, and be much more prepared. I've been thinking of alternate ways to run things and I am thinking of mixing a bunch of different systems to make it as good as I can. Last time I ran, I ran a first contact scenario with the players being soldiers stationed on Harvest, the first world to fall to the Covenant. This time around if you guys are interested I would probably want to do more of a special forces style game. With your characters being either ODSTs, or Spartan-IIIs, with a setting set slightly later on in the war. I would need some time to prep tho so I wouldn't be able to run right after my current campaign. Just throwing in my suggestion for a later date.
Wushu: http://wiki.saberpunk.net/Wushu/CoreMechanics
ReplyDeleteThe link above sums up the 'mission statement' of the game. The mechanic here is simple: anything the players or DM says happens is exactly what happens. Want to spin-kick seven dudes in the head? You just did! Once the scene has been described, you roll dice to see how well it helps further the plot. The more detailed (and awesome) the description, the better your chance of advancing the story. The game is inspired by action movies and is basically the "Rule of Cool" come to life. As a bonus, the core rules are free under the Creative Commons, as well as very simple. Generic system (i.e. works for any setting), but lends itself to kickass movie-style action or whatever the players want.
QAGS: Quick Ass Game System: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QAGS
As the name implies, this one is easy to pick up and run with. The mechanic is a simple d20 roll for everything. Characters have a few vital stats, namely Body, Brain, and Nerve, plus a Gimmick and a Weakness. (Ex. gimmick is "Can always find a parking space" and weakness is "Dies if he touches peanut butter.") And don't forget the most important stat, your Tag Line. Experience points are represented by actual pieces of candy, which can be used for anything from improving your stats, augmenting a roll, bribing the GM, or just for nomming on! Take a look at the free Qik Start Rules, the first link on this page: http://www.hexgames.com/component/option,com_doqment/Itemid,186/ I also have the actual book for this one. Generic system, but lends itself to sillier style games.
Microlite20: http://microlite20.net/
Another "free as in freedom" game, this is D&D 3rd edition distilled to its fundamentals. The site's intro tells you everything you need to know, so have a look. This would be a good opportunity to get in some old-school D&D gaming without having to bring a cartload of books and rules, while still being compatible with almost all of the resources available for 3rd ed. if you want them. Obviously, this one's for fantasy or medieval settings.
RTD: Roll to Dodge
This little game originated on the Dwarf Fortress forums and has since become popular on various other forums and IRC channels. The basic mechanic is, when performing an action, roll a single d6. 1 is crit fail, 2 is fail, 3 is a partial success, 4 is success, 5 is a perfect success, and 6 is overkill (meaning you succeed but something goes wrong). That's it. This game tends to be hilariously lethal or just plain outrageous, as you can imagine with such wild swings in fortune from a die with 6 sides instead of 20. Of course the basic mechanic can be expanded to include some kind of skill bonuses for characters or re-rolls or whatever we like. Lends itself to quick narrative games and improv since there's not much mechanical depth. Generic system.
Eclipse Phase: http://www.eclipsephase.com/game
ReplyDeleteProbably the most in-depth game and setting of the list, this one's "a pen & paper roleplaying game of post-apocalyptic transhuman conspiracy and horror. Players take part in a cross-faction secret network dubbed Firewall that is dedicated to counteracting "existential risks" - threats to the existence of transhumanity, whether they be biowar plagues, self-replicating nanoswarms, nuclear proliferation, terrorists with WMDs, net-breaking computer attacks, rogue AIs, alien encounters, or anything else that could drive an already decimated transhumanity to extinction." The mechanic is a percentile-based system. There are no character classes, everything is skill-based, and you can re-program yourself to have any skills, and upload yourself to any genetically modified transhuman body or synthetic robot shell. Quick Start pdf at the top here: http://www.eclipsephase.com/resources I've never played this game but the tone seems to be somewhere in the neighborhood of Shadowrun. Setting is distant post-singularity future, but lends itself to a variety of scenarios.
So there you have my suggestions, in rough order of my preference for running them (although David or anyone could run these too). All except the last one will have us playing in 10 minutes or less. For Eclipse Phase we might spend some time explaining the basics and we'll have to learn as we go. I'll bring some books and printouts of each system next week for your perusal. For the generic systems, I'd prefer a modern setting or perhaps near-future...maybe a crack team of government operatives with the latest experimental toys? Or the ever-popular zombie apocalypse scenario...or both? Maybe a Dwarf Fortress-themed game. What do you think?
Dark Heresy
ReplyDeleteDark Heresy is a game based on the world of warhammer 40,000. The game mechanics are based on a standard status system, with player stats ranging from 1 to 100. When preforming an action, player attempts to roll under his status, with other modifiers. Combat works much the same way, but ranged and melee combat is independent of your strength or dexterity.
The system and the game set up makes it very easy for you to get hurt by either bad luck or poor choice of actions. When leveling up, your character learns new skills and becomes better at older skills, however your hit points rarely increase. Your survival will depend on how clever, lucky, or cowardly you are.
The game mechanics themselves are not the best compared to other games, but the real draw is the rich and wonderful game world. Unlike the fourth edition dungeon and dragons, you are at all points of time role playing.
The game world is based on the huge and beautifully frightful universe of the 42nd millennium, in which humanity has expanded through out the galaxy. Because of the distances between stars, the only viable means of transportation is through the subspace known as warp, in which normal laws of nature are twisted and corrupt. The only ways of navigation is through the use of a powerful physic known as God-Emperor of human kind.
The human society is degraded into unspeakable and vast bureaucracy, while the human population is tied together by lose connection of ideals.
Bottom line, is that this game is very dark, very dangerous, but very deep. There is almost limitless scenarios and situations for the characters to overcome, and the overall dark brooding background gives every action a string that controls the fate of the universe.
Unhallowed Metropolis
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting and dark game system that is different from the d% and usual d20 systems. It is a Steam Punk, Horror, Zombie apocalypse game, very similar to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
The game world is present day london, but with a slight change. During the Victorian era, a zombie apocalypse consumed majority of the world, and there are only few safe zones throughout Europe. Because of this, all intellect, all inventions and all advancement takes place in london, creating a society of technological marvel, that is on a constant brink of extinction.
For example, Nicolai Tesla was moved to london and create wireless electricity. It takes form of large metal spheres that are set up through the city and are always on. Devices draw power wirelessly from those charge station.
The world has many colorful and memorable concepts such as the female order of decapitators that are called mourners. These women are hired to sit by in the funerals, waiting. If a body should rise up as a zombie, they are practiced from early age, to decapitate the walking dead.
World of Darkness.
ReplyDeleteI dont need to describe the game mechanics.
This mini adventure will follow a group of misfit heroes through the Eastern United States during the year 1939. These people stumble on evidence of unearthly presence that terrorizes the city.
Their monster hunt is however slowed and hindered by large pantheon of super heroes that are cleaning the streets of petty crime. Their ultimate power and authority is unquestionable and their ways, although often violent, provide justice and a blanked of law.
City officials themselves are relatively useless, and will not listen to our plucky anti heroes, assuming that any real danger would probably be dealt with by the super humans.
It is up to the heroes to fight off the evil of the darkness, using their mortal limitations, as well as discover the truth before it is too late....
Halo
ReplyDeleteMy homemade RPG based on the games, and novels. I've run a test of it before and it didn't work out very well. I have been thinking about redoing things and trying it again. I would really like to try and run it with you guys again, and be much more prepared. I've been thinking of alternate ways to run things and I am thinking of mixing a bunch of different systems to make it as good as I can.
Last time I ran, I ran a first contact scenario with the players being soldiers stationed on Harvest, the first world to fall to the Covenant. This time around if you guys are interested I would probably want to do more of a special forces style game. With your characters being either ODSTs, or Spartan-IIIs, with a setting set slightly later on in the war.
I would need some time to prep tho so I wouldn't be able to run right after my current campaign. Just throwing in my suggestion for a later date.