tzeentchlingDoctor of RocksOaklandRegistered Userregular
I actually wonder if you could do a nWoD (or oWoD perhaps) version of the 13th Age Icons? Wouldn't really work for a single source, I think, but you could definitely make it universe-wide.
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AnialosCollies are love, Collies are life!Shadowbrook ColliesRegistered Userregular
I actually wonder if you could do a nWoD (or oWoD perhaps) version of the 13th Age Icons? Wouldn't really work for a single source, I think, but you could definitely make it universe-wide.
With the number of clans and other factions? Easily.
Just to throw in my $0.02 about 13th Age, I'll say that it has it's strengths and faults. The things that I love from it are the 'one unique thing' mechanic, the dialogue that goes on between players and DMs, the relationship dice, and the icons are all things that I'll use in future games of the genre. As for it's 4.0 mechanics turned to 11? You must be reading a different copy then the one I have. I found that it's filled with a lot of situational +1s and some very lackluster talents with a few no-brainers lying around. The purpose of the escalation die is to make it so that battles don't drag on, but I think that's better accomplished with encounter powers and in general dealing more damage. Overall I see it's design as definitely more enlightened than 3.5, but not as crisp and balanced as 4.0 was by the time MM2 came out. ymmv.
As to the Iron Kingdoms RPG, I haven't had a chance to play it yet, but I did post a lot on the Privateer Press forums about it. There are some oddities, like seriously bad picks in the weapons and armor categories (why would I pick a +3 POW 1 handed weapon when I can have a +4 POW 1 handed weapon with no drawbacks?). I'm interested in how the game actually plays because there are some serious ways to break the game balance, especially in the attack/defense stats. Granted, the flavor of IK is so awesome that I'd happily convert the setting if I ever found a fantasy game system that I actually liked.
Lastly I noticed that Exalted isn't on the front page. Front page room constraints aside, I think it would be possible to have a few game specific threads coexist with this one. I started an Exalted 3rd edition thread, but it kinda died out since the developers are being very tight lipped with the actual details of their game. I'll add it to my sig if you want to see some linkage. Maybe when the game comes out in [soon] it'll get revived.
飛べねぇ豚はただの豚だ。
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VanguardBut now the dream is over. And the insect is awake.Registered User, __BANNED USERSregular
You're free to make your own thread, but it will likely not be self-sustaining. The reason we have an RPG megathread is to provide a space to talk about games other than D&D without cluttering the D&D thread.
Plus, people here are so much nicer than over in the D&D threads. I feel for them, clinging to their 4e and d20s like it was a cliff-edge not knowing that below them is the wonderful flood of games that would free them from the dungeons they have locked themselves in.
the dresden files is quite awesome, sounds like your game is pretty fantastic
where's it set?
San Antonio.
We have an ex-cop PI who talks to ghosts, a shapeshifting dragon who was in 'Nam and a retired Texas Ranger with a revolver of the cross who was chosen by St. Anthony.
Just to throw in my $0.02 about 13th Age, I'll say that it has it's strengths and faults. The things that I love from it are the 'one unique thing' mechanic, the dialogue that goes on between players and DMs, the relationship dice, and the icons are all things that I'll use in future games of the genre. As for it's 4.0 mechanics turned to 11? You must be reading a different copy then the one I have. I found that it's filled with a lot of situational +1s and some very lackluster talents with a few no-brainers lying around. The purpose of the escalation die is to make it so that battles don't drag on, but I think that's better accomplished with encounter powers and in general dealing more damage. Overall I see it's design as definitely more enlightened than 3.5, but not as crisp and balanced as 4.0 was by the time MM2 came out. ymmv.
I'm one of the big 13th Age boosters here and I agree with your statement. It feels like a tuned up 3.x game rather than a 4th edition game. It certainly has some of the more gamist elements from 4e but it reads as a 3.x base to me.
Lastly I noticed that Exalted isn't on the front page. Front page room constraints aside, I think it would be possible to have a few game specific threads coexist with this one. I started an Exalted 3rd edition thread, but it kinda died out since the developers are being very tight lipped with the actual details of their game. I'll add it to my sig if you want to see some linkage. Maybe when the game comes out in [soon] it'll get revived.
Give me a write up and I shall put it in the 2nd post. I've just been lazy about getting around to this, I intend to add Marvel and a couple others. Exalted though I've never played or read or seen so wouldn't trust any description I could give.
Plus, people here are so much nicer than over in the D&D threads. I feel for them, clinging to their 4e and d20s like it was a cliff-edge not knowing that below them is the wonderful flood of games that would free them from the dungeons they have locked themselves in.
This is so weird. It's mostly the same people in this thread as that thread. I mean, that they tends towards the thread topic is a bit confusing on this forum and all, but still. I know for some of it, D&D is a different blend than some other games. I like FATE but I wouldn't use it to run a crunchy dungeon crawl, it's just not made for it. Story games get a bit of a bum wrap in this discussion because a good group of players can get by without the built in encouragement of drama and story. It's tough for a good group to ad lib appropriate math and mechanics on the fly.
So I'm most of the way through a first draft on the races for my conversion, and I feel like the base 13th age races just don't do enough. Granted, that might be due to their not being thri-kreen. But I still think I'm going to juice them up to a point where they feel like they matter more than once a fight. Or even just out of combat.
Overall, 13th Age seems pretty cool. But I'm going to be tweeking it like I do everything. Luckily (?) there's a lot of the same stuff I disliked about 3E in here, so I have a good idea where to start.
Plus, people here are so much nicer than over in the D&D threads. I feel for them, clinging to their 4e and d20s like it was a cliff-edge not knowing that below them is the wonderful flood of games that would free them from the dungeons they have locked themselves in.
It's all right. Most of us also feel real bad for folks who spend weeks defending d20 systems with conflicting and nonsensical statements that show an utter lack of understanding of the subject, until they "discover" less crunchy games and then act like they're the first and sole person to have found out about them while assuming we have no experience (or love) of them.
So... sympathy abounds. What a wonderful world.
If my role play is hindered by rolling to play, then I'd prefer the rolls play right, instead of steam-rolling play-night.
So I'm most of the way through a first draft on the races for my conversion, and I feel like the base 13th age races just don't do enough. Granted, that might be due to their not being thri-kreen. But I still think I'm going to juice them up to a point where they feel like they matter more than once a fight. Or even just out of combat.
Overall, 13th Age seems pretty cool. But I'm going to be tweeking it like I do everything. Luckily (?) there's a lot of the same stuff I disliked about 3E in here, so I have a good idea where to start.
Think we can elaborate on that last little bit without the thread burning down? I'm kinda curious about what those things are.
Plus, people here are so much nicer than over in the D&D threads. I feel for them, clinging to their 4e and d20s like it was a cliff-edge not knowing that below them is the wonderful flood of games that would free them from the dungeons they have locked themselves in.
It's all right. Most of us also feel real bad for folks who spend weeks defending d20 systems with conflicting and nonsensical statements that show an utter lack of understanding of the subject, until they "discover" less crunchy games and then act like they're the first and sole person to have found out about them while assuming we have no experience (or love) of them.
So... sympathy abounds. What a wonderful world.
Except there are A LOT of people who LIKE crunch. Like my entire gaming group, for example. I like having crunchy systems I can eat and break. In fact, I hated 4e because it removed massive parts of the crunch aspect and put it all into those stupid powers.
Mind you, I think light systems are fine but not for any kind of extended campaign for my group. They just don't have enough system in them to be filling long term around a dinner table. They are awesome for PbP, though.
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AssuranIs swinging on the SpiralRegistered Userregular
Plus, people here are so much nicer than over in the D&D threads. I feel for them, clinging to their 4e and d20s like it was a cliff-edge not knowing that below them is the wonderful flood of games that would free them from the dungeons they have locked themselves in.
It's all right. Most of us also feel real bad for folks who spend weeks defending d20 systems with conflicting and nonsensical statements that show an utter lack of understanding of the subject, until they "discover" less crunchy games and then act like they're the first and sole person to have found out about them while assuming we have no experience (or love) of them.
So... sympathy abounds. What a wonderful world.
Except there are A LOT of people who LIKE crunch. Like my entire gaming group, for example. I like having crunchy systems I can eat and break. In fact, I hated 4e because it removed massive parts of the crunch aspect and put it all into those stupid powers.
Mind you, I think light systems are fine but not for any kind of extended campaign for my group. They just don't have enough system in them to be filling long term around a dinner table. They are awesome for PbP, though.
I'm not sure I follow.
I played 3.X from the week it came out until 4E came out and own almost every supplement that was produced under the DnD header, including all the Realms and Eberron stuff. I'm fairly familiar with the system. I enjoyed the experience, certainly more than I enjoyed AD&D, but could see the flaws by the end of the run and happily switched to 4E.
Yet, I do not think there is much difference between the levels of crunch between 3.X and 4. About the only difference would be skills, as class features and spells simply got shifted into powers for the most part.
So I'm most of the way through a first draft on the races for my conversion, and I feel like the base 13th age races just don't do enough. Granted, that might be due to their not being thri-kreen. But I still think I'm going to juice them up to a point where they feel like they matter more than once a fight. Or even just out of combat.
Overall, 13th Age seems pretty cool. But I'm going to be tweeking it like I do everything. Luckily (?) there's a lot of the same stuff I disliked about 3E in here, so I have a good idea where to start.
Think we can elaborate on that last little bit without the thread burning down? I'm kinda curious about what those things are.
Some choices don't feel meaningful, either because they don't really do anything or because they're a no-brainer. In other cases, options that are presented are deeply situational and can be rendered useless.
In many cases one must choose between combat prowess and non-combat utility.
Fighters are pretty deeply uninspiring, at least to me personally.
I still hate /day action economies, but I'm willing to roll with it for now. (4E has this, too.)
Race doesn't seem to mean much outside of initial bonuses. (This can potentially change, it started off pretty weak in 4E as well.)
Magical items provide numerical bonuses. (note that this is also an issue I have with 4E)
They fixed (at least partially) the duality of caster and non-caster, but casters are still hugely more flexible.
I'm not sure what I'm going to do about some of these, but I've got plans for a few of them. First step is strapping things to the race entries until they feel done.
There are definitely some good race abilities. I'm not contesting that.
But they don't feel like races, at least not to me. They feel like a power and an ability mod. Particularly if I'm working on a Dark Sun conversion, there are some really important racial differences that need to be addressed.
Plus, people here are so much nicer than over in the D&D threads. I feel for them, clinging to their 4e and d20s like it was a cliff-edge not knowing that below them is the wonderful flood of games that would free them from the dungeons they have locked themselves in.
I'm not sure why you're so eager to fall on this sword. It doesn't seem like a thing a person would want to do. But I guess if you really want to do it...
Plus, people here are so much nicer than over in the D&D threads. I feel for them, clinging to their 4e and d20s like it was a cliff-edge not knowing that below them is the wonderful flood of games that would free them from the dungeons they have locked themselves in.
It's all right. Most of us also feel real bad for folks who spend weeks defending d20 systems with conflicting and nonsensical statements that show an utter lack of understanding of the subject, until they "discover" less crunchy games and then act like they're the first and sole person to have found out about them while assuming we have no experience (or love) of them.
So... sympathy abounds. What a wonderful world.
Except there are A LOT of people who LIKE crunch. Like my entire gaming group, for example. I like having crunchy systems I can eat and break. In fact, I hated 4e because it removed massive parts of the crunch aspect and put it all into those stupid powers.
Mind you, I think light systems are fine but not for any kind of extended campaign for my group. They just don't have enough system in them to be filling long term around a dinner table. They are awesome for PbP, though.
I'm not sure I follow.
I played 3.X from the week it came out until 4E came out and own almost every supplement that was produced under the DnD header, including all the Realms and Eberron stuff. I'm fairly familiar with the system. I enjoyed the experience, certainly more than I enjoyed AD&D, but could see the flaws by the end of the run and happily switched to 4E.
Yet, I do not think there is much difference between the levels of crunch between 3.X and 4. About the only difference would be skills, as class features and spells simply got shifted into powers for the most part.
Can you explain where you see the difference?
Okay, lets look at a typical build for me in a 20 level game. In 4e, you're going to stick with a single class (maybe 2 at the most) and be locked into a very defined roll based on that class. You will be limited to the 6 or 8 power cards (god, I hate those things) that you get. You'll then have a few minor feats and skills to add on top of it.
Meanwhile, my last 3.5 character was a Sorcerer/Fighter/DragonDisciple/Spellsword/Artillerist who was quite capable of being a complete force of one in either melee damage, magical damage, magical buff, magical debuff, or utility. I was not locked into any one roll due to my class selection(s), and I had dozens of different things I could do based on the situation at hand, not stuck limited to seven or eight, of which only two of them I could use more than once in the encounter.
There are definitely some good race abilities. I'm not contesting that.
But they don't feel like races, at least not to me. They feel like a power and an ability mod. Particularly if I'm working on a Dark Sun conversion, there are some really important racial differences that need to be addressed.
Isn't that exactly how the 4e races worked, though? Most of the races in 13th Age have the exact same power or a suped-up version of the power they had from 4e. I would think you could almost do a direct port of the Thri-kreen from 4e's Dark Sun setting and it would probably work out quite nicely. A couple minor mods but that's it, really.
- Consider revamping stat bonuses to exclude only 2-3 stats instead of including only 2 choices. This greatly opens up class/race combo options, as they stand now they're pretty restrictive, although less so than they could be, I suppose. (e.g. Instead of Half-orcs choosing between +2 to Strength or Dex, you choose +2 to any ability but charisma or intelligence: half-orcs are physically amazing, and have a natural predatory instinct, but are not known for cultural advances and social skills)
- Racial abilities/powers should probably standardized to a certain sort--perhaps provide two. This allows a better point-of-balance for design and also opens up more variety in play.
EX: Rerolling a missed attack is certainly not on par with getting to roll twice for initiative. Providing each race with a defense ability allows for more even distribution of enjoyable and usable bonuses, adding something like a special movement style ability as well would do something similar. This keeps attack squarely on the class while providing both mechanical variety and balance in the racial selections.
- One extra background point is not going to wreck the game from what I've seen. Consider providing a short list of backgrounds for each race with a +1 granted should they choose one--or something similar that they (and the GM, I suppose) finds appropriate.
- You probably don't need to get too crazy on things they provide. Races should still be relatively flexible in application and assigning them too many abilities/benefits/bonuses/etc. works at cross purposes to this.
Leper on
If my role play is hindered by rolling to play, then I'd prefer the rolls play right, instead of steam-rolling play-night.
There are definitely some good race abilities. I'm not contesting that.
But they don't feel like races, at least not to me. They feel like a power and an ability mod. Particularly if I'm working on a Dark Sun conversion, there are some really important racial differences that need to be addressed.
Right, right. No gnomes, halflings are cannibals. Boom. Mostly done. Maybe give Thrikreens Elven Grace (Insectile Grace) to mimic multiattack.
Beyond that... what sort of mechanical differences do you need to differentiate between Muls and Half-Giants?
There are definitely some good race abilities. I'm not contesting that.
But they don't feel like races, at least not to me. They feel like a power and an ability mod. Particularly if I'm working on a Dark Sun conversion, there are some really important racial differences that need to be addressed.
Isn't that exactly how the 4e races worked, though? Most of the races in 13th Age have the exact same power or a suped-up version of the power they had from 4e. I would think you could almost do a direct port of the Thri-kreen from 4e's Dark Sun setting and it would probably work out quite nicely. A couple minor mods but that's it, really.
The initial race writeups were very similar, yes. But there are tons of feats in 4E that either improve the abilities of the race directly (for which there is some degree of analog here), or added neat options for race/class intersections (which are completely absent here). Granted, that stuff showed up in the Power books first, so it's not surprising to have it not be in the core book for this system.
I wasn't super happy with 4E's method of doing races either, particularly the really weirdo ones like kreen.
There are definitely some good race abilities. I'm not contesting that.
But they don't feel like races, at least not to me. They feel like a power and an ability mod. Particularly if I'm working on a Dark Sun conversion, there are some really important racial differences that need to be addressed.
Right, right. No gnomes, halflings are cannibals. Boom. Mostly done. Maybe give Thrikreens Elven Grace (Insectile Grace) to mimic multiattack.
Beyond that... what sort of mechanical differences do you need to differentiate between Muls and Half-Giants?
Half-Giants are really strong, vs Muls are bred to work for days without sleep. Dwarves set their minds to something and never stop until it's finished. Halflings have access to life-shaped tools and creatures, and a culture that goes back centuries. Elves are crazy fast and can run forever.
The vast majority of this stuff is non-combat, and will probably be handled with some bonus background things.
Kreen (they're not all Thri) are 8 foot long insects with hardened carapaces and the ability to jump 15 feet in the air, who also sometimes have poisonous saliva. Aarakocra are vulture-people with limited flight capability. Still puzzling out how to make a lot of that work without giving huge advantages to the races, but I have some ideas.
I wouldn't worry too much about "huge" advantages. 13th Age goes pretty hard towards 11 as you creep up in power, especially with Dailies.
Like, I'd make the Half-Giant's racial advantage be that they ignore the "as long as it isn't the same ability you increase with your racial bonus" ability score limitation, so they could effectively start with +4 Strength (depending on class). It sounds awesome, but there's nothing gamebreaking there.
13 True Ways (the expansion book) listed racial feats as one of the things they wanted to tackle. Personally I think more options are good, but either way I like the races as they are now too. One thing about 13th Age is that since your One Unique Thing could easily describe any race you wanted, the races themselves are more like mechanics with fantasy trappings rather than the races. Like you could make a half-giant race really easily, or if you didn't want to screw with it, you could just pick half-orc and call it half-giant, say you're a bit taller, and bam.
On the subject of how 13th Age "does" things, I think the best guideline for it (or any game, really) is if your players are picking non-combat features or features that are situational but cool, it's kind of on you as the DM to say "that's pretty cool, let's make that happen" and let it come out as part of the game, rather than locking it down. Yeah, there are some class features that trade combat numbers and options for stuff like icon relationship rolls, but those are conscious choices and a statement of intent --- that player wants to be badass at manipulating the plot rather than the fights. DMs should give them their moment, which is kind of easy in 13th Age because icon relationships are a lot more meaningful and expressive than "my guy is good at some skills" (because everyone is good at some skills).
Anyway, you could mess with 13th Age races pretty easily, if you wanted more mechanical flavor, another thing you could do is add additional racial powers at each tier, or more options at character creation, depending on your taste. The "races don't get a bonus to X" rather than "races get a bonus to Y" idea is pretty neat too.
If you wanted to give martial classes some flexibility, you could try giving all the martial classes a feat that's more or less Ritual Caster, but is for non-magical stuff. The concept existed in 4e, I forget the name of it. In combat I think all the classes have suitable flexibility, even the barbarian, which deceptively looks like the auto-pilot class despite having some good options to add depth.
Lastly, assuming that people who play d20 haven't discovered not-d20 and/or don't like it and are trapped in their dungeons of ignorance is kind of silly, especially while mid-sentence how nice this thread is, as others have said.
3DS: 2466-2307-8384 PSN: bssteph Steam:bsstephanTwitch:bsstephan Tabletop:13th Age (mm-mmm), D&D 4e Occasional words about games:my site
The vast majority of this stuff is non-combat, and will probably be handled with some bonus background things.
Oh how I hate this idea. The completely open ended backgrounds I think are a great way to get people to really think about the character and the world.
I would restate the modification idea as "Bonus to a limited subset of checks" and then define when that bonus applies. So stuff like "Elves are keen-eyed so get a +2 to see things" instead giving out a low level background that people will want to build up higher or utterly ignore.
So apparently in my sleep deprived state, what I mean as a light hearted joke translated differently to everyone else. What I meant was that here we can agree to disagree about things where in the D&D thread, saying you dislike 4e, 3.5, and/or any of the other editions (except 5e) is taboo. I meant nothing terrible about that and if it offended anyone, then I apologize.
The vast majority of this stuff is non-combat, and will probably be handled with some bonus background things.
Oh how I hate this idea. The completely open ended backgrounds I think are a great way to get people to really think about the character and the world.
I would restate the modification idea as "Bonus to a limited subset of checks" and then define when that bonus applies. So stuff like "Elves are keen-eyed so get a +2 to see things" instead giving out a low level background that people will want to build up higher or utterly ignore.
That's what's probably going to wind up happening. +2 to skill checks when you are doing X, so that it stacks with whatever backgrounds you take if appropriate. I really like the background system, I wouldn't want to muck with it in a way that made it less cool.
Here are a couple of first drafts for races. The basic template is attribute bonuses, combat power, non-combat ability.
Dwarves
Dwarf
+2 Constitution OR +2 Wisdom
Dwarven Resilience (Racial Power)
Once per battle, as a Reaction when an enemy hits you with an effect that targets your Physical Defense or Mental Defense, you may make a normal save (11+). If this save is successful, the effect fails. Champion Feat: You may use this ability against an effect that targets AC, as well as PD or MD.
Single Minded: Choose a goal that will take at least one week to accomplish. That goal becomes your Focus. While pursuing your Focus, you gain a +2 Racial bonus to all skill checks related to completing it. You cannot choose a new Focus until you have completed the previous one. Adventurer Feat: You ignore any effect that would coerce, demoralize, exhaust, mind-control or otherwise prevent you from furthering the completion of your focus. This does not allow you to overcome blocks to progress directly, but you can't be turned from your goal by any force on Athas.
Elves
Elf
+2 Dexterity OR +2 Intelligence
Sudden Sprint (Racial Power)
Once per battle as a Move action, you may move from Engaged to Far Away, or vice versa. If you are engaged with an opponent when you Sudden Sprint, you pop free. Champion Feat: You gain a +5 bonus to AC against opportunity attacks during the move.
Fleet Footed: You gain a +2 Racial bonus to all skill checks made to run or move quickly, outrun pursuers on foot, or to avoid fatigue while running long distances. Adventurer Feat: You are never fatigued by the act of running, though other factors can still effect you. Characters without some means of boosting their own movement speed, a suitable mount or another elf with this feat can't catch you if you are running.
So apparently in my sleep deprived state, what I mean as a light hearted joke translated differently to everyone else. What I meant was that here we can agree to disagree about things where in the D&D thread, saying you dislike 4e, 3.5, and/or any of the other editions (except 5e) is taboo. I meant nothing terrible about that and if it offended anyone, then I apologize.
Well, generally speaking going in to a thread dedicated to [thing] just say you dislike [thing] rarely goes down well.
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VanguardBut now the dream is over. And the insect is awake.Registered User, __BANNED USERSregular
So apparently in my sleep deprived state, what I mean as a light hearted joke translated differently to everyone else. What I meant was that here we can agree to disagree about things where in the D&D thread, saying you dislike 4e, 3.5, and/or any of the other editions (except 5e) is taboo. I meant nothing terrible about that and if it offended anyone, then I apologize.
To be fair, the tone of the D&D 5E thread is fairly negative because the game is basically a car accident in slow motion on repeat.
took the plunge and bought shadowrun 5e. cant wait for my book to get here; now in the meantime need to find someone willing to run shadowrun so that i can actually play it.
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VanguardBut now the dream is over. And the insect is awake.Registered User, __BANNED USERSregular
took the plunge and bought shadowrun 5e. cant wait for my book to get here; now in the meantime need to find someone willing to run shadowrun so that i can actually play it.
This is kind of a problem of every gaming circle. Every group has people willing to run games. They also tend to be the people who spend the most time investing in other systems since they do most of the work. I am that person.
This is a problem because for all of my excitement involving these new systems, I know the chance of me playing it is very slim.
took the plunge and bought shadowrun 5e. cant wait for my book to get here; now in the meantime need to find someone willing to run shadowrun so that i can actually play it.
This is kind of a problem of every gaming circle. Every group has people willing to run games. They also tend to be the people who spend the most time investing in other systems since they do most of the work. I am that person.
This is a problem because for all of my excitement involving these new systems, I know the chance of me playing it is very slim.
I'm that guy for my group(s) as well.
Though I have found someone willing to run Fate, in it's various forms, which is why I've been spending so much time with it lately.
i imagine that if youre here, following a general rpg thread on a forum, odds are strong that youre probably that guy.
hell, im lucky if half my players know the rules of combat at any given time. thats why we've been playing 4e so much - its a system that i know intimately enough to make rules calls on the fly.
this is why i love people willing to run pbp games. slower though they may be, its the most consistent actual playing that i've gotten to do throughout my few years of experience.
took the plunge and bought shadowrun 5e. cant wait for my book to get here; now in the meantime need to find someone willing to run shadowrun so that i can actually play it.
This is kind of a problem of every gaming circle. Every group has people willing to run games. They also tend to be the people who spend the most time investing in other systems since they do most of the work. I am that person.
This is a problem because for all of my excitement involving these new systems, I know the chance of me playing it is very slim.
This feeling gets really complicated when you are making a homebrew system.
Not only are you likely never going to get to play it, no one else in the world is ever going to run it.
I'm lucky in that my group has 3 regular DMs (myself and two others). Unfortunately, one of the DMs is rather stuck in a rut (he will DM nWoD, SR4, or SW Saga and nothing else). He's a damn good DM of those games, though, so I don't hold it against him, and he's almost always willing to give a new system a try as a player.
took the plunge and bought shadowrun 5e. cant wait for my book to get here; now in the meantime need to find someone willing to run shadowrun so that i can actually play it.
funny you should mention shadowrun, my real life homie group is going to be plunging into a shadowrun 5 game here soon
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AnialosCollies are love, Collies are life!Shadowbrook ColliesRegistered Userregular
Here are a couple of first drafts for races. The basic template is attribute bonuses, combat power, non-combat ability.
Dwarves
Dwarf
+2 Constitution OR +2 Wisdom
Dwarven Resilience (Racial Power)
Once per battle, as a Reaction when an enemy hits you with an effect that targets your Physical Defense or Mental Defense, you may make a normal save (11+). If this save is successful, the effect fails. Champion Feat: You may use this ability against an effect that targets AC, as well as PD or MD.
Single Minded: Choose a goal that will take at least one week to accomplish. That goal becomes your Focus. While pursuing your Focus, you gain a +2 Racial bonus to all skill checks related to completing it. You cannot choose a new Focus until you have completed the previous one. Adventurer Feat: You ignore any effect that would coerce, demoralize, exhaust, mind-control or otherwise prevent you from furthering the completion of your focus. This does not allow you to overcome blocks to progress directly, but you can't be turned from your goal by any force on Athas.
Elves
Elf
+2 Dexterity OR +2 Intelligence
Sudden Sprint (Racial Power)
Once per battle as a Move action, you may move from Engaged to Far Away, or vice versa. If you are engaged with an opponent when you Sudden Sprint, you pop free. Champion Feat: You gain a +5 bonus to AC against opportunity attacks during the move.
Fleet Footed: You gain a +2 Racial bonus to all skill checks made to run or move quickly, outrun pursuers on foot, or to avoid fatigue while running long distances. Adventurer Feat: You are never fatigued by the act of running, though other factors can still effect you. Characters without some means of boosting their own movement speed, a suitable mount or another elf with this feat can't catch you if you are running.
This stuff is all great! You should post it where I did your first stuff. They all loved it! (including a few guys that work for/on the game)
Here are a couple of first drafts for races. The basic template is attribute bonuses, combat power, non-combat ability.
Dwarves
Dwarf
+2 Constitution OR +2 Wisdom
Dwarven Resilience (Racial Power)
Once per battle, as a Reaction when an enemy hits you with an effect that targets your Physical Defense or Mental Defense, you may make a normal save (11+). If this save is successful, the effect fails. Champion Feat: You may use this ability against an effect that targets AC, as well as PD or MD.
Single Minded: Choose a goal that will take at least one week to accomplish. That goal becomes your Focus. While pursuing your Focus, you gain a +2 Racial bonus to all skill checks related to completing it. You cannot choose a new Focus until you have completed the previous one. Adventurer Feat: You ignore any effect that would coerce, demoralize, exhaust, mind-control or otherwise prevent you from furthering the completion of your focus. This does not allow you to overcome blocks to progress directly, but you can't be turned from your goal by any force on Athas.
Elves
Elf
+2 Dexterity OR +2 Intelligence
Sudden Sprint (Racial Power)
Once per battle as a Move action, you may move from Engaged to Far Away, or vice versa. If you are engaged with an opponent when you Sudden Sprint, you pop free. Champion Feat: You gain a +5 bonus to AC against opportunity attacks during the move.
Fleet Footed: You gain a +2 Racial bonus to all skill checks made to run or move quickly, outrun pursuers on foot, or to avoid fatigue while running long distances. Adventurer Feat: You are never fatigued by the act of running, though other factors can still effect you. Characters without some means of boosting their own movement speed, a suitable mount or another elf with this feat can't catch you if you are running.
This stuff is all great! You should post it where I did your first stuff. They all loved it! (including a few guys that work for/on the game)
Thanks. I'm glad you like it.
Where would that be? When I get the rest of them done I'll put it up over there.
Posts
With the number of clans and other factions? Easily.
As to the Iron Kingdoms RPG, I haven't had a chance to play it yet, but I did post a lot on the Privateer Press forums about it. There are some oddities, like seriously bad picks in the weapons and armor categories (why would I pick a +3 POW 1 handed weapon when I can have a +4 POW 1 handed weapon with no drawbacks?). I'm interested in how the game actually plays because there are some serious ways to break the game balance, especially in the attack/defense stats. Granted, the flavor of IK is so awesome that I'd happily convert the setting if I ever found a fantasy game system that I actually liked.
Lastly I noticed that Exalted isn't on the front page. Front page room constraints aside, I think it would be possible to have a few game specific threads coexist with this one. I started an Exalted 3rd edition thread, but it kinda died out since the developers are being very tight lipped with the actual details of their game. I'll add it to my sig if you want to see some linkage. Maybe when the game comes out in [soon] it'll get revived.
We have an ex-cop PI who talks to ghosts, a shapeshifting dragon who was in 'Nam and a retired Texas Ranger with a revolver of the cross who was chosen by St. Anthony.
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
I'm one of the big 13th Age boosters here and I agree with your statement. It feels like a tuned up 3.x game rather than a 4th edition game. It certainly has some of the more gamist elements from 4e but it reads as a 3.x base to me.
Give me a write up and I shall put it in the 2nd post. I've just been lazy about getting around to this, I intend to add Marvel and a couple others. Exalted though I've never played or read or seen so wouldn't trust any description I could give.
This is so weird. It's mostly the same people in this thread as that thread. I mean, that they tends towards the thread topic is a bit confusing on this forum and all, but still. I know for some of it, D&D is a different blend than some other games. I like FATE but I wouldn't use it to run a crunchy dungeon crawl, it's just not made for it. Story games get a bit of a bum wrap in this discussion because a good group of players can get by without the built in encouragement of drama and story. It's tough for a good group to ad lib appropriate math and mechanics on the fly.
Overall, 13th Age seems pretty cool. But I'm going to be tweeking it like I do everything. Luckily (?) there's a lot of the same stuff I disliked about 3E in here, so I have a good idea where to start.
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
So... sympathy abounds. What a wonderful world.
Think we can elaborate on that last little bit without the thread burning down? I'm kinda curious about what those things are.
Except there are A LOT of people who LIKE crunch. Like my entire gaming group, for example. I like having crunchy systems I can eat and break. In fact, I hated 4e because it removed massive parts of the crunch aspect and put it all into those stupid powers.
Mind you, I think light systems are fine but not for any kind of extended campaign for my group. They just don't have enough system in them to be filling long term around a dinner table. They are awesome for PbP, though.
I'm not sure I follow.
I played 3.X from the week it came out until 4E came out and own almost every supplement that was produced under the DnD header, including all the Realms and Eberron stuff. I'm fairly familiar with the system. I enjoyed the experience, certainly more than I enjoyed AD&D, but could see the flaws by the end of the run and happily switched to 4E.
Yet, I do not think there is much difference between the levels of crunch between 3.X and 4. About the only difference would be skills, as class features and spells simply got shifted into powers for the most part.
Can you explain where you see the difference?
In many cases one must choose between combat prowess and non-combat utility.
Fighters are pretty deeply uninspiring, at least to me personally.
I still hate /day action economies, but I'm willing to roll with it for now. (4E has this, too.)
Race doesn't seem to mean much outside of initial bonuses. (This can potentially change, it started off pretty weak in 4E as well.)
Magical items provide numerical bonuses. (note that this is also an issue I have with 4E)
They fixed (at least partially) the duality of caster and non-caster, but casters are still hugely more flexible.
I'm not sure what I'm going to do about some of these, but I've got plans for a few of them. First step is strapping things to the race entries until they feel done.
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
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But they don't feel like races, at least not to me. They feel like a power and an ability mod. Particularly if I'm working on a Dark Sun conversion, there are some really important racial differences that need to be addressed.
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
I'm not sure why you're so eager to fall on this sword. It doesn't seem like a thing a person would want to do. But I guess if you really want to do it...
Okay, lets look at a typical build for me in a 20 level game. In 4e, you're going to stick with a single class (maybe 2 at the most) and be locked into a very defined roll based on that class. You will be limited to the 6 or 8 power cards (god, I hate those things) that you get. You'll then have a few minor feats and skills to add on top of it.
Meanwhile, my last 3.5 character was a Sorcerer/Fighter/DragonDisciple/Spellsword/Artillerist who was quite capable of being a complete force of one in either melee damage, magical damage, magical buff, magical debuff, or utility. I was not locked into any one roll due to my class selection(s), and I had dozens of different things I could do based on the situation at hand, not stuck limited to seven or eight, of which only two of them I could use more than once in the encounter.
Isn't that exactly how the 4e races worked, though? Most of the races in 13th Age have the exact same power or a suped-up version of the power they had from 4e. I would think you could almost do a direct port of the Thri-kreen from 4e's Dark Sun setting and it would probably work out quite nicely. A couple minor mods but that's it, really.
- Consider revamping stat bonuses to exclude only 2-3 stats instead of including only 2 choices. This greatly opens up class/race combo options, as they stand now they're pretty restrictive, although less so than they could be, I suppose. (e.g. Instead of Half-orcs choosing between +2 to Strength or Dex, you choose +2 to any ability but charisma or intelligence: half-orcs are physically amazing, and have a natural predatory instinct, but are not known for cultural advances and social skills)
- Racial abilities/powers should probably standardized to a certain sort--perhaps provide two. This allows a better point-of-balance for design and also opens up more variety in play.
EX: Rerolling a missed attack is certainly not on par with getting to roll twice for initiative. Providing each race with a defense ability allows for more even distribution of enjoyable and usable bonuses, adding something like a special movement style ability as well would do something similar. This keeps attack squarely on the class while providing both mechanical variety and balance in the racial selections.
- One extra background point is not going to wreck the game from what I've seen. Consider providing a short list of backgrounds for each race with a +1 granted should they choose one--or something similar that they (and the GM, I suppose) finds appropriate.
- You probably don't need to get too crazy on things they provide. Races should still be relatively flexible in application and assigning them too many abilities/benefits/bonuses/etc. works at cross purposes to this.
Beyond that... what sort of mechanical differences do you need to differentiate between Muls and Half-Giants?
Penny Arcade Rockstar Social Club / This is why I despise cyclists
I wasn't super happy with 4E's method of doing races either, particularly the really weirdo ones like kreen.
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
The vast majority of this stuff is non-combat, and will probably be handled with some bonus background things.
Kreen (they're not all Thri) are 8 foot long insects with hardened carapaces and the ability to jump 15 feet in the air, who also sometimes have poisonous saliva. Aarakocra are vulture-people with limited flight capability. Still puzzling out how to make a lot of that work without giving huge advantages to the races, but I have some ideas.
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
Like, I'd make the Half-Giant's racial advantage be that they ignore the "as long as it isn't the same ability you increase with your racial bonus" ability score limitation, so they could effectively start with +4 Strength (depending on class). It sounds awesome, but there's nothing gamebreaking there.
Penny Arcade Rockstar Social Club / This is why I despise cyclists
13 True Ways (the expansion book) listed racial feats as one of the things they wanted to tackle. Personally I think more options are good, but either way I like the races as they are now too. One thing about 13th Age is that since your One Unique Thing could easily describe any race you wanted, the races themselves are more like mechanics with fantasy trappings rather than the races. Like you could make a half-giant race really easily, or if you didn't want to screw with it, you could just pick half-orc and call it half-giant, say you're a bit taller, and bam.
On the subject of how 13th Age "does" things, I think the best guideline for it (or any game, really) is if your players are picking non-combat features or features that are situational but cool, it's kind of on you as the DM to say "that's pretty cool, let's make that happen" and let it come out as part of the game, rather than locking it down. Yeah, there are some class features that trade combat numbers and options for stuff like icon relationship rolls, but those are conscious choices and a statement of intent --- that player wants to be badass at manipulating the plot rather than the fights. DMs should give them their moment, which is kind of easy in 13th Age because icon relationships are a lot more meaningful and expressive than "my guy is good at some skills" (because everyone is good at some skills).
Anyway, you could mess with 13th Age races pretty easily, if you wanted more mechanical flavor, another thing you could do is add additional racial powers at each tier, or more options at character creation, depending on your taste. The "races don't get a bonus to X" rather than "races get a bonus to Y" idea is pretty neat too.
If you wanted to give martial classes some flexibility, you could try giving all the martial classes a feat that's more or less Ritual Caster, but is for non-magical stuff. The concept existed in 4e, I forget the name of it. In combat I think all the classes have suitable flexibility, even the barbarian, which deceptively looks like the auto-pilot class despite having some good options to add depth.
Lastly, assuming that people who play d20 haven't discovered not-d20 and/or don't like it and are trapped in their dungeons of ignorance is kind of silly, especially while mid-sentence how nice this thread is, as others have said.
Tabletop:13th Age (mm-mmm), D&D 4e
Occasional words about games: my site
Oh how I hate this idea. The completely open ended backgrounds I think are a great way to get people to really think about the character and the world.
I would restate the modification idea as "Bonus to a limited subset of checks" and then define when that bonus applies. So stuff like "Elves are keen-eyed so get a +2 to see things" instead giving out a low level background that people will want to build up higher or utterly ignore.
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
Dwarves
+2 Constitution OR +2 Wisdom
Dwarven Resilience (Racial Power)
Once per battle, as a Reaction when an enemy hits you with an effect that targets your Physical Defense or Mental Defense, you may make a normal save (11+). If this save is successful, the effect fails.
Champion Feat: You may use this ability against an effect that targets AC, as well as PD or MD.
Single Minded: Choose a goal that will take at least one week to accomplish. That goal becomes your Focus. While pursuing your Focus, you gain a +2 Racial bonus to all skill checks related to completing it. You cannot choose a new Focus until you have completed the previous one.
Adventurer Feat: You ignore any effect that would coerce, demoralize, exhaust, mind-control or otherwise prevent you from furthering the completion of your focus. This does not allow you to overcome blocks to progress directly, but you can't be turned from your goal by any force on Athas.
Elves
+2 Dexterity OR +2 Intelligence
Sudden Sprint (Racial Power)
Once per battle as a Move action, you may move from Engaged to Far Away, or vice versa. If you are engaged with an opponent when you Sudden Sprint, you pop free.
Champion Feat: You gain a +5 bonus to AC against opportunity attacks during the move.
Fleet Footed: You gain a +2 Racial bonus to all skill checks made to run or move quickly, outrun pursuers on foot, or to avoid fatigue while running long distances.
Adventurer Feat: You are never fatigued by the act of running, though other factors can still effect you. Characters without some means of boosting their own movement speed, a suitable mount or another elf with this feat can't catch you if you are running.
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
Well, generally speaking going in to a thread dedicated to [thing] just say you dislike [thing] rarely goes down well.
To be fair, the tone of the D&D 5E thread is fairly negative because the game is basically a car accident in slow motion on repeat.
Anyways, I just bought Fate Core.
WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
at least I got a discount
This is kind of a problem of every gaming circle. Every group has people willing to run games. They also tend to be the people who spend the most time investing in other systems since they do most of the work. I am that person.
This is a problem because for all of my excitement involving these new systems, I know the chance of me playing it is very slim.
Though I have found someone willing to run Fate, in it's various forms, which is why I've been spending so much time with it lately.
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
hell, im lucky if half my players know the rules of combat at any given time. thats why we've been playing 4e so much - its a system that i know intimately enough to make rules calls on the fly.
this is why i love people willing to run pbp games. slower though they may be, its the most consistent actual playing that i've gotten to do throughout my few years of experience.
This feeling gets really complicated when you are making a homebrew system.
Not only are you likely never going to get to play it, no one else in the world is ever going to run it.
funny you should mention shadowrun, my real life homie group is going to be plunging into a shadowrun 5 game here soon
This stuff is all great! You should post it where I did your first stuff. They all loved it! (including a few guys that work for/on the game)
Where would that be? When I get the rest of them done I'll put it up over there.
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.