Elemental

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Mankcam

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I just stumbled across this this:
ELEMENTAL generic trpg
Some good names involved with it, but it's the first I have read about it




Here's the core book: Elemental Complete Core Rules
And here is a free quickstart/ basic version that I'm checking out: Elemental Discovery

It is a few years old now, I think the publication date said 2018

From a quick glance in the free edition, the game engine looks like a D6 Roll Over TN core mechanic, and you add one of your four core attribute bonuses (+ additional skill bonus). Not sure if it has a Feats system, I suspect it possibly will.
In any case I guess at the foundation level it's a bit bland and nothing revolutionary; it basically feels like it could play like D&D using a D6, instead of a D20 core mechanic methinks

The fact that it is generic is interesting for me, I quite like having a toolbox set of rules to adapt to different settings and genres.
Not that this would replace Mythras or Cypher for me, but it strikes some interest none-the-less, mainly because it has some good authors attached to it, and I didn't know about it's existence an hour ago.

For an indie game it has nice artwork and there seems a bit of support for it on DrivethruRPG, so I guess someone here may have tried it out -

If so, I'm just wondering how it plays and if the resources are any good?
 
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I have a copy and it's on my "to play" list, but I haven't got round to it yet.

It is roll and add, against the opponent's roll or the GM roll plus a Difficulty modifier.

It does't have Feats as such, but some of the Skills are really feats, I think (Sworn Enemy, Mighty Blow, Sixth Sense, Followers, Battle Rage).

The Core rules focus quite a lot on Fantasy and there are extensive spell lists. The section on Horror, Sci-Fi, Pulp and Supers are still good, but could maybe do with some expansion.

The support material is pretty good, and keenly priced. Crawling Chaos (Expanded Edition) is excellent, and expands horror into the Cthulhu Mythos very nicely.

I'll try to persuade out group to give it a go
 
I have the book on my DTRPG wishlist and downloaded/read the quickstart. I like what I've read so far, there's a ton of adventures as well so I'd like to run at least a one-shot in the coming months. It seems to be a bit overlooked which is a shame as there's obviously a lot of passion and work that went into this game.
 
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Hey folks, sorry for the slight necro, but as one of the creators I thought I'd pop in and say hi. I haven't been active here at the Pub, but would like to remedy that! Since you all know your RPGs, this might help you mentally position Elemental among the other universals you mentioned: It's quite a lot lighter than the big hitters in this space like Savage Worlds, Genesys, 2d20, GURPS, Year Zero, Mythras, BRP etc. More like Tinyd6 in terms of complexity, but with a more robust character-building and advancement system. P PrivateEye gave a great recap. So yeah, nothing revolutionary, but the combination of features is somewhat unique.

The other unique thing about it is the amount of playable content and the level of support from the publisher. The rules being so brief, most of the core book is monsters, spells, gear etc. Also, we're building a multi-genre repository of free/PWYW adventures by new and veteran designers. If folks are interested, I can post brief teasers and links to the ones available so far. And happy to answer any questions of course!
 
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By the way I put your scenario in my DriveThruRPG cart but I probably won’t buy it till tomorrow. I’m researching a few other titles too.
 
Hey folks, sorry for the slight necro, but as one of the creators I thought I'd pop in and say hi. I haven't been active here at the Pub, but would like to remedy that! Since you all know your RPGs, this might help you mentally position Elemental among the other universals you mentioned: It's quite a lot lighter than the big hitters in this space like Savage Worlds, Genesys, 2d20, GURPS, Year Zero, Mythras, BRP etc. More like Tinyd6 in terms of complexity, but with a more robust character-building and advancement system. P PrivateEye gave a great recap. So yeah, nothing revolutionary, but the combination of features is somewhat unique.

The other unique thing about it is the amount of playable content and the level of support from the publisher. The rules being so brief, most of the core book is monsters, spells, gear etc. Also, we're building a multi-genre repository of free/PWYW adventures by new and veteran designers. If folks are interested, I can post brief teasers and links to the ones available so far. And happy to answer any questions of course!

Hey JM! Welcome to the Pub.
 
Hey JM! Welcome to the Pub.
Thanks Charlie, nice to find a familiar face in these parts! For anyone else reading: Charlie's coverage of Elemental (links above) is the most extensive you'll find anywhere. Highly recommended reading for anyone interested in learning more about the game.
 
Here's a fun little experiment...

Taking inspiration from something Phil Reed (ex-CEO of Steve Jackson Games) did a few months ago, we’re trying something new with Living Nightmares, the new Elemental bestiary. It’s starting out with only four monsters and is priced at one dollar. Each time the book wins a medal on DriveThruRPG (if it wins a medal…meaning it achieves a number of downloads), we’ll add more monsters to it. We’ll raise the price in proportion to the number of monsters, but people who already have the book get all the added content for free.

We don’t do Kickstarters, but I thought this might be a fun way to bring some of the benefit of crowdfunding, while still giving people what they paid for immediately (and the possibility of getting more), unlike traditional crowdfunding. So hopefully…a win-win!? I’m curious to know what people think of the idea and if you think it might be interesting as a more commonly used, alternative model.
 
Here's a fun little experiment...

Taking inspiration from something Phil Reed (ex-CEO of Steve Jackson Games) did a few months ago, we’re trying something new with Living Nightmares, the new Elemental bestiary. It’s starting out with only four monsters and is priced at one dollar. Each time the book wins a medal on DriveThruRPG (if it wins a medal…meaning it achieves a number of downloads), we’ll add more monsters to it. We’ll raise the price in proportion to the number of monsters, but people who already have the book get all the added content for free.

We don’t do Kickstarters, but I thought this might be a fun way to bring some of the benefit of crowdfunding, while still giving people what they paid for immediately (and the possibility of getting more), unlike traditional crowdfunding. So hopefully…a win-win!? I’m curious to know what people think of the idea and if you think it might be interesting as a more commonly used, alternative model.
JM would you mind posting your teasers as well as links to related adventures / scenarios? Thanks!
 
JM would you mind posting your teasers as well as links to related adventures / scenarios? Thanks!
Sure thing. For those not aware, we're building a multi-genre repository of free adventures by new and veteran designers. All are low-prep, ready-to-play and include pregens for those who want them. We can't compete with the big community content programs in terms of quantity, so we're focusing on variety and quality instead.

Children of the Black Monolith: Sword and Sorcery. It is said that the Atlantean kingdom of ILLU was swallowed by the waves a millennium ago. Now, an expedition sails for the rumored location of its wondrous capital, intent on being the first to gaze on its splendor and loot its treasures. But when the captain dies under mysterious circumstances, a power struggle threatens to doom the expedition before it arrives, and leave the crew completely unprepared to meet the current dwellers of the sunken city…

Tower of the Vampire: Sword and Sorcery. Somewhere in that tower is said to lie the Ruby Heart, a gemstone of inestimable value. As they sail down the storm-battered coast, the players will face a primordial predator that baits its prey before crawling out of its briny cave to feed. But in the tower, their greatest test will not be one of spells and steel, but a test of conscience that may expose conflicting motives in the party.

The Probe: Sci-Fi. The year is 2243. Ravaged by endless war and environmental collapse, the Earth is dying. Standing against the corrupt governments of the world, you are members of a secret faction of resistance fighters called The Unchained. A surveillance drone has captured images of an abandoned government facility deep in the Antarctic waste, and you believe it contains a new type of weapon. Infiltrate the facility and retrieve the weapon before the government does. It could change everything -- or end it.

Penumbra: Sci-Fi. A team of burnt-out miners and scientists crosses a desolate asteroid in search of Sap, the home planet’s dwindling energy source. Forced into the role of last-minute saviors, they will come face to face with an alien intelligence, confront the legacy of the past, and grapple with how far they are willing to go to save the future.

Outbreak: Zombie Horror. The zombie apocalypse arrived this morning and the world is filled with the quick and the undead. The players are booking it out of town in a bus, but they soon find themselves stranded in the middle of nowhere. Night is falling, but maybe they can find refuge in that creepy old house in the woods?

Jailbreak: Psychological Horror. Widely considered one of the best horror “one-shots” ever written, this classic scenario by Greg Stolze embroils the players in a deadly game of violence and betrayal. Set entirely in a secluded farmhouse, the players will soon discover that their fellow house guests are the monster. Who will survive the night?

Crawling Chaos: Cosmic Horror. After finding a dead body, university students are hunted by a relentless supernatural entity that seems to know their deepest secrets and desires. As they run from certain death, the students must uncover the university’s occult past, find a crumbling church in the woods, deal with a dangerous artifact and confront an ancient evil.

Fate of the Arkadia: Space Opera. When a colony ship is found ten years after it disappeared, a ragtag team of mercenaries is sent to investigate the derelict. Thus begins a mystery and action-packed adventure in the outer reaches of the galaxy, where smugglers and pirates rule over strange, alien worlds.

The Watchers: Fantasy. These adventurers have shown skill with sword, mastery of magic, and above all, rare qualities of character. They’ve been chosen to join the ancient order of Watchers, but first they must pass a test of cleverness and mettle. The challenge: recover six crystal shards from six magically protected chambers, wield the six weapons of elemental power on the field of battle, and shape your destiny.

Warriors of Valhalla: Fantasy. Winged raiders, black as the night sky itself, strike the Viking village of Kaldt Klif, and its battle-hardened warriors must undertake a harrowing quest of valor and vindication. Come, raise your ale horn in a toast to your fallen ancestors and take up their legendary weapons against the foe! Launch your longship on a voyage of mystery, danger and Viking party games!

Blackout: Psychological Horror. A man wakes up one morning remembering only his name: John Chambers. As he pieces together the details of his life and uncovers a trail of occult symbols, he must deal with the past and face the terrible circumstances that led him to the present. A “duet” scenario for one player and one GM.

Ego Hunter: Cyberpunk. The players are mind-clones of the same person in search of their original self. But the road to self-discovery is paved with transhuman conspiracies, dark secrets and horrific revelations in a dystopian, post-cyberpunk city.

Trilemma Adventures: Fantasy. A sampling of the Ennie award-winning collection of adventures, expanded to include ELEMENTAL stats and a flavorful cast of player characters with their own agendas and motivations.

Island of the Lizard God: Fantasy. Shipwrecked on a remote tropical island, stalwart adventurers face off against a lizardman cult and their primal god.

Temple of the Moon Priests: Fantasy. A jewel of peculiar power - the Sky Shard - lies buried deep within the lost temple of the Moon Priests. When the King's dying words hint at the temple's location, adventurers from far and wide strike out in search of the stone.

She Lost Her Marbles: Adventure. When the neighborhood kids decide to explore that creepy old house at the edge of town, things don’t go quite as planned. Of course, the owner of the house is a witch, and of course, she places a curse on them, shrinking the kids and sending them on a dangerous quest between the floors and walls of the old mansion. An "all-ages" scenario that evokes the wonder of classic childhood adventure books and movies.

Nightcrawlers: Dark Fantasy. After a cataclysm, desperate survivors find themselves deep underground. Amid the ruins of a broken world, they must find their way out and face the strange, alien life forms that live down in the dark. Can they make it out alive before the light runs out? This atmospheric adventure sets the perfect mood by using actual candles to represent how many torches the party has left.

The World's End Masque & Ball: Gothic Fantasy. Some say the world is ending. At the muddy end of a fruitless harvest, famine and plague stalk the land. The armies of darkness gather on the horizon. And tonight is the night of a lunar eclipse, the time when the astrologers predict a world-devouring evil will be born. For one group of decadent aristocrats, there is clearly only one possible course of action: lock themselves inside a castle, throw a masquerade, get loaded, and dabble in black magic.

Continuity: Space Horror. A crew of researchers on a remote space station awaken in new bodies to discover that two weeks of their lives are missing. Time is running out as they must find out what happened to their previous selves - and deal with a looming threat. "An unholy and brilliantly-executed alliance of Altered Carbon, Alien and The Thing."

Survival: Horror. Vietnam, 1966. You're the last survivors of a long-range reconnaissance patrol sent to investigate Viet Cong activity near the Cambodian border. But now you've lost half the squad, the radio guy just stepped on a mine and you're stranded in the bush. Between you and safety lie miles of death, disease, starvation; and something even worse. Can you make it out alive?

Fear Can't Hurt You: Horror. This new edition of the popular scenario includes all the rules required to play. In August of 1984, the FBI investigated the events at Camp Willow Lake, a Christian summer camp for boys. Multiple deaths were reported in the press, but the circumstances surrounding the fate of the campers and staff remains a mystery. This is their story.

Eyes in the Forest: Fantasy. My grandsire rode into these woods to take the terrible Giant of Weyld's head, but returned to Castle Orfyrr with only his eye. The wicked brute escaped. Since that day, every heir of Orfyrr has been born sickly and died young, so I have more gold than time. A thousand coins for each of you, brave adventurers, if you break the giant's curse. Return his eye -- or take his foul head and be done with't! This is the introductory adventure included in the ELEMENTAL Discovery Guide.
 
Hey folks, sorry for the slight necro, but as one of the creators I thought I'd pop in and say hi. I haven't been active here at the Pub, but would like to remedy that! Since you all know your RPGs, this might help you mentally position Elemental among the other universals you mentioned: It's quite a lot lighter than the big hitters in this space like Savage Worlds, Genesys, 2d20, GURPS, Year Zero, Mythras, BRP etc. More like Tinyd6 in terms of complexity, but with a more robust character-building and advancement system. P PrivateEye gave a great recap. So yeah, nothing revolutionary, but the combination of features is somewhat unique.

The other unique thing about it is the amount of playable content and the level of support from the publisher. The rules being so brief, most of the core book is monsters, spells, gear etc. Also, we're building a multi-genre repository of free/PWYW adventures by new and veteran designers. If folks are interested, I can post brief teasers and links to the ones available so far. And happy to answer any questions of course!
It's lighter than Savage Worlds, 2d20 (which version?), Year Zero et also? I may be in!
 
It's lighter than Savage Worlds, 2d20 (which version?), Year Zero et also? I may be in!
I'm personally familiar with Savage Worlds, Year Zero (Alien) and 2d20 (Conan, Star Trek), and I'd say Elemental is quite a bit lighter, but still robust enough to support an extended campaign. This review by Charlie D Charlie D gives a nice summary.
 
I'm personally familiar with Savage Worlds, Year Zero (Alien) and 2d20 (Conan, Star Trek), and I'd say Elemental is quite a bit lighter, but still robust enough to support an extended campaign. This review by Charlie D Charlie D gives a nice summary.
Nothing tells me about the mechanics though. Sadly.
 
Nothing tells me about the mechanics though. Sadly.

Opposed rolls. Stat+Skill+d6. Skills capped at 3, Stats potentially unlimited. Roll a 6, and you get to roll another d6 (but only first one explodes). If no opponent but vs a difficulty (ranges 1-6), the difficulty counts as the Stat+d6 from GM. This can explode too.

Damage rolls are stat rolls, so they can explode as well.

Personally, I'm not a fan of the 1d6 roll. I think, if I ran the game, I'd use (Stat)d6 with skill added to each, then count number of totals over opposed or difficulty. So a stat of 3 and skill of 2 would roll 3(1d6+2). Keep exploding dice. If against a difficulty of 2, the GM would just roll 2(1d6). You could still get draws, success, failure, crit success, and crit failure.
 
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Nothing tells me about the mechanics though. Sadly.
Good recap by Imaginos Imaginos , the only thing I’ll add is that it’s not just a binary pass/fail system, it allows for degrees of success (crits, success at a cost, complications etc.) like other modern systems.

If you’d like to see a one-page version of the mechanics that also touches on character creation and combat and shows the character sheet, see the One Page Rules. If you’d like to see the full rules, get the Discovery Guide (it’s free). If you’d like to see a detailed flip-through and review of the core book, below is a video someone posted on YT. For other questions, I'm here!

 
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Good recap by Imaginos Imaginos , the only thing I’ll add is that it’s not just a binary pass/fail system, it allows for degrees of success (crits, success at a cost, complications etc.) like other modern systems.

Yeah, I should have mentioned degrees of success.
 
Looks like a nice, well-polished light- to medium-weight system. From the discovery rules it seems like it's just a bit too light-weight for me. I can see it working well for a medium-length campaign, say eight or ten sessions, but unlikely to be satisfying for longer.
 
Looks like a nice, well-polished light- to medium-weight system. From the discovery rules it seems like it's just a bit too light-weight for me. I can see it working well for a medium-length campaign, say eight or ten sessions, but unlikely to be satisfying for longer.
You bring up a good point, because one of the design goals was replayability (any game designer will tell you that's one of the hardest things to design in a game). Specifically, we wanted the game to be lighter and easier to plug and play than leading universal systems out there, while still being satisfying for campaign play. In the end, I think two things contribute to that. First is the inclusion of degrees of success I mentioned above, which makes encounters more dynamic. The d6 explodes a lot, so you never quite know what's going to happen and no one feels too safe. The Draw mechanic creates mixed outcomes (situations that aren't outright success or failure...complications, success-at-a-cost etc) which forces the GM and players to describe things cinematically and focus on the fiction.

The second thing is that despite being a lightweight game, there's actually a robust yet simple character advancement system that can carry through a long campaign, which is an area where light universal systems are often deficient. The system incentivizes the player to develop multiple skills and areas of expertise in their PC. One danger with point-buy systems is they can lead one-trick-pony PCs, so we made sure the system encourages players to spread their points around, without imposing artificial restrictions.
 
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