Magitech Chronicles RPG - Can anyone tell me about it?

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zcthu3

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I recently stumbled across this at DrivethruRPG and like the concept (sci-fi meets magic), but know almost nothing about it. I found one review online, but TBH it didn’t really answer my questions - what is the system like? It seems to have ‘classes’ but does it use levels, free-form xp spend post character creation, another form of advancement? What is the bestiary/antagonists section like (presuming it has one)? Does it give a good range of tech, spacecraft (as a sci-fi setting)? How much setting info is there (for someone who hasn’t read the novels)?

Can anyone tell me anything about it?
 
Will be picking it up EOM. The guy who wrote the rpg also wrote the books.
 
That’s not always a good thing. For example, the author of The Powder Mage books also wrote the RPG and it is not done well at all. I have hope for this one but I’m keeping my expectations low.

Brian McClellan didn't write it alone- in the forward, he admits that he's functionally illiterate when it comes to RPGs. He was helped along in no small amount by Alan Bahr of Gallant Knight Games, as they state in a few interviews. While I agree that there are some inconsistencies and deficiencies in the adaptation, I would disagree with the not done well at all, mostly because it's Savage Worlds and many of the deficiencies are, in my experience, relatively easy to get around as long as the GM takes them into account when crafting the campaigns.

As far as the Magitech Chronicles, I wasn't familiar with the works that they're based on when I backed the Kickstarter, so I can't say how well they model that. But it does have its own feel. The system is custom, based on GM set successes required (1-5 normally) in player dice pools (d6 - Attribute+Skill), and varying thresholds for dice being success (4-6 or 5-6). It does use clases, though it's not level based- that's just a stricture on the type of magic that you have access to as far as I've seen in my readthrough. Casting is based on power points and is powerful, though for a game with such an emphasis on magic, it seems very structured which was disappointing. It is Hit Point based, and damage is static rather than rolled, though extra successes do add to that, so there is some variability. It is not level based- XP is awarded in small amounts, and spent on improvement of skills as the player desires, at any time that they desire- even in combat.

One other thing that I have to mention because its so much of an annoyance- in the rule book, the table of contents has the chapters listed (though untitled) and the bookmarks are only labeled by page number, making it hard to find things that you want to reference.

It is a really pretty book, though.
 
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Thanks, what’s the bestiary/adversaries and tech chapters like in terms of variety?
 
Thanks, what’s the bestiary/adversaries and tech chapters like in terms of variety?

Beasts are rated by Magnitude. Other things, like spells are rated on the same scale, so it's seemingly quite convenient, though magnitude wasn't so clear with spells from reading, so perhaps not so much? Because they rate them as such, you can see the entirety of their bestiary at one location, like a table of contents for the beasts. And it includes 18 different creatures. However, they make them go a lot further than it would seem that such a pool would, in the fact that you can apply templates to a creature to change it, granting it new abilities and/or scaling the power level.
 
Beasts are rated by Magnitude. Other things, like spells are rated on the same scale, so it's seemingly quite convenient, though magnitude wasn't so clear with spells from reading, so perhaps not so much? Because they rate them as such, you can see the entirety of their bestiary at one location, like a table of contents for the beasts. And it includes 18 different creatures. However, they make them go a lot further than it would seem that such a pool would, in the fact that you can apply templates to a creature to change it, granting it new abilities and/or scaling the power level.
Hmm , that sounds quite cool.
 
Brian McClellan didn't write it alone- in the forward, he admits that he's functionally illiterate when it comes to RPGs. He was helped along in no small amount by Alan Bahr of Gallant Knight Games, as they state in a few interviews. While I agree that there are some inconsistencies and deficiencies in the adaptation, I would disagree with the not done well at all, mostly because it's Savage Worlds and many of the deficiencies are, in my experience, relatively easy to get around as long as the GM takes them into account when crafting the campaigns


The mechanics aren’t the only problem with the book, the setting information is dreadfully lacking in a few areas and as the author of the books and who was responsible for the writing he did a very bad job. That’s speaking as a fan of his books.

Mechanically it’s terrible and that’s speaking as a Savage Worlds GM of 13 years, with a conversion of my own under my belt. I know how to compensate for bad mechanics but these are very bad. I would argue that you cannot run a Powder Mage game that mirrors the setting in the novels with the rules as written.

I won’t hijack the thread any more than that. Sorry.

I realized I have the Magitech series on my kindle so it just jumped to the top of my list. From what has been said about the game so far I think it’s worth a look.
 
The mechanics aren’t the only problem with the book, the setting information is dreadfully lacking in a few areas and as the author of the books and who was responsible for the writing he did a very bad job. That’s speaking as a fan of his books.

Mechanically it’s terrible and that’s speaking as a Savage Worlds GM of 13 years, with a conversion of my own under my belt. I know how to compensate for bad mechanics but these are very bad. I would argue that you cannot run a Powder Mage game that mirrors the setting in the novels with the rules as written.

I won’t hijack the thread any more than that. Sorry.

I realized I have the Magitech series on my kindle so it just jumped to the top of my list. From what has been said about the game so far I think it’s worth a look.

I mean, we'll have to agree to disagree on the point of the mechanics, as I totally disagree with that assessment. There are some things that I had to change, but it wasn't a total horror show as portrayed above. As far as the rest, I put it down to the brevity of the work. It should have been in a larger book with more space. I've noticed that GKG rarely does larger books. This should have been done with another publisher that would have given it the space to breathe and the treatment it deserves.
 
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