Reboot that game!

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Stumpydave

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If you could reboot any game or gameline, what would you do differently?

Vampire: the Tremere become the big bads, human mages who stole the Curse of Caine and inflicted it upon themselves out of pride and greed. Only now they're hunting the other clans to steal their blood and secrets.

Werewolf: Gaia is defended by two children, the Garou - who shapeshift into wolves to fight her enemies and Shaman - half people half spirit able to commune with spirits and cross into the spirit world. Can these two siblings put aside their differences to save their goddess from the mad Wyrm and unthinking Weaver?

Changeling: Make Chimerical reality and damage the real reality, then take Demon the Fallen, file off the serial numbers and we're good.
 
In Nomine, done as a translation rather than a different game.
Oh, and keep the art and production design of the french version. That was such a beautiful game over there, and so tragically below average over here.
 
I'd love to reissue TWERPS.

I'd steal the gimmcik from Laser & Feelings whereby you roll over for physical tasks and roll under for mental tasks. That minor tweak alone would give TWERPS the extra depth I feel it needs and keep it "one stat game" status.

I'd keep the original illustations. Forget all the glossy painted illustations found in high-end, modern games, TWERPS is where its at when it comes to roleplaying game art.

I'd keep the mini-pamphlet format, but with better quality paper. Maybe include the full rules (all 4 pages of them) in each world book for convenience.

Finally I'd ditch the whole how many hexes movement and range because who cares. Replace it better scenario seeds and maybe some adventure generation tables (again Lasers & Feelings has the right idea there).

It should be called "TWERPS - HOW TO DO EVERTHING BETTER, AGAIN"

And no, it's not like I've been hanging on to this idea for ages.
 
Take Waste World, get full-color art of the world. De-factionalize it a bit (mostly to make mixed city playgroups make some sense) and reprint it is about all (maybe a few adventures in the core book.)
 
Mekton.

I would add more detail to characters. But I'd also give up on the illusion that players play a mecha game to play the stay at home girlfriend. The assumption would be that PCs are mecha pilots and there would be much greater mechanics other than who had the higher plus. There would be more features, more abilities, and just greater definition beyond Reflex 10, Mecha Pilot +10.

There would still be rules for other character roles, but it would be clear that those were for NPCs and they wouldn't be as detailed. You could still play them, but probably more as alternate occasional diversions from a main character. I'd probably have a section on troupe play.

I'd probably change task resolution to be more d20-like.

I'd dial down some of the mecha complexity. Hit locations would become optional, for instance.

I would make combat friendlier for theater of the mind resolution.
 
oh, another. Marvel Heroic returning. i don't know. if that is a reboot to do it with a system that is nearly 100% compatible. but i wanted to see the MCU along side the rpg
 
Rifts.

Oh good lord. Where to even begin?

I'm going to say that I didn't embrace Savage Worlds Rifts. I think it's great that it exists, but it's not the Rifts I'm interested in. I feel Rifts does have a mechanical aspect that needs to be maintained to some degree, and Savage Rifts is a style of Rifts which I never particularly liked. That's my view of it anyway. So what would I do instead?

I'd start with Combat. I would try to keep it generally the same while cleaning up all the specifics. It would still be d20 based. It would still have multiple attacks per round. It would be a phased system like it was in the 1e revised era of the Palladium rules. I'd just clean up the major questions, the edge cases, and try to create some consistency in how NPCs' and monsters' combat stats.

After cleaning out the Augean Stables, I'd move on to the next herculean task.

Resolution would change to a unified d20 mechanic to bring it in line with the combat mechanics. Attributes would be unified under a single scale of modifiers. HPs and SDC would be reduced from their insane values. There would be a greater differentiation of SDC and HP as they pertained to characters, probably requiring a vast reworking of many things.

MDC would stay.

And then... character creation. There would be fewer OCCs. That's because there would be tools to build your own OCCs. This would almost be a Hero System like construction system, but perhaps feeling more like the TMNT Bio-E system or choosing powers in Heroes Unlimited. And as strange as it may seem, the game would still be level and experience based.

As for background, I would greatly emphasize the horror aspects of the setting. The world would go back to being a vast untamed place where humans have been absent from vast areas for centuries. Demonic horrors could be out there anywhere, just waiting in the dark.

The Coalition... I can't say much else about how I'd change them without getting political. In some ways, I would soften them, but in other ways I would make them worse. The power creep and writer preference they have been given over the years would be removed.

I would make a much bigger deal of the Rifts and portals to other worlds. My focus would be less on the shithole of Rifts Earth and far more on invading otherworldly demonic realms. The multi-dimension aspect of Rifts was one that was largely squandered over the years, and to me it was one of the major draws of the setting. My Rifts would be less Rifts: Earth and more about the web of Rifts and dimensions. It would be much more megaversal.
 
Yggdrasill.

Great setting. Great campaign. System that had some good ideas that just didn't work. Or make mathematical sense. That caused my player's heads to implode every session.

Strip down to spare parts. Keep some. Throw most away. Buy some new parts. Assemble competently. Doesn't need to be an Audi, a Volvo will do.
 
Arduin, but with an actual workable, non-clunky system.
Arduin, the not-slapped-together-house-rules edition. one of my first post D&D purchases. thank you gaming store in portland in 1988 or so I don't remember the name of Powell's. the gaming store was where i got Cyberpunk (2013)
 
Arduin, the not-slapped-together-house-rules edition. one of my first post D&D purchases. thank you gaming store in portland in 1988 or so I don't remember the name of Powell's. the gaming store was where i got Cyberpunk (2013)
Was that the two-book Compleat Arduin edition from the early 90s?
 
Reboot of 1993's SLA Industries main rule book but with good rules. Follow up with White Earth supplement.
 
Marvel Super Heroes Role Playing Game

No changes. Just put all the 80s and early 90s stuff back in print.

I'm torn on whether to skip the original yellow box "basic" set. It's kind of extraneous when the other Basic Set exists, but it's also a much better intro and learning tool to get started.

Yes, it's all 80s Marvel with a heavy focus on X-Men, but that was when the comics were awesome.

I'm old. I renounce your silly modern comics!
 
Marvel Super Heroes Role Playing Game

No changes. Just put all the 80s and early 90s stuff back in print.

I'm torn on whether to skip the original yellow box "basic" set. It's kind of extraneous when the other Basic Set exists, but it's also a much better intro and learning tool to get started.

Yes, it's all 80s Marvel with a heavy focus on X-Men, but that was when the comics were awesome.

I'm old. I renounce your silly modern comics!

You're not even a little bit tempted to find a more evocative name for Talents like "Martial Arts A" and "Martial Arts B"?
 
What I find interesting about this is that whilst my changes were very much about reworking the fluff, most of yours appear to be about changing the rules.
 
Justifiers with maybe a Mythras or some other skill based system. Buyback is what I'm torn on how or if I should deal with at all.
 
So I guess I'll start with a couple responses.

The first is that I'd make TWERPS a point system where you get 15 points and Strength costs 3 and skills/spells cost 1. You could get 5 extra points by by taking disadvantages. I'd keep the counters and maps because they're funny and a big part of the game's appeal. Other than that, I'd produce a series of animated shorts based on the art and puns.

The Arduin Adventure system was really clean and simple and intended as a base on which to apply the Grimoires. I'd put a better cover on the box, reprint the Grimoires and adventures and slap them in the box, and call it good. I've never understood why a game had such amazing internal art and such bad art on the box cover. It'd be a thick book case game style box, but hey we're living in the age of 600 page hardbacks.

So now it's on to me and I'd do Rolemaster and Spacemaster. I'm a big fan of the third edition "Standard System" as you probably know but I do think there's room for improvement and I think we can bring in the RM2 fans by making the skill system modular. That's the real killer problem because many people don't see 600+ skills as a good thing. I know it's absurd and I can't imagine why anyone would feel that way but we want their support and their money so we're going to build it so you can use about 20 skills as the core of the game. Skills can be added piecemeal because the skill costs The skill / category split will instead replace profession bonuses. The professions are going to be more generic and there will essentially be pure users, hybrid, and semi users for Arms, Magic, and Practical and there will be training packages to customize them including training package spell lists. The objective here is to unify the skill costs and avoid chart bloat and the 20 skills will map to the 20 skill categories so you can use it however you want. I think The Channeling companion will become core and probably The Elemental Companion and Essence Companion. The Martial Arts Companion will also be integrated and the extra 50 weapon tables from The Armory will be reformatted to match Arms Law and integrated. The books will be leather bound with gold leaf. I'd be amenable to brass fittings, parchment paper, and a folio ribbon binding to allow the addition of more tables as necessary.

Spacemaster would mostly be Spacemaster Privateers with the above mentioned skill system evolution. There was this guy who did some excellent work on cleaning up the vehicles rules an I'd integrate it and give him a nice fat cheque and co-author credit. The system is good but it needed some cleaning up. Anyhow, Training Packages would be a full on life path system here and rolling for items would become an event table that gives out items for each package. I think I'd use the original setting but make the game open enough that you could do whatever you want. I'd slip in generic race examples using the SPAM races as a basis but I'd tone them down because they're over powered and I'd even out some rough spots, Valesians wouldn't just be murder hobos.

I'd also do Silent Death, the unpublished X-Decom boarding action game, and a Silent Death rpg.
 
Golden Heroes, just add an introduction by Alan Moore and color art.

Gangbusters 3rd with Myth... Well Mythras imperative is more than enough for this, with art by a Jack Kirby clone. And a Yakuza supplement.

Boot Hill redone as a Frostgrave-style miniature game. With miniatures of course and loads of campaigns (as Frostgrave).

Boot Hill re-redone because I cannot paint miniatures and never played the previous game that never was because of that. Just a simple system to blow each other's brains out. Back to basics: chapter 1 characters, chapter 2: guns, chapter 3: towns. Make it the Unforgiven of western rpg. With art by a clone of Jean Giraud/Moebius.

Palladium's Valley of the Pharaohs, as the original, the more expansive project on this list as you'll probably find yourself sued by Kevin.

Star Frontiers, maybe with M-Space, maybe not, I'm too much on an M-Space kick to see things clearly. With art by Scott Wegener (Atomic Robo).
 
Rifts for Mutants & Masterminds 2E.

Or 3E, I suppose. I’ve got literally the entire GR line for 2E, though, and I love that game, so I never bothered to move to 3rd.

And James Bond 007, with updated vehicles, weapons and gear. I know about Classified, but I want a real 007 game with the kind of artwork that FFG has in their Star Wars game (rather than just stills from the movies, I want awesome art).
 
Rifts

No pew pew energy weapons. Or make them much less common.

No elves and dragons and fantasy stuff. Make it all weird aliens and horrifying monsters.

More post-apocalyptic ruin-delving for advanced pre-Rifts tech.

Coalition just as bad, only less skulls. Tone down the death’s head motive a notch — or ten.

A magic system that bites back. Sure, you can draw a ton of power from that ley line but it’s gonna fuck you up.

Ninjas & Superspies

Rewrite everything with up-to-date info on both martial arts and the world intelligence landscape (can we agree that BedrockBrendan BedrockBrendan is the man to head this project?).

Clean up cybernetics and mystic martial arts stuff.

Introduce NPCs, factions, scenarios.

Deadlands

No alt-hist.

No ghost rock.

Tone down the steampunk several notches.

Mostly Wild West types vs. horrific monsters and undead with an impending supernatural apocalypse brewing on the background.
 
Gangbusters 3rd with Myth... Well Mythras imperative is more than enough for this, with art by a Jack Kirby clone. And a Yakuza supplement.

Boot Hill redone as a Frostgrave-style miniature game. With miniatures of course and loads of campaigns (as Frostgrave).

Boot Hill re-redone because I cannot paint miniatures and never played the previous game that never was because of that. Just a simple system to blow each other's brains out. Back to basics: chapter 1 characters, chapter 2: guns, chapter 3: towns. Make it the Unforgiven of western rpg. With art by a clone of Jean Giraud/Moebius.

Star Frontiers, maybe with M-Space, maybe not, I'm too much on an M-Space kick to see things clearly. With art by Scott Wegener (Atomic Robo).
So, I'd do a merged Gangbusters, Boot Hill, Dawn Patrol system for a bit broader period. Make it three compatible games, each with gang management rules and a bit of a wargamey edge.

Star Frontiers would largely be left alone, I'd give skills a 1/2 stat +10 / rank rating and make the sub skills modifiers. Taking more than 1/2 Stamina from a single hit would knock people out to make combat a bit less draggy. I'd probably compile it all into one volume but not alter it otherwise.
 
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