Reboot that game!

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Heh, reminds me of my Phaserip Martial Arts Moves Name-Generator:

martial arts Movess are generated by first choosing or rolling for the Effect:

33724861218_9af41e180b_z.jpg


Then a name is generated for the Move using the following chart:

33720549478_0257ea144e_z.jpg

The Martial Artist can choose to roll a D10 for any combination of Style, Element, Form, Weapon, or Manoeuvre.

Ex: Tang Shi (The Jade Elbow) prefers short and to-the point names and thus rolls only for Element and Manoeuvre, getting a 3 and a 6, "Steel Chop". Lu Tang (The Cosmic Egg) on the other hand, prefers elaborate names for Moves that he proudly announces in combat, so he rolls on all 5 charts getting a 9, 8, 2, 10, and 2, or

"Dancing Storm Crane Fist Punch!"
It becomes even more amusing if you treat some of those as derived words, possibly even verbs:shade:!
"The Dancing Flaming Cobra Tails your Chops" FTW:grin:!

Also, it would actually be quite true-to-life. "Parting the Horse's Mane" is an actual technique's name after all, as are "Buddha's Warrior Pounds Mortar" and "Returning the Tiger to The Mountain"...and I've heard arguments that the correct translation of the latter should be "Throw the Tiger, Go Back to the Mountain":evil:!


Maybe having someone who knows something abot martial arts take a pass over would be good as well. Ninjas & Superspies was one of the books I looked at as a potential resource when doing research for the Martial Arts abilities in Phaserip, and when I tried to correlate the info to any other sources, I found out it was all just complete nonsense-gibberish. I got the impression the author just looked up some random Japanese words and then assigned them new, completely unrelated meanings under the assumption no English-speaking gamers would notice.
Well, how many complaints have you seen over it? And I do mean "over the years"?
That's probably close to the number of people who both noticed it, and cared:devil:!

People constantly saying, "hey this is the D&D planescape thing," would drive me right nuts.
"No, just the Planescape thing, thank you!"
I can repeat that all day long until they get the hint:thumbsup:.



Also, I was thinking that nobody considers Street Fighter a good system, and yet we have two people in this thread who think so! I keep being amazed:tongue:!
 
Also, I was thinking that nobody considers Street Fighter a good system, and yet we have two people in this thread who think so! I keep being amazed:tongue:!
The fighting system for Street Fighter is good for one on one or team vs team. It's less impressive for freeform street fights because those pesky players end up wanting to do clever stunts all the time.

The skill system is workable if unremarkable, as was always the case for Storyteller System. Now, I find that entirely fine. I know it well, can decide on what traits to roll, difficulties and successes needed in my sleep. But I accept it is only there because White Wolf made the game.

The strength of the game really is the fighting system which (as long as you ignore all the supplements after Secrets of Shadoloo) is pretty balanced and a lot of fun.
 
The fighting system for Street Fighter is good for one on one or team vs team. It's less impressive for freeform street fights because those pesky players end up wanting to do clever stunts all the time.

The skill system is workable if unremarkable, as was always the case for Storyteller System. Now, I find that entirely fine. I know it well, can decide on what traits to roll, difficulties and successes needed in my sleep. But I accept it is only there because White Wolf made the game.

The strength of the game really is the fighting system which (as long as you ignore all the supplements after Secrets of Shadoloo) is pretty balanced and a lot of fun.
Yeah, that's the core of it for me. The 1 on 1 fighting system is just fun, and it's fun to see how you match up vs. other folks. No other RPG delivers the same satisfaction in that particular aspect. It's like when you watched Bloodsport and there are those scenes where they show other matches in the tournament and you're like "Who is that guy rolling around everywhere?" and maybe you get to fight that guy and see if rolling around everywhere is actually effective, hehe. Like Malleustein says, yeah, the skill system is just there. It does what it has to but isn't all that special. Sometimes I liken it to Car Wars. Like, in the Car Wars Compendium there are rules for detailing the character driving the car, a skill system, etc. Enough material to fill out an RPG, but not enough that you'd ever pretend this isn't about driving cars, racing cars, crashing cars and shooting cars with cars, and boy is that awesome! Street Fighter is more RPG than Car Wars, in my opinion, but I kinda dig the "Make a fun game about a cool activity. Once that is done, I dunno, add enough to support RPG play." design approach. Sometimes I almost think you could take a flavorful game, then take a Risus/Over the Edge approach to handle everything else & fill out the other activities you might RP.
 
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.

O.K. here's an example of the latter, though I don't think many people would like it. I would be happy with a reboot of Dark Sun that would strip out the metaplot and really all of the development of the timeline after the initial box set. But the reboot would also:
  • Return to the original conception: there are no D&D races in the game, except humans--all non-humans are unique to the setting.
  • Rethink the city-states somewhat. Each tended to be (1) quite different from the others in culture and (2) pretty clearly linked to one or another terrestrial analogue. I'd be happier with a couple of cultures spread across all of the city-states, developed in more depth.
  • Make the tone more sword-and-sorcery and morally grey; campaigns likely aren't going to be about overthrowing evil overlords or ending slavery as an institution.
I'm agnostic as to system. My own preference would be for a D100 version, but you could make this work with Savage Worlds or many different systems, including 5e, I would think.
 
Well, how many complaints have you seen over it? And I do mean "over the years"?
That's probably close to the number of people who both noticed it, and cared!

Outside of a few Rifts enthusiasts in Junior High, I have never met a person IRL who plays any Palladium games. They obviously have their own gaming subculture, but I have no firsthand knowledge of it. So I couldn't really answer that. But just like a Japanese-language RPG about the American Old West that had abilities like:

Jockstrap - how likely you are to fall off a bull when riding it
Cheese Burrito - your ability to milk cows
Houston - your skill with a rifle

....I'd assume most gamers might aspire to something slightly better
 
Jockstrap - how likely you are to fall off a bull when riding it
Cheese Burrito - your ability to milk cows
Houston - your skill with a rifle

....I'd assume most gamers might aspire to something slightly better
You're talking about a culture of people who are prepared to run a campaign straight for two years in order to finish on a horrible pun, mind you.
 
I've run a lot of Heroes Unlimited since I opened my store. I've really learned to hate it properly. Mind you I can say the same about fifth edition D&D.

What I want to run is Mechanoid Invasion Book 3. Somehow when I tell people about the Mechanoids. Back in the day I tried to sneak them into a Star Wars d6 with the player characters running into a badly damaged star destroyer that was broad casting an SOS. "Be careful," the first officer warned when hailed, "They're still out there." Next session someone else was DMing :grin:

The Mechanoids are what Cthulhu loses sleep over.
 
Mechanoids are from Robotech aren't they? What's a Mechanoid?
 
Mechanoids are from Robotech aren't they? What's a Mechanoid?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mechanoid_Invasion

They are their own thing. The Mechanoid Invasion was the 1st Palladium RPG, made while Kevin was gearing up to make Palladium Fantasy. They are basically a race of mechanical things that you can think of as like... take a race of biological folk, and have some of them cyber up & genetically modified to become more capable and make space exploration possible, etc. have them do amazing things that benefit those that made them, only for them to be feared as they grow more capable and less "normal"/relatable. Then they finally have enough of the rejection and develop an enduring hatred of all biological life based on the folks that made them being unable to relate to them, fearing them, and giving 'em a collective, umm, mental issue about it.
 
Close but not quite. The Mechanoids were created by humanity and they are squishy looking blobs in cybernetic exoskeletal suits. And they were great at space exploration and came home far more technologically advanced than their makers. But the mechanoids reproduce by cloning and there's a bit of a mental stability issue and due to repeated mistreatment and rejection by humanity in the beginning, they hate humanoid life forms. They have friends and allies like the bug-like Dioni. But the mechanoids are also psionics, they don't use radios for communication and they have a host of psychic powers. And they get off on human suffering, which is really your only hope because they're only ripping up your world for kicks to provoke you. It's your sun they're strip mining for a power core. They strip mine stars. Their ships are the size of North America, you never see them in those ship size comparison videos. The bomb they built to destroy the universe is three times the diameter of Jupiter. Anyhow, they've come to your world and there's a little black spot on the sun today.
 
Bushido cleaned up, with character generation that makes sense and a slightly less opaque system, is ripe for a retro clone.
You might take a look at Wave Man. Reminds me a lot of it, but stripped down to the basics.
 
Mind you, I'm pretty sure the secret origin of The Mechanoids is that Kevin listened to Black Sabbath's I Am Iron Man once too often.
 
So, I'd like to see a rebooted game set in Planetos (the world of Martin's Song of Ice and Fire). I suppose you could use the Chronicle system for this, but other rules might work better. The key point would be that, instead of focusing on pseudo-medieval Westeros and the doings of the great houses, the game would focus on the rest of the world and be much more sword-and-sorcery in its approach.

Once you get beyond Westeros, the world really looks like an S&S RPG setting: Asshai-by-the-Shadow or Quarth with their mysterious magics, the cities of Slaver’s Bay and the fighting pits of Mereen, Neanderthals (the Ibbenese) and so on. Sorthyros, with its abandoned ruins and steaming jungles—to say nothing of wyverns and hominids—seems like a place I could easily imagine Conan spending time. There is also the Hyborian-Age conceit of taking real-world peoples or cultures and reskinning them lightly (Yi Ti is China, Braavos is Venice/Amsterdam, we have two different set of steppe nomads, one of which practices skull deformation like the Huns, etc.)

Even relatively minor locales like Lorath, the ‘least of the Nine Free Cities’ seems to be made for S&S gaming. Not only was it once ruled by a ‘heretical’ religious sect from Valyria, it has much older mysterious ‘mazes’ built by extinct demi-humans. This is what World of Ice and Fire says about it:

Lorassyon, the second largest of the Lorath isles, is home to a vast maze that fills three-quarters of the surface area of the island and includes four levels below the ground, with some passages descending five hundred feet.

That seems a perfect setup for a dungeon or underworld. There are likewise supposed to be extensive abandoned underground cities in Leng, of mysterious origin, where “endless labyrinths of tunnels lead to vast chambers, and carved steps descend many hundreds of feet into the earth.” The fact that access to these is forbidden just makes them more apt as places for adventuring.
 
So, I'd like to see a rebooted game set in Planetos (the world of Martin's Song of Ice and Fire). I suppose you could use the Chronicle system for this, but other rules might work better. The key point would be that, instead of focusing on pseudo-medieval Westeros and the doings of the great houses, the game would focus on the rest of the world and be much more sword-and-sorcery in its approach.

Once you get beyond Westeros, the world really looks like an S&S RPG setting: Asshai-by-the-Shadow or Quarth with their mysterious magics, the cities of Slaver’s Bay and the fighting pits of Mereen, Neanderthals (the Ibbenese) and so on. Sorthyros, with its abandoned ruins and steaming jungles—to say nothing of wyverns and hominids—seems like a place I could easily imagine Conan spending time. There is also the Hyborian-Age conceit of taking real-world peoples or cultures and reskinning them lightly (Yi Ti is China, Braavos is Venice/Amsterdam, we have two different set of steppe nomads, one of which practices skull deformation like the Huns, etc.)

Even relatively minor locales like Lorath, the ‘least of the Nine Free Cities’ seems to be made for S&S gaming. Not only was it once ruled by a ‘heretical’ religious sect from Valyria, it has much older mysterious ‘mazes’ built by extinct demi-humans. This is what World of Ice and Fire says about it:



That seems a perfect setup for a dungeon or underworld. There are likewise supposed to be extensive abandoned underground cities in Leng, of mysterious origin, where “endless labyrinths of tunnels lead to vast chambers, and carved steps descend many hundreds of feet into the earth.” The fact that access to these is forbidden just makes them more apt as places for adventuring.
That actually makes a whole lot of sense. And hey, instant buy-in from the series:grin:!


Though, to be honest, I don't think you really need much there. Barbarians of Lemuria, anyone:shade:?
 
Synnibarr fully embracing itself as an eighties action cartoon. Complete with action figure line and playset.
Why do you think it would be a good fit? Seriously, I don't know enough about Synnibar to understand your idea, but it sounds intriguing:thumbsup:!
 
Why do you think it would be a good fit? Seriously, I don't know enough about Synnibar to understand your idea, but it sounds intriguing:thumbsup:!
Because it's filled with the kind of bizarre specific choices that you find in eighties action cartoons - all elves are psionic ninjas, there are giant vikings, you can encounter winged grizzly bears that shoot lasers out of their eyes, you can worship a god of ninjas/ skateboards/heavy metal.
 
That actually makes a whole lot of sense. And hey, instant buy-in from the series:grin:!


Though, to be honest, I don't think you really need much there. Barbarians of Lemuria, anyone:shade:?

Yeah, I'd basically be looking for a couple of things in such a game:
  • Setting material to flesh out what Martin has already provided for the main continent--maps of some of those underworlds, for example. It would also be useful to have somebody else (i.e. not me) comb through all the novels, etc. looking for setting information about the world beyond Westeros. His World of Ice and Fire does that to some extent, but there is detail in the novels and stories that doesn't make it into that book, which was written before some of the later fiction.
  • A magic system created or adapted to the setting. Most generic sword-and-sorcery RPGs are too high-magic for it. That would be the hardest part of coming up with such a game, since the designer would have to make the magic fit with what we see in the fiction but go beyond it to get something playable, I think.
 
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.

I was with you right till around the part where MDC would stay. MDC needs to die a horrendous death, kinda like the one a normal human being would suffer from getting hit with a single point of MDC.

I would much rather treat it as damage reduction or something, or maybe reduce it to the way some older editions of D&D used "Hull Points", which are basically like MDC, but equivalent to x10 damage, instead of jumping all the way to a whooping x100.
 
Because it's filled with the kind of bizarre specific choices that you find in eighties action cartoons - all elves are psionic ninjas, there are giant vikings, you can encounter winged grizzly bears that shoot lasers out of their eyes, you can worship a god of ninjas/ skateboards/heavy metal.
OK, I can see a setting with a god of heavymetal skateboard ninjas having potential:grin:!

Yeah, I'd basically be looking for a couple of things in such a game:
  • Setting material to flesh out what Martin has already provided for the main continent--maps of some of those underworlds, for example. It would also be useful to have somebody else (i.e. not me) comb through all the novels, etc. looking for setting information about the world beyond Westeros. His World of Ice and Fire does that to some extent, but there is detail in the novels and stories that doesn't make it into that book, which was written before some of the later fiction.
I agree. That's what those game supplements are for, right:thumbsup:?
  • A magic system created or adapted to the setting. Most generic sword-and-sorcery RPGs are too high-magic for it. That would be the hardest part of coming up with such a game, since the designer would have to make the magic fit with what we see in the fiction but go beyond it to get something playable, I think.
And here I (quite predictably) disagree. Don't "go beyond"! No way!
No, make the magic exactly as in the setting - possibly extremely destructive, but requiring sacrifice...of blood, lifepower, abilities, accepting evil fate, such things:devil:. If your sacrifice wasn't enough? Your magic fails.
But here's the catch: you pay for instruments of destructions at a discount. You pay for healing 1:1 - as Daennerys found out:evil:.

Mages have got to be jaded individuals. And that would be true to the books, too.
In fact, make it as in Cepheus Engine - have Social Standing as a stat (just rename it Nobility) and multiply blood potency by Social standing of the victim(s), thus maximising the number of exploding heads and cries of outrage:shade:!
"I want to have dragons reborn from centuries-old eggs".
GM: "Well, the sacrifice of a city's nobles would do. Or the burning of your one and only love".
Player: "Deal".
GM: "Wait...oh, shit!"
Possibilities, man, think of the possibilities:tongue:!
 
And here I (quite predictably) disagree. Don't "go beyond"! No way!
No, make the magic exactly as in the setting - possibly extremely destructive, but requiring sacrifice...of blood, lifepower, abilities, accepting evil fate, such things:devil:. If your sacrifice wasn't enough? Your magic fails.
But here's the catch: you pay for instruments of destructions at a discount. You pay for healing 1:1 - as Daennerys found out:evil:.

That basic approach would be fine with me. But I still think you would have to go beyond what the books show to put together a usable magic system--there would need to be guidance on what effects are possible, what their cost is, and so on. And I at least would want to include effects we don't actually see in the fiction, since there is very little magic worked there.

I'd still want it to be a low-magic world, in RPG terms and compared to most fantasy fiction, though.
 
That basic approach would be fine with me. But I still think you would have to go beyond what the books show to put together a usable magic system--there would need to be guidance on what effects are possible, what their cost is, and so on. And I at least would want to include effects we don't actually see in the fiction, since there is very little magic worked there.

I'd still want it to be a low-magic world, in RPG terms and compared to most fantasy fiction, though.
Yes, but have you considered that the "very little magic is being worked in the fiction" part is directly related to "Westeros being a low-magic world":tongue:?
So any additional effects are just going to contradict your other goal:shade:.

Edited to add: and yeah, I don't want low-magic to be "in RPG terms/compared to most fantasy fiction". I want low-magic to be low-magic, period, "in my terms and compared to any fantasy fiction".
So when I say "low magic", it's "almost no overt magic is possible, and it's not convenient to use often, you're often better-off with a mundane skill".
 
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Planescape has been mooted as one of the three ‘classic' D&D settings that Wizards of the Coast has announced as releases in the coming year. Ravenloft has already been released, of course.
It wouldn't actually surprise me, but I wouldn't put any stock in Fan speculation. They're generally engaged in the weird magic ritual of trying to make things true by predicting them.
 
O.K. here's an example of the latter, though I don't think many people would like it. I would be happy with a reboot of Dark Sun that would strip out the metaplot and really all of the development of the timeline after the initial box set. But the reboot would also:
  • Return to the original conception: there are no D&D races in the game, except humans--all non-humans are unique to the setting.
  • Rethink the city-states somewhat. Each tended to be (1) quite different from the others in culture and (2) pretty clearly linked to one or another terrestrial analogue. I'd be happier with a couple of cultures spread across all of the city-states, developed in more depth.
  • Make the tone more sword-and-sorcery and morally grey; campaigns likely aren't going to be about overthrowing evil overlords or ending slavery as an institution.
I'm agnostic as to system. My own preference would be for a D100 version, but you could make this work with Savage Worlds or many different systems, including 5e, I would think.
Really this is just a new game. Which is a good thing! We need more new games and settings.
 
Yeah, I'd basically be looking for a couple of things in such a game:
  • Setting material to flesh out what Martin has already provided for the main continent--maps of some of those underworlds, for example. It would also be useful to have somebody else (i.e. not me) comb through all the novels, etc. looking for setting information about the world beyond Westeros. His World of Ice and Fire does that to some extent, but there is detail in the novels and stories that doesn't make it into that book, which was written before some of the later fiction.
  • A magic system created or adapted to the setting. Most generic sword-and-sorcery RPGs are too high-magic for it. That would be the hardest part of coming up with such a game, since the designer would have to make the magic fit with what we see in the fiction but go beyond it to get something playable, I think.
I wouldn't want a magic system as such. Not having specialised wizard characters is a draw to me.

The A Song of Ice and Fire game had feat like abilities to cover magic abilities from the books like Wargs, and Adventures in Middle Earth has a similar approach.

That's the approach I would prefer to something like Planetos - even if expanding the range of abilities. Having prophetic dreams, for example, should be significant enough in it's own right to build a character around.

It occurs to me that Ars Magica with just the companion rules (which are rich in magical advantages and disadvantages) might be a useful approach to this kind of game.
 
O.K. here's an example of the latter, though I don't think many people would like it. I would be happy with a reboot of Dark Sun that would strip out the metaplot and really all of the development of the timeline after the initial box set. But the reboot would also:
  • Return to the original conception: there are no D&D races in the game, except humans--all non-humans are unique to the setting.
  • Rethink the city-states somewhat. Each tended to be (1) quite different from the others in culture and (2) pretty clearly linked to one or another terrestrial analogue. I'd be happier with a couple of cultures spread across all of the city-states, developed in more depth.
  • Make the tone more sword-and-sorcery and morally grey; campaigns likely aren't going to be about overthrowing evil overlords or ending slavery as an institution.
I'm agnostic as to system. My own preference would be for a D100 version, but you could make this work with Savage Worlds or many different systems, including 5e, I would think.

I would only object to the first point in your list, since I'm already married to the idea of cannibal halflings, bald dwarves obsessed with building stuff and long legged elves running across the desert. But stripping the metaplot and almost everything developed after the original boxset (other than a few supplements that expanded on its concepts, like the elf book, Veiled Alliance or Dune Trader) would be my go-to approach of dealing with the setting. The original was awesome, but almost everything that came around the time of the Revised & Expanded set (including that boxset itself) was trash, and detracted from the original vision. And the metaplot basically made PCs obsolete--just read the novels and skip playing at that point.
 
I wouldn't want a magic system as such. Not having specialised wizard characters is a draw to me.

The A Song of Ice and Fire game had feat like abilities to cover magic abilities from the books like Wargs, and Adventures in Middle Earth has a similar approach.

That's the approach I would prefer to something like Planetos - even if expanding the range of abilities. Having prophetic dreams, for example, should be significant enough in it's own right to build a character around.

It occurs to me that Ars Magica with just the companion rules (which are rich in magical advantages and disadvantages) might be a useful approach to this kind of game.
Yeah, same here (and also, see the edit in my previous post:thumbsup:).
 
Behind Enemy Lines:
- Original, Traveller-like system (none of the nonsense that crept into some of the latest supplements)
- Expanded background and settings to cover early-war and non-european theaters and more non-US character types and gear
- A supplement covering OSS spy character types
 
I wouldn't want a magic system as such. Not having specialised wizard characters is a draw to me.

The A Song of Ice and Fire game had feat like abilities to cover magic abilities from the books like Wargs, and Adventures in Middle Earth has a similar approach.

That's the approach I would prefer to something like Planetos - even if expanding the range of abilities. Having prophetic dreams, for example, should be significant enough in it's own right to build a character around.

It occurs to me that Ars Magica with just the companion rules (which are rich in magical advantages and disadvantages) might be a useful approach to this kind of game.
Well, fair enough—to each his or her own. Since I was seeking a sword-and-sorcery version, my personal preference would be that the game include some sorcery. I think there is warrant for this in what Martin has written; there are characters that seem to be, in essence, magic users, though this is typically linked to religion as well. So I don’t think it would break the setting to include a magic system for areas outside of Westeros.

When the game is set is probably nearly as important as where in this regard. The overall impression is that once magic was much more prominent in the world; then after the fall of Valyria it waned, only to revive somewhat during the time-span of the novels. Certainly a game set in Valyria at its height would need more rules for magic than the corebook provides, if it was to be consistent with what Martin has written.

One of the extensions made to the Chronicle system to make it more flexible was a magic system, IIRC. I suppose one could use that, but since the Song of Ice and Fire game is so focused on Westeros and the ‘game of thrones’ there, it would make just as much sense to use a different core system entirely.
 
Well, fair enough—to each his or her own. Since I was seeking a sword-and-sorcery version, my personal preference would be that the game include some sorcery. I think there is warrant for this in what Martin has written; there are characters that seem to be, in essence, magic users, though this is typically linked to religion as well. So I don’t think it would break the setting to include a magic system for areas outside of Westeros.

When the game is set is probably nearly as important as where in this regard. The overall impression is that once magic was much more prominent in the world; then after the fall of Valyria it waned, only to revive somewhat during the time-span of the novels. Certainly a game set in Valyria at its height would need more rules for magic than the corebook provides, if it was to be consistent with what Martin has written.

One of the extensions made to the Chronicle system to make it more flexible was a magic system, IIRC. I suppose one could use that, but since the Song of Ice and Fire game is so focused on Westeros and the ‘game of thrones’ there, it would make just as much sense to use a different core system entirely.
I'm not sure whether I'd use the Chronicle system, either. But frankly, I'm also in the "you don't need dedicated magic characters in this setting, in fact it only hurts" camp, so my advice is probably unlikely to be all that useful to you, anyway:shade:!
 
I want a Mad Max game. It can be Mad Max with the serial-numbers filed off.

- Post-Apocalytpic. Don't need to know the reasons why, can be littered with clues/rumors - who cares? I need my next can of Dinky-Dee dog-food.
- Really good vehicle-combat rules without being overly complicated. Vehicle modification system that scales from go-karts to mutant diesel-rigs.
- Post-Apocalyptic tech-system that is bound to the economy. So janky-ass technology that works.
- Ecology and Environment rules that matter.
- Settlement building rules.
- Lots of cool Legacy Gear from the Happy Times to use as "magic items".

I have this heartbreaker idea I want to develop using Savage Worlds or my own homebrewed system... but yeah this is a thing I've been nursing for years.
 
I'd love to re-issue Fudge.

Keep it succinct, with all the options laid out but with a default choice for those that want to get straight to it.
Good art and layout.
Simple evocative settings included in the back of the book with all the different options pre-selected and more available fairly soon after:
Fairly standard Fantasy
Space opera
Super spies or other modern game
Victorian horror
Swashbuckling
Mecha
Swords & sorcery
etc.
 
I'd love to re-issue Fudge.

I think the Fudge SRD and 10th Anniversary books do pretty much what they set out to do, walk through what is a universal toolkit system with all its customisable features in clear, if somewhat dry, fashion. It's 90s product so perhaps there is too much emphasis of crunchier side of ODF, DDF and scale, but that might just be my own strong prefence towards rules-light that's speaking. But all the light and more free-form options are there, including subjective character creation.

On the subject of Fudge, I would not might seeing a revised version of Gatecrashers. Gatecrashers is a Rifts/Torg parody game. It has some good ideas and some parts were genuinely funny (some less so). On the other hand it was an excessively crunchy version of Fudge, especially for a comedy game, and it kind of fell into the "cool setting, but what do we do in it" category. I think with a little rework it could be my sort of game.
 
It would be good if it could be given a 'Mini Six' vibe. The 10th Anniversary is just too much in my opinion (I still wouldn't swap it for anything though).
 
D20 modern. No classes, just character gaining levels for HP & level benefits & a specialty chosen at 1st level. All actions be it combat, saves, or skills are made into skills themselves (kind of like D6). All feats are 3 tier ranked for benefits (so Firearms feat rank one gives proficiency for pistols & hunting rifles, two for military rifles & SMGs, three for machine guns & heavy weapons). Feats are gain every level, additional specialty feats gained at every even level.

I think Modern AGE & WNG D6 Unleashed are similar is like this but I like the range of a D20 or 2d12 better.
 
Once you get beyond Westeros, the world really looks like an S&S RPG setting: Asshai-by-the-Shadow or Quarth with their mysterious magics, the cities of Slaver’s Bay and the fighting pits of Mereen, Neanderthals (the Ibbenese) and so on. Sorthyros, with its abandoned ruins and steaming jungles
Sothoryos has ancient cities infested with evil, vampire bats, utahraptors, basilisks, giant apes that can kill an elephant in one punch and sort of mandrill-men.
As I read that book about Planetos I was thinking he should ditch the medieval politics for a while and cover that place!
 
The thing that Martin is doing in his setting is somewhat clever. Westeros is basically medieval England obviously - but the further one gets from the centre of the setting the more weird and exotic and (apparently) magical the setting gets.

This is basically how medieval people tended to view the world (or at least how they liked to tell stories of the world). Somewhere out there were people with their faces in their chests and men with heads of dogs.

The setting works the way it does, and makes the wider setting seem interesting, because it is grounded around a fairly mundane real feeling centre.
 
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