Revolution D100 Galactic Frontier

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dragoner

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So, there has been a thread on BRP Central, as well as in G+, an interesting looking supplement of the D100 system: https://basicroleplaying.org/topic/6586-galactic-frontier/

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Guide to the Galactic Frontier


Alephtar Games, in collaboration with Mirko Pellicioni Edizioni and Edizioni Scudo, is proud to present the second of its cross-media products: Guide to the Galactic Frontier. Based on the “Tourist’s Guide to the Galactic Frontier” book written by novelist Giorgio Sangiorgi and illustrated by artist Luca Oleastri, this supplement for the Revolution D100 roleplaying game describes more than 40 alien worlds located in Frontier Space, examining the outstanding features of each planet. All worlds come with a map of their areas of interest and color plates illustrating their most remarkable peculiarities, such as alien species or space anomalies. The book also details the equipment, vehicles and technology that your character will use on his or her exploration missions.

The book suggests a sample storyline in which players travel on board the Imperial Spaceship Onyx, which is stranded in Frontier Space during an exploration mission, forcing its crew to search for a way back – or perhaps a new home, who knows? However, you are also free to make up your own frontier stories, using the treasure of information included.


Usually I'm looking for a little more slick, minimalist, hard sci-fi; this does looks interesting enough to pick up though. A question I have is that what do people think of the D100 system, I have heard some about it, and I would like to hear more. How does it compare to the BRP Gold Book, and Mythras?
 
I've only skimmed Revolution D100, but from what I read I determined that it wasn't the D100 system for me. There were a number of design decisions that were too newschool for my tastes. I check out just about every D100 variant that gets released, but I'm a fairly traditional gamer at heart, so RD100 just didn't really match up with my preferences.

You should find a lot of RD100 discussion on BRP Central - from posts that are a year or two old - when it was in development, and being prepped as a Kickstarter. I vaguely recall a few threads over on the 'Site where Paulo Guccione(sp?) discussed the system.

I'd probably check out "Guide to the Galactic Frontier" if it was easy to scoop out the RD100-guts and replace with my preferred D100 rules.
 
I do like Revolution D100 best out of the D100 systems on the market now*: BGB BRP, R:grin:100, Mythras, Magic World, OpenQuest CoC7 - wow, that's quite a stack! But I find that level of complexity a bit much for me these days, and I gravitate more and more back to a combination of the rules found in the old Worlds of Wonder boxed set.

*RQ7 is conspicuous by its absence - and that's after pulling the RQ6 licence because "sales were not up to expectations". I wonder how much income RQ7 has generated for the new Chaosium since then ... o_O
 
I backed the crowd funding for Revolution D100 (RD100), but in truth just havent had time to really sink my teeth in it yet.
It does look quite a robust set of mechanics. Its more like Mythras than traditional BRP, however it is sufficiently different.

I note that the SIZ attribute got dropped (covered elsewhere) and the skill list is trim yet broad (which encourages you to individualise subskill traits). The combat can be played quick, or it can be extended.

There are also some narrative trappings which have led to some people describing it as 'BRP-meets-FATE Core'.

I have it in a reading pile to get around to. If it had been a hardcover then it would be in my bookcase and I would have perused it more. (Apparently there may be a reprint soon which may be in hardcover)

The system does look to have a number of working parts, and I'm not sure if I am the most receptive for weighty rulesets that I am not already familar with.

Given that I love having generic rulesets, I have probably have done myself a disservice by not reading more of it. I guess I have the BRP BGB and OQ for that, but from the things I have read in RD100 corebook it does appear quite good

I should also point out that the content for all the Alephtar Books has been great, so this scfi setting is likely to be quite good as well.
 
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There are also some narrative trappings which have led to some people describing it as 'BRP-meets-FATE Core'.
That's how it sounded to me, based on early descriptions... and has been enough to keep me away.
I liked earlier BRP stuff from Alephtar... but it disappeared when Nu-Chaosium came around.
 
I gravitate more and more back to a combination of the rules found in the old Worlds of Wonder boxed set
As an aside, the fact that Chaosium has not done an update of a slimline generic ruleset like this is a big missed opportunity. Possibly a misstep in today's rpg market when simple game mechanic aesthetics have become popular.
But that's a discussion for another thread :-)
 
That's how it sounded to me, based on early descriptions... and has been enough to keep me away.
I liked earlier BRP stuff from Alephtar... but it disappeared when Nu-Chaosium came around.
Well FATE Core/FAE and BRP BGB are my two favourite systems.

However they are very polarised with little overlap. It's Meat Pie and Chocolate Sorbet, I'm not sure they should be combined in one serving :smile:.
 
Well, Merrie England and Rome are still around, only with with new trousers. Crusaders, Wind on the Steppes and Celestial Empire might show up too.
 
I haven't had a chance to really use RD100, but I pledged on it and have a copy. It is worth mentioning that is very modular. You can dial up and down the more narrative elements of the game to your taste.I get the impression you could get a little grittier during a fight and then go more narrative to resolve a long overland journey.

My impression is blurred by having read it over the course of the playtest drafts, so I am a little unsure how the final draft ended up. I should really give a proper read and write a review here. It's that issue with books you crowdfund. I was running BRP at the time I pledged, and my whole gaming brain was on that system. Since I received the book, my brain has been on other games, so it hasn't gotten a proper look.
 
It is a shame that BRP doesn't have a rules light system, good for learning, beginners, basic, and online play; I think that was a big secret to early D&D's success.
I think that OpenQuest Basic might be the closest to that mark. One of the lightest iterations of BRP that I've seen, if you exclude most editions of Call of Cthulhu.
 
Even Magic World seems fairly 'rules light' to me... meaning the rules are not in my headspace when I'm playing... I'm hardly ever thinking in mechanical terms... and our GM seems to hardly ever dip into the rulebook.
 
There’s some good stuff in R-100. The author loves narrative games and is heavy into gaming theory though and phrases everything in narrative lingo. Makes my teeth itch. :grin:

The downside to the writing style is, it can make normal RPG rules seem like stuff hot from the Forge. It makes it hard to decide if the game is *too* narrative and I think a lot of people will err on the side of caution and stay away because of the offputting style, misreading how the rules actually play.

There’s a ton of narrative in there, it’s just been a chore finding out how much you can flush.
 
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There’s some good stuff in R-100.
What would you recommend as being the "good stuff"? What material would you add to a BRP framework, or what standard-BRP mechanics would you replace with RD100 mechanics?
 
There’s some good stuff in R-100.
Such as?
I'm not above stealing ideas from games I otherwise don't intend to play... but I've kind of assumed the 'added value' of this game, in addition to it's BRP roots, is mostly trendy/narrative stuff I don't care for... or at least don't care for mixed with BRP... I'd rather play straight up Fate if I was after that sort of gameplay.
 
Well you’re right in that R-100 is definitely d-100 through the narrative lens. I’d have to look over it again for specifics, but the combat is what stuck out as being pretty cool. I remember thinking about seeing if I could merge a little of that into Mythras.

There’s a free SRD of R-100.
 
I haven't played RD100, but have run a couple of games at conventions, using a very light version.
The best things about RD100 are:
  • Reduced number of skills
  • Traits used to modify skills or to provide the equivalent of skills in other D100 games (Climbing or Running under Agility for example)
  • Stunts used to provide a particular ability/use of a Trait, so someone could have Agility [Climbing] and Agility [Running] but also a Climbing Stunt of Parkour that allows you to move across broken ground without any movement penalty.
  • Different Power systems that use the same Powers but in different ways
  • Generic system for running challenges, using a base stat and a skill, very flexible and easy to use
  • Advantages (Equivalent to criticals/specials) not needing any maths to work out (If your tens die is higher than your units die you get an Advantage) and rewarding skilled characters (The higher the skill the more chance of getting an Advantage, not just proportional to your skill)

I am sure there are more, but I would probably use the above in any new games that I start.
 
If my mindscape wasn't in BRP BGB or FATE at present, then RD100 is sitting there for me to read next. I think it has the potential to replace the BGB for me in many ways, but I just haven't had time to take a good hard look at it. Damn these real-life intrusions heh heh

On another note, I agree that OpenQuest Basic is also a great build for BRP, it's quite simple, and it would really lend itself well to running the old World Of Wonder box that Chaosium put out. I would love to more scenarios with that DCC flavour for it.
 
I haven't played RD100, but have run a couple of games at conventions, using a very light version.
The best things about RD100 are:
  • Reduced number of skills
  • Traits used to modify skills or to provide the equivalent of skills in other D100 games (Climbing or Running under Agility for example)
  • Stunts used to provide a particular ability/use of a Trait, so someone could have Agility [Climbing] and Agility [Running] but also a Climbing Stunt of Parkour that allows you to move across broken ground without any movement penalty.
  • Different Power systems that use the same Powers but in different ways
  • Generic system for running challenges, using a base stat and a skill, very flexible and easy to use
  • Advantages (Equivalent to criticals/specials) not needing any maths to work out (If your tens die is higher than your units die you get an Advantage) and rewarding skilled characters (The higher the skill the more chance of getting an Advantage, not just proportional to your skill)

I am sure there are more, but I would probably use the above in any new games that I start.

This is an interesting run-down.

Are there any actual narrative mechanics, or is it just the lingo?
 
I'm really not that much in the market for simplified skills (especially in BRP, when there's really no "level limit" to them), but I'm a sucker for generic Powers systems. How detailed/malleable is it? Savage Worlds/Superworld "You've got Blast!" or GURPS/HERO "As a low-powered mage, you buy Blast, but get points back for a 3 round casting time and reduced range"?
 
hmmm from what I have seen I would place RD100 closer to GURPS than to SW in overall flavour
There's not too much narrative tweaks, I think Motivations is the biggest one, they are kinda like Pendragon or Mythras Passions, but may be a bit wider in scope.
The actual Skill List is small by BRP standards (about 15 skills), and the skills are caulculated by adding core characteristics together (like in MRQ, OQ, Mythras), which makes the core characteristics meaniful. Each of these skills can be ballooned out into sub-skills. These sub-skills (called Traits) can be stock standard or they which can be setting specific in nature, so GM and PC creativity can play a part here in coming up with colourful sub-skills. If using the Stunts rules, then that is also an opportunity for GM/PC creativity to come up with ideas, so I think this is where highly specialised skills would fit, as well as knacks and unique abilities.
As far as Powers go, it sits somewhere between SW and GURPS. The Powers chapter lists about 50 sample Powers, many of which can further specialise into different versions. The chapter describes how these Powers may be utilised differently depending upon the different Power backgrounds, such as Arcane Magic (Cantrips & Spells), Divine Powers, Psychic Abilities, Innate Abilities, and Weird Science (also Alchemy under this heading). So the structure of the Powers chapter is more like SW, but there is much more nuts and bolts to make it feel more like GURPS level of crunch. I think it was a good approach doing it like this, and it was where the BRP BGB fell down by having separate Power backgrounds which often covered similar Powers, thus wasting alot of page count.
RD100 feels simple in some areas of the rules, and heavy in others. I think it looks closer to Mythras with how it has Hit locations over Total HP. I have to read it more to see how it goes before I comment too much more, however from the outset it looks like a medium crunch game, and should be a very solid system.
Soltakss's post pretty much covers it well.
 
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This is an interesting run-down.

Are there any actual narrative mechanics, or is it just the lingo?

Well there's Motivations, as well as relative Time Scales (the shifting of which are a thing in the game, requiring OOC decisions by the players, but the big one is the Conflict Resolution system for skills, complete with negotiated Effects, Consequences, etc. Plus all throughout there are certain things the GM "cannot do" (which isn't narrative per se, but obnoxiously new school).
 
The downside to the writing style is, it can make normal RPG rules seem like stuff hot from the Forge.

That's the problem I'm having with it. It looks good, but it seems ... over-explained? I feel like it could be far more clear and concise, and that's about all it would take for me to dive in.
 
I haven't played RD100, but have run a couple of games at conventions, using a very light version.
The best things about RD100 are:

Also ...
  • Motivations are good for customising NPCs and giving PCs something to aim for and to believe in
  • Penalties/Bonuses are so much easier to use than in other D100 systems, each Bonus is functionally equivalent to a Trait and a penalty is the reverse of a Bonus, a Bonus gives +30% and Penalty gives -30%, nice and easy
  • Power systems are easy to use and very easy to add to
  • Hit Locations are easy to use and easy to ignore
 
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