So new Aeon/Trinity?

[Silverlion]

My opinion is its overcomplicating the Nwod/Cwod system, but that's personal taste, anyone else have a point of view or want to elucidate how to simplify it?

 

[spittingimage]

Only in the generic sense.

I never used story beats and I dropped virtues and vices and had the characters regain a point of willpower after sleeping because my players weren't interested in interfacing with those rules.

 

[Skywalker]

My opinion was the same as yours. Its better than Exalted 3e, but its still unnecessarily complicated in places.

The best way to simplify it IMO is to stick with Trinity 1e.

 

[chuckdee]

I only use the background and such in a different system. I do the same with all the Storyteller games as they're very heavy for something that's trying to present itself as more narrative and story first (storyteller even...)

 

[Ghost Whistler]

Pandemic hit midway through my game. I probably won't go back to it.

There are some good ideas in the system, and it tries to be narrative. But the Psi rules are just intrinsically more rules than I'd like and trying to get players willing to learn them on behalf of their characters was problematic. YMMV. That's not a system criticism, it's just my experience. However some of the powers were a problem. One player had teleporting and the ability that allows you to teleport an enemy 100ft in the air and kill them by letting them fall. Didn't seem to be any real balance to that.

I think you need to be willing to deal with the Psi rules, which are a bit of a headache. After all that's what the game's about!

 

[PencilBoy99]

My opinion is its overcomplicating the Nwod/Cwod system, but that's personal taste, anyone else have a point of view or want to elucidate how to simplify it?

Are you sure ? It seems simpler than CoD

 

[Skywalker]

Though some systems are streamlined, the ruleset requires you to interact with more of the ruleset overall more often. The result is that its more complex in play even if it may not look it on paper.

 

[PencilBoy99]

I only use the background and such in a different system. I do the same with all the Storyteller games as they're very heavy for something that's trying to present itself as more narrative and story first (storyteller even...)

What systems do you use

 

[chuckdee]

What systems do you use

I used Fate, but now we're trying one with the Amber/Lords of Gossamer and Shadow rules.

 

[Trippy]

Though some systems are streamlined, the ruleset requires you to interact with more of the ruleset overall more often. The result is that its more complex in play even if it may not look it on paper.

Yep. The classic Storyteller system made an attempt to integrate freeform diceless play with standard dice-play. It was flawed because some of the maths behind the dice-rolling was a bit off and because, in combat, they still tried to apply a typical three-stage combat round which usually ended with a bucket load of dice being rolled for little effect. In 1993, also, they developed a separate set of Live Action rules (Mind’s Eye Theatre: The Masquerade and then latterly MET: Laws of the Night, etc), based on bidding traits with Rock-Paper-Scissors, which essentially replaced the looser diceless rules used in the original core-rules which gave provision for LARP.

I was thankful for the development of Vampire: The Masquerade 5th edition for finally fixing a lot of problems with the original Storyteller system, whilst still maximizing the integration of freeform/diceless play in a very practical way. You can, once again, play both freeform or live action play or dice-based play pretty seamlessly from the same ruleset, which was the intent of the original V:TM rules.

The various New World of Darkness/Chronicles of Darkness games also attempted to polish up the system - which they did - but generally moved away from providing freeform mechanics, which I felt was a shame. Instead, what they did was provide separate Live-Action rules that had stats and character generation which were identical to tabletop play, but a different mechanic for LARPS. These were developed again with the more recent MET books by By Night Studios.

However, the more recent StoryPath system, used in games like Trinity Continuum and Scion, make no provision for diceless play at all (although there is apparently a live action book coming for Scion). It is designed to be a more robust and action orientated system than the classic Storyteller, and takes some cues from other recent systems like Fate, etc. There are some things I like, but I too find some of the rules a bit convoluted, with a number of jargon-ised categories for different types of traits, and I usually have to read through the character generation rules three times before I can actually sit down and make a character. I am willing to persevere with Scion, because I really like the setting and premise. However, even though the production standards are top notch, I feel I can already do similar things with other games with less effort for the types of genres and stories that the various settings of Trinity provides.

 

[Skywalker]

FWIW I wasn’t referring to diceless or freeform elements In Trinity 1e. As far as I can recall that was introduced only as an optional system in the Players Guide and was never a central or widely used system.

 

[Trippy]

FWIW I wasn’t referring to diceless or freeform elements In Trinity 1e. As far as I can recall that was introduced only as an optional system in the Players Guide and was never a central or widely used system.

No, Trinity never used a freeform system, although it sort of adopted a Mage-like system for Psionic powers in the Player’s Guide.