Skywalker
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Maybe my definition of "clone" is a little stricter...
All good. That's fair.
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Maybe my definition of "clone" is a little stricter...
I really want did to like Conan 2D20, and the jury is still out on it for me. However, all this talk about a Conan RPG makes me want to pull the old TSR box set off of my shelf and give it a look through!
Really liked that system. It still lives through the retro-clone ZEFRS
That's very informative, thanks. I appreciate these kind of mechanics when they fit the game's premise or are cleverly used (like in Pendragon or Masks imo).
I remember UA2 had Obsession and Sanity meters which I found worked well for that game context. Does UA3 add more stuff like that? And to what purpose, if you don't mind me asking?
I've never been able to read or play TSR's Conan game. What was it like?
Wasn't it, perchance, "add together your skill levels from that pool and divide by 10, that's your default value"?There was a default score for each of your talent pools, which governed how you use skills which you didn't put points into but I can't remember how those were generated.
Wasn't it, perchance, "add together your skill levels from that pool and divide by 10, that's your default value"?
That rule is actually retained in the new ZeFRS clone. So I simply knew the answer is right!Damn you, man!
*goes to get box off of shelf*
Yeah, that's it. "Add the ratings for all the talents in the Talent Pool, then divide by 10." So, if I had Sword 7 and Brawling 5, both talents under the Fighting Talent Pool, I would add those ratings together (12), divide by 10 (1.2), and drop all fractions, (1). So any other fighting skill that I didn't have points in could be used at a skill of 1.
I thought this system fell into the "simple but elegant" category, myself.
It would look like Fate, A Song of Ice and Fire by Green Ronin, or yes, like ZeFRS and Faserip.I was just thinking the other day about systems that didn't have - or need - ability scores. Thanks to that dang blog post or whatever it was floating around the Internet, about some dude talking about doing away with them (or some of them). I don't prescribe to that idea, but it got me thinking about what a system would look like without ability scores. Little did I know - or remember, rather - that I had such a system on my shelf!
I've never been able to read or play TSR's Conan game. What was it like?
Maybe someone should post a "Let's Read." Any volunteers? The entire rules take up fewer than 30 pages. Samples:Oh man, it's been years but from what I remember - without taking the box down from the shelf - it had an action table similar to Marvel Super Heroes. I think that you took a weapon skill and compared it to your opponents movement and that determined the column you rolled on, if I recall correctly. If a hit was scored you would take the damage of the weapon and subtract the armor that's how much damage you would do.
Character creation was amazingly simple. You don't have ability scores but Talent pools. Talent pools were 6 areas of expertise for your character, like fighting, knowledge, perception, and each pool had talents (read: skills) associated with them. I remember you got a certain amount of points - 30 or 40? - to make your character. There was a default score for each of your talent pools, which governed how you use skills which you didn't put points into but I can't remember how those were generated.
I remember the magic system being very hard on the magic-wielding character. The spells were open-ended and in a design-your-own nature. There were no spellcasters in our group so I don't remember this very well.
EDIT: I also remember game didn't all go you down with a lot of fluff. That can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on your view, but I rather liked it. I remember there being a small section about living in the world in the main book. There was another book that was kind of like a gazetteer and a monster manual rolled into one. Man, I'm jonesing to get into that boxed set again!
You've got my vote, Dumarest!Maybe someone should post a "Let's Read." Any volunteers? The entire rules take up fewer than 30 pages.
That might be true in a way. I admit that when I see "fighting" listed as an attribute, I start treating them as extremely broad skills.I'd say FASERIP is NOT that type of system, at least in my opinion. Despite the similarities between it and Conan, I feel they do have ability scores.
Possibly. I don't remember any specialties, but I admit I've only played it twice.ASoIaF...well, I feel it closer, but if I squint I still see ability scores. There's just 20 of them (I'm estimating...but I know that's close) instead of six or eight, with specialties being the "skills" of the system and derivative of the ability scores.
Yup, exactly my point.Maelstrom is the closest to the idea of an ability score-less system of the ones you mentioned*. While called "attributes" they're treated more like skills (in my recollection and experience).
Hey, whether we call something "attribute" or "ability score" is a matter of semantics. Be as argumentative as you like on such trifling matters, and I promise not to take offense!I don't mean to sound argumentative, and my apologies if I'm coming across that way. Obviously, these are my opinions...we might simply look at ability scores differently.
Fate can really go one way or another...there are no attributes, a number of skills that's about 15 in the corebook, but then you have Aspects and Stunts.*In my years of playing RPGs, I've avoided FATE. So, it may be even closer, but I would not know.
Yeah basically. There's ultimately a sense in which the division between skills and attributes is somewhat arbritray anyway (eg White Wolf's Perception + Awareness rolls). Once you get down to one level, this becomes clearer.In the end, it doesn't matter much, IMO. We're basically talking about systems that have only one kind of mechanically-relevant list of numbers and you don't add them to a "base" number. The rest is semantics!
What was the old ZeFRs Conan game like?
Free, and similar to the old Marvel roleplaying game.
Zeb's Fantasy Roleplaying System
In the mid-1980s, TSR published a number of games that made use of a color-coded chart to resolve character actions. The best known of these is of course Marvel Superheroes, but the chart also turned up in the third edition of Gamma World among others. One of those others was Conan, a game thatsites.google.com
I’ve heard many good things about it, but I’ve spent no time on it.
I really want did to like Conan 2D20, and the jury is still out on it for me. However, all this talk about a Conan RPG makes me want to pull the old TSR box set off of my shelf and give it a look through!
I've never been able to read or play TSR's Conan game. What was it like?
Oh man, it's been years but from what I remember - without taking the box down from the shelf - it had an action table similar to Marvel Super Heroes. I think that you took a weapon skill and compared it to your opponents movement and that determined the column you rolled on, if I recall correctly. If a hit was scored you would take the damage of the weapon and subtract the armor that's how much damage you would do.
Character creation was amazingly simple. You don't have ability scores but Talent pools. Talent pools were 6 areas of expertise for your character, like fighting, knowledge, perception, and each pool had talents (read: skills) associated with them. I remember you got a certain amount of points - 30 or 40? - to make your character. There was a default score for each of your talent pools, which governed how you use skills which you didn't put points into but I can't remember how those were generated.
I remember the magic system being very hard on the magic-wielding character. The spells were open-ended and in a design-your-own nature. There were no spellcasters in our group so I don't remember this very well.
EDIT: I also remember game didn't all go you down with a lot of fluff. That can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on your view, but I rather liked it. I remember there being a small section about living in the world in the main book. There was another book that was kind of like a gazetteer and a monster manual rolled into one. Man, I'm jonesing to get into that boxed set again!
You've got my vote, Dumarest!
Even if I had the money, even that doesn't incentivize me to get it.Modiphius Conan is the newest Bundle of Holding.
Bundle of Holding - Crom has spoken
bundleofholding.com
I'm a KS backer. There's no need for a bundle.Modiphius Conan is the newest Bundle of Holding.
Bundle of Holding - Crom has spoken
bundleofholding.com
There's stuff there that KS backers haven't received?I got in on the KS, but at a base level. I do like the art and the story stuff. I think it's probably pretty decent for that. Maybe I'll get in on the bundle just to get the rest of the things that I missed.
I only went in for one of the lower levels, so I didn't a lot past the core books.There's stuff there that KS backers haven't received?
That's how most of us found the Pub.Everybody and their mother knows how I feel about 2d20. Even at that hot price, I have to take a pass on principle.
There's currently an RPG out based on the minis game so you may want to check that out and skip the 2d20 thing.So, the Bundle of Holding prompted me to dig out the Conan 2d20 quickstart I picked up at a Free RPG Day many years ago (in the time after Atlantis sunk into the sea, but before etc, etc...). This time I read all the way through the quickstart rules and honestly, unless the full ruleset has a lot of extra stuff, I don't see anything I can't already do with the Genesys corebook. And I've already put the time and effort into learning the Genesys/Star Wars rules. I'm not sure I would need to add yet another system to my already crowded memory banks if it doesn't add something special.
Is there something special to the full game? Are the other 2d20 games good enough to warrant learning the system to "unlock" them all in my gaming repertoire? I mean, there's a Fallout 2d20 coming out next year...but the very first fan supplement for Genesys was Fallout! I'm willing to be sold on the system, as I like Modiphius as a company (I love the Fallout minis game) but I just don't see why I should bother, yet.
Have you checked out Crypts & Things?Although if I want to have a more light-prep game, then its hard not to consider using BoL set in the Hyborian World.
Yes, I already followed D101 Games due to OpenQuest (BRP), so I was aware of Crypts & Things when it was first published. I have a pdf of the second edition, and it is pretty good. It is Swords & Wizardry D20 OSR fine-tuned for a Hyborian-style setting, so it's not a bad vibe.Have you checked out Crypts & Things?
The core rulebook adds much more lore, and provides an excellent detailed character generation proces; but the combat mechanics and such work the same as the Quickstart.
I misread this at first as "with less meta-crunchy" which is kind of appropriate regarding 2d20.with less meta-currency
Sometimes I like quick and loose character generation, and other times I don't mind a more lengthy process. I felt that the Conan 2D20 character generation did a decent job creating detailed characters who feel part of the setting.The character generation process was part of what I disliked about the system. It locks you into limited choices along the way, so it is hard to create a character with the mix of skills that you want. People who are really into guided lifepath generation would probably enjoy it, but it isn't very good for people who like to have more control over character creation.