Tabletop RPG Catch All

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I didn't want to pollute the D&D thread with talk of other games, so I decided to start a separate catch all. The aim is discussion of all the other awesome tabletop RPGs out there that don't involve Dungeons, Dragons, AC, or THAC0. Be it Deadlands, or Shadowrun. Pathfinder or GURPS. If it uses character sheets and dice, this is the place to talk about it.

Recently played my first game of Fiasco.

It's more or a less a game designed to replicate the plot/characters/spirit of a Coen Brothers film, where a bunch of people make bad decisions and this leads to horrible consequences (for some, at least). Fargo, Burn After Reading.

Settings, themes, characters, and relationships are created semi-randomly. There's not really a task/conflict resolution mechanic per se, rules are super un-crunchy, and scenes are pretty much free-form roleplayed. Definitely not your traditional RPG.

I played Hero System for years, and still do on occasion. The criticism is it's too complex to make characters, but there's software now (Hero Designer) that does the math for you. Always really liked the flexibility of the system, you can do whatever you want with it in terms of character creation. Well, I liked it until the 6th edition came out recently, and, in the name of making it utterly consistent, they made it more complex and wonky to work with. In the old days, the rule was "five points per die"; now, it's maybe three, maybe five, maybe more. Very annoying.

Big news for Eclipse Phase recently. It just won Game of the past year at the Origin Game Fair and hav just sent off the first sourcebook Sunward to the printers.

In other news, the Dresden Files RPG is finally seeing hardcopies reach stores and pre-orders.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

Recently played my first game of Fiasco.

I played this game last November and it was pretty entertaining. Since it's mostly storytelling once you've named your characters and determined their relationships, it might translate fairly well onto Wave. I've never done a Wave game so I don't know if it would be as dynamic and have the same humorous tension as it did in real life. I've always wanted to play Jason Morningstar's game The Shab Al-Hiri Roach. I've had the book for months, but we've never gotten around to actually playing it.

I haven't played any of the other games you mentioned. Apart from some D&D (mostly 4th Ed) I've only really played Spirit of the Century and a few one-offs games.

Radical Ans, what time zone are you in? I know Google Wave can work asynchronously, but if you'd prefer more a more interactive game, it might be helpful to have people on a similar schedule. Good luck with the game!

I have a regular gaming group who all met at a local club when we signed up for a Shadowrun 4th ed game. We've since played through a short Vampire campaign and are now embarking on a Star Wars campaign set in the old republic. I'm playing a memory-wiped assassination droid called HK-88. I'm looking forward to it.

Anyone have any experience of Feng Shui? I've been considering buying it as I've got a great idea for a campaign.

I've been messing around with Diaspora. I haven't been able to get a group together for more than one disconnected session at a time, probably due to my time constraints as much as anything.

So, great idea, I wish I had time to join in right now.

Oh man, I'd been looking for something like this as the only thing I'm currently doing with DnD right now is the GWJ Wave game.

Let's see, what is going on in my gaming life...

Recently ran a short 4 session HERO 6th Edition supers game. Unless I'm running a total sandbox game I tend to write short story arcs that I know players can actually finish in a month or three of play just because scheduling longer games can be difficult and with the plethora of rpgs out there, I tend to want to play something else a lot.

Other than that I've recently played in a series of connected pulp one shots using Savage Worlds.

Sometime in the next few weeks I'm running the Free RPG Quick Start one shots for both the Deathwatch 40k RPG and Legend of the 5 Rings 4th Edition.

Beyond that I want to run a Mouse Guard game or run/play in a Dresden Files game.

Oh, and as for as a Runepunk Wave game, I'm for sure interested.

Gremlin wrote:

I've been messing around with Diaspora. I haven't been able to get a group together for more than one disconnected session at a time, probably due to my time constraints as much as anything.

So, great idea, I wish I had time to join in right now.

I have the PDF for Diaspora but haven't gotten around to reading it yet. Between all the other FATE stuff I've read recently and all the stuff I got in the Haiti Releif PDF Bundle from RPGNow. Keep meaning to get around to it though. I know it has a lot of fans and the guys on the Podgecast used it to play a game set in Stephen King's Dark Tower universe.

thejustinbot wrote:

Sometime in the next few weeks I'm running ... the Deathwatch 40k RPG

I didn't think that was available yet. I've just bought the Dark Heresy book, which I'm reading through at the moment and hoping to try my hand at GMing in the autumn when things have calmed down a bit for me. Deathwatch is next on my list if DH goes down well. Would be really cool to hear your impressions on it. I'd always thought the best way to do a Space Marine RPG would be 'roll d% - you kill that many orks, be creative'

I don't have a lot of extra time for PNP games these days, but I have been completely enamored by the possibilities presented in Burning Wheel. The broad task resolution system might even work well in a Wave game.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Burning_Wheel

Hollowheel wrote:

I don't have a lot of extra time for PNP games these days, but I have been completely enamored by the possibilities presented in Burning Wheel. The broad task resolution system might even work well in a Wave game.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Burning_Wheel

I've run a small Burning Wheel solo game for my wife; it's a major conceptual shift from D&D, which is all she had ever played before, but she had a good time with it. I'd love to give it another go at some point.

My past is a dark and checkered one, with lots of White Wolf games in college (I fell in with a bad crowd.. there was LARPing), some Palladium in high school (never played, but I loved reading the settings), and a bit of Shadowrun my senior year of HS.

pignoli wrote:
thejustinbot wrote:

Sometime in the next few weeks I'm running ... the Deathwatch 40k RPG

I didn't think that was available yet. I've just bought the Dark Heresy book, which I'm reading through at the moment and hoping to try my hand at GMing in the autumn when things have calmed down a bit for me. Deathwatch is next on my list if DH goes down well. Would be really cool to hear your impressions on it. I'd always thought the best way to do a Space Marine RPG would be 'roll d% - you kill that many orks, be creative' :)

Just warn any psykers about the perils of the warp. I had a friend who failed some kind of psyker test, and switched bodies with someone we were chasing once. We gave him a good little beat down before we realized they had switched bodies. Then there's the whole accidentally summoning in demons thing.

My group and I are just about to start a Rogue Trader game. It will be interesting to see the differences between RT and DH, although they use the same core rules. I'm really excited to see how the ship to ship combat works.

Radical Ans wrote:

The other aim is to gauge interest in a Google Wave game of Reality Blur's Runepunk. I recently picked this, and the Savage Worlds core book up and have been pouring over them for the past 2 weeks and think I might try my hand at GMing a game. I don't have a local group so I'm gonna try it over Wave.

I picked up the Savage Worlds book a while ago and haven't found anyone local interested in playing it.

Falchion wrote:

In other news, the Dresden Files RPG is finally seeing hardcopies reach stores and pre-orders.

I picked up the main book yesterday. It's a gorgeous book. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the system but I did pick up 'Storm Front' last night and started re-reading it.

pignoli wrote:
thejustinbot wrote:

Sometime in the next few weeks I'm running ... the Deathwatch 40k RPG

I didn't think that was available yet. I've just bought the Dark Heresy book, which I'm reading through at the moment and hoping to try my hand at GMing in the autumn when things have calmed down a bit for me. Deathwatch is next on my list if DH goes down well. Would be really cool to hear your impressions on it. I'd always thought the best way to do a Space Marine RPG would be 'roll d% - you kill that many orks, be creative' :)

It is just the quickstart rules from Free RPG day, the full book isn't out yet. It uses the same basic system as Dark Heresy and Rogue Trader but amped up.

The biggest change is the concept of "Hosts". A lot of enemies you fight have the trait Host. So instead of fighting 200 individual Genestealers or something, you'll fight a Host of Genestylers with a magnitude of say 40. Each hit reduces the magnitude by 1, with certain weapons like grenades or full auto weapons letting you deal additional damage. A Host has to take what are essentially morale checks when its magnitude drops below certain levels, so you'll usually end up running it off than killing it to a man. Reminds me a lot actually of an a little indie game called 3:16 Carnage Amongst the Stars. Neat little mechanic that I feel really helps to give you the feel of a small group of Marines facing armies of enemies.

As for Burning Wheel, I do love that system and have all the books published for it and the games based on it. Part of the reason I want to run a Mouse Guard game is to get the players used to the mechanics to do either Burning Wheel or Burning Empires.

As I said in the OM, put me down for the Runepunk game. Sounds interesting. marcel (dot) beaudoin (at) googlewave (dot) com is my wave address.

The Dresden files RPG looks interesting, but the price to get it here to Canada ($100+ including shipping) just makes it not worth it.

thejustinbot wrote:

As for Burning Wheel, I do love that system and have all the books published for it and the games based on it. Part of the reason I want to run a Mouse Guard game is to get the players used to the mechanics to do either Burning Wheel or Burning Empires.

This is almost the exact same reason that I want to try playing a Mouse Guard game. I've ogled the Burning books on a number of occasions. I even got a demo of Burning Empires by Luke Crane two years ago. The rules look so deep, though, that I've never bought them. Mouse Guard seems much more approachable and while also touching on some of the concepts in the other games.

I've always enjoyed Shadowrun and Star Wars though I haven't played in years. Thinking about it is starting an itch to see if there are any local groups.

I was waiting for someone less lazy than myself to do this, thanks Ans!

I'm in my fourth month of my Shadowrun campaign and I finally have it to the point where all (5) of my players and I are excited for the next game. The hardest part was getting them to commit to their characters and realize that they are as one dimensional as they want them to be. A long, well though out plot that revealed the backstory of the escaped clone in the group has them all wanting to fill in their backstory. Sometimes it's great to be a GM.

As for running games on wave, I would have to figure it out first. I've only glanced at other online RPG tools but they were far more labor intensive than I'm looking for. Shadowrun would be good though, because a good portion of the game is investigating and negotiating, and a portion of the actual fights are meant to be retreated from... A funny story: The other day before our game I found a stack of D&D 3.5 books and picked one up and said, "hey, do you guys want to play a game where you are constantly fighting and rolling new characters?" (Sorry to the D&D brothers out there. I know you can have development in D&D, I've just never seen it.)

Otherwise, if anyone would like me to share my Shadowrun or P&PRPG knowledge let me know. I will also be throwing some questions at you.

Nevin73 wrote:

I've always enjoyed Shadowrun and Star Wars though I haven't played in years. Thinking about it is starting an itch to see if there are any local groups.

Move to London? There's a spot at our table

West End Games d6 Star Wars was actually the 2nd RPG I ever owned and played, besides Mechwarrior 2nd Edition. It has a lot of fondness and nostalgia for me for sure. In fact, if I were to do a Star Wars game even today, I'd do a d6 one.

Here's a couple of youtubes that show a BW demo for those interested:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5i-rQ6EHFE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyR8TGAXwPg&feature=related

Captain_Arrrg wrote:

Otherwise, if anyone would like me to share my Shadowrun or P&PRPG knowledge let me know. I will also be throwing some questions at you.

Would love to hear your Shadowrun stories Cap. Shadowrun is still my highest ranked game setting. I remember lugging the Shadowrun 2nd Edition core rulebook with me to grade school/high school. Darn thing was as thick as some of my textbooks. Would whip it out to thumb through in between classes.

I'd like to get back in the Shadowrun habit, but I'd need to cut something else out of the schedule to do it.

wizard_in_motley wrote:

I picked up the main book yesterday. It's a gorgeous book. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the system but I did pick up 'Storm Front' last night and started re-reading it.

It really is. I haven't gotten mine yet, but one of my group picked it up at Origins and brought it to show at last night's session. It's just as pretty as the PDFs made it out to be.

My Wednesday night gaming group tried out Burning Wheel like a year or two ago. We're all fairly seasoned RPG players and we found the game was just too much for us. None of us really grokked the deeper rules for more advanced conflicts and we literally threw our hands up (well, at least one of us did) at the end of one session and aborted the adventure early.

However we had a lot more success with Mouse Guard, which has much more streamlined rules.

I always dug the Rigger class in Shadowrun. Specing out a vehicle and having my drones do my fighting for me always appealed to the engineer in me.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

It really is. I haven't gotten mine yet, but one of my group picked it up at Origins and brought it to show at last night's session. It's just as pretty as the PDFs made it out to be.

Hopefully the pretty won't get in the way of using it as a reference. I have always liked the IDEA of a modern fantasy game but I've never gotten very far running one. d20 Modern was my last attempt and that was painfully complex for no reason.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

My Wednesday night gaming group tried out Burning Wheel like a year or two ago. We're all fairly seasoned RPG players and we found the game was just too much for us. None of us really grokked the deeper rules for more advanced conflicts and we literally threw our hands up (well, at least one of us did) at the end of one session and aborted the adventure early.

While I was reading it I was reminded of how little sense some of the Role-playing books made to me when I first tried to get into the hobby.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

However we had a lot more success with Mouse Guard, which has much more streamlined rules.

I have no problem with people throwing lightening but talking mice always struck me as odd.

Sway wrote:

Radical Ans, what time zone are you in? I know Google Wave can work asynchronously, but if you'd prefer more a more interactive game, it might be helpful to have people on a similar schedule. Good luck with the game!

I'm EST. Pittsburgh area if anyone is interested in gaming locally.

So far I have 2 bites on the RP game. I may start up a Wave to discuss the game when I get home. If someone wants to play but doesn't have the books, you can get PDFs of the Savage Worlds core rules and the Runepunk player's guide for $10 each at Drive Thru RPG. Technically I have a PDF of the players guide I'm not using that I got in a bundle I bought, but I'm not sure what the legality of sharing it are.

Just picked up a copy of my old high school gaming flame: Deadlands. I sold all my original DL books when I went to college and always regretted it. Got a good price considering the first edition of the Savage Worlds version is pretty much sold out.

I've played in a couple of Pathfinder games, and you can safely lump it in with D&D as it's essentially 3.5.5. I do like the changes Paizo made. They addressed several of my issues with the system, particularly the uneven spread of gaining powers with level. It does result in an even higher powered game though.

I got the Savage Worlds core book some time ago and have been wanting to try it out as a lighter alternative to GURPS.

consciousness wrote:

I've played in a couple of Pathfinder games, and you can safely lump it in with D&D as it's essentially 3.5.5. I do like the changes Paizo made. They addressed several of my issues with the system, particularly the uneven spread of gaining powers with level. It does result in an even higher powered game though.

Yeah, it's DnD with systems that make sense basically. Higher powered but less munchy exploitable stuff. It's what my group have played the last few years, having done a regular game of DnD 3rd through University - very easy to switch over.

If there are any London goodjers who can make it to Liverpool St on Mondays after work we need another 1 or 2 for our Star Wars Old Republic campaign.

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