Looks like a 3d6 system, where the d6s have 1-5 and the 6 is replaced by the Marvel logo.
Edit: I'm curious whether one system can adequately adapt both the feeling of reading a superhero comic and of watching a superhero movie. Maybe with a couple of variant rules? While the movie crowd is maybe larger in general, if you're looking at the intersection with the TTRPG player crowd, I suspect the comics might be more important to get right.
So I am hoping the Marvel game will be easy, straight forward and fun. I've not yet looked into it. But I would like to one day run another super hero game.
Have you ever checked out a game called Champions? I’ve heard good things about it from a friend.
Well, Earth-616 is where (most) Marvel comics take place. I'd bet the system is referencing that instead of suggesting 616 dice be used.
Heh - I get the cute name of calling it "616" because that's the "prime Marvel Universe" if you will - with other realities having different "Earth" numbers. I've only ever seen the "promo" version of it - for anyone who has Marvel Unlimited, last I checked the "promo" version (which is like 100 pages or more) was on there. I don't know if they ever released perhaps the full version on there (which would make sense in a way but seem odd... because the solo initial book is something like... 49 bucks, which, until I hear good things about it, is going to be a very, very easy pass).
Faserip and the ultimate powers book are the bomb. Beating that is going to be pretty much impossible.
I thought I remember you mentioning your enjoyment of the FASERIP Marvel (which for anyone thinking it's like "Face Rip" - it actually stands for the stats they used: Fighting, Agility, Strength, Endurance, Reason, Intuition and Psyche).
So I am hoping the Marvel game will be easy, straight forward and fun. I've not yet looked into it. But I would like to one day run another super hero game.
Have you ever checked out a game called Champions? I’ve heard good things about it from a friend.
Aye, I mentioned Champions in my post. I enjoyed Champions - it's a good system - but it is pretty complex. On the plus side of complexity it also means allowing for a lot of customization - if I remember correctly you could sacrifice one thing to improve something else. Like say, "I want to have a limp - but in exchange, I'd like more strength in my arms." So your "dexterity" might take a hit, but your "strength" gets an increase. It's been eons since I played Champions so I could be misremembering the trade off thing (that might be another gaming system... but I am pretty sure it's Champions). I remember rolling up characters in Champions - there'd been three of us plus the game master - and I think in total, it was about two hours just creating the characters and tweaking it. The Marvel FASERIP was pretty straight forward. "I rolled a 62 - that means I have EX Strength (Excellent)" (I am guessing on the stats, so don't smack me AEDorsay, since I do not have the books in front of me). I let my friend borrow the core yellow box set - and he ran some games (he loved Carnage so it was like six sessions of repeatedly running into Carnage and getting our arses handed to us). He then moved - and took the game with him. So I've never been able to replace my original box set. (I now have PDFs of it). The other box, like the adventures and such, I still have most of them.
EDIT: Ah ha, found an image of the chart you roll on. :D
That said, I would love to run or be in a super hero RPG. It can be a lot of fun.
I have a fantastic memory when I lived in Tennessee for two years - the woman, who would become my wife - she and I played the Marvel RPG. I was the GM and she was a character - the idea was she was a new mutant - and that my plan was she would eventually end up on the team The New Mutants - so we start off that she's in a movie theater - when the mutant hunting Sentinels come knocking down the walls. I ask what she's going to do - and having played a Rogue in D&D - I should have anticipated her answer. "I blend in with the crowd." "Wait. So you're going to jeopardize innocent civilians? And use them for cover?" "Yes." "Hrm. I did not anticipate that. Perhaps Magneto should come looking for you rather than Professor Xavier..."
I still have her character sheet - which I've scanned. There's an ongoing joke of her love of Dazzler, because her drawing (which, sadly no longer have) which was traced from the "character sheets" that have generic poses - was very "Dazzler" looking - so now I've bought her the two Dazzler figures that so far have been released. On our podcast, we've joked about her liking Dazzler. For our banner, I used a drawing of Dazzler someone did.
QotD: Since we have quite a few people who have just started playing D&D in this thread - here's one, for everyone - what other type of RPG interests you (whether it exists or not)? Are there specific types of RPGs you wish existed (based off a TV show, movie, cartoon, etc)? Anything other than D&D. :)
So, one of the things that allowed me to like 5e is that it has an underlying "essentialist" approach while also being able to be easily expanded or contracted according to the needs of the campaign.
I never ran any thing using actual Marvel or DC heroes -- all of them were entirely custom, and the original world book for that setting was about 100 pages, positing an alternate history that started in the 1820's.
The Marvel game used only percentile dice, and had an essential function very similar to the way that 5e (and d20) worked -- you had a score, rolled, added any bonuses, and compared that against a difficulty. So you could build upon existing stuff easily (and I note that I have acquired all the stuff for it for free online -- you could start a game tomorrow, since the rulebooks are floating out there).
That chart SirTawmis posted is the heart of the game -- everything from a candle to a star, from an ant to a Galactus is contained in that chart. Just as I have done some expansion with 5e for my games, I did the same there -- including expanding that chart out a bit, and creating new action resolution elements (the things across the top).
Champions was incredible -- their point buy system remains a model of design, and although this first TSR Marvel license wasn't a "killer" game at the time, it has, over the years, become something of a legend among designers because it was so wonderfully elegant, and it raised Jeff Grubb's profile hugely.
I didn't like Champions, however, because it was too much. It was the AD&D of Superhero games at the time, and MSHRPG was like the 5e of them.
in the early 2000's, I took some basic design principles from a few different games and created a system built around a d60. Imagine the above table but built around a -10 to 75 basis. It was kind of a joke (the impetus was "what in the world would you use a d60 for?"), but it was pretty fun.
If I ever opt to create a system strictly for Wyrlde, I would probably use something very much like that built around a d30, or just switch everything in 5e over to a d30.
But I love that game -- it was 90% role play, lol.
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Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities .-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-. An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more. Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
My favorite is Shadowrun. Not because of the system or anything, but the setting is my favorite. I’m also a huge fan of the WoD in general.
I wish there was an X-Files RPG.
yes, I love both of those settings. I have issues with WoD, but they are fairly common and known these days. Shadowrun was and in my mind is the best of the "cyberpunk" games, but they really did a bang up job on the setting and deeply understood the genre.
I know a lot of folks tried to create one for X-files, but everytime they did they ended up getting sucked into other "monster of the week" type stuff, because, well, it fits, and then would lose the government as part of the conspiracy things and all that other setting stuff, watering it down so that you could use it for any kind of "weird problem of the week" thing in the interest of getting adoption -- and then none of them could ever get the licensing for it.
Funny thing, lol -- the Reeve class and the Agency in Wyrlde could be used to support such a play style in the setting, and I just realized it.
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Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities .-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-. An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more. Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
QotD: Since we have quite a few people who have just started playing D&D in this thread - here's one, for everyone - what other type of RPG interests you (whether it exists or not)? Are there specific types of RPGs you wish existed (based off a TV show, movie, cartoon, etc)? Anything other than D&D. :)
You’ve given this prompt to the right group. I’ll have a nice, long answer at least.
I currently play: D&D 5e, Pathfinder 2e, Blades in the Dark, Shadowdark, and DCC RPG
I have played: Goblin Quest, D&D 4e, D&D 3e, Mistborn Adventure Game, Call of Cthulhu, Starfinder, and some one page or very short digital games (trash pandas, goblin punks, etc.)
I would like to play: Dread, Index Card RPG, Stealing Stories for the Devil, Old Gods of the Appalachia, Vampire: the Masquerade, Starfinder 2e (when it releases), Pathfinder Remaster (when it releases), Quest, Icarus, the Warren, Cthulhu Dark, Our Last Best Hope, Shadowrun, Torchbearer, Monster of the Week, the Expanse Roleplaying Game, Spire, Heart: City Beneath, and any of the Warhammer roleplaying games. I’m certain there are others, but this is my list for now.
As for games I wish existed… I’m making two of them, so I figure you’ll have to wait to hear about those… however, I’d like to find a space game that actually feels fun and doesn’t delve too much into the gritty mechanical stuff like Starfinder does. I would also like an adaptation of Zork (and other Zork titles) as a game, probably based on the Powered by the Apocalypse system. The Legend of Zelda rpg that Crit Role played a while back looked really fun, and I would love for that to release. I really want to play a Stormlight RPG, and I think this one is actually in production, so I may not have to wait much longer. I also want a game that feels like a classic dungeon crawl style game but works mechanically more like Dread and PbtA, kind of a combination of the simplistic yet still dense systems that they both have. Finally, I want a detective system, styled after d20 system or PbtA rules, but I think it would be cool to have periodical releases kind of like the old Dragon and Dungeon magazines that would add a new detective to the game (so you get a Sherlock Holmes setting and rules one month, but a Psych one the next).
I've played a lot of different TTRPGs. Easily a couple hundred.
I've played at least a couple games in nearly every genre of game (larger sense), but I generally dislike games that are "this one thing" type stuff.
I much prefer to think of Genre as a kind of adventure -- so I wouldn't do a Supernatural World or a Violet Evergarden World. I tend to think in terms of what kinds of adventures I would want to see in that setting. So I would make a world and a set of rules or use a set of rules that fit well with , respectively, a modern setting or an 18th century setting.
Then start to build in those different kinds of things for it.
It allows me to do things like "what if the Supernatural boys ran into the Scooby Gang", lol. Or smash stuff together like M:I, James Bond, and other spy stuff.
I suppose that's a bit of an old fashioned approach in a lot of ways -- a Modern world could enable superheros, Supernatural, and paranormal investigations, either urban or rural. Placing the setting as a blank slate for much of what I would want to do to represent a particular show, and then going for it. I mean, I could do a world where NCIS, CSI, and L&O all exist alongside some Anne Rice stuff -- because I don't see them as being "separate", I see them as all simply needing a bit more stuff int he world.
I like that kind of stuff -- that work to make the bits and pieces fit. I created a full on Heroic Fantasy world of Magic, and I have robots and giant machines, a secret investigative agency, a bunch of shadowy conspiracy type orgs, drive by shootings and gangland warfare...
hell, I could basically use it for nearly any genre or type of adventure, just tack "fantasy" on the end of the genre. Not cyberpunk, not superhero, but I think you get the idea.
The hardest part is the "rules" -- not mechanics, in a gaming sene, but the rules of the setting. It is hard because you have to identify them -- if I wanted to take the Daniel Faust/Harmony Black stuff, for example, I'd have to do a lot of work for a modern setting that allows for Devils, Hell, Las Vegas, the FBI, tech stuff, and ancient goddesses, lol, then build mysteries into the world.
Then I could look at the mechanics, and seek ones that provide a sense of how to do things that is fitting.
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Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities .-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-. An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more. Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
My favorite is Shadowrun. Not because of the system or anything, but the setting is my favorite. I’m also a huge fan of the WoD in general. I wish there was an X-Files RPG.
I feel like someone with some good creativity could use the Hunter side of things to make a close X-Files type of game with the World of Darkness setting.
I know a lot of folks tried to create one for X-files, but everytime they did they ended up getting sucked into other "monster of the week" type stuff, because, well, it fits, and then would lose the government as part of the conspiracy things and all that other setting stuff, watering it down so that you could use it for any kind of "weird problem of the week" thing in the interest of getting adoption -- and then none of them could ever get the licensing for it.
... I feel like the government side of the X-FILES game would be the most difficult to really integrate and make a part. The monster of the week, as she said, would be the easy part. X-FILES was such a well written show, trying to capture the "conspiracy" side of it would be difficult.
I never ran any thing using actual Marvel or DC heroes -- all of them were entirely custom, and the original world book for that setting was about 100 pages, positing an alternate history that started in the 1820's. The Marvel game used only percentile dice, and had an essential function very similar to the way that 5e (and d20) worked -- you had a score, rolled, added any bonuses, and compared that against a difficulty. So you could build upon existing stuff easily (and I note that I have acquired all the stuff for it for free online -- you could start a game tomorrow, since the rulebooks are floating out there). That chart SirTawmis posted is the heart of the game -- everything from a candle to a star, from an ant to a Galactus is contained in that chart. Just as I have done some expansion with 5e for my games, I did the same there -- including expanding that chart out a bit, and creating new action resolution elements (the things across the top).
When I ran the game, I used a mixture of existing characters in Marvel and new ones I'd create (depending on what I needed for the story). Especially if I wanted a team of villains the heroes would defeat - I often wouldn't want to use existing villains in the start - so it's new heroes fighting new villains... and as they grew they'd come into more well known villains. I felt like using existing characters from Marvel helped cement that they were in the Marvel Universe, not just "another super hero game." Like when Captain America shows up to commend them on a job well done the players were stoked. With the 1:1 game with my wife, she was aware of The New Mutants as a book - so I thought it'd be fun to bring her character into the team. But you know when you're using civilians as cover... lol The New Mutants ended up showing up (they were at the movies too when the Sentinels attacked) - so that's how she was able to meet them. She thought they were after her, the New Mutants that they were after them. So they discover one another - and ask her to come to their school to meet Charles Xavier. I think we only ended up doing like four or five more sessions after that.
QotD: Since we have quite a few people who have just started playing D&D in this thread - here's one, for everyone - what other type of RPG interests you (whether it exists or not)? Are there specific types of RPGs you wish existed (based off a TV show, movie, cartoon, etc)? Anything other than D&D. :)
You’ve given this prompt to the right group. I’ll have a nice, long answer at least. I currently play: D&D 5e, Pathfinder 2e, Blades in the Dark, Shadowdark, and DCC RPG I have played: Goblin Quest, D&D 4e, D&D 3e, Mistborn Adventure Game, Call of Cthulhu, Starfinder, and some one page or very short digital games (trash pandas, goblin punks, etc.) I would like to play: Dread, Index Card RPG, Stealing Stories for the Devil, Old Gods of the Appalachia, Vampire: the Masquerade, Starfinder 2e (when it releases), Pathfinder Remaster (when it releases), Quest, Icarus, the Warren, Cthulhu Dark, Our Last Best Hope, Shadowrun, Torchbearer, Monster of the Week, the Expanse Roleplaying Game, Spire, Heart: City Beneath, and any of the Warhammer roleplaying games. I’m certain there are others, but this is my list for now. As for games I wish existed… I’m making two of them, so I figure you’ll have to wait to hear about those… however, I’d like to find a space game that actually feels fun and doesn’t delve too much into the gritty mechanical stuff like Starfinder does. I would also like an adaptation of Zork (and other Zork titles) as a game, probably based on the Powered by the Apocalypse system. The Legend of Zelda rpg that Crit Role played a while back looked really fun, and I would love for that to release. I really want to play a Stormlight RPG, and I think this one is actually in production, so I may not have to wait much longer. I also want a game that feels like a classic dungeon crawl style game but works mechanically more like Dread and PbtA, kind of a combination of the simplistic yet still dense systems that they both have. Finally, I want a detective system, styled after d20 system or PbtA rules, but I think it would be cool to have periodical releases kind of like the old Dragon and Dungeon magazines that would add a new detective to the game (so you get a Sherlock Holmes setting and rules one month, but a Psych one the next).
It's funny when I played in the Warhammer RPG, I essentially made Dredd. I even used a photo of Karl Urban as my character's profile photo. I cropped this photo - so it was just his face.
EDIT: Just realized you said "Dread" - which is different than "Dredd." LOL I've no idea what Dread is. Er, in terms of an RPG.
I've played a lot of different TTRPGs. Easily a couple hundred. I've played at least a couple games in nearly every genre of game (larger sense), but I generally dislike games that are "this one thing" type stuff.
I feel like we grew up similar in this regard. Back in the 80s when there was a metric ton of different RPGs I was playing them all after discovering D&D. Some would last a few sessions. Some a few months, some for years.
QotD: Since we have quite a few people who have just started playing D&D in this thread - here's one, for everyone - what other type of RPG interests you (whether it exists or not)? Are there specific types of RPGs you wish existed (based off a TV show, movie, cartoon, etc)? Anything other than D&D. :)
I want to try World of Darkness, but I might wait till I get to college and there are more people interested in trying that.
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I really like D&D, especially Ravenloft, Exandria and the Upside Down from Stranger Things. My pronouns are she/they (genderfae).
I've no idea what Dread is. Er, in terms of an RPG.
I've heard of it, but I've never played. Apparently, it's a horror game where the core mechanic is a Jenga tower. Seems pretty interesting.
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Look at what you've done. You spoiled it. You have nobody to blame but yourself. Go sit and think about your actions.
Don't be mean. Rudeness is a vicious cycle, and it has to stop somewhere. Exceptions for things that are funny. Go to the current Competition of the Finest 'Brews! It's a cool place where cool people make cool things.
How I'm posting based on text formatting: Mod Hat Off - Mod Hat Also Off (I'm not a mod)
QotD: Since we have quite a few people who have just started playing D&D in this thread - here's one, for everyone - what other type of RPG interests you (whether it exists or not)? Are there specific types of RPGs you wish existed (based off a TV show, movie, cartoon, etc)? Anything other than D&D. :)
I know this is probably obvious coming from me, but I would love a cooking/fantasy game, possibly with horror elements. Like Toriko meets Berserk, basically. I've tried to run a game like that in the FATE system, but it's such a niche concept that very few people actually joined, and we got held up by dates and couldn't run a single session.
I actually am working on an RPG like what I described, but my lack of experience means it's gonna suck in all likelihood.
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Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.
May each word that I speak be backed by each of my teeth.
My favorite is Shadowrun. Not because of the system or anything, but the setting is my favorite. I’m also a huge fan of the WoD in general.
I wish there was an X-Files RPG.
yes, I love both of those settings. I have issues with WoD, but they are fairly common and known these days. Shadowrun was and in my mind is the best of the "cyberpunk" games, but they really did a bang up job on the setting and deeply understood the genre.
I know a lot of folks tried to create one for X-files, but everytime they did they ended up getting sucked into other "monster of the week" type stuff, because, well, it fits, and then would lose the government as part of the conspiracy things and all that other setting stuff, watering it down so that you could use it for any kind of "weird problem of the week" thing in the interest of getting adoption -- and then none of them could ever get the licensing for it.
Funny thing, lol -- the Reeve class and the Agency in Wyrlde could be used to support such a play style in the setting, and I just realized it.
My favorite is Shadowrun. Not because of the system or anything, but the setting is my favorite. I’m also a huge fan of the WoD in general. I wish there was an X-Files RPG.
I feel like someone with some good creativity could use the Hunter side of things to make a close X-Files type of game with the World of Darkness setting.
I know a lot of folks tried to create one for X-files, but everytime they did they ended up getting sucked into other "monster of the week" type stuff, because, well, it fits, and then would lose the government as part of the conspiracy things and all that other setting stuff, watering it down so that you could use it for any kind of "weird problem of the week" thing in the interest of getting adoption -- and then none of them could ever get the licensing for it.
... I feel like the government side of the X-FILES game would be the most difficult to really integrate and make a part. The monster of the week, as she said, would be the easy part. X-FILES was such a well written show, trying to capture the "conspiracy" side of it would be difficult.
That’s funny. Having been in several long-arch conspiracy campaigns for both Shadowrun & WoD, I wouldn’t have thought that to be difficult, especially for something set in the world of the X-Files.
I'm fry, and I make doodles. That's why they call me FRY DOODLES. Also no pressure but check out my YouTube channel (Fry Doodles) I'm a disabled, neurodivergent, artsy dumpster fire who's always open to chat. I'm a sensitive little sad bean, and somewhat of a clown. But, I'm also god's favorite princess and the most interesting girl in the world. Crafter of Constellations, vocaloid enjoyer, waluigi’s #1 fan, space alien, your favorite pretty boy, and certified silly goose
If you ever get together a group for Spire, let me know, I wanna try that too.
I've stated my "someday" games half a dozen times in this thread. I really don't vibe with most of the stuff I'm seeing these days -- what I'm really after is a game that approaches basically any non-combat scenario at all in the way that D&D approaches combat. Not as a slippery insubstantial thing that it would be foolish to direct with rules, but as a deeply systematic, generative engine with specific points of contact for player choices, creativity, and rules-bending. But also as a mostly breezy, exciting thing that refuses to get overly stuck, through a brazen lack of consequences in most engagements and clear, understandable and resonant play patterns that you can fall back on. Where everyone can intuit where and when to make use of the rules vs when to just freestyle.
It doesn't need to be one system that can do this to any and every scenario, like many claim they can do. Just let me see one that's not about combat.
If you don't mind me asking, what purpose do the asterisks serve?
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Look at what you've done. You spoiled it. You have nobody to blame but yourself. Go sit and think about your actions.
Don't be mean. Rudeness is a vicious cycle, and it has to stop somewhere. Exceptions for things that are funny. Go to the current Competition of the Finest 'Brews! It's a cool place where cool people make cool things.
How I'm posting based on text formatting: Mod Hat Off - Mod Hat Also Off (I'm not a mod)
I'm fry, and I make doodles. That's why they call me FRY DOODLES. Also no pressure but check out my YouTube channel (Fry Doodles) I'm a disabled, neurodivergent, artsy dumpster fire who's always open to chat. I'm a sensitive little sad bean, and somewhat of a clown. But, I'm also god's favorite princess and the most interesting girl in the world. Crafter of Constellations, vocaloid enjoyer, waluigi’s #1 fan, space alien, your favorite pretty boy, and certified silly goose
There are tons of games I wish I could run but realistically know I'll never find a group for. If you're not playing D&D or Pathfinder, your only option is to teach yourself the game and then teach it to others. I especially like games that focus on exploration just as much as combat, which is one of D&D's biggest failures.
If you don't mind me asking, what purpose do the asterisks serve?
It's a habit people pick up from roleplaying in PBPs and on Taverns. Words spoken in asterisks are outside the game, while the rest are part of the roleplay.
Oh, that doesn’t seem so bad.
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Have you ever checked out a game called Champions? I’ve heard good things about it from a friend.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
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Heh - I get the cute name of calling it "616" because that's the "prime Marvel Universe" if you will - with other realities having different "Earth" numbers.
I've only ever seen the "promo" version of it - for anyone who has Marvel Unlimited, last I checked the "promo" version (which is like 100 pages or more) was on there. I don't know if they ever released perhaps the full version on there (which would make sense in a way but seem odd... because the solo initial book is something like... 49 bucks, which, until I hear good things about it, is going to be a very, very easy pass).
I thought I remember you mentioning your enjoyment of the FASERIP Marvel (which for anyone thinking it's like "Face Rip" - it actually stands for the stats they used: Fighting, Agility, Strength, Endurance, Reason, Intuition and Psyche).
Aye, I mentioned Champions in my post.
I enjoyed Champions - it's a good system - but it is pretty complex. On the plus side of complexity it also means allowing for a lot of customization - if I remember correctly you could sacrifice one thing to improve something else. Like say, "I want to have a limp - but in exchange, I'd like more strength in my arms." So your "dexterity" might take a hit, but your "strength" gets an increase. It's been eons since I played Champions so I could be misremembering the trade off thing (that might be another gaming system... but I am pretty sure it's Champions). I remember rolling up characters in Champions - there'd been three of us plus the game master - and I think in total, it was about two hours just creating the characters and tweaking it. The Marvel FASERIP was pretty straight forward. "I rolled a 62 - that means I have EX Strength (Excellent)" (I am guessing on the stats, so don't smack me AEDorsay, since I do not have the books in front of me). I let my friend borrow the core yellow box set - and he ran some games (he loved Carnage so it was like six sessions of repeatedly running into Carnage and getting our arses handed to us). He then moved - and took the game with him. So I've never been able to replace my original box set. (I now have PDFs of it). The other box, like the adventures and such, I still have most of them.
EDIT: Ah ha, found an image of the chart you roll on. :D
That said, I would love to run or be in a super hero RPG. It can be a lot of fun.
I have a fantastic memory when I lived in Tennessee for two years - the woman, who would become my wife - she and I played the Marvel RPG. I was the GM and she was a character - the idea was she was a new mutant - and that my plan was she would eventually end up on the team The New Mutants - so we start off that she's in a movie theater - when the mutant hunting Sentinels come knocking down the walls. I ask what she's going to do - and having played a Rogue in D&D - I should have anticipated her answer.
"I blend in with the crowd."
"Wait. So you're going to jeopardize innocent civilians? And use them for cover?"
"Yes."
"Hrm. I did not anticipate that. Perhaps Magneto should come looking for you rather than Professor Xavier..."
I still have her character sheet - which I've scanned. There's an ongoing joke of her love of Dazzler, because her drawing (which, sadly no longer have) which was traced from the "character sheets" that have generic poses - was very "Dazzler" looking - so now I've bought her the two Dazzler figures that so far have been released. On our podcast, we've joked about her liking Dazzler. For our banner, I used a drawing of Dazzler someone did.
Her character sheet: http://comicreliefpodcast.com/archives/2480
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QotD: Since we have quite a few people who have just started playing D&D in this thread - here's one, for everyone - what other type of RPG interests you (whether it exists or not)? Are there specific types of RPGs you wish existed (based off a TV show, movie, cartoon, etc)? Anything other than D&D. :)
Check out my publication on DMs Guild: https://www.dmsguild.com/browse.php?author=Tawmis%20Logue
Check out my comedy web series - Neverending Nights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wr4-u9-zw0&list=PLbRG7dzFI-u3EJd0usasgDrrFO3mZ1lOZ
Need a character story/background written up? I do it for free (but also take donations!) - https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?591882-Need-a-character-background-written-up
My favorite is Shadowrun. Not because of the system or anything, but the setting is my favorite. I’m also a huge fan of the WoD in general.
I wish there was an X-Files RPG.
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So, one of the things that allowed me to like 5e is that it has an underlying "essentialist" approach while also being able to be easily expanded or contracted according to the needs of the campaign.
I never ran any thing using actual Marvel or DC heroes -- all of them were entirely custom, and the original world book for that setting was about 100 pages, positing an alternate history that started in the 1820's.
The Marvel game used only percentile dice, and had an essential function very similar to the way that 5e (and d20) worked -- you had a score, rolled, added any bonuses, and compared that against a difficulty. So you could build upon existing stuff easily (and I note that I have acquired all the stuff for it for free online -- you could start a game tomorrow, since the rulebooks are floating out there).
That chart SirTawmis posted is the heart of the game -- everything from a candle to a star, from an ant to a Galactus is contained in that chart. Just as I have done some expansion with 5e for my games, I did the same there -- including expanding that chart out a bit, and creating new action resolution elements (the things across the top).
Champions was incredible -- their point buy system remains a model of design, and although this first TSR Marvel license wasn't a "killer" game at the time, it has, over the years, become something of a legend among designers because it was so wonderfully elegant, and it raised Jeff Grubb's profile hugely.
I didn't like Champions, however, because it was too much. It was the AD&D of Superhero games at the time, and MSHRPG was like the 5e of them.
in the early 2000's, I took some basic design principles from a few different games and created a system built around a d60. Imagine the above table but built around a -10 to 75 basis. It was kind of a joke (the impetus was "what in the world would you use a d60 for?"), but it was pretty fun.
If I ever opt to create a system strictly for Wyrlde, I would probably use something very much like that built around a d30, or just switch everything in 5e over to a d30.
But I love that game -- it was 90% role play, lol.
Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities
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An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more.
Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
yes, I love both of those settings. I have issues with WoD, but they are fairly common and known these days. Shadowrun was and in my mind is the best of the "cyberpunk" games, but they really did a bang up job on the setting and deeply understood the genre.
I know a lot of folks tried to create one for X-files, but everytime they did they ended up getting sucked into other "monster of the week" type stuff, because, well, it fits, and then would lose the government as part of the conspiracy things and all that other setting stuff, watering it down so that you could use it for any kind of "weird problem of the week" thing in the interest of getting adoption -- and then none of them could ever get the licensing for it.
Funny thing, lol -- the Reeve class and the Agency in Wyrlde could be used to support such a play style in the setting, and I just realized it.
Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities
.-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-.
An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more.
Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
You’ve given this prompt to the right group. I’ll have a nice, long answer at least.
I currently play: D&D 5e, Pathfinder 2e, Blades in the Dark, Shadowdark, and DCC RPG
I have played: Goblin Quest, D&D 4e, D&D 3e, Mistborn Adventure Game, Call of Cthulhu, Starfinder, and some one page or very short digital games (trash pandas, goblin punks, etc.)
I would like to play: Dread, Index Card RPG, Stealing Stories for the Devil, Old Gods of the Appalachia, Vampire: the Masquerade, Starfinder 2e (when it releases), Pathfinder Remaster (when it releases), Quest, Icarus, the Warren, Cthulhu Dark, Our Last Best Hope, Shadowrun, Torchbearer, Monster of the Week, the Expanse Roleplaying Game, Spire, Heart: City Beneath, and any of the Warhammer roleplaying games. I’m certain there are others, but this is my list for now.
As for games I wish existed… I’m making two of them, so I figure you’ll have to wait to hear about those… however, I’d like to find a space game that actually feels fun and doesn’t delve too much into the gritty mechanical stuff like Starfinder does. I would also like an adaptation of Zork (and other Zork titles) as a game, probably based on the Powered by the Apocalypse system. The Legend of Zelda rpg that Crit Role played a while back looked really fun, and I would love for that to release. I really want to play a Stormlight RPG, and I think this one is actually in production, so I may not have to wait much longer. I also want a game that feels like a classic dungeon crawl style game but works mechanically more like Dread and PbtA, kind of a combination of the simplistic yet still dense systems that they both have. Finally, I want a detective system, styled after d20 system or PbtA rules, but I think it would be cool to have periodical releases kind of like the old Dragon and Dungeon magazines that would add a new detective to the game (so you get a Sherlock Holmes setting and rules one month, but a Psych one the next).
I've played a lot of different TTRPGs. Easily a couple hundred.
I've played at least a couple games in nearly every genre of game (larger sense), but I generally dislike games that are "this one thing" type stuff.
I much prefer to think of Genre as a kind of adventure -- so I wouldn't do a Supernatural World or a Violet Evergarden World. I tend to think in terms of what kinds of adventures I would want to see in that setting. So I would make a world and a set of rules or use a set of rules that fit well with , respectively, a modern setting or an 18th century setting.
Then start to build in those different kinds of things for it.
It allows me to do things like "what if the Supernatural boys ran into the Scooby Gang", lol. Or smash stuff together like M:I, James Bond, and other spy stuff.
I suppose that's a bit of an old fashioned approach in a lot of ways -- a Modern world could enable superheros, Supernatural, and paranormal investigations, either urban or rural. Placing the setting as a blank slate for much of what I would want to do to represent a particular show, and then going for it. I mean, I could do a world where NCIS, CSI, and L&O all exist alongside some Anne Rice stuff -- because I don't see them as being "separate", I see them as all simply needing a bit more stuff int he world.
I like that kind of stuff -- that work to make the bits and pieces fit. I created a full on Heroic Fantasy world of Magic, and I have robots and giant machines, a secret investigative agency, a bunch of shadowy conspiracy type orgs, drive by shootings and gangland warfare...
hell, I could basically use it for nearly any genre or type of adventure, just tack "fantasy" on the end of the genre. Not cyberpunk, not superhero, but I think you get the idea.
The hardest part is the "rules" -- not mechanics, in a gaming sene, but the rules of the setting. It is hard because you have to identify them -- if I wanted to take the Daniel Faust/Harmony Black stuff, for example, I'd have to do a lot of work for a modern setting that allows for Devils, Hell, Las Vegas, the FBI, tech stuff, and ancient goddesses, lol, then build mysteries into the world.
Then I could look at the mechanics, and seek ones that provide a sense of how to do things that is fitting.
Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities
.-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-.
An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more.
Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
I feel like someone with some good creativity could use the Hunter side of things to make a close X-Files type of game with the World of Darkness setting.
However, AEDorsay mentions something...
... I feel like the government side of the X-FILES game would be the most difficult to really integrate and make a part.
The monster of the week, as she said, would be the easy part.
X-FILES was such a well written show, trying to capture the "conspiracy" side of it would be difficult.
When I ran the game, I used a mixture of existing characters in Marvel and new ones I'd create (depending on what I needed for the story). Especially if I wanted a team of villains the heroes would defeat - I often wouldn't want to use existing villains in the start - so it's new heroes fighting new villains... and as they grew they'd come into more well known villains. I felt like using existing characters from Marvel helped cement that they were in the Marvel Universe, not just "another super hero game."
Like when Captain America shows up to commend them on a job well done the players were stoked.
With the 1:1 game with my wife, she was aware of The New Mutants as a book - so I thought it'd be fun to bring her character into the team. But you know when you're using civilians as cover... lol
The New Mutants ended up showing up (they were at the movies too when the Sentinels attacked) - so that's how she was able to meet them. She thought they were after her, the New Mutants that they were after them. So they discover one another - and ask her to come to their school to meet Charles Xavier.
I think we only ended up doing like four or five more sessions after that.
It's funny when I played in the Warhammer RPG, I essentially made Dredd.
I even used a photo of Karl Urban as my character's profile photo.
I cropped this photo - so it was just his face.
EDIT: Just realized you said "Dread" - which is different than "Dredd." LOL
I've no idea what Dread is. Er, in terms of an RPG.
I feel like we grew up similar in this regard. Back in the 80s when there was a metric ton of different RPGs I was playing them all after discovering D&D. Some would last a few sessions. Some a few months, some for years.
Check out my publication on DMs Guild: https://www.dmsguild.com/browse.php?author=Tawmis%20Logue
Check out my comedy web series - Neverending Nights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Wr4-u9-zw0&list=PLbRG7dzFI-u3EJd0usasgDrrFO3mZ1lOZ
Need a character story/background written up? I do it for free (but also take donations!) - https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?591882-Need-a-character-background-written-up
I want to try World of Darkness, but I might wait till I get to college and there are more people interested in trying that.
I really like D&D, especially Ravenloft, Exandria and the Upside Down from Stranger Things. My pronouns are she/they (genderfae).
I've heard of it, but I've never played. Apparently, it's a horror game where the core mechanic is a Jenga tower. Seems pretty interesting.
Look at what you've done. You spoiled it. You have nobody to blame but yourself. Go sit and think about your actions.
Don't be mean. Rudeness is a vicious cycle, and it has to stop somewhere. Exceptions for things that are funny.
Go to the current Competition of the Finest 'Brews! It's a cool place where cool people make cool things.
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I know this is probably obvious coming from me, but I would love a cooking/fantasy game, possibly with horror elements. Like Toriko meets Berserk, basically. I've tried to run a game like that in the FATE system, but it's such a niche concept that very few people actually joined, and we got held up by dates and couldn't run a single session.
I actually am working on an RPG like what I described, but my lack of experience means it's gonna suck in all likelihood.
Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.
May each word that I speak be backed by each of my teeth.
&
That’s funny. Having been in several long-arch conspiracy campaigns for both Shadowrun & WoD, I wouldn’t have thought that to be difficult, especially for something set in the world of the X-Files.
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*sup*
I'm fry, and I make doodles. That's why they call me FRY DOODLES. Also no pressure but check out my YouTube channel (Fry Doodles)
I'm a disabled, neurodivergent, artsy dumpster fire who's always open to chat.
I'm a sensitive little sad bean, and somewhat of a clown. But, I'm also god's favorite princess and the most interesting girl in the world.
Crafter of Constellations, vocaloid enjoyer, waluigi’s #1 fan, space alien, your favorite pretty boy, and certified silly goose
If you ever get together a group for Spire, let me know, I wanna try that too.
I've stated my "someday" games half a dozen times in this thread. I really don't vibe with most of the stuff I'm seeing these days -- what I'm really after is a game that approaches basically any non-combat scenario at all in the way that D&D approaches combat. Not as a slippery insubstantial thing that it would be foolish to direct with rules, but as a deeply systematic, generative engine with specific points of contact for player choices, creativity, and rules-bending. But also as a mostly breezy, exciting thing that refuses to get overly stuck, through a brazen lack of consequences in most engagements and clear, understandable and resonant play patterns that you can fall back on. Where everyone can intuit where and when to make use of the rules vs when to just freestyle.
It doesn't need to be one system that can do this to any and every scenario, like many claim they can do. Just let me see one that's not about combat.
If you don't mind me asking, what purpose do the asterisks serve?
Look at what you've done. You spoiled it. You have nobody to blame but yourself. Go sit and think about your actions.
Don't be mean. Rudeness is a vicious cycle, and it has to stop somewhere. Exceptions for things that are funny.
Go to the current Competition of the Finest 'Brews! It's a cool place where cool people make cool things.
How I'm posting based on text formatting: Mod Hat Off - Mod Hat Also Off (I'm not a mod)
*RAZZLE DAZZLE*
I'll stop
I'm fry, and I make doodles. That's why they call me FRY DOODLES. Also no pressure but check out my YouTube channel (Fry Doodles)
I'm a disabled, neurodivergent, artsy dumpster fire who's always open to chat.
I'm a sensitive little sad bean, and somewhat of a clown. But, I'm also god's favorite princess and the most interesting girl in the world.
Crafter of Constellations, vocaloid enjoyer, waluigi’s #1 fan, space alien, your favorite pretty boy, and certified silly goose
There are tons of games I wish I could run but realistically know I'll never find a group for. If you're not playing D&D or Pathfinder, your only option is to teach yourself the game and then teach it to others. I especially like games that focus on exploration just as much as combat, which is one of D&D's biggest failures.
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It's a habit people pick up from roleplaying in PBPs and on Taverns. Words spoken in asterisks are outside the game, while the rest are part of the roleplay.
Terra Lubridia archive:
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