Patrick has already done a great job of summarising what happened in last night's game. So really all I want to add are a couple of thoughts about playing Marvel FASERIP and then I thought it might be interesting to share my character's stats.
There are, I think, three things that jump out at me about the system. First of all, the random character generation really works. It might be spread out over a number of pages, and a lot of them are text heavy, but it is nicely directed. There is a good flow to it. I'd be interested to know what influenced some of the weightings with the random tables (particularly in the initial character class). Since this blog was initially set up with at least half an eye on the maths of tabletop RPGs, I'd also be curious to know just how many possible heroes one could roll up - or what the likelihood, say, of a person rolling the stats for Thor or Wolverine is.
Secondly, I found the dice rolling refreshing. Don't get me wrong: especially after this year of so much OSR and retroclone goodness I am a fan of d20s and having a gaggle of various Platonic solids in front of me each with their own place and time. But there was something neat about just using two d10s to get everything. And while the big table on the back of the book looks complex at first, in reality it isn't. It just works. Roll d100, compare the roll (row) with your ability level (column) and the colour in the box tells you how well you succeeded. Maybe look at another little table to tell you whether or not there is anything special. Done. Fast. Great.
Finally: I like the way little things about the system really support it being "comic book-y". Health is recovered, in general, very quickly. The class benefits and disadvantages are simple, but really strongly support the character types that you're trying to be (for example, mutants always increase one power by one rank, but they have to start with popularity of 0). Karma is a great way of steering things, and declaring the minimum spend required to use it works too - no abusing the system.
I've said a lot about the system there, and virtually nothing about the setting. We're planning to play on G+ next week, so assuming Patrick summarises the second session in a style similar to his first (please please please), I'll write something about the setting next week.
But after the jump... Sergeant Shoxx!
Thursday, 7 November 2013
Monday, 4 November 2013
RPG Person Profile
So this is me when it comes to games... (and my first post in a looong time because of fatherhood!)
I'm currently running (at home): Nothing, but up until recently I was running a campaign set in and around the city of Wetham. We were playing using LotFP, had used a few settings, and intend to carry on at some point. I've also ran Dogs in the Vineyard, In A Wicked Age and several standalone games - in particular I love GHOST/ECHO.
Tabletop RPGs I'm currently playing (at home) include: None. This makes me sad. Having a young baby at home makes this tricky for now.
I'm currently running (online): Nothing. Sigh. See above. However, I'm hoping to get the old gang back together sooner or later!
Tabletop RPGs I'm currently playing (online) include: I've only played in one game online so far, but want to play more! I played a couple of sessions of Pendragon of Mars, which was awesome. (noisms ran that)
I would especially like to play/run: Cyberpunk 2020 but hacked away from the basic setting a little. I think the basic rules and mechanics would support loads of games in different genres. I have wanted to run or play Apocalypse World ever since I last played it (almost two years ago now).
...but would also try: Nearly anything OSRish/D&D-y. I'm interested in interesting mechanics that reflect some aspect of the game that is unfolding. And I have a stack of pdfs from various Bundles of Holding and other places that I want to try.
I live in: Liverpool, England - or rather that's the nearest city. I've been fortunate to game with some excellent people who introduced me to tabletop RPGs.
2 or 3 well-known RPG products other people made that I like: Vornheim is a go-to book for me. It's compact, it's hardback, it feels good in your hands and in your backpack. It's damn useful too. And all of this before saying that it looks amazing too. I got one of the final copies from the publisher. Dogs in the Vineyard feels like it came from another world. It presents an interesting setting, with core ideas that could be hacked into a million and one different settings. The Town Creation stuff does something wonderful in helping a GM to establish a series of people and problems in a logical way - so then they can get out of the way while the Dogs do their thing.
2 or 3 novels I like: I Am Legend by the late Richard Matheson. I've re-read this at least once a year for the last fifteen years. In the last few years I've really grown to love the Poirot novels. So far my favourite would be a tie between The ABC Murders and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.
2 or 3 movies I like: The Richard Donner Superman. Back To The Future. Four Weddings And A Funeral.
Best place to find me on-line: On this blog or on Google+.
I will read almost anything on tabletop RPGs if it's: Interesting. I look over posts about "offending"/"offended" people and who said what and what it means and so on - but it's only titillation. I want to see interesting ideas for games, neat thoughts on where games might go or what kinds of games might be played.
I really do not want to hear about: How something is bad if you've not played it, or no-one you know has played it. OK? Ask questions - even ask questions because you're skeptical about "how X would work" - but don't flat out deny or hate something you or a trusted friend have no experience of.
Free RPG Content I made: Is all over this blog at the moment I guess; tables and ideas and bits and bobs. I'm working on getting some bits and pieces I think are neat into a pdf or something.
You can buy RPG stuff I made: Nowhere right now, but somewhere eventually!
I talk about RPGs on G+ under the name +Nathan Ryder.
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