What Licensed RPG Do You Wish Used A Different System?

[Thomas Shey]

That's very likely. When it comes to different game systems out there, a lot of gamers develop loyalties early, and strongly. My gaming group has been longing to play something other than 5E Dungeons & Dragons, but they have made it crystal clear that they will not switch to a different system ever again...not even to a different edition of D&D that they're already familiar with.

So to play Star Wars, for example, our DM had to find a 5E/SRD based version. And fortunately for us, it exists (and it's awesome.) But when I posted about it in another thread, I was surprised at all of the "ugh why 5E, play something else" comments. I'd love to, buddy, but my gaming group will. not. switch.

I have some sympathy for this situation, especially when it comes to D&D players/GMs, but it still comes across sometimes as pounding nails with a wrench.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I think people make too much of 2d20s metacurrency pools. It isn't really a narrative system, unless you say any game with "hero points" is a narrative system.

I certainly know there are people around who consider any metacurrency undesirable for just that reason (to make it clear up-front, I'm not one of them).

 

[CleverNickName]

I have some sympathy for this situation, especially when it comes to D&D players/GMs, but it still comes across sometimes as pounding nails with a wrench.

I can see that perspective. And I like the tool analogy.

For folks who want to keep the 5E/SRD system confined to heroic high fantasy style games like D&D, they are going to assume that the 5E system is the wrong tool for certain jobs...using the 5E system to play Star Wars would feel like the wrong tool for the job. Like you're using a wrench to pound nails.

For those of us who see the 5E/SRD system as a framework that can be used for many kinds of games and styles, including sci-fi and horror, we just see 5E as a different weight of hammer. Sometimes it's going to feel heavier than necessary, other times it's lighter than needed, but it's still a hammer, and it'll still pound nails.

 

[Micah Sweet]

That's very likely. When it comes to different game systems out there, a lot of gamers develop loyalties early, and strongly. My gaming group has been longing to play something other than 5E Dungeons & Dragons, but they have made it crystal clear that they will not switch to a different system ever again...not even to a different edition of D&D that they're already familiar with.

So to play Star Wars, for example, our DM had to find a 5E/SRD based version. And fortunately for us, it exists (and it's awesome.) But when I posted about it in another thread, I was surprised at all of the "ugh why 5E, play something else" comments. I'd love to, buddy, but my gaming group will. not. switch.

I feel your pain. Seriously. I've been wanting to play some OSR for years.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Emphasis mine.

Um, not really. Like, at all.

This was a particularly avant garde post to read when the person you're responding to has blocked.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I think people make too much of 2d20s metacurrency pools. It isn't really a narrative system, unless you say any game with "hero points" is a narrative system.

Its definitely not a full narrative system, but I would never go for it if it wasn't Star Trek. As it is, they obviously really care about the source material, which makes it the only narrative system I would consider running.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I can see that perspective. And I like the tool analogy.

For folks who want to keep the 5E/SRD system confined to heroic high fantasy style games like D&D, they are going to assume that the 5E system is the wrong tool for certain jobs...using the 5E system to play Star Wars would feel like the wrong tool for the job. Like you're using a wrench to pound nails.

For those of us who see the 5E/SRD system as a framework that can be used for many kinds of games and styles, including sci-fi and horror, we just see 5E as a different weight of hammer. Sometimes it's going to feel heavier than necessary, other times it's lighter than needed, but it's still a hammer, and it'll still pound nails.

Honestly, Star Wars seems a better place to apply it than some I've seen. Its when I see people using it for supers (where any sort of class and level system seems a bad fit) or, say, cyberpunk that I start to do a bit of "Whatever, dude."

 

[CleverNickName]

Honestly, Star Wars seems a better place to apply it than some I've seen. Its when I see people using it for supers (where any sort of class and level system seems a bad fit) or, say, cyberpunk that I start to do a bit of "Whatever, dude."

I think it works pretty well for most genres, as long as you keep it heroic: you're all heroes, and you're all working together using (mysterious power) to defeat the (generic threat) and save the (big place). Sub in Magic/Dragon/World, or The Force/Sith/Galaxy, or Technology/Corporate Overlord/City, or Technobabble/Klingons/Quadrant, or Eldritch Mysteries/Cultists of Cthulhu/World.

But break that formula and it gets weird in a hurry IMO. Some cyberpunk, horror, and sci-fi games have everyone working against each other, with their own agendas and such, and I don't think I'd want to try to run those with the 5E/SRD framework. Yikes.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

Honestly, Star Wars seems a better place to apply it than some I've seen. Its when I see people using it for supers (where any sort of class and level system seems a bad fit)

For Supers you either have to strip it to bare bones and build it back up as classless (like Mutants and Masterminds), or go the Heroes Unlimited route and have a class for everything.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I think it works pretty well for most genres, as long as you keep it heroic: you're all heroes, and you're all working together using (mysterious power) to defeat the (generic threat) and save the (big place). Sub in Magic/Dragon/World, or The Force/Sith/Galaxy, or Technology/Corporate Overlord/City, or Technobabble/Klingons/Quadrant, or Eldritch Mysteries/Cultists of Cthulhu/World.

But break that formula and it gets weird in a hurry IMO. Some cyberpunk, horror, and sci-fi games have everyone working against each other, with their own agendas and such, and I don't think I'd want to try to run those with the 5E/SRD framework. Yikes.

What in 5e demands black and white heroes and villains from your perspective, if I may ask?