Best game for God of War-esque action?

[thedungeondelver]

For sheer over-the-top "ZOMG HE DID WHAT" and fast play, BESM.

For sheer over-the-top "ZOMG HE DID WHAT" with maximum tweaking capability, CHAMPI...err, HERO SYSTEM.

For sheer over-the-top "ZOMG HE DID WHAT" but firmly anchored to a genre/game setting, EXALTED

 

[Razz]

One word, folks, can emulate this in D&D:

EPIC

Epic Level play in D&D can easily emulate Kratos. Kratos would be past 50th-level, most likely, with over 20 levels in Fighter, over 20 levels in Warblade, and he probably has levels in an epic prestige class like Dreadnought and something more unique. His abilities are obviously epic level items and/or artifacts and his feats are most likely a combination of standard, epic, and epic unique feats (being feats not yet created by WotC, that is).

If you want to run campaigns like God of War then you folks need to claw into WotC's back about more epic level content. It's minimal, moreso than psionics, and it's really sad considering I personally would love to run epic games like God of War.

 

[Imaro]

One word, folks, can emulate this in D&D:

EPIC

Epic Level play in D&D can easily emulate Kratos. Kratos would be past 50th-level, most likely, with over 20 levels in Fighter, over 20 levels in Warblade, and he probably has levels in an epic prestige class like Dreadnought and something more unique. His abilities are obviously epic level items and/or artifacts and his feats are most likely a combination of standard, epic, and epic unique feats (being feats not yet created by WotC, that is).

If you want to run campaigns like God of War then you folks need to claw into WotC's back about more epic level content. It's minimal, moreso than psionics, and it's really sad considering I personally would love to run epic games like God of War.

I think he wants something with less number crunching and tactical analyzation though and more "coolness" off the cuff.

One example of this in BESM 3e is energy points, you spend however many you want(in increments of 10) to add as many +1's to your roll as you desire or can afford...You want to jump a fifty foot chasm burn them energy points and make it happen...You want to hit a copper coin blindfolded and swinging upside down by a rope, burn them energy points and do it. The closest thing D&D has to this type of mechanic(that I know about) is Action points(really limited and kinda suck 1d6? 1d6? what is that to a high level character anyway, I'll tell you...not much). Then there's feats(they allow you to do things but also restrict what else your good at once you make a selection).

Another example is Exalted's Excellencies charm's...Basically they allow you to spend essence to increase any action involving a certain skill up to a rating double the Attr+Skill.

And these are just the beginning in these games, the individual charms in Exalted and attributes in BESM allow for some pretty amazing and cool things with less actual number crunching and complexity

That would be my biggest reason for not being particularly keen on Epic D&D as well. It doesn't feel fast ad exciting at those levels. This could be because of the tactical nature of D&D with it's precise movement, AoO, penalties for special maneuvers(unless you have the right feat) etc. It just doesn't seem to enhance that playstyle and IMHO detract from it. Yes you can remove all those things but why go through that when you can get a game that handles it better for your tastes.

 

[freebfrost]

As others have mentioned, Mutants & Masterminds can easily handle this type of play. It's quick and easy to learn, easily adapted to this kind of adventuring, and can capture the feel of the game. No epic level number-crunching needed.

 

[Razz]

The problem is what if you are running a D&D game and want to have that style of play? Resorting to another RPG's system of running things seems moot. It's not D&D anymore, and then you have your rules lawyers scratching their heads when D&D rules start to not mesh with material from 3rd party products.

Maybe a complete overhaul of the current Epic system in D&D and WotC work on a more thorough system would be the way to go. But at this rate with WotC, we're only going to see stuff like "Miniatures Compendium" and "Villain Compendium" and "Not Bad but Not Good Guys Compendium"... :\

 

[Piratecat]

I'm pretty sure Mutants & Masterminds could simulate this.

Yes. Yes, it could! I can definitely see that.

 

[Havlo]

How about Iron Heroes?

 

[Imaro]

The problem is what if you are running a D&D game and want to have that style of play? Resorting to another RPG's system of running things seems moot. It's not D&D anymore, and then you have your rules lawyers scratching their heads when D&D rules start to not mesh with material from 3rd party products.

Maybe a complete overhaul of the current Epic system in D&D and WotC work on a more thorough system would be the way to go. But at this rate with WotC, we're only going to see stuff like "Miniatures Compendium" and "Villain Compendium" and "Not Bad but Not Good Guys Compendium"... :\

I'm kind of confused about this post. The OP asked for "other systems" because he didn't want to run it with D&D. Exalted and BESM 3e are not third party d20 systems, they are seperate systems .

As for running it with D&D, it's possible but whether you're happy or not with the end result is a question left to particular tastes and how you feel this particular playstyle should be captured. I don't think D&D is a universal system, and I don't think WotC intended it to be. Is it adaptable to certain playstyles, yes. Is it the "best" option for all playstyles of fantasy, IMHO no. YMMV but there are a world of other games out there fitted to certain styles of play...for some this is a moot point, they enjoy d20(advantages and quirks) enough that they are willing to put in the time, rules tweaks, stripping, etc. to get something close enough to what they want that they are happy. I say much respect to them, because I just don't have the time for something like that and honestly do feel there are better systems out there for certain genres and playstyles than d20. This doesn't mean I'm a d20 hater either, but I am willing to look at other options for other things I want to run and play.

I will reiterate on this one point; You don't want to use third party support or a new game, well then I have to say I don't think the style of God of War could be captured with the D&D rules(even epic levels), without heavy modification, very well.

 

[Sir Brennen]

Give +2/+4/+6 bonuses for style, and I'll be you'll be seeing people trying all sorts of crazy that by default just gets you "yeah... that would be cool, but you're better of simply full attacking".

I think my next D&D campaign just gained a new house rule...

Back to your regularly scheduled thread...

 

[Master of the Game]

I'd use Exalted. It's built for exactly this. You could check out Scion too (next month) if you want something a bit more modern.

Ah hell, I've been hanging out at RPG.net too much. I just recommended not one, but two White Wolf games.