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DiasExMachina 4ED Update
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<blockquote data-quote="Dias Ex Machina" data-source="post: 4557667" data-attributes="member: 58907"><p>With a busy week ahead of us, blog posts have been lacking, so I apologize. Everyone should expect a Module for Free RPG Day on June 20th. </p><p></p><p> The real thought going through my mind (and yes, only one at a time) is the potential of science fiction role playing. Our group (as they have been going grinding through Punjar) has been talking about possibilities of future products. For me, I have always loved science fiction. I grew up with, not D&D primarily, but Mekton and Cyberpunk 2020. Anyone that knows me, is fully aware of my past with RTG and their Interlock and FUZION systems. I’d still be writing for that system if 3.0 hadn’t re-written every rule about role playing. Since then, hard science fiction has fallen on the wayside a tad and it bothers me. As I look over the 4ED landscape in front of me, I have noticed a marked lack of hard science fiction. Some fear breaking GSL stipulations while others claim that science fiction role playing is a fading if not dead genre. Some of you have been expecting a 4th Edition Modern, a title seemingly meant only for memories. Some have even hoped that Amethyst would fill that niche--a hope we are trying to satisfy. I won’t claim Amethyst is just about technology. Technology only accounts for about 30% of the setting, as it occupies around 30% of the final book (I am totally pulling that guess out of my posterior). </p><p></p><p> In many ways, the setting can be reduced to a world where a fantasy role playing game and a science fiction role playing game are at war with each other. I guess who wins will determine our next game line. </p><p></p><p> I never played Star Frontiers despite owning the first edition box. Never played Gamma World either and I owned that first edition as well. Played West End’s Star Wars quite bit and enjoyed the experience. I did manage to run a handful of sessions of Rifts but I gave up when the first of the World Books started coming out. Back then, Palladium also had Robotech and we really wore those books down, regardless of my feelings on their system. Although I owned and read Leading Edge’s Aliens game, I never ran a session. </p><p></p><p> No, for us, it was R. Talsorian. We ran homebrew sessions of Mekton and Cyberpunk 2020 for years. It was my bread and butter and when they opened Fuzion for legal use, I jumped at the chance. Those games occupied my entire role playing life from the late 80s to early 90s. Alas, a friend convinced me GURPS was the solution for Pathfinder (my mid 90s homebrew game) and I was forced to adopt that system for two damned years. Beyond that exception, it was RTG’s family of books, of which the Bubblegum Crisis RPG would be the last I would purchase. I guess we all have shelves of books of games we never played. Along with the one’s I just mentioned, there was Mechwarrior, Battletech (yes, I know, but not connected), WOTC’s Star Wars, and D20 Modern, though the latter I would use as reference for both Ghost in the Shell and the 3.5Ed Amethyst. Personally, I never thought D20 Modern was well constructed. First level characters were a joke and it had an abysmal currency system. </p><p></p><p> Now, it looks like the prospect of 4th ED Modern may be dead…but Amethyst was never coming close to being 4th ED Modern. At the very least, it was science fiction 4th ED. Some of you have asked how universal Amethyst’s system is and I believe it’s about 90% where anyone would want it (yes, another number, I pulling right from my colon). It would require some house ruling to adapt it but I believe I could do so with a solitary page. The job would not be difficult. </p><p></p><p> I guess the challenge and question fielded is can someone make a GSL compliant 4th Edition hard science fiction game? I think so.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Dias Ex Machina, post: 4557667, member: 58907"] With a busy week ahead of us, blog posts have been lacking, so I apologize. Everyone should expect a Module for Free RPG Day on June 20th. The real thought going through my mind (and yes, only one at a time) is the potential of science fiction role playing. Our group (as they have been going grinding through Punjar) has been talking about possibilities of future products. For me, I have always loved science fiction. I grew up with, not D&D primarily, but Mekton and Cyberpunk 2020. Anyone that knows me, is fully aware of my past with RTG and their Interlock and FUZION systems. I’d still be writing for that system if 3.0 hadn’t re-written every rule about role playing. Since then, hard science fiction has fallen on the wayside a tad and it bothers me. As I look over the 4ED landscape in front of me, I have noticed a marked lack of hard science fiction. Some fear breaking GSL stipulations while others claim that science fiction role playing is a fading if not dead genre. Some of you have been expecting a 4th Edition Modern, a title seemingly meant only for memories. Some have even hoped that Amethyst would fill that niche--a hope we are trying to satisfy. I won’t claim Amethyst is just about technology. Technology only accounts for about 30% of the setting, as it occupies around 30% of the final book (I am totally pulling that guess out of my posterior). In many ways, the setting can be reduced to a world where a fantasy role playing game and a science fiction role playing game are at war with each other. I guess who wins will determine our next game line. I never played Star Frontiers despite owning the first edition box. Never played Gamma World either and I owned that first edition as well. Played West End’s Star Wars quite bit and enjoyed the experience. I did manage to run a handful of sessions of Rifts but I gave up when the first of the World Books started coming out. Back then, Palladium also had Robotech and we really wore those books down, regardless of my feelings on their system. Although I owned and read Leading Edge’s Aliens game, I never ran a session. No, for us, it was R. Talsorian. We ran homebrew sessions of Mekton and Cyberpunk 2020 for years. It was my bread and butter and when they opened Fuzion for legal use, I jumped at the chance. Those games occupied my entire role playing life from the late 80s to early 90s. Alas, a friend convinced me GURPS was the solution for Pathfinder (my mid 90s homebrew game) and I was forced to adopt that system for two damned years. Beyond that exception, it was RTG’s family of books, of which the Bubblegum Crisis RPG would be the last I would purchase. I guess we all have shelves of books of games we never played. Along with the one’s I just mentioned, there was Mechwarrior, Battletech (yes, I know, but not connected), WOTC’s Star Wars, and D20 Modern, though the latter I would use as reference for both Ghost in the Shell and the 3.5Ed Amethyst. Personally, I never thought D20 Modern was well constructed. First level characters were a joke and it had an abysmal currency system. Now, it looks like the prospect of 4th ED Modern may be dead…but Amethyst was never coming close to being 4th ED Modern. At the very least, it was science fiction 4th ED. Some of you have asked how universal Amethyst’s system is and I believe it’s about 90% where anyone would want it (yes, another number, I pulling right from my colon). It would require some house ruling to adapt it but I believe I could do so with a solitary page. The job would not be difficult. I guess the challenge and question fielded is can someone make a GSL compliant 4th Edition hard science fiction game? I think so. [/QUOTE]
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