Grading the SAGA System

[aramis erak]

I've got most everything for DL5A. I loved it. My player group was split between love and hate. Running the DL 25th wasn't great.
It's not D&D compatible, and the conversion rules from D&D to DL5a is pretty poor.
On its own, I like it, a lot. It's totally player-facing resolution.
The adventures are pretty much standard TSR fare, and I love the setting changes... Good having lost the war, as the dragons rule.

MSHAG, while also quite good, has only one thing over it's older sibling: it's much faster to explain to newbs. Unlike DL5A, the GM has a hand for all his NPCs. It's also only 5 suits, vs DL5A's 9, and has more than one of most values in the deck.

I'd happily run either for one-shots, but my MSHAG deck is absent from the box.

 

[Thomas Shey]

There were elements of the Marvel game that weren't bad, but the balance on a couple powers was way off.

 

[MGibster]

This is what gets an A+? It seems a little unfair given how few people have even voted for it. GURPS by itself has 16 people who loved it which is just three shy of the combined number of individuals who voted on this one.

 

[CleverNickName]

This is what gets an A+? It seems a little unfair given how few people have even voted for it. GURPS by itself has 16 people who loved it which is just three shy of the combined number of individuals who voted on this one.

The last time I tallied all the votes, they were all either "Loved it" or "Never played it."

More people have voted since.

 

[Tonguez]

The last time I tallied all the votes, they were all either "Loved it" or "Never played it."

More people have voted since.

that was based on 3 informed votes and the rest were “never played it“, so yeah not a good sample, then again these polls arent exactly robust so heh, whatever

 

[aramis erak]

I do wonder how many are conflating it with SWSE...

 

[M.L. Martin]

My answer is complicated. SAGA was originally designed for TSR's Marvel Superheroes Adventure Game, and it worked well there. BUT when TSR ported it to Dragonlance, they copy pasta'd several rules that, while they made sense for a superhero game, made very little sense in the context of a D&D fantasy setting (IMO).

No, the Dragonlance iteration came first, and the Marvel version second, being published two years after Dragonlance: Fifth Age. The SAGA iteration of Marvel should not be confused with the earlier FASERIP version.

 

[jdrakeh]

No, the Dragonlance iteration came first, and the Marvel version second, being published two years after Dragonlance: Fifth Age.

Huh. You're right. My memory isn't what it used to be. My point stands, though. SAGA as it was implemented in Fifth Age was kind of a mess. Perhaps because it came first. It didn't really get fixed, IMO, until WotC published the Companion.

 

[CleverNickName]

that was based on 3 informed votes and the rest were “never played it“, so yeah not a good sample, then again these polls arent exactly robust so heh, whatever

Heh, yeah....scientific, they ain't.

I've done a few of these, and I usually wait a while before posting the first grades. This was the first time there was nothing but love even after a few hours. I wanted to mark the occasion...I honestly didn't think it would get anyone's hackles up.

I'll crunch the numbers again when I get back to my desk, but the GPA is now 2.81 (which is now a B).

 

[Staffan]

I haven't played it myself, but I've heard it played on a podcast (Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men) and it seemed to work well for supers – particularly in the way cards can represent effort, which always seems important in superhero games.