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<blockquote data-quote="kronovan" data-source="post: 9155350" data-attributes="member: 6775134"><p>I'm just going to chime in and say I think ModernAGE was a good choice. The optional Modes in that edition of the Adventure Gaming Engine, fixes problems with HP bloat and low defenses that existed in Dragon Age and Fantasy Age. I'd caution against going with anything more generous than the Pulpy mode for health advancement, unless you want combat encounters to be very lengthy at higher levels. As well, using the more generous Cinematic for that mode, your players PC's are unlikely to ever feel really threatened at higher levels. Considering you can almost fit all the minor and major actions and their details on one page, it's IMO definitely light on crunch. Stunts add a bit of crunch, but a GM can always work with their players to create an individual, shorter list that just contains their favorites.</p><p>[Edit] Had forgotten this earlier, but Ability Focuses are the feature of ModernAGE that IMO most betrays its intention of being light on crunch. In the first edition of Dragon Age you only dealt with them at PC creation, then every other level and they had a set bonus of +2. Then GR intro'd double-focusing where you take them again, upping the bonus to +3. In a nutshell, they've really become more like skills and 70+ skills is IMO too many for a set of rules to be considered light. If you're concerned players might be overwhelmed by the volume of focuses, my advice is to consolidate/eliminate some, as theirs definitely redundnacy among some.</p><p></p><p>I personaly don't consider Savage Worlds to be a rules light TTRPG - at least not from the GM perspective. Don't get me wrong - I really like the rules (SWEX -thru- SWADE) and have been running with them for over a decade, but I consider them as more moderate in crunch that light. For a GM there's a fair amount of crunch to managing the benny economy properly and recogninizing how the over 130 Edges impact play; especially any Extras that might have them. How to involve a PC's hindrances in terms of knowing when and how they can be effectively called into play, also takes time to master.</p><p></p><p>Even for players, the rules around combat can be quite crunchy; like learning how gang ups, innocent bystanders, grappling, Rate of Fire rolls, 3-round bursts, shotgun rolls among other combat playe mechanics, all work. As well, how the 30+ combat edges and their improved versions impact combat adds quite a bit of crunch about Seasoned rank and higher. Not to mention that for a TTRPG it's fairly crunchy around situation rules and hazards.</p><p>It certainly has some quality tools that help lighten the load; like Dramatic Tasks, Mass Battles, Social Conflicts and Quick Encounters. The simplicity of the core roll+wild dice with a universal target number for the majority of results, goes a long way to making play fluid and simple. I've never had problems with getting players comfortable with how the core dice mechanic works, including kids. So considering all that maybe medium-light in crunch, but IMO by no means light.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="kronovan, post: 9155350, member: 6775134"] I'm just going to chime in and say I think ModernAGE was a good choice. The optional Modes in that edition of the Adventure Gaming Engine, fixes problems with HP bloat and low defenses that existed in Dragon Age and Fantasy Age. I'd caution against going with anything more generous than the Pulpy mode for health advancement, unless you want combat encounters to be very lengthy at higher levels. As well, using the more generous Cinematic for that mode, your players PC's are unlikely to ever feel really threatened at higher levels. Considering you can almost fit all the minor and major actions and their details on one page, it's IMO definitely light on crunch. Stunts add a bit of crunch, but a GM can always work with their players to create an individual, shorter list that just contains their favorites. [Edit] Had forgotten this earlier, but Ability Focuses are the feature of ModernAGE that IMO most betrays its intention of being light on crunch. In the first edition of Dragon Age you only dealt with them at PC creation, then every other level and they had a set bonus of +2. Then GR intro'd double-focusing where you take them again, upping the bonus to +3. In a nutshell, they've really become more like skills and 70+ skills is IMO too many for a set of rules to be considered light. If you're concerned players might be overwhelmed by the volume of focuses, my advice is to consolidate/eliminate some, as theirs definitely redundnacy among some. I personaly don't consider Savage Worlds to be a rules light TTRPG - at least not from the GM perspective. Don't get me wrong - I really like the rules (SWEX -thru- SWADE) and have been running with them for over a decade, but I consider them as more moderate in crunch that light. For a GM there's a fair amount of crunch to managing the benny economy properly and recogninizing how the over 130 Edges impact play; especially any Extras that might have them. How to involve a PC's hindrances in terms of knowing when and how they can be effectively called into play, also takes time to master. Even for players, the rules around combat can be quite crunchy; like learning how gang ups, innocent bystanders, grappling, Rate of Fire rolls, 3-round bursts, shotgun rolls among other combat playe mechanics, all work. As well, how the 30+ combat edges and their improved versions impact combat adds quite a bit of crunch about Seasoned rank and higher. Not to mention that for a TTRPG it's fairly crunchy around situation rules and hazards. It certainly has some quality tools that help lighten the load; like Dramatic Tasks, Mass Battles, Social Conflicts and Quick Encounters. The simplicity of the core roll+wild dice with a universal target number for the majority of results, goes a long way to making play fluid and simple. I've never had problems with getting players comfortable with how the core dice mechanic works, including kids. So considering all that maybe medium-light in crunch, but IMO by no means light. [/QUOTE]
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