I am looking to gm stargate as i really like the tv show (best show since b5, but thats another story) . Has anybody played the d20 game and is it worth buying. My only issue with the system that the main rule book is $100 so i would really apreciate some feedback from those that have played the game
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Stargate
- Thread starter jazzer
- Start date
Bagpuss
Legend
It's based on the Spycraft system (don't worry you don't need to buy Spycraft to play) which is probably a more popular and certainly a better system than D20 Modern (IMHO). The core book has extensive information on the show, and an excellent set of rules for running the game, taking care of things like equipment via a system of gear bundles/picks related to level and rank.
Where is it $100 I take it that isn't $100 US as its only $50. Is that Australia?
Check these reviews
RPG United 4 out of 5 stars
d20 Magazine Rack / d20Zine! 4.26 out of 5
D20 Zine! 94%
Or the two reviews on this site which both give it 4 stars.
It looks worth the money to them and me.
Where is it $100 I take it that isn't $100 US as its only $50. Is that Australia?
Check these reviews
RPG United 4 out of 5 stars
d20 Magazine Rack / d20Zine! 4.26 out of 5
D20 Zine! 94%
Or the two reviews on this site which both give it 4 stars.
It looks worth the money to them and me.
Last edited:
I have been running a stargate campaign using a house-ruled version of the d20 system for about a year.
The source material is great, and that goes for both the main book and the supplements. The season books are top notch.
The mechanics are a mixed bag. I prefer their classes to the d20 modern style classes. I think their d20 rendition is easily the best, the cleanest out there. I do have reservations and house rules to correct the parts i don't like (as they draw too heavily on their spycraft lime and hard military gun bunny stuff to really capture the show well, IMO) but i agree, all in all, its worth it.
if i were starting my hame from scratch today, i would likely buy it and the season books as source and use the World of Darkness rules to run the game.
For now, however, my campaign is too far along to switch and i am only buying the season books from now on.
The source material is great, and that goes for both the main book and the supplements. The season books are top notch.
The mechanics are a mixed bag. I prefer their classes to the d20 modern style classes. I think their d20 rendition is easily the best, the cleanest out there. I do have reservations and house rules to correct the parts i don't like (as they draw too heavily on their spycraft lime and hard military gun bunny stuff to really capture the show well, IMO) but i agree, all in all, its worth it.
if i were starting my hame from scratch today, i would likely buy it and the season books as source and use the World of Darkness rules to run the game.
For now, however, my campaign is too far along to switch and i am only buying the season books from now on.
jazzer said:
well after a little research i have found pretty much all good reviews only minor complaints (which is more than i can say for d and d
) . I think this game is a definate go ahead then cant wait to see if they bring out details on anubius super-jaffa which imho look fantastic, stargate sg1 does some amazing effects an a very limited budger (george lucus take note!)
) . I think this game is a definate go ahead then cant wait to see if they bring out details on anubius super-jaffa which imho look fantastic, stargate sg1 does some amazing effects an a very limited budger (george lucus take note!)
Thanee
First Post
We are playing a Stargate campaign (with some Traveller and whatnot mixed in) sometimes.
The rulebook is very nicely done, altho it's sometimes hard to find a specific rule and some rules are not explained very well, but all in all it's pretty good.
I don't quite agree with the way some of the classes are built, some stuff is really weird, like scientists having the best defense (I mean, scientists are known for their combat prowess, right?), or the "class-defining" core abilities, which are often just completely pointless (like the scientist's or scout's ability to "lend" a feat to another character, which gives a +2 to a skill the other character will most likely not possess, but luckily, this overpowering ability is heavily restricted in usage by having an action dice cost attached to it! ), but again, all in all it's pretty good.
If you are a fan, I'm pretty sure, that you will like it.
Bye
Thanee
The rulebook is very nicely done, altho it's sometimes hard to find a specific rule and some rules are not explained very well, but all in all it's pretty good.
I don't quite agree with the way some of the classes are built, some stuff is really weird, like scientists having the best defense (I mean, scientists are known for their combat prowess, right?
), or the "class-defining" core abilities, which are often just completely pointless (like the scientist's or scout's ability to "lend" a feat to another character, which gives a +2 to a skill the other character will most likely not possess, but luckily, this overpowering ability is heavily restricted in usage by having an action dice cost attached to it! ), but again, all in all it's pretty good.If you are a fan, I'm pretty sure, that you will like it.
Bye
Thanee
Invictikore
First Post
As a Fan I love the book, and a Gm/Player I love this book. I really think it is worth the price BUT I only paid $50
arwink
Clockwork Golem
This from the point of view of someone who played the game but never watched the show, so I'll hand out the grains of salt now:
The layout of the core rulebooks is horrible. Really, really, impossible to find anything but the most basic info kind of horrible. It shouldn't be a problem if you're going to be playing the game longterm, but this isn't a friendly layout for folks who just want to run a few short sessions. Even after twenty odd sessions using the rules, we were still struggling to find things that were necessary to use our character abilities.
Gear picks seem like a really nice concept. Until you discover that people are more than willing to spend an hour ensuring they have the right gear for the mission. Detailed mission briefings that give a strong idea of what's going to happen is necessary, otherwise you're in for a long wait behind the DM screen. They're also marvelously redundant - on PC ended up with six laptops on one of our missions, and every other character had at least one.
Combat is a long, slow process for low-level PC's. If you want to replicate the show, start people at around 5th level. That way the have the skill and the gear resources to even stand a chance of fighting armored opponents. Our 1st and 2nd level stargate characters used to spend hours fighting a single jaffa, mostly because we only penetrated armor if we rolled something close to maximum damage or crits.
Jaffa, on the other hand, were quite capable of taking us out with a single shot from their energy weapons. By the time we had access to higher tech weapons, we ignored the guns given out as part of the core rules and stocked up on staff weapons, sniper rifles and heavy machien guns that actually let us stand a chance in battle - completely against the feel of the genre, I know, but the frustration of those had already killed any chance of genre being important to us. Don't expect your players to use action die on anything other than confirming crits, because by the time a 20 actually comes up they don't care how close to death the enemy is, they just want him down.
In short the book looks nice and reads well when you're reading the campaign information, but it can be something of a nightmare once its in play.
And as a general rule, don't use space nazis as your season enemy. It may well have some minor support in the rulebooks and the chronology of the show, but it's likely to be rideculed over the game table.
The layout of the core rulebooks is horrible. Really, really, impossible to find anything but the most basic info kind of horrible. It shouldn't be a problem if you're going to be playing the game longterm, but this isn't a friendly layout for folks who just want to run a few short sessions. Even after twenty odd sessions using the rules, we were still struggling to find things that were necessary to use our character abilities.
Gear picks seem like a really nice concept. Until you discover that people are more than willing to spend an hour ensuring they have the right gear for the mission. Detailed mission briefings that give a strong idea of what's going to happen is necessary, otherwise you're in for a long wait behind the DM screen. They're also marvelously redundant - on PC ended up with six laptops on one of our missions, and every other character had at least one.
Combat is a long, slow process for low-level PC's. If you want to replicate the show, start people at around 5th level. That way the have the skill and the gear resources to even stand a chance of fighting armored opponents. Our 1st and 2nd level stargate characters used to spend hours fighting a single jaffa, mostly because we only penetrated armor if we rolled something close to maximum damage or crits.
Jaffa, on the other hand, were quite capable of taking us out with a single shot from their energy weapons. By the time we had access to higher tech weapons, we ignored the guns given out as part of the core rules and stocked up on staff weapons, sniper rifles and heavy machien guns that actually let us stand a chance in battle - completely against the feel of the genre, I know, but the frustration of those had already killed any chance of genre being important to us. Don't expect your players to use action die on anything other than confirming crits, because by the time a 20 actually comes up they don't care how close to death the enemy is, they just want him down.
In short the book looks nice and reads well when you're reading the campaign information, but it can be something of a nightmare once its in play.
And as a general rule, don't use space nazis as your season enemy. It may well have some minor support in the rulebooks and the chronology of the show, but it's likely to be rideculed over the game table.
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