Alternity 2e Wish List

[slwoyach]

If you use 4e mechanics it's not Alternity anymore. Of course I guess people don't seem to have a problem pretending it's D&D though.

Mod Edit: Oh, come on! This thread isn't about D&D. Take the edition war elsewhere - preferably some other message board.

 

[tyrlaan]

If you use 4e mechanics it's not Alternity anymore. Of course I guess people don't seem to have a problem pretending it's D&D though.

Now, now, did you really have to stoop to this? Conversation is being very civil, and it would be appreciated if you'd keep it that way.


However the question this raises to me is: are folks looking to play StarDrive or DarkMatter with updated rules, or are folks looking to play a game in the Alternity ruleset, but with updated rules? I think some of us are on either side of this split, or perhaps somewhere in between.

 

[dm4hire]

However the question this raises to me is: are folks looking to play StarDrive or DarkMatter with updated rules, or are folks looking to play a game in the Alternity ruleset, but with updated rules? I think some of us are on either side of this split, or perhaps somewhere in between.

I'll agree with you on that tyrlaan. While I'm longing for updated mechanics and setting some just want the setting.

 

[DMH]

While I'm longing for updated mechanics and setting some just want the setting.

If someone was to make a decent retroclone, I would start working on critter pdfs by the bucketload. Hell, I can think of scores of things I want to do and getting paid for them gives me incentive to do better work than my pile o'stuff at A.net.

edit- another dice idea that has been mentioned and I want to try sometime is 2d10 in place of the control die. Less Amazing results but then Critical Failures go from 5% to 1% and that is significant.

 

[evildmguy]

Wow. A good question.

Assumptions: Alternity system is not heroic but realistic game. Dark*Matter and Star*Drive still used as settings under Alternity.

Keep: MOGA roll results, durability tracks, weapons and armor, F/X and mindwalker skills, miin/max limits on ability scores based on species,

Modify: Rank benefits as Perks (feats) with requirements, simplify XP, simplify skill cost charts,

Remove: Professions, the forcing of skills under an ability score (so maybe ability scores do need to be revisited),

The big thing that I have to remember is that Alternity is NOT a heroic game. I tried to use it for a fantasy game and I like heroic fantasy. So, Alternity did not work as much as I wanted it to work. It's great for modern or SciFi in that regard but not heroic fantasy. Having said that, if it was in print again, I would love to see an options book to have ideas for heroic games, different magic systems, etc.

After that, I would like to see things simplified. The variable skill costs merely added in complexity to the character creation rules without adding any value to the process. If there is to be a gamemaster's book and player's handbook, I don't want to see the symmetry they were doing for a while, where a chapter in the PH and GMG are on the same topic. They need their own topics.

I really liked Alternity and used for Dark*Matter or Star*Drive, it's a great system. What wore me down and stopped me using it was that it wasn't in print. After ten quick campaigns of it, over ten years, I had "played it out" such that it was boring to me. OOP came to mean no new options and stagnation. So, for me, that's why I don't mind new editions or extra books for a game, as more options are good!

Good question! Thanks!

 

[slwoyach]

Mod Edit: General EN World Policy: don't discuss moderation in-thread. If you have a question, please take it up with a moderator in e-mail or PM. Thanks.
~Umbran

 

[DMH]

So, for me, that's why I don't mind new editions or extra books for a game, as more options are good!

Read my sig- lots of options by fans on Alternityrpg.net, from rules to settings.

Another thing I would like to see is a much beefier book on tangents.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

However the question this raises to me is: are folks looking to play StarDrive or DarkMatter with updated rules, or are folks looking to play a game in the Alternity ruleset, but with updated rules? I think some of us are on either side of this split, or perhaps somewhere in between.

We already have the answer to this. TSR/WotC already figured out that Alternity wasn't a popular game system.

(And yeah, I was a fan, which is why I'm bothering to reply to this thread. It's not easy to admit that something you like isn't liked by others.)

The settings, especially Dark Matter, were amazing.

StarDrive was kind of generic, and 13 stellar nations was probably 7 or 8 too many. I liked the Verge and the sesheyans though.

 

[dm4hire]

We already have the answer to this. TSR/WotC already figured out that Alternity wasn't a popular game system.

(And yeah, I was a fan, which is why I'm bothering to reply to this thread. It's not easy to admit that something you like isn't liked by others.)

The settings, especially Dark Matter, were amazing.

StarDrive was kind of generic, and 13 stellar nations was probably 7 or 8 too many. I liked the Verge and the sesheyans though.

Actually I think Alternity was dropped not because it wasn't popular, but because WotC was guaranteed to make more from Star Wars which was going to be a competing game system. The Star*Drive setting has a subtle Star Wars feel to it and the Weren scream Wookie clone. If you're making two games that are similar in nature you go with the one that draws the most people and money. Alternity was purely the victim of marketing logic and as mentioned in the Star Wars thread, which I spun this thread off of, now that Star Wars is taking a hiatus WotC is free to bring Alternity back. The reason I don't see WotC doing that is because they are purely a one system company now, relying on compatibility with D&D to help boost sales of spin off products (i.e. one of the key market point of the new Gamma World game is that you can use everything from D&D).

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Actually I think Alternity was dropped not because it wasn't popular, but because WotC was guaranteed to make more from Star Wars which was going to be a competing game system. The Star*Drive setting has a subtle Star Wars feel to it and the Weren scream Wookie clone. If you're making two games that are similar in nature you go with the one that draws the most people and money. Alternity was purely the victim of marketing logic and as mentioned in the Star Wars thread, which I spun this thread off of, now that Star Wars is taking a hiatus WotC is free to bring Alternity back. The reason I don't see WotC doing that is because they are purely a one system company now, relying on compatibility with D&D to help boost sales of spin off products (i.e. one of the key market point of the new Gamma World game is that you can use everything from D&D).

No reason it can't be both.

We listened when the customers told us that Alternity wasn't what they wanted in a science fiction game.

And the source: Ryan Dancey on the Acquisition of TSR

I think he knows more than both of us. I just wish WotC didn't go overboard (going the other way) when they made d20 Future. It was like the worst parts of Alternity had been distilled, rather than the best.