So can we just admit vs. Monsters is the One True Game and move on? :)

[Primitive Screwhead]

I like what I have found here, thanks much for the thread!

Google netted me vs Monsters and vs Elves...but can anyone provide links to the other peices mentioned here? Especially the vsM SRD?

Thanks!

[edit]
hmm, my google-fu is better this morning...
Ronin Arts vsM Page

but any other links would be appreciated!

 

[jaerdaph]

Here's my playtested (albeit over Guinness and Smithwick's) house rules for vs. Monsters:

The Joker’s Wild
Add two Jokers to the deck. If a player draws a Joker during a challenge or in combat, he or she may designate it as an Ace for a guaranteed success. If the player draws a Joker when determining damage, they may designate it as a Two to guarantee at least one point of damage is subtracted from the opponent’s Health. Alternately, the player may hold on to the Joker card and play it on the GM’s turn by swapping it with a monster or NPC’s highest card drawn during combat (but not a challenge) and designate it as a Two. While this doesn’t necessarily guarantee failure, it at least gives the opponent one less success against you for purposes of determining damage, which could be the difference between life and death. Players may not use a Joker they are holding to change the value of a card drawn by the GM when determining damage inflicted by a monster or NPC’s successful attack. A Joker drawn as a bonus card reward may be held by the player and played at any time as described above. Once a Joker is played as a wild card, it is removed from the deck for the rest of the game session. Of course, monsters and NPCs may take full advantage of a wild Joker too…

Waste Not Want Not
In addition to the 52 standard playing cards and two jokers found in a deck, many playing card companies include an additional card with information such as the company’s name, product and contact information, or an order form for poker chips, for example. Add this card to the deck. Any time this card is drawn, all cards including those in the discard pile must be gathered up and reshuffled. Bonus cards and wild Jokers held by players or the GM are not added back to the deck for reshuffling.

Bad Stuff: Coward Revised
The original version of Coward in the vsM Engine rules isn’t balanced with other bad stuff involving attributes like Slow and Slowerer. This revised version attempts to remedy that.
Coward: Reduce your Fighting and Defending attributes by one point each. Now add one point to Running you big chicken!

 

[Scurvy_Platypus]

How's it do for one-on-one games?

I find myself in the position of frequently only being able to run something like this for my wife, as the regular group we've got is D&D/WW only. My wife is willing to try out a wide variety of things though, so that's where I usually get to get my small press groove on.

 

[jaerdaph]

How's it do for one-on-one games?

I find myself in the position of frequently only being able to run something like this for my wife, as the regular group we've got is D&D/WW only. My wife is willing to try out a wide variety of things though, so that's where I usually get to get my small press groove on.

Well, I've been the GM for games (using the default setting) with three and two PCs now for a couple of weeks, but I feel confident it would still work well with only one PC. It's definitely optimal for one shots, pick-ups and occasional games, as well as spontaneous off the cuff games because it is so easy to learn, stat up quick NPCs/monsters etc.

I definitely want to push it to its limits by trying to run something more substatial with it though.

 

[jaerdaph]

but any other links would be appreciated!

Phil also did a Western version of the game called vs. Outlaws:

http://www.roninarts.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=5&products_id=490

 

[StreamMonk]

I'm so obsessed with this little gem right now I want to know everything I can about this!

I made an edited pdf of the SRD with a hyperlinked table of contents (it also includes links to the txt and img files of the original SRD):
vsM-Engine---SRD.pdf

 

[Willie the Duck]

I made an edited pdf of the SRD with a hyperlinked table of contents (it also includes links to the txt and img files of the original SRD):
vsM-Engine---SRD.pdf

Think you might have missed when this thread took place.

 

[Bacon Bits]

Think you might have missed when this thread took place.

Eh. Every other link in the thread is to roninarts.com, which is dead. The only copies of the game I can find is used physical copies on Amazon. Assuming it really was released OGL, this is just preservation of the old game.

 

[StreamMonk]

Eh. Every other link in the thread is to roninarts.com, which is dead. The only copies of the game I can find is used physical copies on Amazon. Assuming it really was released OGL, this is just preservation of the old game.

@Willie the Duck - I am aware when this thread took place. But if I got shunted here when looking for the SRD, other people will be too. Which brings me to @Bacon Bits - Correct, it is for archival/preservational purposes. Sooo many links to the original SRD were dead. I found one that worked and used it to create the PDF (with links to the original files I managed to find, a link to Mr Reed's twitter account, and all legal language in place). If it is of no use to the community it is easily ignored. But if it it serves as an easy foundation for someone's personal hacking, well that is just dandy too.

 

[Willie the Duck]

@Willie the Duck - I am aware when this thread took place. But if I got shunted here when looking for the SRD, other people will be too. Which brings me to @Bacon Bits - Correct, it is for archival/preservational purposes. Sooo many links to the original SRD were dead. I found one that worked and used it to create the PDF (with links to the original files I managed to find, a link to Mr Reed's twitter account, and all legal language in place). If it is of no use to the community it is easily ignored. But if it it serves as an easy foundation for someone's personal hacking, well that is just dandy too.

Good to know. It's not uncommon that this board or others gets a first-time poster that ends up here by a search engine or similar and doesn't notice the dates or whatnot. Glad to be wrong.