What Licensed RPG Do You Wish Existed But Doesn't?

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

My problem with settings where adults pretend to be teens is they can get away with being creepy about romancing other kids. That is such a red flag about the person in real life that I would stop being friends with them.

That's an awfully broad brush.

Does this standard apply to actors playing teenagers on TV shows and movies where there are also minor actors?

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Because Gurps New Sun exists, I'll have to go with a Malazan Book of the Fallen RPG (though, I'd go for an RPG based on the unfinished Kharkhanas trilogy, too).

Man, I wish Steve Erikson would just explain how the magic system is supposed to work, because other than that it seems like it would fit right into GURPS, which isn't surprising because it originated in Erikson and Esslemont's GURPS campaign. E.g. Dassem Ultor is basically a Weapon Master (All) with stupidly high levels of weapon skill, maybe Unaging, Altered Time Rate and Enhanced Time Sense, and a whole bunch of leadership skills like Tactics and Strategy plus some powerful Enemies like Hood. Kallor killed Orfantal in dragon form by (probably) critting him in the vitals, resulting in knockdown, and the falling damaged finished him off (whereas Kallor is Unkillable 2 but not Unaging due to Divine Curse).

But that magic system is a total black box. What did Quick Ben do to Bauchelain and Korbal Broach? How strong is Tiste Edur sorcery? Could the Pannion Seer wreck an army with magic or just a battalion? What limits exist on K'rul or Lady Envy? Every time someone opens a warren I can only shrug helplessly--I have no idea how Malazan magic works or on what scale, and that's bad for gaming. I can't even figure out whether the warrens were actually created by K'rul or by the Eleint.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

I'll throw in another vote for Iain M. Banks' Culture novels. It would be one of those books I might not ever play but would make a fascinating read.

I'd also enjoy seeing a book or even supplement for one of my favorite fantasy settings: Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos series.

(Almost voted Chronicles of Amber, then I remembered the Amber Diceless thing in the 90s...)

You have good taste! (Also the Pliocene Exiles would be fun.)

The Vlad Taltos backstory also comes from RPGs. You can tell that Daymar, Kiera the Thief, Aliera e'Kieron, and Morrolan e'Drien were all high-level PCs loaded with magic weapons and stuff (which explains why they hang out with each other and Vlad so much in Jhereg, although in later novels Brust did a great job of retconning that into something sensible).

My favorite is Issola, the action-packed epic fantasy story which mostly consists of introspective conversations between the characters about topics such as history, languages, food, and the nature of courtesy. And I'm not even joking, it is action-packed despite that, yet somehow the conversations are the best part.

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

I still want an Xcom ttrpg.

 

[Faolyn]

My problem with settings where adults pretend to be teens is they can get away with being creepy about romancing other kids. That is such a red flag about the person in real life that I would stop being friends with them.

...do you normally play with adults who want to perv on teens? Or do you think that the adults you normally play with are the type who would perv on teens if given the opportunity?

Coz if not, if you can trust your players, then there shouldn't be a problem.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

My problem with settings where adults pretend to be teens is they can get away with being creepy about romancing other kids. That is such a red flag about the person in real life that I would stop being friends with them.

Now I want to see a Hogwarts-style RPG about 40-year-old adults who are, through some bureaucratic nightmare, still stuck in high school together. They can romance other adults and it's not creepy, right?

...Then you realize that this is essentially how life canonically is for D&D 5E elves. They physically mature at the same rate as humans, but they don't get respect from adult elves until they're a century or so old. Imagine being stuck in high school for a century.

 

[Old Fezziwig]

But that magic system is a total black box. What did Quick Ben do to Bauchelain and Korbal Broach? How strong is Tiste Edur sorcery? Could the Pannion Seer wreck an army with magic or just a battalion? What limits exist on K'rul or Lady Envy? Every time someone opens a warren I can only shrug helplessly--I have no idea how Malazan magic works or on what scale, and that's bad for gaming. I can't even figure out whether the warrens were actually created by K'rul or by the Eleint.

I agree. I think what makes this even worse (from where I'm sitting) is that I can't escape the sense that Erikson clearly knows how it works!

 

[Reynard]

I still want an Xcom ttrpg.

I may or may not be working on a Savage Worlds project of this specific genre (not licensed tho).

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

I agree. I think what makes this even worse (from where I'm sitting) is that I can't escape the sense that Erikson clearly knows how it works!

And the characters too! Dujek and Whiskeyjack and Laseen and Anomander Rake must know how powerful a mage must be to wreck an army, and how rare or common such mages are, or warfare would be utter chaos. But they never talk about it in front of the reader.

 

[Old Fezziwig]

And the characters too! Dujek and Whiskeyjack and Laseen and Anomander Rake must know how powerful a mage must be to wreck an army, and how rare or common such mages are, or warfare would be utter chaos. But they never talk about it in front of the reader.

I know! About the only thing that the characters don't know that the reader also doesn't know is exactly how powerful Quick Ben is.