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  1. innerdude

    Am I using the right system?

    Just following up on @aramis erak 's statement --- My experience with GURPS was very much the opposite of Theory of Games'. After 25+ sessions across both GURPS 3e and 4e, my overwhelming experience was that despite its supposed flexibility, GURPS consistently led to suffocatingly boring...
  2. innerdude

    New generic contemporary/urban fantasy?

    So you said you looked at Savage Worlds but stated it was too generic. If you're looking at just the straight core rules, then yes, I imagine you'd feel it was too sparse or not really "baked" to run the type of urban fantasy you've described. The way Savage Worlds normally works is you take...
  3. innerdude

    New generic contemporary/urban fantasy?

    I would be surprised beyond belief if some combination of Savage Worlds Adventure Edition + East Texas University setting, or SWADE + Rippers setting, or SWADE + Deadlands Noir setting couldn't meet your requirements. If it were me, I'd pull SWADE + ETU + Deadlands Noir off my shelf and go. If...
  4. innerdude

    What TTRPG Is Perfect and Complete In One Volume?

    My "desert island" RPG is hands down Ironsworn: Starforged. It's the first game I think of in terms of "perfect and complete in one volume." Artist: Joshua Meehan https://joshmeehanart.com/
  5. starforged-cover-art.png

    starforged-cover-art.png

  6. innerdude

    RPG Books with the Best Art

    I'm not normally a huge "Oooh, look at the RPG art!" kind of person, so if a book's art is so demonstrably appealing to me that I'm willing to speak up about it, it's probably pretty good . . . you know, as far as my limited, subjective taste in art goes. :p The one where I can clearly remember...
  7. innerdude

    My "Savage" Experience

    Just one more design note, while I'm thinking of it --- armor is a big, big deal in modern and sci-fi settings in Savage Worlds. Which is obviously a function of the fact that, unlike D&D, your target number to get hit by ranged attacks never goes above 4, ever, barring application of a few...
  8. innerdude

    My "Savage" Experience

    Even after 8+ years of almost nothing but Savage Worlds GM-ing and play, even I looked at Rifts and went, "Whoah. Heavy." But some of that may also be the idea of Rifts as a setting has never appealed to me in the slightest, so . . . there's that too. :p
  9. innerdude

    My "Savage" Experience

    @Retreater --- I can relate. In my 8-year run with SW from 2011 to 2019, I had probably six or seven different battles that played out that way. It doesn't happen very often; normally if the dice are behaving, combat really is a fun, furious (though less fast than one might expect, as you...
  10. innerdude

    House rules to eliminate "dead rounds" + Shaken from Savage Worlds (and ... it kind of ends up like hit points)

    The only real suggestion provided in the rules is to avoid scaling toughness quite so far but instead give certain enemies extra wounds (4+) with lower toughness. Which . . . is fine, I suppose, but so far our playtests with the Strain mechanic have been very positive. It not only solves the...
  11. innerdude

    Savage Worlds with no combat?

    It plays more or less the same, only characters are busting out some seriously powerful (and fun) edges and tricks, and your enemy selection has to get much more deliberate and careful not to unbalance the parry + toughness thresholds so that combat doesn't bog down (unless you use the Strain...
  12. innerdude

    House rules to eliminate "dead rounds" + Shaken from Savage Worlds (and ... it kind of ends up like hit points)

    So why is Innerdude even sharing this? I've stated several times on this board that I played and GM'd Savage Worlds for a long time (8+ years) as my primary, go to system. But I ultimately came to the conclusion that I simply didn't like the way high parry + high toughness battles played out...
  13. innerdude

    Dismantling the Game Master

    Ironsworn: Starforged 's co-op mode (all players have co-equal GM authority) is literally some of the most fun I've ever had in tabletop roleplaying. Ever. It was absolutely incredible. It's not the same experience as D&D, though, mostly through emphasis on things other than combat (though its...
  14. innerdude

    How Serious Do You Like Your Gaming?

    I've sort of decided that for my group I can expect a level of seriousness that about approaches an episode of Star Wars: Rebels. It's light and fast and "breezy", but the characters are well realized and have real motivations. If I can manage that, all good. Anything more serious than that...
  15. innerdude

    Trying to Describe "Narrative-Style Gameplay" to a Current Player in Real-World Terms

    So coming back to this after a brief hiatus --- I brought up Emberashh's prior claims because I wanted to evaluate them in light of a Vulture article I've shared here several times now, where the author looks at the video game and TV series The Last of Us with an eye to probing the tension...
  16. innerdude

    Describe your last rpg session in 5 words

    Savage Worlds, shaken rules excised
  17. innerdude

    Planning a 3-Night RPG (and hiking) getaway (recommendations needed!)

    Tiny D6 is perfect for this sort of thing, if your players are willing to let you as GM do a lot of the heavy lifting of worldbuilding and "Rulings and not rules" style of play. I think I like Tiny Frontiers (sci-fi) a little bit better than Tiny Dungeons (fantasy), but anything in the series...
  18. innerdude

    Canada Worldbuilding

    My Ironsworn campaign a few years ago was a near-literal transliteration of the Vinland Saga. My map of the "Ironlands" was a section of the Labrador coast that I traced in Affinity Designer and established landmarks for. The main landmark I called the Bay of Redwater, which was the site of...
  19. innerdude

    Trying to Describe "Narrative-Style Gameplay" to a Current Player in Real-World Terms

    So coming back to this thread after not having had time to fully engage (work stress will do that to you). First thing, I know Emberashh has stated repeatedly that he doesn't believe that PbtA as a whole presents a viable gameplay loop for what it actually says on the box (create...
  20. innerdude

    Trying to Describe "Narrative-Style Gameplay" to a Current Player in Real-World Terms

    This is absolutely an appropriate thing to bring up, and Star Wars has a definite bias to this kind of action---saddle up, gear up, and go in. Maybe make a recon of the area, a quick report back, but really, you know where your enemy is, you know the basic situation, either get in and do the job...
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