Alternity 2e Wish List

[dm4hire]

In the thread discussing WotC's letting the Star Wars license lapse I mentioned how it would be awesome if a second edition of Alternity were released. I've got a lot of XP from fellow fans who'd like to see it happen. So my question to everyone is if it were announced WotC, or even someone else doing a clone, were preparing to release Alternity 2e what would you like to see fixed or left the same? What mechanics from 3.x, Saga, and 4e do you think would fit or make it better? Also if it were done as a clone what genre would you like to see incorporated besides Sci-Fi?

 

[Reynard]

I'd like to see an actual 2nd Edition of Alternity rather than a new edition of d20 Modern/Future. I thought Alternity had a great many cool ideas and mechanics built into it, from the modifier die to degrees of success to skill rank benefits. Plus, I think the idea of the "house system" for WotC has run it's course. Let the designers run wild.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I think there are probably a lot of good ideas that could be mined from games like M&M 2Ed (esp. ultra-flexible PC design), SpyCraft, and even non-WotC/3.X games like Everway, Traveller, or the Central Casting Books (deep PC background mechanics).

(Or to dredge up something truly ancient & obscure, the planetary/star system design rules from SSI's long OoP RPG, Universe.)

The trick would be winnowing down the universe of good ideas into a uniform system (while avoiding as many design pitfalls as possible)...which is where professional game designers make or break their reps.

Oh yeah...I want HIGH production values and an end product that has obviously been well-edited. By living editors, not just by someone pressing buttons for catching spelling/grammar errors.

 

[El Mahdi]

The problem I see is this: with the incredible amount of available game mechanics to choose from today, it would be very possible to make one new, incredibly awesome, modern game system - but would it be Alternity?

How do you change and update Alternity, and still be able to call it Alternity?

What parts need to be changed?

What parts are absolutely necessary to retain the Alternity identity?

I honestly don't know the answers to these questions. I think it would be very challenging to answer them. But, I'd love to see an Alternity 2E.

And then, a reboot and update of Star*Drive and Dark*Matter...

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

The problem I see is this: with the incredible amount of available game mechanics to choose from today, it would be very possible to make one new, incredibly awesome, modern game system - but would it be Alternity?

Again, the trick is marrying the new mechanics with the old flavor- the art of the game designer...and definitely something that is deemed a success or failure in the eyes of the beholders.

IOW, the prospective market.

 

[Umbran]

Also if it were done as a clone what genre would you like to see incorporated besides Sci-Fi?

I would prefer anyone cloning it not try to stretch it to cover other genres. The game already handles everything from current-day to far-future SF, and that's more breadth of coverage than most games provide. But then, I'm not a believer in the idea that a game has to do 17 things to be successful.

The big barrier for a new game isn't even in core game design, but instead in the setting/supplement writing. Dark*Matter is considered one of the best written supplements ever for several reasons, and matching that would be difficult.

 

[Remathilis]

To be true to form, it HAS to have Dark*Matter come out right before they cancel the line utterly...

 

[Stormonu]

Keep
---------
Situation Die Steps
Ordinary, Good, Amazing success levels
Skill-based systems w/ career tracks
Durability track

Change
---------
Unified XP advancement (remove variable cost/skill)
Races - assume human, make all others optional and put them in an FX appendix

 

[slwoyach]

* Drop professions, they seemed to be kind of pointless. I honestly think they were put in just to make it closer to AD&D players' comfort zones.

* Combine achievements and perks into a unified feat list.

* Drop rank benefits. Many of them could be added to the feat list.

* Limit attributes to Brawn (combined strength and constitution), Agility, Intelligence, and Will. Create charisma feats to take place of personality trait.

It can already handle everything from stone age to far future, so I don't see any change needed there.

 

[DMH]

We have discussed this on A.net a few times:

AlternityRPG.Net Forum -> What are the best house rules here?

AlternityRPG.Net Forum -> If you could rewrite the PH, what would you add?

The big thing I would like to see is the incorporation of optional rank benefits. You can think of them as d20 feats. The optional skill rules that TSR put online soon after the PH was released make hero design better.