Alternity 2e Wish List
- Thread starter dm4hire
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dm4hire
Explorer
So if a clone were to be made any thoughts on the reskin? One I had is that Weren could be renamed Sasquatch which they were called in one of the other settings basically, if memory serves me correctly, but that name can't be copyrighted as it's a public domain name for a real world/mythical creature.
Thoughts?
Thoughts?
(Psi)SeveredHead
Adventurer
It's the other way around. The sasquatch was revealed (in d20 Dark Matter, I believe) to be transported weren. Similarly, the greys are just renamed fraal.
(Dark Matter is a prequel to Star Drive, if you will.)
Sandman were essentially reskined Mechanus
Mothman were basically the Sesshayans
Kinori were the T'sa
I've always wanted to strip out all the copyrightable fluff so I could have an Alternity SRD, but the Alternity races are unfortunately copyrighted (unlike most DND races). That means I had to rename the races, so I stripped the fluff out completely and just left them as groups of abilities and a general theme that; the template names along with an alternate races are below:
Magic Men (Fraal): Elves. In fantasy campaigns I prefer magic to follow the rules for psionics in sci-fi campaigns instead of fx, which I don't care for.
Cyborg (Mechalus): In a sci-fi campaigns, human cyborgs can very easily use the Mechalus' racial abilities.
Beast (Weren): Troglodites, barbaric and powerful reptilian humanoids who raid human lands. I also base my ogres on weren.
Quickling (T'sa): Monokee, technologically proficient monkeys.
Hunters (Seshayan): Gargoyles. In a fantasy campaign gargoyles inhabit the deepest and most isolated jungles/forests. Gargoyle statues are based on the Gargoyle race.
Heh, I wrote my last post before reading yours. Pretty much what you said.
El Mahdi
Muad'Dib of the Anauroch
I never made those connections before. That's pretty cool.
I would probably backstory that the Etoile used Mechanus DNA in making Sandmen, and that Kinori explorers left earth via Doorways and founded the T'sa homeworld (but that they've physically evolved a bit since).
But as far as Mothmen, they are straight-up, 100% Sesshayans. That is seriously cool! I've read through my Dark*Matter Campaign book probably a hundred times, and never made that connection before. Thanks!
Achan hiArusa
Explorer
Alternity was a bridge between 2nd and 3rd Edition, I don't know why people want to get rid of the Professions, they are very rules light and a right set of professions can define your world much easier. It is not like any edition of D&D where your character classes straight-jacket you and they avoid the GURPS syndrome where every character starts different and ends up buying the same things for efficiency.
The experience system. i love it and wouldn't change it. Well, except for one thing, I allowed my players to spend their XP as they earned them and made them keep a running total, when they got enough they leveled up and I used the optional rules for skill purchase where each rank wasn't a geometric progression (we pretty much dropped that in the first game when we were doing character creation and it made it far easier to convert Megatraveller characters over to Alternity).
System clunkiness. Never saw that and I ran Alternity in Dark Matter, Tangents, Traveller, and Gamma World. But then again I never see why anyone has difficulty with math in any game system. It may be because I'm a physicist and I played Champions in college. Then again, I had math hapless Theater and Art majors playing in my games and none of them saw any clunkiness with the system and liked rolling multiple types of dice at once.
Things I would change. I would probably incorporate feats as perks and rank benefits and I would get rid of maximum resistance modifiers on ability scores. In addition, I would add size categories ala 3.x and allow size multipliers on larger creatures for durability much like Weren (Size L x1.5, Size H x2, Size G x3, Size C x4, Size Awesome x5). And I might use the step system from Unearthed Arcana d20 rather than the Alternity one for a smoother die progression.
The experience system. i love it and wouldn't change it. Well, except for one thing, I allowed my players to spend their XP as they earned them and made them keep a running total, when they got enough they leveled up and I used the optional rules for skill purchase where each rank wasn't a geometric progression (we pretty much dropped that in the first game when we were doing character creation and it made it far easier to convert Megatraveller characters over to Alternity).
System clunkiness. Never saw that and I ran Alternity in Dark Matter, Tangents, Traveller, and Gamma World. But then again I never see why anyone has difficulty with math in any game system. It may be because I'm a physicist and I played Champions in college. Then again, I had math hapless Theater and Art majors playing in my games and none of them saw any clunkiness with the system and liked rolling multiple types of dice at once.
Things I would change. I would probably incorporate feats as perks and rank benefits and I would get rid of maximum resistance modifiers on ability scores. In addition, I would add size categories ala 3.x and allow size multipliers on larger creatures for durability much like Weren (Size L x1.5, Size H x2, Size G x3, Size C x4, Size Awesome x5). And I might use the step system from Unearthed Arcana d20 rather than the Alternity one for a smoother die progression.
LightPhoenix
First Post
In general, the rules need to be tightened up. Also, reading the Player's Guide is a chore; it needs to be written much more coherently. Certain aspects of the system clearly were underdeveloped, and stuff from the later books (Vehicles, Psionics) should really be incorporated into a 2E Alternity. The terminology needs to be tightened as well.
My biggest change would be to get rid of the Broad Skills. They served little function save as a SP sink. All Specific Skills can be taken however your heart desires, as long as you have the points for it. I would definitely keep Skill Ranks; I think it's one of the defining attributes of Alternity. There would be some little changes as well, most likely.
Another aspect that bothers me is the ambiguity behind the Wound Track. Not the different categories per se, but how they blend together in complicated ways. Very simply, a full Stun bar would result in Unconscious, a full Wound bar would result in Incapacitation, and a full Mortal bar would result in Death. The Fatigue bar would fold into the Stun bar. No crossover, and Dazed would still exist.
I'm very ambivalent on Alternity's dice-rolling mechanic. I think it adds flavor to the system, but I also think it's somewhat unintuitive. In concept I like the idea of bonus dice, but I don't think it really gels as written. On the other hand, again, I think it makes the system distinctive. I just can't help but think it would be so much easier to use static modifiers. In any instance, I would make higher = better; it goes a long way towards making it easier on everyone (not all of us are mathies).
My biggest change would be to get rid of the Broad Skills. They served little function save as a SP sink. All Specific Skills can be taken however your heart desires, as long as you have the points for it. I would definitely keep Skill Ranks; I think it's one of the defining attributes of Alternity. There would be some little changes as well, most likely.
Another aspect that bothers me is the ambiguity behind the Wound Track. Not the different categories per se, but how they blend together in complicated ways. Very simply, a full Stun bar would result in Unconscious, a full Wound bar would result in Incapacitation, and a full Mortal bar would result in Death. The Fatigue bar would fold into the Stun bar. No crossover, and Dazed would still exist.
I'm very ambivalent on Alternity's dice-rolling mechanic. I think it adds flavor to the system, but I also think it's somewhat unintuitive. In concept I like the idea of bonus dice, but I don't think it really gels as written. On the other hand, again, I think it makes the system distinctive. I just can't help but think it would be so much easier to use static modifiers. In any instance, I would make higher = better; it goes a long way towards making it easier on everyone (not all of us are mathies).
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