D&D feel/fun in games without class, level, etc. (+)

[Autumnal]

Alas, the physical stuff doesn’t do me much good - I lack a table big enough to be helpful and mobility problems + clever kitties make setup on the floor not so good. I’m going to peer at a friend’s PDF tonight, though.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Alas, the physical stuff doesn’t do me much good - I lack a table big enough to be helpful and mobility problems + clever kitties make setup on the floor not so good. I’m going to peer at a friend’s PDF tonight, though.

I'd actually be interested to know whether people playing ITL in VTT have problems with the megahexes. Its easy enough to get hex grids in VTT, but I don't know any obvious way to display them in megahexes, and I'm not clear how much that would or wouldn't be a problem.

 

[Aldarc]

Well huh. I thought ICRPG has both classes and levels. Someone better tell me about its other distinctive features or point me at a good review so that I can be less of an ignoramus.

2E ICRPG moves closer to (but not fully) a class/level structure, which I find somewhat regrettable. There are a number of videos about the system on Youtube, including by the creator.

 

[Staffan]

I've never gotten around to playing it, but Earthdawn always struck me as a game that tried to do D&D from a different angle.

It's sort of class- and level-based, but this aspect works in reverse from D&D. In D&D, you get XP which you put in a big pile and when you've gotten enough you gain a level which makes you better at various stuff. In Earthdawn, your class ("Discipline") gives you access to various Talents (explicitly magical abilities, though they range in actual effect from being rather mundane skills to Special Cool Moves), and you spend XP ("Legend Points") to improve those talents. When you've improved them enough, you qualify for training for the next level ("Circle") in your Discipline, which gives you access to new Talents.

The setting was originally conceived as a Shadowrun prequel – where Shadowrun is the "Sixth World", where magic is on the rise, Earthdawn is the "Fourth World", taking place in the pre-historic time when the world last had strong magic. It turns out that when the magic level is too high, Horrors from the astral plane and beyond can enter our world and eff things up, and when that happened people hid away in "kaers", large magically reinforced underground cities (think Fallout Vaults, but made with magic). A significant portion of these failed, allowing the Horrors in to murderdeathkill (or worse) everyone and creating an in-setting reason for why there are underground complexes here and there with a lot of monsters and traps guarding vast wealth. The magic levels have passed their peak but for some reason stopped falling a century or two ago, so people have emerged from the successful kaers and are now rediscovering their world in the wake of the Scourge.

Oh, and the focus of the game is on a region called Barsaive, which is essentially where Ukraine is today.

 

[Autumnal]

Earthdawn is a good thing to remember, thanks!

 

[Thomas Shey]

I almost mentioned Earthdawn, but I thought it might be too class-and-levely for you.

 

[Autumnal]

It otherwise would be, but from all I’ve heard, they did the work to anchor things in the setting. Though I’d be inclined to lean toward the FU-based version (if I’m understanding correctly that such a thing exists).

 

[Thomas Shey]

Couldn't say, but yes, people can actually talk in-character about their classes and levels and have it make sense in-setting.

 

[aramis erak]

What games do you/have you used for fast relief of major symptoms, and how did it go? What have you considered using?

Having been reading Dragonbane, it's not going to be quite D&D feel, since the power level gain is going to be slower, but the starting point a bit higher as well...

I can see why it's selling well. The boxed set is 10 archetypes, 6 kins, skill driven in play. It does use ranks to describe spells - and while it claims rank has no mechanical weight, it does tell you how many layers deep the prerequisites are for that spell... EG: Permanency (R5) requires Magic Seal (R4) which requires Transfer (R3) which requires Magic Shield (R2), which requires one of 2 rank 1 spells. Starting mages have 3 "Tricks" (cantrips, basically), and 3 rank 1 (no spell prerequisites) spells.

Looks like a solid set of rules.

 

[DeathbyDoughnut]

A game I haven't seen mentioned but is a blast to play that is classless and leveless is Sword of Cepheus for trad fantasy, or Barbaric for more Swords and Sorcery vibe.
Do you know how to play Traveller?
Yes? Cool, now you know how to play both those games.
No? It's easy, 2d6+mod system versus TN of (usually) 8+. That's the basics.
Character creation is fun and varied like Traveller but with fantasy tropes.