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It's Not D&D - My Experiences
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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 8951989" data-attributes="member: 4937"><p>What I've played:</p><p></p><p><strong>Gamma World 3e</strong></p><p>Extent of Experience: Several years late 1980s</p><p>Status: Incomplete poorly organized rules. Various severe balance issues. Most games ended up like D&D with a weird setting. Had a bunch of fun as a teenager.</p><p>Verdict: Lots of nostalgia for me that keeps me wanting to go back and do a campaign, but probably wouldn't use this rule set (probably would customize D20 Modern). Never have actually spent a lot of effort on it because not sure it's possible to get into the campy, schlocky, silly post-apocalypse setting if you aren't a teenager.</p><p></p><p><strong>Chill 2e</strong></p><p>Extent of Experience: Short campaign early 1990s</p><p>Status: Great horror game with neat rules and chargen. Hits in a completely different way than CoC. </p><p>Verdict: Would play or run again with the right group.</p><p></p><p><strong>Boothill 2e</strong></p><p>Extent of Experience: Played once.</p><p>Status: Was fun, but no idea how to run a Western campaign.</p><p>Verdict: Would play if I found a GM that could run Lonesome Dove, The Cowboys, Big Jake and all of that and make it fun.</p><p></p><p><strong>Paranoia 2e</strong></p><p>Extent of Experience: Played once</p><p>Status: Was fun, but I'm too serious to run a comedy RPG. Came out as a horror RPG.</p><p>Verdict: Would pay with the right comic GM, but wouldn't run.</p><p></p><p><strong>Call of Cthulhu 4e/5e/7e/Pulp</strong></p><p>Extent of Experience: One shots and short campaigns over a long period.</p><p>Status: Rarely have achieved what I want with the game, which is numinous horror, investigation and discovery, and lots of tension. Have discovered that the whole idea of no one but the investigators knows about the horror doesn't really work and think frameworks where the investigators are part of a society working against the mythos work better (which is also used in Chill). BRP system is very good with some great features like the way character development works, but the lack of useable difficulty scaling can be a real bother at time. Being forced to use division to resolve fortune is an obvious kludge. </p><p>Verdict: Requires the right group of players who aren't really invested in Fantasy as an aesthetic of play and are OK with random character death and never really having any control over anything. Probably won't try to run again with my current players, but would run with a different group</p><p></p><p><strong>WEG Star Wars D6</strong></p><p>Extent of Experience: One shots, short and long campaigns over a long period.</p><p>Status: When it works oh my can you hear the John Williams playing in the background. Probably the conceptual best dice pool system. However, increasingly dissatisfied with any system that doesn't use hit points owing to the nigh impossibility of balancing combat and the problem with death spirals. Difficult to GM. Source books are poorly edited and while the brand created beautiful IP, it also had poor quality control and oversight. Some huge gaps in the rules that become apparent over time. </p><p>Verdict: Playing a Bounty Hunter centered campaign with it now. Lots of fun. Wish it would come back in a new edition with some advanced combat rules and better balanced in published equipment, ships, beasts, etc.</p><p></p><p><strong>Vampire the Masquerade</strong></p><p>Extent of Experience: Couple of years in college</p><p>Status: This was such a meme.</p><p>Verdict: LOL. Angsty teens only.</p><p></p><p><strong>GURPS</strong></p><p>Extent of Experience: Short campaign</p><p>Status: Taught me that I didn't really know what I wanted in a system but realism wasn't the answer. Taught me everything that people complain about being 'wrong' in D&D like hit points, Vancian magic, classes, linear fortune mechanic etc. were just bogus complaints really and that every system has tradeoffs.</p><p>Verdict: Very educational experience but wouldn't repeat.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 18px">Exalted</span></strong></p><p>Extent of Experience: Short campaign</p><p>Status: Is it possible to make the Storyteller system worse? Yes. Yes it is.</p><p>Verdict: Wouldn't do again.</p><p></p><p><strong>Pathfinder 1e</strong></p><p>Extent of Experience: Short campaign</p><p>Status: It's D&D</p><p>Verdict: Hits the 3e D&D fix, but my house rules for 3e D&D are better. Would play but would not run.</p><p></p><p><strong>Star Trek 2D20</strong></p><p>Extent of Experience: One Shot</p><p>Status: Ugh. No. Just bad in about every way it could be bad.</p><p>Verdict: Never again.</p><p></p><p><strong>Alien</strong></p><p>Extent of Experience: One Shot</p><p>Status: To be fair, I hate the setting. I did like the Stress mechanic but would just rather play Traveller or D20 Future or N.E.W. Looked at the rules afterwards and just hate the combat rules.</p><p>Verdict: Not worth the effort.</p><p></p><p><strong>Goblonia</strong></p><p>Extent of Experience: One Shot</p><p>Status: Really, what a rules light game that supports one shots should play like. Minor nitpicks with the guidance of the game, but solid rules and quirky carefree setting. </p><p>Verdict: Would play again. Would run. Could be talked into a campaign.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 8951989, member: 4937"] What I've played: [B]Gamma World 3e[/B] Extent of Experience: Several years late 1980s Status: Incomplete poorly organized rules. Various severe balance issues. Most games ended up like D&D with a weird setting. Had a bunch of fun as a teenager. Verdict: Lots of nostalgia for me that keeps me wanting to go back and do a campaign, but probably wouldn't use this rule set (probably would customize D20 Modern). Never have actually spent a lot of effort on it because not sure it's possible to get into the campy, schlocky, silly post-apocalypse setting if you aren't a teenager. [B]Chill 2e[/B] Extent of Experience: Short campaign early 1990s Status: Great horror game with neat rules and chargen. Hits in a completely different way than CoC. Verdict: Would play or run again with the right group. [B]Boothill 2e[/B] Extent of Experience: Played once. Status: Was fun, but no idea how to run a Western campaign. Verdict: Would play if I found a GM that could run Lonesome Dove, The Cowboys, Big Jake and all of that and make it fun. [B]Paranoia 2e[/B] Extent of Experience: Played once Status: Was fun, but I'm too serious to run a comedy RPG. Came out as a horror RPG. Verdict: Would pay with the right comic GM, but wouldn't run. [B]Call of Cthulhu 4e/5e/7e/Pulp[/B] Extent of Experience: One shots and short campaigns over a long period. Status: Rarely have achieved what I want with the game, which is numinous horror, investigation and discovery, and lots of tension. Have discovered that the whole idea of no one but the investigators knows about the horror doesn't really work and think frameworks where the investigators are part of a society working against the mythos work better (which is also used in Chill). BRP system is very good with some great features like the way character development works, but the lack of useable difficulty scaling can be a real bother at time. Being forced to use division to resolve fortune is an obvious kludge. Verdict: Requires the right group of players who aren't really invested in Fantasy as an aesthetic of play and are OK with random character death and never really having any control over anything. Probably won't try to run again with my current players, but would run with a different group [B]WEG Star Wars D6[/B] Extent of Experience: One shots, short and long campaigns over a long period. Status: When it works oh my can you hear the John Williams playing in the background. Probably the conceptual best dice pool system. However, increasingly dissatisfied with any system that doesn't use hit points owing to the nigh impossibility of balancing combat and the problem with death spirals. Difficult to GM. Source books are poorly edited and while the brand created beautiful IP, it also had poor quality control and oversight. Some huge gaps in the rules that become apparent over time. Verdict: Playing a Bounty Hunter centered campaign with it now. Lots of fun. Wish it would come back in a new edition with some advanced combat rules and better balanced in published equipment, ships, beasts, etc. [B]Vampire the Masquerade[/B] Extent of Experience: Couple of years in college Status: This was such a meme. Verdict: LOL. Angsty teens only. [B]GURPS[/B] Extent of Experience: Short campaign Status: Taught me that I didn't really know what I wanted in a system but realism wasn't the answer. Taught me everything that people complain about being 'wrong' in D&D like hit points, Vancian magic, classes, linear fortune mechanic etc. were just bogus complaints really and that every system has tradeoffs. Verdict: Very educational experience but wouldn't repeat. [B][SIZE=5]Exalted[/SIZE][/B] Extent of Experience: Short campaign Status: Is it possible to make the Storyteller system worse? Yes. Yes it is. Verdict: Wouldn't do again. [B]Pathfinder 1e[/B] Extent of Experience: Short campaign Status: It's D&D Verdict: Hits the 3e D&D fix, but my house rules for 3e D&D are better. Would play but would not run. [B]Star Trek 2D20[/B] Extent of Experience: One Shot Status: Ugh. No. Just bad in about every way it could be bad. Verdict: Never again. [B]Alien[/B] Extent of Experience: One Shot Status: To be fair, I hate the setting. I did like the Stress mechanic but would just rather play Traveller or D20 Future or N.E.W. Looked at the rules afterwards and just hate the combat rules. Verdict: Not worth the effort. [B]Goblonia[/B] Extent of Experience: One Shot Status: Really, what a rules light game that supports one shots should play like. Minor nitpicks with the guidance of the game, but solid rules and quirky carefree setting. Verdict: Would play again. Would run. Could be talked into a campaign. [/QUOTE]
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