Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="timbannock" data-source="post: 9326091" data-attributes="member: 17913">I'd start with Shadowdark or Knave, and build from there.Before SD dropped, I was using Knave as the basis of some hacks and it was incredibly powerful and streamlined, making it really easy to do so. The compatibility with B/X-era D&amp;D means you open up so much content for direct use that it's mind-boggling, and with a few guides on back-porting 5E rules, you get all the modern stuff, too. It's great.That said, I think SD specifically nails the dungeon crawl aspect a bit better than even Knave does, so if that's an important piece, I'd use that instead. I much prefer SD these days, but that's because I'm running some really old school dungeon crawls. If I was running a more &quot;above world&quot; game, I'd probably start with Knave instead, but only maybe.I think 2E had a lot going for it that is the inspiration for 5E, and therefore back-porting 5E skills to take over for NWPs would be a great way to &quot;fix&quot; some of 2E's problems. I often think about a way to do that, effectively finding a middle-ground between the two systems that has less number bloat than 5E (mainly in HP), more consistency across features than 2E (mainly player-facing stuff), and strips the super-high-fantasy stuff from 5E in favor of 2E's (often) not-quite-as-super high-fantasy stuff. Like, a game where kits from the various 2E Complete books and its setting guides like Celts and Vikings are all balanced, as just one (major) part of what the system could do. (As it stands, kits in 2E are all over the place in terms of balance, to a ridiculous degree. Yet most of them are nowhere near the superhero fantasy shenanigans of mid- to late-level 5E subclasses.)I don't really know which path that is based on your descriptions. Maybe it's all about splitting hairs a specific way, right?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="timbannock, post: 9326091, member: 17913"] I'd start with Shadowdark or Knave, and build from there. Before SD dropped, I was using Knave as the basis of some hacks and it was incredibly powerful and streamlined, making it really easy to do so. The compatibility with B/X-era D&D means you open up so much content for direct use that it's mind-boggling, and with a few guides on back-porting 5E rules, you get all the modern stuff, too. It's great. That said, I think SD specifically nails the dungeon crawl aspect a bit better than even Knave does, so if that's an important piece, I'd use that instead. I much prefer SD these days, but that's because I'm running some really old school dungeon crawls. If I was running a more "above world" game, I'd probably start with Knave instead, but only maybe. I think 2E had a lot going for it that is the inspiration for 5E, and therefore back-porting 5E skills to take over for NWPs would be a great way to "fix" some of 2E's problems. I often think about a way to do that, effectively finding a middle-ground between the two systems that has less number bloat than 5E (mainly in HP), more consistency across features than 2E (mainly player-facing stuff), and strips the super-high-fantasy stuff from 5E in favor of 2E's (often) not-quite-as-super high-fantasy stuff. Like, a game where kits from the various 2E Complete books and its setting guides like Celts and Vikings are all balanced, as just one (major) part of what the system could do. (As it stands, kits in 2E are all over the place in terms of balance, to a ridiculous degree. Yet most of them are nowhere near the superhero fantasy shenanigans of mid- to late-level 5E subclasses.) I don't really know which path that is based on your descriptions. Maybe it's all about splitting hairs a specific way, right? [/QUOTE]

Verification