System for Old School Dungeon Crawl + Modern Setting?

[icemaster109]

I've been jonesing for awhile to run a game where a bunch of 80's steel workers find a dungeon through in their basement. Hijinks ensue (imagine They Live or Big Trouble in Little China). I'm looking for a system that is light, easy, fast - and has that old school dungeon feel - but allows for guys using shotguns, weed wackers, and football pads. Any ideas on what I can use?

 

[nomotog]

Maybe just use D&D, but add rules for shotguns.

 

[Dave R]

Maybe Silent Legions? It's a modern day setting on an old school D&D chassis, so it has the benefit of compatibility with published dungeons and monsters if that's helpful. You'll just need to be generous in assigning stats to things like weed wackers and shoulder pads, or you'll get players going straight for heavy artillery.

 

[Meliath1742]

Savage Worlds

 

[tom.zunder]

Savage Worlds, no hesitation

 

[Razjah]

Savage Worlds would do this well. FATE could also.

But I really suggest you take a look at Feng Shui. Feng Shui 2 is coming out (think pdf is available now) also. Feng Shui is the hong kong action movie rpg. It's a blast to play and a very simple system for the players.

 

[innerdude]

Savage Worlds + the East Texas University campaign setting. Seriously, you really can't get much closer to a perfect fit than this.

 

[tom.zunder]

Feng Shui is a good idea, Savage will work straight out of the core book. FATE can do it but might take more prep. A system that smoothly handles guns and monsters and magic and swords is what is called for. Which means, and I have haven't said this for years, GURPS. All Flesh Must Be Eaten would work well, especially with the Dungeons & Zombies sourcebook. But I think Savage or Feng Shui will just play from the core books perfectly.

 

[Lawngnome4hire]

Savage Worlds is definitely light, fast, and easy to use. And it can accommodate any genre with relative ease. However if you try and run a party through an old school dungeon crawl you're likely to slaughter the party very quickly.

The thing you have to remember is that D&D, especially older editions, is a game of attrition. It's designed to gradually wear down your resources and run you through challenge after challenge until you earn enough experience to level. Savage Worlds on the other hand is a game of action, where every challenge has the potential to be lethal. When converting D&D material to SW the first thing most people will tell you is weed out all the combats that aren't important to the story. You can totally run an adventure with the feel of an old school dungeon crawl. You just have to go about it a little differently because of the difference in the systems.

 

[PEG_Games]

Hi folks!

First of all, thanks for all the support for Savage Worlds.

I think ETU is the best fit, but you're right--you can run a scenario like that with just the core rules.

If you're not familiar with our system, I recommend checking out the Test Drive rules. We just released a new set with a Lankhmar adventure in it (not modern day, but it'd bring you up to speed).

For creating your own scenario, remember to make most of the bad guys Extras and let the players have fun wading through them--whether they're a swarm of rats, skeletons, or giant spiders. For your mid-level thugs, make sure the Toughness and Parry are a tad high. Even an Extra with a Toughness of 8 needs a raise (12) to knock them out. Then the Boss has all three: high Parry, Toughness, and as a Wild Card those 3 Wounds to whittle down. It's not as easy as it sounds...especially when those Extras keep hitting you!

Hope that helps, and thanks again for the kind words!

--Jodi for PEG