Thought on the Degenesis rpg?

[chaoshead87]

I grabbed the main book and started reading it, it is a dense book full of background and AMAZING art. I was just wondering if anyone has ran or played it and what your general overall thoughts were.

On a side note to this I received an email from them about a new game they are creating called clan wars that has minis so I'm assuming it is a minis skirmish game of some sort which I'll probably check out as well.

Anyway, my first impressions of Degenesis is that it has a very good, well thought out backstory with a lot of factions to bring into the game, all with their own agendas of course. I'll continue reading it as I feel that it is a compelling story that has drawn me in more than I expected.

 

[Temperantia]

Hi. First post here, but I have followed the community here for some time


I've run Degenesis for the past 1 1/2 years on a biweekly schedule and we're having a great time with it. The gist is: I would recommend it if (and only if) the world and lore is catching your attention; and you are willing to accept it has a few rough edges.

The factions (cults) of Degenesis are front and center to the game experience. If the characters belong to different cults, are no rogue agents and you stay within the boundaries set by the lore, their agendas will clash sooner or later. This can make for very interesting party dynamics (if your players are up for that) or it can ruin their experience (if they are not).

The dice pool system works well, interesting at times and some parts of it interact well with the lore. However it is not necessarily a balanced system (some potentials are hands down better than others), and if you include the expanded rules from the Artifacts book, there is even more potential for "gamebreaking" characters. That being said, combat can be quite deadly to any character. In my experience the system rewards balanced characters over min-maxed ones, as the GM can throw lots of different challenges at the party. Overall, it is better suited to a narrative/rp-heavy style than combat-focused style.

The official campaign books are a good read but have the reputation of being very railroady and I fell into the trap of running the first exactly as written as well. If the GM takes them more as inspiration and gives the players a bit of freedom, they can turn into something truly memorable and rewarding.

Lastly, Degenesis is rather adult. Some discretion is advised. Some of the depictions in the books are not exactly great, and there is a scene in the third campaign book that should never, ever be run as written imho. That being said, some of the criticism that can be found online is caused by fundamentally misunderstanding the game's message and just off.

Happy to answer any more questions you might have.

 

[2Eguy]

I grabbed the main book and started reading it, it is a dense book full of background and AMAZING art. I was just wondering if anyone has ran or played it and what your general overall thoughts were.

On a side note to this I received an email from them about a new game they are creating called clan wars that has minis so I'm assuming it is a minis skirmish game of some sort which I'll probably check out as well.

Anyway, my first impressions of Degenesis is that it has a very good, well thought out backstory with a lot of factions to bring into the game, all with their own agendas of course. I'll continue reading it as I feel that it is a compelling story that has drawn me in more than I expected.

I bought the collectors edition in January of 22. I've only run 60% of one module for a few reasons. First my scheduling default is always for d&d, second it's sooo beautiful I don't want to mess up the books and lastly it's a super dense world. I'd like some time as a player before returning to run the game so that I'm more familiar and can do it justice. I love the world and all the concepts.

 

[Temperantia]

Re - doing it justice from a GMs perspective; common wisdom on the Degenesis Discord is that you are better off starting small. Don't bring 8 cults into the mix at once. Limit your opposing faction to one or at most two. Don't look at Sleepers, Marauders, Amsumos and maybe also not at Homo Degenesis from the onset as enemies, as they all come with lots of lore baggage that not only you want to understand, but also give your players a chance to absorb it.

Not all of the official modules are suitable for beginners, in fact, most aren't (in my opinion). Look for the module Harm's Way. It's commonly regarded as the best port of entry.

Re - not messing up the books; all of them are downloadable for free at the Degenesis website. If you are fine with using PDFs at your table, that could be an option.

 

[Jd Smith1]

I'm running my second campaign. I have never used the game system; I'm currently using modified T2k4e. It is an amazing setting, with strong Discord support.

The published adventures are junk, but they contain a lot of useful material.

Since the meta game was never fully explained, a GM has considerable latitude to tweak the setting to suit himself and his group.