TORG: Eternity Who has played it?
JiffyPopTart
Bree-Yark
I don't know how much you have available to you, but I can recommend the Day One adventures to you.
It is a set of unconnected adventures....all set on Day One of the invasion, and each one shows off a different invading cosm. The way they are laid out is actually sort of like a videogame tutoral, where they introduce concepts over the course of the adventures.
This serves three good purposes...
1. The players get to learn the very basics of Torg in Adventure 1, as well as learn about the Living Land.
2. The players add in spellcasting and magic items in Adventuer 2, as well as learn about Aysle.
3. As a GM, you can get some practice on picking up the "feel" of each cosm and learn how each of those areas lend themselves to different styles of gamemastering.
Each adventure has prewritten characters that support the stepped learning. The characters are interesting and the plots of the adventures are mostly straightforward, but allow the players to explore the different environments. There are a lot of "Oh cool, check this thing out" parts of the adventures (like a certain magical ring from a famous fantasy movie being in a movie prop exhibition of a museum...which then transforms to Aysle with expected results).
The Day One adventure book will really help the players decide if the game is for them, and which parts of the game they like the best. Then you can focus on those things for your campaign.
********************
It occurs to me that its never really said outright, but one of the tricks of running Torg well is to remember the genre of fiction the different cosms represent and ensuring that you GM through that filter. In the Nile Empire you should run your games like an Indiana Jones movie. Car chases, lots of easily dispatched bad guys, hidden temples...etc. In Pan Pacifica you have the obvious ninjas and robots and mechs...but you also have the "trust no one" triple-double-agent corporate backstab elements as well.
I ran an entire adventure in that cosm that was simply the fallout of one of the PCs being hired to snipe a corporate turncoat from a hotel. After being tricked, spied on, and used by no less than 5 different groups before their mission ultimately failed they left the area and vowed that it was "the worst place on the planet" because they literally couldn't trust anyone. Players have a general blind-trust of the mission giver NPC or might suspect them of being an evil mastermind...but they NEVER expect the mission giver NPC is just hiring them for someone else on behalf of a third party who is at crossed swords with another corporation who is trying to turn the PCs back on their mission while a third unrelated group is manipulating them against the original two.....on and on. THAT can be the feel of a Pan Pacifica adventure, totally at odds with tomb raiding and running from giant rock ball deathtraps.
It is a set of unconnected adventures....all set on Day One of the invasion, and each one shows off a different invading cosm. The way they are laid out is actually sort of like a videogame tutoral, where they introduce concepts over the course of the adventures.
This serves three good purposes...
1. The players get to learn the very basics of Torg in Adventure 1, as well as learn about the Living Land.
2. The players add in spellcasting and magic items in Adventuer 2, as well as learn about Aysle.
3. As a GM, you can get some practice on picking up the "feel" of each cosm and learn how each of those areas lend themselves to different styles of gamemastering.
Each adventure has prewritten characters that support the stepped learning. The characters are interesting and the plots of the adventures are mostly straightforward, but allow the players to explore the different environments. There are a lot of "Oh cool, check this thing out" parts of the adventures (like a certain magical ring from a famous fantasy movie being in a movie prop exhibition of a museum...which then transforms to Aysle with expected results).
The Day One adventure book will really help the players decide if the game is for them, and which parts of the game they like the best. Then you can focus on those things for your campaign.
********************
It occurs to me that its never really said outright, but one of the tricks of running Torg well is to remember the genre of fiction the different cosms represent and ensuring that you GM through that filter. In the Nile Empire you should run your games like an Indiana Jones movie. Car chases, lots of easily dispatched bad guys, hidden temples...etc. In Pan Pacifica you have the obvious ninjas and robots and mechs...but you also have the "trust no one" triple-double-agent corporate backstab elements as well.
I ran an entire adventure in that cosm that was simply the fallout of one of the PCs being hired to snipe a corporate turncoat from a hotel. After being tricked, spied on, and used by no less than 5 different groups before their mission ultimately failed they left the area and vowed that it was "the worst place on the planet" because they literally couldn't trust anyone. Players have a general blind-trust of the mission giver NPC or might suspect them of being an evil mastermind...but they NEVER expect the mission giver NPC is just hiring them for someone else on behalf of a third party who is at crossed swords with another corporation who is trying to turn the PCs back on their mission while a third unrelated group is manipulating them against the original two.....on and on. THAT can be the feel of a Pan Pacifica adventure, totally at odds with tomb raiding and running from giant rock ball deathtraps.
Mark Hope
Adventurer
I think this lies at the heart of a great Torg experience. On a meta-level, Torg is about playing with genres. Mixing characters from different genres. Seeing what will happen when characters from one genre end up in another. It's a game that tells stories about stories and it really rewards you when you lean into that. It is a magnificent game.
aramis erak
Legend
I've run a one-shot of the original. I've not the updated one, but I've got it.
System's largely the same, but they dropped an attribute, and at first glance, that is the point I stopped. I got it because the wife was playing it.
The Monster
Explorer
I remember OTorg was okay, but there were many times I felt like my mind was sliding across the surface of the rules, with modifiers and Possibilities usage and and and... (we were playtesters for the magic supplement, and the arcane (in every sense of the word!!) spell-building mechanics). To my memory, it was a lot more fun in the concept than the execution.
Our group is having a lot of fun with TorgE. Every character we have makes an important contribution (I think the worst situation was the elf archer and my martial artist against a couple of attack helicopters, but others pulled our behinds out of that fire). Even support characters are effective and work smoothly with the mechanics.
TorgE feels much easier and smoother to me, with a fine balance of chrome and crunch. I get enough crunch to make a difference, but not so much that I feel like I have to take a college course to work the system.
The multiple decks and Possibilities flow do make resource management a key element, kind of like many board games do nowadays. A lot of flow and interaction just among those game elements - our group enjoys that sort of thing, but if you're into immersion...yeah, no. On the other hand, how much immersion are you looking for when your elf wizard is teamed up with a cyborg witch and a wannabee The Shadow?
Our group is having a lot of fun with TorgE. Every character we have makes an important contribution (I think the worst situation was the elf archer and my martial artist against a couple of attack helicopters, but others pulled our behinds out of that fire). Even support characters are effective and work smoothly with the mechanics.
TorgE feels much easier and smoother to me, with a fine balance of chrome and crunch. I get enough crunch to make a difference, but not so much that I feel like I have to take a college course to work the system.
The multiple decks and Possibilities flow do make resource management a key element, kind of like many board games do nowadays. A lot of flow and interaction just among those game elements - our group enjoys that sort of thing, but if you're into immersion...yeah, no. On the other hand, how much immersion are you looking for when your elf wizard is teamed up with a cyborg witch and a wannabee The Shadow?
aramis erak
Legend
When you're doing extended... IIRC...
You need to succeed on a task related to the extended action to gain the letter showing that turn. THis may have been pre-set or may be assigned on the fly, depending upon the goal.
If the task has been defined to be done in order only, then you can only do B if you already have an A...
If the overall task can have the 2-4 assigned parts independently, then they can be done in any order..
The collection is, IIRC, group, not individual. Side by side.
You need to succeed on a task related to the extended action to gain the letter showing that turn. THis may have been pre-set or may be assigned on the fly, depending upon the goal.
If the task has been defined to be done in order only, then you can only do B if you already have an A...
If the overall task can have the 2-4 assigned parts independently, then they can be done in any order..
The collection is, IIRC, group, not individual. Side by side.
I played in a virtual game this weekend at Con of Champions. I really enjoyed it. The cards are fun and add cool ideas or roleplaying opportunities. The combat was fast. The system is not overly complex, with lots of options. Cool pregens out of the book which shows devs play their own game. The quality is good too. I have the core book in PDF and I think I might try it out (GM) in the future.
The Roll20 character sheet was really handy btw... just click on something and it rolled for you.
The Roll20 character sheet was really handy btw... just click on something and it rolled for you.
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