Thomas Shey
Legend
Base Cepheus is very close, but I gather there are some bigger changes here, though I don't know if as much so as Cepheus Deluxe which is a different offshoot.
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What is/are your most recent TTRPG purchase(s)?
- Thread starter Reynard
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Base Cepheus is very close, but I gather there are some bigger changes here, though I don't know if as much so as Cepheus Deluxe which is a different offshoot.
aramis erak
Legend
Original Cepheus release: It's built on MGT1e Basically, the changes are mostly character gen, bringing it closer to CT standards. Fewer careers, no Special Duty rolls, reenlistment roll separate from promotion/commission roll,, commission separate from standard advancement. The Trade and Commerce is derived from Bk2, not the MGT1 version. Ship building has hulls to 5KTd.
But it's still, at its heart, MGT 1e. Notably, It uses MGT1 world gen, tasks, combat, injury, aging...
I'm too chincy to buy Cepheus Deluxe.
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
Had a surprise windfall last week. Got the hobby shop covers of Van Richten's and the Book of Many Things.
I don't particularly care about Ravenloft from a nostalgia standpoint, so I actually think VRGR is one of WotC's better setting books: tons of unique little sub-settings, lots of adventure hooks, weirdness abounds, etc... I still think Rising from the Last War is better, but VR isn't bad.
Whizbang Dustyboots
Gnometown Hero
I also admire them for taking even a brief shot at looking at horror sub-genres and how to flesh them out. I think Ravenloft probably appeals to a lot of horror-curious folks who don't know all of this stuff backwards and forwards and by naming and describing "folk horror," "body horror" and the like, I think they give DMs the tools to figure out what they and their players are interested in and the vocabulary to research it further if they're interested. It's a good model.
And yeah, the overall structure is pretty good. I know there are people who want Harn-level detail in their settings, but a few pages for the equivalent of a single county (or very small country) is plenty detailed for me and I'd love to see a similar approach taken to other settings. (I don't know if Radiant Citadel sold well enough to justify it, but a pure setting book on the Radiant Citadel and the Concord Worlds would be great, IMO. I have been shocked at how enthusiastic some of my players are about the Concord Worlds -- there are people who definitely felt underserved by traditional D&D settings.)
Autumnal
Bruce Baugh, Writer of Fortune
Loner 2nd edition and a couple of setting packs for it. It’s a solo-oriented RPG drawing on Freeform Universal and some other inspirations (all fully credited, which makes me happy). I like that all its traits are qualitative - I’m in a phase of liking as few quantities as possible. Conflict is a matter of trying to wear down the opponent’s resistance as measured in luck points. Rolls are d6 - d6, with relevant traits, gear, etc, conferring advantage (2d6 - d6) or disadvantage (d6 - 2d6), cancelling out as in D&D. Outcomes are yes, and; yes, yes, but; no, but; no; no, and. Oracles are all d66, and loaded with fun options.
The complete rules are free at DriveThru and itch.io. The paid version adds a dozen setting packs, each one twenty or so pages long with customized oracles, a view key points for the genre as they cover it, and nifty mechanics tweaks for fine-tuning, like interrogation rules or fear & insanity rules. There are also example factions ready to pick up and use. There are also hundred-page supplemental settings one for legendary Japan and one for steampunk toward the Difference Engine end of the spectrum.
An interesting feature of character creation is that it suggests designing your character’s nemesis at the outset, or picking an early-encountered NPC to elevate. This isn’t something I usually think about off the bat, but I’m softened up by Ironsworn/Starforged vows to find it appealing.
Loner plays very lightly - more than most gamers will like. But then, as I’ve noted before, I’ve become an extreme case over decades, and this speaks to me. No array of moves like Ironsworn and Starforged, no list-keeping like Mythic GME, but elements of both could (I think) be swiped easily enough.
The complete rules are free at DriveThru and itch.io. The paid version adds a dozen setting packs, each one twenty or so pages long with customized oracles, a view key points for the genre as they cover it, and nifty mechanics tweaks for fine-tuning, like interrogation rules or fear & insanity rules. There are also example factions ready to pick up and use. There are also hundred-page supplemental settings one for legendary Japan and one for steampunk toward the Difference Engine end of the spectrum.
An interesting feature of character creation is that it suggests designing your character’s nemesis at the outset, or picking an early-encountered NPC to elevate. This isn’t something I usually think about off the bat, but I’m softened up by Ironsworn/Starforged vows to find it appealing.
Loner plays very lightly - more than most gamers will like. But then, as I’ve noted before, I’ve become an extreme case over decades, and this speaks to me. No array of moves like Ironsworn and Starforged, no list-keeping like Mythic GME, but elements of both could (I think) be swiped easily enough.
Thomas Shey
Legend
I like the latter much better than the other versions I'm familiar with, but I suspect many of the same things I like about it (very minimal randomness in character gen for example) are exactly the things more traditional Trav and Ceph types would hate.
Alzrius
The EN World kitten
I picked up Far Distant Future Publishing's Awesome Ancestries: Two-to-One, Vol. 1 - Exotic Species the other day, and all I can say about it is...
Finally!
Okay, that's not quite all I can say, so I'll expound: finally someone is back-converting PF2 races to PF1! Yeah, this isn't the first time someone's done that (this product itself gives props to Michael Mars' Shoony: Pug People for Pathfinder 1st Edition), and there are several other PF2-to-PF1 products out there for things like spells and classes if you know where to look, but this feels different.
Different how, you ask? Maybe it's because this translates fives races instead of just one, or because the title openly declares that there's going to be subsequent volumes of conversions (to date, there's a second volume for PF2-to-PF1, and a third for Starfinder-to-PF1, with more being promised). It all adds up to this coming across as a big push to start converting content over, at least where PC races are concerned.
And, quite honestly, I've been waiting for this for a while now. PF2 came out almost five years ago now, and it was always only a matter of time before back-conversions of PF2-exclusive content happened, so I'm thrilled to see so much of it. It's almost, almost like we're still getting new stuff from Paizo for PF1...albeit through an intermediary.
Naturally, this is all possible because of the OGL, which is why I'm still sad about WotC's ill-considered revocation attempt, which drove Paizo to stop using it. While there's still a lot of PF2 content that can be ported back to PF1, nothing from the Remaster can be (at best it could result in some "inspired by" stuff, but that's not the same), and the same will be true when Starfinder 2E comes out. It's a shame, and it didn't have to be this way; I'm just glad someone's translating over the stuff that still can be translated over.
Of course, the product itself is quite good, especially for what seems to be a one-man operation. Admittedly, the artwork is a lacking, but the fact that it's converting existing creatures makes that understandable; you don't need new art for existing creatures, when you can just go to, say, the Pathfinder Wiki and look them up (which this product advises you to do). Even then, the author includes full write-ups, and doesn't forget things like the random height and weight tables, favored class bonuses, etc. I can't really comment on the accuracy of the conversion, since PF2 isn't my jam, but as far as PF1 rules go, these seem spot-on.
Needless to say, if they keep turning out products like this, then Far Distant Future Publishing is aptly named, at least as far as how long I'll be giving them my money is concerned.
Please note my use of affiliate links in this post.
Finally!
Okay, that's not quite all I can say, so I'll expound: finally someone is back-converting PF2 races to PF1! Yeah, this isn't the first time someone's done that (this product itself gives props to Michael Mars' Shoony: Pug People for Pathfinder 1st Edition), and there are several other PF2-to-PF1 products out there for things like spells and classes if you know where to look, but this feels different.
Different how, you ask? Maybe it's because this translates fives races instead of just one, or because the title openly declares that there's going to be subsequent volumes of conversions (to date, there's a second volume for PF2-to-PF1, and a third for Starfinder-to-PF1, with more being promised). It all adds up to this coming across as a big push to start converting content over, at least where PC races are concerned.
And, quite honestly, I've been waiting for this for a while now. PF2 came out almost five years ago now, and it was always only a matter of time before back-conversions of PF2-exclusive content happened, so I'm thrilled to see so much of it. It's almost, almost like we're still getting new stuff from Paizo for PF1...albeit through an intermediary.
Naturally, this is all possible because of the OGL, which is why I'm still sad about WotC's ill-considered revocation attempt, which drove Paizo to stop using it. While there's still a lot of PF2 content that can be ported back to PF1, nothing from the Remaster can be (at best it could result in some "inspired by" stuff, but that's not the same), and the same will be true when Starfinder 2E comes out. It's a shame, and it didn't have to be this way; I'm just glad someone's translating over the stuff that still can be translated over.
Of course, the product itself is quite good, especially for what seems to be a one-man operation. Admittedly, the artwork is a lacking, but the fact that it's converting existing creatures makes that understandable; you don't need new art for existing creatures, when you can just go to, say, the Pathfinder Wiki and look them up (which this product advises you to do). Even then, the author includes full write-ups, and doesn't forget things like the random height and weight tables, favored class bonuses, etc. I can't really comment on the accuracy of the conversion, since PF2 isn't my jam, but as far as PF1 rules go, these seem spot-on.
Needless to say, if they keep turning out products like this, then Far Distant Future Publishing is aptly named, at least as far as how long I'll be giving them my money is concerned.
Please note my use of affiliate links in this post.
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I bought the Swords and Wizardry box set. Half off sale with the supplement pack included for free AND not only PDFs of everything in the box but additional PDFs of extra material. I couldn’t pass it up!
I gotta say I’m really loving it and glad I got it. Box is deep enough to put the White Box: FMAG book and other stuff too, so all my OSR stuff is in a nice portable box.
The font size is small, but still readable. I’m really digging games that come in the digest format rather than a4ish.
It came down to S&W or OSE Advanced. Both are great but $30 is better than $80.
I gotta say I’m really loving it and glad I got it. Box is deep enough to put the White Box: FMAG book and other stuff too, so all my OSR stuff is in a nice portable box.
The font size is small, but still readable. I’m really digging games that come in the digest format rather than a4ish.
It came down to S&W or OSE Advanced. Both are great but $30 is better than $80.
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