What system for...

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Just to drag the thread kicking screaming back on topic:

What system would you use to run a campaign inspired by something like Them or 8 Legged Freaks or other atomic horror giant bugs?

I haven't played it myself, but the first thing that comes to mind is They Came from Beneath the Sea!, which is all about 1950s atomic horror monster movies.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Just to drag the thread kicking screaming back on topic:

What system would you use to run a campaign inspired by something like Them or 8 Legged Freaks or other atomic horror giant bugs?

The only thing a lot of games that handle modern action without being too over the top could do that, though you're better off with one that has good investigative support.

Personally, I'd probably use This Defiant Earth which was custom-made for that sort of purpose. Its a little more lightweight than I normally lean into, but given its specifically targeted at that sort of cinematic experience, that's okay.

 

[dbm]

GURPS Atomic Horror seems on the money.

The genre in general is fairly pulp so I could probably run it with Savage Worlds, personally. Maybe leverage the Horror Companion for some additional focussed advantages or procedures.

 

[Thomas Shey]

GURPS Atomic Horror seems on the money.

I ran a GURP Atomic Horror game back in the day, and it'll work but honestly, its probably a little more in-the-weeds than that genre requires.

The genre in general is fairly pulp so I could probably run it with Savage Worlds, personally. Maybe leverage the Horror Companion for some additional focussed advantages or procedures.

That'd be my inclination if I did us TDE.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I haven't played it myself, but the first thing that comes to mind is They Came from Beneath the Sea!, which is all about 1950s atomic horror monster movies.

Using Storypath would certainly be workable. TCFBtS probably is actually a bit more at length in the provided setting and, honestly, a bit more aquatic focused than you'd need. (I also think its perhaps a bit too tongue-in-cheek, but that's an accusation that could be directed at all the "They Came from..." games.)

 

[aramis erak]

There is YZE SRD, but I have not looked at it in.depth enough to know which additional mechanics are in it.

It's got, last I checked, which was mid last year, the mechanics from Alien, Tales from the Loop, Things from the Flood, Coriolis: The Third Horizon, and Twilight 2000 4th (but not the lifepath char gen). Including Stress dice from Alien. It makes a good toolkit.

 

[aramis erak]

Also makes me think of The Dallas RPG, though I have zero real exposure to the rules so don't know if they were an actual good fit for the genre.

No. It's barely into the RPG space. No character gen, pregens only. one roll resolves the scene's conflict. It's really at the parlor game edge of RPGing.
It's historically interesting, but mechanically weak.

Using its playmode would work better with Fate Core, or with Firefly (or a close recreation thereof under Cortex Prime)...

 

[Kannik]

No. It's barely into the RPG space. No character gen, pregens only. one roll resolves the scene's conflict. It's really at the parlor game edge of RPGing.
It's historically interesting, but mechanically weak.

Ah great, thanks for the details! So cool that it existed, but not a good one to crib from.

Though... one roll resolving all the scene's conflict isn't necessarily an issue as it reminds me of how Mouse Guard plays (and maybe Burning Wheel as a whole as MG is BW derived, but I have no experience with BW in it's native form) with its resolution roll at the beginning of the scene. I wrote a whole blog post about getting the 'reverse' playstyle that MG uses, but once we got it there was a certain kind of empowerment that came from knowing the outcome and crafting the most interesting path there (including really poignant failures).

And so I'm now thinking that would be something that could work very well for a soap-opera or family-drama style campaign and storyline. It could really let the melodrama flow and the character interactions take centre stage.

Again, I don't know Cortex, but I understand that at least for a while it was used for a number of mid to high profile licensed games. Familiarity with those, I assume, would prime one to be able to use Cortex as a toolkit.

Unfortunately all of those are now out of print which makes them tough to use as examples for newcomers. :/

Moreover, I personally found the game does a bad job of explaining why and how you would use certain rules. A frequent question that I would see on the Cortex Prime Discord was "how do I do magic in this game?" The answer was usually something to the effect of "it depends on what you want magic to do," which while true is also something of a non-answer that doesn't really help people trying to grok the system.

Indeed. My guess is that the core book was meant as a "step 1", with those kind of explanations and campaign examples to follow in subsequent books. (Whether that was a good strategy is another discussion...) But given what happened afterwards with ownership and etc all that never came to fruition and so it's left in a huge limbo as a very well put together and very well running system but with both no onramp and nothing to advertise it.

* In contrast, Fate has a LOT of these (and for cheap) so you can see different ways that people have utilized the system.

Which after the above is the next foot shot foot, as the license that came out by the previous owner was cribbed from their online-wiki side of things and not a TTRPG side of things and was therefore not very feasible for creators. And then it was sold again and the new owners haven't created a revised license. There are a lot of fan-produced settings and hacks that could fill the void from the official Spotlight settings not getting their day in the sun, but they're not centrally seen on commercial TTRPG sites like itch or drivethru as they can't really be there due to the lack of license.

 

[Foxmikelima]

Ironsworn: Starforged.

Starforged would handle this in a breeze, other than you'd need to create an Asset for each mutation just to give it some groundwork functionality, but the basis of them can all be handled through in-narrative fiction + the assigning of an asset card.


Licensing is open, even for derivative commercial.

Licensing

Tomkin Press provides an open creator's license for games such as Ironsworn, Starforged, Delve, and Sundered Isles.

tomkinpress.com

+1 for Starforged, also a great option for solo play since it has oracles built in.

 

[aramis erak]

Ah great, thanks for the details!

You're welcome.

So cool that it existed, but not a good one to crib from.

Honestly, not much to it. Nothing to crib from.

Though... one roll resolving all the scene's conflict isn't necessarily an issue as it reminds me of how Mouse Guard plays (and maybe Burning Wheel as a whole as MG is BW derived, but I have no experience with BW in it's native form) with its resolution roll at the beginning of the scene. I wrote a whole blog post about getting the 'reverse' playstyle that MG uses, but once we got it there was a certain kind of empowerment that came from knowing the outcome and crafting the most interesting path there (including really poignant failures).

The differences twixt BW and MG are huge; the commonalities are mostly in the use of BIGs (which are all BW Beliefs; BW Instincts are actually character macros) and the dice mechanics and scale of skills.

I've run Burning Wheel, Burning Empires, and Mouse Guard... the huge skill lists of BW/BE are why I've not gone back to them.