Which game engine suits this best?

[CAFRedblade]

The Cypher system setting The Strange is almost exactly what you are describing. Modern current world, pocket dimensions/worlds the players go to to stop/prevent destruction/evil from affecting the real world.
Even if you don't use the Cypher system, perhaps take a look at the campaign/setting books.

 

[RivetGeekWil]

Oh, one other recommendation for diving into Cortex Prime is to give the Tales of Xadia rules primer a gander: Tales of Xadia Rules Primer | Fandom Tabletop As a toolbox, Cortex Prime can be a bit confounding on how to choose which parts to use and how they fit together. ToX is the first "full" RPG to come out under the Cortex Prime ruleset and so even if not using the same options in your campaign it can be a good reference and example on how to put it all together. Plus the module for Challenges is excellent and highly flexible to adjudicate all sorts of situations.

When you buy the Prime core book, you get access to the Codex which contains the rules for the challenge mod.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Hi folks,

I am coming up with a campaign idea. Sort of Men in Black meets the fantasy multiverse. The idea is that an AI has become self aware, and an unforeseen consequence of that is that the walls between the real and the imaginary are weakening. Fiction is seeping into the world, whether it be a zombie attack in small town Texas, vampires in London or anything from imagined worlds. The characters are tasked with closing the rifts between worlds. Sometimes that is easy and just a matter of defeating the foe on earth or convincing them to return to their own world, but sometimes the characters will need to go into the imaginary world to find the McGuffin that will close the rift. Sometimes they will need to go into a rift to work out which character from an imaginary world has made it into our world and then hunt them down.

The idea is that the powers that be know that the world is doomed and that all realities will merge at some point, but they are just trying to hold off the inevitable. The characters will find out over time that they need to convince enough iterations of the AI over multiple worlds to shut itself down in order to save reality. They will team up with the AI on our world to track down the other iterations (who could be anyone - Dumbledore, Darth Vader, Rumplestiltskin etc).

The characters will start off as normal humans with normal earth classes, but as they level up I want them to be able to take skills from the worlds they have visited.

So my question is..... is there a game system that will fit this? I've been looking at Savage Worlds, and I think Cypher System might be a goer as well. I'd like the basic system to be easy for players to learn as they are not used to 'not-D&D'.

Any suggestions will be gratefully explored.

I think a PbtA, maybe just take Apocalypse World, write a few paragraphs about how you want to present the world, and design a couple of playbooks. I mean, the stereotypes are pretty well trodden here. You have your hackers, your conmen, your 'agent' types, maybe more of a 'law enforcement' type, a PI, mad scientist, psychic, etc. You don't have to do them all, and you can always riff off of existing playbooks in various PbtAs (AW itself is a good place to start). It will require a little work up front, but given that the milieu and your play are evolving together its hard to make big mistakes!

PbtAs are also really mechanically straightforward. Certainly no harder, IMHO, to run than other similar narrative oriented games. You could use something like FitD too, but I think it is a bit more mechanically heavy. Nowadays I am all for lightweight!

 

[Rabbitbait]

Thanks everyone. I've had a look through and I'm really liking the modular nature of cortex prime. I think I'll be buyin that one. Then I just need to work out how to make it work easily on Roll20 as my gaming group is spread across the country.

 

[RivetGeekWil]

Thanks everyone. I've had a look through and I'm really liking the modular nature of cortex prime. I think I'll be buyin that one. Then I just need to work out how to make it work easily on Roll20 as my gaming group is spread across the country.

That's going to be rough. Because R20 doesn't do good with dice pools. There is a Discord bot for Cortex called CortexPal2000. There's also Fari.app.

 

[Thomas Shey]

The Cypher system setting The Strange is almost exactly what you are describing. Modern current world, pocket dimensions/worlds the players go to to stop/prevent destruction/evil from affecting the real world.
Even if you don't use the Cypher system, perhaps take a look at the campaign/setting books.

Its not super easy to port that over, though (which I've thought about since I like the setting but not the system).