Toadmaster Posted March 25, 2003 Report Share Posted March 25, 2003 Anyone have recommendations for fantasy games that would be good to pick ideas from. Along with recommendations why would be nice to know as well (what makes it a good referance) whether its the game world, the magic system or something else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Long Posted March 25, 2003 Report Share Posted March 25, 2003 Ars Magica, for the magic system. The Dying Earth RPG, for just about everything. Authentic Thaumaturgy, from SJG, for interesting (if often biased) ideas. Shadowrun, for the magic system (in re: the way it sets laws and boundaries and then works within them). Deadlands, for the flavor of the magic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShadowRaptor Posted March 25, 2003 Report Share Posted March 25, 2003 Exalted, Wheel of Time, and Earthdawn are also unique games with a good magic system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thag13 Posted March 25, 2003 Report Share Posted March 25, 2003 Steve nailed it right on the head. Deadlands Machanic of using a deck of cards and drawing poker hands for how well magic spells work in a given situation was genus. ShadowRun's Magic system has a great feel to it as well. It can be a little slow running a combat with it, but the results are worth it when you can get the system down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midhir Posted March 25, 2003 Report Share Posted March 25, 2003 Warhammer Fantasy RolePlay has a great series of modules (Power Behind the Throne series) that set a great dark fantasy gaming world perfect for roleplaying and down and dirty fighting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtelson Posted March 25, 2003 Report Share Posted March 25, 2003 If you're looking for detail try Mythus or Rolemaster. They both have rigid but in depth magic systems - Mythus in particular could be described as downright complicated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peregrine Posted March 25, 2003 Report Share Posted March 25, 2003 I'll be the heretic. D&D, for all it's chronicled faults, has some nice ideas. Of particular recommendation are the Van Richten's Guides. They have a lot of good roleplaying advice for different types of undead and lycanthropes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted March 26, 2003 Report Share Posted March 26, 2003 I'll agree, the game itself is pretty lacking but the worlds and backgrounds are pretty good. I know some people that enjoy the Darksun setting. I HATE the Dragonlance setting primarily due to Kender. If I had to play in a campaign, I would take Extreme Hatred of Kender 20 pts as a Disad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoth Posted March 26, 2003 Report Share Posted March 26, 2003 Originally posted by Shadowpup HATE the Dragonlance setting primarily due to Kender. Dragonlance. Dragonlance! I HAVE to like the Dragonlance setting. See when I was a kid on one of our family summer trips I read Dragonlance -- The Legend of Huma. In the very back of the book was an add about playing the book or let you adventures continue or something like that. The add was for the D&D basic box set. I remembered getting something like that for a gif from my cousin but at the time my mom though I was too young and put it up. When we got home I dug it out and it was the 2nd box-set the blue one so later that week I went and got the 1st box-set the red one and it all started from that book. Z.O.T.H "MEMORY QUERY COMPLETE" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShadowRaptor Posted March 27, 2003 Report Share Posted March 27, 2003 I forgot about this, but another really good source of ideas is from all the many video rpgs we have available to play. Any number of them can give you ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tetsuyama Posted March 27, 2003 Report Share Posted March 27, 2003 If you're looking for interesting source material for your world, I find that Dragon magazine frequently has some interesting stuff on world building. It also occasionally has some cool character ideas and scenarios which I puree with elements from my homebrew world to come up with something useful. I haven't followed Dungeon magazine particularly closely, but it looks like it also might have some decent stuff in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShinDangaioh Posted March 28, 2003 Report Share Posted March 28, 2003 Let's start it off big. Talislanta. The world is one of the richest I've seen. Next up, Rolemaster and its setting Shadow World. ICE does put a lot of detail in their modules, despite their small size Powers & Perils has a rigid magic structure that can be easily emulated by Hero. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted March 29, 2003 Report Share Posted March 29, 2003 I would agree on the Shadow World setting. It has a rich feel to it, and a long history to mine for campaign ideas. If you like the notion of Urban Fantasy, there is an out of print (I believe) game called Cuttthroat. It was set in a sort of Thieves World type of fantasy city. For a more modern take on fantasy, try Bloodshadows. The notion of film noir mixed with fantasy elements inspired some good games. Picture a 1920s-era private eye going up against vampire-controlled syndicates and accompanied by a gorgeous "moll" type, and you start to get the idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucius Posted April 22, 2003 Report Share Posted April 22, 2003 Glorantha The world of Glorantha from the Runequest game. One of the most detailed and fascinating settings ever. The myth, the magic, the cosmology, it was incredibly detailed and it all WORKED. A lot of it could probably be emulated in Hero too. Lucius Alexander And the verdict is - innocent! Feed them to the palindromedary! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Obvious Posted April 22, 2003 Report Share Posted April 22, 2003 While there's not much in the way of cool rules to convert, Warhammer Fantasy Role Play has atmosphere in spades. Overall history isn't too shabby, if that's what you're into. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted April 23, 2003 Report Share Posted April 23, 2003 The best FH game I ever was in was in the Dark Sun setting, which was close enough to the usual fantasy world to not totally lose the players, but different enough to be a real treat. Plus it gets around the whole tank problem quite easily. Even if you could find enough steel to make armor, you'd never wear it because the heat would kill you by lunchtime. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomd1969 Posted April 23, 2003 Report Share Posted April 23, 2003 Nephilim from Chaosium has an incredible magic system, particularly if you use the Liber Ka rules for Sorcery. Only in this game will you find cool and evocative spell names like "The Powerful, Pale Queen of Pain with Tears of Flame." I've been working on and off on converting it to the Hero System for some time now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trencher Posted April 29, 2003 Report Share Posted April 29, 2003 You can also get some good ideas if you ask for sugestions here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wyrm Ouroboros Posted April 30, 2003 Report Share Posted April 30, 2003 I hate be that guy who says 'me too', but in regard to WFRP, 'me, too!!' WFRP, IMO, actually does have a good system (which is why, for fantasy, I prefer it over anything else), but what it really has is a most excellent atmosphere. With a good GM (and I had one of the best), 'good' translates into 'phenomenal'... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted April 30, 2003 Report Share Posted April 30, 2003 Originally posted by Shadowpup I HATE the Dragonlance setting primarily due to Kender. If I had to play in a campaign, I would take Extreme Hatred of Kender 20 pts as a Disad. I don't think you can get points for that... I think it's kind of just assumed. Kender are frickin irritating, though. Just like elves, only smaller, and harder to hit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolgroth Posted May 2, 2003 Report Share Posted May 2, 2003 Originally posted by Old Man The best FH game I ever was in was in the Dark Sun setting, which was close enough to the usual fantasy world to not totally lose the players, but different enough to be a real treat. Have you ever tried converting Dark Sun to HERO? I also really liked the setting and am planning to use it, or something like it, in one of my eventual games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted May 2, 2003 Report Share Posted May 2, 2003 Converting it? We played it for over a year, up until our characters were nigh unto Champions level (but for SPD). I'm afraid I don't have much left over from the campaign to give you in terms of weapon stats and whatnot. A few things I can remember: Weapon breakage: Rather than having to roll for breakage on every swing, we fudged it so that the to-hit roll was what mattered: chitin breaks on 18 bone breaks on 17+ obsidian breaks on 16+ Obsidian weapons were usually -2 str min just to make up for the hideous breakage rate. Magic: Sorcery ran off an end reserve with a slow recharge rate. Every spellcaster had to buy one 'spell' that was an aid END with a 60 pt SE (RKA radius vs. plants). (An area effect xfer body to end might have made more sense, but it would have been obscenely expensive.) Reduced end was not allowed. It could be fun to watch a preserver run out of end, and then fight the temptation to kill everything green within thirty feet... Otherwise spells were bought the usual way: no power framework; at least -2 in lims (skill roll, inc, gest, concentrate). Psionics: Characters were permitted to buy exactly one psionic power with AP no greater than 2x INT, and the invisible advantage was required. That kept psionics to reasonable power levels. No lims were required, though. I don't remember the specifics of the racial packages but I don't think that's hard to figure out. I believe we used the ad&d conversion guidelines out of the back of 4th ed. FH to handle the critters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted May 2, 2003 Report Share Posted May 2, 2003 I found this Dark Sun FH link on google. It's sparse but it's another take on the setting. http://freespace.virgin.net/michael.cugley/Athas/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolgroth Posted May 3, 2003 Report Share Posted May 3, 2003 Thanks for the information and the link. Unfortunately, it didn't provide what I was looking for, but the effort was appreciated. Now all I have to do is convert the more "exotic" of the Dark Sun races to HERO and I should be set. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delthrien Posted May 5, 2003 Report Share Posted May 5, 2003 I believe... ... someone already mentioned Earthdawn. After Ars Magica, I'd have to say it's my favorite magic system. The setting was quite spiffy as well though, I might be biased, having been one of the playtesters on the 1st edition... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.