Has anybody played "Spirit of the Century"

[Sociotard]

http://www.evilhat.com/home/?page_id=103

 

I haven't bought it. yet. But the cover has a masked man of mystery fighting a gorilla, who is flying a biplane. A zepplin is in the background and a scrappy dame is dangling from the biplane.

 

How much more awesome can a cover get?

 

I haven't played it but I'd be interested to hear if this is any good. The site says it uses the "Fate System". Anybody familiar with it?

[Sweeper]

Re: Has anybody played "Spirit of the Century"

 

Spirit of the Century uses a variant of the Fudge System along with the Fudge Dice. Instead of numeric attributes or skills, you use Adjectives of the character( thought there is an option to use numbers ranging from -2 to +8 which handily correspond to each adjective). The fudge dice, if your not familiar with them, have 2 blank sides, 2 '-' sides, and 2 '+' sides. You roll 4 of them and use them to adjust your adjective/number.

 

The game uses the adjectives in ladder like this:

+8 Legendary

+7 Epic

+6 Fantastic

+5 Superb

+4 Great

+3 Good

+2 Fair

+1 Average

0 Mediocre

-1 Poor

-2 Terrible

 

The Dice are used to raise or lower the character's place on the Ladder like so:Example: Sally Slick is a Superb (+5) engineer.

She rolls the dice to defuse a bomb and she rolls --0+ (-1) for a total

result of +4. Checking the ladder, that’s a Great (+4) effort.

(this is taken from the book itself, just so you know. )

 

 

There is also a part of the character called 'Aspects' which are part of the character origins and are roughly equivalant to Talents, Perks, and Disadvantages. They allow the player to affect the scene with them in conjunction with using fate points.

 

It took my a little while to wrap my head around it. But once I did, it played pretty smoothly.

 

Hope it helps.

[GothKidSamurai]

Re: Has anybody played "Spirit of the Century"

 

Spirit of the Century and the FATE engine it is built on is probably my current favorite RPG system.

[Susano]

Re: Has anybody played "Spirit of the Century"

 

I played in a demo session of it and wasn't exactly impressed.

[Thia Halmades]

Re: Has anybody played "Spirit of the Century"

 

Mm... creamy. I prefer more crunchy bits in my cereal. Although, I'm in the "by all means, complicate this further" crowd (which drives my players batsh-t).

[GothKidSamurai]

Re: Has anybody played "Spirit of the Century"

 

Yeah, I can see how it isn't everyone's cup of tea. I'm just an oddball though, I love crunchy systems as much as I love rules lite indie press style RPGs.

 

I can sit down with HERO, Burning Wheel, FATE, True20, or Warhammer Fantasy and have just as much fun with each as with any other.

[pinecone]

Re: Has anybody played "Spirit of the Century"

 

http://www.evilhat.com/home/?page_id=103

 

I haven't bought it. yet. But the cover has a masked man of mystery fighting a gorilla, who is flying a biplane. A zepplin is in the background and a scrappy dame is dangling from the biplane.

 

How much more awesome can a cover get?

 

I haven't played it but I'd be interested to hear if this is any good. The site says it uses the "Fate System". Anybody familiar with it?

 

I've played it once, my buds back in Berkely seem to love it...I got the feeling it was a "Fudge" game...it certainly used fudge dice....

[Alverant]

Re: Has anybody played "Spirit of the Century"

 

A friend ran a demo game one night. It was OK. It's more freestyle than Hero but lacks some detail. (good or bad, your choice) Personally I didn't like the premise of the game, but nothings preventing a GM from altering the setting. The setting is that certain people born in the year 1900 (or any other century year) will live for 100+ years (long enough to discover and train the next generation of centur-ions) and have great adventures, control the fate of the world, etc.

[gamerz123]

Re: Has anybody played "Spirit of the Century"

 

FATE and Fudge are specifically rules-light systems. In that aspect, they are on the opposite side of the spectrum from Hero and will deliver a different feel of play when "Bang! Bang! I shot first, Billy! No, I shot first Bobby!" components (ie. mechanics) are activated. I play both Hero and Fudge because sometimes I want a crunchy-munchy candy bar, sometimes I want silky-smooth ice cream

 

Read most of Spirit a few months back, but haven't had a chance to play it yet so can't say how FATE works in an actual game as opposed to older more-or-less-standardized "Five Point Fudge"

 

From the read, I really like the way in which character generation is a collaborative effort between all of the players. Also of note is the optional "wait to set your skill slot until you do it (and then backstory it )" which is definitely the feel I personally get from watching the occasional old film serial of the 30's and 40's.

[Captain Obvious]

Re: Has anybody played "Spirit of the Century"

 

I made a character a few weeks ago, and I have to say that character creation is pretty interesting. Each character has a novel that they star in, and they also guest star in two other characters' novels. Nice touch, I thought. It got me excited enough that I had to GIMP together a cover for "Jack Maverick in Treasure of the Orinoco"...

 

Haven't played yet though. Unless something comes up for our GM or more than one or two of the other players, we'll be doing that this weekend.

[Derek Hiemforth]

Re: Has anybody played "Spirit of the Century"

 

I'm another in the "read it and liked it, but haven't played it" camp. I also like FUDGE, and think its mechanics are solid (while very different from HERO's).

[CorPse]

Re: Has anybody played "Spirit of the Century"

 

Played it for a few sessions... didn't especially care for it.

[JakSpade]

Re: Has anybody played "Spirit of the Century"

 

For me, Spirt of the Century is a perfect example of how a gaming company can take a simple game and make it very complex. The book itself is very thick, and there's a lot of discussion of how to use Aspects in game. Once you've gotten the gist of Aspects, much of the additional explaining about what Aspects are is a little redundant, IMHO. So it pushed the size of the book a lot larger than I thought it should be. But that's my opinion, and I'll stop griping...

 

Fundamentally, the games pretty fun. There are a lot of story control elements of the game that make it very appealing. Much of the actual rules are simple but open ended, leaving for a LOT of room for roleplay. I think the rules leave a lot of fluffy descriptions and creative work up to the players, so that the GM can just "direct traffic". If you're not into open-ended rules and descriptions, then SotC probably isn't for you.

 

I love the collaborative character generation, aspects, and fate points. Along with the story control elements (tagging aspects and the like), it makes for a fun game for both GM and players.

 

jak

[CorPse]

Re: Has anybody played "Spirit of the Century"

 

I love the collaborative character generation, aspects, and fate points. Along with the story control elements (tagging aspects and the like), it makes for a fun game for both GM and players.

 

I thought the character generation was the best part...

[Barton]

Re: Has anybody played "Spirit of the Century"

 

Played it ONCE, VERY unimpressed with the mechanics. WAY TOO rules-light and it failed to convey the Pulp Era to me (others may have different opinions). The system maybe good for a limited campaign or a one shot.

The character generation system is great, the idea of all the characters backgrounds tied together was neat. The mechanics of the game just make it IMHO unplayable.

At last year's GenCon I asked the designer how would you do a campaign with this rule system... he would not answer the question.

[BigJackBrass]

Re: Has anybody played "Spirit of the Century"

 

At last year's GenCon I asked the designer how would you do a campaign with this rule system... he would not answer the question.

In fairness they don't market it as a campaign game. Quite the reverse, indeed, as the emphasis is on "pick up" play.

 

The main problem (or at least limiting factor) that I see with the game is the number of Aspects in play increasing to the point where nobody can keep track. Half a dozen players with, what, ten Aspects apiece is going to start straining the GM. Sorcerer suffers from a similar issue, since the GM is effectively running a demon character for every PC as well as any NPCs.

 

With the right number of players, especially those with a good grasp of pulp adventure, it has a lot going for it.

[NestorDRod]

Re: Has anybody played "Spirit of the Century"

 

I pre-ordered the book when it was announced, read through it when I got it, and got to play in two demos.

 

My only real gripe about the game is that its claim to be a "pick-up" game is, IMO, misleading.

 

If the GM comes in with pre-generated characters, sure, you can get the game underway quickly. But if the group is starting from scratch, expect to spend the first session generating characters.. and not much more. I spent more than two of the four hours of one demo just getting characters written, and that was with half the group familiar with the rules.

[CorPse]

Re: Has anybody played "Spirit of the Century"

 

I pre-ordered the book when it was announced, read through it when I got it, and got to play in two demos.

 

My only real gripe about the game is that its claim to be a "pick-up" game is, IMO, misleading.

 

If the GM comes in with pre-generated characters, sure, you can get the game underway quickly. But if the group is starting from scratch, expect to spend the first session generating characters.. and not much more. I spent more than two of the four hours of one demo just getting characters written, and that was with half the group familiar with the rules.

 

Although I find your avatar somewhat frightening...

 

... I very much agree with your points above!

[NestorDRod]

Re: Has anybody played "Spirit of the Century"

 

Although I find your avatar somewhat frightening...

 

... I very much agree with your points above!

 

Speaks the fellow who has a... (What is that? A zoinky crack baby?) as his avatar.

 

For the record, my avatar is photographic proof that keyes_bill is not a bunneh to be trifled with.

 

I mean, the therapy bills alone were horrendous...

 

P.S. I discovered Hollow Earth Expedition from Exile Games about the same time as SotC. You should check it out.

[Dracheneisen]

Re: Has anybody played "Spirit of the Century"

 

I have run 2 adventures of Spirit of the Century at Cons. It is a great con game. I think it would be a great occasional game for a group. It isn't intended for campaign play and doesn't have a real character advancement system.

 

I think the system can handle pulp style play just fine. In my opinion the pulps are mostly about setting and style instead of mechanics. SoC can handle this just fine. It works well for story-telling style adventures. It is not a nitty-gritty mechanics system (guns, fists, and melee weapons are all equally effective, for example). This is either a strength or a weakness, depending on what you want in a game.

[dbisdorf]

Re: Has anybody played "Spirit of the Century"

 

I've run several adventures using SOTC, and I love it. The game is really geared to make your players feel like larger-than-life heroes; knocking down thugs left and right, performing impossible stunts, trading insults with archvillains.

 

Play is fast and simple and includes rules for solving both physical and social conflicts, sometimes side by side. In one of my recent sessions, the PC's were trapped by intelligent gorillas in the lost City of Mists, and one of the PC's had challenged the king's champion to single combat. While the PC was duking it out with the gorilla warrior, a few of the other PC's were shouting out encouragement from the sidelines, draining the enemy's confidence and calling out weaknesses in the enemy's combat style.

 

Can the game handle campaign play? Well, since the rules don't mandate tearing up your character sheets after the session is over, then yes, you can continue to play as many adventures you like with the same group of PC's. The lack of character advancement is fully in keeping with the pulps; The Shadow and Doc Savage were insanely competent from their very first novels and remained that way throughout their careers. If you do feel you need to have some kind of advancement to sustain a campaign, the main rule book does provide optional rules for this, and the SOTC wiki suggests a few more options.

 

Overall my SOTC game is turning into one of my more successful campaigns. Preparing for a session is easy because of the simplicity of NPC generation, and the Aspects and Stunts encourage and allow players to be flashy and daring. For my wants and needs, SOTC is a winner.

[TheQuestionMan]

Re: Has anybody played "Spirit of the Century"

 

YOUTUBE REVIEW: Game Geeks #23 Spirit of the Century by Evil Hat Productions

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIvR3LflFuQ

 

Hmmm...

 

 

QM

[kjamma4]

Re: Has anybody played "Spirit of the Century"

 

Played it ONCE, VERY unimpressed with the mechanics. WAY TOO rules-light and it failed to convey the Pulp Era to me (others may have different opinions). The system maybe good for a limited campaign or a one shot.

The character generation system is great, the idea of all the characters backgrounds tied together was neat. The mechanics of the game just make it IMHO unplayable.

At last year's GenCon I asked the designer how would you do a campaign with this rule system... he would not answer the question.

 

I just picked it up and am currently reading through it but so far, I believe you are correct in that it would probably run better as a one shot rather than as a campaign. I don't have as severe an opinion as to it conveying the Pulp era though.

 

I don't know who ran it for you but it seems like it would be really dependant on the skill of the GM since, as you state, it is very rules-light. The GM would have to be good at "winging it."

 

Weird, because having played in your pulp games, I could see you running a good game of this.

[Storn]

Re: Has anybody played "Spirit of the Century"

 

I quite like it.

 

I think I like Savage Worlds better... and I would like SAvage Worlds EVEN BETTER if I ported SotC's Aspects to SW.

 

But I quite like it. Definitely my #2 or #3 game.

 

I just ran it... here is an AP:

 

http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=391802

[Captain Obvious]

Re: Has anybody played "Spirit of the Century"

 

At this point, we've played a fair bit of it. I don't know about doing a one-shot with it, as making characters ends up being a game session in and of itself. As there's no real character progression over time (nothing that would get marked on the character sheet anyway), I could see many people not wanting to try a long campaign, but we've just finished up a very fun short campaign, putting an end to the evil machinations of the zombie Woodrow Wilson.

 

It's light fare suitable for a break between heavier game systems. Not quite as light as a so-called "beer and pretzels" game, but still very light. And the character creation is a blast...I was so spun up afterwards that I had to GIMP together a cover of my character's novel....