Hey – is there a generic indy game that handles cross genre stuff?

Hey – is there a generic indy game that handles cross genre stuff?

Hey – is there a generic indy game that handles cross genre stuff?

Jesse Donavan Edmond was talking about running a Banestorm inspired campaign over in the Misdirected Mark community. But that’s a GURPS setting; and my days of running GURPS are probably behind me.

The idea of Banestorm is that there is a parallel world that is a standard fantasy world. The drow tried to cast a spell to send all orcs to another dimension. But that backfired (surprise); and now there’s this dimensional storm that picks up individuals from Earth and deposits them throughout this fantasy land. So it’s this cool amalgam of human medieval cultures and fantasy.

Like Jesse, I’d like to move the timeline forward a bit and have a group of modern folks pulled into this setting. Maybe they are all on a bus or something.

Any thoughts on a game like this that already exists that’s got a looser set of rules?

My thinking of what the characters would do:

They would be a ragtag band of folks randomly thrown together trying to either a) figure out how to get back b) figure out how to survive or c) figure out how to thrive – or all three.

It sort of sounds like Apocalypse World, except immediately after the apocalypse…

Maybe FATE? Does FATE do gritty well?

38 thoughts on “Hey – is there a generic indy game that handles cross genre stuff?”

  7. Basic run down.

    Make zones smaller which impacts movement and range penalties. For example normal Fate a hallway is a single zone. Gritty/horror it might be two, three, or even four.

    Make difficulties secret and only give them descriptive signs of difficulty.

    Make failure more severe.

    Make costs in success with cost more harrowing.

    Apply more aspects to the scene that can work against them.

    Be more stingy with when they can tag aspects.

    Stuff like that.

  8. Basic run down.

    Make zones smaller which impacts movement and range penalties. For example normal Fate a hallway is a single zone. Gritty/horror it might be two, three, or even four.

    Make difficulties secret and only give them descriptive signs of difficulty.

    Make failure more severe.

    Make costs in success with cost more harrowing.

    Apply more aspects to the scene that can work against them.

    Be more stingy with when they can tag aspects.

    Stuff like that.

  13. If what you mostly want is an action game, Unbound does that well – it’s a generic system with a great procedure for focusing in on your particular setting, with players deciding what exactly each of their powers do in the fiction when they choose them. Not so great for out of combat things, though.

  14. If what you mostly want is an action game, Unbound does that well – it’s a generic system with a great procedure for focusing in on your particular setting, with players deciding what exactly each of their powers do in the fiction when they choose them. Not so great for out of combat things, though.

  15. If you don’t mind a little bit of crunch, Savage Worlds could do this (though like FATE it’s more suited to action, and is less gritty), or you could use Zweihänder (bearing in mind it’s a bit crunchier) which is very gritty (being a WFRP retro-clone). A Zweihänder bundle (core, GM screen and two decks of cards) is also currently on sale, $10 for the lot. Should show up on the home page of DTRPG.

    I’d definitely avoid FATE for gritty. It’s great for many games, but far too cinematic for a gritty setting, IMO.

  16. If you don’t mind a little bit of crunch, Savage Worlds could do this (though like FATE it’s more suited to action, and is less gritty), or you could use Zweihänder (bearing in mind it’s a bit crunchier) which is very gritty (being a WFRP retro-clone). A Zweihänder bundle (core, GM screen and two decks of cards) is also currently on sale, $10 for the lot. Should show up on the home page of DTRPG.

    I’d definitely avoid FATE for gritty. It’s great for many games, but far too cinematic for a gritty setting, IMO.

  21. Dream Park – just toss out the whole theme park setting. It’s the only game I’ve been able to pull off a fight between a bunch of Zentradi Battle Pods vs the Party which was a Ninja, A Power Ranger, A Viet Nam Vet, A Mafioso and a Star Fleet Officer and it worked and worked well.

  22. Dream Park – just toss out the whole theme park setting. It’s the only game I’ve been able to pull off a fight between a bunch of Zentradi Battle Pods vs the Party which was a Ninja, A Power Ranger, A Viet Nam Vet, A Mafioso and a Star Fleet Officer and it worked and worked well.

  25. Fate Core can handle games like this (particularly if you want to skew toward action scenes), but the system assumes characters are so competent that it could undermine the feeling that they’re “fish out of water” who need to struggle to survive. I personally also find the system more crunchy and fiddly than it looks at first glance – potentially detailed customization is practically expected if you plan to deviate from something published already, and a certain amount of “let’s figure it out and tweak as we go” seems pretty common. I’m fine with endless tweaking and tuning, but my players prefer to just know the rules system, upgrade their characters, and get to keep their upgrades (rather than me realizing “whoops, this stunt we made doesn’t work for this unusual setting premise, we gotta replace it”). And while I’m fine with how it handles important objects and “magical items” (usually “it costs you in character advancement in place of some other upgrade, or you lose it”), I know a lot of players emphatically are not.

    Since you mention Apocalypse World as a possible touchstone: I wonder if it’d meet your needs to work towards that eventually? Its playbooks (mostly) represent people who are already 50 years into this strange new world, with jobs and bonds and such, so again, they may seem more competent than you want. I could see starting with something more pared down, though, like only giving folks the basic moves and stats, and letting them pick playbooks as they get to know the place.

  26. Fate Core can handle games like this (particularly if you want to skew toward action scenes), but the system assumes characters are so competent that it could undermine the feeling that they’re “fish out of water” who need to struggle to survive. I personally also find the system more crunchy and fiddly than it looks at first glance – potentially detailed customization is practically expected if you plan to deviate from something published already, and a certain amount of “let’s figure it out and tweak as we go” seems pretty common. I’m fine with endless tweaking and tuning, but my players prefer to just know the rules system, upgrade their characters, and get to keep their upgrades (rather than me realizing “whoops, this stunt we made doesn’t work for this unusual setting premise, we gotta replace it”). And while I’m fine with how it handles important objects and “magical items” (usually “it costs you in character advancement in place of some other upgrade, or you lose it”), I know a lot of players emphatically are not.

    Since you mention Apocalypse World as a possible touchstone: I wonder if it’d meet your needs to work towards that eventually? Its playbooks (mostly) represent people who are already 50 years into this strange new world, with jobs and bonds and such, so again, they may seem more competent than you want. I could see starting with something more pared down, though, like only giving folks the basic moves and stats, and letting them pick playbooks as they get to know the place.

  31. I still need to read more of it myself, but you might want to take a look at Forthright. There’s free version of the core rules, all nicely laid out but without artwork. On first glance, it reads to me like a “greatest hits” album by a band that went through a Fate phase, an Apocalypse World phase, and a d20 phase.

  32. I still need to read more of it myself, but you might want to take a look at Forthright. There’s free version of the core rules, all nicely laid out but without artwork. On first glance, it reads to me like a “greatest hits” album by a band that went through a Fate phase, an Apocalypse World phase, and a d20 phase.

  33. Thanks All for the responses. Many great suggestions in this thread for games. I own a lot of them, but haven’t played or run any of the ones I own referenced here.

    Jason Pitre thanks for the generous offer. I’ve got Sig, did Spark come as an add-on to that kickstarter? I just did a quick search of my pdf RPGs and didn’t see it.

    Games I haven’t read but am now interested in:

    Forthright

    Archipelago III

    Unbound

    Shadow of Yesterday

    Strange (I’ve got Numenara, still in shrink wrap though…)

    Ultimately though, I may run Apocalypse World per Jim Crocker and Jason Tocci’s suggestion, with stripped down playbooks; and re-skin the Maelstrom as the Magic system.

  34. Thanks All for the responses. Many great suggestions in this thread for games. I own a lot of them, but haven’t played or run any of the ones I own referenced here.

    Jason Pitre thanks for the generous offer. I’ve got Sig, did Spark come as an add-on to that kickstarter? I just did a quick search of my pdf RPGs and didn’t see it.

    Games I haven’t read but am now interested in:

    Forthright

    Archipelago III

    Unbound

    Shadow of Yesterday

    Strange (I’ve got Numenara, still in shrink wrap though…)

    Ultimately though, I may run Apocalypse World per Jim Crocker and Jason Tocci’s suggestion, with stripped down playbooks; and re-skin the Maelstrom as the Magic system.

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