Simlasa

50 minutes ago, Atgxtg said:

On the other hand, both characters exhibit powers that are not easily quantifiable in Superworld terms. In both cases they are probably too powerful to use in a game as there is really no way for the PCs to defeat them.

Yeah, I only referred to them for their concept of humans who are turned to monsters by how their powers separate them from humanity... as a possible twist on the usual PCs as supers. Scanners  would/could work in a similar fashion if the PCs (mostly?) were non-Scanners hunting down the psychic renegades.

I'm not so much trying to settle on something for myself, just pondering what alternative sorts of settings might make good use of Superworld.

1 hour ago, Atgxtg said:

No it doesn't, that's why there can be various takes and ways to handle a given setting. Alien is a story in the Horror genre placed a Science Fiction Setting.

I guess I'm thinking 'setting' as what elements are included or left out of the actual story. So having the 'xenomorphs' on stage in Alien made it horror... they're a part of the setting.
But if there are no xenomorphs on stage, or mentioned in the script, then it's a different thing. Like how Outland could very well be in the same universe... but its setting (no xenomorphs) puts it in a different genre.
Not that I mean to argue semantics... just explaining my line of thought.

As an aside, I was just watching the first few episodes of Star Trek TOS and I noticed that both the second and third episode (as broadcast in the U.S.) featured humans who took on godlike powers (and were pretty much monsters because of it)... so there's that approach as well, having the supers be the villains the mundane PCs must confront... which sounds like it might be a variation on CoC.

23 minutes ago, Atgxtg said:

But the problem isn't one of setting but one of mechanics matching the genre being emulated.

Well, the setting sets the genre, which is why I'm asking for settings OTHER than the standard Marvel/DC setup where heroes of vastly different power join up and work at the speed of plot. So yeah, NOT what most people assume when they hear you're running a 'supers' game... but something that Superworld would run well once we divest of those assumptions.
I might have to sell it to Players using some other term... gritty urban fantasy ala World of Darkness (which I hear some folks played as a supers game).

3 minutes ago, seneschal said:

Giant Robo, an anime inspired in part by Johnny Socko and His Giant Robot.

I really liked what little bit I've seen of that show... AND... that reminds me that The Big O might be another setting that might fit, being as it's a mash-up of Giant Robo and Batman.

1 hour ago, Joerg said:

You mean other than the Wildcards anthologies by George R.R. Martin and his Superworld gaming group?

Yeah, that's the famous example.
Something like Godlike/Wild Talents might fit, since those are at the grittier end of the super pool and I'm not confident of the ORE.

I'm generally curious, though for my own tastes something space-opera-ish would be great... but I could see it working for a more focused espionage/intrigue setting like Scanners as well.

I was reading the thread about using Superworld for 'cosmic' heroes and the sentiment seemed to be that the main issue is with BRP's inherent lethality... and how that lethality doesn't emulate the comics.

Now, it seems like a common gripe with superhero RPGs in general is that they only ever kindasorta manage to emulate the comics anyway. Which makes sense, since comics are written and plotted out to make a good story. Characters only live or die to suit the needs of the story.
Later in that thread, someone suggested that cosmic supers are just high-powered space opera and that E.E. 'Doc' Smith's Lensman setting as being a good (better) fit for Superworld, since those stories featured super psychic characters and a lot of lethality.

Sounds good to me...

So I'm wondering, what other superheroic/superhero-ish settings might better fit the particular flavor that Superworld brings to the table?
I know it works well for early pulp heroes such as The Shadow and The Spider... and it works with the conceits of City of Heroes, but I'm guessing there are more out there that I'm not thinking of.

Any thoughts?

On 5/11/2019 at 10:16 AM, Hexelis said:

I see I posted this in the wrong section.

Did you? This seems like the DG area of the forum...
I'm only just getting going with Delta Green... though I've had the original books for years, I always used them as background, rather than having PCs as DG agents. I picked up the new ones a couple months back and I really want to try running a straight up DG game but I feel I'm a bit weak on modern intrigue and spycraft... so I've been immersing myself in whatever real world stuff seems pertinent.

Looking through the recent D&D 5e Cthulhu book got me thinking something similar. Not that I'm in to 5e, but I quite like the idea of playing cats, ghouls, Zoogs, and... other dreamland races. Meshing it with some of the darker fairyland aspects of Magic World's example setting (the Southern Reaches) wouldn't be hard either.
I'd leave the Big Uns offstage and probably re-cast/rename them somewhat.

1 hour ago, RogerDee said:

As to the system thing, I suspect D100 would struggle with the tv series Arrow. i mean how would it cope with him shooting three arrows at once?

I don't get what that's got to do with Elric/Young Kingdoms though?
As far as I've seen there's no superhero RPG that perfectly emulates comics... primarily for the reasons Atgxtg mentioned... comics (and TV and movies...) are  a pre-written medium, where the hero has the powers it needs when it needs them... and conveniently forgets those powers when they don't serve the story.
Not that I doubt there's a way to make the three arrow stunt work in Superworld... but I generally don't want that sort of thing in my gritty sword & sorcery game.

Yep, must-have for sure.
I'm trying to think of ways to combine it with Mr. Snead's old Eldritch Skies setting... though that one is much farther future.

I'm not usually inclined to watch live play vids but I know other people like them, so I'm glad someone is putting up stuff for Mythras.

Yay!
I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

Now that it is out, commercially available, and getting further support, could Delta Green be moved out of 'Upcoming Games'?
Given its own forum under "D100 Family'?

I like the idea of focusing on a theme of MW... supporting a particular flavor.
Like pushing the 'Talking Animals' content of MW... or the Fae aspects of the Southern Reaches... or variations of demons, demon relics, summoning and DCC-ish 'Patrons'.
It's aimed at MW fans, but with a bit of luck it might be bait to lure in some new interest.

I like the idea of a Magic World zine.
When I first took interest in the OSR the zines for some of the games were a big attraction.
I'd be happy to do some drawings for it... and dredge up ideas from my files.

On 6/13/2018 at 3:24 PM, SDLeary said:

The Delta Green set has finally arrived! Woo Hoo!

SDLeary

Then maybe Delta Green should be moved out of the 'Upcoming Games' section of the forums?

Usually I don't pay any attention to metaphysical matters of alignment... favoring loyalty to relatively worldly factions, guild, cults and such.

If I were to go more Warhammerish I'd pull in the Law (light), Balance, and Chaos (Shadow) idea.
Our D&D games at school have been set in Aarklash (Rackham's world for Confrontation/Cadwallon) and it divides factions into Light/Destiny/Shadow... elemental properties with 'bad' people on all sides (though Shadow seems mostly bad).

10 hours ago, Coronoides said:

Do you use talking animal PCs? If so how do you handle those? Or does your world not have them (most don’t).

I did run a short adventure that had a lot of Fae elements and talking animals were part of that... and I figured their magic was more innate/natural to them, so not requiring all the hokum that humans need to pull it off.
A kid in one of the classes at school has been trading books with me, having me read 'The Familiars' series. It's all about animals with magical powers and has been giving me lots of ideas... but even its critter characters use somatic/verbal/material components.

It depends on the mood/setting. Generally, I like the traditional (to fantasy RPGs) elements of verbal, somatic and material... because I think they all lead to fun complications. Like being out of some material component and needing to hunt down a replacement.
Also, having to say something and wave your hands about a bit justifies using some of the real-world methods of binding a 'witch' so they couldn't put a curse on their captors. Despite that, I have it that verbal components only need to be whispered, since the only person needing to hear the spell is yourself (to my way of thinking about fantasy metaphysics).
Thought I'm not too tight-assed about it all and give lots of wiggle room for clever Players to overcome certain difficulties.

Maybe better to rebuild it as a clone, using Gore or Legend or somesuch?

33 minutes ago, Atgxtg said:

 With a paper & pencil RPG, once you have a rulebook and dice, you only really need players, some paper and the odd pencil or two here and there. People can get decades of enjoyment out of a RPG without ever buying anything else for that game.

I wonder if, somewhere out there, there is a guy who bought that one RPG, loved it, and continues to run it till this day... never having bought any other RPGs?
Most hobbyists I know buy well beyond what they 'need'...videogamers with huge unplayed libraries on Steam, model kit builders with basements full of unbuilt kits. When my mother died we filled a truck with all her beading supplies. I don't know any roleplayers that reach anywhere near the levels of hoarding I've seen from some scrap book fanatics.

20 minutes ago, Atgxtg said:

So the 20/80 rule is probably more like a 20/50/30 rule, if yoiu factor in for stuff used as resources for other games. Most of my GURPS and Rolemaster historical books are things that I doubt I will run but do use for other RPGs.

That seems like a reasonable guess. I've certainly bought material for systems I do not run with an eye towards using it in one I do. But it's been a long time since I felt the need to have EVERYTHING put out for a particular system or out of loyalty to a company (though, once upon a time I was like that with Chaosium). When OneBookShelf was first going I made a LOT of impulse buys, but that also passed.

30 minutes ago, Atgxtg said:

Personally, it is, of course a different matter. I think the idea is that many, if most most GMs use pre-written stuff and don't do as much world building or even adventure designing.

If they even use them, vs. just collecting/reading them (which I've seen purported to be a good chunk of what's keeping the RPG industry afloat).
I never use published stuff 'as is' but I've always been happy to yank elements for use in my own settings... spells, creatures, floorplans, spaceship deckplans, whatever. Don't most GMs tweak published adventures when they run them?
My own thing lately has been to turn MW towards something like Warhammer (minus the demi-humans)... grabbing bits of that setting and stuff from Renaissance and Lamentations of the Flame Princess (an idea I had even BEFORE reading Butters' excellent game logs).

The minimal setting in Magic World is intriguing, and open-ended enough that I could see loosely hanging some adventures on it that could still be tweaked for other purposes... and I'd be curious to see what was in the intended bestiary. I could go for something with a lot more fairy tale influence on it (which The Southern Reaches suggests to me).

14 minutes ago, Coronoides said:

My proposal did  not include immediate improvement. Ticks indicate improvement at end of session as usual

OK, that was my assumption then.
I'm still not seeing a benefit, and I do like the extra moment of rolling to see if I learned something. Just a matter of taste.

12 hours ago, Coronoides said:

If fails earn ticks and they get harder to get as skills get higher then perhaps we don’t need experience rolls, ticked skills automatically improve at the end of the session. Seems like a nice bit of streamlining to the system.

To me it doesn't seem like the time/effort saved would be very significant and, as a Player, I look forward to the session where we've got time to reflect and roll out those experience checks. For me they have that in-game meaning and I prefer it versus just suddenly improving in something in the midst of doing it (my assumption of how getting an immediate/automatic rise in a skill would seem).