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Synge reacted to StanTheMan in My review of Genesys rpg
As a long time GURPSer and FUDGE/Fate person, I have to disagree. FUDGE (and Fate to a lesser degree, though this changed in Core somewhat) left an incredible amount up to the GM. In FUDGE, you had to make up EVERYTHING, including the names of the stats or skills you'd have in the game (should we talk about vehicles or magic?). All you got with that book was a "here's a rolling system and some ideas about different genres; good luck!", and that's only if you got the 20th Anniversary edition. Cybernetics? Supers? Hahahahaha...
Fate Core is not complete. Again, lots of decisions about weapons and gear (and if so, there are no guidelines in the book on how to do it except "Make it an Aspect" or "You can have numbers for weapons; no, we have no inclination to guide you on whether or not a pistol should equal a bazooka". In both games (and GURPS, and Genesys for that matter) they don't have mass combat rules unless you buy them separately (for GURPS; for Fate/Fudge, good luck with that, though the Fate Toolkit does outline two different system for fights involving mass groups, so, you'd have to get it separately; to their credit, you can download the PDF for it for free). And again, Supers; anything I ever tried to come up with was a mess. Venture City fixed that, but again, it's a separate supplement.
In almost all cases, you have to define what your magic system smells like. GURPS does this for you, as long as you like spells as skills and like the idea of spells working better the more you know particular spell; you want anything else, you gotta get a supplement book, or figure it out as Advantages; possible, but harder without the Powers book). Also, there are wacky point-break places in GURPS where it's hard to model certain fictional abilities in terms of their "difficulty"; in Star Wars, telekinesis is had by everyone and their grandmother; in GURPS, that's expensive (I remember, very clearly, trying to figure out how to get a starting character at Yoda's ability to lift a tie fighter; and Yoda's implication that Luke could have done so with just the right mindset...).
So, to me, Genesys is as complete as anything else. Savage Worlds is pretty good in these terms; it touches, at least, everything you might expect to some small degree, even social contests and such, which I think GURPS misses out on. Though I'm not a fan of SW die system, but that's a thread for another day.
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Synge reacted to lyinggod in My review of Genesys rpg
This is the point I was trying to make in regards to these systems, though you said it much better.
Correct. For those that want borderline non-exsistant mechanics then Fate, Fudge, and Otherworlds are great. The approach of these systems is almost entirely "wing it". Genesys gives a few examples, slightly more crunch, and then says "wing it". IMO the slightly more structure offered by Genesys is better then then having to invent nearly everything. These games really are RPG rulebooks but RPG advice books.
This is part of the problem that I have with GURPS (and most magic systems). They give you 100's or 1000's of spells that are prebalanced with poor (or no) guidance on making more. This is great if you want everything spoon fed but when it comes to creating your own stuff, they are frequently less then desirable.
Good, leave this to games like Warhammer 40/Fantasy Battles, Savage Worlds Showdown, or d20 games. These are Roleplaying games not tactical skirmish games.
My toolkit experience is primarily with the HERO system. They have spell (and other "gear") books, for those who want them, but the spells are built using only the mechanics from the CRB and these gear books tell you exactly what components from the CRB were used for each item/spell. A low level spell, as an example, can have a point cost equal to 1/4-1/2 the allowed points for a character build. At first glance this is horrible as a wizard could only afford to start with 1 or two spells and it would take 2 dozen adventures worth of experience to buy another lower power spell. Instead, per the recommendation of their Fantasy genre book, each spell is treated as a skill (3 points) which allows a 150 point wizard to start with a reasonable number of spells. The point is that point values, which represent an abilities power level, don't have to be the actual point cost to the character. .
As I said, my universal system experience is with the HERO system. The CRB has about 30 powers (analogous to Genesys' vague spells) plus about 30 each of power advantages and limitations (similar to what GURPS uses) which are used to modify the powers. The powers are then skinned to be spells, superpowers, cybernetics, vehicles, or other items. These powers/mods are all in the core book. The core book then touches on just about every genre that you can think of, with examples of psionics, potions, magic, sci-fi gear, etc. The genre books add very little in the way of additional powers or power modifiers. To me, this is a complete toolkit. I don't expect Genesys to be as thick (400+ pages) or crunchy as the HERO CRB but I did expect it to, at the very least, touch the major aspects of all major genre tropes. Perhaps HERO has spoiled me as to what complete means. However I agree that Genesys is as complete as Savage Worlds.
However I don't like their dice stat vs skills system but that's a discussion for another day.
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Synge reacted to StanTheMan in My review of Genesys rpg
Ah, I see. I had Hero (FRED, to be precise) and yeah, it was "complete" in that you could build anything (and there were LOTS of worked examples in the core book, and the genre books were good about that too; Fantasy Hero and Space Hero were gold mines). That said, for me, the problem is Mass Combat. Here we'll have to disagree, but I tend to run political games, which means mass combat shenanigans at some point. I like having at least the option to run a mass combat. In Genesys, I can use Star Wars stuff (and someone has already done a mass combat write-up for Genesys as a fan made thing, I think based on Battle of Arda or whatever that supplement was), so that suits me fine. Savage Worlds had it baked in, which is why I ended up using it as long as I did, though it isn't even close to my favorite (as you say, the dice stat vs skill system is...special).
As always, things never quite fit us all, though I think we largely agree!
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Synge reacted to gilbur in My review of Genesys rpg
Great review by the way, even though I did not have to watch your review as I was drawn to the book once it was announced. Your review is 5 times better than the idiot on "Live from the Sword Coast". He did not do his research which he had plenty of time to do and do his comparing of GENESYS to the Star Wars system and would have seen that they were the same systems for the Dice and would have at least saved 30 dollars, but do understand wanting to be complete just like your review.
Everyone needs to understand that this is not a complete game system but a TOOL KIT to use the Narrative Dice System for any Setting from Dungeons and Dragons to Star Wars, So everything in between these two settings you only need this book to help guide you in the direction of your favorite Setting using the Narrative dice.
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Synge reacted to sfRattan in GM Screen?
I have a good friend in a same situation. I know it can just suck sometimes to not have enough time.
If I end up adapting my SWRPG GM screen to Genesys and releasing it, I'll be sure to let you know right away.
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Synge reacted to Archellus in The Cards Rant?? Sorry
Maybe im reading the thread wrong but have you checked out the terrinoth intro adventure under Player support on the genesys product page https://images-cdn.fantasyflightgames.com/filer_public/56/75/5675bba2-a5a2-4161-b4c0-eaed85a3d0b7/genesys_gencon_adventure_lowres.pdf
Has pre gen characters and you dont really ned the terrinoth setting as such. But the adventure has All you ask for combat, investigation, social and magic.
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Synge reacted to lyinggod in The Cards Rant?? Sorry
@Bibbles If you had a module for a system you were trying learn (ie Genesys), what would it have it in that you are lacking now? It would say "start here, go a bunch a places, do a bunch of things, and then save the day." You and the players would say asking "how do I do fly/fireball/teleport with my character/npc" and much page flipping would occur and the first session or two would be slow as people who read the rules in prior weeks were refreshing their memories on how things worked. If you scribbled your own notes (however detailed) for an adventure, the same thing would be happening. If you need the structure of a module, you could always adapt one for the genre you are interested in as there are lots of free modules online or adapt an existing module you already possess.
You could also the ask the community for suggestions. Things like this have been asked before and the community has been quite helpful.
What types of issues are you encountering in putting together your opening adventure for your new campaign?
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Synge reacted to lyinggod in The Cards Rant?? Sorry
I have found that modules are, at best, a crutch. The greater issue is that Genesys is that it is a universal rule system, not a predefined setting like Forgotten Realms, HoL, Shadowrun, or even Realms of Terrinoth (for genesys). In order to have an adventure, you first have to define the setting that strikes the fancy of you and your players. If you or your players dont like fantasy, then that one shot fantasy adventure you refer to wouldnt be of much regardless of power level. Genesys has suggestions on how to go about doing this but doesnt do it for you. An adventure doesnt need to have 300 pages of defined world to set it up nor does it even need to have 30+ pages of defined adventure path. It only needs some scribbled notes that indicate what the goal of the adventure is, a few adversaries, and maybe some important points about their environment. The only real question to ask for that first starting adventure is are you bringing the characters together for the first time or are they starting as an established group (like in the first Dragonlance novel). Then give the players a few crumbs and let them lead the adventure. If the reward (or penalty) is sufficient they will meander (or bee-line) in the right direction with just a little coxing. Be spontaneous. If you cant decide how to start things, then start in the middle of the action like how a James Bond movie begins.
IF you need help with coming up with plots and the like, there is plenty of web sites that deal with plot creation or generating plot points. DriveThruRPG is also a good source of cheap or free plot or adventure material.
If you are not the "wing it" type, consider listening to the excellent DICE POOL PODCASTS. They talk extensively about how a GM that is new to Genesys can make the most of everything from creating characters to designing worlds to just winging it.
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Synge reacted to PzVIE in The Cards Rant?? Sorry
If you would have NPC/Monster cards for every occasion (usable or compatible with many systems), you could run any adventure from any game.
I guess that would make Genesys very strong; e.g., if I would be able to run any of the gazillion D&D/Pathfinder adventures floating around (even in their setting) by simply replacing the NPCs and monsters in those books by (more or less) matching Genesys cards, Genesys would be an absolute winner. At least, for me.
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Synge reacted to Johan Marek Phoenix Knight in Adventures in Azeroth: Warcraft Genesys 1.4
It is important to remember that this is a conversion for the Warcraft universe, not so much the MMO itself. When making this, I didn’t think about the mechanics of WoW, I thought about it’s lore.
As for reputation, while there are not specific rules about it, I do intend to use the idea of it while in gameplay. The game I am going to be running in August will take place in the northern Eastern Kingdoms, and so there will be a lot of groups they can interact with that cancel each other out in a way. For example, while you can try to make allies with the Scarlet Crusade, if the crusaders discover you’ve also been friendly with the Forsaken they will likely decide your head would look better on a spike.
I would love to GM these proposed scenarios if players are interested.
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Synge reacted to drainsmith in I Made "Spellbooks" for Magic
I stole your idea and did proper formatting for it. I've only done Arcane so far.
https://1drv.ms/b/s!Am2tG8-iIXGdgc9LK9CfKep8JqqgHQ
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Synge reacted to drainsmith in I Made "Spellbooks" for Magic
Divine: https://1drv.ms/b/s!Am2tG8-iIXGdgc9QMDAMxCw7Ru589w
Primal: https://1drv.ms/b/s!Am2tG8-iIXGdgc9Ps43We_sfweXxSg
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Synge reacted to drainsmith in I Made "Spellbooks" for Magic
@Redwense
Runes: https://1drv.ms/b/s!Am2tG8-iIXGdgdImOIJLblQyZ5Qv7w
Verse: https://1drv.ms/b/s!Am2tG8-iIXGdgdIpCdfYwpGmRiqSZA
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Synge reacted to Richardbuxton in I bought it!
It’s no consolation but most questionable rules have been spotted by forum members, with answers from FFG posted in the pinned FAQ thread.
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Synge reacted to Budgernaut in I bought it!
My goodness! I'm in the character creation chapter and it feels like the typos are getting worse! I thought perhaps the game mechanics might be looked over more than the lore, and therefore have fewer typos. Guess I was wrong.
Don't misunderstand me; I am harsh on this because I am such a fan. I want to see FFG do Terrinoth justice.
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Synge reacted to Suneisha in I bought it!
The 40k lines used to be packed with typos. Maybe the same editors for this line.
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Synge reacted to Watercolour Dragon in I bought it!
Maybe it's the computer age to blame- I've noticed the more I've used tech the more often I mistype stuff, and that's for someone with high writing and proofreading skills so I think it's that we've got used to doing lots of things very quickly. And reading them really quickly so we may be more prone to missing errors as our brains filter them out. Plus I used to reread everything very carefully but now I find I don't always do so due to time (I frequently annoy the proverbial out of myself by not closing brackets in online posts, something I've noticed recently, he says deliberately not closing this one to make the point.
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Synge reacted to thegrognard in Need Spell Lists...
I'm very disappointed that there is not a list of spells in Realms of Terrinoth like we have on the sample character sheets. A spell book with predefined and named spells is sorely lacking for Genesys.
I realize that spells are supposed to be made up on the fly but fantasy RPGs (like D&D) have set deep expectations for redefined spells...so much so that my players aren't interested in Terrinoth for this very reason (unless I can come up with a solution).
My question is, has anyone put together the equivalent of a spell book for the various kinds of magic in Terrinoth?
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Synge reacted to Richardbuxton in Pre-Gens
Those characters are 100% correct, some of the skill ranks where purchased after creation by using some of the 100xp each has earned
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Synge reacted to TCArknight in Pre-Gens
I think the posted characters show two things in particular.
For a one shot or “experienced” beginning for characters, +100XP is about right. nice assortment of “pre-built” spells for characters. Just my .02
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Synge reacted to Druggeddwarf in Pre-Gens
They also JUST put them up on the player resources page a few days ago
https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/genesys/
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Synge reacted to Lorne in Pregen Characters - Descent 2
I've made 8 pre-generated characters based on the Heroes from Descent 2 (base set). These characters are made using the "Experienced Characters" sidebar on CRB p. 44, which seems to be the sweet-spot for starting characters. Slight licence has been taken with the starting gear and motivations, yet they remain true to the spirit of these established characters. Please report any error you may find with the builds. Enjoy.
Download Link
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Synge reacted to Richardbuxton in Pre-Gens
Lots, but not nicely formatted on character sheets.
The Gencon pregen characters FFG made (with an extra 100xp) can be found here
http://fragmentsfromtherim.blogspot.com/2017/09/review-of-haunted-city.html
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Synge reacted to Richardbuxton in Spending ADVANTAGE when casting spells
I’m only posting to throw more support behind @Simon Retold than a simple like can convey. Advantage can definitely be spent to do cool things with magic, particularly the attack spell can definitely use the “spending advantage and Triumph in Combat” (p104 GCR) table, but all spells cast in combat should have the opportunity to use those options.
For example perhaps you cast the Basic Augment Spell on yourself with Primal Fury added and generate a success with two advantage. You decide to narrate yourself shape shifting into a large black bear, so you spend the Advantage to take a second free manoeuvre for the round and activate your Grapple talent, the foe won’t be easily escaping your Bear Hug this turn.
