Need help choosing system

[melkathi]

I am considering setting up a little campaign this holliday season. But am not sure what system would best suit me.

 

The setting would be the faery tale world, which has begun to react to the changes and mostly the cynicism in the real world. As a result, the magic kingdoms are dragged into a sudden and violent industrial revolution.

Gameplay wise this would result in both magic and basic gunpowder but also clockwork and steam. (I guess being on this forum I have to admit a certain love for Arcanum )

Tech won't have to really be truly feasible as I do want some more artsy creations such as steam powered horses for the king's guard.

 

I was considering going with WHFRPG rules as I am most familiar with it and just wing it...

 

Any idea would be appreciated.

[JayDGee]

If you want a really simple system to use I would advise 7th Sea its fun takes 12 seconds to explain combat and only uses 1 type of dice d10

 

I admittedly may be biased as I ran it a lot. The core system is very easy to use and combat is fast and manageable for the GM.

 

With very minor tweaks you could switch the world to a more Arcanumish setting.

 

If you need any help with it feel free to ask.

 

I may have pdf's of the book hiding somewhere

[melkathi]

Thanks! I'll have to look into it. Only one kind of dice is always an advantage. And d10s are in abundance as people have dabbled in WoD.

It is indeed the core system I am most interested in. From there a GM can build on it as needed.

[Pshaw]

Honestly the whitewolf rule sets are very easy to adapt to just about anything. Attribute + skill = roll that many d10's with the game master setting the threshold for success. I know that they also have a fey world setting which you could pilfer from as needed. It may not have been updated in a while at this point but you might be able to find a source book in the internet someplace. Might be a good place to start at the very least.

 

Also you could try and adapt shadowrun by taking it out of the cyberpunk and into a steampunk setting. Thematically it's not too far off from what you're going for but it's simply set in the not so distant future. Somethings could be cut like technomancers that require tech that wouldn't be in your world others like mech-riggers could just be tweaked for clockwork/steam robots. Might be a lot of trouble though.

Edited November 15, 2012 by Pshaw

[TheDogProfessor]

If you're familiar with the ruleset and confident in adapting it at little bit, I would recommend sticking with WHFRP. A friend of mine has been running a WHFRP 2nd Edition campaign for which she devised her own world that is heavily influenced by Gaelic and Germanic folklore and it works really well. Her Fae are bloody scary and we run screaming when we encounter them.

Edited November 15, 2012 by Ape_Style

[melkathi]

Honestly the whitewolf rule sets are very easy to adapt to just about anything. Attribute + skill = roll that many d10's with the game master setting the threshold for success. I know that they also have a fey world setting which you could pilfer from as needed. It may not have been updated in a while at this point but you might be able to find a source book in the internet someplace. Might be a good place to start at the very least.

 

Also you could try and adapt shadowrun by taking it out of the cyberpunk and into a steampunk setting. Thematically it's not too far off from what you're going for but it's simply set in the not so distant future. Somethings could be cut like technomancers that require tech that wouldn't be in your world others like mech-riggers could just be tweaked for clockwork/steam robots. Might be a lot of trouble though.

 

Changeling was one of the other options of campaign setting I had in mind.

Basically what I told a friend in an email was:

"I may be in town for a few months and run a campaign. It will be either Changeling, Warhammer or my own setting."

 

But as a setting Changeling always intimidates me. Or WoD does in general. I can be a player in it, but Storytelling...

 

If you're familiar with the ruleset and confident in adapting it at little bit, I would recommend sticking with WHFRP. A friend of mine has been running a WHFRP 2nd Edition campaign for which she devised her own world that is heavily influenced by Gaelic and Germanic folklore and it works really well. Her Fae are bloody scary and we run screaming when we encounter them.

 

I GMed WHFRP for over a decade, so it is the ruleset I am most confident with and always end up using. But I have been trying to broaden my horizons.

You should run screaming; Warhammer roleplaying is a horror setting more than a fantasy setting. Tell your friend to look into the 1st edition Something Rotten in Kislev campaign book, if she can find it. The first of the three adventures is rather good and introduces kislevite nature spirits. You guys probably will love those

 

Been reading up on 7th Sea JayDGee suggested. Some very interesting things there. But it seems a tad too heroic for my style.

[TheDogProfessor]

If you're familiar with the ruleset and confident in adapting it at little bit, I would recommend sticking with WHFRP. A friend of mine has been running a WHFRP 2nd Edition campaign for which she devised her own world that is heavily influenced by Gaelic and Germanic folklore and it works really well. Her Fae are bloody scary and we run screaming when we encounter them.

 

I GMed WHFRP for over a decade, so it is the ruleset I am most confident with and always end up using. But I have been trying to broaden my horizons.

You should run screaming; Warhammer roleplaying is a horror setting more than a fantasy setting. Tell your friend to look into the 1st edition Something Rotten in Kislev campaign book, if she can find it. The first of the three adventures is rather good and introduces kislevite nature spirits. You guys probably will love those

 

 

Awesome; I'll look into it.

[JayDGee]

Been reading up on 7th Sea JayDGee suggested. Some very interesting things there. But it seems a tad too heroic for my style.

 

Definitely a heroic and cinematic styled game. I like it for its fast pace once the party know the system a combat with over 100 enemies can be done in 5 mins.

[melkathi]

 

 

Definitely a heroic and cinematic styled game. I like it for its fast pace once the party know the system a combat with over 100 enemies can be done in 5 mins.

 

If there are a hundred enemies, I think my players would have done well to have retreated fifty enemies ago

Unless its one of those scenarios where there is no place to retreat to, the necromancer and his hordes are at the gates etc.

[DeathQuaker]

Late to this, but FWIW if you don't mind d20 based games, in addition to being a fun fantasy game, Pathfinder's got gunslingers and clockwork automata in some of its supplements (Ultimate Combat and the Bestiary 3, respectively, both of which are legally, freely accessible in the Pathfinder Reference Document). The alchemist class from the Advanced Player's Guide (also in the PRD) would probably also suit your world concept well. You could probably pull in the steampunk stuff from 3rd party publishers or maybe adapting material from Iron Kingdoms (by Privateer Press) if you didn't homebrew it up yourself.

[melkathi]

Thanks DeathQuaker. I was looking for an excuse to look into Pathfinder

[DeathQuaker]

Cool. Let me know what you think.

[melkathi]

So, are you guys ready to give some more advise?

 

I am pondering how to best handle things. I usually played campaigns where I'd let players do whatever they want after an initial session, making things up on the spot based on their actions.

This time round I actually know what I basically want them to do (even though I don't particularly care how they reach the goal) and that is a bit terra nova for me.

The basic outline is this:

 

A series of murders has been happening. Bodies of victims have been dumped all over the city, seemingly at random. What they have in common is that all have been killed with a single blow from a sharp object, all victims are completly unknown and they mostly wear pretty outlandish clothing.

The players inadvertently stumble upon and interrupt the killer as he is about to stab his latest victim. The killer, suprised, flees the scene.

Obviously he isn't happy and after he rallies himself, he is going to be after both his original victim and the people who interrupted him.

The victim is completly disoriented and has no idea where they are and what is going on. This could just be shock, or the killer truly does magicaly teleport his victims to the city before killing them. Either way, the players should soon find themselves in the middle of things, as various factions are trying for their own reasons to find out what is going on. Eventually the players should need to flee the city and embark on a quest that will send the person they saved back home and at least put an end to the killings, even if they probably won't be able to get on good terms with every faction.

 

So far my thoughts are these:

the kingdom only recently came out of a long war (the 6 year war over Oz, which saw the emerald city razed and turned into a penal colony with prisoners doing hard labour in the emerald mines). With there still being fear of enemy agents, spies, terrorists, a curfew would make sense. Because of the incident with the serial killer, the players are caught outside after curfew and the city guards have been rather trigger happy with all the talk about a serial killer stalking victims in the fog. This should make sure that players are on the run from the guard and can't just go to the next watch-house.

If over the first few sessions I introduce a few factions until I have 3-4 factions plus the guard involved, it should make the city hot enough for players to take the road. Once on the road I guess it should be fairly easy to come up with interesting things that happen along the way.

I guess the real problem is: how do I keep the serial killer a constant threat without there being a real combat situation with him, so I don't need to find reasons why the players can't kill him?

Edited December 20, 2012 by melkathi