tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7652921.post4817025836182545757..comments2024-03-27T22:32:17.055-05:00Comments on Jeffs Gameblog: Low Impact High WeirdnessJeff Rientshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17493878980535235896noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7652921.post-76768878087645449852010-05-21T11:51:14.055-05:002010-05-21T11:51:14.055-05:00Fading Suns: the Dark Ages in space, replete with ...Fading Suns: the Dark Ages in space, replete with nobles, priests, serfs, and trade guilds. Space travel through jumpgates made by extinct aliens. Flavor of Dune, 40k, Star Wars, and Classic Traveller all sorta mixed in together. And wookies with six limbs.<br /><br />See? It's not really that hard.Random Goblin/Kullervohttp://asurastar.wordpress.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7652921.post-13642656656782361922007-01-29T13:48:00.000-06:002007-01-29T13:48:00.000-06:00Shadowrun did do a good thing by including the tem...Shadowrun did do a good thing by including the templates. They generally suck and aren't even closed to optimized, but armed with a template and "cyberpunk with orcs," you are, indeed, good to go.<br /><br />Vampire explanations I've used tend to rely on known media. Back in the day, it was something like "Sort of like those Anne Rice books, but with more fighting and less drama."<br /><br />For my Sabbat game, it was "violent vampires in The Crow's version of Detroit, trying to keep the Anne Rice vampires from taking over."<br /><br />For my Setite game -- "You're the bad guys from Blade, trying to get your vampire God to rise."<br /><br />Most people I know have seen a lot of Vampire movies -- of different types -- so anything with vampires in it can be easily pitched off a known item.<br /><br />The only bad part in Vampire is that if you go through character creation in order (per the book), you pick skills and such before you hit Disciplines and realize they rely on certain skills. The one player aid I made was a cheatsheet describing which skills powered which Disciplines -- then had people pick Disciplines first. After all, isn't it a bigger issue to decided whether or not your vampire can turn invisible rather than how good a driver they are?Alexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04200883230437111275noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7652921.post-11769196248434821182007-01-29T08:02:00.000-06:002007-01-29T08:02:00.000-06:00GURPS is an even better example. Last time I play...GURPS is an even better example. Last time I played Shadowrun I was able to pick a template and roll out. Is that no longer possible in more recent editions? The setting was explained to me as "Seattle with cyberpunks and orcs". That seemed sufficient.<br /><br />Alexander, I'd be interested to hear how you answer for players the question "What do you do in a Vampire game?" I've never heard a exciting and short response to that question.Jeff Rientshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17493878980535235896noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7652921.post-42370350162479243652007-01-28T23:32:00.000-06:002007-01-28T23:32:00.000-06:00I find it interesting that you picked Vampire as a...I find it interesting that you picked Vampire as a negative example, since I've always found it really easy to explain in very, very short order to new folks -- and the character creation process is pretty newbie-friendly: "You have three dots to spend on powers. This one makes you stronger, this one lets you turn invisible."<br /><br />I wouldn't want to try and set new people loose on Shadowrun character creation, on the other hand. Or GURPS.Alexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04200883230437111275noreply@blogger.com