Quote:
Originally Posted by smascrns
This may not belong here but in a separate thread in the Open forum but, what games did you consider and why did they disapoint you? I would really like to know about it.
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I'll put this one answer here because it will still be relevant to this product, but if it starts to balloon out of control, we can move it to 'Open'.
So far my main complaint about the fantasy games I've tried is that the majority of the newer ones seek to emulate the D20 system, either by adopting it or adapting it. There's a huge slew of games that are direct ports of D20, which I hate with a vengeance, and then there are others that seek to either cut it down, or lift key elements from it because they seem traditional almost. I particularly have issues with character classes and levels. Classes are too pidgeonhole-ish - I like to play really oddball characters that don't fit into such niches. Levels just make the whole exercise feel like a computer game, and while I love computer games I love them for different reasons entirely.
So, games I've tried include:
True20: intended as a cut-down D20 system in the first place, at which it does succeed. However it still bears too many similarities for my liking, even with only three character classes and the removal of hit points.
Iron / Jade Claw: I love both, but they're hard to adapt away from their anthropomorphic settings, and a lot of people can't take anthro seriously.
Exalted: Too close to manga. Again, I like manga
as manga, but what I'm looking for in my fantasy gaming is something that's not so OTT. Otherwise good.
RuneQuest: Well, they're not character classes per se, but the RQ character generation system suffers from some pretty similar problems though thankfully not as serious. However the system never really grabbed me, plus the books are slim for the price you pay.
Shadow of Yesterday: great at what it does, but doesn't appeal to many of the groups I play in who prefer to have stricter, less artsy rules. Also rather light on setting information. A pity, because otherwise I quite like it.
GURPS: Broken too easily, plus those huge lists of features to remember. Yikes.
Undiscovered: Again, felt rather like a D20 spinoff.
WHFRPS: Actually, this is quite a good game system, but I never found the setting very appealing and it's again difficult to lift the system out of that setting. Also a touch too deadly. But if you want to play in the Warhammer setting, it's pretty good.
Those are the only ones on my shelves at the moment, but I'm sure there are others that I looked at and didn't buy because I could tell they weren't for me. Now, what intrigues me about Reign (my copy is now on order, by the way) is that it seems to present a setting and system that supports political play, discourages the old cliches of good vs. evil, there's no damn elves and dwarves in it, I love the sound of the tribal nation, and all-in-all there sounds like a lot of potential for weaving intricate stories. This is something I am all for; I think it's a tragedy the number of people whose idea of a fantasy scenario is 'everyone find the magic item, or scattered pieces thereof, that will destroy monster X' and don't think far beyond what their employer has told them they should do. I am determined to remind everyone in my group that there is just as much room for gripping stories, betrayals, moral dilemmas, twists and turns in fantasy stories as there is in, say, the average modern detective novel or action movie.
Ash