Author Topic: Question about what system to use  (Read 8443 times)

silentjudas

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Question about what system to use
« on: May 07, 2009, 03:46:33 PM »
I'm going to be making a I AM LEGEND based campaign. It's a mix of the novel and the movie.
Basic idea is that the virus only affected North America and it was quarantined for 5-10 years (havent decided yet)
Nature has - for a good portion of the land - taken back over. Animals that once were only in zoos or were quickly going extinct now floruish once again. The various styles of vampires (the nutjob ones, the intelligent civilization creating ones, etc) live in different sized cities/villages etc. and luckily have learned from the past and have left most of the land alone. If you've seen the movie, imagine it sort of like that when it comes to nature.
After many years the quarantine has been lifted solely for military and research teams. However, curious folks from all sectors of life are tempted to sneak in, and many do. The player characters are a combination of illegal explorers going to explore the new version of the once modern North America.

That's the short of it.
So, I'm debating what system to use for this? I want something crunchy - being a campaign and all - and something versatile. I have never read any of the WoD stuff and I'd really rather not use d20, but I will if it comes down to it, and I may try using GURPS4e, but I wanted to see what everyone's opinion would be.

Tadanori Oyama

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Re: Question about what system to use
« Reply #1 on: May 07, 2009, 04:13:42 PM »
All Flesh Must Be Eaten.

clockworkjoe

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Re: Question about what system to use
« Reply #2 on: May 07, 2009, 04:37:20 PM »
AFMBE is custom geared for survival horror vs hordes of zombie like monsters (rules for customizing zombies so they match up vampires are included in the main book)

GURPS 4E if you want a lot of customization for PCs and junk.

True20 if you gotta use a d20 system.

Nemesis if you want a great sanity system

Call of Cthulhu if you are hardcore.

Sailor Moon if you want to confuse the shit out of everyone

FATAL if you are fucking crazy.

silentjudas

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Re: Question about what system to use
« Reply #3 on: May 07, 2009, 06:17:30 PM »
Oh yes, Ross, totally gonna use Sailor Moon now ahhaha.
I looked at nemesis recently. looks pretty cool, especially the madness and hit locations.
call of cthulhu doesn't really fit
i've heard nothing but bad about FATAL
AFMBE was a though but i dont want to focus on horror really
more...exploratory survival horror, if that makes any sense
like THE DARKEST DARK PART OF AFRICA HORROR PULP type of thing, but without the pulp

So yeah I'm thinking GURPS or Nemesis and stealing a few things from All Flesh lol
Anyone else?

Corrosive Rabbit

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Re: Question about what system to use
« Reply #4 on: May 07, 2009, 06:28:18 PM »
If you're looking for a game with heavy "adventure" elements, you might want to check out the Savage Worlds system.  It's very much into the theme of an "Excursion To Darkest Africa", although you might want to ease back a bit on the pulpier elements.

I'm not very familiar with GURPS, but there's almost certainly some sourcebooks to cover what you want to run.  :)

CR
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clockworkjoe

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Re: Question about what system to use
« Reply #5 on: May 07, 2009, 09:01:14 PM »
Great thing about Nemesis is the portability of the ORE system. You can easily transplant material from the other ORE games if necessary.

Want psychic powers/super science/etc? Grab Wild Talents for rules on super powers.
Want organizations? Grab Reign for the company rules. PCs can start a band of survivors and deal with other post apocalyptic groups.
Want rules on relationships? Monsters and Other Childish Things has relationships with suggestions on how to use them in game.

silentjudas

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Re: Question about what system to use
« Reply #6 on: May 07, 2009, 10:36:33 PM »
hmmm I'll have to acquire Reign. Might be useful.
And thanks for the advice.
And I looked over MaOCT once but I just couldn't figure out how you can play that game. I guess it's one of those things I'd have to actually see played to get.

Yeah I think I'll read Nemesis over and try to figure out the system.
I wanted something cruchier 'cause I have been running SKETCH games for the last few months and I want something more...realistic, yeah?
Don't get me wrong, I love SKETCH. GM's dream right there.

But yeah, thanks guys! If I manage to get it off the ground perhaps I shall post it up. I will warn you, my players are rather motley
One is a traditional "let me just kill things" person, and oddly is my gf
the other is a forum role player (not our kind, the non rpg ones), and is also a girl
and the other is...well...a mix of LET'S KILL EVERYTHING and LET'S SEE HOW BAD I CAN PISS OFF THE GM.
so yeah
If it works the way I want it I'll be amazed.
Now to actually get them to try and learn a harder system than SKETCH. I'm afraid I've spoiled the girls.

clockworkjoe

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Re: Question about what system to use
« Reply #7 on: May 07, 2009, 11:02:01 PM »
sketch? What's that?


Also, you should check out a curriculum of conspiracy. I had the same problem you had with MAOCT. It's a great game, but you read it and think 'what the fuck do I do with it?" When I wrote Curriculum, I tried to address that as best I could. It spells out pretty specific ways to run Monsters.

silentjudas

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Re: Question about what system to use
« Reply #8 on: May 10, 2009, 04:58:48 PM »
You haven't heard of SKETCH? look it up for certain!
It's a very simple to use system.
http://www.farsightgames.com/sketchsystem/4530546334