Ever been looking to find a new game to run, and not known where to start? A game can look rather different to a GM then a player, so here is a brief list of role playing games, some popular, some more obscure, from the game master’s perspective.
Role Playing Games for GMs
Dungeons and Dragons, 4th ed
Haven’t gotten my hands on this one yet, but a friend who has played it refers to Star Wars Saga Ed (see below) D&D 3.8. I’ll keep you updated.
In the mean time, Carl Craven’s has already been giving 4th ed D&D the hairy eye ball. See what he thinks.
New World of Darkness
New WoD takes some adjustment if you’ve played Old WoD in the past: the system changes are relatively simple but can catch you by surprise, the world changes are extensive.
New WoD is designed so that the World of Darkness is a game in itself, and the various supernaturals are published as supplements that can not be played with out the core. This means more expense getting started playing, it also means more details on both general world and system, and in the supplements.
World of Darkness was, and remains, a dice-lite game. System definitely takes second place to story and character. The combat system is far from the most realistic, and is very cut down in favor of simplicity.
The system is designed to allow for what are called ‘mixed games’ – gaming groups that include more then one supernatural, or for purely human gaming groups. If you or your group wants to run a purely human campaign, expect to go through a lot of characters. The world is meant to have a horrific feel, but the horror can be toned up or down depending on preference.
Final point: Ignore rules on building advanced characters!!! I can’t emphasize this one enough, White Wolf clearly built their NPCs without following their own rules, and the suggested NPCs in the books have up to 4 times the experience points (when you break down the character) of what White Wolf recommends for a player character of equivalent age and experience.
Star Wars Sage Edition
Three words and a Phrase: Skills, Talents, Combat, Building high level characters
The old Stars Wars d20 was . . . well, d20. Fairly standard, most common system in existence, so on and so forth. I’m going to assume that anyone reading this is at least familiar with d20 as a player, if not GM, and just discuss the differences.
Skills – alright first off, say good bye to skill levels. Yup, adios, kaput, hasta luego and a lot of other words meaning they are gone. Instead, skills are based on a combination of 1/2 the character’s level + relevant modifiers. Running a game for low level characters, this doesn’t change much, running for high level characters, it rewrites the game.
Every level 10 character has a base +5 to skill checks before adding modifiers
Think about that a minute. There will never again be a high level character who can not tie his shoes out side of a battle. You need to plan around every high level character, regardless of training or class, to have a high chance of making any moderate level skill check.
Next, the only skill that can not be used untrained is now mechanics. Knowledge can not be used untrained for skill checks with a difficulty over 15.
Oh, and training in the skill now means you took the skill training feat, yes I did say feat, and get a +5 to the skill check.
Ok, Talents.
Say what?
Talents are the new goody. Each class has talent trees that give abilities only available to that class. Some have prereqs, some can be grabbed at random. Similar to feats, talents get picked up every other class level. Just like Feats, it is important a GM know the effect of every talent his NPCs and PCs have.
Combat – the big point there are no more saving throws instead, characters get a fort, ref and will defenses, and those defenses are the DC for any attack against the character. Also, high level characters no longer get multiple attacks per round high level combat takes forever.
Finally, building high level characters – most annoying of all, there is no mechanic for building high level characters. This means almost all NPCs that have classes need to be built up from level 1. Game prep is now a bitch. And modifying existing antagonists is a complicated nightmare. Just build ‘em from scratch if you can’t use one out of the book.
Beyond that, it still runs pretty much like any d20. Lucas Films and Wizards of the Coast continues to deliver strong world building and a strong game masters section.
I find the new mechanics far more understandable then traditional d20, and combat and games in general run a lot smoother. But that may just be me.
This list will continue on Wednesday with Exalted, BESM, and Amber.
