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Code Ronin
Code Ronin's picture
Using the rules in other settings
alternate settings

Anyone else pondered using the rules for other settings? It occurred to me that the villain rules would be a good way to model supervillains.

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BluSponge blusp...
BluSponge blusponge@verizon.net's picture

I certainly expect to go through and pillage for my Witch Hunter game, but beyond that I couldn't really say until I see a more finished version of the rules.

Salamanca
Salamanca's picture
Hey, I used AD&D first edition to do pro wrestling at one point because that's all we had to work with. You can adapt anything if you want to do it. You would need to go in and define a power set beyond the dice pool but otherwise it should work.
Myridian
Myridian's picture

The Dragaeran books by Steven Brust, particularly the Phoenix Guard novel.  All about swashbuckling, and the magic shouldn't be too hard to codify.

"...for it is the deeds of weak and mortal men that may tip the scales one way or the other..."

Alfredo Tarancón
Alfredo Tarancón's picture

Its a good fix until the official adaptation to Blades in the Dark is released by john Harper

Myridian
Myridian's picture

Edgar Rice Burroughs: Mars, Venus, etc.

Swashbuckling, almost always succeeds, guns are deadly.  Fighting through hordes while the villain of the piece makes off with the princess. (or prince)

"...for it is the deeds of weak and mortal men that may tip the scales one way or the other..."

Henry de Veuve
Henry de Veuve's picture

Or Space Opera in the Buck Rogers/Flash Gordon vein.  (grins enthusiastically)

"Kill with a borrowed knife.  Hide your dagger behind a smile.  Lure the Tiger down from the mountain.  And never forget that your opponent has also studied the seven military classics." ~XiongMao the Cranky

Evan Sageser
Evan Sageser's picture

I kind of considered how possible it would be to run Legend of the Five Rings with this system, I know we're set to have an Eastern version of the game once the current run of books are finished off, but it still seems like the background systems could work as an interesting adaptation of the schools in LotFR.

 

It would probably end up as a much more "wuxia" style game than classic Samurai but it could be interesting all the same.

Salamanca
Salamanca's picture
Firefly, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Fast and Furious, JJ Abrams version of Star Trek, The Goonies.
⚡️Christopher
⚡️Christopher's picture

My initial thoughts were, in no particular order:

  • Firefly
  • Stargate: SG-1
  • Any anime :p
LibrariaNPC
LibrariaNPC's picture

I'm not sure how well anime would work with this. Some of the lower end on the action scale can work easily enough, but as soon as you get into the world-breaking powers (looking at Fate/Unlimited Blade Works, the Dragon Ball series, and a number of over-the-top titles), I think it starts to crack a bit.

 

Just my opinion so far, but I need to run it a few times and see just how much I can bend the rules before they break.

"Smilies exist because no one's bothered to create a sarcasm font." --Lost_Heretic

⚡️Christopher
⚡️Christopher's picture

Ok so maybe "any" was a bad word choice. Most non-over-the-top anime would work. Early Bleach, Most Gundam stories, magical girls, earthlings transported to another world. Things like that.

Heck, even Dragon Ball (not Z or GT) would work, since it's not crazy-super-over-9,000. But even for those, a bit of adjustment to Brute Squads so each point of Strength is 5 or 10 individuals instead of 1:1 could show the power level of PCs, and a few tweaks to the sorcerers to be ki powers that give crazy bonuses to dice rolls could work well.

LibrariaNPC
LibrariaNPC's picture

That I can agree with you on, on all counts. The lower-scale of powers would work pretty well with some tweaks to how Sorcery functions (especially if it's just a matter of "You now have X effect that can be used in Y ways"), and classic Dragon Ball is a solid example.

This newer mechanic has a ton of potential. It's a shame it's not up for Creative Commons or OGL, because I'd be working on hacks for this like the day is long. Until then, it's a few home-grown rules to share with my group and working on full hacks for Fate.

"Smilies exist because no one's bothered to create a sarcasm font." --Lost_Heretic

⚡️Christopher
⚡️Christopher's picture

What I wouldn't do for a CC version of the rules. That would be epic!

LibrariaNPC
LibrariaNPC's picture

Glad to see that we are once again on the same page. Shame I don't think it'll happen, though.

"Smilies exist because no one's bothered to create a sarcasm font." --Lost_Heretic

Alfredo Tarancón
Alfredo Tarancón's picture

hehe... Powered by the 7th Sea....laugh

LibrariaNPC
LibrariaNPC's picture

The Editor-In-Chief for the blog I write for asked "What games do you think would handle Dishonored?" after Dishonored 2 was shown. Amusingly enough, 7th Sea 2nd Edition jumped to mind if I can make a few necessary tweaks for the setting.

"Smilies exist because no one's bothered to create a sarcasm font." --Lost_Heretic

Evan Sageser
Evan Sageser's picture

You know as strange as it might sound, I think that the 7th sea system could be very cool for a Sword and Sorcery setting. When you really get down to it Swashbuckling and S&S have a similar feel focusing around big damn heroes and epic exploits. Sword and Sorcery tends to be on the grittier side of things, but the principle of the thing stays the same.

Biggest change would probably be sorcery, in that while 7th Sea tends to keep its sorcery on a fairly contained level, S&S tends to go big but mysterious, Sanderis might be a good fit for the darker tone that Sorcery has in S&S, but I'm also sort of tempted to treat casting a spell like it's own kind of risk.

 

Think of it like this, you're trying to summon and bind some demon. One raise achieves intent, but there's plenty of consequences that might come from it, the demon getting free, or you suffering burns trying to keep the circle together. Stuff like that could help keep magic free-form yet costly. It would even help mitigate the problem of one raise letting you achieve omnipotence, since using stronger spells would necessarily carry heavier consequences. (After all, in a sword and sorcery book, the inexperienced sorceror that tries to use magic outside of his ability doesn't fail, he just wreaks havoc, vaporizes himself, and probably lets some eldritch abomination free.)

 

The more I think of this, the more I like it. What do you guys think?

Akilah McKenna
Akilah McKenna's picture

So, one 7th Sea mechanic that made it in to every system we used (and the list is long) is the Drama Die, now the Hero Point.  It made every system better.

I could certainly see 7th Sea 2e being used for Sword & Sorcery games.  Linking magic use to Hero Points would limit the number of spells cast per session to a probably manageable level.  Would you take a D&D/BESM-influenced approach, in which magic is free-form within a certain "sphere of influence"? 

I would certainly treat each spell as its own risk, and I agree that the Consequences could become quite...colourful.  Also, following the 7th Sea 2e examples, the more powerful spells could be considered "Major" versions of their respective "spheres of influence" (if you go that route), and would have some limits on their acquisition (Glamour limits Major to a certain trait, Sorte limits through Minor pre-reqs, etc.).

I agree with the suggestion of using this for Firefly.  The Risks, Consequences, and Opportunities mechanism seems to lend itself to telling Firefly stories, and the Backgrounds practically write themselves.

On the flip side of the question, my group has successfully used the Houses of the Blooded, Blood and Tears "parlor game" to run 7th Sea 1e sessions long-distance, as well as a diceless home-brew.  Anyone else imported other system influences into 7th Sea?

Evan Sageser
Evan Sageser's picture

I was kind of thinking of having a single magic "stat" which you get more of by buying advantages. But there's not actually a skill that accompanies magic, so you have to roll it straight.

This strongly encourages hero point usage to boost your roll, but you could also use dramatic wounds (including other people's) and sometimes wealth points (for ritual magic)

I'd also probably go with different spheres as well (if only to make sure sorcerers don't all feel the same.)

LibrariaNPC
LibrariaNPC's picture

I never really got into Swords and Sorcery, but your post above and this new one are both interesting with potential. My only concern with a "Magic Stat" are twofold:

1) It's an all-important stat. Depending on how you handle magic, it could be the most used stat in the game. (i.e. my players in a Dresden Files game wanted to handle EVERYTHING with magic until I started getting creative).

2) You'd have to split it from the rest of the traits, or else change the maximum number of trait points.

 

Now, adding a magical trait, giving a required magical advantage (maybe a 5 pt? 3 pt?) and leaving the "Spheres" as either their own skills or advantages may be interesting, to be honest.

"Smilies exist because no one's bothered to create a sarcasm font." --Lost_Heretic

Evan Sageser
Evan Sageser's picture

I wasn't planning on incorporating it as a main trait like the others more like an advantage you buy like normal sorcery to increase. Magic should be useful in my mind but terribly risky and expensive.

LibrariaNPC
LibrariaNPC's picture

Agreed. So would each Sorcery purchase net a new ability/element, or just more ranks into the magic trait? Just curious how you would approach it; my immediate reaction was to work with the DFRPG for a baseline and build from there with how you were describing things.

"Smilies exist because no one's bothered to create a sarcasm font." --Lost_Heretic

Evan Sageser
Evan Sageser's picture

Probably both. Each advantage gives you one new sphere and another rank in Magic. First advantage would probably start you at rank 2 Magic though.

LibrariaNPC
LibrariaNPC's picture

As a follow up: I am working on a Dishonored hack here in the forum, and I think I'm making decent progress considering the timing (about to move). If anyone wants to offer input, I'd appreciate it.

"Smilies exist because no one's bothered to create a sarcasm font." --Lost_Heretic

EbonWarlock
EbonWarlock's picture

I was kind of thinking this might work with a Shadowrun style setting. I love that setting but the rules are a true pain in the ass to deal with -too much crunch with not enough story IMO but this might be able to create some pretty good Action/Dramatic scenes.

I'd have to re-work the backgrounds to reflect the Setting and some additional Advantages (for cyberware etc). The Glamour system should port over fairly well with the powers of a Physical Adept. Maybe keep Matushka for some kind of Shamanic Sorcery. Maybe swap around the melee/ranged dramatic wound system to cover the more common firearms? Will have to sketch out a few ideas...

LibrariaNPC
LibrariaNPC's picture

Most of the magic wouldn't be too hard to deal with, and the augments can just be hand-waived as Signature Items (like cyber arms to increase damage and subdermal armor to reduce wounds) or reasons for being able to do something (I'm looking at Deckers, here). You could even have it set up in ranks like a form of Sorcery if you wanted, but I think having Signature Item would suffice.

As for the Firearms thing, I'd be at a crossroads with this setting. I was debating about it with the Dishonored hack I'm working on, but in that setting, guns are still things to be reckoned with, so I left them. In settings like Shadowrun (and as the original rules had similar damage scales if I remember correctly), I'd set that all small arms are basic damage, but heavy duty weapons (rocket launchers? .50 calibur machine guns? Anti-vehicle weaponry?) deal the automatic Dramatic Wound.

"Smilies exist because no one's bothered to create a sarcasm font." --Lost_Heretic

⚡️Christopher
⚡️Christopher's picture

I see the auto-Dramatic Wound caused by firearms meaning that it's new and scary. For Shadowrun I'd treat whatever tech is newest and scariest as the thing that causes auto-DWs.

Evan Sageser
Evan Sageser's picture

So I'm still doing work on that Sword and Sorcery hack (using Atlantis the Second Age as a basis as far as setting goes.)

It's turning out well so far, Sorcery is extremely versatile but with more dangerous risks, Alchemy is handled like Hexenwurk and Calling upon the Gods for aid is treated like Sanderis (with no automatic corruption but generally larger endeavors required for the major favors, such as slaying huge monsters and other Trials of Herculesesque quests)

 

One thing that has been interesting is converting dueling schools. In many ways Sword and Sorcery cares even less about what weapon you use unless it's particularly significant (which is generally handled with the signature item advantage). Conan for instance kills tons of fools with only a long knife. That's what the Riddle of Steel is all about in a way. This means that I'm actually thinking of replacing Dueling Schools with something closer to warrior philosophies I'm calling Riddles (once again invoking the Riddle of Steel concept from the Conan movie.)

So for instance instead of the Aldana school we have Riddle of the Blooded Dance, where the philosophy is to think of combat itself like music to better move in tune with. Meanwhile the Boucher school is Riddle of the Thousand Cuts, which emphasizes speed and a flurry of blows to defeat ones foes.

 

It's mostly fluff based, but I'm tempted to replace the weapon requirements with something more suited to a less formalized school. Since it's more of a philosophy to live by, I'm tempted to come up with some sort of behavioral requirement that the warrior must hold himself to in order to properly use the Advanced Maneuver. However, I don't want to be overly restrictive in player behavior during combat, just have something as a small limitation to the riddles, similar to how one can take away some degree of a duelist's effectiveness if they're seperated from their weapons during a fight.

 

Thoughts?

Heng benjamin
Heng benjamin's picture

Has anyone written a Star Wars hack? We're dropping EotE system and we coud give 7th sea a try before starting a campaign on Thea !

LibrariaNPC
LibrariaNPC's picture

I'd love to see it, but I don't think it's an undertaking I'd be willing to go for. I just finished my fourth RPG playtest regarding the Star Wars Universe (first being Fly Casual some time ago), so I think I need a breather before going back into rules hacks for my favorite galaxy far, far away.

If anyone is up for working on it as a group, I'd gladly join in, but I won't hold my breath. My topic on using the setting of Dishonored has been pretty quiet, so I'm getting the feeling that people either aren't up for hacks yet or we just have a quiet community.

"Smilies exist because no one's bothered to create a sarcasm font." --Lost_Heretic

Joachim Deneuve...
Joachim Deneuve du Surlign's picture

I'm wondering whether the system could be used for Shadows of the Apt.  It may need a little bit of equipment rules for that, or it may be able to cope with just the firearms rule.

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