FASA Syndrome and a possible game.
May. 15th, 2010 08:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gridloreOriginally a group of Traveller geeks, FASA went on to be one of the best game companies of the eighties and nineties, producing several games that developed large followings. The thing is, FASA had a problem. Their worlds were much better than the rules.
Take Shadowrun. The Seattle Sourcebook is still my choice for best RPG supplement ever. An entire metroplex given just enough detail and life to be playable without being overwhelming, and the web-like commentary gave dozens of adventure hooks. The rest of the books in the line were of similar quality; creating a vibrant world where technology and magic existed side by side and a dragon could run for President. The rules? Not so much. Shadowrun's core mechanic was a dice pool and target number system, but the sheer number of modifiers bogged down play. Especially when you had a firefight with mages involved. So many gamers took the setting and adapted it to their generic system of choice.
The same can be said for FASA's other offerings. The Renegade Legion series gave a great epic Space Opera setting to fight battles in, and the actually wargames were great. Legionnaire? Not so much. The RPG version was pretty much unplayable. Everyone knows Batletech, one of the most complete detailed SF settings ever. The House books remain examples of excellence in writing and presentation. But the MechWarrior RPG failed on many levels.
Finally, the one that really hurt. Earthdawn. Set in the same universe as Shadowrun, but much earlier in history, Earthdawn is based on the idea that the cyclic nature of magic results in a peak potential where Lovecraftian "Horrors" can cross into our world and wreck havoc. Forewarned of this disaster, most intelligent races built fortified underground "kaers" - entire cities designed to withstand a siege expected to last centuries. The game is set at a point where magic has ebbed to the point that most of the Horrors have been forced back into their own realm, and the kaers are beginning to open to reclaim the surface.
Does this not just rock as a setting? It includes all the elements I love for a good game. Exploration, mysteries, unknown threats, open frontiers, and since some kaers would have fallen to the Horrors, entire freaking cities acting as dungeons! Note to mention the old surface cities that have been standing empty for 400 years. This would be a time of legends! Of carving out new empires! when a band of adventurers could easily become kings! The problem here was twofold: again, some crappy mechanics in the game that slowed things down with excessive specialized rules, and when expanding the setting the writers added too much civilization.
I'm seriously considering doing a GURPS Earthdawn game. One big change I'd make is the nature of orcs in the setting. As written, they're just the usual Tolkienesque monsters. However, being a big fan of Heavy Metal, have the orks be humans whose kaer was breached by a horror who changed them over the centuries. Barking mad, sadistic, and devoted to keeping their God on Earth. I'd probably set the game in Greece, and have the Therans in Rome's location. Gives a little separation before the inevitable conflict.
What do y'all think?
Take Shadowrun. The Seattle Sourcebook is still my choice for best RPG supplement ever. An entire metroplex given just enough detail and life to be playable without being overwhelming, and the web-like commentary gave dozens of adventure hooks. The rest of the books in the line were of similar quality; creating a vibrant world where technology and magic existed side by side and a dragon could run for President. The rules? Not so much. Shadowrun's core mechanic was a dice pool and target number system, but the sheer number of modifiers bogged down play. Especially when you had a firefight with mages involved. So many gamers took the setting and adapted it to their generic system of choice.
The same can be said for FASA's other offerings. The Renegade Legion series gave a great epic Space Opera setting to fight battles in, and the actually wargames were great. Legionnaire? Not so much. The RPG version was pretty much unplayable. Everyone knows Batletech, one of the most complete detailed SF settings ever. The House books remain examples of excellence in writing and presentation. But the MechWarrior RPG failed on many levels.
Finally, the one that really hurt. Earthdawn. Set in the same universe as Shadowrun, but much earlier in history, Earthdawn is based on the idea that the cyclic nature of magic results in a peak potential where Lovecraftian "Horrors" can cross into our world and wreck havoc. Forewarned of this disaster, most intelligent races built fortified underground "kaers" - entire cities designed to withstand a siege expected to last centuries. The game is set at a point where magic has ebbed to the point that most of the Horrors have been forced back into their own realm, and the kaers are beginning to open to reclaim the surface.
Does this not just rock as a setting? It includes all the elements I love for a good game. Exploration, mysteries, unknown threats, open frontiers, and since some kaers would have fallen to the Horrors, entire freaking cities acting as dungeons! Note to mention the old surface cities that have been standing empty for 400 years. This would be a time of legends! Of carving out new empires! when a band of adventurers could easily become kings! The problem here was twofold: again, some crappy mechanics in the game that slowed things down with excessive specialized rules, and when expanding the setting the writers added too much civilization.
I'm seriously considering doing a GURPS Earthdawn game. One big change I'd make is the nature of orcs in the setting. As written, they're just the usual Tolkienesque monsters. However, being a big fan of Heavy Metal, have the orks be humans whose kaer was breached by a horror who changed them over the centuries. Barking mad, sadistic, and devoted to keeping their God on Earth. I'd probably set the game in Greece, and have the Therans in Rome's location. Gives a little separation before the inevitable conflict.
What do y'all think?
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no subject
Date: 15 May 2010 19:31 (UTC)Shadowrun is the RPG which makes me feel old: It's the oldest game I remember we started playing as it was published. I still own some 30 shelf-centimeters of it, mostly Third Edition, with some Second Edition thrown in. It was fun (haven't played it in ten years), but I remember laughing at the rules even when we started.
I think the funniest brainfart in the first edition was the skill web. ISTR you could throw a grenade with Charisma, but with a +12 penalty. Also the mages were somewhat high-powered, and my GM tried once running a combat with both Matrix and astral stuff in addition to the material plane...
I have also some Earthdawn books, but I have never really played it. Seems like a fun world, though I agree that there is too much civilization.
FASA made good products with the worlds, but as you said the systems. I'm still sad they went under, but at least some of the games still exist.
no subject
Date: 16 May 2010 20:37 (UTC)Damn rare in this industry.
no subject
Date: 17 May 2010 09:12 (UTC)no subject
Date: 15 May 2010 19:57 (UTC)Even better, the vast majority of everyone in the 'DA' world don't -know- what darkspawn are, or who they used to be. [Because - as is revealed - it is possible for normal folk to be carried off, infected with darkspawn blood and turned into new darkspawn.]
no subject
Date: 15 May 2010 23:02 (UTC)no subject
Date: 16 May 2010 20:28 (UTC)I'm half-tempted to use FUDGE.
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Date: 15 May 2010 23:17 (UTC)no subject
Date: 16 May 2010 20:34 (UTC)As I told the Wasp, I'm almost tempted to use FUDGE for this.
no subject
Date: 16 May 2010 21:11 (UTC)David Pulver wrote a very nice SF setting for BESM. I was going to use BESM for my TransHuman Space game, because it did work nicely for things like Ghost in the Shell.
FUDGE would work too, I think.
no subject
Date: 16 May 2010 13:47 (UTC)Now, having the orcs as the descendants of another hominid line in human development would be interesting.
perhaps not all neanderthals were driven to extinction or merged into the Cro Magnon line...
no subject
Date: 16 May 2010 20:26 (UTC)