So, I've been reading some of Steven Erikson's fantasy stuff of late, and it got me thinking again about how you could use 3:16 in a fantasy setting.
See Erikson's stuff is full of the same kind of down and dirty army stuff that 3:16 has, squad level bickering is a huge part of some of the books. Plus it has all the fighting for a cause then slowly realising it may not be all it seems stuff. Plus you know, people rising through the ranks, the dangers of command, betrayal, unpleasant death, epic battles, magic and so on. The backdrop is different but there's enough in common it might work. Note I'm not talking about playing in that setting, but creating a similar kind of fiction.
So how to modify 3:16 for this kind of stuff? Basic mechanics can probably work as before, FA and NFA and strengths and weaknesses are fine as is. I guess the main things to modify are: make orders suitable and (un)workable, rewording planet descriptions, rewording alien special abilities and change the weapons and special equipment. Some of this is merely slapping new colour on the mechanics, other stuff I'm not so sure about. Rewriting the standing orders would set the tone for the entire thing, and could create a very different feel if done well (or badly).
So my first question, is has anybody considered or tried this kind of mod/hack/thing before? Gregor, any suggestions?
Me!
Submitted by Graham W on Tue, 21/10/2008 - 23:52.
I wanted to do a fantasy hack. You'd be the King's Soldiers, clearing out the undesirables from dungeons.
Graham
Tribes
Submitted by Gregor Hutton on Wed, 22/10/2008 - 10:16.
Oh, rather than "Planets" and "Aliens", I've been using "Places" and "Tribes" for my Roman Legionary drift.
The other thing I changed was Range. Now, for you it might be fine to keep the ranges as they are. For the Romans I changed them to "Tight Formation", "Loose Formation" and "Broken Formation".
Weapons in 3:16 have 5 "points" for damage (mostly), so that they are reasonably balanced. Either change this amount or lower the steps.
Pts - 3:16 - Alternative Fantasy Drift (restricted die types?)
0 - 0 - 0
1 - 1 - 1
2 - d6 - d4 (or d6/2)
3 - d10 - d6
4 - 2d6 - d8 (or 2d4?)
5 - 2d10 - d10
6 - 3d10 - d12 (or 2d6?)
7 - D100 - D20 (OR 2d10?)
For magic I would make spells have weapon qualities with drain (man, I loved that in Shadowrun) on a roll of a 10. Or something.
I was noodling ideas around
Submitted by Andrew Kenrick on Wed, 22/10/2008 - 11:13.
I was noodling ideas around for drifting it to a Roman Legions game too, weirdly.
Oh, Favour of the Gods
Submitted by Gregor Hutton on Wed, 22/10/2008 - 12:40.
...and rather than having Rank, you can have "Favour of the Gods" and make Rank just colour.
Basically, you get cooler gear by being promoted and more favoured by the Gods, and more requests for quests and so on ... thinking the 300 or ancient world mythology here.
That way you can kick in the higher amounts of Threat Tokens and do something other than military rank. The orders would be compels in your mindset/devotion/fanaticims.
Anyway, that's what I would do.
So you have Level which gives abilities and Flashbacks, and Favour which gives cool stuff and demands/drives on your actions.
Cool
Submitted by Matt on Wed, 22/10/2008 - 13:29.
That actually really highlights some of the similarities with Agon. I like the devotions / mindset stuff, I will appropriate that and modify slightly to fit. I might try and bolt on personal / faction agendas in a CC kind of way...
I was going to use realms/cities instead of planets, and cultures rather than aliens. That's fairly easy conversion wise, I think. Alien abilities get to be local fighting styles and so on.
I think I might leave magic and so on to the extras at ranks (planet busters and so on) or maybe just colour. I think for this kind of military fantasy ranks should probably stay too.
Range is a tricky one.
-Matt
Realms Publishing
How about melee, bowfire and
Submitted by Andrew Kenrick on Wed, 22/10/2008 - 14:27.
How about melee, bowfire and siege? Or brawl, melee and bow-range?
Rangey
Submitted by Matt on Wed, 22/10/2008 - 15:23.
Yeah, I'd been thinking melee, bow and siege, though I wonder how best to handle big stuff like Ballistas or whatever in the fiction if this was the case. It'd probably work out.
The other option is dirty shiving, battlelines and maneuvering...
-Matt
Realms Publishing
Traits
Submitted by Gregor Hutton on Wed, 22/10/2008 - 17:23.
You could the Alien Abilities something like Traits or Cultural Aspects or something else to fit the theme.
I think they're pretty easy to fit to the fiction of a fantasy game.
A nice strong Place, a Culture and a Trait would really create strong adversity for the PCs.
Hmm, sounds fun.
So realms / cities
Submitted by Matt on Wed, 22/10/2008 - 20:51.
A rough set of ideas split between cities and realms, as I feel there will be some invasions and some siege things:
1. A Desert oasis
2. A great wall across a northern border
3. A sprawling city of trades
4. A border outpost
5. A mountaintop keep
6. A forest realm
7. A mountain realm
8. A city of canals
9. A jungle realm
10. An icy fastness
11. An underground realm
12. A city in the trees
13. A decadent city state
14. A kingdom filled with plague
15. An island kingdom
16. A city of ancient ruins
17. A jungle state
18. A port of pirate villainy
19. A flying fortress
20. A lone tower
Covers the main tropes, I think.
-Matt
Realms Publishing
The problems are
Submitted by JoE PrincE on Fri, 24/10/2008 - 14:58.
For me the grenades and kill counts don't work in a pre-modern setting.
JoE
Prince of Darkness Games
Rock N' Role-Play....
Slaine
Submitted by Neil Gow on Fri, 24/10/2008 - 15:55.
Oh I don't know... there's been many a fantasy hero who has stood at the end of the battle amidst a sea of dead bodies with a scantily clad woman wrapped around his thigh and claimed that he hasn't quenched his blood lust yet. Kill them all, Thrud the Barbarian style, thats what I say!!
Grenades, admittedly, are a little more difficult to model.
Neil
Take the King's shilling at http://www.omnihedron.co.uk/dutyandhonour/
Worth noting
Submitted by Matt on Sat, 25/10/2008 - 12:56.
That the setting that inspired this very much has grenades.
My thoughts for kill counts was they would still work, based on the idea that you're focusing on one elite unit in a war that's larger than it is.
-Matt
Realms Publishing