What would you take from other games?

[Valdore]

I feel like this could be a good topic for the writers to keep an eye on, there are a lot of systems out there, and they all play differently. What aspects of other systems do you feel would work well with the Stargate setting, and on the flip side, is there anything that you would say wouldn’t work that well?

Star Trek Adventures

One of the reasons that STA spoke to me as a potential system to Deakin for Stargate was the simplicity of its attributes and disciplines. Rather than having a great big skill list leading to very specialised characters, STA took the alternative approach of saying that these characters are all pretty highly trained, and as such, are pretty good at everything, whilst excelling in their specialties. As such, every dice roll is based off one of six attributes (Control, daring and so on) and one of six disciplines (Command, Conn etc) whilst having a relevant focus allowed a greater critical range for additional successes. I feel that Stargate could benefit from something of a hybrid between this style and a more traditional skill based system, as some areas would require more specialisation, for instance the sciences and archaeology, etc. Whilst in areas such as combat, you would expect the characters to all have at least been through boot camp, and therefore be able to aim and hit a target. Having a greater critical range due to focusing on a specific type of weapon. Could make sense however, someone who has practiced with assault rifles or SMGs for hundreds of hours is going to be far more accurate with those weapons, and better able to inflict more damage with them, whilst not being able to handle a sniper rifle or a staff weapon with anywhere near as much efficiency.

From a sciences type of standpoint, a more traditional skill system may work better, to give areas of specialisation that characters know more about, and are therefore more likely to be able to interpret something successfully, rather than having a greater chance of understanding every single piece of this completely alien device in five seconds (crit).

I hope that all makes sense, and apologies for the mass text wall, more to come!

 

Modiphius’ 2D20 System

Threat is a wonderful idea, and is handled particularly well in STA in my mind, specifically when it comes to escalation.

Threat is a GM resource, that can be increased by environmental factors, situations, the result of PC actions, and most thematically for the setting, obtaining certain types of equipment and shooting to kill. In STA this manifests in reinforcing Starfleet’s ideals of trying to find the path of least destruction/violence. Whilst this isn’t as relevant to Stargate, the idea of escalation based on the players actions and equipment choices would feel applicable to me, and whilst this could be GMd pretty easily, having it in system could help with the feel of the setting.

Once again, apologies for the giant wall of text!

[Securepuddle444]

I would think that having racial traits, like in d&d would carry over. A Jaffa is likely to have more bonuses with staff weapons than a human soldier from Earth.

[nostromo1a1]

a D100 system like FASA used for Star Trek is better than 2d20 which is clunky like carrying a lot of bulk and taking forever to explain water

[CopperTitan]

In terms of playing combat in systems I like D&D 5e a lot. Difficult to balance certain aspects but offers a LOT of versatility.

As for RP and skills I suggest taking a look at Dragon Age's 3d6 system. The stat/mod chart is a little whacky but how they handle rolls, proficiency, and  saves is really fun with their unique stunt system.

I've also become a fan of Dragon Age's leveling system and feel It'd actually work really well in a setting like Star Gate. Short version: all stats are divided into primary and secondary stats based on your class. on even levels you boost a primary stat and get a talent (choose from a list of special attacks or spells determined by your class), and on odd levels you boost a secondary stat and get a skill. It leads to some very unique builds. I've mentioned it in another post but I'm currently playing a game in which 3 of us are the same class but do COMPLETELY different things with it, solely due to how this system has encouraged us to grow our characters. 

[darkestarx]

ya the dragon age rpg has allot of good things greenronin did a great job also they released the rules is a stand along set of books called fantasy a,g,e, witch is the rules fromdragon age with out the setting. 

besides the fantasy and modern age system from green ronin be good to look at for how to handle the things already mentioned

id say the only real thing from another rpg that may be useful in stargate with it being more cinematic action would possibly be the intrusion rules from cypher core by monte cook games. what it dues is allow players and gms to interrupt causing a event to happen. if the gm dues it he awards xp to the party for it. if a player does it he loses xp to power it. i have had fun with it in d&d5e games it adds a lil bit more bookkeeping but it really ids allot more cinematic and action campaigns.

ya modiphius 2d20 which is used also is the engine of star trek adventures has a lot to offer. ill have to take a look at it beyond star trek adventures is im only familiar with its use in fallout adventures and star trek adventures. 

is to classes i could see base class then side bar that goes over that class being more focused to a specific culture and race,

though is for other systems i may when it comes out deep die in the d&d 5e book arcana of the ancients. book when that releases is it seems to be a 5e book that could easily be mined for starcraft ideas and maybe some good strange critters to make some adventures around.





 

[Afinati]

I think the narrative dice system FFG uses can be helpful in getting SG teams to work together with advantages, boosts, etc. Items that give advantage or give an opponent disadvantage in 5e make sense ... but things that directly add to an ally's role would be good.

[Aezoth]

I might suggest that if there are zats in play (and possibly if wraith stun weapons will be a thing) to introduce a strain/wounds health system like that used in the Star Wars rpg (i.e. Age of the Rebellion). That way if you have that sort of tank character in play, stun damage may reflect a little more accurately.

[NickEast]

Technically, if this is based on 5e, not much would, or could, be taken from other non-5e games, as then it wouldn't be a 5e game anymore (with the exception of mechanics that don't exist in 5e but are necessary for Stargate). Especially if it changes the core mechanics of rolling a d20, and the abilities/skills. That said, I do think perhaps straight up using 5e is maybe not the right way for recreating the feeling of Stargate. I've grown rather fond of the 2d20 system used for Star Trek Adventures, though it has no OGL so that's out. But other than a feeling I have very little actual experience to think what would work best for things like zats. Usually I'm a stickler for canon, so by default I'd stick with the in-universe mechanics of such weapons/technology, but I can see that it won't always fit well for a game mechanic.

[Iki]

Many games have very interesting features. Below are my favorites:

-Rules that allows GM's to use NPC's in combat without rolling dice (Example: Cinamatic Unisystem Muscle, Combat, or Brains Score / Dungeon World).

-NPC creation system that allows to automatically scale when the characters are of higher level (Spycraft 2.0)

-Savage World Adventure deck

-Gear Cards

-Virtual Table Top content (example: https://www.rptools.net/)

-3D printing miniatures content (STL files)

-Combat rules that use detailed maps movements but also leave room for a more general position instead of detailed movement.

-Investigate rules like the Gumshoe system (lorefinder https://site.pelgranepress.com/index.php/lorefinder/)

-Detailed starship combat (Fasa Star Trek Starship Tactical Combat simulator).

-Martial Arts and specific Weapon Feats (D20 Classic Spycraft or Spycraft 2.0).

-Detailed Alien and Starship creation rules (Various RPG's).

-Psionic class/feats options (Spycraft 1.0 or other RPG's)

-Detailed Military info and class/feats options ( Classic Spycraft: US Militaries and World Militaries).

-Dual measurements metric and imperial (Meters/Yards, Celsius/Fahrenheit,..)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 12, 2020 by Iki

[1001100x02]

The Doctor Who RPG has this neat idea where talkers always go first in a round, followed by movers, with fighters coming last. Given the existence of Moxie speaking to a desire to de-emphasise combat as the sexy go-to option, implementing that flow control would be workable, even if you do it in the form of the 1st social action in a combat situation gives you a +10 initiative boost for 1 round, same with the inverse.

I'm also going to nominate STA's abstraction of skills down to a reasonably small and broadly defined list instead of the 20 we have here

DPs should be rechargeable during play just for doing something cool/neat/awesome.

Edited March 22, 2020 by 1001100x02