URGS Beta Primer
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Re: URGS Beta Primer
Keep up the great convo guys, I'm lurking and reading, but I don't want to jump in just yet. I'm afraid if I jump in before everyone has had a chance to explore their ideas, I'll hijack the direction. I will jump in, just not yet!
Re: URGS Beta Primer
What happened to all of the brainiacs working on this?? 
Re: URGS Beta Primer
they had washers break, garden boxes to build, floor tiles to pick, shoulders to mend, and otherwise couldn't get online much 
Re: URGS Beta Primer
My take on all this is that URGS should borrow as much as possible from RGS. Runes are so different from dice and you have something really special going with RGS, so I'd say keep it as the "core". It's my humble opinion.
Re: URGS Beta Primer
Any more progress on this universal system? To be honest I wasn't overly excited about it when it was first announced, but I have been thinking about it in the last few weeks and I think RGS is a pretty sweet system and it could use a generic rulebook on how you'd plug it into any other world. Is it dead? Will it show up in any future books? I for one would like to see it published one day.
I for one would like to see it published one day.Re: URGS Beta Primer
It's something I am considering for the Vanagard game, but it's still too early to say. My design goal for this new runic game system is a mechanic that is easy to plug-and-play to any game world and it plays in the "back-seat" (minimalist rules). I'd like URGS to be the other side of the coin to RGS. I'd like RGS to be the "game-within-the-game" mechanic that continues to evolve as a fun character resource management mechanic that is fun to play and manage. URGS should be the "plug-into-anything" and "runs in the background" system. Pat and I are looking at ways this could work in Vanagard- we'll keep you posted.
Re: URGS Beta Primer
So I tried to run a Star Wars game with URGS rules the other night, here's some feedback:
- Cardinality: 3 (Physical, Mental, Technological)
- I added Alka tokens to represent HP and armor points, so that players don't lose runes when wounded (so they don't "forget" how to hack a computer just because they're bleeding a little)
- I also added a random component during battles, because those stormtroopers and/or battle droids can't hit their target all the time
First thing we noticed is that the game was very fluid and fast-paced: no number crunching or strategies to build, so it was nonstop action most of the time. Very different from vanilla FOTN (or at least, how we play it), and a bit refreshing (even though we all love the FOTN number crunching and slower-paced fights).
Out of combat, the URGS system works well, even though it requires more improvisation than regular RGS.
"Burning" runes is also very fun, as well as the resulting failures when the players want to get their burnt runes back. The only setback is that with one-shot games, eveyone tends to burn their runes during the boss fight, because they know they won't have to try and get them back next time. My players were nice enough to burn and retrieve their runes in the same fight though, causing some very entertaining situations.
One setback I can envision with longer campaigns: character progression. If everyone earns a new rune when they level up, the skill check difficulty can be quickly overwhelmed (if 3 players get a new red rune, they can plow through any physical skill check by working together), unless the GM artificially increases the difficulty. Of course, we can do without character progression, but that might not sit well with some players.
Anyway, it was a very fun game night, and we'll definitely use the URGS again when we decide to go back to a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away.
- Cardinality: 3 (Physical, Mental, Technological)
- I added Alka tokens to represent HP and armor points, so that players don't lose runes when wounded (so they don't "forget" how to hack a computer just because they're bleeding a little)
- I also added a random component during battles, because those stormtroopers and/or battle droids can't hit their target all the time
First thing we noticed is that the game was very fluid and fast-paced: no number crunching or strategies to build, so it was nonstop action most of the time. Very different from vanilla FOTN (or at least, how we play it), and a bit refreshing (even though we all love the FOTN number crunching and slower-paced fights).
Out of combat, the URGS system works well, even though it requires more improvisation than regular RGS.
"Burning" runes is also very fun, as well as the resulting failures when the players want to get their burnt runes back. The only setback is that with one-shot games, eveyone tends to burn their runes during the boss fight, because they know they won't have to try and get them back next time. My players were nice enough to burn and retrieve their runes in the same fight though, causing some very entertaining situations.
One setback I can envision with longer campaigns: character progression. If everyone earns a new rune when they level up, the skill check difficulty can be quickly overwhelmed (if 3 players get a new red rune, they can plow through any physical skill check by working together), unless the GM artificially increases the difficulty. Of course, we can do without character progression, but that might not sit well with some players.
Anyway, it was a very fun game night, and we'll definitely use the URGS again when we decide to go back to a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away
.Re: URGS Beta Primer
That sounds pretty awesome Rangar.
I have an idea that might help with the expand-ability of your game. Rather than tying the runes to each color, bind them to specific Talents. The Talent list should be small, around 6 or 12. In a Star Wars game you could have:
- Blaster Slinger
- Pilot
- Force Sensitive
- Scoundrel
- Leadership
- Space Kung Fu
Each rune is bound to one of these Talents, you can have more than one rune bound to a Talent, the more runes bound to said talent the better you are. If you write 6 or 12 talents you could even make a rune chart for random character generation.
Each task you run into could require a specific Talent. If you don't have it, you can make due by combining two of another Talent and explaining how this New talent, helps you out of the situation. Not all Talents will work, for instance, in most cases you can't Space Kungfu your way out of an asteroid field. Also, if you stretch a talent in this way, one of your runes goes into a discard pile, to be recovered at a later date.
It might work, what do you think?
Regards,
Chall
I have an idea that might help with the expand-ability of your game. Rather than tying the runes to each color, bind them to specific Talents. The Talent list should be small, around 6 or 12. In a Star Wars game you could have:
- Blaster Slinger
- Pilot
- Force Sensitive
- Scoundrel
- Leadership
- Space Kung Fu
Each rune is bound to one of these Talents, you can have more than one rune bound to a Talent, the more runes bound to said talent the better you are. If you write 6 or 12 talents you could even make a rune chart for random character generation.
Each task you run into could require a specific Talent. If you don't have it, you can make due by combining two of another Talent and explaining how this New talent, helps you out of the situation. Not all Talents will work, for instance, in most cases you can't Space Kungfu your way out of an asteroid field. Also, if you stretch a talent in this way, one of your runes goes into a discard pile, to be recovered at a later date.
It might work, what do you think?
Regards,
Chall
Re: URGS Beta Primer
Not sure how I even missed this, but love the idea. Was wondering if there is a PDF or something of the beta rules for this? If so, anyone have a copy I can play test with my family? Trying to explain the standard rune system to my kids is like explaining rocket science appaerently. This sounds like our cup of mead!
Thank All.
Thank All.