What if Crimson Dark was a RPG?

[SyntheticPhylum]

This could easily be done with the Interlock system from Cyberpunk 2, I wouldn't know what their licencing rules are (or if anyone still owns the rights, I think RTG went under a few years back). It's a skill based system, with skills based progression, and a system for augs (aka cyberware). I have always loved that game, and my usual RPG group uses it for almost anything outside pure fantasy settings.

Oh, R Talsorian Games is alive... Don't know just how well they are, since I won't touch the new Cyberpunk ruleset, but they're definitely still alive! There's a thing or two from the Interlok system that I want to integrate into the Armageddon system (specifically LifePaths).

I'm pretty sure that someone could use the Fuzion Core rules to design a game of their own with little or no hassle... though I don't know why they would. It always seemed to me that Fuzion combined the worst aspects of Interlok and the HERO system, instead of the best. It never worked for me, at least.

[allikat]

Didn't like Fuzion much, and this is from a player with many years using both Interlock and Hero. Hero works well for hero games, Interlock can do everything else. Combining the two just breaks both too much for my liking.
For something like CD, then a modified version of the CP2010 rules would be perfect. I know it is, since I've played a long running campaign that did something very similar.

[Vile]

No, you're all wrong, it's got to be Traveller.

[SyntheticPhylum]

No, you're all wrong, it's got to be Traveller.

My problem with Traveler is that IMO, much like the original Twilight 2000, you have a pretty good game that gets bogged down in all the little details, rules-wise. The 'math' isn't quite as bad as the HERO system, but it's a close second. I'd say that the best type of system is a point-build system with advantages & disadvantages to augment the points, throw in a decent LifePath system, and work out a balanced Stat+Skill+Die system, and we should be good to go! Provided we can get D's permission to 'borrow' art for page layouts!

[Vile]

Maths? In Traveller? I am talking about Mongoose Traveller here, you know. Traveller New Era had a fair bit of number crunching, but MGT is about as number-light as you can get in a game and still build spaceships.

[NefariousDrO]

I've not played very many RPG systems (D&D, Dragonquest, GURPS) but I would recommend a close look at GURPS: it's adaptable and has enough ready-made variants that I would think it'd be easy to do everything from starship combat to player skills in one setup.

[The Fifth Wanderer]

I'm working on a Strands of Fate campaign that uses Crimson Dark as one of its major inspirations.

[Goran Thrax]

Has anyone else looked at or run a game using the D20 modern/future system? It's modular, encompasses spacecraft combat, skills, massively customizable characters, and futuristic equipment/cybernetics. The system is easy to learn, very customizable and yet it's based on basic principles that are used universally throughout the system. It's based on the same system used in Dungeons and Dragons version 3.5.

Goran Thrax

[Vile]

I've run D20 Modern games, but not D20 SciFi. What are the ship-building rules like in Sci-Fi? That's vital for a setting like CD.

[Goran Thrax]

Like everything else in the D20 Modern system, it's modular. There are lots of variations among the available equipment, (weapons, armors, engines, reactors, communications, etc.) as well of course new genre specific equipment could be crafted quite easily as simple modifications of stock equipment. There really isn't anything in the first 11 chapters of CD I have seen that isn't covered by these rules and source material, all that would need to be changed are thematic and appearance changes. Now I don't know what else David has in store, but thus far, we haven't seen any Mecha, so we can ignore that module, as well as alien races, biotech and nanotech but focus more on cybernetics. We would also do not have any CD material pointing to anything like cyberspace etc. So we could also stick with the more simplified rules on computer use. Also I've seen no sign of magic or psionics, making those modules inapplicable which makes the game much easier to run.

Goran Thrax