This would be awesome. At the moment I'm having to make modifications to Wizards' d20 Modern/Future systems for a homebrew campaign to bring them in line with the 3.75 rules, but I'm seriously considering building a Mass Effect-based campaign in the near future. The idea of transcribing all of the Codex entries for a player guide is rather daunting though, and converting the classes might be a little odd.
Perhaps this is a good time for someone at Paizo to see if Bioware might be interested in tabletop versions of Mass Effect and Dragon Age campaign settings.
Speaking of which - I'm tweaking a conversion of the Wheel of Time RPG to 3.75 as well. This has been a little awkward because of some of the mechanics changes made for the Wheel of Time's low magic setting but has gone fairly smoothly. What are the odds that Paizo could pick this up as well?
|
Dragon Age campaign settings.
Already out there:
Green Ronin's Dragon Age.Although it is not d20 based (it's d6) it is full of awesome.
I'm hopeful that since Dragon Age seems to be doing well that Bioware will evaluate a Mass Effect release at some point as well. The Dragon Age engine could probably be converted quite easily to Mass Effect.
|
This would be awesome. At the moment I'm having to make modifications to Wizards' d20 Modern/Future systems for a homebrew campaign to bring them in line with the 3.75 rules, but I'm seriously considering building a Mass Effect-based campaign in the near future. The idea of transcribing all of the Codex entries for a player guide is rather daunting though, and converting the classes might be a little odd.
Perhaps this is a good time for someone at Paizo to see if Bioware might be interested in tabletop versions of Mass Effect and Dragon Age campaign settings.
Speaking of which - I'm tweaking a conversion of the Wheel of Time RPG to 3.75 as well. This has been a little awkward because of some of the mechanics changes made for the Wheel of Time's low magic setting but has gone fairly smoothly. What are the odds that Paizo could pick this up as well?
They woulkd be a little late for Dragon Age . As far as Mass Effect is concerned - I think it could easily be handled by any SF system. As much as I love the game, no race / class / ability differs enough from SF tropes to make the difficult to convert. D 2o Future?
Asari = Fraal
Salarians = T'sa
Krogan = Weren
Turians = Humans or Aleeri
etc.
Tech Powers and Bionic Powers can use different aspects of PSI Powers (actually I don't know D20 Future well enough to go into details, but it can easily be done with the old Alternity rules). Of course, some little twists need to be done, but nothing too hard.
Sure, nothing in it is horribly difficult. But, like the DDO adaptation of spells to real-time gaming from D&D, converting ability levels and power usage from real-time to paper is a matter of careful balance. I'm more interested in a complete campaign sourcebook because I'm too lazy to transcribe all of the journal and codex entries myself. And perhaps a collection of the Cerberus Network news items as side-bar filler....
Tech is easy - equipment is what it is. Require a class feat that is given to the infiltrator, engineer and sentinel for specialized uses of the Omni-tool and you're set. Use some sort of power source or other limiting factor to prevent over-powering the tech classes.
The Biotics aren't too far out either - just as you said, they're essentially Psionics and can be fit into the system. I'm not very familiar with the system though - my players prefer a more Star Trek feel campaign and not so much of a Star Wars feel so we almost never see anything even as simple as telepathy.
And to see d20 Modern/Future brought up to date would be nice as well. I'd like to point out that I'm not a fan of their space travel rules in general - too vague and fluffy. I like to know when my players' fuel tank hits Empty because it's just plain mean.
I've been playing D&D since I was 11, with a pre-print copy of the AD&D core rules from a friend whose father worked at TSR. I'm pretty familiar with gaming, the system, etc. but I always worry that my solutions aren't properly balanced. I like to get my hands on the Official Rules before I start tweaking things to fit my campaign style. That way I can take advantage of the playtesting resources of the Big Boys before I start ticking off my players....
I wasn't aware of the Dragon Age system already in place - it's good? Might have to look into it.
I guess where I'm going is this: I think Paizo has done right by the d20 system where Wizards dropped the ball and I'd like to see more cool stuff from them. Any cool IP tie-ins that they can acquire will only help them to grow and prosper (I hope).
|
|
I think someone from Paizo posted in another thread like this that they aren't to keen to work on a licence again, so you'll probably be out of luck regarding a Paizo Mass Effect.
The Dragon Age System is a beginners system, very basic with three classes and a bunch of abilities and skills.
The first box is Level 1-5 (three more boxes are planned to take character levels to 20) so "advanced classes" like the Grey Warden, the Templar or the Raven of Antivia aren't covered yet (there is a playtest going on at Green Ronin and it seems they will be part of set 2).
Set 1 contains only basic information on the setting, but it is sufficient to build a character and come up with a few adventure ideas, especially if you played the video game.
What I really like are the adventures (expecially the one in the boxed set and the "Blood in Ferelden" anthology). They really get into the mood of the video game and bring interesting roleplaying opportunities.
|
|
I wasn't aware of the Dragon Age system already in place - it's good? Might have to look into it.
Actually, it's deceptively good. It does present as a beginner's system (by design), but I haven't heard anyone make it past 20-30 minutes of playing it and feeling like it can't accomplish great things.
Not sure if you're into the blogging and/or podcast community, but it popped up on several top 2010 lists.
I think it's one of those systems that has to be played, not just read.
This would be awesome. At the moment I'm having to make modifications to Wizards' d20 Modern/Future systems for a homebrew campaign to bring them in line with the 3.75 rules,Pathfinder is not D+D 3.75.... it's Pathfinder and no less for being that.
As you wish - just using a term that's been in use for quite some time to describe the cleanup Paizo has done on the 3.5 rules, not the campaign setting. My point was that I would like to bring the d20 Modern rules up to snuff - many clarifications and simplifications have come along since they were written. Paizo has done a great job of cleaning up the d20 3.5 rules.
I think calling it "3.75" not only excludes unfairly the other companies that are working on or are publishing post 3.5 d20 game systems, it lessens Pathfinder itself from what it is... A new game system forging new frontiers. At this point, Pathfinder is to D+D what a modern Porsche is to a Model T.
So, APG is a stand-alone product? Does not use 3-18 stat base? Does not use the D20 system at all? No feats, skills, or any other system that originated with D&D? Completely unrelated and unrecognizable as having originated from the D20 system? I haven't read it so I honestly don't know, but the Pathfinder RPG (the system) is obviously descended from the D20 system. I own that one, and D&D (and have owned D&D since it's printing as such - the D20 system is obviously descended from the AD&D rules as well) and the relation is clear and unmistakable. Standing on the shoulders of others does not lessen anything that one accomplishes - to say that it does is to say that electronics is not a valid achievement because it's based upon mathematics.
That said, I'll point you back to what I said earlier. I love what they've done with it - streamlined and clean. More cool options within the classes and races without adding crazy complexity. It's Good Stuff - superior to D&D 3.5 in almost every way.
I don't have the campaign setting, but some friends of mine and I played through 3 of the early Pathfinder modules. If the setting incorporates any of that material then it is probably fantastic. The "3.75" thing originated around the time that the Pathfinder material was first released but I can't say for sure who coined it. It originally referred to the rules tweaks that were presented in the modules - that were eventually incorporated into the Pathfinder RPG. Not my term, not my idea, just used it.
Still not sure why you're so offended by this....
I made a Mass Effect d20 game from the True20 System. It wasn't too difficult. Although it was based around E6 as well (because it's easier to build a game with just 6 levels in).
Did you happen to reference any of the d20 Modern/Future rules? I was thinking that biotics would probably fit right into the psionics rules from d20 Modern.