[Crunch] Spirit of the Century!

[Lmns Crn]

It's quite a thing!

If you're unfamiliar with SotC, it's an elegantly designed pulp action game set in the 1920's. I made a thread with the intention of playing around with the character creation system. Or, if you prefer, skip straight to the SRD, which is the entire book with the flavor-text quotes and setting-specific information stripped away, leaving only the crunch.

I really like the way the crunch here is set up. Like, whoa.

Evil Hat, the publisher, is currently alpha-testing a Dresden Files RPG using a modification of the Spirit of the Century ruleset. I'm intrigued, because I'd like to see whether the crunch works as well in a Noir-ish modern-day Chicago teeming with magical monsters as it does in a bright, over-the-top 1920's comic book.

I'm also curious because I'm considering trying to run a couple Jade Stage games in a crude mock-up of Spirit of the Century mechanics, with a few alterations to fit the altered setting. I'm curious to see how it would work.

Discuss.

[Ishmayl-Retired]

I would like to hear more about what kinds of specific changes you would do for Jade Stage.  I've been reading a bit about SotC ever since you mentioned it to me last week, and I think it may make for a decent system for some things I'm working on as well.

[Ninja D!]

That was longer than a week ago.

[Ishmayl-Retired]

heh, whenever it was, thanks for remember ;)

[Lmns Crn]

I would like to hear more about what kinds of specific changes you would do for Jade Stage.  I've been reading a bit about SotC ever since you mentioned it to me last week, and I think it may make for a decent system for some things I'm working on as well.

Lots of it would be cosmetic and minor, primarily alterations to skills and stunts. For example, JS has a higher tech level than most fantasy settings, but probably not high enough for Engineering to stay on the list of skills. Also, a lot of Engineering and Science stunts would have to be removed or significantly toned down, to keep things a little more subdued. (I don't want people inventing prototype jet engines in a Jade Stage game, for example.) I may end up keeping Engineering around in some fashion, for those who are absolutely dying to build boats and bridges, or to play a convincing Chreotech.

SotC handles anything supernatural with the Mysteries skill, which is sort of a catchall "anything that doesn't make scientific sense" vagary.   I'd want a more concrete way to deal with magic, which would probably entail a rewrite of Mysteries, and a replacing of the existing Mysteries stunts with a few "stunt trees", each representing one of my magic traditions. I think the system is fairly well-equipped to handle the type of magic I've been trying to describe-- the "Composure" stress track is ideally suited for nonphysical magic attacks, and Consequences and temporary Aspects are super for describing curses, Mystics' blessings, and a host of other things that have been up on the Wiki for months and months already. I do like the various Artifact stunts for ork steel objects and other forgotten items of power.

Guns can stay as-is, though I may rename it "Marksmanship" to be inclusive for archers, as well. Those with lower-tech settings may skip straight to "Archery" and remove ambiguity, but I think the stunts should still work fine. Drive and Pilot would be gone, possibly replaced with some concession to sailors and ships.

[LordVreeg]

Interesting choice, fitting well with your "Gaming-as-Storytelling" modality you seem to prefer.
I read through the rules last night and find that there are things I like and don't like, but as I said, it works well for the storytelling.
I'm interested in seeing how you match up things like the Hen-Gan with this, as I am afraid that the magic system could outweigh other aspects of the game.  But I will be reading and posting along with you, as always.

[SA]

I've been using FATE (the system SotC is based on) for a few years now, in Dystopia, Glossolalia and my WH40K rpg.  Got SotC recently, but found that it didn't really improve too much upon the already winning formula.  I don't use anything else anymore.  Not anything.

(What that means for you, Luminous, is that I've already played some Jade Stage games using the system.  So nyah)

EDIT: SotC is really easy to modify.  Skill overhaul is simple, as the mechanics are very intuitive (and as the developer has pointed out, you can use the same skill scale for any entity, even nations, factions and planets).  Aspects practically describe themselves, and coming up with a list that evokes and ties into your specific setting will really help players relate to the world from the get-go.  There are also a few simple magic system ideas in the FATE pdf - though little more than germs - that might help kickstart the development.

[Lmns Crn]

(What that means for you, Luminous, is that I've already played some Jade Stage games using the system. So nyah)

I am still wanting to hear how some of them have turned out. :(

[SA]

Omigosh, I never posted that?  Well, damn.

I'll have to boot up my old computer and salvage the play logs.  I might also be able to show you some of the system tweaks I made, but my design is very haphazard and ad hoc.