Another needlessly overcomplicated RPG idea
2015-Jan-22, Thursday 14:09![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dorchadas
Since I bought Legend of the Five Rings 4e, I've thought about running a game inspired by A Song of Ice and Fire because a lot of the particulars are pretty close. Unified nation that's mostly independent power blocs? Ruling family with the Mandate of Heaven? Mysterious pre-humans who are mostly gone nowadays? Low-key magic? A giant wall beyond which are the enemies of all humanity? Peasants who are treated like dirt by the nobility, who are obsessed with honor and duty but mostly just have all the weapons?
It turns out I was totally wrong about the low-key magic, but the rest of it fits reasonably well.
A couple days ago, I was looking at my copy of Sengoku and thought, "You know, this is really overcomplicated, but if I converted it to dice pools and simplified it a lot, I could run it without too much trouble." Then I thought, "Actually, I could do that and then use L5R's setting and rules, subbing in okuden for bushi schools, ki powers for kiho, and prayers for magic. That'd let me tone the magic down a bit, too. I like the idea that the real path to magical power is blood magic." I've only read Legend of the Five Rings in fits and starts, so I'll need to read it cover-to-cover, but I was planning on doing that anyway. Trying to convert over specific mechanics is usually more trouble than it's worth, but I'll want to make sure there's a mechanism for courtly actions and one for duels.
So now that's the latest RPG fire in my brain. How come all my RPG ideas require bunches of conversion work?
It turns out I was totally wrong about the low-key magic, but the rest of it fits reasonably well.
A couple days ago, I was looking at my copy of Sengoku and thought, "You know, this is really overcomplicated, but if I converted it to dice pools and simplified it a lot, I could run it without too much trouble." Then I thought, "Actually, I could do that and then use L5R's setting and rules, subbing in okuden for bushi schools, ki powers for kiho, and prayers for magic. That'd let me tone the magic down a bit, too. I like the idea that the real path to magical power is blood magic." I've only read Legend of the Five Rings in fits and starts, so I'll need to read it cover-to-cover, but I was planning on doing that anyway. Trying to convert over specific mechanics is usually more trouble than it's worth, but I'll want to make sure there's a mechanism for courtly actions and one for duels.
So now that's the latest RPG fire in my brain. How come all my RPG ideas require bunches of conversion work?
