System for a tabletop roleplaying game in Erebus?

[Stormwalker]

Hi there all!

Basically a few friends of mine expressed interest in playing a tabletop roleplaying game based in the Erebus of the mod.

My question is this: What system should we use?

Dungeons and Dragons would be the immediate answer, but, ironically enough, I don't think it's spellcasting system works very well with the Lore as it exists in-game. Which is understandable, as Fall from Heaven II obviously wasn't built with D&D mechanics in mind.

I was considering adapting White Wolf systems (such as Mage: The Ascension) for it, but I'm still undecided.

Any thoughts?

 

[Sephi]

Dungeon and Dragons 3.5 edition

or just pick whatever system you like. Just not 4E

 

[Stormwalker]

Dungeon and Dragons 3.5 edition

or just pick whatever system you like. Just not 4E

Funnily enough, I was actually considering 4E. I've never really played it before, so I'm somewhat interested.

I talked to the players and they mostly agree that 3.0 and 3.5 just aren't organic enough for what we've got in mind.

 

[akatosh]

Dungeons and Dragons would be the immediate answer, but, ironically enough, I don't think it's spellcasting system works very well with the Lore as it exists in-game. Which is understandable, as Fall from Heaven II obviously wasn't built with D&D mechanics in mind.

Except that FFH began as a D&D campaign..

 

[Stormwalker]

Except that FFH began as a D&D campaign..

True. But take, say, story in which Auric spontaneously used Light Mana, which opened up the Shadowed Vale. Heck, take the 21 Mana types in general. It's hard to work that into D&D. It is, by it's nature, a very mechanical game. Almost everything you do is decided numbers building up slowly over time. Which I normally like. It's because it's so structured that they've been able to add so many varied expansions to it.

Something like Mage allows for more freeform gameplay. And heck, there are already Spheres of magic in there. I might as well adapt them.

 

[Calavente]

I agree, D&D is the right answer.
look-up to thomas.berubeg (here) I think he played FFH on D&D (not at Kael time, but later) so he adapted classes and races of FFH to D&D.. and I know he adapted some rule for casting "mutating".
so he must have thought about the mana / spheres / spells side of the things.

 

[Terkhen]

I would recommend Pathfinder over D&D 3.5; they are similar enough to move from 3.5 to Pathfinder, but the latter IMHO improves many of the rough edges of 3.5. I cannot talk about 4th because I have never tried it. What you said is true, though... the spell system of 3.5/Pathfinder is not suited to represent the spheres of FFH. Although it is true it would be relatively simple to rework the magic system of Mage: the Ascension to switch from 9 spheres to 21, I'm not sure if its combat system has been designed with epic fights in mind.

What I would use is a mixed approach. Monte Cook's World of Darkness includes a magic system which is quite similar to Mage: The Ascension, but it is based on the d20 system, and therefore it should be compatible with 3.5/Pathfinder. I liked that magic system a lot, but it always seemed too complicated for the average D&D style campaign. It should suit FFH2 just fine with some tweaks. You could tweak the core spellcasting classes of 3.5/Pathfinder to make them use the magic system from this book.

 

[Stormwalker]

I would recommend Pathfinder over D&D 3.5; they are similar enough to move from 3.5 to Pathfinder, but the latter IMHO improves many of the rough edges of 3.5. I cannot talk about 4th because I have never tried it. What you said is true, though... the spell system of 3.5/Pathfinder is not suited to represent the spheres of FFH. Although it is true it would be relatively simple to rework the magic system of Mage: the Ascension to switch from 9 spheres to 21, I'm not sure if its combat system has been designed with epic fights in mind.

What I would use is a mixed approach. Monte Cook's World of Darkness includes a magic system which is quite similar to Mage: The Ascension, but it is based on the d20 system, and therefore it should be compatible with 3.5/Pathfinder. I liked that magic system a lot, but it always seemed too complicated for the average D&D style campaign. It should suit FFH2 just fine with some tweaks. You could tweak the core spellcasting classes of 3.5/Pathfinder to make them use the magic system from this book.

Hmmm. The World of Darkness spell system sounds really quite interesting. And I'd never given Pathfinder more than a cursory glance. Thanks tons for suggesting that.

I think I'll run those two systems past everyone and see what they think. Thanks again!