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View Full Version : FFRPG...any thoughts???



Perducci
2007-05-12, 09:05 PM
So, I've been wanting to jump into the world of roleplaying games, but as of yet I haven't found a way to do so. D&D sort of confuses me because it seems to have so much in it. I wouldn't have a clue where to start. So, I searched for alternatives.

http://www.returnergames.com/ord/index.php/Main_Page

It's a Final Fantasy based game and all the rules seem to be online. I've been reading this for a while, but have had some trouble finding an outlet to play it.

What I want is for some of you fine people to take a look at it and let me know what you think. (It would also be cool if someone would take a stab at GMing it...and letting me play. I find free-form lacking something. I need a system.)

Nerd-o-rama
2007-05-12, 11:53 PM
As for D&D, all you really need to know to play is in the Player's Handbook, so you could start there. If you want to DM, you'll also need the Dungeon Master's Guide and the Monster Manual.

However, the Returners FFRPG has the advantage of being completely online, and free. (Most of the basic D&D rules are online (http://www.d20srd.org), but not enough that you can learn to play just from them.) I like the system as a concept, and have played a few fun but largely abortive games of it online. Some of the rules are overly complex (particularly skill and ability checks) and are hardcore suck to learn for the first time, but after that, it's pretty neat. It also seems like a big hassle to GM in, since there are no premade enemies, and all of the "campaign settings" are in extremely incomplete states last time I checked.

In short, I like it, but I don't know if I recommend it for a beginner's game.

Cybren
2007-05-12, 11:56 PM
It's an interesting concept but it should try to replicate the mechanics of one of the games, such as Tactics, rather than trying to capture the spirit of all of them. In the end it's a hap-hazard mix of fan-service and poor rules construction.

Tengu
2007-05-13, 08:29 AM
I've seen them, and while making my own homebrew FFPRG system I've taken great care to avoid those many traps Returners have fallen into. Non-human races with different stats? Random hp and mp? AD&D-style classes which make every non-mage on the same level look the same? C'mon.

This makes me want to translate my system to English and post in in the Homebrew section. But if anyone's interested, I can post some outlines of it here already.

Single Shot Zombie
2007-05-13, 10:25 AM
Finally! Somebody mentions the Returners system! :biggrin:


Some of the rules are overly complex (particularly skill and ability checks) and are hardcore suck to learn for the first time, but after that, it's pretty neat.

Skill assignment is kinda tedious at first, although I believe that it's no more difficult than that for the D20 system (of which D&D is one subset). It's the skill checks themselves that get kinda messy. And from what I've heard, they've thrown racial skill bonuses/penalties into the mix too. Enjoy.


It also seems like a big hassle to GM in, since there are no premade enemies, and all of the "campaign settings" are in extremely incomplete states last time I checked.

Look at the Monsters entry. You get a crapload of weird rules on different abilities that can be assigned to your monsters and the XP and Gil bonuses/penalties/multipliers given for each one, which makes cooking up your monster insanely mind-boggling. And the premade monsters available? None whatsoever now. When I checked two months ago, they had the Cactuar and the Zuu. Both of which are mid-to-high level monsters, forcing you to make your own if you're creating a low-level game for newbies.

I feel kinda guilty now for pestering tonberryking about how laggy his game was going. :smallfrown:


This makes me want to translate my system to English and post in in the Homebrew section. But if anyone's interested, I can post some outlines of it here already.

Please do.


As for D&D, all you really need to know to play is in the Player's Handbook, so you could start there. If you want to DM, you'll also need the Dungeon Master's Guide and the Monster Manual.

Realmshelps (http://realmshelps.dandello.net/) and Crystalkeep (http://www.crystalkeep.com/d20/index.php) work wonders if you want some access to material from other sources.

UglyPanda
2007-05-13, 10:50 AM
Things I don't like about that system:
-Having to recalculate the initiative after every round of combat would probably be annoying to the GM.
-The editing isn't very good.*
-It's hard to separate the fluff from the crunch.*
-You can't multiclass.
-You can't learn magic as a warrior and you can't multiclass in order to do so.
-There is a one in ten chance of a fumble with every attack.
-There is too much multiplication, all of your players would have to keep calculators with them at all times.
-There is a ridiculously long set of rules for monster creation, but no sample monsters.*

*Anything marked with an asterisk is only a problem because the system probably isn't finished.

YPU
2007-05-13, 10:57 AM
As a side note. There is a system in coming that appealed to me as very well fit for FF. the system is anima beyond fantasy. I have no idea how good or bad it is. The last time I checked it wasn’t released yet...
EDIT: Re check: the rpg is out in Spanish and to be released in English soon.

Perducci
2007-05-13, 11:13 AM
Ok, first, I realize that FFRPG is a work in progress. I'm surprised that some of you haven't pitched your ideas and whatnot into it. From what I've seen, they take peoples suggestions seriously and try to put them in.

Also, I'm not really that new to this system. I remember back maybe 5 or six years ago, I found an earlier version of it and played around with it. I liked it then even though it made less sense back then and I had no real idea what I was doing. Even got a cousin of mine to play it with me. (We took turns being different PCs who were trying to meet up for some reason)

I'm really hoping some of you would be interested in playtesting it. Returners has people doing that, but since when does more really equal less. I'm not saying you'd have to get super involved or whatnot. I just really want to see this system work, because I feel like I'm a part of it.

There are sample monsters. It's under optional rules. Guild Perilous Beastiary has a decent number of premade monsters.

Tengu
2007-05-13, 12:11 PM
Here are some specifics about my system:

You do not have classes. At each level that ends with 2, 5, 7 or 0, the character chooses one "skill" from a long list - those skills are special attacks like Jump Attack or Deathblow, spells, passive abilities (Counterattack, Cover, etc), and so on. Most of those skills have prerequesites of course. The default starting level is 5, so everyone starts with 2 such skills (apart from one Weapon Proficiency which you get for free at level 1).

There are five very basic attributes, which you can improve as you wish (but with two conditions) as you level up: strength, speed, stamina, magic and spirit. The conditions are: No stat can be higher than level+10, and no stat can be higher that 2*your lowest stat. You have 50 points to distribute between those stats as you wish, +3 per each level (so 65 at level 5).

Most of the fluff is extremely customizable - the player decides himself (under the supervision of the GM) how does his attacks, spells, other abilities, limit breaks (yes, there is a Limit Break mechanism) look. Armor and weapons are very generic too, to customize by the player himself.

Non-combat rules are very light, barely existing at all. This comes from my personal opinion that apart from combat, dice shouldn't really decide how things turn out. It (along with other things) means that the game requires a certain ammount of maturity and trust between the GM and the players, but heck - I see this as a standard situation, not as something extraordinary.

Combat is relatively quick, apart from one thing - the speed system which is made in such a way to represent the ATM bar. While it's not slowing down the things much when you're playing on a computer (which I do), I wouldn't imagine using it while doing RL sessions - guess I'll have to make an optional rule with simplified speed system.

Some parts of the games are still not finished, for example blue magic, summons, or some weapons, which I convert from various FF games when I need them. There are no premade monsters so far either, though making your own creatures is very easy.

Single Shot Zombie
2007-05-13, 12:26 PM
If you've got the time/are willing to GM a game under this system, I won't mind giving it a shot. Not immediately, though; school takes first priority.

Perducci
2007-05-13, 12:28 PM
Now, I'm curious about your system...do you happen to have the rules anywhere. I'd like to see them please.

And staying on topic...I messed around and created a character for FFRPG. It's not too hard. I kinda liked it. He's a human fencer. Arrogant, alcoholic, loves the ladies. Sorta like what I envision a Musketeer being. He's also weak against holy attacks due to an incident involving a church and thrown torches.

Tengu
2007-05-13, 12:45 PM
As I've mentioned before, the system is not written in English, so it will take me a bit of time to do the translation. Mostly due to the long list of abilities (it's a more fitting name than "skill" I'd guess).

And I actually planned to start a game in it somewhere in the future (after finishing the translation). At the moment I'm running a PBCH game in Poland, and we're having a lot of great time - the campaign lasts for 1,5 years now. The picture linked in my sig is the group from this campaign, though some of them are NPCs and one more player joined recently.

Genome
2007-05-13, 10:30 PM
I played the Returnergames 2nd edition and a very small amount of 3rd edition right after it was "released." Despite the problems of 2nd edition, I enjoyed it quite a bit, sometimes even with the fact that fluff and crunch were intermingled, such as with advantages and disadvantages (basically like traits or flaws). Some seemed more like campaign starters than anything. As a result, I tended to play with more of a mindset as to what would make a great story than what would make a viable fighting character.

Examples:
Advantage (not direct quote)
Beautiful - Your character is unusually beautiful. [1 or 2 advantage points, depending on how beautiful, but with no concrete bonuses]
Natural Element - You are naturally attuned to a specific element. +20% on spells of a chosen element.
Prophetic(I forget the name, actually) - Your character can see the future. [X points for dreams, X+1 for active visions]
Immortal - Your character is immortal and does not need to eat, drink, or sleep.

Disadvantage
Psychotic Aversion - Your character will fly into a rage whenever he sees a creature of a certain class, race, etc. and go to great lengths to kill it. [X disadvantage points]
Hunted - You are being hunted by a person or organization.
Charity - You must give up 10/20% of your profits to support family, a church, or otherwise. [X/X+1 disadvantage points]

Some had concrete effects, others didn't and could even be remedied in-game.

Overall, the system was still rather clunky, and I never could figure out when you should be allowed to have new weapons. In 3rd edition the weapon damage scaled much more smoothly, but still no level guide.

Problems aside, I must say that the best campaign that I played was with the returnergames FFRPG 2nd ed rule set, in the FFIX world. Sometimes a bad system forces you to be more creative and play a character, not a character sheet.

Perducci
2007-05-13, 11:27 PM
Yeah, it is a bit "clunky". When I was messing around with the system back in the day, I kinda liked that. It's open to interpretation on a lot of things. A resourceful GM would be able to work past the flaws of the game in order to make it work.

I saw the Advantages and Disadvantages to be mostly used for roleplaying purposes, although some of them were more defined than others. And it keeps players in check when designing a character. I think that balancing out the two can be sort of fun and helps add to the characters backstory. For instance, the character I made today is from a family has a history of producing expert fencers. So to more or less reflect this I made my character ambidexrous. Makes sense to me. His father tought him to use both hands instead of relying on one. No telling when one hand will get stabbed or whatnot. I gave him more disadvantages than advantages. One is an Elemental Deficeincy(Holy) because of a story about his great grandfather burning down a church while fooling around drunk. The other is a Gold Sink which reduces the gil he receives in battle by 10% to reflect his alcoholism.

Ah well. I'm also putting together a campaign for fun. I don't have any experience running a game, but I like to put together the stories. I based it loosely on what I think would happen in the events following FF(number one).

Tengu
2007-05-14, 02:20 AM
As you can see here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44150), I'm slowly translating my system. Though the biggest part is ahead of me now, the ability list.

Tengu
2007-05-14, 05:40 PM
Done translating.

Perducci
2007-05-14, 06:45 PM
Just so you know, I've decided to give GMing an FFRPG a shot. Check it out if you like.

And I'm going to be checking out this other system too. I might give that a shot too. I'd have to play it to get a feel for it though.