Engine Heart

[JNAProductions]

First off, a link to those interested: http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Engine_Heart

Second off, I'm just curious as to why I've never seen any mention of Engine Heart on here. It's a cool little system, but no one ever seems to know about it.

[Airk]

I tried to read it, really enjoyed the setup and the little snippets of fiction at the beginning, then got super bogged down in the huge lists of "And if you want your robot to have a grasping claw..." advantages/disadvantages, and went on to read a more interesting game.

Maybe it's awesome, but it lost my attention with the way it decided to deliver info.

[JNAProductions]

Honestly, it seems no worse in that regards than GURPS or a similar game.

[Airk]

Honestly, it seems no worse in that regards than GURPS or a similar game.

Yup. I don't like GURPS either. And if you're going to write a game where to best thing you can say about it is "Well, it's no worse than GURPS" why wouldn't you go play GURPS?

I was expecting a game that might have actually helped me create stories that reminded me of the fluff. I got a generic point buy system that could've walked here out of 1990.

I was sad.

[JNAProductions]

That seems pretty fair, then. It's not Engine Heart you dislike-it's point buy systems, of which Engine Heart is one of.

How would you feel about playing if someone else handled the creation of your robot, though?

[Airk]

That seems pretty fair, then. It's not Engine Heart you dislike-it's point buy systems, of which Engine Heart is one of.

That's part of it, but the real problem is deeper than that. The real problem is that point buy systems don't usually model what I think is important. They're all about systemizing what you can and can't do, and like, what happens if one robot pushes another or something, and none of that helps create interesting stories for me.

And let's face it - GURPS is pretty much the minimum acceptable threshhold for point buy - if you ask yourself "Why wouldn't I just do this in GURPS?" you need an answer.

How would you feel about playing if someone else handled the creation of your robot, though?

I dunno; I didn't get to the meat of the system because I got bogged down in the tiresome chargen section. That's another complaint I have about the game - I don't think you should put the comprehensive list of every advantage/disadvantage in the chargen chapter. Put that crap in an appendix or something so you can reference it when you need it, but so it's not in the way when you're trying to read through the book.

But my gut tells me that I'd find the system's mechanics irritatingly at large with the stories it purports to be about.

[JNAProductions]

That's a shame. Well, if you decide you are interested, I've got some recruitment going on in the PBP section.

[Airk]

That's a shame. Well, if you decide you are interested, I've got some recruitment going on in the PBP section.

Well, what do you feel is GOOD about Engine Heart? What does it do that is interesting, or smart, or clever, or that would recommend it over GURPS or the like? Because for me, setting/premise isn't really enough.

[JNAProductions]

Honestly? I don't know, other than the cool setting. I've never played GURPS, never even read it, so I can't really make the comparison.

I just know that I find both the setting and mechanics cool.

[Airk]

Honestly? I don't know, other than the cool setting. I've never played GURPS, never even read it, so I can't really make the comparison.

I just know that I find both the setting and mechanics cool.

Work with me here. What is cool about the mechanics? (I agree about the setting).

[Chauncymancer]

My experience of the game was that I was playing OWoD: the Robot. There's some mechanics about charging that add some pacing to your brace little toaster campaigns, and a good social combat version of hacking. I use words like "workmanlike" and "adequate" a lot when talking about it.

[Airk]

My experience of the game was that I was playing OWoD: the Robot. There's some mechanics about charging that add some pacing to your brace little toaster campaigns, and a good social combat version of hacking. I use words like "workmanlike" and "adequate" a lot when talking about it.

This seems to reflect the feeling I got from it pretty well. I'll probably get back to it someday, I guess, but there's not enough time in the day for "adequate" games.

[Chauncymancer]

It's not my first choice, but some of my group members are really excited about it (specifically the long list of fiddly robot abilities. Go figure.) And I don't have any problem playing it when it's that player's turn to dm.