julien
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Post by julien on Dec 5, 2011 14:14:10 GMT -8
Have any of you guys ever tried games from other countries ? Here in France, the rpg industry is quite productive, obviously in french, but a few games have been translated and sold in the US.
However most are more adaptations than translations, a few years back a game named "In Nomine Satanis / Magna Veritas" was adapted by Steve Jackson Games as "In Nomine".
The french concept had a satyrical edge, you played either angels or demons send to earth to play the Great Game, trying to collect souls for their side, with certain rules to follow. Foremost in this game was humour and fun. Think of movies like "The Life of Brian" or "Dogma". Everything was defined in shades of grey.
The us adaptation was more like a superhero game and lost most of what made the game such a success in france.
As we undestood it here in france, the french version of the game would never have sold in the us as religion is a sensitive subject, so it had to be changed. What do you think of it ? Is playing while making fun of religion a valid way of roleplaying ?
What other subjects do you think are taboo or forbidden to explore in RPGs ?
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Post by Stu Venable on Dec 5, 2011 15:21:56 GMT -8
I've heard of GURPS In Nomine, but never played it or read it.
It sounds like an interesting concept. The French version sounds more interesting to me.
As far as satirizing religion, like anywhere else, it depends on the players -- and it might depend on the region of the country as well.
I wouldn't hesitate to run a game lampooning or satirizing religion -- but I would let the players know what kind of game it was beforehand.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 6, 2011 7:16:30 GMT -8
I'd love to chance to do a religious satire style game - but being stuck here in the buckle of the bible belt - I'd end up strung up from some tree...
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Post by whutaguy on Dec 6, 2011 16:14:18 GMT -8
I've heard of GURPS In Nomine, but never played it or read it. It sounds like an interesting concept. The French version sounds more interesting to me. As far as satirizing religion, like anywhere else, it depends on the players -- and it might depend on the region of the country as well. I wouldn't hesitate to run a game lampooning or satirizing religion -- but I would let the players know what kind of game it was beforehand. I have played SJG In Nomine and own (but have not played) the GURPS version. In reading the Gurps, it screamed "too many options to be faithful to the stand alone!" The players played angels or demons (though I never witnessed or heard of a demon game) concerned with maintaining the symphony. Harming humans causes discord (good for demons, bad for angels). The game's gimmick was 2d6 for success/fail and 1d6 for effect. 666 was way bad. 111 was OMG good. This did not follow into the Gurps version directly, but in Gurps 666 is always bad and 111 is always good.
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julien
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Post by julien on Dec 7, 2011 4:31:11 GMT -8
In the french version, which I played and GM'd both for angels and demons, your characters have recently arrived on earth and do missions ofr their hierarchy. Missions for demons are more about corrupting and leading humans to do evil than harming them directly (after all if a demon kills a human in the game, his soul goes directly to heaven...). And it is usually the same for angels. Many missions involve trying to uncover and stop initiative from the other side, or internal conflicts between archangels or demon princes (there are factions in the heaven council for exemple, some archangels are fundamentalists, others are moderates...)
The game will be published in his 5th edition sometime next year. And have something like 20 or 30 books so far, with metaplots, reboots and so forth.
The game system uses this d666 feature same as what was descrtibed. And the XP system is really fun : Every angel or demon has a file keeped by the administration of his side. By altering the file, his superiors can grant him new powers, skills and such. They can also give him limitations and flaws in case of failure. They can do exactly what they want with his file.
So if you're on a mission that incidently ruins the plans of another Demon Prince or Archangel, he can grant you a flaw to punish you, while your superior will grant you a new power. An ennemy of the archangel can also grant you a little something for your efforts...
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Emil
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Post by Emil on Dec 7, 2011 14:45:27 GMT -8
We have quiet a few up here in Sweden as well, but I have to admit I only ever tried one of them. It's called "Eon", and is a gritty take on the fantasy genre. It's based on a world called "Mundana", where the rules of magic and physics is interwoven(as far as I get it, the magic system is worthy of at least a bachelors degree) and can be played from pig farmer to extremely epic level. But you probably won't survive that long. It's kind of similar to GURPS in that everything is extremely deadly thanks to a "infinite d6" system where every 6 you roll is rerolled as two new dices, until you have no 6's left (This sometimes causes funny things with damage, and I've heard of things like kittens ripping the better part of someones leg off) and you want to roll as low as possible to succeed at skillchecks. This plus table after table filled with additional damage effects (broken bones, crushed organs and such) for every single bodypart makes combat pretty deadly. Combat is also really lengthy and clunky, especially if you face more than one opponent per partymember. The clunkiness kind of drove me away from the game, otherwise I really love the feel of the world they've built up. They actually managed to create magic so that it feels really mystic to regular characters, and really scientific to magic users. Thankfully they seem to be in the final playtesting phase of the 4th edition, where they have promised to fix a lot of the problems with clunky combat and revamped the entire skill system, so you have "3infD6" in a skill instead of say, 12. Since I currently mostly play Savage Wolds, this really floats my boat. I've never heard of any swedish games being published internationally though, even though we have a pretty diverse selection of local games the market really isn't very big here. I live in the second largest city in the country and as far as I know we only have 2 dedicated gamestores here. One of them is in a really small cellar on a rarely visited street and one of them is a Games Workshop... Also, if I may go a bit offtopic: I generally prefer reading books and watching movies with the language they where written in intact. But when it comes to rpg's having to switch back and forth between swedish for descriptions and conversation and english for game terms sometimes feels really silly. It certainly isn't a game killer for me, but sometimes it just is plain annoying, and it can sometimes get in the way of trying to set the mood. So generally I prefer playing a game written in swedish, it just makes it so much more seamless. The "problem"(if you can ever call quality a problem) is that the games made for the international market are generally much more thought through, and plain better and funnier to play. But since swedish localization for entertainment is pretty much nonexistant except for novels and movie subtitles I've grown to accept this. Afterall, since some of the discussion around the table already is in english the occasional Monty Python quote doesn't seem that far out of place Edit: Forgot to add, that angel/demon setting sounds really sweet, it reminds me of some comic I've read, I think DC's Vertigo published it.
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julien
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Post by julien on Dec 7, 2011 15:53:26 GMT -8
Thanks a lot Emil, Eon seems really interesting, especially the magic system. Was it ever translated ?
I completly understand what you mean about playing in the game own language.
In France we have some localization, as french people have some difficulties learning other languages. Most of us speak only french and really bad english. Roleplayer aren't an exception.
For exemple, this month Eclipse Phase will be released in french (collector edition for 100 €, 130-140 $, so I will stick to my pdf version and wait for the standard edition if I ever buy it). I've GMed this game since the english release, and with my non-english speaking players, i've used my own translations for many skills, factions etc...
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Post by heavymetaljess on Dec 8, 2011 9:04:21 GMT -8
A game I play online is similar in terms of religious irreverence but is extremely gritty. The big-bad is the demon Legion and the main PCs are a fallen angel demon hunter and the goddess Astarte in a semi-human form. Usually Legion is trying to use humans to his advantage or trying to kill the demon hunter or capture Astarte for nefarious purposes which are still unknown. With games like this I think it's important that people know what they're getting into. I would be sure to let people know that in our game the mainstream "god" is made out to be a bad guy and that Astarte pushes pretty hardcore religious views which the other characters don't believe. It’s also not a heroic game. A lot of times the bad guys win… and sometimes those bad guys are the PCs. I'm Gnostic, so a lot of the otherworldly structure follows some of those ideas. When it's lampooned or made light of I never take offense. I can see how people with more mainstream religious beliefs might take offense to such things and gaming companies (especially American ones) would be sensitive to that. Though I don't think those people are necessarily playing RPGs.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 10, 2011 7:58:04 GMT -8
I've heard of GURPS In Nomine, but never played it or read it. There was actually GURPS In Nomine and In Nomine by Steve Jackson games. The former was a single book with mostly templates on how to make the differing types of angels and demons. Good luck getting everyone on the same points total with this setting. The other adaptation was much better but I couldn't shake the world of darkness vibe, not necessarily a bad thing in itself but not what I was looking for.
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tappy
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Post by tappy on Dec 12, 2011 8:10:29 GMT -8
I have a copy of In Nomine, and played in a game of it once back in like 2000, I think. It's a fun game with a fun mechanic. It has a great "feel" to it, as well as a great definite reason why the PCs (either angels or demons... or if you are clever GM both) are working together.
there are also wonderful reasons why killing the body an angel is inhabiting is ok, but you really don't want to kill humans, nor get noticed as an angel or demon by them.
all in all a very well made book, and a fun game.
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julien
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Post by julien on Dec 13, 2011 13:40:17 GMT -8
thanks for the feedback ! the first edition of the game was published in 1990. one year before Vampire the mascarade if i'm not mistaken. If you wan't to see it, free and legal pdf are available (sanctionned by the editors of the game). It's in french of course... www.xxiemeciel.com/ins_ebook01.php
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GrizzledVeteran
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Post by GrizzledVeteran on Jan 7, 2012 15:35:40 GMT -8
One of my favorite games hails from Sweden! It's called supercrew here in the states and Sweden it's called Supergänget.
Supercrew is available on lulu.com in pdf for around $7 and physical book for around $15 Supergänget was and probably still is available for free but you'll need to know your Swedish! I wish I knew Swedish!
This is a rules-lite RPG that has a lot going for it. The rules are laid out like a comic book -fantastic! It's like your reading a comic book and learning the rules at the same time.
At 28 pages it still packs a big punch. The mechanics are the based on successes and even has exploding sixes! I really like how you create obstacles! You create them the same way you do your heroes. Also you need to decide if you want to use a power for defense or take your basic defense so some decision making to be had. This is a great game for kids -making super heroes is a snap and you can whip up a hero in minutes!
This is a must buy!
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Emil
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Post by Emil on Jan 16, 2012 4:21:07 GMT -8
One of my favorite games hails from Sweden! It's called supercrew here in the states and Sweden it's called Supergänget. Supercrew is available on lulu.com in pdf for around $7 and physical book for around $15 Supergänget was and probably still is available for free but you'll need to know your Swedish! I wish I knew Swedish! This is a rules-lite RPG that has a lot going for it. The rules are laid out like a comic book -fantastic! It's like your reading a comic book and learning the rules at the same time. At 28 pages it still packs a big punch. The mechanics are the based on successes and even has exploding sixes! I really like how you create obstacles! You create them the same way you do your heroes. Also you need to decide if you want to use a power for defense or take your basic defense so some decision making to be had. This is a great game for kids -making super heroes is a snap and you can whip up a hero in minutes! This is a must buy! Yeah, a player in my group linked me to Supergänget a while back, but we haven't gotten around to playing it yet. It's an extremely simple system to get the hang of and can easily be played without preparation if you miss a player or haven't had time to prepare for the regular game. The game has a really fun introduction aswell, you start out sitting around the game table before the game, or playing some other game, and when the heroes(players) decide it's time to start they somehow hear something going on that they have to stop. Then they all have to make up excuses to the GM so that they can leave without blowing their cover as superheroes. When they have done this they leave for a little while, and when they get back the game begins I really had no idea this game had been translated though, it's fun when you see swedish things get out in the world.
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Post by hoseirrob on Jan 17, 2012 14:51:29 GMT -8
There was a French RPG that my buddy picked up in Paris. It was all about the LAPD. The maps were really impressive, but we couldnt figure out any of the mechanics.
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julien
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Post by julien on Jan 18, 2012 15:07:14 GMT -8
The game is called "C.O.P.S" (meaning central organisation for public security in the game) if i'm not mistaken. It was published in 2002 and takes place in 2030. It's about a special unit in the LAPD, designed to be elite and media heroes.
The game has a huge metaplot in it, and is build in many ways like a tv show.
The system is simple : roll as many d10 as your attribute (build, charm, education ...). Each dice that gives a result above your skill is a success. Skill are rated from 9+ to 2+, 2+ being the best score (meaning each dice with a 2 or more is a success).
in combat initiative is not rolled but based on your attitude : from hidden (-2) to Homicidal (+2) the modifier is applied to all action in the round (if you're hidden you'll speak last, and have -2d10 on your actions, but you're harder to hit : +2 difficulty to hit you; if you're homicidal you'll speak first, have +2d10 on you're action but you're also easier to hit). When you chose your initiative it is also between -2 and +2, -2 meaning you'll act fast but will suffer more penalties on your dice rolls...
but the choice is limited by your reflexes, where you keep your weapon etc...
the weapon you use also influence your roll to hit.
hits locations are used, armor absorb some damage, hit points are used and do not grow as your character become more experienced.
When hit, you also have to roll to see if you are stunned...
there is an optionnal rule about collateral damages (remember the attitude, the more violent you are, the more critical can the collateral be), about bullet going right through someone or something and hitting someone else...
there is also quite interresting rule about interrogation, which i will not get into today, but can talk about if someone is interrested.
Oh and I have the book right in front of me now, i have played only a couple of time...
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