#Genesys RPG

[gm-warlic]

My friends, the time has come.

As many of you know, I have been working on creating a sourcebook adapting the setting of DragonFable to the Genesys Universal RPG.

After a lot of work, I have decided to release the book in chapters, starting with Chapter 1: Character Creation!

This document is about 120 pages, about a third of the size of what I expect the full book to be. This has everything you need to create your characters, from a wide selection of the fantastical races of DragonFable to a variety of careers patterned after DragonFable’s various classes, and a wide selection of skills and talents to further customize your character!

Remember that this is a supplement for the Genesys RPG, so to properly play this game you will need to also have the Genesys Core Rulebook and a set of Genesys dice (or use the Genesys dice app).

I hope you have fun creating your characters, and I will see you again when I am finished with Chapter 2: Equipment and Gear! (In which we will explore the wide variety of weapons, armor, equipment, and magical artifacts available to characters in the world of DragonFable!)

[kckramer]

Adventures in Genesys- Setting Creation

Some of you likely know that I not only write fiction, but material for tabletop role-playing games (including a 5e one-shot you can buy here). I just have the one-shot at the moment, but it’s really settings and campaigns that draw my attention for ttrpgs. I have two of those in process- one for 5e (that is essentially on hold until after whatever they’re calling the 5e update comes out) and…

[househaunterz-art]

I’m in the updating oc refs for artfight trenches.

But uhhhh yeah, we’ve got some valenclair, some superhero refs for a personal project, design work for my genesys game that I play in, little bit of cast away, my tuc oc. Truly a mixed bag

Hey if you like my art my comms are open!!

[scratching92]

So, in light of everything with WOTC, I think I’m gonna spend this year exploring other games systems. I’ve already kinda been bouncing off of D&D for a bit, but I think now’s a good time to actually commit to either playing or running games in new systems like I’ve been wanting to do. And since I’m sure there are others who might want to hear about some other TTRPGs, I figured I’d share a short list here. In no particular order:

Genesys - a setting-agnostic RPG that makes use of Narrative Dice, which generate not only success and failure, but also positive and negative complications that lend themselves to interesting narrative consequences. An example I like to use is attempting to bluff your way into a mob’s headquarters, so you lie and pretend to be a member of the mob named Jerry. You roll a success with threat, so they successfully buy into you being Jerry, except as it so happens Jerry’s in shit with his superiors at the moment, so you get dragged off to be disciplined instead of having free reign to look around. If you’ve ever played the Star Wars RPGs by Fantasy Flight Games, the system is near-identical, save a few small things here and there.

I’ve run a game or two of the system before, but I’d really like to go back to it at some point and maybe run a short campaign for some friends.

Lancer - a space opera tactical mecha RPG. I’m actually running a game of this in about two weeks or so! The mechanics seem really neat, but one thing I was not expecting when I read the core rulebook was the lore. My god! The Lancer setting just has... so much, I don’t even know where to begin. Earth (or Cradle, as it’s known in the Lancer setting) is a socialist utopia trying to share its utopian project with the diaspora, which is fraught with dystopic corpro-states, myriad worlds in various states of technological development, hacker-cults, and a bizarre paracausal entity that stole one of Mars’ moons (and isn’t even the only one of their kind!). It’s absolutely wild. 

Fabula Ultima - an RPG inspired by classic JRPGs like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. I only learned about this one a few days ago, admittedly, but I’m kind of already in love. It has a sort of job system in place where characters have access to 15 classes, which they can take levels in as they level-up and add skills from those classes. It’s also very collaborative with its narrative and worldbuilding, with both the GM and the players having a say in what the world is like prior to play. I’d like to play a few sessions of this when I can, because it looks fun.

These are the three main games I’m interested in playing this year, although I’m gonna be on the lookout for any others that might be interesting.

[fire-cannot-doubt]

This is my current work-in-progress, an action shot from my current long-running RPG, which I’ll probably post a bunch about on here.

[thrythlind]

Oppressive Presence Scion 2e Attempts to terrify have +1 Enhancement. Investigating the area suffers 1 Complication. If the complication is not paid off, suffer Condition Nervous. Nervous: You are distracted by a feeling of something watching from the shadows. Take a difficulty 2 action in each new scene to check for hidden dangers or suffer +1 difficulty to all actions. Resolve: Recklessly resist the urge to clear an area and suffer the increased difficulty an entire scene.

Monster of the Week When you spend any time in this area, roll Act Under Pressure. 12 Advanced - other hunters have +1 ongoing to resist the fear 10+ Everything is cool. 7-9 Either resist the fear, or learn something, but take -1 ongoing while in the area 6- Flee the area

City of Mist When entering the scene Face Danger or suffer a Tier 2 Oppressive Fear status.

Fate Aspects on the Scene Oppressive Presence Dark Corners Must be Imaging Things

Sentinel Comics Oppressive Presence d8 Dark Shadows d6 Dilapidated d6 Minor Green Twist - one target suffers a Hinder with the Mid die Major Green Twist - spawn a Shadowy Entity d6 minion Minor Yellow Twist - one target is Hindered on the Max die, one Environment minion or lieutenant is Boosted on the Min die Major Yellow Twist - spawn Min die Shadowy Entity minions Minor Red Twist - All targets Hindered on the Min die Major Red Twist - Spawn Old Master's Spirit d8 lieutenant

Genesys Add 2 setback dice to any test where keeping calm emotions is key.

AGE +2 bonus to Intimidation checks, +2 to difficulties to resist terror

Tales of Xadia Resist the fear d8 d8 Deal with the Spirit d10 d8

[sugar-spice-and-everything-dice]

So of the (current) four remaining systems on my "check out" list, here's where we're at:

Genesys - looks cool and I think it would be worth getting even if it's not right for a campaign system switch; found a detailed review that I'm in the process of (re-)reading, but so far I'm intrigued by the mechanics and success/failure thresholds; unfortunately the review also mentions that there aren't many actual tools for making stuff, it's focused more on rules and aesthetic and then goes "the GM can make up the other stuff"

Cypher - haven't found a ton of info on it, and mostly only in the context of Numenéra, but I'm leaning away from it based on what I have found; it seems too simple and maybe I need to watch some actual play for it or something, but I'm not fully on board with it (yet)

Pathfinder 2e - this has been on and off the list a few times; frequently-recommended as better than dnd 5e, but also seems very close in concept and I'm not sure if that's really what I want; I have also heard that it is either less crunchy or more crunchy than dnd so. hm. what's the truth

ICON - saw a post on this a few hours ago and was intrigued; haven't looked into it at all yet but the post was convincing enough (and had a link, thank god); seems like it's still in the playtest stage at this point? it's still fantasy genre, but has a detailed RP system separate from its (also-detailed) combat system, so at the very least it could have some good stuff for a franken-system...

Obviously I am still open to suggestions for a system that fits a long-term, high-magic, low(ish)-combat, science-fantasy homebrew campaign, if anyone's got them.

Sidenote: I feel like (of the ones I've looked into) ttrpg design tends to see "customizable" or "flexible" and goes "oh, then we'll leave it vague and up to the GM to decide what they want" when that's. not really it? I don't want abstraction, I want a toolset. Give me options of things that will fit into this system and let me build from there. I want Legos, not clay.

[indiegamesoutofcontext]

[avatar-the-second-age]

Hey, so I am planning an avatr campiagn with this RPG, I was orginal going to use avatar legends, but it doesn't create the rpg I want. This one might but I have a few questions before I buy the corebook for genesys, How similar is this game to dnd? Can you make characters died? Can the GM create stats for NPCs so that NPcs can fight with the players? How should I make Azula the main villain?

It's great to hear you're interested in trying Genesys! It's a great system to play games that are narrative-driven, as its unique dice provide inspiring and creative prompts any time they are rolled.

That being said, rolling dice and playing as a character with six primary attributes is where the biggest similarities end between Genesys and Fifth Edition D&D. They're both tabletop RPGs, so naturally they have some common DNA. But the playstyle and storytelling facilitated by the two systems couldn't be more dramatically different.

You can make characters that die in Genesys; all characters go down pretty easily, unless it is specifically your character's "thing" that they're tough. Being incapacitated because you've taken on too many wounds, or too much strain doesn't mean death. A character dies if a player wants their character to die, or if they sustain multiple critical injuries such that they roll 140+ on a d100 (with a +40 modifier from said critical injuries) and get the 'death' or 'dying out' result. NPCs can break some of these rules but are, in general, just as much of a glass cannon as PCs. The game is designed to emulate cinematic fights and pulp adventure action. This is not a game where every character creation option has "combat viability" because combat is not a primary pillar of gameplay in Genesys. It is one of several, including structured social encounters, and general puzzles and the like.

Creating NPCs is super easy, they can fight with players but you have to be mindful of action economy in structured encounters (whether that is combat, social, or something else). If your players outnumber the NPC(s), even if the NPC is "powerful," the players are probably going to win because they get more actions. Keep this in mind.

As for making Azula? I'd recommend taking a look at the rules first before trying to design an NPC. The core rulebook provides a LOT of good guidance on creating an adversary worthy of attention.

[vhsstills]

Live’s in his Heaven, all is Laugh with the Love.

[retrocgads]

UK 1987

[haveyouplayedthisttrpg]

Have you played GENESYS ?

By Fantasy Flight Games

Universal game system which uses narrative dice, rather than standard rpg dice. Similar to the Star Wars RPG, also created by Fantasy Flight Games, Genesys is the generic version of that system. While the base book can be easily adapted into any setting, there are additional books, Realms of Terrinoth and Android: Shadow of the Beanstalk, which provide additional information for Fantasy and Cyberpunk campaigns respectively. Many tools for the system are easily available online, including character sheets, dice rollers for the narrative dice, and a discord bot which connects to your character sheet/dice rolls and adds everything up for you to generate your result.

[videogamesskies]

Monster World IV (Genesis/Mega Drive) (1994)

[househaunterz-art]

Weird Object

This is an item that my genesys character has, we aren’t quite sure what it is yet…

[posthumanwanderings]

[Cosplayer Umister > Photo of Nei (Phantasy Star II)]

[susanahgrace]

CHVLR has been nominated for Best Solo TTRPG at the Crit Awards! Voting is now open, head on over to the link to vote!