66 replies to this topic

[Dvandom]

It could well have been a Savage Worlds playtest session, the more I think about it.  

 

---Dave

[Cybersnark]

So, not quite the straight D6 system I'm familiar with; all characters have Attributes (DEX, PER, KNO, STR, MEC, TEC), Skills vary from character-to-character, but are derived from Attributes (so if you want to use a skill your character doesn't have, you can just roll the base attribute). Special abilities (like magic) act like Attributes, having Skills (or "spells") attached to the base attribute dice. Movement has a base min/max (walking/sprinting) for different forms (walking, flying, swimming, etc).

Characters start from baseline templates (instead of "classes") and are customized by the player (I was thinking this game could easily get away with three basic templates for Earth Pony, Pegasus, or Unicorn).

And yeah, in D6, skill levels are measured by number of dice (with one die serving as the Wild Die for critical fails [1] or success [6]):

Generally:
0D - character is physically unable to use this skill (due to injury or handicap)
1D - character is bad at this
2D - character is below average
3D - character is pretty good at this
4D - character has probably had formal training in this skill
5D - character can perform this skill well enough to run a business associated with it
6D - character could teach this skill academically
7D - character is locally-known expert
8D - character is a worldwide recognized authority
9D - character can perform "impossible" feats worthy of an action movie protagonist

(Most Attributes are capped at around 3D, but specific skills can go higher.)

The Attributes here seem to be BODY (probably standing in for Strength and Dexterity), MIND (standing in for Knowledge and the Mechanical/Technical aptitudes), and CUTENESS (which I guess would be mostly Perception), with separate lists for Talents, Weaknesses, and Stamina (which I'd otherwise expect to be under "Body"). The gameplay itself is probably simplified to not need specific skill numbers, which is probably a good idea for the younger players.

[Zamuel]

Huh. I thought what is now Cuteness was originally Charm (it seemed to cover the Persuasion style stats).

http://riverhorse.eu...t-line-preview/
A lot of interesting things here:
-Despite seeming like it's making a point of mostly focusing around D6s, it's still offering the full dice range.
-Some dice are being offered in themed tins. What makes this interesting is the unicorn tin swapping Twilight for Starlight. Also, the tin come with mini adventure hooks.
-An actual bestiary! Catches my attention since in the homebrew system I'm GMing, that has always been one of the biggest system complaints.

[Dvandom]

Yeah, Pastel Cloud has a d4 in one of her skills, so this isn't all d6.  Again, probably similarities to Savage Worlds where better skill = bigger die type rather than more dice.

 

---Dave

[Zamuel]

Did anyone else get this?

[Dvandom]

Well, I ordered it.  It hasn't arrived at my shop, though.  Amazon has a few copies.

 

---Dave

[Maruten]

I got it. There's not much to it IIRC, it really relies on your already knowing everything about the show and the world and the characters I think? But it's a pretty nice book and I'm keen to check out the supplements etc.

[Dvandom]

Does it use a "better skill = bigger die type" resolution system, or multiple dice?

 

---Dave

[Maruten]

The former, although I guess as you scale up it slides into the latter? Character creation is "if you want to be tough, put D6 in your Body and D4 in your Mind"; AJ has a Body score of D20, and an Ursa Minor has a Body score of 3xD20. Zecora's Mind score is D20 + D6. So there's a bit of everything when it comes to what you need to roll.

Edited by Maruten, 12 May 2017 - 07:54 PM.

[Zamuel]

Well, I ordered it.  It hasn't arrived at my shop, though.  Amazon has a few copies.
 
---Dave

I think the releases were staggered between Europe, online international, and USA/Canada brick & mortar (based on emails I've gotten). I just got mine today.

Does it use a "better skill = bigger die type" resolution system, or multiple dice?
 
---Dave

I haven't fully read it yet but with a quick search, dice roll amounts get bigger per level with players selecting which of the three stats gets upgraded. I'm guessing that gaining more dice will come from individual talents but I'll see once I read the full thing.

[Dvandom]

So, basically Savage Worlds-style.

 

---Dave

[Zamuel]

Interesting things of note:

-There really is no escaping the early Season 1 stock art, is there? Most of the book looks good but that makes those stand out even more when they show up.
-The book mentions the minis...
-"Although the horn can be used as an ordinary horn" intrigued that was called out.
-Earth pony stats look like they have a base level advantage outside of individual Talents.
-While combining flight and cloud tangibility is pretty standard for pony RPGs, telekinesis directly allows you to create (dim) light instead of having two separate powers.
-The book point blank does not let you directly create an alicorn. The pieces are obviously there for advanced players but the Rules As Written without any sort of supplement currently say no.
-The elements don't directly give you benefits. Rather, it's just a personality identifier that the GM can sometimes have individual effects trigger off of in the plot. In some ways, this makes 'Magic' odd since it isn't a personality trait.
-Both physical and psychological damage can reduce Stamina. What's most interesting is that for as friendly and non "killer GM" as things seemed to be setup in the book, regaining Stamina looks to be very slow. At the very least, it seems holistic. No one thing outside of leveling up causes a full heal but numerous small things combined add up (sleeping comfortably in a bed is better than just sleep in the wilderness, eating healthy regains Stamina, etc).

[Zamuel]

-The three ponies on the cover and used in other promotional material don't have their stats outlined in the book. I wonder if they'll show up in the full campaign materials.
-I've found typos but I'm boring so of course I did. Only one might cause a gameplay concern and it feels minor.
-The Mane Six and Zecora do have stats listed and they are clearly not lvl 1 characters (though it doesn't state what level they are). Twilight is her alicorn version which, ignoring the joke of her breaking one of the stated rules, she lacks the earth pony specific Talent Stout Heart despite otherwise having flight and telekinesis.
-Earth ponies intriguingly present the positive side of the "Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards" coin in being more survivable early on. While they get a base buff to Body, unicorns and pegasi don't get base buffs to Mind or Charm.
-The list of gear is surprisingly detailed and the system does have an actual money system. Feels thematic with about the only omission seemingly being medical gear but I think that's deliberate considering a few other things. There is a panacea healing salve ("ponybalm").
-The implied level cap is 10 but that is also supposedly where bigger quests will be offered.
-Unicorns can get a Stun Ray talent. Because horn lasers.
-The base difficulty of teleporting is actually higher than the base amount of the skill you can get at level 1.

Let me know if anyone has anything they want me to directly look at.

[Dvandom]

Okay, finally got a copy, going to Amazon after Diamond/Alliance spent months refusing to actually ship any to my local store.

 

Dude, it's so close to Savage Worlds that I'm surprised there wasn't a mention of that game or its designer in the credits.  Like, you could probably grab a Savage Worlds supplement off the shelf, change the names to be more Pony-compatible, and use it otherwise as-is.  The only real difference is the lack of the Wild Die, although the "acing" mechanism of exploding dice is slightly nerfed (it's not automatic, you have to declare you're trying it and roll only one die: in SW, any die can explode and get rerolled as the next higher die type if you get the max).

 

Lack of credit aside, though, it's pretty well done.  Caught a few minor typos (misspelling Chrysalis, for instance), but nothing on the level of the poor editing of Roan.  And there's some obvious gaps in the core system (no rules for flexible magic, for instance), but they seem fairly confident they'll get to flesh it out in supplements.

 

---Dave

[Dvandom]

Later thought: Savage Worlds Rifts exists.  Glittercolts!

 

---Dave

[Dvandom]

Got my copy of the "Curse of the Statuettes" supplement today.  It has character sheet pads and a GM screen, plus a set of dice.  It's a box set, and the box is deliberately oversized...once you remove the cardboard spacers, the main rules fit inside nicely alongside everything else.

 

---Dave

[Zamuel]

Was there anything of interest as far as rules or worldbuilding?

[Dvandom]

I haven't actually read the adventure yet, just skimmed it.  Seemed to be more along the lines of GM-ing advice than new rules, but there's stuff about the region the adventure takes place in.  Also, stats for Tatzlwurms, among other things.

 

---Dave

[Copper Bezel]

Fairly random, but another item that is both official and MLP role play - a HASCON exclusive MLP-themed D&D-branded dice set. Thought this would be the best place to mention it and it probably didn't warrant its own thread. Sorry if I'm late and you all know about this already. = ]

 

I hate that it's a con exclusive, this would be a really lovely thing to have, despite the D&D. I'm still using a virtual dice roller. = P

Edited by Copper Bezel, 28 July 2017 - 04:46 PM.

[Zamuel]

Interesting. It's not bad but I'd think that it would represent the Mane Six if it used all of their coat colors or if it used their element colors. Still, not bad and I'm sure some will desire the tin. I've actually been rolling physical dice for a while now since I now have all denominations instead of just d6s and d20s.