Tenkar's Tavern: Would Rifts By Any Other System Smell as Sweet?

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Would Rifts By Any Other System Smell as Sweet?

Mix a little Stars Without Numbers: Core with some Labyrinth Lord. Stir in a bit of Other Dust. Use a future, alternate Earth for the setting. Season to taste.

What do you get? Hopefully a balanced, comprehendible alternative to Rifts.

This is going to be a side project of sorts, more for my own amusement than anything else, so Kevin and his Glitterboy hit team have nothing to worry about, even though I will be posting much of the results on this blog as I get to them.

It's more of a borrowing of the core concept than any of the story lines and such. Which makes sense, as I haven't bought a Rifts book in over 15 years ;)

2 comments:

Michael WenmanJuly 28, 2012 at 8:53 AM
I keep finding my "Walkabout" project straying ever so close to the setting of Rifts. I guess it's inevitable since they are both post apocalyptic science fantasy settings, but sometimes I feel like I have to actively work to make a different game, and other times I just want to run with the gonzo.
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Brutorz BillJuly 28, 2012 at 11:18 AM
Please do share what you work up, I've actually thought the very same thing!! : )
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Why "Swords & Wizardry?"

Believe me when I say I have them all in dead tree format. I have OSRIC in full size, trade paperback and the Player's Guide. I have LL and the AEC (and somewhere OEC, but I can't find it at the moment). Obviously I have Basic Fantasy RPG. Actually, I have the whole available line in print. Way too much Castles & Crusades. We all know my love for the DCC RPG. I even have Dark Dungeons in print, the Delving Deeper boxed set, Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. BOTH editions of LotFP's Weird Fantasy and some dead tree copies of the Greyhawk Grognards Adventures Dark & Deep

I am so deep in the OSR when I come up for breath it's for the OSR's cousin, Tunnels & Trolls

So, out of all that, why Swords & Wizardry? Why, when I have been running a AD&D 1e / OSRIC campaign in Rappan Athuk am I using Swords & Wizardry and it's variant, Crypts & Things, for the second campaign? (Actually, now running a S&W Complete campaign, soon to be with multiple groups)

Because the shit works.

It's easy for lapsed gamers to pick up and feel like they haven't lost a step. I can house rule it and it doesn't break. It plays so close to the AD&D of my youth and college years (S&W Complete especially) that it continually surprises me. Just much less rules hopping than I remember. (my God but I can run it nearly without the book)

I grab and pick and steal from just about all OSR and Original resources. They seem to fit into S&W with little fuss. It may be the same with LL and the rest, but for me the ease of use fit's my expectations with S&W.

Even the single saving throw. That took me longer to adjust to, but even that seems like a natural to me now. Don't ask me why, it just does. Maybe it's the simplicity of it. At 45 52, simplicity and flexibility while remaining true to the feel of the original is an OSR hat trick for me ;)

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Saturday, July 28, 2012

Would Rifts By Any Other System Smell as Sweet?

2 comments:

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