Non-D&D Ravenloft systems?

[ewancummins]

I just heard of a system in the 1980s by TSR called "Star Frontiers" where everything was on an XP-points buy system after you'd initially rolled up your character.

I'm going to get a copy of this from ebay and see if I can make it work. The idea of spending XP on absolutely everything appeals to me immensely.

You can get this for free, and legally, too.

[HuManBing]

Too late - I bought my copy on ebay over a year ago (admittedly for a nice low price). It's funny to think that I now own a boxed set RPG that's almost as old as I am.

[Tommy Brownell]

What I am stunned tremndously by here is that no one has thought to suggest Savage Worlds!

Combat that can be remarkably deadly and leave permenant injuries? CHECK!

Built-in horror and fear rules? CHECK!

System designed to make characters balanced and useful at any level of power? CHECK!

System lets even non comabt-oriented characters have a use in a fight? CHECK!

Clean, simple Magic rules that give an edge without being overpowering or needing three rulebooks' worth of new spells? CHECK!

Bloody simple rules to keep things clean and moving? CHECK!

Seriously. www.peginc.com , and download the Test Drive rules. See for yourself. Then buy Deadlands:Reloaded and loot it freely for all the utterly useful parallel rules (Hells, the settings are even not that different, and most of the Deadlands villains, with a bit of a reskin, work just fine for Ravenloft, especially Ravenloft in the near future.

For my (probably never to materialize) go at running Ravenloft again, I am TORN between either Savage Worlds (which I have fallen rather in love with) or a slightly more lethal variant of the Cinematic Unisystem (which Eden Studios used to power their Buffy, Angel, Army of Darkness and Ghosts of Albion RPGs).

I really, REALLY love the Buffy magic system, and think it could fit Ravenloft nicely...I just think that Drama points could make players entirely too bold for Ravenloft.

Savage Worlds similarly feels a TAD too heroic, but that could also be that the one SW game I am running right now is Necessary Evil, in which everyone does have superpowers.

And...I have settled into Savage Worlds as my conversion of choice. Using a variety of source materials (Fantasy Companion, Horror GM's Toolkit, a few powers from a few of the setting books and so on).

[Lovecraftforever]

I am currently using Call Of Cthulhu D20 for my new campaign. Its working pretty good.

[Scipio]

I really, REALLY love the Buffy magic system, and think it could fit Ravenloft nicely...I just think that Drama points could make players entirely too bold for Ravenloft.

All Flesh Must Be Eaten. It uses a variant of the Unisystem but much grittier and deadly to the PCs, and more importantly, without Drama Points. With a little tinkering, which I'll probably start in on soon, it could work for Ravenloft. (I'm seeing the Inspired template as a way to do low magic powers for characters.)

[Galeros]

There is also OGL Horror. It is written for more modern Horror, but I think it could work for Ravenloft as well. There are four classes, Combatant, Investigator, Ordinary Person, and Scholar. The magic system relies in a skill check and drains a stat depending on how well you roll. The book also gives rules on how to convert spells from other D20 books to the OGL Horror rules. There are only ten levels for each class, and it is recommended that the PCs start out at third level.

[alhoon]

Link?

[Galeros]

Link?

Oh, sorry.

http://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?t=20495

That is a thread on another forum where I asked about it and got some information.

Here is a link to the RPGNow product page for it.

http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php? ... =1672&it=1

[Galeros]

Another system that I have found is Chill 2nd Edition. It is kind of campy, and aimed more at modern horror, but I think it could work with some alterations. I have not had much of a chance to read through the rules set yet, but I can say that the system would work for a low magic Ravenloft game.

http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php? ... =2888&it=1

[HuManBing]

Oh, I posted this elsewhere but forgot to post it here. The long-awaited Horror supplement for GURPS has been out for a few months now (no art by Talon, most regrettably!). It builds on the 3rd edition and, like most SJG books, offers a great survey literature review of the genre, ranging from traditional Gothic horror to Asian horror stories, modern genres such as Atomic Horror, and finally sci-fi applications.

The list of sample monsters (perhaps unsurprisingly) almost reads like a list of Ravenloft Darklords. However, fantasy staples such as the lich have not been addressed in this book - look instead to Dungeon Fantasy Monsters 1 for that.

[Goose Bone]

I just end my second Ravenloft session (as a DM) on "Dogs in the Vineyard" rules - and it was awesome... Everything works just perfectly - smooth, fast, well-balanced, not-so-epic, the whole mechanic is something about few pages and is very intuitive and user-friendly... Just... works good:)

[MichaelTumey]

Not saying D&D is the system to use, and pretty much agreeing with your first point on 3x, but as a fan of Pathfinder (which is too much like 3x) and as a developer for that system, your Monk without Bluff is a simple fix. There are archetypes you know, it wouldn't be too complex to add Bluff as a monk class skill. I am currently working on a Shinobi monk, that is a type of monk ninja. Before the ninja was officially released by Pathfinder, I'd been contemplating a ninja-like monk.

(I'm going on a tangent, here, I apologize...)

If you look at two of the new feats from Advanced Players Guide: Spider Walk and Cloud Walk, both require the Monk's Slow Fall class feature as prerequisite. Spider Walk grants the monk the ability to walk up walls and upsidedown across ceilings as long as you end up rightsideup at the end of the movement at a distance as far as you can slow fall. Cloud Walk let's the monk airwalk the same distance. Both, I feel is very ninja like - so my assumption before the Ninja was released was that that concept would be based on a monk, not a rogue.

With the Ninja release it only offers options of how to make a monk archetype more like a Ninja. I would replace all the bonus feat slots for the monk to be able to be replaced with Ninja Tricks. At 10th level or above, such a monk could access Assassinate ninja trick. I would also replace some the Still Mind, Diamond Soul ablities with more specifically ninja like abilities.

Final point regarding Ninja, despite the lack of historical data on it, I'm convinced they carried out more of a spy mission, than as assassin. I don't think a Shinobi monk needs Sneak Attack, just more ki influenced abilities, especially of the stealthy ones.

On the other hand, one of the upcoming patronage projects for Rite Publishing in the next few months is doing a rebuild/complete redesign of the Tome of Battle: Book of Nine Swords in PF. While I was not a fan of ToB, if the radical was removed, and the dependancy on blades was removed, allowing unarmed strikes and many/any other weapon use - it might just work. I've been included on the design team for that product for the possible inclusion of such in Kaidan.

Pathfinder is, if nothing else, a system built for options, and it's why I love to design for it. While there are certainly discrepancies for the 3x/OGL system, I used to it, and with PF am able to do what I want with it.

While I certainly played other systems, not in recent years, so I cannot offer other recent systems to run Ravenloft within.