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Honorverse RPG Quickstarter!?! A reader's thoughts

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Honorverse RPG Quickstarter!?! A reader's thoughts
Post by JenBurdoo2   » Mon Nov 23, 2015 11:54 pm

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I don't know how many roleplayers are on this board; if you're not a gamer, feel free to ignore, or ask questions.

I never expected this! While it's not a full game, I think what you get is worth the six bucks it's currently going for on RPGNow.com.

The included adventure is quite basic but the game also includes rules on building characters, so this is effectively a "lite" version of the game and not just a demo, which could be used in a pinch for a campaign (with a bit of work on the gamemaster's part). It doesn't look too friendly to those new to the Honorverse, but the rules are similar to some common ones and not too hard for new players to understand, I think.

I like that there are a couple dozen character templates included, with everything from executive officer to yeoman.

There is a template for "genetic slave," but lifespan is 30 years. One, I don't remember that from the books, though it does make sense (maybe prolong counteracts it and that's why ex-slaves can join the navy without having to worry about a short career?); two, it says to roll 4 six-sided dice to see how many years the character has left. So potentially you could be playing a six-year-old, which makes no sense. I'd ignore it and assume as long as the character has prolong he's fine.

Interestingly, the game recommends running multiple characters to avoid splitting the party, so that there's always someone who can come along; if your tac officer, for example, has to stay on the ship, you can play a Marine grunt in the away party. The character sheets are pretty barebones, so it doesn't sound like too much of a hassle, and I like the potential for building up the crew and its background. One of the things I enjoy about games set aboard ship (such as Firefly and Star Trek) are having the ship itself as a character, and the crew nonplayer characters can be an important part of the story -- different from a typical game where the party is just the half-dozen players and completely independent. You are not limited to playing RMN, either -- there are civilian templates and I can see a Havenite campaign working too.

Rather than the typical rule zero (What the GM Says Goes) the game mechanism allows the players to narrate their own failures. I'm not sure how well this would work, as I've never played the free-form, cooperative types of games where this is regular practice (except diceless ones).

Combat and skill use are of low-to-typical complexity, using a dice pool -- say, a skill of 1 six-sided die plus an attribute of 2D, leads to rolling 3D6 against a given difficulty number (or opponent's defense, if in combat). Bonus dice are given for equipment, or removed if the character is injured or the weapon can beat his armor.

Rules are a bit crunchy. As a newbie gamemaster myself, I prefer a simpler "storytelling" way of playing, but I like the effort as it is so far. No treecat rules yet though... This looks like the full game will be out in mid 2016.
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Re: Honorverse RPG Quickstarter!?! A reader's thoughts
Post by Phalanx   » Sat Nov 28, 2015 11:46 am

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Link is here: http://www.rpgnow.com/product/165792/A- ... -Adventure

Its an official publication of Final Sword Productions, which has the rights to produce an Honorverse RPG(BuNINE APPROVED? :lol: ). There was work done on an RPG when Ad Astra controlled the license, but Final Sword seems to building on this work and taking this project in its own direction.

Not sure why this adventure was released first rather the full RPG game(Which to me, seems to have the most potential for "money-printing").

One thing I want to see for the final product is the smooth transition between the RPG and SITS.

Let's say you are in the who-gives-a-crap system to investigate reports that the Gov-of-the-Week is violating its trade agreement with Manticore by participating in the Genetic Slave Trade.

Her Majesty's Navy does not take kindly to those who break their agreements, especially those who do so in pursuit of profits from the Slavery.

Let's say your group's characters are some of the command crew and they discuss a course of action. Maybe they meet with the High Grand Supreme Ultra King-President to begin negotiations, when assassins attack them. They narrowly escape back to their Pinnance is head back to space because of a "Privateer" seeking to overthrow the local gov is in orbit and on an attack vector towards the RMS yourship. Then the GM transitions the game to SITS.

Not sure if I want to buy this or wait for the final RPG product.

The Honorverse gaming supplements have always been a value. I bought SITS 2nd Edition when it was $70, but considering how much game you got for it, that still a bargain. Also the Jayne's guides were 20 bucks, but the paper quality must be better or something because it has held up better than the sourcebooks for other games I own(Paper-and-dice gamers all have THAT ONE sourcebook that looks like grandma's bible because of the inferior paper quality and the fact that you have had it for a long time. ;) ).

Either way, Final Sword already has my money. :D
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Re: Honorverse RPG Quickstarter!?! A reader's thoughts
Post by Roguevictory   » Mon Jan 18, 2016 3:08 am

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Perfect timing. The GM in my group who loves D6 the most is also among the few other Honorverse fans in the group is running the last session of our current Star Wars D6 campaign next weekend.
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Re: Honorverse RPG Quickstarter!?! A reader's thoughts
Post by WinterFlames   » Sat Jan 23, 2016 3:48 am

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Love the idea... Must wait to purchase due to life.
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Re: Honorverse RPG Quickstarter!?! A reader's thoughts
Post by Roguevictory   » Fri Nov 25, 2016 10:37 pm

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Any word on the full game's release date?
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Re: Honorverse RPG Quickstarter!?! A reader's thoughts
Post by kzt   » Sat Dec 10, 2016 8:12 pm

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Ad Astra and FSP are related entities. Or were, Ken was given full control of his core stuff and gave up some other stuff when they formally separated.

I'll se if I can get some idea when the game might come out.
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