Experiment: Codex Alera RPG Using White Wolf Scion Rules

[provik]

I'm trying an experiment with running the Codex Alera world.

Taking the mechanics and feel of the Scion: Hero game (which gives me a great deal of flexibility both in the scale of power available to Characters, thanks to God and Demigod rules) and to the flexibility I want to keep in the game (allowing players to use their furies in different ways without forcing them to cookie-cutter stamp their powers).

By converting Legend to Fury and Legend Points to Fury Points, then converting the Virtues into Furycraft areas (Air, Earth, Fire, Water, Wood, Steel), I'm hoping to create some of the similar game dynamic as the books.

The main differences will be that Epic Attributes can be used, but Boons connected to Epic Attributes will be attributed more to elemental powers and not to Birthrights.

And furies, naturally, will be followers of a very specific type (Air, Earth, etc. etc.)

We'll see how it turns out.

Bob

[Narkaious]

Please let me know how this goes.  I really liked the system for Scion, I thought it was fairly flexible and neat.  Kudos to you sir or madam that had the time and effort I couldn't and wouldn't be able to put into this.

[Ghsdkgb]

Heh, a friend and I are actually doing a setting using the d20 system. We're mainly modeling them after Psions, with an MP-system and all that. We've also worked in a mechanic where you can cast spells even at 0 or negative MP, but doing so causes penalties of Fatigue, Exhaustion, and if your MP gets too negative, your character passes out and is unconscious until the MP regens back to 0 (usually the duration of a fight plus several minutes/hours afterward)

[Wolfhowls]

A buddy and I were talking about this today, on what system to use for that realm. But my main question is there a Codex Alera RPG on the works?

[TheMouse]

Some quick Googling implies that it's not currently planned. If DF RPG does really well, and if Evil Hat can afford the license, then maybe it might happen. Or not. The quotes I found on the subject were a couple of years old, and they might not be at all accurate any longer.

[iago]

A buddy and I were talking about this today, on what system to use for that realm. But my main question is there a Codex Alera RPG on the works?

There isn't one that I'm aware of.

[Wolfhowls]

There isn't one that I'm aware of.

Aww man.

[Ghsdkgb]

A buddy and I were talking about this today, on what system to use for that realm. But my main question is there a Codex Alera RPG on the works?

Heh, I asked Jim that exact question last time he came to my town. He said no :-(

[Shali]

My sense of the fate system is that fighting isn't the system's strong point.  So it's probably for the best that Its not in the works with EH.

[iago]

My sense of the fate system is that fighting isn't the system's strong point.  So it's probably for the best that Its not in the works with EH.

Care to elaborate on how you got that 'sense'?

[TheMouse]

My sense of the fate system is that fighting isn't the system's strong point.

I disagree. I ran a quite fun Exalted game using FATE, and the fights were a lot of fun.

The system is abstract without losing the possibility for meaningful tactical decisions. Creativity can help you out very well. Non-combat specked characters can contribute very well through making declarations and/or putting fragile Aspects on enemies then passing the free tag to a more combat oriented character. Best of all, it does all this very quickly.

[Shali]

The abstract nature of the system is why I think something that is more concrete like the Scion rules would be better for combat, but its just personal opinion.  I like rules that a very stract, very solid...not to say Fate isn't a solid system, just that it wouldn't be my preference for a game that is mostly combat like any game based on Alera seems to be.  Fate's strength or in the fact that its abstract enough to let you do just about anything.  Exalted/Scion's strengths are in the area of combat.

Any given rule system is going to have areas of strength and areas of weakness.  Its not good or bad just preference.  It isn't meant to be an attack on Evil Hat.

[TheMouse]

The abstract nature of the system is why I think something that is more concrete like the Scion rules would be better for combat, but its just personal opinion.  I like rules that a very stract, very solid...

It's abstract in some ways, but not in others. Conflicts are surprisingly tactical affairs where your choices really matter.

Some of the abstractness goes away in actual play. For example, on paper you see that you get a minor Consequence for getting hurt. When it comes time to actually take the minor Consequence in play, it becomes something concrete. Then you don't have a minor Consequence. You have a bloody gash on your head. Now folks can tag that to give them bonuses in the fight. It becomes quite important exactly what it is and how it affects the fight.

Then there are Zones. They're pretty abstract. But they're not as abstract as you might think. Someone having a power that lets them move 2 Zones as a supplemental action rather than 1 plays out very similarly to having a power that grants you an extra number of meters per such move. There's just less to track.

A question for you: Have you ever actually sat down and played out some sort of conflict in FATE?

[Quantus]

I'm trying an experiment with running the Codex Alera world.

Taking the mechanics and feel of the Scion: Hero game (which gives me a great deal of flexibility both in the scale of power available to Characters, thanks to God and Demigod rules) and to the flexibility I want to keep in the game (allowing players to use their furies in different ways without forcing them to cookie-cutter stamp their powers).

By converting Legend to Fury and Legend Points to Fury Points, then converting the Virtues into Furycraft areas (Air, Earth, Fire, Water, Wood, Steel), I'm hoping to create some of the similar game dynamic as the books.

The main differences will be that Epic Attributes can be used, but Boons connected to Epic Attributes will be attributed more to elemental powers and not to Birthrights.

And furies, naturally, will be followers of a very specific type (Air, Earth, etc. etc.)

We'll see how it turns out.

Bob

I was daydreaming about that as well, but If I were you Id go with White Wolf's Exalted rules, instead of Scion (at least for most of it).  Specifically, the Dragonblooded race would serve well, and its already elemental based.   Now, the combat rules for Scion are superior imo, but thats cause they are basically a more streamlined version of the Exalted system, but the two systems are mostly interchangeable. 

[thausgt]

I was daydreaming about that as well, but If I were you Id go with White Wolf's Exalted rules, instead of Scion (at least for most of it).  Specifically, the Dragonblooded race would serve well, and its already elemental based.   Now, the combat rules for Scion are superior imo, but thats cause they are basically a more streamlined version of the Exalted system, but the two systems are mostly interchangeable. 

I'll toss in my support for using the "Scion" rules for a couple of reasons. One is that, while the Scion system does allow for power-overload sorts of characters (which, considering the Vord, would be appropriate), it also focuses on just-beyond-human performance levels; "Exalted" seems to have a continuum all the way up to godlike in one book. (I know about "Scion: Demigod" and "Scion: God"; I was referring to the general scope and emphasis in "Hero" for use with the Alerans.) "Exalted" might be more appropriate if the gamemaster allows the PCs the potential to command the Greater Furies, especially if the game extends outside of Alera to cover the entire planet; the continent from which the Canim hail, the lands of the Icemen, and so on.

The other reason is slightly more pragmatic: I don't actually own any of the "Exalted" books, but I do own "Scion: Hero". Hey, money's tight at my house.

Whichever option you choose to use, please feel free to keep us updated!