'The Magicians' mechanics with FS3
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@auspice said in 'The Magicians' mechanics with FS3:
@auspice said in 'The Magicians' mechanics with FS3:
What you described, or some other system?
The one I have in mind.
Is what you have in mind what you described a little earlier in the thread?
(I would guess so, because you said 'My plan' but also you said 'was' so maybe you have something else in mind now, possibly not using FS* at all.)
"... you'll find the story doesn’t end how you think, and the most important characters aren’t who you expect.” - Penny 40 to Derek, The Magicians S04E07 ‘The Side Effect’
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@il-volpe said in 'The Magicians' mechanics with FS3:
@auspice said in 'The Magicians' mechanics with FS3:
@auspice said in 'The Magicians' mechanics with FS3:
What you described, or some other system?
The one I have in mind.
Is what you have in mind what you described a little earlier in the thread?
(I would guess so, because you said 'My plan' but also you said 'was' so maybe you have something else in mind now, possibly not using FS* at all.)
I've been digging through other tabletop systems just in case I come across something I like better. So far, I haven't.
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@auspice said in 'The Magicians' mechanics with FS3:
The overall game core is Ares. Like Evennia, Rhost, Penn, etc. The game system (for sheet/dice mechanics) is FS3.
Huh. I would have guessed that the MU* core is Ares and the dice system with it would be FS4, but cool beans. My error.
"... you'll find the story doesn’t end how you think, and the most important characters aren’t who you expect.” - Penny 40 to Derek, The Magicians S04E07 ‘The Side Effect’
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@il-volpe said in 'The Magicians' mechanics with FS3:
@faraday Keeping in mind that this huge huge list of action skills is not, actually, a thing that I or anybody suggested and what I'm contemplating has, mmm, 12, is this still honestly a hairy deal?
10-12 is the recommended number. I was just responding to @Auspice, who brought up the giant skill list. I realize you did not suggest that yourself.
@il-volpe said in 'The Magicians' mechanics with FS3:
GoB has sheet dinos. Not like WoD sheet dinos with big blocks of maxed-out stats, but nevertheless.
It depends on how you define dino. Any game that's been constantly doling out XP for what - 5 years? - is going to have some characters with max-ed out skills. What makes FS3 different is that even someone with maxed-out skills does not typically have a crushing advantage over your typical starting 'professional' level character. And new players can start off expert in their field of choice. Usually what you see is FS3 dinos grow horizontally (with skill breadth) whereas in other game systems they grow vertically and end up towering over newbies in effectiveness.
@il-volpe said in 'The Magicians' mechanics with FS3:
@auspice said in 'The Magicians' mechanics with FS3:
The overall game core is Ares. Like Evennia, Rhost, Penn, etc. The game system (for sheet/dice mechanics) is FS3.
Huh. I would have guessed that the MU* core is Ares and the dice system with it would be FS4, but cool beans. My error.
FS3 stands for Faraday's Simple Skill System. I add an 'edition' after it for subsequent versions. The one everybody's used to is FS3 Second Edition. Ares uses FS3 Third Edition.
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@faraday said in 'The Magicians' mechanics with FS3:
It depends on how you define dino. Any game that's been constantly doling out XP ...
That's exactly how it worked out, yep. People still look at others sheets and have a yawp about it, though, and certain characters are utterly crushing at certain skills that the setting makes especially desirable.
The matter of skill breadth matches how magic is represented in the source materials -- there are times when Q's ability to do magic relies on the fact that he's good at calculus, other times where he's got problems because he doesn't know a certain language.
FS3 stands for Faraday's Simple Skill System. I add an 'edition' after it for subsequent versions. The one everybody's used to is FS3 Second Edition. Ares uses FS3 Third Edition.
Ha! You've told me that before, but for some reason I've kept right on thinking it was 'Faraday System 3'. There was a comprehensive exam in being thick and I forgot to bring a pencil.
"... you'll find the story doesn’t end how you think, and the most important characters aren’t who you expect.” - Penny 40 to Derek, The Magicians S04E07 ‘The Side Effect’
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@il-volpe said in 'The Magicians' mechanics with FS3:
That's exactly how it worked out, yep. People still look at others sheets and have a yawp about it, though, and certain characters are utterly crushing at certain skills that the setting makes especially desirable.
Sure, but people will gripe about that in any system that has XP right? My only goal with FS3 was to make it so the dinos weren't crushingly untouchable like they were in the old Star Wars MUs I "grew up" on. As @Auspice mentioned, her ace sniper on BSGU is better than everyone else (as it should be) but it's not like she goes around stealing all the kills while everyone else twiddles their thumbs.
Ha! You've told me that before, but for some reason I've kept right on thinking it was 'Faraday System 3'. There was a comprehensive exam in being thick and I forgot to bring a pencil.
Hee, no biggie. For years I didn't really advertise why it was called FS3 so people just made up their own headcanon for it.
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@Auspice Take a look at the Dresden Files, I think with a little conversion, FATE and the magic system there might actually be a /very/ good fit for The Magicians.
I know there's a lot of hate against FATE but... sometimes, you need a round peg for a round hole
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@il-volpe said in 'The Magicians' mechanics with FS3:
@auspice I am aware of that. I thought that Ares and its dice-mechanics were called Ares and not FS3.
I'm not speaking of Ares, since I don't know much about it and suspect I may not wish to use it.
From my understanding Ares is a code base designed by Faraday that uses the newest version of FS3 also brought to us by Faraday. I haven't spent a lot of time looking at the newest FS3 since I have yet to play on a game that utilized it, (BSG and pirates aren't really my things) it looks thye the skill range has flattened but not the core mechanic seems to be unchanged.
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Gods, I hate FATE. But I'd prefer it over FS3. I don't hate FS3 at all but I think it encourages combat more than RP. That's not a fault of the system but the ones playing it.
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@lithium said in 'The Magicians' mechanics with FS3:
@Auspice Take a look at the Dresden Files, I think with a little conversion, FATE and the magic system there might actually be a /very/ good fit for The Magicians.
I know there's a lot of hate against FATE but... sometimes, you need a round peg for a round hole
Next time I'm at my FLGS I'll give the Dresden RPG another look. It's been a hot minute since I've really looked at it.
The other issue with FATE is I know it's a bitch to code. I've been told this by more than one person.
I'm not a coder, nor can I afford to pay anyone to code. And I really, really don't want to try to design a game geared towards RP that has a high learning curve for the players.
![😕](http://musoapbox.net/assets/plugins/nodebb-plugin-emoji/emoji/android/1f615.png?v=4vfms5ns7sl ":\")
EDIT: Also, would one of the people who keeps cropping up with 'FATE!' or 'Eclipse Phase!' in threads just go and code it rather than keep telling other people to use it? I'm pretty sure a large part of the reason no one is using them is no one wants to code them because it's a headache.
Saying the quiet parts out loud since 1996.
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@thatguythere said in 'The Magicians' mechanics with FS3:
From my understanding Ares is a code base designed by Faraday that uses the newest version of FS3 also brought to us by Faraday. I haven't spent a lot of time looking at the newest FS3 since I have yet to play on a game that utilized it, (BSG and pirates aren't really my things) it looks thye the skill range has flattened but not the core mechanic seems to be unchanged.
Ares is an entire server, like PennMUSH and TinyMUX. Its core selling point is that it comes with all of the things we traditionally think of as softcode built in, so it's essentially a complete MUSH-in-a-box. It's also not done yet.
There's a blurb about all the Third Edition differences here.
@tnp said in 'The Magicians' mechanics with FS3:
I don't hate FS3 at all but I think it encourages combat more than RP. That's not a fault of the system but the ones playing it.
Lots of people use it for combat-centric games because, well, it's one of the few systems that comes with a built-in combat engine. But you can use it for anything. You can even uninstall the combat engine completely.
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@auspice Anyone who told you FATE was a bitch to code was... well I am not the best coder, but I found it amazingly easy to code honestly. After I finish my Big Trouble in Little China DFRPG game I'd be more than happy to share if that's the way you end up going. The only problem is, it's not Ruby so if you're using ARES I don't think it'd work, at all.
I don't know Ruby yet unfortunately so can't really be of much help there.
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@lithium said in 'The Magicians' mechanics with FS3:
@auspice Anyone who told you FATE was a bitch to code was... well I am not the best coder, but I found it amazingly easy to code honestly. After I finish my Big Trouble in Little China DFRPG game I'd be more than happy to share if that's the way you end up going. The only problem is, it's not Ruby so if you're using ARES I don't think it'd work, at all.
I don't know Ruby yet unfortunately so can't really be of much help there.
There are a number of reasons I want to use Ares beyond FS3, it's true.
The scene system alone is a thing of beauty and there's nothing else out there that comes close right now, in my mind.
Saying the quiet parts out loud since 1996.
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@auspice FS3 is just a plugin for Ares. You can remove it and incorporate any system you want. I know that doesn't help you since you said you don't have a coder. Just pointing it out for the record.
I agree with @Lithium that the bare tacks of FATE wouldn't be particularly hard to code. But it has some subtleties that could be a PITA if you wanted them to be codified as opposed to just handled manually by the GM.
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@tnp said in 'The Magicians' mechanics with FS3:
Gods, I hate FATE. But I'd prefer it over FS3. I don't hate FS3 at all but I think it encourages combat more than RP. That's not a fault of the system but the ones playing it.
Wot ones playing it? BSG players?
