Author Topic: Masters of the Universe, sort of?  (Read 1240 times)

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Offline rgmadd7

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Masters of the Universe, sort of?
« on: November 02, 2013, 01:01:43 AM »
I have been struggling with ideas for a setting lately. I want to do something with some flair! Something new and unexpected. I was tossing around the idea of something "like" Masters of the Universe. What I want to know is, has anyone ever mixed RMFRP with spacemaster stuff? Did magic mesh well with the tech stuff, or did one overshadow the other? Was it completely unbalanced or were the fixes you had to put in place manageable? I know Shadow World has instances where tech gets mixed in but that has to do with the history of the setting and rarely pops up. I want to know if it can work every time.

Also, along time ago a friend I used to play with down loaded a set of rules for creating your own professions, anybody know where I can get ahold of that?
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Offline VladD

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Re: Masters of the Universe, sort of?
« Reply #1 on: November 02, 2013, 04:18:45 AM »
There was Dark Space. It combined a certain level of technology with magic and threw in a third contender, that was really a mix of Magic and Technology: Biotech. It had its merits and the concepts were rather fun. You could have a MOTU feel with that, I'm sure.

Former ICE employee Rasyr made an interesting way of cobbling together RMSS professions. I'm not sure if you can use these: http://www.ironcrown.com/ICEforums/index.php?action=tpmod;dl=item194
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Offline yammahoper

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Re: Masters of the Universe, sort of?
« Reply #2 on: November 02, 2013, 10:12:49 AM »
If you can, get SM:P.

The work to be done involves arranging skill categories and skills.  My end result was non spell users had an advantage on developing both mundane and sci-fi skill sets.  Spell users are forced to be much more selective on the tech they can master,

Spells and tech are similar, with tech having the definite edge at low levels, particularly healing.  Tech is also more reliable (considering fumble and break factor ranges).  Tech healing is far more useful and easier to access, a big help in any world with slug and energy projecting weapons.

Ten Million Ways to Die will give you all the attack tables for modern and sci-fi weapons along with SM armor types/attack tables for melee weapons.  Some really neat melee weapon attack tables are available in the various SM companions.  The chainsaw and vibroblade are favs of mine.

Believe it or not, the easiest way to work a mix of the two systems is to create two character sheets and use them as one...note, I use a leveless approach, so many of the problems of meshing the two games are replaced by a whole new series of headaches.  Sigh.

Adding bonuses can be a problem.  I allow one tech mod, one magic mod, one stat mod, one skill mod, etc.  A targeting eye sensor that provides a +25 OB stacks with the rifles +15 superior design bonus, but not the +15 acuity sensor.  Androids and cybernetics can get out of hand quickly without a strong guiding hand by the GM.  If you ARE going to fight the Brood, even that will probably not be a problem as the Brood is badass defined.

The easiest way is just add SM weapons (TMWTD makes this very easy indeed).  Add a few new skill categories to cover SM lore and science skills.  I do not use psions.  Generic assignment will have all professions paying the same for these new categories (2/7, 3/7, 3/9, etc). 

We once tried to tie the cost of skill dev for mental and physical skills based on stat range.  Every PC and NPC would have different skill cost based on their innate statistical abilities.  It was SO overdone and complex.  Worse, it really drove players to WANT high stats.  ANyway, I only mention this to inspire simplicity.  It is easy to overthink it and make it far more complex than is required.

Good luck.
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Offline Bruce

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Re: Masters of the Universe, sort of?
« Reply #3 on: November 02, 2013, 11:25:39 AM »
Another setting ICE had for Rolemaster was "Shades of Darkness", it had technology and magic. IMHO it was a very incomplete setting but it was inspirational. This setting would be easily adaptable for something like  a "Thundarr the Barbarian" background. Come to think of it the "Shades of Darkness" setting would work great for a "Logan's Run" campaign with a few tweaks.
BTW I originally had plans to use some of the "Dark Space" stuff in a campaign inspired by the idea behind the movie "The Island of Dr. Moreau".
It never made it past the "plans for" stage.
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Offline rgmadd7

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Re: Masters of the Universe, sort of?
« Reply #4 on: November 02, 2013, 11:52:48 AM »
Quote
The easiest way is just add SM weapons (TMWTD makes this very easy indeed).  Add a few new skill categories to cover SM lore and science skills.  I do not use psions.  Generic assignment will have all professions paying the same for these new categories (2/7, 3/7, 3/9, etc). 


I think this is the simplest approach, I like it. I do have the SPAM:P and Shades of Darkness books as well as black ops and weapon law, but never did pick up TMWTD or 10ft pole. A friend of mine had them and we never really used them. Thundarr would rock by the way! I had originally thought about a setting like Eternia, a far off alien world, but doing a crazy earth future thingy like Thundarr the Barbarian might be awesome too! You guys definitely gave me some good stuff to think about, thanks
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