RPG-a-Day: Day 15

Which RPG do you enjoy adapting the most?

Lately, with Sophie doing work for The Hat, this game has languished somewhat on the shelf.  But it’s still my go-to for a lot of settings when I want to convert.  It hits a sweet spot of simplicity, versatility, and creativity that I like, and the constraints imposed by the rules allow for the sort of heroes I prefer in most of my games – the sort of Chuck Norris level badasses that are a cut above normal, but not totally outrageous.  Admittedly, one way the system does this is to make normal people so pathetic and weak that about all they are good for is ablative armor against bullets, but that’s not a terrible flaw since the game is primarily about the PCs, not the NPCs.

I’ve done many conversions with Savage Worlds, but I think my best was a conversion of Dark Heresy.  I’ve also “mostly” done a conversion of Malifaux that I really like, complete with a bunch of pregen characters.  I keep meaning to complete it and put it in my hip pocket for conventions.

Then there’s this:

This is a great system for one-shots and miniseries.  It’s now one of my big go-to games for conventions and pick-up games.  You can teach the rules in five minutes, create really interesting characters, adapt the game in a wide variety of ways, and characters are readily understandable even to people who have never played Fate before.  Plus, the danged thing is only $5.00!  Wow!

Unlike Savage Worlds, this is a game you can even teach to kids easily, which makes it good for inter-generational family games.  You can still be awesomely creative with it (shameless plug #1 – check out the Fate System Toolkit and compendiums for lots and lots and lots of ideas about modding this system), and even without the added bells and whistles of the Fate Core rules you can simulate almost anything!

(Shameless plug #2:  Evil Hat is also a wonderful company.  Fred Hicks is the best boss Sophie has worked for in some time.  Everyone on staff was extremely supportive when Sophie had cancer and we were living our lives in daily terror.  Thank you Fred, thank you Sean, thank you everyone at Evil Hat!)