<![CDATA[Latest posts for the thread "Dark Heresy to Mass Effect"]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/24.page JForum - http://www.jforum.net Dark Heresy to Mass Effect RPGs have been using either an old system called Traveller or the more accessible Dark Heresy. I've read through both of them, and they're both suitable, but I can't easily get my hands on a solid copy of Traveller. I'm also quite familiar with DH, so I've decided to go with that, but I'm not sure how to go about converting the system to suit ME. Main problems:

-Melee combat will have a much smaller role. It'd mostly be limited to knives, rifle butts and natural weapons, which might disappoint some players who like to get messy.

-Many, many psychic powers will have to go because they're replaced by biotics, which are about manipulating the physical world (so no lightning, pyrokenesis, etc). Obviously they aren't nearly as dangerous to use, but they won't be as powerful, either. I don't want biotic players to get bored with their limited selection of powers.

-Weapons might be an issue. Most small arms in ME are projectile weapons combined with magnetic accelerators. All the 'fun' stuff like plasma guns, boltguns, meltaguns, and so on will be dumped, making combat less colourful. This might cause players to get bored fast in combat encounters, and we won't get to use all the hilarious critical hit charts.

-Homeworlds/origins might be more limited. It's pretty much restricted to spacers (akin to Void Born, but without the freaky stuff) or colonists/planetborn (bog standard Imperial World equivalent).

-Alien species. My group won't want to play humans all the time, but I'm not quite sure how I can work other species in. The two most obvious points are stat bonuses/penalties and unique skills/talents. Then there's diplomatic relations; face it, it's a big galaxy, and every species is different. There are clashes of political opinions and racism aplenty. It's a lot harder than working a new species into D&D.

Any help would be appreciated. I've been trying to get this going since the start of the year and I'd like to get it running soon. I've already had a few applicants for the group, and I'd rather not keep them waiting.]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/290487/1504169.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/290487/1504169.page GMT Dark Heresy to Mass Effect DH is at all suitable for ME. D20 Modern (the future sourcebook, I mean) or Traveller are far better choices.]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/290487/1504539.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/290487/1504539.page GMT Dark Heresy to Mass Effect DH. Like I said, Traveller (and D20 modern as well) are hard for me to get. My FLGS mostly has D&D 4E, DH, Exalted and Pathfinder.

There are a fair number of people I know who are familiar with DH as well. I think it'd be easier to reverse-engineer the rules for them than introduce a different system.

I've made my decision. Any ideas?]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/290487/1505368.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/290487/1505368.page GMT Dark Heresy to Mass Effect
Traveller is a somewhat 'historic' system. The default setting is heavily influenced by golden-age science fiction, but with smatterings of other influences. (The original edition had some character guides that had 'puzzles' where famous characters were statted up and you had to guess which character was being described and included Darth Vader among others.)

Traveller is based around a 'life path' system for character creation that is often described as a sub-game. This is somewhat similar to the one described in Dark Heresy, but it's random and deep enough it's often referred to as a 'solo game.' Characters are created by rolling stats, then making a decision as to what career/service branch (of the military) the character would like to join. A roll is made to see if they can get to the chosen branch or training, and on a poor roll may have to settle for another branch (essentially, they may go from applying to a prestigious college to enlisting in the army).

The character s then 'aged' in 4-year service terms. (In some versions, this may get broken into smaller increments for more detail. Each service term, rolls are made to see if the character is promoted, learns one or more skills (skills learned are random, but appropriate to the career path) or if the character dies.

Yes, characters can die in character creation. I think the Mongoose version supports the idea that this is just a serious injury, but in the original edition, you had to start a new character before even playing them.

This sounds weird, but it has some interesting applications. Character creation is something of a gamble: you can easily generate a basic 18 year old 'farm boy' with no real training, but you'll have no skills, no funds, and a difficult path. Or you can gamble a bit to increase your chances: every term you survive is a chance to learn skills and earn 'mustering out benefits' that can include weapons, cash, or even access to a starship.

The rules-as-written do favor the party being a bit on the older side due to this. A lot of people with more experience with Traveller than I refer to it as the 'perfect' game for Firefly-style adventures.]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/290487/1505468.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/290487/1505468.page GMT Dark Heresy to Mass Effect DH is fine for this, so long as you use it as a rules set. Don't sell it as a Mass Effect game of DH. Sell it as just a Mass Effect game using DH rules.

Weapons - Blend ME1 and ME2. I'd got for a ME1 diversity of small arms but bring in ME2's heavy weapons. I'd also blend their heat mechanics. Give each gun an overheat rating, ie how many shots it can fire in a row before overheating and a cooling rating, how many shots of heat it can dissipate a turn if not fired. Instead of ammo players track heat and cooling. However if they want they can pop a heatsink out to get right back to 0 heat. Aside from that be creative, give different weapons different firing rates, styles, pens and such and you'll keep a good diversity of weapons to keep the gear whore's entertained.

Biotics - I can't recommend mechanics as I've never been much of psychic player. However what I'd shoot for is biotics as a support player and reward creativity. For instance if you lift a guy and then drop him just drop him two or three feet it does very little. Drop him over a balcony or push a guy through a glass window and you get a much bigger effect. As they gain power let them have more control over what they do and then bring in things like Warp and Singularity.

Melee - It's mass effect, this isn't WH40K or medieval Europe where charging into battle waving a sword is a valid option. This is ME. Doing that gets you shot. In the face. Repeatedly. Keep it at knives and such and that's it.

Homeworlds/Origins - They don't have to be that limited, they're not really overflowing with immense choice anyways. Spacer, Colonist, Earth Born for humans. Core Worlds, Spacer, Free Space for Asari, Turian, and Salarian. Tuchunka-Born or Transplant for Krogan. Spacers or Exiles for Quarians. If anyone wants to play a Batarian, smack them.

Alien Species - Well Asari are natural biotics, I'd give them a strong biotic advantage. Salarians are good scientists and sneaks. Krogans should get huge melee advantages if they can close and maybe some mild biotic advantages. Turians are more militaristic so benefits to combat. Quarians are great engineers. Now for diplomatic I'd give Asari a bonus as they are smooth talkers and pretty much everyone in the galaxy wants to nail one. Krogan get big intimidation bonuses. Salarians are fast talkers so blather is up ther but no one takes them seriously physically. Turians are well respected but in the way you respect a cop or soldier. Humans are still looked at as upstarts. If you set this in the ME2 timeframe they can be upstart usurpers for letting the council die or upstarts but good guys for saving the council. Quarians get a big hit as they are the space gypsies, but maybe bonuses to negotiations.]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/290487/1505637.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/290487/1505637.page GMT Dark Heresy to Mass Effect
Weapons - Blend ME1 and ME2. I'd got for a ME1 diversity of small arms but bring in ME2's heavy weapons. I'd also blend their heat mechanics. Give each gun an overheat rating, ie how many shots it can fire in a row before overheating and a cooling rating, how many shots of heat it can dissipate a turn if not fired. Instead of ammo players track heat and cooling. However if they want they can pop a heatsink out to get right back to 0 heat. Aside from that be creative, give different weapons different firing rates, styles, pens and such and you'll keep a good diversity of weapons to keep the gear whore's entertained.

Sounds great. Might get a bit more complicated than keeping track of ammo in DH, but I'll be managing that, not the players.


Biotics - I can't recommend mechanics as I've never been much of psychic player. However what I'd shoot for is biotics as a support player and reward creativity. For instance if you lift a guy and then drop him just drop him two or three feet it does very little. Drop him over a balcony or push a guy through a glass window and you get a much bigger effect. As they gain power let them have more control over what they do and then bring in things like Warp and Singularity.

Yeah, but I wouldn't want the telekinetic powers (throw in particular) to do minimal damage like in ME2. I mean, getting smacked into a wall at hundreds of K's per hour is going to really hurt if you're unarmoured. I agree on rewarding creativity though. Biotics are still supposed to be just as capable with a gun as anyone else and they aren't nuts like a lot of psykers, so there's no justification for giving them the typical 'wizard' strengths and weaknesses (eg. very fragile but powerful at range).

Homeworlds/Origins - They don't have to be that limited, they're not really overflowing with immense choice anyways. Spacer, Colonist, Earth Born for humans. Core Worlds, Spacer, Free Space for Asari, Turian, and Salarian. Tuchunka-Born or Transplant for Krogan. Spacers or Exiles for Quarians. If anyone wants to play a Batarian, smack them.

Tank-born Krogan might be a problem. Many of them are conditioned to be loyal to their creator and the ones that aren't are usually insane berzerkers. Grunt was an exception, as he was created using knowledge bargained from the Collectors.

And yes, I'll be smacking anyone who wants to play a Batarian, as well as anyone who wants to play an Asari stripper (frankly, I don't care how damn common they are).

Alien Species - Well Asari are natural biotics, I'd give them a strong biotic advantage. Salarians are good scientists and sneaks. Krogans should get huge melee advantages if they can close and maybe some mild biotic advantages. Turians are more militaristic so benefits to combat. Quarians are great engineers. Now for diplomatic I'd give Asari a bonus as they are smooth talkers and pretty much everyone in the galaxy wants to nail one. Krogan get big intimidation bonuses. Salarians are fast talkers so blather is up ther but no one takes them seriously physically. Turians are well respected but in the way you respect a cop or soldier. Humans are still looked at as upstarts. If you set this in the ME2 timeframe they can be upstart usurpers for letting the council die or upstarts but good guys for saving the council. Quarians get a big hit as they are the space gypsies, but maybe bonuses to negotiations.

I think charm/intimidate bonuses and penalties should apply when dealing with certain other species. I mean, Krogan aren't exactly on friendly terms with Turians and Salarians (due to the genophage, of course), and a lot of humans still have grudges against the Turians for the First Contact War.

Asari get on with everyone. I mean, why wouldn't they? A race of bisexual all-female blue aliens should appeal to everyone, right?]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/290487/1507410.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/290487/1507410.page GMT Dark Heresy to Mass Effect
Cheese Elemental wrote:Sounds great. Might get a bit more complicated than keeping track of ammo in DH, but I'll be managing that, not the players.

As a CBT player let me assure you its really not a big deal. Bob starts at zero heat. He fires 15 shots so +15 heat. His rifle can dissipate 10 per turn so -10 heat. Final heat is +5. His rifle overheats at +25 so he's fine. His starting heat next round is 5. The big thing here is keep that side simple. Don't get creative with things, keep it one shot equals one heat.

Yeah, but I wouldn't want the telekinetic powers (throw in particular) to do minimal damage like in ME2. I mean, getting smacked into a wall at hundreds of K's per hour is going to really hurt if you're unarmoured.

But at lower levels you're really not getting slammed that hard, even at higher levels not when you consider many of these people have armor and kinetic shields. If you look at the description of throw it lists how many newtons of force you're applying. Against a human sized target it's not that much. Trick in this setting would be to use throw on smaller objects. A human moving 2 meters per second is no big deal. A toolbox smacking a guy in the face at 40 meters per second is gonna hurt. At higher levels of power eventually you can start to throw someone hard enough to hurt all by its lonesome.

I agree on rewarding creativity though. Biotics are still supposed to be just as capable with a gun as anyone else and they aren't nuts like a lot of psykers, so there's no justification for giving them the typical 'wizard' strengths and weaknesses (eg. very fragile but powerful at range).

I agree, though you could always limit them to lighter armor since they have barrier.

Tank-born Krogan might be a problem. Many of them are conditioned to be loyal to their creator and the ones that aren't are usually insane berzerkers. Grunt was an exception, as he was created using knowledge bargained from the Collectors.

See I wouldn't even let tank born be an option. Grunt and Okeer made it perfectly obvious that he was a one off deal and the tech that allowed him to be made was used up in his creation. I'd limit Krogan to being either born on Tuchunka or one of the Krogan colonies.

And yes, I'll be smacking anyone who wants to play a Batarian, as well as anyone who wants to play an Asari stripper (frankly, I don't care how damn common they are).

Oh come on, can't fault an Asari for what comes naturally to them, getting naked.

Asari get on with everyone. I mean, why wouldn't they? A race of bisexual all-female blue aliens should appeal to everyone, right?

Liara makes it plain in ME1 that the Asari really shoot for a mediator role in galactic politics and try to keep the coalition they've got going together. They tend to be fairly good natured but if anything ME is great for avoiding making every alien race completely uniform. On Illium we see the sarcastic older matriarch bartender, a drug running girl who's kind of a bitch about letting druggies kill themselves, world weary workers, saleswomen, and just in general a very diverse cast of Asari.

As for appealing to everyone, yeah, they do. I know we've seen a Krogan/Asari pair and we've run into Asari from almost every possible combination from batarians to salarains. In fact the only one we haven't seen is an Asari/hanar couple which... well it's implied that they've at least made that kind of porn in ME. So anyone attracted to females would probably go for an Asari. Heck, remember the bachelor party from ME2? Human, Salarian, and Turian and they all wanted to get with the stripper.]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/290487/1508170.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/290487/1508170.page GMT Dark Heresy to Mass Effect Legion was sent to keep an eye on Sheppard, so why not send another to watch somone else?
What race is the assassin guy on ME2? Try that for another race.]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/290487/1517045.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/290487/1517045.page GMT Dark Heresy to Mass Effect
VikingScott wrote:What about the posible option of playing as a rogue geth?
Legion was sent to keep an eye on Sheppard, so why not send another to watch somone else?

Nah. Legion states that it was a one-off investment designed specifically to observe organics and find Shepard. The Geth wouldn't make another one lightly.

What race is the assassin guy on ME2? Try that for another race.

Oh, I forgot about the Drell. Interesting idea, but I might limit them because there are only a few hundred thousand of them left.]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/290487/1517637.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/290487/1517637.page GMT Dark Heresy to Mass Effect RP a geth properly. Drell, I'd limit just because... well we've got next to no basis for assigning anything to the Drell. We see two, an assassin and his messed up son. It's hard to build a concept for a race off a single data point.]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/290487/1539684.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/290487/1539684.page GMT Dark Heresy to Mass Effect http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/290487/1641097.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/290487/1641097.page GMT