Initial thoughts on OpenQuest and Stars Without Number
I just received my hardcopy of Stars Without Number the other day. I’ve been spending a lot of time reading through that and OpenQuest. I have to say, these two games go a long way to scratching an itch I’ve had for a while.
Stars Without Number is a great looking game. I can’t really say enough about it. I’m not much of a Sci-Fi gamer. I’m not sure why because I like Sfi-Fi pretty well but I’ll admit that it isn’t my goto genre. Overall though, it does a GREAT job of reframing the early D&D rules and reworking them for a Sci-Fi genre. Upon a cursory read through, I could think of so many things that could be done with this system. Right of the bat, I found myself wanting to recreate Asimov’s Foundation. I think it would also be interesting to do up a space horror setting with this system. I’m thinking of Alien or Event Horizon. Yeah, or something like Cthulhu weirdness in space. At any rate, it is a top notch game so go check it out. There is absolutely NO reason in the world not to go download the FREE pdf. I can imagine a ton of other things I want to do with this game…
OpenQuest is another retroclone, however, this time in the mold of RuneQuest rather than D&D. I never played RuneQuest, but it always has intrigued me. I do have a copy of RQ II, but for whatever reason, I could not really get a good feel for the game. I know it has a lot of good things going for it, but for some reason I just couldn’t parse it. I picked up OpenQuest to see if it would help lift the veil for me and I must admit, it has done an admirable job of that. Newt Newport has put together a concise, easy to read and grasp version of the D100 rule system. The presentation flows nicely and I din’t find my mind wandering while reading through it. Newt’s writing style isn’t overly chatty but it is not dry either. To the point with great examples of how the rules work. This is my kind of presentation. I’m really really liking the OpenQuest/RuneQuest/D100 magic system. I’ll admit that I’m not completely sold on the D100 based combat and skills, but I assume that is because I’ve been in the D&D camp so long. I’m actually thinking about taking the D&D base though and grafting on the D100 magic system and some of the other rules. I especially like the whole classless (or pretty close to it) concept. That really gives a feel of being able to create the type of character I want more readily. I’ll have to try and get in on a game and see how it plays. Out of all the other fantasy systems I’ve looked through, the D100 system looks like it would most satisfy me if I couldn’t play D&D.
At any rate, I’ll read these two a bit more thoroughly and post a more complete review at some point in the near future.
Stars Without Number is a great looking game. I can’t really say enough about it. I’m not much of a Sci-Fi gamer. I’m not sure why because I like Sfi-Fi pretty well but I’ll admit that it isn’t my goto genre. Overall though, it does a GREAT job of reframing the early D&D rules and reworking them for a Sci-Fi genre. Upon a cursory read through, I could think of so many things that could be done with this system. Right of the bat, I found myself wanting to recreate Asimov’s Foundation. I think it would also be interesting to do up a space horror setting with this system. I’m thinking of Alien or Event Horizon. Yeah, or something like Cthulhu weirdness in space. At any rate, it is a top notch game so go check it out. There is absolutely NO reason in the world not to go download the FREE pdf. I can imagine a ton of other things I want to do with this game…
OpenQuest is another retroclone, however, this time in the mold of RuneQuest rather than D&D. I never played RuneQuest, but it always has intrigued me. I do have a copy of RQ II, but for whatever reason, I could not really get a good feel for the game. I know it has a lot of good things going for it, but for some reason I just couldn’t parse it. I picked up OpenQuest to see if it would help lift the veil for me and I must admit, it has done an admirable job of that. Newt Newport has put together a concise, easy to read and grasp version of the D100 rule system. The presentation flows nicely and I din’t find my mind wandering while reading through it. Newt’s writing style isn’t overly chatty but it is not dry either. To the point with great examples of how the rules work. This is my kind of presentation. I’m really really liking the OpenQuest/RuneQuest/D100 magic system. I’ll admit that I’m not completely sold on the D100 based combat and skills, but I assume that is because I’ve been in the D&D camp so long. I’m actually thinking about taking the D&D base though and grafting on the D100 magic system and some of the other rules. I especially like the whole classless (or pretty close to it) concept. That really gives a feel of being able to create the type of character I want more readily. I’ll have to try and get in on a game and see how it plays. Out of all the other fantasy systems I’ve looked through, the D100 system looks like it would most satisfy me if I couldn’t play D&D.
At any rate, I’ll read these two a bit more thoroughly and post a more complete review at some point in the near future.
Stars Without Number is indeed awesome. I would have paid money for the Faction system alone.
ReplyDeleteYeah, so far it has a great feel and I think it'll fill my Sci-Fi RPG niche nicely.
ReplyDeleteI have put Traveller on the back shelf for this game. Why? because it is that cool and I never thought would happen since I have been playing Traveller since 1977 and have a reputation for being it's chief promoter around here.
ReplyDelete