Does anyone still run or play Alternity?
en.wikipedia.org
alternityrpg.net
What sort of game are you running?
My Alternity GMs are currenly running a fairly open space pirate campaign in the Star*Drive universe, and post-apocalyptic survival game in a homebrewed setting similar to Gamma World or Fallout.
I'm thinking of rejiggering it for a fantasy setting. I don't feel like running a sci-fi game, but the dice mechanics and focus on skills really work for me.
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No love for Alternity?
I played the Dark Matter one shot with my cousins back in the day. It was published in some magazine and completely unbalanced high- lethality fun. You had to fight water moccasin men in the ever glades. Good times.
We did the StarCraft Alternate modules. The rules were a bit if a mess but that could because it was a standalone licensed product instead of a full system book.
I believe the licensed StarCraft games used the quick-play rules.
I read the supplements in Dragon magazine. Seemed interesting. I'd probably not play it, but it's one of those interesting games and settings I'd like on my shelf. I think it was under development before the WotC buyout and the was the last major release before 3rd edition.
I wish 3.5 had taken some cues from the way Alternity handles skills and success levels.
It's not awful. Dark Matter was pretty damn good, and Star Drive was generic but had a pretty good set of books.
I also used it for about a half dozen different Fallout-inspired post apocalyptic games.
These days, I'd say that GURPS does everything it does better.
Pros: Interesting mechanics, though sometimes it's damn hard to eyeball exactly how GOOD you are at something, between abilities, skills, defaults, Broad Groups and situation dice.
Wound mechanics are very interesting and tends to make combat feel relatively brutal. Mortal wounds are honestly scary.
Cons:
Resistance Modifiers can make you pretty much immune to ranged weapons fire if you learn to abuse them.
You start with quite a limited skill pool, making it hard to build a starting character that a little training in a lot of areas.
Some skills cover things that nearly seem like they should be basic traits, like how fast you heal and basic senses. Without these trained it can be damn hard to perform these at acceptable levels.
Weapon balance, especially at TL 6+, is pretty fucked. Anyone with a bit of sense will notice that powered attack armor and a heavy machine gun can take care of almost anything. I feel like the writers didn't quite realize how huge a deal Good toughness and Firepower was. With Good firepower from an HMG you can do at least stun damage to pretty much anything.
>Anyone with a bit of sense will notice that powered attack armor and a heavy machine gun can take care of almost anything.
I'm not sure how something that sounds strong as fuck actually being strong as fuck messes up the balance.
Every spectrum has its ends.
The very first pnp rpg I ever played was alternity, and I was GM. I cut my teeth on this game so it always holds a special place in my heart. I collected all the Star*Drive books (one of my absolutely favorite scifi settings) and maybe one day I will run it again, but for now I am glad I have the books in my collection.
The system has a few flaws and weird quirks (like how armor mitigates damage is weird) but overall I love the dice mechanic and degrees of success/failure. Terrific system.
I played in an XCom game that used alternity once. I really like the system an wish I had more chance to play it.
Hell yeah, I love Alternity. I've run a bunch of different game for it and I'm planning another for the future.
Still working on collecting all the books too.
Ever thought of transplanting the dice and skill mechanics to a more D&D-like fantasy?
There's guides, stats and stuff for playing Alternity with AD&D characters.
Low tech combat in Alternity is comparatively more lethal. Wounds add up fast.
I'd forgotten how low GURPS armor and damage values were. A 9mm pistol did 3.5 to 4.5 average damage, though a Amazing success would do 2.5 Mortal damage and ~1 Wound that could not be resisted as secondary damage.
A bullet proof vest on the other hand was average as far as armor goes and hit by High Impact damage from a handgun it would resist 1.5 damage on average. Enough to turn an Ordinary hit from a 9mm into 2 average damage, still wounding.
It was like AD&D2e, but for science-fiction.
With a much better and more flexible dice engine. The more I think of it, the less it seems like 2e
The comparison isn't very strong, no. True to D&D, 2e is very class-based. Alternity is, at the core, skill-based. The 'classes' that are left have little impact on the character, compared to D&D.
>I'd forgotten how low GURPS armor and damage values were.
Did you mean to say Alternity, or are you making a point of how Alternity is more lethal than GURPS?
I loved Alternity. It was my first RPG and that of some childhood friends. We were basically the kids from Stranger Things.
Anyone got scans of the books up? Loved the spread of gear and ships and stuff. And that the aliens were kinda fun.
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Haven't looked for the GM's guide yet, but this one was pretty easy to find.
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And the other one.
Yeah, sorry. Confused to generic games.
Nice.
The lethality of it all can either be a draw or a turnoff.
>Some skills cover things that nearly seem like they should be basic traits, like how fast you heal
I think this ties into it. I wouldn't agree that making healing a skill you can increase is a con for particularly lethal games.