What system would be good for a metro 2033 clone setting? Just finished the first book and my interest in post-nuclear apocalypse is rekindled.
A group of stalkers that go out to find pre-war riches would make for a good sandbox type of game, the players being mostly pit against the elements and the wildlife. Info running between the stations could lead to a real fun story that's more linear. The players could seamlessly pass between these two styles depending on where they want to go. I find that there is just enough paranormal sci-fi stuff in the world to make it just to my liking. The setting is a pretty good blend between reality and fiction.
Something that puts emphasis on survival, ingenuity and gritty, deadly combat would be nice. I haven't really seen any systems that do firearms well.
Either Apocalypse World if you want to go for the drama, or Savage Worlds with Savage Armory for pulpy gun stuff.
Camden Butler
>I haven't really seen any systems that do firearms well. What don't you like about the guns in systems that you've played?
Joseph Thompson
A GM of mine used a heavily modded 40krp system to run a STALKER game once, I would say it is the best, most applicable system to use for the setting
Most of the books can be found through links in the general below
Kayden Barnes
Seconding Savage Worlds. Just make sure to keep track of ammunition.
Jace Robinson
Degensis worked really well to convey the metro themes.
Cameron Perry
Obligatory "GURPS: After the End" recommendation. Even has bullets-as-currency by default.
Jose Williams
Bumping for interest.
Adrian Reyes
I also like Savage Worlds for this.
Angel Johnson
GURPS works well, as I've been in a STALKER GURPS game that worked out okay.
There's a funky diceless roadside picnic game, if you're in to that.
And it may or may not be super suitable, but twilight 2000 (or if you can stomach the more intricate combat, 2013) has some pretty damn good survival rules made to emphasize just how shitty a post nuclear world is
Oliver Adams
Semi related: Did /k/ Unnaground setting user ever get back? last I hear they had over 8000 words typed up.
Connor Fisher
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Angel Russell
I find that most systems fail in some aspects. Anything that isn't a semi-auto pistol or long-gun is horribly ruled often times. Maybe I'm wrong though, I haven't actually played many non-polyhedral systems, only read them
I splurged and bought the Mutant:Year Zero hardcover a while back. As much as I like many aspects of that system, it doesn't fit a Metro 2033 setting quite that well. Unique character creation is very dependent on mutations and such, and I don't really want that to be a big thing in this system. I like a very subtle blend of pseudo-science radiation-magic, not "everyone is a mutant and has different powers"
I haven't had much experience at all with GURPS. I read a little bit of the core book years ago and that was it. I'd like to know more about this.
I've thought about finding some of the old rogue trader books awhile back, but I definitely wouldn't want a heavily modded system, simply because I'd like to get new players interested in it with ease. Something contained in one or two books would be ideal.
Tell me more about these two systems. I been recommended these ones before, but I was unsure. Are they more gritty 'close to life' systems, or does a lot of gameplay revolve around mutant powers and junk?
I want to add a sort of STALKER-esque artifact system, and include the anomalies that are seen in both STALKER and Metro 2033, but they will be rare, and be there mostly to give a suspense or horror vibe to the players. Think like Metro's singing pipes, and if you listened to them long enough, you would go mad. or the many still shadows, that when touched, would sap away your willpower and even kill you.
Mutant wildlife would be the most common product of the bombs, aside from anomalies. I would like to imagine that any humanoid mutants, especially in player form, are extremely rare. Think like, Artyoms telepathic connection with the Dark Ones being one of the rare gifts.
Chase Davis
Red Markets would be super good for this.
Dominic Cook
I can't say I heard of that one.
Jeremiah Price
GURPS has a couple of series that do a lot of the legwork for prospective GMs; the fact that it can do anything is nice, but it's also a hassle as you have a bunch of unnecessary options cluttering up the books (e.g. I like that they have explosive decompression rules because it's great when running a space horror game, but it's a waste of space when I'm running a 19th-century samurai game), and these series slim the rules down to a more focused and tone-appropriate system. Dungeon Fantasy is GURPS's not!AD&D, Action is for typical action movie stuff, Monster Hunters is your not!WoD series, and the most recent one is After the End, which covers all sorts of post-apoc goodies.
After the End has two books so far: Wasterlanders and The New World. Wastelanders is essentially your character creation book: it lists only the skills and traits appropriate for post-apoc wanderers (no Astronomy, Economics, or Thaumatology). A *BIG* help is the Templates, which are analogous to classes and are great for both giving players direction when building their characters and speeds up chargen. There's also a chapter on mutations if you want to include them, a bit that simplifies fatigue and radiation rules, and a genre-appropriate gear list with some notes on how getting gear works (bartering with bullets, cost inflaction for high-tech relics, etc.). If Wastelanders is your character creation book, The New World is the GM manual; it gives a bunch of hazards for the GM to include, rules for scavenging and foraging, tainted water, handling roadwarrior gangs, gear repair, etc. A fun part of the book is simply a discussion on how to build the setting itself: what was the apocalypse (nuclear war, megavirus, natural disaster, robot uprising, etc.), how long ago was it, etc., and what those choices mean for the game.
You will need the Basic Set to make use of the After the End books, but consider scanning AtE first, especially The New World.
Liam Adams
Have this one too.
Juan Rodriguez
It's also worth mentioning that GURPS does gritty/"realistic" gunplay better than almost every other system out there.
Wyatt Harris
Twilight 2000, with EVERYTHING having Condition 9 or 10.
Wyatt Richardson
GURPS if you feel like actually putting an effort and work into it, but expect premium payoff in the end.
Savage World and Twilight 2000 if you would rather pick something already existing, while ignoring it's far from perfect.
Daniel Walker
>Red Markets would be super good for this. >I can't say I heard of that one.
metro 2034 has some cool shit in it that would be creepy to play with, like the phantoms mist creatures at nagornaya or the huge mutants that crawl down through stuck-open doors
Isaac Brooks
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Thomas Evans
Is Metro 2034 worth the buy? I bought 2033 a few months ago and enjoyed it, though I heard mixed things about '34 and with '35 coming out, I'm wondering if I should read '34 for more insights about '35.
Nolan Ross
>Tell me more about these two systems.
Apocalypse World is mostly narrative focused and is more about playing out post apocalyptic archetypes than any sort of simulationism (although, you could say it makes good work of simulating how people would behave in the post-apocalypse). It's set up in a way to force players to butt heads down the line eventually because of conflicts of interest over resources and goals. Mechanically it's quite light and simple, which makes adding random gizmos to it a breeze. On the other hand, you lose granularity, and there really won't be much mechanically setting weapons apart.
Savage Worlds is just a simple pulpy action/adventure system with a lot of published material. It's sort of point buy, and the designers seem to have a hard-on for guns, especially shotguns. I think the quickstart rules are up somewhere for free. Savage Armory is a (free, fanmade) supplement that lets you make your own weapons; full disclosure, I've only used it for medieval weapons so I'm not sure how well it handles guns.
Carter Allen
Its not as good as 2033, but its still a good read. worth it I think. can't wait for 2035 to come out, the metro universe is so cool
Jose Mitchell
It's okay. Less.. effective narrative than 2033 since it doesn't have as good an arc, and some strange weak points, but it's still pretty good and still more Metro.
