Showing posts with label other systems. Show all posts
Showing posts with label other systems. Show all posts

Sunday, March 23, 2014

March Madness OSR Challenge! Part 4

I want to thank Tomb of Tedankhamen for hosting this.

Here is part 4 of my list.  Hope you enjoy!

23 What is the most broken game that you tried and were unable to play?
The Bram Stoker's Dracula RPG.  It's just awful really.  This one is an easy choice.  But the question remains, is it broken or just bad?

24 What is the most broken game that you tried and loved to play, warts and all?
Broken is sometimes a matter of opinion.  I personally think the Skills and Powers books for 2nd Ed AD&D are broken.  The World of Synibarr is broken and bad, and yet there is something appealing about it.  It's just so crazy it went past bad right into crazy ass gonzo.  I have seen people say (and complain) that AD&D is broken.  It might be, but it is still fun.

25 Which game has the sleekest, most modern engine?
Cinematic Unisystem.  There isn't anything that it can't do well. Or maybe more to the point there isn't anything I can't do with it.  I am sure others think the same thing about GURPS, d20 and/or Savage Worlds. For me CineUnisystem is a perfect fit.

26 What RPG based on an IP did you enjoy most? Give details.
At the risk of sounding vain, Ghosts of Albion. Based on Amber Benson and Christopher Golden's novels and animations.  Written by myself. ;)  But seriously those have been some of the most fun games I have ever played.  Outside of that then the Buffy or Angel games.

27 What IP (=Intellectual Property, be it book, movie or comic) that doesn’t have an RPG deserves it? Why?
Charmed. I am dead serious.   I have been wanting to write a Charmed game for years and honestly I think I could not only do it justice but get people to play it that never watched the show.  One of the most fun times I ever had at Gen Con was playing Piper (a witch from Charmed) in a Charmed/Buffy/Supernatural crossover game.  I would love to do it as a Cinematic Unisystem game.  And it would rock.

28 What free RPG or what non-English RPG did you enjoy most? Give details.
For free I would have to say Basic Fantasy.  It really is a great game and really represents what I feel is the best ideals of the OSR.  Plus it is that sweet spot of how I was playing in the early 80s; a mix of Basic and Advanced D&D.

29 What OSR product have you enjoyed most? Explain why.
Wow. There are so many to be honest.  Nearly half of this blog is dedicated to OSR products I enjoy.  One of the things I like most about the OSR are the products that don't give me things I already have, but things I have always wanted or never knew I needed.
Here are some of my favorites.
B/X Companion - it gave me a book I have been waiting nearly 30 years for.  I had left B/X years ago, but I always felt a little longing for the Companion rules (levels 14-36) that we never got.
Labyrinth Lord - The Basic version of D&D that opened up the OSR world to me.  While in some respects I prefer Basic Fantasy, Labyrinth Lord is still one of my favorites.
Adventures Dark and Deep - Joesph Bloch's magnum opus. A "what if" book, so not a "retro-clone" really.  Something new based on history.  This book is AD&D 2nd ed if Gygax had not left TSR.  Is it "exactly" like what Gygax would have done? No. But this is the closest I think we will ever get.  Joe based this one the reading of all Gygax's letters and things he had mentioned in the pages of Dragon magazine and elsewhere.  It is also a perfectly enjoyable game in it's own right.
Spellcraft & Swordplay - Another "what if" game.  This one takes the SRD and uses the original combat mechanic found in OD&D (not the alternate d20 one we all now use).  It also streamlines a number of things and gives you a really nice, very gritty, old-school game.  One of my favorites.
Another favorite is Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea which I have talked about a lot here.

30 Which non-D&D supplemental product should everyone know about? Give details.
Chill Vampires. If you ever want to use vampires in any game then I suggest you get this book. If you can get the Pacesetter, 1st Edition version then do so, otherwise the Mayfair, 2nd Ed. version is good too, it is just missing a couple of the vampires I really found interesting.  It really is a great book on how vampires can go from being just another monster to an enemy that needs to be studied and understood before fighting.

31 What out-of-print RPG would you most like to see back in publication? Why?
Castle Falkenstein.  Not only is it a fun game, but Mike Poundsmith is one of the best game designers out there.  The premise is cool but the game design blew me away. If you have only ever played D&D or it's direct clones/offspring then you owe it to yourself to play this.  It is available in PDF but I would love to have it in print.

Sunday, March 16, 2014

March Madness OSR Challenge! Part 3

I want to thank Tomb of Tedankhamen for hosting this.

Here is part 3 of my list.  Hope you enjoy!

16 Which RPG besides D&D has the best magic system? Give details.
Ghosts of Albion. Which is a total cheat on my part since I wrote it.  But seriously. I love the magic system in it.  I might never top that in my writing but I am sure as heck gonna try.  The system is flexible enough to cover D&D like spells, Mage like powers and even the innate magic of supernatural creatures.
Outside of Ghosts my favorite magic system is the one from Eden's WitchCraft RPG.

17 Which RPG has the best high tech rules? Why?
Doctor Who Adventures in Time and Space.  Mostly because it hand waves the tech rules.  Games run the risk of looking very, very dated when it comes to tech.  Look at Traveller, ShadowRun or even Kult.  Doctor Who plays it simple and therefore it works so much better.

18 What is the crunchiest RPG you have played? Was it enjoyable?
Maybe GURPS or even D&D itself.  I like most games to be honest so to me enjoyment is more a factor of the playing rather than the rules.

19 What is the fluffiest RPG you have played? Was it enjoyable?
Monsterhearts. It is quite fun, but not for every audience.  Also Monster of the Week is in there; similar mechanics.

20 Which setting have you enjoyed most? Why?
Anything in the Victorian age. I love the time period and it is great for all sorts of conflict. You can play class vs. class, modern vs. old world or even magic/supernatural vs. science.  The world was new to explore and people had the means to do it. It was an exciting time for nearly anything you would want in an adventure game.

21 What is the narrowest genre RPG you have ever played? How was it?
70s Black exploration.  The games that suited it best were Solid! and Damnation Decade. I played a hippie witch from Berkeley. Interestingly enough this was an extension of my Chill game from the 80s.  I normally am not a fan of the 70s, but these games were great.

22 What is the most gonzo kitchen sink RPG you ever played? How was it?
Back in the early d20 days I was playing with my son.  We used D&D 3.0, Mutants and Masterminds, BESM d20, Star Wars, Silver Age Sentinels and anything that wasn't nailed down. We had a blast.

Sunday, March 9, 2014

March Madness OSR Challenge! Part 2

I want to thank Tomb of Tedankhamen for hosting this.

Here is part 2 of my list.  Hope you enjoy!

9 What superhero RPG have you enjoyed most? Why?
Mutants and Masterminds is one of my favorites. I also enjoyed Villains and Vigilantes and Superbabes.
I just liked the way M&M worked to be honest.
Back in the day we used to take our D&D characters and drop them right into V&V.  It was the 80s things like that were allowed.

10 What science fiction RPG have you enjoyed most? Give details.
Doctor Who Adventures in Time and Space is my current favorite sci-fi game.  I like it's flexibility and it's openness.  Plus being a big fan of Doctor Who doesn't hurt.  But in all seriousness it is just a really fun game and really forces you to think about how to do things other than fighting all the time.

11 What post-apocalyptic RPG have you enjoyed most? Why?
Gamma World or Armageddon. I am not a huge fan of post-apoc games to be honest, but I have had fun with them in the past.  Gamma World is gonzo fun and Armageddon is a nice addition to the WitchCraft line.

12 What humorous RPG have you enjoyed most? Give details.
Army of Darkness. I think counts. It has a solid humor element. Same with Ghostbusters. Witch Girls Adventures also has a humor to it that I like.  I like to inject all my games with a bit of humor. Temper the darkness a bit.

13 What horror RPG have you enjoyed most? Why?
Too many to count really.  Chill, Call of Cthulhu, GURPS, WitchCraft, Buffy, Army of Darkness, Vampire, Mage, Ghosts of Albion, Kult, Monsterhearts, Wraith and lots more. I love horror games. I even run my D&D games as horror games.

14 What historical or cultural RPG have you enjoyed most? Give details.
Not sure what this one is asking. I like anything Victorian.  But outside of that Mage the Sorcerers' Crusade for playing in the Renaissance. For a purely historical RPG, Victoria is one of my favorites.

15 What pseudo or alternate history RPG have you enjoyed most? Why?
Castle Falkenstein is one of my favorite alt-history games.  Victoriana is another good one. And Space: 1899.  Anything in the Victorian period really.

Monday, March 3, 2014

March Madness OSR Challenge! Part 1

I have bitten off more than I can chew this month.
New month is the big April A to Z blog challenge and this month I need get some more done for work and my witch book.

Plus I am still sick.

So....I am going to have to do this in chunks.
I want to thank Tomb of Tedankhamen for hosting this.

1 What was the first roleplaying game other than D&D you played? Was it before or after you had played D&D?
It was over 30 years ago so it was either Traveller or Chill 1st Ed. This was all after D&D.

2 What was the first character you played in an RPG other than D&D? How was playing it different from playing a D&D character?
I ran Chill. My first character I played in another game was "Zaphod" in Traveller.  The skill system was a new idea for me and I liked it.  Plus the D&D mode of "kill things and take their stuff" doesn't work in most games.

3 Which game had the least or most enjoyable character generation?
In my mind the character creation for Traveller gave me the most trouble.  The easiest is anything for Unisystem. I can pretty much create a character for Unisystem in my sleep.

4 What other roleplaying author besides Gygax impressed you with their writing?
Easy.  C. J. Carella. His WitchCraft game is a work of art. He created the Unisystem game system and the Cinematic Unisystem.  I was fortunate enough to be working on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG when it was in development.

5 What other old school game should have become as big as D&D but didn’t? Why do you think so?
Chill. It lived in the shadow of Call of Cthulhu. Of course Chill is seeing some new light from Goblinoid Games in the guise of Rotworld,  Majus and Cryptworld.

6 What non-D&D monster do you think is as iconic as D&D ones like hook horrors or flumphs, and why do you think so?
I am not sure that flumphs are as iconic as say beholders or mind flayers, but that is a discussion for later. For other games  I always liked shoggoths and gugs from Call of Cthulhu.  The "Mean Old Neighbor Lady" from Chill is also fairly iconic for that game.

7 What fantasy RPG other than D&D have you enjoyed most? Why?
Runequest. I liked it because of it's connection the the Chaosism's BRP system which meant I could add in things from the Elric/Stormbringer/Hawkmoon games and Call of Cthulhu as I liked.

8 What spy RPG have you enjoyed most? Give details.
None. Not my cup of tea really.  I liked how Spycraft was put together, but I never played it.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Superbabes Week is here!

I have been going through my collection and wanted to spend some quality time with some of the lesser known, or lesser remembered games.  So this week I want to cover Superbabes: The Femforce RPG.



If you don't know about Superbabes or Femforce, then I hope you find the week enjoyable.
I'll discuss the merits of how much Looks should affect your ability to get hit by a weapon, the pros and cons of level based supers and what exactly is a Bimbo Point!

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Moving Day Finds

At my day job we are all moving up a floor in my department.  No I am not getting a bigger office, but I am also not getting a smaller one.  But I did find a notebook of things I had started working on during Gen Con 2010 and then when I was at the repair shop after we got hit.

Not sure what is in it, I saw some 4e material, what looks like some notes on The Witch, and some Savage Worlds stuff.  Looking forward to seeing what I have.

ETA: Seems to have some Cortex and Pathfinder stuff as well.

Monday, May 6, 2013

Review: Tacky, Tawdry and Tasteless: the Reality Show RPG

I have been neglecting my reviews.
So I am going to feature some games I have bought in the last few months.

Tacky, Tawdry and Tasteless: the Reality Show RPG
From Spectrum Games

A great game that comes in at just under 10 pages. Spectrum Games has made a name for themselves in Genre Emulation.  Since Reality TV is often criticized as not needing any writers, the game brilliantly is equally as brief.  Foregoing the typical "this is an RPG" section, the game gets right into the various types of reality TV shows are discussed.  Once your group decides what sort of game they are going to do (or maybe your Director has decided for you) and then you go!
You then need to make your character. You figure out your name and stereotype then roll your stats. Figure out your positive and negative qualities and you are good to go!  Like other Spectrum Games these qualities are not listed; instead you decide what they need to be.  Typically these are needed to point out some character flaw your character has.
For rules, the only checks are ability checks (roll under, apply qualities as needed) and dramatic checks.
You also get "Edit Tokens" which work a lot like Drama Points.  Tokens are awarded for good roleplaying and Sticking to Genre.  You can also spend your tokens to change what is going on; such a "Oh No You Dit'unt!" and "I Ain't Goin' Nowhere!".
The basic structure of a game is also laid out, including Commercial Breaks.  These can affect the Shows "Popularity" this can affect the amount of Edit Tokens the players can get.

The game is fast and is great for a like minded group. Given the nature of reality TV you could have enough material here for several "episodes" of material.

Personally I'd like to try it out sometime with people bringing in characters from any game and do a reality "TV Show" where all these characters have to live together in a house in between their normal adventures.

Friday, February 8, 2013

"Fate"ful Friday

One system that I have been wanting to do more with is Fate.

I didn't pledge on the recent Fate Kickstarter mostly because it slipped my mind and I am not actively playing Fate right now.  My loss really.

This week I discovered two very EXCELLENT reasons for me to start looking into Fate more.

First are the Thematic Fate Dice.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1343279035/thematic-fate-fudge-dice-mystic-rose

Honestly these things are awesome looking and that Pentagram and Rose die would be perfect for a WitchCraft game even if I never used it for Fate. If you like Fate or Fudge, then there is certainly something there for you.

The other is part of the Fate Core Kickstarter that I am kicking myself for not paying better attention to is a campaign setting, "White Picket Witches".  If you know anything at all about me then honestly it is like this game was custom made for me.  Modern horror with a slight Cinematic bent featuring an unique location with families of witches?  How can I possibly say no?

Here are some sites that I have been able to find that talk a bit about it.
Fate of the Drowning Woods blog is running playtests/demos, http://wingsfate.blogspot.com/search/label/White%20Picket%20Witches and it sounds very interesting.
This lead me to http://www.gamingaswomen.com/posts/2013/01/design-diary-borrowing-far-and-wide/.

From here I was able to find the author, Filamena Young and the company she works for, Machine Age Productions.  I was able to talk with Filamena for a bit and she sent me a prelim draft of WPW.
Yeah. It is something I would play in a heartbeat.

I am not 100% clear on all the Fate rules yet.  But this setting of five families on "Moon Island" grabs my attention.  I have waxed on (and on and on) about WitchCraft and Witch Girls Adventures, this is of the same ilk, though it covers completely new ground.  The name is appropriate.  In WitchCraft the world is your stage, in Witch Girls you are at a school.  Here the campaign is your backyard, your office, your school, or neighbor's house.

There is a solid "TV" feel to this and frankly this could easily be a "teen drama" on the CW or a more adult one on ABC, or a lot more adult one on HBO/Showtime.  If this gives you ideas for things you could do, then this could be your new game.

I love the ideas in this game. Even if I never play it in Fate (which I do think would be a crime if I didn't) I would love to try it in WitchCraft, Witch Girls or even Ghosts of Albion.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

A game without combat

So I am reading this new book and it is really good with interesting characters and a great, well developed world and background.

But there is nothing really in the way of combat.

This got me thinking.  How would you do a game based on a property that has very little in the way of combat or even conflict.

A good example (but not the book I am reading) is Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Great series of books, but not big with the "killing things and taking their stuff" though in HHGTTG there are some "Goals".  "Did I get on the right ship?" "Do I know where I am going?" "Do I have my towel?"

So what are your favorite combat-less systems?

Friday, January 18, 2013

Ohmigod! It's Totally 80s Friday!

At the beginning of the week I was talking about the OSR of Computers where I was interested in going back to buy a computer I had owned back in the day for nothing but nostalgia.  I instead just went out an got an emulator.  Now I just need to transfer the ROM from the machine in my parent's basement (I guess I still have some stuff there).

This train of thought kept going all week, and now I have come full circle.  Looking for games not from the 80s, but set in the 80s.  Not as many as I wanted to be honest.  Here are the ones I got and enjoyed the most.  It's not all of them, and not even all the ones I would potentially like, but the ones I bought.

D20 Decade: The 1980s
It is difficult not to compare this to Damnation Decade or Solid! in terms of capturing the feel of a decade.
For starters this is for the d20 Modern RPG, which I am not even sure is still being supported by anyone.  That all being said, there is a lot of great stuff in this book.   There are some pages spent on modifying the d20M skills, in particular how Computers worked then. That and the new Perform (Break Dance) and Perform (Free Style Rap).  No Perform (Gymkata!) though.  Of particular use to any 80s-based game is the list of common items we take for granted today that just wasn't there then.  Easy stuff like Smartphones, but other not so obvious things like Caller ID. Sure there were cellphones, but they were huge and the batter life was only a couple hours.  Chapter 1 covers the 80s. At 20% of the book content is really worth the price of the book.  It is a great overview of 80s tech, culture and pop psychology.  Its not a history book, but it shouldn't be either.  Even at 30+ pages somethings are going to be missing; but this is the 80s writ large, not Master's Thesis.
Chapter 2 covers the "Imaginary 80s", an 80s that never was.  Among the new races there is also a list of other games you can look into to help you out.  With the OGL they could have simply included what they wanted from many of those games, but I thought it was kind of neat to include them.  Speaking of the new races, they are really new.  Some are twists on familiar concepts, but others are new and all fit the 80s to a tee. My favorite might be the Arcadians (Video game fey) or the Spetsnazski, the Russian Super Soldiers. Cause the only thing more fun than Nazi Weird Science is Russian Weird Science.  The Crow Folk and High Solstice Sidhe could work just as well in a Pathfinder game.  There are also about 16 new occupations for your 80s character.  There are also, surprisingly, 144 new feats! Going past those for a bit there are also 5 new Advanced classes.  If you were wondering when the Miami Vice influences would appear then take heart with the Blue Equalizer, which let you play any sort of 80s "Super Cop".  Perfect foil for the Drug Lord Advanced Class.  These are followed by a few new spells.
The last part, Confetti, has a few bits for the GM for adding 80s flavor to their game.  These are also useful for any 80s game.
There is fairly good list of resources both non-fiction and fiction, and a good list of movies, TV shows and graphic novels.
Final the OGL where everything is released as Open Gaming Content.  Very nice.
Ok, so this is a really cool idea and a lot of work went into these 164 pages.
They did a great job with this, but I am not without some quibbles.
I am not going to mention anything missing from the 80s.  Trying to squeeze an entire decade into a game book is hard and something is going to get left out. If it's not there and you remember it add it on your own.  Though missing *something* about a Valley Girl seems a bit like a huge omission to me.
The art is all over the place. Most is fair, but none of it is great.
The layout has a number of issues.  The background on the pages is not great.  In most cases it is only just there, in others the "page number block" obscures some text.  It's the 80s, where are the pastels?
I have mixed feelings about even mentioning it since I have seen newer products of theirs and they look great.  This one is an early effort.
Going back to my totally unfair comparison to Damnation Decade, I think it would be interesting to see this updated to something like True 20 (which is at the time of this writing just as dead as d20 Modern) with better layout.
Despite all that I can't help but really, really like this product. At 6 bucks it is a great buy.
4 out of 5 stars.

Cartoon Action Hour
Cartoon Action Hour: Season 2
I reviewed CAH in depth before and if you spend anytime here at all you will know my fondness for this game.  This not an 80s emulation game, but an 80s cartoon emulation.
The biggest news though I have heard is that Season 3 is on the way.  Looking forward to that!
5 out of 5 stars.

World of Darkness: New Wave Requiem
It's Totally Vampires! Playing in the 80's never looked so good. While I don't follow many of the new WoD titles, this supplement is great. It brings back all sorts of memories and it is nice to see a shift in mentality from the paranoid 90's (birthplace of V:tM) and the weird 2000s. Nice to get back to a time when greed was good, sex was not safe and drugs were everywhere. We can't go back to the 80's but we can pretend to. The art, like all the art in WW's books, is fantastic.
I want a print of that Erik Jones book cover for my game room.
This is one of my favorites really. Not just about the 80s but from the new WoD.  Put on some Bauhaus and give this one a go.
5 out of 5 stars.


So anyone know of other good 80s games?

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Slight Rant: Answer your D@#% email

Sorry slight rant here.

Publishers: It is common courtesy that if you get an honest inquiry about one of your products you answer or at least acknowledge the email.

The end result is I don't buy your product.  And some of you are small enough that you can't afford to ignore your customer base.

Not naming names, but seriously. Customer support.

I have sent out emails to four different companies over the last week or so. Heard nothing back from any of them. One I can forgive, the others? Well to be honest they don't have enough business to be too busy to ignore potential customers.

If we have learned anything from the various Kickstarter non-starters then it is keep in communication with your potential and actual customers.  This business is too small to ignore people.

Rant over.

Thursday, January 10, 2013

More Kickstarters. And I can't believe this first one

Couple more Kickstarters.  This first one has to be seen to be believed.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/917876657/republishing-the-world-of-synnibarr


That's right! Synnibarr is BACK!  If you don't know what Synnibarr is then maybe you are not as Old School as you thought you were. ;)
In case you don't then here is the review that is almost as famous as the game itself.
http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_4762.html

But I have to hand it to Raven c.s. McCracken. He keeps right going and his love for his magnum opus is apparent. Enough that he is currently $3,000 over the goal.  
Read the Kickstarter page. Everything you need to know about how this game will turn out is there.

In other news.

There is also a new Castles & Crusades book coming out, Castles & Crusades Codex Celtarum.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/676918054/castles-and-crusades-codex-celtarum


I have some mixed feelings about this one.

On one hand it looks fantastic. It reads like it will be a ton of fun and I know it will be a top notch book.  I also love Celtic myth and I have wanted to have an old schoolish style D&D Celtic game for years.

Which brings me to the other hand.  That was what I was going for in my game Éire.

Éire was going to be produced by Elf Lair Games, but Jason (rightfully so) does not want to make any product that might compete with Troll Lord.  I get that. I have things I could do myself that I don't because I don't want to step of the toes of other designers I am friends with or companies I have relationships with.

One of those companies is Cubicle 7.  While I have never worked for the company, I have worked with most of their employees on one game or another over the years.  They are also producing their own Celtic themed game.

I like both Troll Lords and C7 I know they will make great games and I look forward to them.  There is of course room for all these games in the market, including mine, but desire to get it out there is less.

My goal when putting out something isn't very market driven, it is "me" driven.  I put out the stuff I want to play. I think others will like it too, but that isn't what fuels my fires.  Codex Celtarum is very, very likely to scratch the D&D-as-a-Celt-Game itch I have.

I have known about this one for a while really.  Some of Ã‰ire made it into The Witch and Eldritch Witchery in fact.  So if I do choose to resurrect  Ã‰ire it might take a different form.  But who knows.

In any case I am looking forward to Codex Celtarum and plan on supporting Troll Lords in this.

Monday, January 7, 2013

DriveThruRPG Sale

We have not had one of these in a while, but DriveThruRPG is holding a January sale.
Their "New Year, New Game" promotion with select games at 40% off.


Among the games listed here are a just a few of my favorites:


There are plenty more.

AND if you use this code:

happynyng2013 

You gain an additional 15% off.

New Kickstarters

I really need to kick my Kickstarter habit.

Maybe later.
All of these are already backed.

First up is an update to the Ron Edwards classic Sorcerer.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/847190685/sorcerer-upgrade

And what I described as the Kick-Starter of the Year, the new Deluxe Tunnels & Trolls
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/994700393/deluxe-tunnels-and-trolls

Not sure if I am going to pledge in either yet, but both are games I have enjoyed in the past and I am happy to see them get some cash for some high end production value.

There is also the new FATE Core rules.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/evilhat/fate-core?ref=home_leanback

That one is so ridiculously funded that it doesn't need my help really.  It is even linked on the front page of the Kickstarter home page. But you have to give Fred and Evil Hat credit (and kudos) for having such a successful campaign.  Plus for a buck you have access to the draft rules right now and a physical book for only 30 bucks.  Also, and lets be honest, cybernetic Kung-fu gorilla on the cover?  How can that not be cool?

The trouble with all three of these games is I don't need anymore games. But there they are, out there, taunting me.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Ordinary World

Ordinary World


Ordinary World was the working title of a new game I was working on.  It was going to be modern supernatural and use this new system I was developing that I had code named "The Power of Three" system.
The basic premise of Ordinary World was the players would be playing supernatural types just trying to get along in a world that didn't believe they existed and considered them monsters.  In a way sorta like "Being Human" the RPG, but also elements of all the things I like in modern supernatural fiction.

I wanted to have the experience of writing a new game from the ground up and I wanted to do something in a realm I am really familiar with.  Trouble is every time I would bring this game up to friends they would remind me I already did all of that with Ghosts of Albion.

So sometime this past Summer I shelved Ordinary World.

No sooner had I done that than I had this great idea for an Old-School game that I was calling Monster Mash.  The rules would have been Labyrinth Lord compatible and instead of heroes you would have played the monsters.  In particular the old Universal Pictures Monsters, so vampires, golems, werewolves and ghosts.  I would have made it compatible with The Witch since one of my big influences for this was the video to the Rob Zombie song, American Witch.  I thought it might have been a fun beer and pretzels sort of game.
In truth I probably came up with it while listening to Hellbilly Deluxe one too many times.  I even had an adventure partially written "Dr. Satan Needs Blood!".

Last week I was still thinking about these two when I had an idea of bringing them together.  When it also dawned on me that I had other WiPs, some from the earliest days of this blog.

Generation Hex was this really cool, awesome idea I had  for Unisystem/True 20/Mutants & Masterminds or whatever system I happen to really enjoy at the time.  Simply put it was a game to play kids in a magical school.  Since that time this sort of thing has been better done by Witch Girls Adventures.

I also have material laying around for Licensed properties that never saw the light of day and I am now the owner of again (the RPG material, not the properties).  One was d20 and the other True20.

So.  What's a guy to do?

Well the natural thing is to bring them all together under one system to do the one thing they all kinda of were doing anyway.

A few caveats though.
I want to use an old-school system.  I think it would be a great addition to all the material we have out there now and NOT redo something everyone else has already done.

I want to be able to play any character I want.  If I come up with an idea or see something in a book then I need to have a system that can do that.

While it is an Old-School game, I don't want to forget about the advances made in other games. There are a lot of great games out there and they are great for a reason.  This my chance to distill that into a new game.

So. Look for more information coming from me on this.   I think this is one I will design live on the blog.  Posting ideas, sending up files for playtests.  Things like that.

First thing I need to figure out.  What system should I use?

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Review: Slasher Flick Director's Cut (2010)

I will admit it, I am a big fan of Spectrum Games.  I think they are one of best at genre emulation, really getting down to the essence of what makes the experience and trying to encapsulate that into a game.
As examples I will point to the reviews I did of Cartoon Action Hour and Capes, Cowls and Villains Foul.  Given that it is the month of Halloween and I am all about horror movies, I think a review of Slasher Flick is appropriate.

I am actually going to review the Director's Cut which came out a while back.  I know, I am quite remiss at reviewing this.  There is also a regular version, Slasher Flick, which I have, but have not looked at in a while.

What is Slasher Flick: Director's Cut? Well simply put, it is an RPG where you play characters (emphasis on the plural) in a slasher film.  You need to survive, but are expected to die.

Chapter 1 is our Introduction. It covers what is role-playing, what is fear, and what is a slasher flick and why you should play this game.

Chapter 2 covers the basics of Slasher Films. If you have ever read onr of Spectrum Games books before you know what you are getting here.  In this book we cover the Killer, who is not really an NPC, but a plot device.  I refer to these types of characters as "fists of the game master", they are here to punish the behavior of the characters in the most horrific way possible.  The more horrific the better.  There is a listing of a bunch of slasher film cliches as well.  In this game you don't subvert the cliche (which is by the way cliche itself now) but instead you embrace them.  That noise you hear was just a cat, THEN the killer jumps out. That sort of thing.
We wrap up with one of my favorite parts of all the Spectrum Games books. Cynthia's Guide to...this time it is here thoughts on various Slasher Flicks.  All sorts are listed here and what she thought about them.  Frankly this gold if you love horror movies like I do.  Between this, CAH and CCVF I would love to see Cynthia Celeste Miller's video collection!

Chapter 3 is the rules.  There are a couple of really cool features here.  First are characters.  You get to play a Primary Character, aka the starts of the "Flick" (an adventure) and some Secondary Characters.  These characters can either be played by a particular player OR (and this is nice) they can be shared.  So I can have my Primary character and then play what Secondary character I need.
Secondary Characters are here to get killed.  They are the victims of our Slasher.  Primary Characters might get killed too. But if they do it won't be till near the end.   So don't get too attached to characters!
The characters have 4 basic stats. from the book:

Brawn: The character’s physical strength, resilience, toughness and
stamina.
Finesse: The character’s agility, coordination, balance and reflexes.
Brains: The character’s intelligence, perception and knowledge.
Spirit: The character’s willpower, charisma, leadership and luck.

These define what you can do in most cases. They are all rated Poor, Normal or Good.  Remember, you are playing teens and college age people here. Each of these are given a die type d10, d8 and d6 respectively.  You roll  two die per stat being tested (the director decides which two).  You want pairs. so on two d6s (representing Good on a stat) you need (1,1)(2,2)(3,3)(4,4)(5,5) or (6,6) or 6 results out of a total of 36, or 1 in 6.  Roll a (6,6) on a d6 is the same as doing it on a d8 or d10, but some scenes in the Flick might require something special and rolling a "Topper" will be better.

You also have various qualities (positive or negative) you can add to these, like “scrappy fighter” (Brawn) or "great with gadgets (Brains)".  These can add (or subtract) die from your rolls. You still only need two matches to get a success.
Special situations such as "Freak Outs" and "Kill Scenes" are detailed.  Note, not much really on combat or other skills.  This because the characters are expected to run when confronted with the Killer/Slasher.

Chapter 4 Covers Creating Characters.  Characters are built using stereotypes.  This is a Slasher Flick after all.  You are not playing Biff, the guy with a d6 in Brawn and a d10 in Brains, you are Biff, the Dumb Jock. Now lots of stereotypes are presented and a lot of Qualities.  But you are free to make up your own.  There are also some "Alterations" such as special abilities that can cost Genre Points. Like the girl with psychic powers (cost) or the Scream Queen which gives you points when you scream and the Slasher could hear it.

Chapter 5 is aimed at the Players.  This includes advice on how to best play the game and acting like a character in a horror movie. Things like "Interact!", "Play Dumb!", "Accept Death!".  There is also advice on how to play the secondary characters aka victims in the game.

Chapter 6 is for the Director. This details running the game; Preparing the Flick and making your Killer.  There are sample Killers here and lots and lots of advice on how to cover a variety of scenes. In fact this chapter alone is great for it's utlity for other horror-themed games.

Chapter 7 is Quick Flicks, a bunch of Plot ideas to build a full Flick around.
Chapter 8 is The Vault, a full Flick to run.
In truth both chapters could be ported over to nearly any other horror game.  Turn the killer into a Villain and  it could be a plot for a Supers game.

The Appendix is nearly 55 pages of nothing but character Archetypes. Usually 2 per page. If you want to play right away you can take one of these out and use them.  They work for Secondary Characters too.

All in all, this is a ridiculously fun game. It has the right amount of horror, camp and humor to be a perfect slasher flick emulation.  While reading I kept thinking back to all the slasher flicks I have seen over the years and frankly I could not think of a one that I couldn't do with these rules.

Actually my thought also was that take the Slasher, make him more mundane and a Tertiary Character and you have a perfect Alfred Hitchcock or Agatha Christie like game.

My hat is off to Cynthia Celeste Miller and Spectrum Games once again.


Friday, August 17, 2012

Witch Books, Part 5. Other games

For D&D4:  The Witch Player Class
A decent witch class for D&D4.  Predates the witch that appears in Heroes of the Feywild by a few years, but is roughly compatible.

For Witch Girls Adventures: Original Witch Girls (OWG)
The comic that came before the RPG. The first 200 or so pages are comic content of various artists, but all in the WitchGirls School and world.  The next dozen or so pages is the Coventry School written up for the Witch Girls RPG. And we end with WGA write-ups for all the characters that appeared in the comics.
One of the great things about the Witch Girls game are the characters.  So this is a nice treat really.
If you are a fan of the game and want some more NPCs for your own school or need some ideas on adventure then this  is a great book to have.

For Colonial Gothic: Witchcraft
I enjoy the Colonial Gothic game quite a bit. I love how it weaves the earliest American history with horror and monsters.
I was set to like this book quite a bit and I do, don't get me wrong, but it wasn't quite what I was expecting given how much I enjoyed all the other CG books.
This book gives us Witchcraft for the CG world and it does a great job of researching, but it only gives us the "evil" sort of witchcraft associated with summoning demons.  Granted, that is perfectly fine for this game.  I think I wanted to see a little more.
The first half deals with Witchcraft in the CG world and is great.  The second half is from the writings of King James and frankly he was more than just little bit paranoid.
In the end it is still a good book for the game and something to grab if you are interested in thoughts a views on witches of the time.
Of course for my own take, if you are going to assume that King Jame's witches are real then why not Margaret Murray's witches too?  I guess I just like having the option of playing a witch in my games.

For Mage: The Sorcerer's Crusade: Witches and Pagans
A great resource for the Renascence era Mage: The Sorcerer's Crusade.

For Mage: The Ascension:  Tradition Book: Verbena (1st) (Revised)
More Verbena goodness and more rotes based on the Verbena's sphere of Life.

Both are full of great background information on "witches" in the Mage game and are full of wonderful ideas and great art.  This is WW at their peak and there is so much care and detail here that I couldn't not get these books.

For Basic Role-Playing (Call of Cthulhu...):  BRP Witchcraft
I reviewed this one in detail here: http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2010/07/brp-witchcraft.html

Witch Hunter: the Invisible World
I reviewed this one in detail here: http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2011/03/review-witch-hunter-invisible-world.html

Quest of the Ancients
I have talked about this one before too: http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2011/04/q-is-for-quest-of-ancients.html
The witch in this book is roughly compatible with AD&D1.  Lots of new and fairly cool spells.

Friday, July 20, 2012

Games You Never Get to Play

When people talk about influences on their games and gaming life they typically mention the works of Fritz Leiber or Jack Vance or Tolkein or the other Appendix N names.

Not me.  Well, yes I have read those, but they were not biggest effect on my games.

My Appendix N is full of Hammer Horror and In Search Of... and any more dozens of bad-wrong-fun horror and occult material from the 70s.  It should be no surprise then that I gravitate towards games that let me do that sort of thing, Chill, Call of Cthulhu and of course WitchCraft.

But just as I am a product of 70's and 80's horror, there were other things going on then.  Still lots of "leftover hippie shit" as I used to call it.  Zodiacs, crystals, psychic powers.  All the stuff that gets mixed in with magic and the occult, plus aliens, Atlantis, secret societies, Erich von Däniken and all that.

Basically all the stuff left over when you take out the horror and the magic from the big occult boom of the 70's.

What has this have to do with gaming?

Lots!

There is one game I have always wanted to play but doubt that I ever will.

It's not a game per-se but rather a campaign.

The game is one set in the 70s where all the characters are teens.  They are also, unknown to them until the game starts, the children of the first successful alien-human hybrids.  They look completely human, but each one has unique pyschic powers.  No magic, all psychic.  The drama comes in when the teens discover what they are and the government comes in to take them to a secure facility.

So you can see where this gets it's genesis.  There were a ton of shows in the 70s about kids with powers or people being chased by the government.  I want to put it in the 70s so I can avoid cell phones, gps and the like.  Plus it was the last time teens could hitchhike across the US without people calling the cops.   I'd work in mysteries of Atlantis, crystals with magic powers, strange MIB agents, aliens out to kill them all that great stuff.  Setting it in the 70s also lets me bring in "future tech" like more powerful computers and things we use today.

The list of influences of this game go on and on.  Basically I'd go to Wikipedia's Psuedoscience category and pick and choose.

My game system of choice would be Conspiracy X since I can use most of the mythos intact.  The Unexplained would also work well as would a low powered Mutants & Masterminds game.  Something like Damnation Decade, but with more danger and horror, and none of the alt-history.

I'd love to play it or even write it.  But I doubt I'll have the time.
If I were to write it all out I'd call it "Star Child" sounds very 70s.

What games or campaigns do you really want to play but don't think you will?

Monday, June 25, 2012

Victoriana 1st Edition

Back when I was working on Ghosts of Albion I became aware of the game Victoriana.

I picked up the game, but since I was deep into playing Ghosts at the time I didn't look at it much.  Finally I did and then learned a 2nd Ed was going to come out.  Of course I did eventually get the 2nd edition (and signed no less!) and know I hear there is a 3rd Edition on the way.

I spent some time reading the 1st Edition rules and thought it was interesting, if odd.  For starters I am not sure why there was no U.S. Civil War. I was also not a fan of the Fuzion system.  I liked all the odd races for the game (even if it did lead to the infamous Orc from Africa debate) and felt like it was, as it has been later described, Victorian Age Steampunk.

The thing that struck me though is how similar that cover is to the Ghosts of Albion BBC logo.  In particular the silhouettes of  William and Tamara.   I am sure it is nothing but coincidence,  but I could not help but notice it all the same.  Save for the pointy ears on the Victoriana cover that *could* be Tamara and William.


I still like this game though.  It has a soft spot in my heart really.  It is like Ghosts of Albion gone all gonzo and turned up to 11.  Plus it is one of the few games I always try to play at Gen Con; well it or 2nd Ed.


Here are the books I own.   What I feel they lack in system, they make up for in style. They can be used with the 2nd Edition of the game with the conversion guide in the back of the 2nd Ed core book.


Victoriana: 1867 Edition
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/1612/Victoriana%3A-1867-Edition?src=s_pi&affiliate_id=10748
This is the core book of the "1867" or 1st edition rules.

The Hounds of Fate
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/2241/The-Hounds-of-Hate%2C-A-Penny-Dreadful-for-Victoriana?affiliate_id=10748

What if "Hounds of the Baskervilles" was a true story?  Well in the world of Victoriana, it can be!
This is a "Penny Dreadful" or an adventure for Victoriana 1st Edition (aka 1867 Edition).
This adventure though is based more on the old legends of the Black Dog or Old Shuck on the English countryside.  As such it is a good adventure for any Victorian era game with a heavy emphasis on magic or the supernatural. One could easily run this under Ghosts of Albion or Cthulhu by Gaslight.


The Smoke: 1867 Edition
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/2240/The-Smoke%3A-1867-Edition?affiliate_id=10748

This is one of the best Victoriana 1st Ed products.  At 128 pages it is a very comprehensive guide to London in 1867.
Granted there is the Victoriana-universe spin on everything, but otherwise it is perfect for use with ANY Victorian era game.  It especially works well with the 2nd Edition of the Victoriana game.   The book is sans-game stats, so there is no system conversion to worry about, just thematic conversions.

The maps are fantastic and I especially enjoyed the descriptions of all the neighborhoods.
Very good resource indeed.


The Dragon in the Smoke
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/1613/The-Dragon-In-The-Smoke?affiliate_id=10748

Another adventure for Victoriana 1st Ed.  The set up is very nice and it captures the feel of the game right away.
The adventure itself deals with strange eastern magic and mysticism, missing children and a cursed statute.   Plenty of really good plot elements to keep your players guessing.
This adventure also includes some rules on using martial arts.

While I am not likely to play Victoriana 1st Ed these days, it still holds a special place for me.  Though these products listed here are my favorite.


Friday, June 15, 2012

World of Darkness and Mage the Awakening

World of Darkness and Mage the Awakening

One of the most influential games to ever hit the market was Vampire the Masquerade.  I have talked about this game quite a bit in the past, but never addressed directly.   Well a while back they “rebooted” the entire universe and now we have the “New World of Darkness” and with it a revised vampire game, Vampire the Requiem.

Let’s start basic; both games are all perfectly playable as they are.  All the games cover much of the same ground and allow you to play similar types and styles of games.  All the games have similar backgrounds, realities and even to some degree futures.  Characters created in one game can easily be thought of as having an analogue in the other game.  In fact recently White Wolf created a “Translation Guide” to allow you to move characters from Vampire the Masquerade to the newer Vampire the Requiem.  It was an insanely popular book spending many months in DriveThruRPG's top 10.   They also now have a Werewolf Translation now.  I am waiting for them to do one for Mage.

The same could be thought of when comparing *WoD with Unisystem.  For every Unisystem character there is an analogue in the World of the Darkness (either).    Both games cover a lot of the same ground, just in different ways.

Translations between the two different systems it bit hard than between oWod and nWod, but it can be done.  So the question then is why would I want to?

Well there are many reasons.  Maybe you want something new a unique to spring upon your players.  Zombies with more “life” in them, vampiric ghouls, conspiracies from either game.    Given that the in-game realities allow many permutations the question become more of Why not?
Maybe you have tons of books of one system, but want the new challenge of a new system, but don’t want to loose your investment in a world.

Or, lets face it SOME ONE out there want’s to see what happens when a Slayer goes up against the Ordo Dracul, or who really is more powerful, a Mage or a Witch.

For the sake of this post I am going to concentrate on nWod or new World of Darkness and the "Storytelling" system and the WitchCraft and Ghosts of Albion flavors of Unisystem.  Given that, I am going to focus mostly on Mage the Awakening.

Worlds of Darkness
What is different between the two WoD games and why should I care?  To start with the rules have been cleaned up to allow greater playability across all the lines and a new focus has been placed on “normal” humans; something the old World of Darkness sorely lacked.  All in all the rule changes are an improvement.  They are, if I dare say it, more Unisystem-like. Also the meta-plot and background has changed.  In many respects the meta-plot of old is gone, this allows Storytellers great freedom.  But it also seems they purposefully did what they could to make differences more pronounced.  In Vampire this is a good thing, in Mage I am less pleased with the results.

Mage: So What’s New?
Well in many ways much is the same.  Characters are still magic wielding humans that can change the nature of reality through the effort of their will and a butt-load of d10s.  There are still traditions of sorts (now called Paths) and there are still spheres of control (10 total).
The authors really took time to think about the myths of Mage. The results will vary in the eyes of the beholder, but there is no doubt that they craft an interesting world.  It is almost like they took all the myths of the world and thought “what are the root truths to all of these”.  The result is something I describe as looking at the world from a perpendicular or a sideways glance; it looks familiar and yet oddly strange.  Everything is familiar and still new and different. Also there seems to be a general fondness for the 70’s occult revival or the trippy acid-induced hangover of the 60’s. For example the five mages of the watchtowers look like something out of a Black Sabbath album.

Mage the Awakening system wise is much closer to WitchCraft.  Mage: The Ascension is more compatible with WitchCraft thematically.

nWoD: Second Sight
In many ways this the Mystery Codex of the new World of Darkness.  It is also the new “Sorcerer: The Hedge Wizard’s Handbook”. It deals primarily with psychic powers and phenomena as well as “low magic”.  It is a good addition to any WoD game and a decent enough primer of psychic ability for any game if you can’t get your hands on the Time-Life Books series. It does do something that the old WoD was never able to do adequately for me, and that is answer the question of what happens if an already powered character gains vampire, werewolf or mage powers.  Full of ideas of new Supernatural Qualities, Seer Metaphysics, and even Taint based powers.  This book is actually quite useful as is for Unisystem gamers.

What Do Users of Each Game Get?
For the Unisystem player the answer should be quite obvious, a variety new and interesting powers for Vampyre characters. Most Vampire powers can be converted to Qualities.  But beyond mere crunchy stuff, there is the thing that makes both games so appealing; the back stories.  Both the new WoD and the old WoD had very interesting back stories and meta plots to their game, it really gave the feeling of living in a real, living (unliving?) world.
Unisystem Games are not as detailed for another good reason, to allow players the freedom to make the worlds their own.  WitchCraft also assumes that there are many different kinds of magic, not just paths to one ultimate truth.  These magics can coexist with each other and the world.

Conversions to Unisystem
Normally when doing a game to game conversion I like to think these are the same characters in the same world, with just a different way of looking at things. Conversions between Unisystem, d20, BESM, Chill,  and even Kult have worked out fine in this regard. Sure there are some differences in world mythos and ways and means of magic, but all in all conversions can be (and have been) done.

This one is a little more tricky.  While converting the actual numbers is not a difficult task really, it is determining if the numbers mean the same thing.  Then there is the dice pool mechanic vs. the stat+roll compare to a target number mechanic of games mentioned above.
In most cases a direct conversion may not be possible so instead one should try to stat the character using the same concepts.  So my Wicce Seeker of Knowledge ends up being a witch on the Thyrsus Path and a member of the Mysterium.  Not exactly the same thing really, but close.
I am viewing this then as separate but equal (which, thanks to the Kansas Board of Education we know really isn’t) characters; alternate universe versions of each other. So the characters are largely the same, just the worlds are different.

Points to Points
We can look at conversions two ways; a point for point conversion or some external correlation.  In WoD (most) everything is on the same 1 to 5 point scale.  In Unisystem everything is also on an equal pointing scale.
This is good, so let’s start with the Attributes. The new WoD still has nine Attributes in 3x3 categories, with Willpower which is removed from the attribute list and has it’s own scoring.  Unisystem has 6 attributes in 2 categories (mental and physical). So not everything is going to convert nicely.
Intelligence, Strength, Dexterity and Stamina (WoD) line up well to Intelligence, Strength, Dexterity and Constitution (Uni).  Willpower and Perception in Unisystem are slightly different in WoD.
The Social triad, Presence, Manipulation and Composure can best be handled by Qualities and Skills.  In particular Charisma (which can be positive or negative in Unisystem) can handle Presence and Composure to some extent.  Others Qualities and Skills include Influence and Attractiveness, as well many supernatural qualities.

If we count the “free” point everyone gets in WoD for all nine attributes and add the amount allocated we get 30 points total and an average of 2.333 per attribute.
In Cinematic Unisystem Heroes get 20 points for 6 attributes, this amounts to a 3.33 per attribute.  So on the average 1 point higher per attribute.

Going to the external validation let’s do what I did with the Chill conversions; compare the max lift of both games.  At a strength of 1 a character can lift 50 lbs in Unisystem or 40 lbs in WoD.  In both systems a strength of 2 will allow a character to lift 100 lbs.  But it is at Strength 3 that the systems differ. At Strength 3 a WoD character can lift 250 lbs, a Unisystem character 150lbs.  This continues and gives us the following table.

Strength nWoD Unisystem
1 40 lbs 50 lbs
2 100 lbs 100 lbs
3 250 lbs 150 lbs
4 400 lbs 200 lbs
5 650 lbs* 250 lbs
6 800 lbs 450 lbs *
7 900 lbs 650 lbs
8 1000 lbs 850 lbs
9 1200 lbs 1050 lbs
10 1500 lbs 1250 lbs

There is a built in error factor of ± 10% of the weight on Unisystem’s side.

Continuing our look at external validation let’s compare what each system calls their human maximum (* above).  In WoD this is 5 (at a higher point cost) and in Unisystem it is a 6 (also at a higher point cost).

All three of these combined point to one overwhelming conclusion:
WoD scores = Unisystem – 1

Very nice.  A quick and dirty look at skills, metaphysics, merits and flaws and this seems to hold true.

Vices and Virtues
This is new to the new WoD game and it is an interesting role-playing twist.  By having your character role-play one of the seven deadly sins and the seven virtues they gain Willpower points.  My suggestion is to retain these when converting to Unisystem and have players gain or loose Essence Points (for Classic games) or Drama Points (for Cinematic games) in place of Willpower.   In the case of following their virtue they gain a 1 to 3 Essence points or 1Drama point instead regaining all lost.
Of course Experience points can always be given, but by giving Essence or Drama points they take on a different feel.  My personal preference is to use this with Essence.
This is most similar to Kult’s Mental Balance mechanic or the Karma mechanic of other games. My trouble is often my characters do not fit well into the seven virtues or vices.

Skills
Skills seem a bit easier.  Classic Unisystem has more skills than WoD, but CineUnisystem has less.  Five dots is the human maximum in the WoD, 6 is the human max in Unisystem, but some can go to 9.
Use the same conversion formula here, WoD score = Unisystem score -1.
If converting to CineUnisystem, use a wild card for skills not covered (like politics).

Metaphysics
Ah. Now here is the meat of the matter, what makes both games unique.  Mage and WitchCraft’s magic systems are not only very different from each other, they are also largely different from most other games out there. The magic system is often one of the big reasons why people choose one of these games over the other.
In Mage one immerses themselves in a Path and learns (by spending points) Arcana.  These are then utilized by Rotes and powered by Mana (Quintessence in old Mage).   In WitchCraft one immerses themselves into metaphysics and learns the invocations (by spending points) of that area.  In some cases these are also call Aracana. These metaphysics are powered by Essence.

Converting Rotes to Classic Invocations
In Mage magic exist in Arcana and are powered by Mana.  WitchCraft invocations are likewise grouped and are powered by Essence. So they do have surface similarities.
Since invocations have mostly set effects, it is often easier to use Mage rotes as the path of conversion.  But it should be noted that purchasing 7 levels in any WitchCraft invocation often has the same effect as becoming the master of an Aracana (5 dots), again the WoD = Unisystem -1 formula (more or less) comes into play.

For WitchCraft I would take each Mage Sphere and make them a sub category under a new grouping of Metaphysics called “Mage Arcana”.  What separates these from other invocations is the only way to learn them is to be a member of one of the Mage associations.  Mage Arcana might just be a long hiden type of Atlantian Arcana (something both games have) or it might something completely new.  Lost texts from ancient Lemuria come to surface full of this new type of magic for example.
Now certainly there is (and should be) overlap. The Mind sphere should be accessible to anyone with the Sight, and Death and even some Life and Time should be available to Necromancers.

Converting Rotes to Cinematic Spells
When converting to Cinematic Unisystem, Rotes are the way to go.  The dots of the Rote add up to give the Cinematic Power Level.  In many cases this will have to be adjusted by -1.
Witches and Magicians that have more than 9 levels of Sorcery or Magic (respectively) can use the Improvised casting rules in Mage.

Up next, conversions in practice.