How it starts
Friday, March 31, 2017
In early 2017, I began listening to The Adventure Zone and became intrigued by D&D 5th edition. Quick, tangential shout-out: if I threw in all my favorite books, music, movies, etc into sorted list, TAZ would rank in the top 10. Seriously, you should be listening to it.
You're probably wondering, "How is it 2017 and you've not played 5th Edition?". Well I'm not a very experience TRPG'er. Up to this point I'd only gamed within Pinnacle's Savage Worlds system. So after a few episodes of TAZ, I got myself a 5e player's handbook and read that mofo cover to cover. What I enjoyed most was the de-emphasis of strategic tabletop battling and the emphasis of creative problem-solving. Plus the simplicity of the die rolling was appealing:
D20 + modifying_numbers > target_number ? success : failure
Though the game certainly gets more complicated, the base equation is simple enough for inexperienced players to wrap their heads around.
Now, I enjoy a fantasy setting as much as the next nerd, but I'd pick sci-fi over fantasy nine times out of ten. And what's just came out? That's right...Mass Effect: Andromeda. Mass Effect is one of my favorite sci-fi universes but it's got another key feature: the wizard, i.e., spellcasting. Plus, you have an entire universe to run a campaign. You can focus on space exploration, fighting Reapers, policing the Milky Way, or mixing with the Citadel politics.
So I got this crazy idea, I want to play a TRPG Mass Effect. My current DM said, "I think there are a few out there already." And, yeah, I found a few in various states of completion:
- Complete Works
- Mass Effect D6, a Star Wars D6 conversion
- Mass Effect Fate RPG, a FATE conversion
- Mass Effect d20 system, a OGL d20 conversion
- Others
- Mass: the Effecting, a nWoD conversion
- Mass Effect: Ascension, a Savage Worlds conversion
- Savage Worlds: Mass Effect, Savage Worlds again.
- A Mass Effect Game for Traveller
I even found the beginnings of a 5e conversion. Perhaps I'm stubborn, or perhaps I'm a masochist, or perhaps these other options just don't have that 5e flair I crave. No matter the reason, I've take the plunge, and that is how it starts.