Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 28
  1. #1

    Birthright for Other Game systems

    All,

    It's been a long time since I have perused the BR site. You guys have been doing a great job keeping the BR world going.

    Has anyone looked into the potential to migrate Birthright from it's 2nd edition origins over to other game systems? It was converted to 3.0 and 3.5, and now I see it as 4.0 DnD. Who still owns the copyright on the BR campaign world?

    I've seen other posts re: different game systems. But I see this as being slightly different. As many of you already know, a new version of Hackmaster is coming out by Kenzerco. This system is, imo, very similar to what Birthright should be...it's game system is extremely low magic, very fight intensive, and as my players have found out.. quite brutal when played incorrectly. I think a Hackmaster / BR marriage would be the best combination with the least amount of mechanic conversion needed.

    Comments?
    Memnochk
    Last edited by Memnochk; 02-11-2011 at 12:27 AM.

  2. #2
    Senior Member Elton Robb's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2001
    Location
    Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
    Posts
    588
    Downloads
    2
    Uploads
    0
    There is a version of Birthright for GURPS on a GURPS fansite. I'm not sure if it's still there. As to who owns the copyright, that would be Wizards of the Coast. As of today, Birthright caters to a very small niche market. This is why Wizards of the Coast is sitting on the "intellectual property" to do anything really official.
    Regent of Medoere

  3. #3
    Ah, thanks. I had seen a statement alluding to the idea that the BR.net community held the IP for Birthright..but it sounds like WOTC is just sitting on it instead.

  4. #4
    Special Guest (Donor)
    Join Date
    Nov 2001
    Location
    Spain
    Posts
    532
    Downloads
    11
    Uploads
    0
    I've been thinking about using Birthright with FATE lately (with Legends of Anglerre to be exact). FATE is a very flexible system, and LoA comes with very nice rules for organizations, units and realms, so I think they would blend together pretty nicely...

  5. #5
    I've been running a game set in the Birthright world (Roesone in fact) using a mash-up of Savage Worlds and FATE. The results have been a bit mixed. If I was going to do it again, I'd go fully over to FATE...

  6. #6
    Special Guest (Donor)
    Join Date
    Nov 2001
    Location
    Spain
    Posts
    532
    Downloads
    11
    Uploads
    0
    I haven't tried Savage Worlds, although when I read it I wasn't very excited by it. But LoA and FATE was totally different, when reading it I was like: I had to try this My few sessions have been pretty positive, although it has been a big jump from DnD.

  7. #7
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
    Location
    BR mailing list
    Posts
    1,538
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0
    At 10:04 AM 2/21/2011, SirEktar wrote:

    >I`ve been running a game set in the Birthright world (Roesone in
    >fact) using a mash-up of Savage Worlds and FATE. The results have
    >been a bit mixed. If I was going to do it again, I`d go fully over to FATE...

    I`m liking the Pathfinder stuff lately, even though the difference
    between in and 3.5 is pretty subtle.... Unfortunately, I don`t
    really have a lot of time these days to picking up a new
    system. What are the merits of FATE vs 3e/3.5/PF?

    Gary

  8. #8
    Birthright Developer
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Posts
    388
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0
    On Mon, Feb 21, 2011 at 3:12 PM, Gary <geeman1984@verizon.net> wrote:
    > I`m liking the Pathfinder stuff lately, even though the difference between
    > in and 3.5 is pretty subtle.... *Unfortunately, I don`t really have a lot of
    > time these days to picking up a new system. *What are the merits of FATE vs
    > 3e/3.5/PF?

    So, Pathfinder is 3.5+house rules. If you like 3.5, and have been
    running it with your own house rules, then your reaction to it will be
    determined by whether you like the paizo houserules.

    (I`m running my game using Pathfinder)

    Fate (not an acronym) is based of Fudge. This implies a small number
    of things, primarily that it uses fudge dice or another
    strongly-0-centered rolling method, and so your die rolls are
    relatively unimportant compared to your skill (your odds are ~23% of
    rolling a 0, and ~60% of rolling a -1, 0, or 1, on 4df).

    Most games called "Fate" games are skill-based, with no attributes.

    The primary wrinkle then is the fate point/aspect system. Aspects are
    "important things about your character", roughly. When one of your
    aspects is important to whatever roll you`re making, you can spend a
    fate point and get +2 to your roll (given the centeredness of 4df,
    pretty significant).

    When one of your aspects is detrimental or closes off your choices in
    some way, you can earn a fate point.

    Then there are stunts, which let you use your skills in unusual or
    specialized ways.

    A big thing that draws people to fate is the community, frankly; the
    original authors at evil hat are pretty available online, and
    supportive of other people hacking the system and publishing games
    using it.

    See also:
    http://www.evilhat.com/ (the original publishers of fate)
    http://www.faterpg.com/ (their website for the system itself, which
    only has 5 articles so far, and is pretty readable)
    http://www.faterpg.com/resources/ (stuff you can download, the Spirit
    of the Century SRD is that of their first Fate3 game)

    --
    Daniel McSorley

  9. #9
    Special Guest (Donor)
    Join Date
    Nov 2001
    Location
    Spain
    Posts
    532
    Downloads
    11
    Uploads
    0
    I'm going to add a little Daniel answer.

    FATE is centered around a mechanic called "aspects". An aspect is a sentence that describes something about a character, a place,... For example, the Archduke of Boeruine could have an aspect like:

    "I will do anything for the Iron Throne"

    When playing, if your aspect is related to a situation a lot of things can happen. If it's related in a good way, you can spend a FATE point (invoke an aspect) to do things like:

    - re-roll, add a big bonus, make a narrative declaration that becomes true in the world,...

    If bad (compel an aspect):

    - bad things happen to you, but you get a FATE point.

    For example, if Boeruine was dueling Avan and he missed a strike, he could declare that the aspect applies because losing that duel would lower his chances for the Iron Throne. So he spends a FATE Point and gets a re-roll.

    But for example in an argument in the Senate, while trying to defend something, the GM can tell Boeruine that because everyone knows his ultimate goal is the Iron Throne, people are wary of his proposals. If the player accepts the complication, then the NPCs are wary of him, but he gets a FATE point for the trouble.

    The nice thing of aspects is that they can be anything. The College of Sorcery is rumored to be "a place of secret knowledge", the Gorgon is "the oldest enemy of Anuire", Ilien has developed into "a thriving city for merchants", and a weapon can "lust for the blood of scions".

    About the centered rolls, that's not always the case. While most games use 4dF (which is the same probability curve as (d3-2) + (d3-2) + (d3-2) + (d3-2)), other games (like Legends of Anglerre, a fantasy version of FATE) uses d6 - d6, which has a more "random" curve.

    The difference between both is the economy of FATE points, in LoA they are spent and earned faster and characters have more of them on average (to compensate for the more random rolls). But you can play LoA with 4dF if you prefer giving more importance to skills (skills are added to dice rolls).

    Appart form that, another good link to read about FATE is:

    http://stuffershack.com/xtras/playin...n-how-to-play/

    3 short articles that make a nice intro to the system. Hope it helps!
    Last edited by Vicente; 02-22-2011 at 12:29 AM.

  10. #10
    I've read the FATE rules over, and it could be a good fit assuming the mostly narrative game.

    I've been doing a conversion to Warhammer Fantasy 2nd Edition for Birthright myself. I like that system because of the realistic power-levels of the characters and the fact that it doesn't rely on magic items. Plus, I've figured out a quick way to convert the Birthright War Cards into Warhammer Fantasy Battle units that works quite well. I don't actually own any miniatures for this, but I was gonna use the MapTools software as my tabletop with a hex grid and tokens.

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. Other Systems
    By Diongham in forum The Royal Library
    Replies: 36
    Last Post: 08-07-2009, 07:54 PM
  2. Systems other then D & D
    By Dirk in forum The Royal Library
    Replies: 30
    Last Post: 01-09-2008, 01:24 PM
  3. Birthright game(Help)!!
    By battleroar in forum The Royal Library
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 02-13-2007, 11:38 PM
  4. Birthright battle systems
    By The Jew in forum BRCS 3.0/3.5 Edition
    Replies: 69
    Last Post: 04-16-2005, 07:33 PM
  5. Birthright Game
    By master_guelfi in forum Birthright play-by-post
    Replies: 14
    Last Post: 04-16-2005, 01:13 AM

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
BIRTHRIGHT, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, the BIRTHRIGHT logo, and the D&D logo are trademarks owned by Wizards of the Coast, Inc., a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc., and are used by permission. ©2002-2010 Wizards of the Coast, Inc.