Give me a system

[WPharolin]

So a few days ago I was asked to run a Doctor Who game all about cross overs. The Autobots help the Doctor recover an artifact from Cybertron's past. The Doctor chases Bill and Ted through time in an attempt to stop them from altering history too drastically and causing a universe ending paradox. The Doctor (in pony form) along with Mane 6 must recover the stolen Elements of Harmony from the cyberponies who have secretly been using the Rainbow Factory as a front to mass produce an invasion army. The Master has taken over the technodrome but Krang plans a counter offensive. To prevent an all out war the Doctor and his new companion April O'Neil must free the captive turtles.

That's the kind of bat shit crazy the campaign is going for. Only thing is I don't have the slightest idea which system would be good for a campaign like that. I own dwaitas but find it mostly crap. I'm looking for alternative suggestions.

Also, if you have an idea for a cross over premise I'd welcome it.

[OgreBattle]

After Sundown

[Longes]

Munchausen

[Username17]

Yeah, I'm going to say Munchhausen. Any system with numbers in it is going to require conversion of characters and items from settings before they can be used in the game. If you want to be able to hop in the Tardis at a moment's notice and discover that something has messed up the timeline and now the JOEs are enforcers of an oprressive world government and Destro is leading a plucky band of freedom loving revolutionaries or Mumm Ra has joined forces with Skeletor to conquer Equestria, then you're going to want to use a system that doesn't use numbers.

-Username17

[Longes]

If you want to be sad and miserable, then you can try TORG or RIFTS. These systems promise crazy crossovers.

[WPharolin]

I'm only familiar with Munchausen in passing. Mostly from having seen it mentioned on the den. But if I remember right the gist is that you just tell a part of the story and then someone else can try to throw a monkey wrench into your plot by bidding against the storyteller with points until it's reolved. Am I in the ballpark?

[Prak]

Alternatively, you'll want a system with a lot of conversion done for you, for which I would recommend Mutants and Masterminds.

Other than that, you basically need a system which allows you to actually run away from enemies that can move at least as fast as you, stall for time with debate and win people over, and even mix it up it combat occasionally Given all that, AS would do well if you can pound out the character conversions..

The big problem is the sonic screwdriver, which is pure plot device. You do it M&M, but honestly, what you need is a "Make Shit Up" score that you spend to take narrative control. The go to system for that would be Fate, and it's generally a rules light system, so conversion shouldn't take too long. But it's also rules light.

Edit: Oh yeah, there's RIFTS too, which has the benefit of having a TMNT book, but that's not major points if the ninja turtles are just a single session thing

The question I have is who are the players going to be playing? It seems like the ideal way to do this is to make the Doctor a DMPC and the players play the characters from whatever world he lands on. Of course, he such a blatant DMPC that that is precisely the reason why he just should never show up in an RPG. But, hey, whatever.

Also, plot idea: The Doctor tracks the Vashta Nerada to a small town in the Southern US, where an old house has gotten a reputation for being haunted due to their presence. Sam and Dean Winchester catch wind and figure it'll be a cakewalk like the haunts they busted up in the old days. Cue the Doctor, his companion, the Winchesters and Cas meeting up in the house when the doors lock.
Inspired by this.

If you're feeling cheeky, you could throw John Constantine in too, for a "hey, I have one of those" scene about the psychic paper/Constantine's magicked paper.

[Username17]

I'm only familiar with Munchausen in passing. Mostly from having seen it mentioned on the den. But if I remember right the gist is that you just just tell a part of the story and then someone else can try to through a monkey wrench into your plot by bidding against the storyteller with points until its reolved. Am I in the ballpark?

Pretty much. Also you drink heavily, which for a game about romancing Blueberry Muffin because you need her to lend you the book with the Neverending Story in it so that you can enlist the Fu Dog's help to defeat the plans of Dr. Robotnik seems appropriate.

The big issue here is that no one is normally the MC per se. Who the storyteller is passes from player to player, with other participants butting in only by bidding to do so with a "That's not how I remember it..." You might want to go a little bit more Gygaxian and have one person default to narrating the results of each Tardis jump, telling the story of the exploration of the new piece of spacetime until one of the players bids to take over the narrative.

-Username17

[silva]

Risus, Over the Edge and BoL are all super-fast systems which let you create chars and start playing under 15 minutes. I'd suggest giving them a look and seeing which one you prefer.

[Schleiermacher]

FATE. Hands down. (If only because I consider Munchausen, fun as it is, to be more of a drinking game than an RPG.)

FATE is really versatile (like M&M) and super-prep-light (in stark contrast to M&M, and of great importance in a game like this.) It's also probably the game I know where the system places the least limitations on what might be a sensible course of action -that's all down to the group's preferences. So talking down people who want to murder you, running away from things that are faster than you and making elaborate plans out of spit and chickenwire are totally on the table (that last one especially!)

[DSMatticus]

I think Munchausen is just in general a hard sell because it doesn't "feel" like an RPG. It doesn't have enough structure to make people forget that they're sitting around playing make believe, so it makes people uncomfortable and self-conscious in the same way being asked to improv does. Which is probably why alcohol and Munchausen go hand-in-hand.

[virgil]

Some variant on Fiasco? It's got a bit more structure and technically has dice.

[Previn]

I would vote FATE.

[Koumei]

If you want "more system" than Munchausen (which is basically "any at all"), then perhaps you could do a Cards Against Humanity style thing, where there are a whole bunch of index cards of what the big problem is, and "But was solved by _____".

And then players have cards with "Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey Stuff" or whatever, and then whichever is funniest gets to actually extrapolate, giving a spiel on how they made it all work.

You could perhaps add an element of risk to it by making some of the cards be "Sacrificing one of the important characters" or "Dooming us all" or whatever, where if some asshole plays that and it's funny, you really want to be able to pull out a card that's funnier.

It still has zero actual numbers*, mind you, and the only dice welcome are those massive ones you can use as seats. Because you can use them as seats. It's still in drinking game territory, but you could just about walk away saying you "won" something like that and there are automatic prompts.

That said, TMNT by Palladium and Crazy Kev probably does have a combination of splat books that lets you do precisely that scenario. Just, with their system, so you know.

*Other than that number, zero

[silva]

If you going Fate, get Accelerated Edition. It's the light version.

[Schleiermacher]

I don't know what's difference between FATE Accelerated and FATE core, but FATE core has the advantage of having an SRD: http://fate-srd.com/fate-core

[Aryxbez]

The notion of old 80's Cartoons banding together and fighting stuff has become an RPG before, called Cartoon Action Hour. It uses a D12 for task resolution, and reduces fighting minions to basically a single Combat DC as I understood it. I've not yet to own, or play the game, and it got Kickstarted for a sequel as I understand awhile back. I'm not sure if that's going to be helpful to you at all, as might be better off with a FATE or Munchasen, but all the same figured worth pointing out given the subject matter.

Also, that idea sounds almost incomprehensible that its awesome, and I can see myself having brainstorm crossovers like that when around a group.

[Username17]

FATE works, although I find that the combat system is slow as shit and needs to be handled like regular stunts. You perform the stunt "win combat" and failing that stunt causes you to not win.

-Username17

[TheFlatline]

If you want "more system" than Munchausen (which is basically "any at all"), then perhaps you could do a Cards Against Humanity style thing, where there are a whole bunch of index cards of what the big problem is, and "But was solved by _____".

Ah. You don't want CAH, you want Aye, Dark Overlord.

Cribbed from Boardgamegeek:

There is no way to sugar coat the following statement. Aye, Dark Overlord is a ridiculous storytelling game that is totally arbitrary. However, that does not mean the game is not enjoyable. Just be warned that this is not a philosopher's game.

Gameplay begins by selecting an overlord, who for all intents and purposes makes up the rules of the game as you go. Everyone else is a craven goblin minion who has somehow managed to screw up the grand scheme and attempting to avoid punishment. Each goblin begins the game with 6 cards in hand, 3 which provide elements to tell the story, and 3 to pass the blame onto other goblins. The Overlord randomly selects a goblin to explain why his grand scheme failed, and the mayhem beings.

The goblins weave an often hilarious story by playing elements from their hand. Whenever they feel they have reached a point where they may pass the blame onto someone else, you may play the appropriate card to do so. Hence the story passes onto the next goblin who does the same. You are allowed to refill your hand at various points in the game, so running out of story elements is not a problem. However, eventually the Overlord will tire of pathetic lies and at any time, for any reason, or for no reason, may place a “Glare” card in front of any goblin. Upon receiving a third glare, that goblin must beg for his life lest he lose.

Replace the dark overlord with a Time Lord, replace the excuse cards with thematically appropriate deck o cards, and shift the tone from scapegoating a catastrophe to solving a problem.

Basically it's Whose Line is it Anyway using cards to keep things focused and to enable passing the buck.

[Josh_Kablack]

So a few days ago I was asked to run a Doctor Who game all about cross overs. The Autobots help the Doctor recover an artifact from Cybertron's past. The Doctor chases Bill and Ted through time in an attempt to stop them from altering history too drastically and causing a universe ending paradox. The Doctor (in pony form) along with Mane 6 must recover the stolen Elements of Harmony from the cyberponies who have secretly been using the Rainbow Factory as a front to mass produce an invasion army. The Master has taken over the technodrome but Krang plans a counter offensive. To prevent an all out war the Doctor and his new companion April O'Neil must free the captive turtles.

That's the kind of bat shit crazy the campaign is going for. Only thing is I don't have the slightest idea which system would be good for a campaign like that. I own dwaitas but find it mostly crap. I'm looking for alternative suggestions. .

So the question is basically what system for bat shit crazy? Then I'm pretty sure the answer is Rifts . Heck, there are even official stats for the Turtles, Time Lords and Transformers Robotech Mecha in Palladium products that claim to be Rifts-compatible.

[ACOS]

I don't know what's difference between FATE Accelerated and FATE core, but FATE core has the advantage of having an SRD: http://fate-srd.com/fate-core

You can actually download them both from the actual FATE website. (they only ask for a "donation")

[Schleiermacher]

FATE works, although I find that the combat system is slow as shit and needs to be handled like regular stunts.
-Username17

Is it really that slow? I've played it weekly for about a year and in my experience, combat only drags if 1. everyone takes skills that expand their stress track and 2. nobody ever concedes.

Which can easily happen, granted, but it sounds like your objection to the system is on a far more fundamental level.

[Ice9]

Depends on the iteration. Combat in SotC is really padded sumo; other versions range from not as slow to actually fast.

A suggestion I saw for fast combat is - no stress track, just the consequences. Means that there's somewhat less room for tactics, but this concept doesn't seem like that would be a focus anyway.

[Lago PARANOIA]

Whuh? Why FATE? I mean, I like FATE and all, but the 6-8 step RNG is very not-good for depicting high power level differences.

[Prak]

If you going Fate, get Accelerated Edition. It's the light version.

What the fuck is Fate Accelerated Edition? The game is already about the lightest possible thing you could have and call an rpg. Does AE come with a herring that Mister Cavern uses to slap players who start rules debates?

If you want "more system" than Munchausen (which is basically "any at all"), then perhaps you could do a Cards Against Humanity style thing, where there are a whole bunch of index cards of what the big problem is, and "But was solved by _____".

Ah. You don't want CAH, you want Aye, Dark Overlord.

Cribbed from Boardgamegeek:

There is no way to sugar coat the following statement. Aye, Dark Overlord is a ridiculous storytelling game that is totally arbitrary. However, that does not mean the game is not enjoyable. Just be warned that this is not a philosopher's game.

Gameplay begins by selecting an overlord, who for all intents and purposes makes up the rules of the game as you go. Everyone else is a craven goblin minion who has somehow managed to screw up the grand scheme and attempting to avoid punishment. Each goblin begins the game with 6 cards in hand, 3 which provide elements to tell the story, and 3 to pass the blame onto other goblins. The Overlord randomly selects a goblin to explain why his grand scheme failed, and the mayhem beings.

The goblins weave an often hilarious story by playing elements from their hand. Whenever they feel they have reached a point where they may pass the blame onto someone else, you may play the appropriate card to do so. Hence the story passes onto the next goblin who does the same. You are allowed to refill your hand at various points in the game, so running out of story elements is not a problem. However, eventually the Overlord will tire of pathetic lies and at any time, for any reason, or for no reason, may place a “Glare” card in front of any goblin. Upon receiving a third glare, that goblin must beg for his life lest he lose.

Replace the dark overlord with a Time Lord, replace the excuse cards with thematically appropriate deck o cards, and shift the tone from scapegoating a catastrophe to solving a problem.

Basically it's Whose Line is it Anyway using cards to keep things focused and to enable passing the buck.

That sounds amazing and I must own this.

Whuh? Why FATE? I mean, I like FATE and all, but the 6-8 step RNG is very not-good for depicting high power level differences.

Because Fate Points are a semi-codified "Make Shit Up" mechanic that allow you to explain how you outrun the murderous daleks because you find stairs (and then Mister Cavern tosses you a fate point and explains they hover now) and make the sonic workable at all.

Another suggestion for how to handle the Doctor, that just occurred to me- Everyone plays him. The group creates the specific iteration of the Doctor together, and then they take turns playing him from one session to another.