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Old 11-14-2014, 01:17 AM   #11
Agemegos
 
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Default Re: Dracula Dosier Kickstarter

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Originally Posted by lachimba View Post
Im on the fence about picking up Double Tap and the Quartet or not. Can any tip me towards either option?
I'm really pleased with Double Tap. It provides detailed treatments of a lot of abilities that got a bit rushed in the original book. There are explanations of under-explained skills, concrete, specific, illuminating examples of how investigative abilities might relate to vampires, conspiracies, and vampire conspiracies, example spend benefits for Investigate abilities, example clues, example Tactical-Fact-Finding benefits. General abilities that were a bit neglected get new Cherries and Thriller Manoeuvres so that coverage is a bit more even. There and lots and lots of examples of little bits of movie-spy tricks and improvised tradecraft and things you need to know to improvise like Michael Westen.

There's a bunch of good advice to players, the Cartagena Rules, which serve as a bit of an antidote to the Bucharest Rules.

There are descriptions and game rules for a lot of different bits of equipment from Mission Impossible face masks to special ammunition and grenade launchers. There are Thriller-grade rule systems to bring digital intrusion, infiltration, surveillance, and manhunts up to the same standing that chases and fighting have in the basic rules.

In the "Director's Companion":
• "Cameos" are 26 statted NPCs from "Arms Dealer" to "Vampire-enthralled goth", with goals and characterisation notes to prevent the trope from becoming a cliché, for a harried GM to reach for when their mind has gone blank.
• "Establishing shots" are quick descriptions of 26 generic thriller locations from a 24-hour seedy diner to an urban traffic jam. Each has a paragragh descriptive detail plus example "extras and cameos", or clues you might find in each one, hints on how to use the location in a chase or in a fight, and rules effects for the sorts of things PCs might do there, such as spill the molten steel in a foundry.
• "Monsters" includes two new monstrous powers and four more descibed and statted monsters.
• "Stories" has some useful advice on the dynamics of stories about conspiracies getting pulled apart, and introduced the "Suspyramid", a diagrammed algorithm for stories of a disintegrating node in a Conspyramid.
• There's a page of advice and suggested rules changes for running a one-on-one game with a solitary Agents.
• The Victorian Era, WWII, and the Cold War are described as alternative eras, with suggested rules changes.
• There are several pages of reference sheets: a summary of Cherries, a summary of Vampire Powers, a summary of the new Thriller Combat options. And an index.

I reckon that Double Tap is something that you won't want to be without if you plan to do more that get your toes wet with NBA.


Zalozhniy Quartet is a prepared short campaign consisting of a villainous organisation, a bunch of NPCs, a Conspyramid for the conspiracy they are in, a grand scheme that has to be stopped, adaption notes for Supernatural, Damned, Alien, and Mutant vampires, and four "operations". Each Operation has a "eyes only briefing for the Director" several ways in, NPCs, a handful of scenes — up to a dozen — that might come about in various ways depending on what the PCs do, and number of ways out, many of them leading to other operations in the set. The whole things is set up so that you can draw the PCs into the campaign by running any operation first, thus getting a way in in Baghdad, a way in in Odessa, a way in Vienna, a way in in Zurich, and I think a way in in Beirut. It's monstrously clever, and meticulously laid out, but running prepared adventures is not a thing I do. I've read this one fairly carefully, and I don't understand how a group of PCs generated according to the rules could make it through. But then I've had little practice and less success at running NBA and I'm probably missing something.

Zalohniy Quartet is for if you don't want to design your own conspiracy or if you don't want to improvise a campaign as you GM. You can certainly pillage it for bits of content — I used its description of Odessa — but it doesn't contain tools that you will use to run your own games.
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Last edited by Agemegos; 11-15-2014 at 11:08 PM.
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Old 11-15-2014, 10:53 PM   #12
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Default Re: Dracula Dosier Kickstarter

I went with the dossier and NBA corebook. Once again its more than I want to spend and less than I can. Im pretty happy with the decision.

Comments.

1. The dossier is probably about 80% done its noticable that a lot more will be done.

2. Dracula Unredacted is presently unavailable.

3. Ive read in a few places that the gumeshoe system is better for thus system than something like GURPS. this is pretty untrue. It is optimised. Getting the setting playbalanced in GURPS and mapping out the abilities would be work, but that might be an advantage. Once uve mapped it to GURPS you can scale up or down easy enough.

4. I like MOS, preparedness and building your contacts as you go along. In fact if I play a game ill probably insist on the PCs being built in play over the first few sessions. 'Yeah, my analyst has 10 in hand to hand, her grand dad was Bruce Lees student! Didnt you know? Shes been intentionally underplaying her martial arts till now'

5. I know im never going to play it. Its too big, too good for most players to appreciate when so much is available thats easier and faster to run. Maybe I could find a group willing to go through in 12 sessions. Some sort of we find out and work out how to track Dracula down in ten easy steps. But the long, multiple time lines campaign with PCs in each era that I would love to play. I cant find a group that would want that. Maybe multiple overlapping groups? That would be neat.
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Old 11-18-2014, 10:07 AM   #13
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Default Re: Dracula Dosier Kickstarter

Gurpsifying it would be relatively straightforward. Use the Action rules, include a bit of Social Engineering for some of the Asset handling stuff if your game features that, maybe introduce some new mechanics that mirror Network/Cover. Change wealth rules to work as Preparedness, or just use gizmo. Steal monster stats from Horror.

Conspiramids and Vampyramids can be imported directly. Give extra rerolls per adventure for filling out adversary maps, or reduce BAD.

Anyway, it's what I'm probably going to do with it.
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Old 11-18-2014, 09:18 PM   #14
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Default Re: Dracula Dosier Kickstarter

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Originally Posted by Crakkerjakk View Post
Gurpsifying it would be relatively straightforward. Use the Action rules, include a bit of Social Engineering for some of the Asset handling stuff if your game features that, maybe introduce some new mechanics that mirror Network/Cover. Change wealth rules to work as Preparedness, or just use gizmo. Steal monster stats from Horror.

Conspiramids and Vampyramids can be imported directly. Give extra rerolls per adventure for filling out adversary maps, or reduce BAD.

Anyway, it's what I'm probably going to do with it.
I more or less agree with you. I would probably put the PCs point value at between Action and MH, probably 250 + all the extra advantages as plot points or whatever.

I think its a little like the diferences between D&D and DF. Directly copying D&D would be a nightmare in GURPS. DF has all sorts of differences just because if you kept changing it to be D&D then it wouldnt be DF.

NBA to Action is more or less the same. I think lethality would be a substantial difference a 50 cal rifle in NBA or an explosion is not all that much more than a hand gun. In GURPS you need reasons NOT to use bigger guns.

One thing I would say is to use half damage of firearms and add a (2) armor divisor. You can probaly use a similar mechanic for explosions. That makes it more attractive to have close in fights/action rather than each side just escalating to booby traps and long range ambushes.
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Old 11-18-2014, 10:33 PM   #15
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Default Re: Dracula Dosier Kickstarter

Actually, my understanding is that depending on the mode you're running NBA in, you very much want to engage your version of vamps with long range ambushes and booby traps.

I mean, I probably would generally tweak firearm lethality for most versions, but I don't think NBA in general (and DD in particular) is especially set on the idea that people should be getting into face to face fights with light weapons. That just tends to be what happens when you're running around Europe doing spy stuff where guns are mostly illegal so you're trying to conceal the ones you have.
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Old 11-18-2014, 10:45 PM   #16
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Default Re: Dracula Dosier Kickstarter

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Actually, my understanding is that depending on the mode you're running NBA in, you very much want to engage your version of vamps with long range ambushes and booby traps.
Stinger missiles with a "Shooting" MOS are highly fancied, I hear. I have been known to improvise a shaped charge explosive with a silver liner.

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Old 11-19-2014, 01:21 AM   #17
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Default Re: Dracula Dosier Kickstarter

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Originally Posted by Crakkerjakk View Post
Actually, my understanding is that depending on the mode you're running NBA in, you very much want to engage your version of vamps with long range ambushes and booby traps.

I mean, I probably would generally tweak firearm lethality for most versions, but I don't think NBA in general (and DD in particular) is especially set on the idea that people should be getting into face to face fights with light weapons. That just tends to be what happens when you're running around Europe doing spy stuff where guns are mostly illegal so you're trying to conceal the ones you have.
Protecting vampires? Im talking about protectings PCs! The armour divisor switcheroo is probably neutral to an improvement vs vampires. Its about having a world where 7d from one bullet doesnt equal 'ok -HPx 2, roll vs HT please'. Versus a 50 cal... things get worse.

By all means allow rerolls and cinematic rules. Although this is a pretty acceptable patch to GURPS for this sort of campaign.
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