Recommendations

[ULFGARD]

I've watched a bit of the threads on Horror and the Monster Hunters series. I'm not precisely in to either, but find them somewhat intriguing nonetheless. Can anyone sway me over to the dark side? Not that I have much money right now, but still...

I'm wondering what I can pull from them that would be useful for my various campaigns. I run a DF game (which has a straight fantasy sub-game within it), a modern high magic game (based on the Night Watch series by Sergei Lukyanenko), and an occasional old west game set in the early 1850s (which has "explicit" magic based on the Ritual/Path system as well as Divine Favor, though it is downplayed). Is there anything which could justify the utility of it given that my finances are now oriented to the upcoming birth of my first child? Never mind the fact that I would definitely enjoy reading them -- I need a bit more right now.

Thanks in advance!

[lexington]

Originally Posted by ULFGARD

I've watched a bit of the threads on Horror and the Monster Hunters series. I'm not precisely in to either, but find them somewhat intriguing nonetheless. Can anyone sway me over to the dark side? Not that I have much money right now, but still...

I'm wondering what I can pull from them that would be useful for my various campaigns. I run a DF game (which has a straight fantasy sub-game within it), a modern high magic game (based on the Night Watch series by Sergei Lukyanenko), and an occasional old west game set in the early 1850s (which has "explicit" magic based on the Ritual/Path system as well as Divine Favor, though it is downplayed). Is there anything which could justify the utility of it given that my finances are now oriented to the upcoming birth of my first child? Never mind the fact that I would definitely enjoy reading them -- I need a bit more right now.

Thanks in advance!

I've been reading through Horror for a while now and my argument for it would be that you shouldn't think of it as a book about Horror. It's about mythology, history, and human psychology, especially what motivates people; what makes for a compelling villain or a tragic hero; it has *full* templates for it monsters (from Cthulu down to Jack the Ripper) to help people see how the guts of the system work; it makes various things people have asked about canonical (flawed Damage Resistance, disadvantageos alternate forms).

Yes, there's lots of stuff about horror in it (everything is viewed through that lens, of course) but I wouldn't call that the main reason to buy the book. It's sort of like Mysteries in that the advice is meant for one genre but can easily be ported into all of them.

[PK]

Well, to be completely honest, there's no way I could ever recommend RPG books over care for your new child! So if it comes down to diapers or Monster Hunters, believe me, I'd expect you to go with the diapers. :)

(Congratulations, BTW!)

But if a miracle happens and you find yourself with a modest amount of disposable income after seeing to your progeny, I think you might find the Monster Hunter books quite useful for your games, especially the one based on Night Watch. Timur Bekmambetov's movie adaptations of those books were very influential in the creation of the Monster Hunter series. The new Ritual Path magic system lends itself to gritty "shadow mages" and the occasional idiot getting his hands on a grimoire and causing trouble; others have said they've already found it useful for a wide range of games. Of course, I'm the author, so obviously I'm going to speak favorably about my own work. Hopefully others will have some more objective comments.

As for Horror, it is simply an amazing tool for introducing dread, fear, and a sense of terror to any game. Even if you don't run "horror games," Horror is still invaluable if you ever put the PCs in scary, creepy, or disturbing situations. There's so much good general GM advice in there that I'd recommend it to just about anyone who runs a game.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by ULFGARD

a modern high magic game (based on the Night Watch series by Sergei Lukyanenko)

To amplify RPK (and hopefully as a more unbiased commentator): I'd consider this series horror for the most part, personally. It's certainly within the loose sub-genre that Monster Hunters is aimed at replicating.

[Dragondog]

I'm with RPK on diapers before RPG.

MH1
If you need subtle magic, Ritual Path Magic is the system for you. MH1 has alternative rules for the Destiny advantage as well as Wildcard skills that give you points to spend in much the same way as unspent character points to buy success and the like. And if you want psionics or bio enhanced characters, it has some info on that too.

MH2
If you ever run investigations, there’s a system that helps you with that. Though focused on hunting monsters, it could be used for other things too. You have a 9 page chapter about Being Awesome that could give you and your players inspiration and rules for fast and dramatic combat and tricks of the trade – if you need to deal with plagues, inventions, psychic phenomena, and sacred places.

[lachimba]

Originally Posted by ULFGARD

I've watched a bit of the threads on Horror and the Monster Hunters series. I'm not precisely in to either, but find them somewhat intriguing nonetheless. Can anyone sway me over to the dark side? Not that I have much money right now, but still...

Thanks in advance!

Only read the MH books so far.


MH1 has a good wrtie up about Wildcard Skills. The magic system is versatile and IMHO will end up being discussed for a long time on these forums. Equipment list is ok especially if you don't have HT. Templates I have some issues with, (Characters can easily end up pretty crazy given the amount of serious mental disadvantages included) Still like them though. The lenses are great and I would recommend Motivational lenses being availabe for use in all games (either through an article in these forums or Pyramid). Racial templates are ok and easily useable in many games. Powers are ok too, Psionic powers not much use if you already have PP, but the Mysticism and Bio powers are great as extras for my master list of written up powers.


As for MH2 I would like to save most of my analysis for a mini review. Deals with a lot of things though.

Drawing out two things the investigation and deduction rules are good, seem pretty new to me and are easily exportable and the gadget rules seem much clearer to me than the Basic Set.

In terms of value I imagine that Horror is the best buy given its length. I plan on getting the lot anyway.