Using Melee in other systems?

[kleefaj]

While re-reading the Melee rules I picked up on the following sentence:

“Melee can also be used as a tactical aid for fantasy roleplaying.”

Has anyone done this? I'm wondering how it worked out (or didn't). I mean for games like Dungeon Crawl Classics, Swords & Wizardry, Lamentations of the Flame Princess, etc.

[Chris Rice]

Originally Posted by kleefaj

While re-reading the Melee rules I picked up on the following sentence:

“Melee can also be used as a tactical aid for fantasy roleplaying.”

Has anyone done this? I'm wondering how it worked out (or didn't). I mean for games like Dungeon Crawl Classics, Swords & Wizardry, Lamentations of the Flame Princess, etc.

I'm toying with the idea of using it with Barbarians of Lemuria, but haven't done so yet?

[Skarg]

I think the context of that line from Melee is a generic one, rather than suggesting you can directly use it as the combat system for other RPGs which have their own stat systems, with you importing their stats and modules and playing out the combat using Melee. (You can't literally just use the stats from other games because they don't mean the same things and you'll get inappropriate results.)

That is, you can certainly use Melee as a combat system in a roleplaying campaign without using any other system. Or you can take however much you want of some other system and stat things up in Melee and use it as the combat system.

And there are players who have done that since Melee was published, still preferring to just use Melee and/or Wizard, not even using the more advanced TFT rules, possibly making up their own house rules or just letting the GM rule on everything else.

It is ALSO possible to convert material and settings from other game systems to TFT, or (as I did when I ran Classic Traveller) use Melee in the combat system and invent ratings for things not mentioned in Melee.

I've converted some modules from other FRPGs to TFT and GURPS. (I'm actually working on making a GURPS port of a DCC module right now. It'd be even easier to convert to TFT except for the spells.)

In my experience, the more literally I have tried to convert details from other game systems to TFT or GURPS, the more I have encountered the very different logic and expectations of the different games. (i.e. Abstract conversions of settings ideas and general details to TFT is much easier.) TFT is pretty firmly designed around things making sense, things working like you might expect them to realistically, and significance of tactical details of mapped movement and facing.

TFT does not have many conventions found in many other games, particularly not the part about experienced PCs having large amounts of hit points that mostly only slowly get reduced by combat.

So when you convert a typical module from the sorts of games you mention, you often find that compared to usual TFT, there will be:

* numerous identical enemies who are expected to be easily-defeated fodder
* monsters that are immune to various kinds of damage that many TFT PCs have no access to
* NPCs with listed tactics that won't work well in TFT,
* a very different magic system with some very powerful spells that can only be used once per day,
* some very powerful monsters and foes,
* maybe some very powerful magic item loot that will tend to overshadow most TFT characters' typical abilities,
* various other things the module expects to be challenging that aren't in TFT, or vice versa, or that will work out in very different ways

I have found that most modules from other systems seem to me like too much work and/or too different and/or too illogical for me to want to think about converting them to TFT. But that some have had some appeal to me as diversions or experiments.

[Chris Rice]

To expand on my previous answer about mixing Barbarians of Lemuria (BOL) and Melee: Melee doesn't have a skill system - it only has attributes and rules for combat. The clever thing about BOL is that it doesn't have a traditional skill system, nor is it character class based. A BOL character has a number of "Professions" which represent career experience. They are not used to affect combat (unless you can convince the GM otherwise in a particular instance) but for non-combat rolls only.

So it should be a particularly good match for Melee, as you can just ditch the BOL mechanics and port the Professions idea straight over to Melee. Melee can be used exactly as is for combat, with no modification at all. The only thing then to address is how to deal with the professions in terms of the Melee mechanics, but that shouldn't be too difficult. I think a 3d roll against an appropriate attribute should suffice for most situations.

For example; if your character with the "Minstrel" Profession is trying to charm a particular person with their poetry skills then roll 3d v INT. if your "Thief" is trying to pick a pocket the 3d v DEX etc.

It's a simple way of adding a skill/Talent system to Melee without needing to use ITL.

[ak_aramis]

Originally Posted by kleefaj

While re-reading the Melee rules I picked up on the following sentence:

“Melee can also be used as a tactical aid for fantasy roleplaying.”

Has anyone done this? I'm wondering how it worked out (or didn't). I mean for games like Dungeon Crawl Classics, Swords & Wizardry, Lamentations of the Flame Princess, etc.

I used Melee with Basic D&D once... AdjDx + 20 - THAC0, damage to HP, not ST.
Worked fine... well, as fine as any D&D hybrid...

That was, however, around 35 years ago.

[kleefaj]

I'm thinking using the hex grid and facing and megahexes and available options and actions that can be taken, these are the things I might port from Melee into my less tactical games. I wouldn't want to worry about converting stats and such, just use Melee to make DCC and other theater-of-the-mind games more tactical when we want them to be.

[hcobb]

Melee's facing mods to hit would fit in better with a TAC0 system.

[POUM]

I'm thinking GURPS Conan with TFT. The step to The One Ring and TFT, is a nice dream ...

[larsdangly]

I've played a LOT of both Hyborian and Middle Earth campaigns using TFT. It is an excellent fit for both. I have a bunch of setting specific material (stats for nazgul, etc.) if anyone is interested.

[Theohippip]

Originally Posted by larsdangly

I've played a LOT of both Hyborian and Middle Earth campaigns using TFT. It is an excellent fit for both. I have a bunch of setting specific material (stats for nazgul, etc.) if anyone is interested.

I would be VERY interested in the Middle Earth setting material. My son (just turned 13) read the entire LOTR multiple times and stops on a LOTR movie while channel-surfing the way I stop on a Martin Scorsese or Godfather movie. It would certainly draw him in to TFT more deeply than the simple arena combat of Melee/Death Test that he's already experienced.