Brony Number 42

I picked it up a while ago - it's a fairly simple system, although I don't think it's much the worse for it.

The general idea is that you have attributes Body, Mind and Charm rated according to a die (so d4, d6, d8, d10, d12 or d20), as are some talents (such as telekinesis, fly, bucking, running, sneaking, or anything else that seems appropriate - it's an open list.) Other talents have different effects (such as speak with a type of animal) that are more specific but are roughly graded to a die size. Stamina is calculated as Mind + Body die values added together (so 6 Body & 6 Mind gives 12 stamina.)

When you are asked to do something, such as kick down a door, the GM sets a target number (5, if it's a tough door.) You then create a pool of all relevant attributes and talents - so if your character had d6 body and d8 bucking, they would have a d6 and a d8 in their dice pool. You roll the pool, and pick the highest number - if it meets or beats the target, you pass, otherwise you fail.

There is a rudimentary combat system, although rules-as-written it's quite brutal (groups roll and the highest rolls on each side compare; the winner does the number they rolled as damage split as they desire among their opponents - so a 5 vs a 7 would mean that the losers take 7 damage between them, which is a nasty hit at lower levels.)

It has 'friendship tokens' which are very roughly comparable to fate points and suchlike, although as the number you get scales with the number of friends at the table (including the GM) a larger group is a lot more powerful. Spend one for a re-roll, spend two to re-roll with a d20, spend three to pass a test (GM's discretion). You can also spend a variable number for moments of narrative convenience or whatever else the GM approves.

Yeah I played the game. My problem is there isn't a lot of equipment or rules for doing stuff. And the problem with combat is a lot of situations warrant it. The show has the luxury of writing ways out for the character. But realistically if you're attacked by a monster then you should fight back and not try to "frienship" your way out.

Oh, I see what you mean.

I certainly agree that there aren't many specific mechanics which does leave it feeling a bit bland.

Whether combat is a good solution or not is far more the design of the GM and the approach of the players; when I ran a scenario where the players were paladins of Celestia and Luna specifically sent out to hunt monsters then yes, the lack of combat depth did show*. In contrast, if you're playing as regular ponies then the best response to monster attacks is to run away, and that is in line with the show.

I would say that the brevity of the combat mechanics, combined with the high damage vs stamina ratio, is part of a design philosophy to discourage combat, but I've had a look at some of the adventures and they do seem to include a fair bit of combat so I'm not sure I can credit the designer with that^.

My suggestion would be to improvise or design your own mechanics, or those made by others; as the base system is quite simple it's easy enough to bolt on mechanics as needed and formalise improvised rulings after the fact. It's not great that a system needs that, but the system being flexible enough to support modification is a mark in its favour.

*although I had prepared a few extra mechanics to keep things interesting, so it worked out.

^There was a good Extra Credits episode on using the vast array of combat mechanics that have been developed to improve non-combat mechanics, and I think that if the game had gone that way then I'd have been fine with the combat mechanics remaining a relatively small part of the rules.

It's canon if it's licensed. A good author can write a good story in any universe. But Star Trek has the best universe to work in.

Seen a fair few licenced works though that are then contradicted by show canon - can't think of any in the Star Trek universe (but given the number of alternate timelines, the reboot movies and so forth, you can probably handwave differences anyhow) but certainly in the Pony and Whoovian universes, licenced novels and radio plays have been contradicted by show canon later.

I have read more than 400 Star Trek novels and I know a few contradictions.

Because you forgot to send them a picture of Chuck Norris.

Because taxes aren't payment for services rended, they are a legalized version of "demanding money with menaces".

Still, given the president says paying taxes is for chumps, maybe you could quote him?

What kind of game is it?

A first person dungeon crawl. Plus I hacked the save file to give my characters maximum stats and good items. James T. Kirk did it.

I can't stand radio in general, especially down here where the only things you can get are country and polka stations...  

But radio is life, we should be dissing the advisement on the radio station. 

NPR is awful

I like even numbers. Powers of 2, preferably.

lets call this tear "almost 2020" then

2020-1

woof, woof

It simply saddens me that they screwed it up as bad as they did.

They should put these games on a PS4 disc.

My characters now have max stats.

Trixie: Yay pudding! Yay!

pudding is cream, so i approve

Same here.

I'm a gamer.

talking to yourself?