Bay 12 Games Forum
Dwarf Fortress => DF Adventure Mode Discussion => Topic started by: PlumpHelmetMan on February 10, 2022, 04:15:15 pm
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Adventure mode board seemed like as good a place as any for this question.
To the point, I've heard stories from some bay12 forumites who have adapted their DF worlds to their own tabletop RPG campaigns, and thought it seemed like something I might want to try myself at some point. And so I'm curious, what are some opinions on the best TTRPG system to emulate a vanilla DF world (as in a somewhat more fleshed-out, cohesive, and actualized version of the game DF is right now, putting aside mythgen and other major future overhauls)?
I know D&D 5e and Pathfinder are popular choices...but while I have nothing against these systems on their own merits, I personally don't think they're the best at simulating vanilla DF in its current iteration (at least not without extensive homebrewing and house rules). I'm eager to find out whether anyone has used alternative systems to better effect?
I do already have a system in mind, but I'm always curious about alternative opinions.
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Fate seems like it’s very good at adapting to other systems, although to me it feels a little barebones.
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Not much of an actual TTRPG player due to not having a group but I've done research in the event that I do end up getting a group to play with. Besides D&D/pathfinder/etc, I've found two arguably lesser heard of systems, that while maybe not getting the world down perfectly might do a better job at emulating DF's fancy ass combat system.
Those being The Riddle of Steel: fairly old, Conan vibes, with limb damage/realistic wounds etc, one good hit ends a fight, but initiative is based on player vs GM reaction time if you follow the RAW; and a newer, in development but possibly dead (their page hasn't been updated in a while iirc) one called Song of Swords: Cleaner rules for combat, initiative not based on player reactions, fuckloads of melee weapons, uses a dice pool system and opposed rolls for attacks much like DF does internally, but as I said above it's unfinished, possibly dead, and as such lacks a magic system, though melee and ranged combat seems fully workable.
There's also one more, Blade of the Iron Throne, which is supposed to be a new, improved successor to Riddle of Steel but all of the stuff for it costs money and there's not a free rulebook or anything of the like so I don't know much about it.