Elite RPG questions

mossfoot

mossfoot
So there are two Elite themed pencil & paper RPGs on the horizon. Has anyone been following these closely?

I'm curious about what the core differences between them intend to be. Is one more ship/tactical based? Is one more simplified for quicker storytelling gameplay? Just glancing at their websites it's not exactly easy to tell.

I wish them both luck, of course, but am curious to learn which will be more along the lines of what I'm looking for. I'm also curious about the opinions of those who are following them and why they're excited about version X or version Y.

http://daftworks.co.uk/eliterpg/index.php/Welcome

http://www.edrpg.co.uk/
 

Deleted member 110222

D
Super psyched. I've wanted to get into this genre for a while.
 

AcademicDust894

AcademicDust894
I ordered a printed copy of Elite Encounters the other month after listening to the Lave Radio crew's three parter with selezen. Comedy Gold it was & I can't wait until selezen & the Lave crew get together again for another round. Tears running down the face funny.
 
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Orange Sheets

Orange Sheets
I'm kinda hesitant about these. They look pretty solid, but the other one (edrpg?) feels tad bit moduley/expensive :)

Still tempted. The setting and the possibilities for a small group of individuals in it are great. Haven't been actively looking for good system to run it with though.
 

Simon Darkstep

Simon Darkstep
I'm skeptical of special-purpose game systems. They have a way of coming out really broken, since the game designers have to split their time between creating cool content and futzing with comprehensible rules.

I hope they'll pivot on that idea a bit and use some already common core rules.
 

Orange Sheets

Orange Sheets
Will be interesting to see if the officially backed rpg will come up with novel space dogfighting mechanics, use some proven (if such exists) as an inspiration, or try to model the E:D mechanics into p'n'p.

Interesting thing to ponder that one: how to tie narrative freedom and hands-on mechanics into a fluent (sub)system that sparks up drama and occasional creative solutions. Like in any other game, genre and system :)
 

Craith

Volunteer Moderator
Craith
I checked out the free play test available at http://www.edrpg.co.uk/survey and found it nicely done, but with quite a few typos (otoh, it's playtest material).

Balancing is hard to judge without the full rules, but looked good .. plays a bit like d20 scaled to a d10.

Space combat and vehicle combat uses abstract positioning, it read interesting, but I couldn't play it yet.

The ships look very customizable, and similar to the game. Generally, they stay true to the lore, one major thing that irks me is the SRV, which 2 fixed multicannons in addition to the turret ... either make it a variant or make these available ingame. Also i fear a bit if the stuff they add will be compatible to the future development of elite, like the handheld weapons. Still, I plan to support the kickstarter in January, I liked what I saw.
 

rennarda

R
Simon Darkstep said:
I'm skeptical of special-purpose game systems. They have a way of coming out really broken, since the game designers have to split their time between creating cool content and futzing with comprehensible rules.

I hope they'll pivot on that idea a bit and use some already common core rules.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I'm a bit of an RPG design nerd, and there are a lot of absolutely brilliant systems around these days. I don't think that relatively unknown developers will bring out something that's comparable to the best. TBH I don't really like the sound of either of them.

It's not a big problem though - the venerable Traveller RPG is almost exactly Elite Dangerous (I'm sure it must have been one of the inspirations for the original Elite).

I don't like the idea of all the players having their own ships either - seems silly. Why not have the players be the crew of a single ship, as that's something that's impossible to do in the computer game at the moment?

The way I'd run Elite as a P'n'P RPG is either as an expansion to Traveller (if you want something gritty and realistic) or using FATE Core (if you want something more narrative).
 
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Simon Darkstep

Simon Darkstep
I'm always a fan of the old (and open source, I believe) D6 system first used in West End Games' Star Wars (ca. 1983), plus a few tweaks since then.

I've lately also been enjoying Chronicles of Darkness as a core system in lots of various areas.

There's a new Mekton Zeta kickstarted edition coming along, which should be pretty good for dealing with both pilots and "mecha" of any sort.
 

mossfoot

mossfoot
I loved D6 Star Wars but am also a huge fan of the new Fantasy Flight system. It's really quite cool.

However, I'm more interested right now in how the two Elite RPGs are going to work, and differ, than looking to other systems.
 
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Jason S

J
I wonder how the systems will incorporate the combat logging feature of ED or will that be the flip the table special action.
 

Steph

Steph
I've played Elite Encounters several times at Elite events and can confirm that it is a great deal of fun. :)

Any RPG is dependent to a great extent on the GM and the players so maybe I've been fortunate but I can honestly say that the mechanics lend themselves to an enjoyable time. Look it up, it is worth it!
 

vyrago

vyrago
I didnt back Elite Encounters, but I've followed its progress for years now. "progress" should be in quotes. It seems the creator got in way over his head, had a number of personal setbacks as well. The Elite: Dangerous RPG is on track to launch a kickstarter in a week and looks promising. It already has a playable demo. Personally, I feel like Elite Encounters isnt going to happen at all.
 

mossfoot

mossfoot
I wish them both the best of luck. One thing I like about the EDRPG demo is that the rules seem to play similar to how the Mekton RPG worked. And that's a simple but very versatile system.
 

Steph

Steph
vyrago said:
I didnt back Elite Encounters, but I've followed its progress for years now. "progress" should be in quotes. It seems the creator got in way over his head, had a number of personal setbacks as well. The Elite: Dangerous RPG is on track to launch a kickstarter in a week and looks promising. It already has a playable demo. Personally, I feel like Elite Encounters isnt going to happen at all.
Click to expand...

It'll happen. I've seen the rulebook (before Frontier requested some truncation and lore changes). That truncation will be painful since the lore section was *gorgeous*. As a kid I'd have read it over and over again.
 
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