Modern AGE system ideas

[steelsmiter]

THIS THREAD IS FOR A GROUP GAME I INTEND TO RUN ON BMR

So I've been following the Adventure Game Engine since it showed up on Tabletop (Dragon AGE/Ashes of Valkana). Started off having that nice appeal of being modeled after a video game I liked, but it was originally a bit restricted with the 3 class system. When Modern AGE came out they threw that idea out the window and in my mind made a broader, superior game, at least in comparison to the other AGE games. I became enamored.​

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Modern AGE is set up to create characters of a variety of backgrounds, professions, talents, and whatnot. It's designed so that you can place your game wherever you want on the Gritty>Pulpy>Cinematic continuum, including whether there's such a thing as magic or psychic power. I really like this game, but it seems to be a bit less mainstream so it's not as easy to find players. So here I am sort of fishing for Modern AGE ideas from players interested in playing​

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Books I have:​

Basic Rulebook​

Companion (so using Custom Characters is on the table)​

Threefold (Even if I don't run a threefold game, Ancestries may be on the table. I like how they're presented)​

World of Lazarus​

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Personally I would prefer not to run a canon World of Lazarus game (or really a canon game for any franchise due to the fact that I don't think I could honor an existing franchise), but technically any Modern AGE game could theoretically qualify as canon Threefold. Leaving that reservation aside, there are a few games I'm willing to run even without whatever feedback I get from this thread:​

1. Gritty horror with potential for cinematic slasher killers​
2. Pulpy Police Procedural or Crime Family​
3. Cinematic Buddy Cop Movie (With Lethal Weapon being the only exception to the No Canon rule since I've had a headcannon for the 5th installment killing off everyone except Nick Murtaugh and the son of Riggs who I've named Jack for years)​
4. Cinematic Special Forces: Not sure what era/battleground the game would take place, but probably no earlier than 1963. Also magic or psi would make sense in this setting.​
5. Unexpected Origin of Humanity (Pulpy. Powers are considered Specializations): The creationists were right about one thing, humans didn't evolve on earth... Whether they were right about the other, and how this lack of evolution manifests is up for grabs​
6. I just got the enemies and allies book, so a Hidden Magic game could be viable (but it could also work within the framework of the other ideas too)​
7. [insert idea here]​

So I put it to a vote. The numbers are included for convenience of being able to just say whichever number you want, but in votes with extra options you should include details (Like whether victims and killers of 1 are the same mode, which side of the law players of 2 are on, whether 3 is Lethal Weapon or not a franchise, how "real world" 4 is, and so on). Also if you vote 6 I want to hear what game you want me to run you in, but be aware that I'm not likely to be prepared to run games in preexisting franchises except as noted.​

 

[GuiltyTiffany]

3
and
7a. Similar to Buddy Cop, but Buddy Spies?
7b. Roadtrip from point A to point B. Point A side being the apocalypse war zone with zombie apes and Roombas, Point B is safety.

 

[steelsmiter]

3
and
7a. Similar to Buddy Cop, but Buddy Spies?

So not lethal weapon, but maybe buddy cop, but preferred buddy spies?

7b. Roadtrip from point A to point B. Point A side being the apocalypse war zone with zombie apes and Roombas, Point B is safety.

I've actually been working on a post apocalypse splatbook for AGE that I haven't released yet. It doesn't specifically have zombie apes, and isn't specifically designed for zombies, BUT it uses Companion's Ancestries system, and one of the possible ancestries is Beastfolk, The logical extension of this is that any animals, along with any beastfolk, could ostensibly be zombies... therefore, it's feasible to run zombie apes and rumbas.

 

[GuiltyTiffany]

So not lethal weapon, but maybe buddy cop, but preferred buddy spies?

all 3 ideas are equally preferable to me

it doesn't have to be zombie apes. I was just pulling random words from my head, but the living dead of various species is also fun

 

[steelsmiter]

Well, Modern AGE isn't quite fit to run a full on zombie apocalypse without a little supplement, but it can handle the other games pretty well. Also, I believe spies have legal enforcement powers, so they're basically like super cops.

 

[steelsmiter]

So I've written a supplement for post apocalypse games, called Fallen AGE. It's in the discord of my sig, but if anyone's interested in the supplement, or an actual post apocalypse game, I've done enough with Fallen AGE that I feel like I could run a game of post apocalypse.

THIS THREAD IS FOR A GROUP GAME I INTEND TO RUN ON BMR. DO NOT PM REGARDING THIS REQUEST.

 

[steelsmiter]

Randomly thought of a name for the Crime Family idea: Cazzoduramente

THIS THREAD IS FOR A GROUP GAME I INTEND TO RUN ON BMR. DO NOT PM REGARDING THIS REQUEST.

 

[mainman]

I've read through modern AGE and the world seems interesting.

I really like the idea of the movie Bright with Will Smith, and I like the buddy cop Genre.
I love Die Hard as well, and I like a real challenging enemy that everyone loves to hate together.

I vote for the power level not to be too high, sort of "competent" characters, in kind of the real world works for me.

 

[steelsmiter]

I've read through modern AGE and the world seems interesting.

I really like the idea of the movie Bright with Will Smith, and I like the buddy cop Genre.
I love Die Hard as well, and I like a real challenging enemy that everyone loves to hate together.

I vote for the power level not to be too high, sort of "competent" characters, in kind of the real world works for me.

Modern AGE is weird in that even Cinematic isn't super high powered in the end game. The phrase doesn't seem to have the same meaning as it does in other games. Some of the things in Modern AGE Companion don't really become full on buddy cop tropes (like being able to walk away from or ride the wave of explosions) until you hit cinematic. It's all around easiest if I don't do a franchise because Lethal Weapon is the most familiar one to me and I would rather play Riggs Jr than run that game. Modern AGE also has a confounding factor in that experience gains don't scale with level, and it takes 5 Hard Difficulty fights to even surpass the first. I've toyed with only granting the cool RP points but throwing them out there like candy at a parade instead of like once per session or whatever.