Is there something like gritty epic fantasy?
Malazan Books of the Fallen
I dislike the author's writing style, but there you go.
>>47619767
i was mostly asking for an rpg system but thats good too
>>47619877
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay? One of them is bad I've heard, I don't remember if it was 2nd or 3rd Ed though. Who never is the newest one is the bad one I suppose.
>>47619767
This keeps popping up all over, regardless of what is asked. Why?
>>47620226
3rd is bad.
>>47620226
I was under the impression that WHF RPG was less epic and more "muck sloggers trying to kill monstrosities with sharpened farming equipment".
Though, at high exp levels it could be epic I guess. Fits with the world.
>>47619750
Daemonworld may fit the bill,even though it's set in 40k.
>>47620350
Well, the OP asked for "gritty" and what you described sounds pretty gritty to me. And hardcore. I've sadly never had the chance to play the game, although I'd really like to. How the game does the class system sounds pretty neat to me.
>>47620489
He also said "epic", which doesn't mesh well with the low power nature of WHF RPG.
>>47620520
I wasn't aware the game suffered in that way. Is it due to the mechanics, or the setting itself? Can it be solved on the GMs part by adding more...epicness to the game?
>>47619750
Yes there is.
>>47620560
It began as something quite dark and unpleasant that was quite unique and different to regular fantasy. I loved it.
It then lost it all at DA2 and then went full SJW 'tard fest in DAI.
>>47620604
100% agreed. It saddened me as well.
>>47620558
Its really more the setting.
Most of the warriors are peasants with pikes and flintlock muskets shoved in their hands, pushed into a block formation, and told to fight against whatever is threatening them.
But absolutely the GM could add more epicness to it. Probably the easiest way would be to just give the players X exp at the start.
WHF ranges from muck sloggers fighting with sharpened farming equipment to people who can literally tear reality apart with a thought.
>>47620656
I'm quite familiar with the setting itself, I'm just unaware what you can play as within the game itself. I would think a group consisting of an apprentice wizard, an empire great swordsmen, dwarves giant slayer, and say... woodelf bowmen could get up to some pretty epic adventures. Are those options even available? I mean, I know you can pick stuff like "cook" or "rat-catchers" as your profession, are their just much better options? Is there a way to make a custom profession?
>>47620812
IIRC, its a random table for starting class then you can prestige into better classes like Master Engineer depending on what class you have at a certain point.
But what you described is possible. I'd have to do some research to give you a better answer.
>>47620825
That's cool. I've always been interested in trying it, but I don't have the cash to get the books, or can I find a PDF just to learn the game. One day though...one day.
>>47620961
You can just torrent it.
It's what I did.
>>47620604
What was wrong with DAI exactly? I'm not a huge fan of the series as a whole, but I enjoyed it a lot more than the previous two instalments.
>>47620812
>giant slayer,
Giant Slayer is a terrible starting career. You can't leave it until you kill a giant, and giants are really tough.
>>47620969
Sadly my computer is down, as is my internet at the moment. I'm currently just using up my phone's data plan (which is dumb, I know) to browse /tg/. Like said. One day though.
>>47621083
Essentially the focus was moved away from the dystopian fantasy setting with the Blight, the Grey Wardens and their struggle and political infighting between nations and a curious and somewhat well thought out mythology combining demons, a Saxon-like view of Christianity and a few other things.
Instead all this took a backseat to rather dull and cliched characters. Characters that from the word go, could roughly predict how things would progress.
Flamboyant mage from Diabolic Empire - Oh he's gay, DID NOT SEE THAT COMING, his father wanted to change that?!
Big Horned, laid back merc - Totally not a romance option, of course he fucking is and by extention is cool with all sorts of sexuality.
Uptight Templar bitch - Remains uptight Templar bitch throughout but has soft heart that eventually is shown
The list goes on, it was dull, boring and sacrificed all of what made the original good. I can't like, I played the game but the plot was meh, the characters weren't very engaging and the mythos just didnt make much sense by the end.
>>47620560
Biowares idea of dark and gritty was swearing, blood and Marilyn Manson songs in the trailer.
it is hard to find an rpg where players are good and can do cool stuff but do not become gods a few levels in, mostly because i am looking in dnd related games
>>47620309
It's a really big (size wise) fantasy series that has a fairly rabid following that usually first read the books in their teens and were blown away by how much COOL STUFF is in them and felt really smug that they were reading thick books with lot of people (if you had any friends who started to read wheel of time 20 years or so ago, it's kinda like that, times 10)
A lot of people who read them without the nostalgia goggles will tell you that the series starts off pretty shit because it's the first real book the author wrote, and it's based on a, I shit you not, D&D campaign. So you actually get the sense that you're sitting in on someone else's pen and paper session, except no one has bothered to fill you in on what's going on, so you keep having to piece it together while getting AWESOME!tm setpieces thrown at you.
Imagine you're reading Lord of the Rings, but you never really get told what a hobbit is, so for half the book you think they're just midgets or something, you keep wondering who the black riders are or what the fuck they're up to, and when gandalf first does magic shit you go WTF he's a wizard? This has the effect of making you feel like every major event is just a cop-out by a writer who thinks he's too cool for foreshadowing or sticking to established boundaries, mainly by not establishing any at all.
I'm not some retard who needs to have my hand held when reading a book, but the fact that a lot of the fans will literally tell you that the series is better the second time you read it, because then you know what the fuck is going on, should be a warning sign to any sane individual.
>>47620604
What was so different about it?
>>47621155
There's nothing that fills my heart with more bile than the word "relationships" in an RPG, and I'm pretty OK with relationship stuff in fiction, but in RPGs it's almost always awful.
"You can marry one of the personality-less drones that make up your party! Aren't you excited?!"
>>47619750
>"The Global merchants would have you believe that the Woag are nothing more than barbaric savages, and at first glance they seem to be correct. Looking closer and you find they are much more than that. Woag are skilled traders, shipwrights, and warrior poets. The savagery and barbarism comes from what they need to do to carve out an existence in such an unforgiving land" (Description of the Woag "Traveler's guide to Soi")
Something like this anon?
http://immortalpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Woag
>>47621482
>>47619750
Try the "Immortals" setting
>"We are the fire, we are life, and like a great fire we will grow and spread across the world that was meant for us no matter what obstacle blocks our path" (Goran Godspeaker)
The Goran are made up of various genetically engineered castes that each fulfill a unique position within their civilization as dictated by the Fire God.
Their language and culture often cause conflicts with other nearby nations
They are the most populous group of ab humans on Soi
>>47619750
Dungeon World
Witcher 3 (contracts and sidequest related stuff specifically.) are great when you're a bit low on ideas.
>>47619877
Warhammer Fantasy is the most basic answer, but King Arthur Pendragon is the best in my opinion. The setting is high fantasy all the way, with dragons, wizards and shit, but at the same time has a lot of emphasis on society and culture and feels really gritty to play, with wounds that take monts in-game to heal, characters that grow hardened, then bitter, then old and weak and very fatal combat. It may sound like those things get in the way of fun, but trust this anon, they don't.
>>47621155
But anon you're praising the first for its setting and complaining about inquisitions characters , at least try to be consistent.
Origins also had shit characters and I still think DAI has a cool setting.
DA2 was bad though no argument there.
>>47619750
Darkening of Mirkwood, the mega campaign for The One Ring is kinda gritty. After all, anything you do won't matter in the end, Mirkwood falls to the Shadow and from the characters perspective, there's little hope of turning back the tide.
>>47626683
No I am not. I said, quite clearly, the focus was moved from the setting to the characters. The overarching theme in the first one was political infighting, game of thrones style politics, the rising tide of the Blight and all that doom and gloom.
In DAI the focus went straight to the edgy edgelord antagonist and the diverse and multicultural and utterly predictable and one dimensional cast.
They seem to have downplayed how deadly, lethal and costly the Blight is in the later games.
Origins did have pretty dull characters but as I said, the focus was not on them unlike the later games.
>>47619750
Thematically, Dark Souls is kind of like that.
Epic Points
>You eventually find yourself interacting with, and killing, heroes and monsters of legend and even a few gods.
>By the end, your actions determine the fate of the world for at least a few hundred years.
>You win your way into the palace of the gods, break into hollow bowls of the earth to meet the last dragon, uncover an ancient lost city, visit the estate of the world's first wizard, and plunge into hell itself.
Gritty Points
>Before and during the epic shit, your little life and your poor lot in life are given more attention than the fate of the world stuff.
>There is a definite sense of the world being way larger than you are.
>From beginning to end, the speed of your attacks, the speed of your dodge, the speed of your run, and the speed of your healing will absolutely never get faster. Your ability to withstand and dole out harm improves, but you don't gain too many new ways to do that.
>Despite all the gods, demons and monsters you kill, most of those same creatures are driven by purely human motivations.
>>47626862
Origins was already the bomb diggity of the three because it had the best combat system and enemies you fought usually operated by the same rules as you and your party members.
The thing is, I really like the setting and so I also liked inquisition because it let you see a huge range of locales and had a good number of historical lore bits. Being able to see elven statues off in the distance on high mountains from the exalted plains or explore the shithole that's the western approach area was cool.
>>47627000
>I really like the setting and so I also liked inquisition because it let you see a huge range of locales
It was pretty good as games go, it was varied and different in their locales but they were so disjointed I found and in many ways cliche.
>And had a good number of historical lore bits.
They did that, but the lore was so confusing and backwards and completely different to how I pictured it in the first game. I pictured Not-France as far more gothic and medievil, not the shinning masked utopia it showed us.
>Being able to see elven statues off in the distance on high mountains from the exalted plains or explore the shithole that's the western approach area was cool.
A couple of the settings were nice to look at, but some of them just got awfully annoying, the forest one with the green everywhere, the twisting tunnels of the sandy cliff one.
But again, I do not play RPGS to have things look good, that is why I play FPSs I played this becuse I had hoped the plot would be engaging and characters interesting and the lore intriguing, I was let down on all three points.
>>47627151
Ah, I can't speak too much for the plot because I haven't actually finished it yet. The "you're our inquisitor god king with ultimate power" wankery is pretty off putting for me though. I've never been one engaged by power fantasies.
Any examples of games with party members you'd say are good characters?
Also, agreeing with >>47626987
If gritty/epic makes me think "dark fantasy"
>>47627290
It is average as games go, no doubt they thought the big twist at the end was good but in realitiy it made so sense, had no foreshadowing and was ultimately quite jarring. No doubt the plot has been fucked worse than TES.
