The short TRIPOD Essence book is done. Dom is sorting out layout by discovering the capabilities of Affinity Publisher and getting us to a neat little 6×9 book on Drivethru that has pretty much the same aesthetic as the original Wordplay game. That’s exciting!
This has got me thinking about systems and my perennial and pointless quest for the perfect system for me. It doesn’t exist, at least not for all things, but there are many good ones out there. Whilst doing a Drivethru and disk archive trawl I stumbled upon an old favourite that I only managed to get to the table in a minor way. This game is the Omni system that powered a range of Morrigan Press titles, most notably Atlantis: The Second Age and Talislanta.
I had kind of forgotten that I was head over heels in love with Omni and have spent a good chunk of the afternoon rediscovering my enthusiasm for this simple and flexible generic system, reminding myself why I am so very enamoured with it. So much so that me and Tom ran a little homage website for the system back in the day.
The system is a simple 1d20 roll high mechanic, where you add bonuses for attribute, skill and circumstantials and remove the ‘degree of difficulty’, which could be an opponents ability or a set difficulty for a task. Roll the 1d20 and apply the final modifier against a standard and consistent table of results, which allow for fumbles, failure, partial success, success and critical results. Flexible, point buy, character generation, with characteristics, skills, talents, ancestries, callings all in the mix. Jerry D. Grayson’s development of the system in the newer edition of the game adds some well conceived ideas on top, including hero points, renown, indulgences and other sword and sorcery goodness. Jerry’s lifepath character generation really fleshes out the heroes and embeds them in the antideluvian world.
You only need the 1d20 in play. Weapon damage is based on a set amount modified by the quality of your success.
The magic system is freeform, but built around a fantastic core that lets you build effects up from scratch. In fact everything builds around some common core principles, giving the game a really solid feel.
The system has been used to power a number of other genres, including steampunk and ancient Greece space opera. It is very flexible and I’m pretty sure it sits alongside your Cypher and Savage Worlds niche of multi genre action games.
With an Artesia game beckoning for later in the year, I really shouldn’t be diverted, but it is Omni, my old favourite, back to show that it hasn’t lost any of its lustre. At least for me, when I ran the game it foundered slightly on my ‘Thursday group rocks’ as the system didn’t ignite one or two of the group. In a way I can see why. It goes about its business in a no nonesense, workman like way. Perhaps even ‘bland’ and simplisticly. Maybe that’s partly why I like it. It underpins and enables without showing off too much.
I shall yet dally some more. Sunday beckons and a chance to tinker. Perhaps I have found my long desired game engine for Tekumel?
