Le Noir Faineant wrote:
So, why your excitement for this Destiny6 game, in particular?
D6 seems to be pretty well supported in terms of fantasy stuff, notably, Azamar, and, of course, older stuff.
That’s a good question. I guess the short answer is that, from what little we know, the rules and game setting of Destiny6 really appeal to me.
I own the older D6 Fantasy hardcover but I never warmed up to it enough to actually try playing a game. There were a lot of optional rule variations which is a turn-off to me since I would rather the game designers playtest the various options and decide which set of rules is the best for their game. However, this sort of requires a setting or game world which D6 Fantasy also lacked. This was another big turn-off as I don’t have the time or desire to properly create my own fantasy world from scratch.
Azamar did rouse my interest since it has a fleshed out game world and a solid set of rules. However, when Azamar first came out, Destiny6 was also (supposedly) on the near horizon and sounded like a better fit for the kind of game I wanted to play.
The version of D6 rules used in Azamar (called Cinema6) is a decent rule system but is definitely not my favorite. On the other hand, the rules innovations slated for Destiny6 (as described by Jeff) sounded pretty interesting. For example, he talked about giving characters, NPCs, monsters etc. a “level” based on the total experience used to create them. Thus, as players gained character points over time, their level would go up giving them a bonus when interacting with lower level beings. What I like about this is that it can be used to diminish the common D6 problem of players with high skill-level characters having to roll piles of dice.
The descriptions of the setting in Destiny6 appeal to me more as well. Jeff describes it as “Dark Fantasy” which he claims has a strong element of horror built into the game systems as well as the setting. In addition, he claims that he wants to take the usual fantasy tropes and add a unique twist to them. This is huge for me since my gaming group, though inexperienced gamers, were well acquainted with the old and tired DnD monsters we encountered in our short foray into 4e. When we encountered the small reptilian creatures, we all knew they were kobolds and we knew what we could expect from them.
I did get the Azamar corebook on Sunday since it was free for download over this past weekend and I will be giving it a closer look over the next couple of weeks (it’s got a LOT of content). While my initial impressions of the core book are very good, the races, character templates and general setting just don’t “grab me” at first glance. Additionally, I believe the creators of Azamar have now turned their attention to creating a core-book for a steam-punk setting and have no near-term plans to expand on Azamar beyond the core book. They may be pie in the sky dreams, but at least Jeff has talked about making pre-made adventures which are a big bonus for me.
Anyhow, maybe I’m building up Destiny6 too much in my head but what little I do know about it is quite different from Azamar and simply intrigues me more. Aside from Azamar and Destiny6, I am not aware of any other Fantasy settings utilizing the D6 system. (but please feel free to point me in the right direction if you know of any
