What system would you use for a tabletop "ruin-crawl"?

[Hobgoblin]

Certainly, a big advantage of RuneQuest is that it's so intuitive. You go on your strike rank, you roll under your percentage, etc.

The Stormbringer/Cthulhu HP approach certainly has some advantages. I wonder if it might make fights longer overall, though, because you'd be eroding everyone's full HP (rather than just taking a leg or a head off here and there). I do like how RuneQuest fights leave you with crawling wounded all over the place after leg shots.

I suspect whatever system I go with, I'll got with card-based initiative. It's a great way to keep everyone involved, and if we're going with one card per player (like Savage Worlds) rather than per character (like FFoL), it should avoid people forgetting their turn, etc. And then, if we use RuneQuest, we'd do strike ranks as normal once combat is joined.

Counting against RuneQuest, potentially, might be the high numbers of foes I envisage for this. But I'll test it out with a few games with the kids and see. I'm quite keen to get a RuneQuest campaign going with them and their friends once our D&D juggernaut grinds to a halt (i.e. when the characters get to ludicrously high levels). I'm thinking something like 3rd edition's "Mythic Earth" but played using 2nd edition. I have the new Glorantha book, but the complexities of the background might be a bit heady for the kids.

[Hobgoblin]

A silly question maybe, but cant You just convert hexes to inches? There certainly could be some undecided situations from this, but that shouldnt be a problem in non-competitive play.

You can, I think, but there are a lot of hexed-based manoeuvres in The Fantasy Trip, and front hexes, side hexes and rear hexes all play important roles (your shield only protects certain faces of the hex, for example).

[zemjw]

Does anyone have much experience of Goalsystem Delves? That seems to exist in a similar bracket.

The author - fourcolorfigs - is active on these forums, so you could probably IM him directly. He has a thread at the moment about his new GoalSystem SF skirmish game over in the Future Wars forum - link

[Cat]

The Fantasy Trip is almost perfect for this, and I've used it before for something similar (a birthday-party one-shot). The hexes are really the only obstacle, as they're so important to movement and manoeuvre.

I find the system works pretty well going off the grid.  Either use hex shaped bases on the figures, or just mark points on whatever bases you have to give clear points of front, back, etc.  Then figures can move freely in any direction.

How have you found Savage Worlds to play as a miniatures game? I get the impression that it's quite 'heroic', which would be about right for this. I'm thinking that the PCs would each have a hero and a couple of henchmen, and they wouldn't necessarily be cooperating (which is where card-based initiative might help).

There have been some great miniatures dungeon crawl games at HMGS cons using slimmed down Savage Worlds.  Each player controlled a party of 5 adventurers.  Big multi-player game, the player to the left of the active player controlled the monsters the active player encountered — the game just snapped along..  With players' parties scattered in different sections of the dungeon, there can easily be 2 active players at a time.

[Hobgoblin]

Thanks, zemjw - it was that thread, in combination with the new table, that got me thinking about this!

Cat - that's a good point about more freeform Fantasy Trip. I'll give it a go. I think the "tightness" of the manoeuvring in the game might make it less suited to one with many players, though. But it's such a great game that I'll try some experiments with the kids.

There have been some great miniatures dungeon crawl games at HMGS cons using slimmed down Savage Worlds.  Each player controlled a party of 5 adventurers.  Big multi-player game, the player to the left of the active player controlled the monsters the active player encountered — the game just snapped along..  With players' parties scattered in different sections of the dungeon, there can easily be 2 active players at a time.

This sounds pretty much exactly what I'm going for. And that control system would work really well - so I'd only really need to spring the monsters on the PCs and then leave it up to them. Thanks! That tipped me into buying the Savage Worlds PDF (a bit of a bargain in any case).

[Cat]

When the Muses take me back to working on my modular 3D dungeon and painting chibi minis, I aspire to doing this.  Here's a photo of the big crawl game from Fall-In 2012:

[Patrice]

Argad rules are intended for RPG-minded games and contains suggestions for NPC handling, hidden moves of players and NPCs under GM control, etc.

Multi-player games run fast because everyone moves simultaneously (no need for player to "wait for their turn" but it requires some discipline, and GM/referee handling of things can be important (especially with young gamers). There are a few AARs online.

However the fantasy extensions are not well developped (and almost not translated in English) but it's quite easy to imagine your own monsters, basic characteristics are simple.

[Easy E]

I have not seen anyone mention Nightwatch yet.  I feel that would fit the bill nicely.

[Hobgoblin]

Argad rules are intended for RPG-minded games and contains suggestions for NPC handling, hidden moves of players and NPCs under GM control, etc.

Multi-player games run fast because everyone moves simultaneously (no need for player to "wait for their turn" but it requires some discipline, and GM/referee handling of things can be important (especially with young gamers). There are a few AARs online.

However the fantasy extensions are not well developped (and almost not translated in English) but it's quite easy to imagine your own monsters, basic characteristics are simple.

I have had a look at Argad before - it does look like the kind of thing I'm trying to do, so I'll give it another look if only for inspiration. Thanks for the reminder!

I have not seen anyone mention Nightwatch yet.  I feel that would fit the bill nicely.

I confess I'd never heard of it. Looks interesting. I'll hunt out some reviews. I do want this to be more competitive than cooperative, though - so that while players might band together, the alliances will be temporary and shifting; i'll give some of them directly opposing goals.

[meninobesta]

I saw this the other day, and found it interesting

[Patrice]

I have had a look at Argad before - it does look like the kind of thing I'm trying to do, so I'll give it another look if only for inspiration. Thanks for the reminder!

You're welcome

I know that the system is unusual, and does not please everyone (and also has never been really completed, nor well enough presented).

Anyway, feel free to use any of the suggestions included in the rules, some of which can certainly work mixed with different rulesets.