Re: The Death of Tarkas Brain Lab IV

At 8:12 -0700 1/21/03, Leroy Van Camp III wrote:
>On Monday, January 20, 2003, at 07:52  PM, woodelf wrote:
>
>>>Still, considering the similarities between 3e and AM, I would
>>>think you would have an easier time converting 3e stuff to AM
>>>than 2e stuff.
>>
>>I actually started the conversion (high-fantasy version of Ars
>>Magica) back around '93, so it was pretty firmly AD&D2-based.
>
>Ahh, cool. While I have never run or played in an Ars game, I
>do like the system, so I can understand why someone would
>use it as a base for high fantasy. When I bought Ars I had the
>same intention as you. For a long time I had a game system
>of my own design (The Engine) that was heavily influenced
>by AM, most notably the way stats, skills and resolution worked.
>
>>For the
>>most part, it's equally compatible with all 3 editions, but i've
>>decided to include spell lists from both AD&D2 and D&D3E.
>
>So are you not using the AM magic system? Or are you just
>using D&D spells as AM spells within the Ars system?
>
>I really, really wish Atlas Games would do a d20 Ars.

Well, you can see for yourself what i've done:
<http://woodelf.dyndns.org/ars/>.  It's pretty well indexed, so you
should be able to just jump to the bits you're interested in.  In
short, new set of Techniques and Forms to match the feel of D&D magic
(frex, "people", "monsters" and "animals" are 3 distinct categories
of target).  But take a look--it should be an easy read if you're
just skimming for highlights.

Oh, and there's nothing SJ-specific in that--the SJ bits are going in
a separate document, which should be done (and online) in a week or
so.  (since smokepowder weapons and using a helm are likely to come
up in the next session.)

>
>>  there are *many* more spells in
>>D&D3E that tie directly into the mechanics, and thus need significant
>>altering.
>
>Gotcha. From a d20 standpoint that is a good thing, but for
>conversion's sake I can see where that would be problematic.

eh.  even for the base system, they've got no flavor, IMHO.  Sure,
they're mechanically sound, but the game ends up even more like a
console game, rather than RPing, IMHO.  In some cases, they're a
genuine improvement (frex, Tenser's Transformation is *much* easier
to deal with under 3E than 2nd).  But i'll still take the AD&D2
spelllist (especially PH+ToM) any day.

--
woodelf                <*>
woodelf@???.net
http://webpages.charter.net/woodelph/

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