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Creating a Humans-only setting?

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2016 11:55 am
by tzi89
So, I've longed to find a rule system that is simple, straight forward and well, basic, that doesn't have too many excessively defined classes or is as close to classless as possible. So far I like what I see in this system but I am wondering if anyone has used it to run a Humans only Conan-esque styled world? Since everyone is effectively the same race should I just ignore it altogether? I do plan to have a Touched/Tainted option, maybe even an option for Demi-God like Hercules as this is very much an Ancient/Antiquity themed world.

Re: Creating a Human's only setting?

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2016 12:44 pm
by SmootRK
Moved topic to General.

Re: Creating a Human's only setting?

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2016 5:29 pm
by Clever_Munkey
I have run a human only campaign. It wasn't planned like that, my players just all wanted to be humans, so we did not ignore race.

Not to push you away from BFRPG, but have you taken a look at RuneQuest? It's a percentile system that has a Greek Mythological theme behind it, and a grittier feel to it. There are non-human races, but RuneQuest Essentials (the free intro book) only covers humans, so it should work fine if you exclude the other races. The downside is that it is more complex than BFRPG.

Re: Creating a Human's only setting?

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2016 5:44 pm
by tzi89
Clever_Munkey wrote:I have run a human only campaign. It wasn't planned like that, my players just all wanted to be humans, so we did not ignore race.

Not to push you away from BFRPG, but have you taken a look at RuneQuest? It's a percentile system that has a Greek Mythological theme behind it, and a grittier feel to it. There are non-human races, but RuneQuest Essentials (the free intro book) only covers humans, so it should work fine if you exclude the other races. The downside is that it is more complex than BFRPG.
I might take a look at it, or pull some ideas from Conan d20, creating a kind of background deal but since the world is Human, alla say Song of Ice and Fire or Conan I may just ignore race altogether. I might see if RuneQuest has some things I can pilfer.

Re: Creating a Human's only setting?

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2016 6:35 pm
by mTeasdale
There is also Maze & Minotaurs and Barbarians of Lemuria that might suits your campaign.

But yeah, I think that BFRPG would fit the bill too. If your players like a lot of choices when generating a character, it might be a good idea to give them small boons according to origins of give them access to more than 4 classes.

Re: Creating a Human's only setting?

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2016 7:02 pm
by Dimirag
Creating a human-only setting is no hard task, you can even ditch the human XP bonus.

Depending on how much mechanical differentiation you want to have between characters you can give each "origin" a quirk or bonus depending natural or acquired abilities.

Re: Creating a Human's only setting?

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2016 7:52 pm
by Longman
I've run various games where the only initial choice is human. Elves and dwarves are mythical, or known to exist, but very far away. If the original characters ever meet one, then the possibility of playing one is introduced into the game.

You could easily use BFRPG for a humans only game. I agree with Dimirag that backgrounds could be used to distinguish the characters in that kind of game.

Re: Creating a Human's only setting?

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2016 8:43 pm
by tzi89
mTeasdale wrote:There is also Maze & Minotaurs and Barbarians of Lemuria that might suits your campaign.

But yeah, I think that BFRPG would fit the bill too. If your players like a lot of choices when generating a character, it might be a good idea to give them small boons according to origins of give them access to more than 4 classes.
I plan to use the additional classes listed, especially Druid. But all of them are pretty good.

Re: Creating a Human's only setting?

Posted: Mon Aug 22, 2016 9:10 pm
by tzi89
Dimirag wrote:Creating a human-only setting is no hard task, you can even ditch the human XP bonus.

Depending on how much mechanical differentiation you want to have between characters you can give each "origin" a quirk or bonus depending natural or acquired abilities.
Currently, I am thinking some sort of bonus on things relating to culture. Basically using the secondary skills or just adding extra features. So someone from a society that lives in a bog might be good at swimming, or the desert people might have greater endurance in the heat. ect. Or something related to the society they come from.

Re: Creating a Human's only setting?

Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2016 7:52 am
by parejf63
This is an interesting concept. However, your players may not like that idea. Since different races add different abilities, it may be best to give each human culture a few of their own.
You can also modify stats to appease them. Adding a + to strength, etc.
Conan RPG was an excellent example of how this was done.