"Goalsystem rules downloads on discount today" Topic

Over on Wargame Downloads:

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Good opportunity to try Supersystem (2nd or 3rd edition) superhero, Blasters & Bulkheads space opera, the "Chaos series" pulp games, and/or the new Goalsystem Delves dungeoncrawl rules. 20% of the already low pdf prices makes them an ever better buy today.

Thanks. Chaos on Cronos is about the only one left I was interested in and hadn't picked up. I have some other options for that genre, so I wasn't dying to get it, but a sale is a sale…

I know the feeling – I've already got everything but Labors (which is a bit outside my zone of interest) in hardcopy. Still, thought someone else might benefit.

Cool. Just bought SS3, B&B, and Chaos in Carpathia.

What are the differences between Blasters & Bulkheads and Chaos on Cronos?
What about the differences between Goalsystem Delves, Goalsystem Fantasy, and Labors of the Gods?

Are these games related at all? Do they use anything like the Supersystem system (which I know and I like)?

Let's see:

Are these games related at all? Do they use anything like the Supersystem system (which I know and I like)?

They all use the Goalsystem engine, which is the heart of Supersystem as well. They work a bit differently from one game to the next (much like SS has changed from edition to edition) but the basic four stats/dice pool/opposed goal roals mechanic is a constant.

What are the differences between Blasters & Bulkheads and Chaos on Cronos?

They're both best at doing space opera, but B&B is more aimed at Star Wars/Firefly style play while Chaos is more Buck Rogers/Flash Gordon/pulp oriented. B&B will also do Traveller and Lensmen reasonably well, substituting Essence Powers for psionics. B&B is a larger rules set, more recently written, and has a bit more scope. Oh, and I helped proofread the darn thing. :)

What about the differences between Goalsystem Delves, Goalsystem Fantasy, and Labors of the Gods?

Labor of the Gods is pretty much warband-play Greek mythology, and IIRC it can be played as a reasonably straight historical skirmish game as well. Think Supersystem, but with Greek heroes and monsters instead of supers.

Goalsystem Fantasy is the oldest of the three, and is pretty much small-skirmish or "warband" fantasy miniatures gaming. Again, think simplified Supersystem with elves and dwarves and goblins instead of supers.

Goalsystem Delves is the newest of the lot, and quite a bit bigger in terms of page count. It comes much closer to being a full roleplaying game than the previous Goalsystem games, but it's nowhere near as complex as (say) D&D or GURPS. It draws heavily from classic D&D dungeoncrawl tropes, with characters having classes and gaining levels, picking up magic items, etc. There's an actual game master who puts together adventures, runs the baddies, etc, although it could be used to play head-to-head skirmish games ala Goalsystem Fantasy. It resembles games like Warhammer Quest or Descent in a lot of ways – a hybrid of boardgame, minis game, and dungeoncrawl roleplay. Unlike those games, it displays the usual Goalsystem theme of letting you design monsters to let you use just about any mini you like – although player characters are a little more "set" than usual. You could still tinker with them pretty easily – I'm already playtesting some subclass variants and new spells, for ex.

That help?

Thanks for posting this! I just bought Delves.

Hope you like it. I didn't do any work on that one (no time) but I'll be doing a "house rules" blog post or two for it once I get a little more playtesting done. Scott has a fair number of posts about the pre-production version on his own blog, and some links to other folks' game reports:

four-color-figures.blogspot.com