Conversion Work Involved

By PencilBoy99, in Rules Questions

I haven't seen the new players guide so my question might be resolved in that.

How much work is involved in doing a "good enough" conversion of a setting where players are a kind of thing with structured powers?

For example, doing a Vampire the Masquerade conversion?

I don't think Genysys has an abstract power creation system like Fate, Mutants and Masterminds, or Wild Talents, so you would have to invent the mechanics and cost of every power player or antagonist would have. Then, you'd need to build the careers and talent trees.

Is this right? Is it simpler than I've made it out?

Edited by PencilBoy99

There kind of is. There are some examples in Genesys and some examples in Star Wars where talents are used for this.

E.g. Companion, Special Weapons Permit, Investments.

My suggestion would be to either handle it with talents, just handle it via roleplay, or create a new resource (similar to say... the character points in Realms of Terrinoth).

Edit: Upon second read I think I may have misunderstood the question and was thinking of "Backgrounds" from those games. With that said; talents could still work as a replacement, or just a seperate progression path (similar to Heroic ability from Realms of Terrinith).

Edited by Noahjam325
On 11/27/2019 at 2:24 PM, PencilBoy99 said:

How much work is involved in doing a "good enough" conversion of a setting where players are a kind of thing with structured powers?

A lot less than most people think.

On 11/27/2019 at 2:24 PM, PencilBoy99 said:

For example, doing a Vampire the Masquerade conversion?

Most of the work has been done for you: Something Strange , by our very own @drainsmith is the best thing to happen to the World of Darkness since nWoD in the early '00s!

On 11/27/2019 at 2:24 PM, PencilBoy99 said:

I don't think Genysys has an abstract power creation system like Fate, Mutants and Masterminds, or Wild Talents, so you would have to invent the mechanics and cost of every power player or antagonist would have. Then, you'd need to build the careers and talent trees.

Not entirely correct. Take a look at the magic system (especially the three new spells in the EPG). If you want your player's characters to have specific powers and not broad spells, just take the Signature Spell talent from Terrinoth and make it ranked. Each rank is a new "power" the character has. Build it just like you would any spell, but (per the Signature Spell talent) it has to be a specific spell with specific effects that don't change.

Otherwise, take a look at some of the various offerings on the Genesys Foundry . There are a few new settings, besides Something Strange, that have new talents and abilities that you can use.

And, of course, if you have any issues, questions or concerns we're always here to help!

Something Strange does a good job of this with the talents, as does Ready...Fight! Ready...Fight has a subsystem where you buy individual maneuvers with XP. These maneuvers are statted up like equipment but can't be bought with currency, only XP. Its a subsystem that I think has an amazing amount of potential with this system, specifically around hyper focused campaign settings. I really wish it would have been included in the Core Rule Book or Expanded Players Guide as an alternative option.