Genesys, A New All-Purpose RPG System Coming From FFG
June 28, 2017 by brennon
Fantasy Flight Games have thrown their hat into the RPG ring once again with a new system called Genesys. Much like FATE, AGE and GURPS they are trying their hand at an all-purpose role-playing game system using their Narrative Dice.
The Genesys system will work in all manner of settings, from Sci-Fi to Fantasy and even Weird World War or Steampunk. Inside the book, they have included ideas and ways to tweak the story to fit your chosen world but it's all driven by the Narrative Dice which work as the core of the game.
The dice may be familiar to those who have played their Star Wars RPG for example. The basic gist of the dice is that you need more successes than failures on the dice in order to pass checks. BUT, the twist is that advantages, triumphs, threats and despair are all thrown into the mix.
Using these symbols you are meant to twist the narrative to reflect changing fortunes. For example, you may have succeeded in picking the lock on that prison door but because of the threat generated you wake up the jailor. It's all about those margins of success.
The storyteller adds in dice to your pool and takes them away based on your situations and any justifications you make. It sounds like a good system for those looking to tell a story rather than grind through mechanics.
While custom dice can also be a bit of a turn-off to some I'm seeing this as an interesting opportunity to try out a more narrative approach much like with Mouse Guard or Torchbearer.
What do you think of their new system?
"Using these symbols you are meant to twist the narrative to reflect changing fortunes..."
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This will sink without trace.
It is a crowded market and the dice gimmick can only take them so far. Speaking on the dice, I tried their StarWars RPGs and though the dice sound good in theory I found them to be more of a hinderance during gameplay. It seemed like nearly every roll the players made both failed (no cumulative successes) and generated threat. It became a constant chore to have to RP this out all the time. I think they need to cut back on the odds of getting advantages and threats to make the system run smoother. That or just use regular… Read more »
Yea, for sure. I tried it first with 3rd Edition Warhammer Roleplay, and afterwards with Star Wars. In Warhammer, past a certain point, it was almost impossible for a character to fail a test. In Star Wars, they fixed that somewhat, but mitigating the banes and boons was an absolute head-ache. In almost every roll in combat, players would generate banes or boons that would trigger certain abilities, granting bonuses to other players, disadvantages to enemies, free moves, etc. Adjudicating this as a GM became obnoxious, but it also slowed everything to a crawl as players had to consult their… Read more »
Yeah, the custom dice thing is a pain in the rear. Even if it’s one with a conversion thing, they’re still a pain in the rear to keep track of and use.
FFG get way with a lot of poor game designs because they use strong selling IP. Without the IP to hang this game on I think it will sell poorly.
FFG seems to love their dice with various graphical representations of sphincters.
i think the narrative dice lead to an interesting system, definitely makes you work for it though. not every ones cup of tea as it can drive the tempo and force you to make complicated multi storied narratives regularly. it’s definitely a challenge and you don’t always want a challenge. these narrative systems are great if you can get a group that thrive under those circumstances. most folks like to add narrative in ether a more structured way or to be able to let the mechanic tell the basic story to which the can add flavour as the inspiration comes.… Read more »
Interesting launch, and interesting response from people. Completely by coincidence I was chatting about the WFRP dice mechanic with a friend a few days ago – someone who’s been running Star Wars D6 for years but is thinking of switching to the newer FFG system. I can’t help shake the feeling that these dice are a great idea with a lot of potential but which haven’t been properly developed yet to get them exactly right. For me, and I haven’t played much WFRP with this system I confess, I found there were too many other systems going on around the… Read more »
I’m sceptical of this. I’ve DM:d games before and I would never accept to have dice tell me how to run our game. The players using dice to measure their own personal skill rolls is fine but the rest of the world they’re in is in my hands.
It’s no different than a random encounter table in D&D, really, except there’s no preset list of outcomes.
I really enjoy the system in the Star Wars games. The trick is to use the Threat/advantage for small things: a distracting noise, slipping on a stone, an enemy fumbling their weapon. If there seems to be a problem with them happening too often and the GM is having too much trouble coming up with new things, adjust the number needed to trigger something, or just don’t use them. Personally, I think it’s a great way to add a bit of randomness into a story, and the GM has the power to use the rolls to encourage players along the… Read more »
This could be interesting for people who love the Star Wars system and want to use it for other things, but a worldless RPG is always going to struggle against more fully formed options. Still, FFG know what they’re doing and if they support this with interesting settings.
I do think the dice represent player skill, it’s just not a simple pass/fail equation. Sometimes you succeed, but at a cost. Other times, you fail but with an unintended benefit. It just keeps things interesting.