The One Ring / Vortex

[guang]

Has anyone ever done a comparison or mashup of char creation for TOR RPG and Vortex system? I'd love to see how Talkers/Movers/Doers/Fighters action order and Shadow rules in the same game would work out.

[Stormcrow]

Yeesh! The systems are completely different. Any such mashup would be fit only for a spoof in the vein of "Daleks invade Middle-earth" or "Frodo and Sam in the TARDIS."

[guang]

eh, too bad. My reaction to both sub-systems is "wow! I want to use this in all my games!"

[Corvo]

I think that applying Vortex initiative to TOR would be easy.
Probably it would modify the player's behavior (like it is designed to do): I would see it more for a game modeled on The Hobbit (where cleverness win the day more often than not), rather than in one modeled after The Lord of The Rings (usually more dramatic)

I think that putting the Shadow mechanic into Vortex requires some more work

[kdresser]

I've wondered the same thing with GURPS. The GURPS combat system is just too interesting...

[atgxtg]

Mixing systems would be tricky. Adding an element from one system to the other would lead to changes beyond just changing a rule mechanic. It has an effect on the tone and style of play that might not be desired.

For instance, the way the rules work in Vortex, especially in the Doctor Who RPG, the PCs can survive and win against great menaces and terrible odds. Usually over the course of a few hours or days. So unleashing story points into TOR would greatly alter the tone of things, and make things much less grim.

Conversely, doing something like adding the Shadow mechanics to the Doctor Who RPG would make the setting far darker than it is, and probably kill off a lot of the lighthearted tone that goes with the TV series.

Interstingly enough, both have analogues. That is the Story Point mechanics are similar to Hope, and the Shadow point mechanics are similar to how companions in Doctor Who kinda get pushed into retirement.

[guang]

Lot's of good ideas here, thanks. I wasn't thinking of mixing settings, per se, just borrowing the mechanics to apply elsewhere.It seems to me that there are tantalizing hints of places they could be applied in various settings. Like Bilbo with Smaug focusing on talking then running rather than having to fight his way out. Or Yoda's warning about fear leading to anger leading to hate leading to suffering - it sounds almost like a path of falling to Shadow.