Sell me on Palladium Fantasy RPG

[wizardofthenorth]

My Palladium experience extends to primarily Rifts and Robotech and a smattering of TMNT. I picked up 1st ed. BTS when it came out but we never really got around to it as our gaming tastes shifted around that time.

With my crew...at the moment we mainly play 5E and really enjoy the ruleset.

What I would like to know is what are the strengths of PF...why should I play it over 5E...what do you like about how it plays. What dont you like.

I am more interested in the game itself...not the PF world...although I understand there are some very good books in there.

And for the Palladium folks...this is totally the type of
thing I would check out in a Bundle of Holding or similar.

Thanks

[Saitou Hajime]

are you a setting or mechanics kind of guy? Because if you are Mechanics All I have is you get more skills over time as well as skill growth.

As a setting though I think it one of the better setting with some of the most potental for some really epic stories. Huge amounts of area of potentual conflict, realms with interesting histories and politics. vast areas of pure adventure.

[wizardofthenorth]

I certainly enjoy a good setting book or adventure to mine for ideas...but I never get too hung up in I have to play in say Forgotten Realms canon.

To me the world is a construct to assist in running an adventure...so it doesn't really matter if it is in the wolfen empire or shadowdale.

But for this topic I was more thinking about the rules and mechanics of the system. Is there any hooks to PF that might make me want to have a go with my players.

[drewkitty ~..~]

I find it easier to "wing it" as a GM in the PF setting. Making stuff up to let the story go where it may go.

[zyanitevp]

The settings are what keep me coming back to Palladium Fantasy- some great base ideas to spin your own against their backdrop! In my 6th year of running a single campaign to put together Osiris (link in my signature) and have used every Fantasy book at one point or another.

[Jimbo]

Even though it could use some tweaks to smooth out the lumps, I love the combat system. Very old school (read as AD&D) but better primarily due, in my opinion, to actual defense rolls, dodge, parry and roll with impact. Even better, again IMHO, is the fact that while min max is possible, not every character is a member of the Justice League through feat trees and prestige classes. It is VERY easy to craft a story driven campaign that relies on skill use and role play with a good bit of sword swinging, spellcasting mayhem.
And speaking of spellcasting, mages start out with a fair variety of spells and enough PPE to cast them numerous times as opposed to once per day/adventure.
Characters start fairly powerful in comparison, grow relatively quickly for the first few levels then slow down but their actual power levels don't grow in an out of hand manner. Hope this helps.

[Killer Cyborg]

Port in your Rifts or TMNT characters.
Have fun.

[Veknironth]

Well, you know the system after playing Rifts and Robotech. It actually works a bit better with hand-to-hand, in terms of combat. I think most people prefer the rolling for defense more so than just tabulating bonuses and one player trying to beat a number on a die. I think the setting is excellent. It's much more grey than a lot of other fantasy worlds. The PC challenges aren't just other races or monsters. Most of the enemies presented in the books are just other humanoids with differing ideas. There are, of course, supernatural creatures and they aren't overpowered with the world being SDC.

I much prefer the magic and psionics being based on a points system as opposed to the memorization style. Also, you can learn spells anytime you can find someone to teach you, for most magic classes.

-Vek
"Enjoy!"

[wizardofthenorth]

Just to follow up, thank you for all the replies.