post about SATTAS on a german forum

[Jeffrywith1e]

Here is an English translation (thank you, Google) from this post:

This is my newest favorite RPG system is based in Germany not even on the bench. Therefore times here a review of my site:

The Sunday-Afternoon-Tea-Time Adventure System:


DOCTOR WHO - ADVENTURES IN TIME AND SPACE Roleplaying Game
11th Doctor Edition
by David F. Chapman
BBC / Cubicle 7, 2012
and the
PRIMEVAL Roleplaying Game
Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan
Impossible Pictures / Cubicle 7, 2012

With these works, role plays are the British television series "Doctor Who" and "Primeval" before.

Both series deal with the issue in the broadest sense of time travel. When it comes Primeval "only" about the time line on the ground, while Doctor Who journeys into space as well as includes travel through the past and future. The atmospheric approaches differ greatly here: Primeval strives for a realistic approach, apart from the premise of the story-time goals or anomalies. Doctor Who takes place in a universe where everything seems possible, follow the dramatic events but largely credible parameters, which is reflected, for example, hard and relatively realistic action and damage rules for characters.

In the control system Characters have six attributes, twelve and thirteen skills in Doctor Who in Primeval and a pretty decent latte at the advantages and disadvantages. The difference in the skills obtained through outsourcing the handling of animals in their own skill that you made in Primeval because of the unique importance of this issue (on the evolution of time people are an exception; animals have existed for hundreds of millions of years).

The manageable list of skills compels naturally to a conception of the background of the character, and thus to have of what a value in Craft, Knowledge, Science and Technology in a particular case actually means.

Very nice that the operation of the damned computer under the label of "Technology" trades, which has the advantage that one character from the past does not have to cancel an entire skill. An alchemist of the Middle Ages can be so simply use his lab or a pioneer of the Roman legions to build his jumps or catapults.

Moreover, as soon as a skill value is 3 or more, choose a specialization under the name "Area of ​​Expertise" and wins for the appropriate application a bonus of 2

Speaking of values: the scale of attributes and skills in humans is 1 to 6 Litters are handled as follows: we add an attribute and a skill, selected according to the task, and rolls 2d6, the come out roll is then added to the sum of attribute and skill. Advantages and disadvantages, the "traits" come, in many cases by additional bonuses or penalties into play. The result is compared with the difficulty set by the GM, and depending on whether you roll over it or under it and to what extent each, there is a success or failure variant. The differentiation of the dice results thus goes far beyond a binary Erfolgs-/Fehlschlagskonzept out.

A particularly nice idea in Primeval are the so-called "trapping" - these are lists of equipment that can contain values ​​for his skills. What is required for this, or just generally has (eg, one can expect that someone with transport 3 and an "Area of ​​Expertise: Motorcycle" are a motorcycle in the garage has), the equipment is credited column in the character sheet.

As long shopping for Primeval characters is mostly uninteresting, the availability of belongings is otherwise easily controlled depending on what income level of the character, which mean its advantages and disadvantages of his fortune and how common or rare the product is. Another important issue is the equipment of the organization, institution or group to which he belongs. Quite simple, clear and elegant.

Even looser the equipment is handled in Doctor Who: The player's natural for his character is, he may request the game leader who should agree as a rule. One particular aspect, however, the "gadgets" in Doctor Who: Who the so-called "Boffin" trait has can cobble together the most amazing things from the amazing ingredients. According to the tenor of the series, the Primeval RPG waived in favor of a "more realistic" process on this product the loose wrist as for action and atmosphere in the Doctor's adventures, however, is very reasonable. Course Primeval has his gadgets and "Future Technology", but in this regard zusammenzubasteln something that requires time and materials a very different expense than the "jiggery-Pokery" doctor.

While Primeval characters are mercilessly ground blank, Doctor-Who-characters can have the most amazing abilities, especially when it comes to aliens, mutants, Cybermen, Time Lords and other nerds. For this purpose can be found in Doctor Who role-playing not only Good and Bad Traits, but also Special Traits Good, the open abilities far beyond normal human / earthly blank and are priced accordingly.

Combat and damage rules are in two role-playing nature-brutal. Since both games contain a story point mechanism by which adventurers can ever exert influence on action and the outcome of actions - not to mention to save his own ass when things get rough -, individual carvers are quite ausbügelungsfähig. Arrogant violence and Metzelspiel is suicidal, which is the tenor of both series also done enough.

The material appropriate to vary the initiative rules: Did the doctor is the best initiative ever peaceful one's approach is (negotiators act first, he runs off, acting as the next, and who losballert is, at the very end to it), so is in Primeval the crucial point, whether one is a fast creature (say, a velociraptor from the Cretaceous period or a "Predator" from the Primeval-future, maybe a Jem Hadar from Star Trek Deep Space Nine), an average creature (like a human subject and a particular advantage of the use of story points). or a slow creature like a brachiosaurs or a hippo

Time travel form a centerpiece of both settings and both games, but they are handled very differently. A dramaturgical common feature is that the gimmick around at the time can have awkward consequences for the characters. Primeval characters accumulate over time "temporal damage". Every now and then checked the GM if that has relevant consequences. Such consequences can be that are fixed points of change in the environment of the characters (as there is in the first season of "Primeval" no Anomaly Research Center, with the final episode of the season, however there is this, for years) or not, the history beyond recognition, or the player character himself never existed. Due to the inertia of the time line, as postulated in Primeval, however, a player whose character has caught it, continue to use his character arc with a few slight modifications, but must choose a different name. In Doctor Who, however by paradoxes and sore is the space-time are ever attracted the extradimensional "Reapers" who have their own idea of ​​the repair time damage: eat everything and everyone who comes to them within such time phenomena in the way.

Blocks of both games, you can mix due to the substantial compliance with the rules bunt to serve a homemade campaign background. Maybe one wants to do something like play "Torchwood", this, it is useful to refer to the rules for the integration of the characters in an organization from Primeval, and perhaps the more action-oriented combat and initiative rules from the Primeval RPG , less the pacifist conflict settlement from Doctor Who. The latter (as well as the gadget rules) would be useful, however, if you look at the various Star Trek series takes to the campaign model. For an adaptation of Stargate again to mix the best of action and organizational rules of Primeval with the gadget rules and the Special Traits of Good Doctor Who. Well, they are aliens and mutants always good, no matter what the background.

Since Doctor Who adventure at any time and at any place between the Big Bang and what I know can play, is still the "Technology Level" (TL) of a character important. It decides where appropriate, Mali, suffered not the character in dealing with him known technology. It seems to me that you could take this system for Primeval, as characters there indeed may be from different times.

A summary assessment: The Saturday-afternoon tea-time system is a traditional adventure RPG concept with attributes and skills, complemented by reasonably modern control elements such as the pros and cons and story points. The wheel was not invented here, but I like the system very well. It is suitable for beginners, but also offers a lot of rabbits old role player, provided they have as I have played ad nauseum complicated rules and slowly fed up, might want to focus on just have fun again. What a thought!

A structural similarity with the Cinematic Unisystem seems obvious, but this is high praise. I prefer to begin to the Saturday-afternoon tea-time adventure system compared to the Unisystem, mainly due to the time-neutral skills list.