Well it's been 7 months and I did nothing with the solo WFRP hack idea. Ultimately my hope is to find a pipeline to convince my anxious, depressed brain that I can run a game for others and not feel I've screwed it up or disappointed them, so I am continuing to hunt around for the system and methods that might make me feel it was possible.
Hostile from Zozer Games caught my eye in a recent Bundle of Holding and the idea of something Alien-ish without what looks like a very narrow scope in the official Alien RPG is appealing and might appeal to the people I have in mind as players. When I say "very narrow scope" it feels like the very short list of skills etc. leaves a lot to be desired in Alien, which is sort of how I feel about the popular Mothership as well (absence of social skills and the old-school "just roleplay it" mentality whereas I prefer some social mechanics).
The problem with Hostile (and anything Traveller-derived) for me is how few modifiers actually kick in. The best example is attribute rolls. 2d6 vs 6+ (in Hostile at least, seems to be 8+ in Traveller) and unless your attribute is some very specific bands there's no modifier. (A 2 attribute is -2, 3-5 is -1, 6-8 is 0, 9-11 is +1 and 12 is +2). I don't like that characters trending toward average (due to the 2d6 characteristic generation) just have no modifier. If a character with Strength 8 is trying to break down a door, they should have an easier time than one with Strength 6 and they don't, despite the 2 point difference. Strength 9, though, has an easier time than 8 despite there only a 1 point difference.
Obviously it's in part a limitation of the 2d6 system in that even a +/-1 modifier is significant but it just leaves me cold.
The Hostile setting (Alien with the serial numbers filed off) is excellent, as are a lot of the rules to do with travel time and so on. But the core resolution mechanic is not for me I don't think. That and the lack of character advancement (an age-old argument with Traveller-based stuff). I don't find the "game" of lifepath character generation to be enjoyable, as much as fans swear by it. I'm a more in medias res person, tell me what's happening now and we'll fill in backstory as it becomes relevant.
So I've been noodling around looking at other options in different systems, currently none of which feel right, plus PBTA which is ironic considering it also uses 2d6, but feels more built from the ground up to work with that in a way Traveller/Hostile just doesn't to me.
Example: one option for the backstory/career system could be to boost a career experience stat (say when you get into the Scientist career you now have a -1 in Scientist as opposed to someone who never worked as a scientist). So then you have an "experience" move where if it's relevant to have been a scientist you can roll on the usual PBTA scale for useful outcomes. This wouldn't replace anything like a built-in "Investigate" move but could be good for career knowledge, talking to people in the related field and so on. Lots of relevant moves would need to be determined as well as an appropriate range of characteristics (thinking about the cast of Alien, I found myself questioning which stat Brett or Lambert could possibly have a +2 in, and then asking myself should there be a "Weak Link" type of playbook where you're playing as someone who's going to come to a sticky end? Alien is a haunted house/slasher with a final girl after all but character elimation is not something that's great for players at the table).
Anyway, not sure where I'm going with this yet. Still looking at different systems.
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