Fuzion/R.Talsorian system

[michaelsbagley]

Is there anyone out there that uses the Fuzion system much?

I've only used it "way back when" before it was called the "Fuzion" system. But to date I have found it to be one of the best balances for simplicity and speed of use balanced with some gradation in abilities skills (I find a lot of "lite" game systems have only 5 or 6 levels for attributes, which doesn't seem enough of a gradient for me).

In particular, has anyone used the "Friday Night Firefight" system? (a rule book for in depth firefights for CyberPunk that was also a standalone battle system).

I've always loved that system and always wondered at why it hasn't done better.

[cliff]

I've always liked R.Tal's stuff. I mostly played Cyberpunk, but also dug Mekton and TFOS when I was a younger man. I've read some of Fuzion, but not to make a comparison of how it's different from the old systems. I can certainly say, ultimately, though, that I like what I have seen. I wonder how hard it would be to license for other companies.

[trechriron]

Fuzion fell out of popularity, but it still gets some love here and there.

A guy on RPG.net Wisdom000 has updated the original Interlock system (one half influence of Fuzion, the other half influence being HERO). You can find his awesome free work on Data Fortress 2020.

There used to be a great powers supplement for Fuzion called Heroic Abilities, but I think it has been taken off the InterWebs.

We had some fun back in the day playing Fantasy using Fuzion. I played the heck out of Interlock (Cyberpunk 2020).

If I need a generic system these days, I go to GURPS 4th. It's supported, piles of supplements, and works for basically everything.

[Harwel]

I played a generic homebrew that was based very heavily on CP2020 for quite a few years, it was very Fuzion-y before Fuzion was much of anything. Yet somehow when I read the Fuzion core rules it no longer seems to do anything for me at all. Rather a strange phenomenon, since I don't feel that way about BRP at all.

[Eryiedes]

I used to play it with their BGC adaptation.
For its purpose (high action anime/manga style) its a decent system.
Eventually we just used the books for source material as we converted it over to GURPS.
I found the ranking system too abstract at higher levels...moving up by many orders of magnitude instead of incremental...always kept getting creamed by boomers...began to think ADP stood for "Arbitrarily Damaged Permanantly"
Never tried Mekton though.

Peace & Light

[WhiskeyFur]

Mekton Zeta is very good for true anine style brawling and fighting. Really, mecha in it are just oversized suits of powered armor, which is how anime protrays them to be unlike battletech and a few others.

If you go into the Mekton Zeta Plus addon, mecha construction get a bit harder but it does allow you to pull all kinds of crazy stuff. Flattening liquid metal mecha that can teleport across galaxies and seep into other mecha to take control of them? Sure. It's in there. ( My personal favorite by the way. )

Want to make a T-1000 out of terminator? A living mothership? A land battleship (aka destroid off of robotech)? A ninja-mek? Yep. They're in there.

It all depends on what kind of a game the game master and players wants.

[Lucifer_Draconus]

I've never played it but have the basic rules for it. I prefer Interlock the rules used for Cyberpunk 2020. BTW Fuzion was a mix of Interlock & Hero rules as Mike helped design Hero as well as creating Interlock. Wisdom000 has posted a archive of Cyberpunk info from the net for people to use (all with permission of their creators). He has created Interlock Unlimited , a updated form of Interlock rules. Fans of Interlock should check it out.

[michaelsbagley]

Okay, so I am used to the "Interlock" system (having only played older versions of Mekton... But I have never played any of the "Hero" system games.... On a quick once over (skimmed not read) of the free Fuzion rules on the web, I didn't see that dramatic of a difference between the old "Interlock" from the newer "Fuzion" rules (although some differences were apparent)...

So that leads me to the question, how different from the old "Interlock" (or the newer "Fuzion") rules are the "Hero" rules? I'd prefer a more summarized answer than a long in depth analysis if there is anyone who has the time to answer this.

Thanks!

[Lucifer_Draconus]

Hmm I'll have to check but there seems to be minimal changes as I'm not sure about Heros rules either. The changes are enough to be a different system but I can't say how drastic. I'll look at my Fuzion rules & compare them to my Cyberpunk rules & get back to you unless someones else does first.

[trechriron]

...

So that leads me to the question, how different from the old "Interlock" (or the newer "Fuzion") rules are the "Hero" rules? I'd prefer a more summarized answer than a long in depth analysis if there is anyone who has the time to answer this.

Thanks!

HERO has more depth and rules. Interlock and Fuzion are lighter in comparison. HERO has a very internally consistent powers system that is effects based and attempts to model everything outside mundane skills (or CAN, I should say, it's not a requirement). It's well designed but also has a LOT of rules, which can intimidate some. Interlock/Fuzion are more traditional games where powers/magic/cybernetics et al are sub-systems that don't necessarily follow the "main system".

HERO is now in it's (recently released) 6th edition. I think there are some downloads on the site to preview it. Like I mentioned earlier, you can find a new version of Interlock on the Data Fortress site.

[Richard Littles]

It's well designed but also has a LOT of rules, which can intimidate some.

The majority of those rules are optional. They're for GMs that want to add in more depth to the basic rules or to simulate some genre conventions like Action Points. Hero System does have a basic rulebook that removes the optional rules and presents only the core rules. It's aptly named Hero System Basic with a price tag of $14.95 for pdf and $19.95 for dead tree.