Mass Effect 5E

 Lasers and Feelings

As you might have noticed me sprinkle in around a blog here or there, I've recently being doing my darndest to get into the famed fantasy role playing goliath 'Dungeons & Dragons', through way of both watching several experts play it and now even trying a few of the video games set in that universe itself. I have to approach the subject at a rather abnormal angle for the plain merit of the fact that I don't have friends, and thus can't just play the darn thing, but I feel that for someone with a desire to be somewhat competent at storytelling, it would make for an invaluable practice medium. Alas, circumstances dictate that I remain an observer of D&D rather than a participator, rather sullying the main draw of the game to begin with, however even in a casual way I just love the world of D&D. Isn't it interesting to think that there's a fantasy property out there which has lasted for decades and been directly responsible for the spawning of so many over gaming fantasy properties to date? I think so.

So as I get into Baldur's Gate and familiarise myself with their real-time gamification of the 2nd edition ruleset, whilst keeping an eager eye on Larian's 5th Edition portrayal of Baldur's Gate 3, I've gotten to thinking a lot about the scope and potential of tabletop gaming. Because if there's one huge advantage that tabletop gaming will forever hold over digital games, and forgive me for sounding a little sappy for a moment, it's the fact that it's imagination driven. No processing power or hardware costs are getting in the way of someone telling the most epic story that they possibly can, they just need to come up with it and get a group of people to give themselves to the adventure. Whatsmore, the cool thing about games like Dungeons & Dragons it's that they exist to encourage you to imagine, so you don't even necessarily have to stick to their ruleset. Everything in those books are guidelines and if you need to change something because it'll fit your game better, that's encouraged. 

This is something that really hit me when I was salivating over the details for 'Pathfinder: Kingmaker' after I just found out it existed (the upcoming sequel sounds nutty in all the best ways!) and I realised that the entire Pathfinder table top game was actually made by a fan of D&D who based it off of the 3.5 ruleset. And I don't even know how there can even be a 3.5 ruleset so this was all news to me. (What was the .5 about?) Even the tabletop world owes a lot of it's influences to D&D whether that be subtly, through the dictating of the norm of the platform which naturally challenges other creators to defy it, (Vampire: The Masquerade) or more directly by lending it's skeleton in the creation of a whole new game altogether! Learning this really detailed the limitless potential for games like this, where anyone with the time and provocation can sit down and create a whole system based on whatever it is they want. So naturally I got bored one night and started googling. And here's what I found.

Mass Effect 5E, a D&D style fan made system built to leverage that popular sci-fi soap opera universe which always feels like it could use a few more 'wider universe' games around it, if you know what I mean. With a little bit of a looser grip on the franchise there could be a plethora of smaller spin-off titles that really fill in the fat around the flesh and make the skyline just that more bountiful once the next big RPG comes through. And it's not like Mass Effect isn't the sort of game that can handle that sort of introspection; have you see the volumes of lore logs you can read through in each game? I have, and I read every single one of them, there's so much untouched universe out there it simply hurts to leave it unexplored. And what better medium to touch on all that unknown than the unlimited creative potential of a homebrew D&D module? (An official D&D-type module, but we're never getting that.)

Now the title of the thing is a bit of a misnomer, despite being called 'Mass Effect 5e' this isn't, as far as I know, the 5th rendition of a Table top RPG set in Bioware's Milkyway, but rather a direct adaptation and remixing of the D&D 5th edition ruleset. Taking the basics which form the way that worlds of sword and sorcery are constructed and transferring that into a universe of guns and biotics, just the way our biomechanical robot gods intended. I honestly have no idea why Bioware themselves haven't swooped in to make something like this a reality beyond the obvious fact that making a Table Top ruleset module requires a lot of passion and hardwork. (Are Bioware even capable of either of those nowdays? Sorry, I'm being rude.) I thought it would be interesting to take a dip into some of the things that I'm curious about to see what our independent game designers here have conjured up.

Most important to me, of course, is the race and classes, because these sorts of games are all based around the creation and playing of a character so we want to have as much choice as possible here. Of course the source materiel provides plenty in this regard and the creators of ME5E have taken to it with gusto. You have many of the core world races lined up here, just about every one which could feasibly hold a weapon and go on an adventure from Asari and Turians to the Vorcha and Batarians. (Have to have those low-intellect races in there for the fun role playing times) But the madmen went one step further and included some of the viable background races in the Volus and the Elcor. (I have to watch a game where some brave soul spends the entire time speaking in Eclor. "Intimidating: I've come here to chew bubblegum and kickass. Excited: And I'm all out of bubblegum.") Whatsmore, you even have a few racial variants chucked in there for good measure, such as the Asari Ardyat-Yakshi, for those who fancy playing a space succubus. Still, it's just a shame there's no- wait, there is a Hanar option! Wow, this team really did try to please all comers.

Of course, for a sci-fi space adventure the other part of the rules I'd be drawn to head to would be the ones regarding ship-to-ship combat, but the Bioware team seem to have just thrown so much lore hurdles in the way of ship combat being anything approaching fun that in order to stay lore friendly I can't imagine this team being able to make some comprehensive battle system. Instead I'll go to my second go-to, finding the biggest monster in the bestiary and checking it out. (Yes, I'm a child; leave me alone.) Surprisingly, to me at least, the team haven't actually even bothered to try and calculate the stats of a Reaper using their system, (I guess they're usually impervious to small fire anyway, so that's fair) so in lieu the biggest bad of Mass Effect 5E's bestiary is the Thresher Maw. (Makes sense.) Multiple attacks, difficult-terrain generation, double damage to structures, yeah this thing sounds like a real nightmare. (Which makes me just bristle with all the ways you could terrify a party with one!)

I encourage the curious to take a look for themselves at the passionate work done by the team behind this, as well as the rather slick and manageable website that features it all. It isn't an avalanche of game mechanics and ideas thrown at you, and the articles I've read are kind enough to treat the reader as though their a novice to Tabletops in general, thus you won't be tripped up by technical jargon. It's just a fun and approachable reimagining of D&D based in one of the best Sci-fi universes ever made and just begging someone to come and make a campaign with it. (Also, I think it's cute how they changed 'Dungeon master' into 'Galaxy Master'. DM to GM, I can dig it.) So if you're interested in D&D but fantasy just isn't your thing, give these guys a look over and see if there's anything there closer to your speed, you never know.