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Banana Man
Oct 2, 2015

mm time 2 gargle piss and shit
Just got the giant and the dragon, really excellent play books.

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LordZoric
Aug 30, 2012

Let's wish for a space whale!
I'm going to have a Dragon in my upcoming Fellowship campaign and I am very much looking forward to it. We also have a Constructed, so it'll be interesting having two playbooks that don't really have a People per-se.

spectralent
Oct 1, 2014

Me and the boys poppin' down to the shops

Boing posted:

I just ran my first session of this and it totally rocks. Beautiful system, cheers to gnome7.

There's something I'd like to clear up about dealing with big threats, which was the only stumbling stone that I ran into.


I read this differently. The Overlord Basic Moves (p. 162) say that the Overlord and their Generals have all of these moves, from An Offer You Can't Refuse to Twist the Knife. This includes the Overlord Damage move, which says that when you take damage,

I didn't come across that reading until after my first session. The Orc and the Overlord's orcish Warmonger General were having an honour duel in front of the Overlord's army (because the Orc's people were already conquered by the Overlord, and the Orc player commanded lore about the Orcish honour system about who gets to be the boss). the Squire managed to keep the General busy by taunting him while in the crowd, which gave the Orc an advantage to Finish Him by chopping off the General's head from behind. It was cool, but it was a fight that was over very quickly, and all the players found it underwhelming. Finding that Overlord Damage thing made sense to me, because it makes the Generals more able to be the recurring threats that I suspect they're meant to be. So your 'change' is my default interpretation, unless I've misread the "The Overlord and their Generals have all of these moves" thing.

But maybe the other reason I struggled to make the General a plausible threat is because I'm not much good at that in general. I had the Fellowship run into a Giant (the True Threat from one of the set pieces). I intended them to skirmish with it for a little while as it caused collateral damage and brought the building down around them, but as soon as they ran into it, the Star Elf immediately decided she'd keep it busy by blinding it with an arrow (7-9 result, disorienting it for a moment) and the Orc used that as an advantage to Finish It with a 10+. That means a dead giant, and I might have interpreted the rules too liberally in the Fellowship's favour for that one, because that was also underwhelming. I know in most PbtA games you're supposed to dynamically ramp threats up and down depending on what's required by making your Moves harder or softer, but Fellowship has a much more mechanically defined system of Advantage and Finishing Them that I wanted to follow closely to the rules. 'When you do something that sounds like an Advantage, you have an Advantage' applies here - and there's no wording on Finish Them that implies a harder Trigger, it's just "When you attempt to defeat an enemy you have an advantage over..."

How do I ramp up the difficulty of that challenge within the rules of Fellowship? In that case, when the Elf said "I want to shoot a dazzling arrow in its face to blind it" as soon as they stumbled into the Giant's lair, how should I have interpreted that? Should I have made a hard Cut immediately to say that the Giant's not to be hosed with, and you need to be cleverer than that to keep it busy? Because that doesn't seem right, it's a perfectly sensible way to create an opening on a giant. Or is the underwhelming nature of that encounter more in how the Orc's single 10+ on Finish Them ended it without a fight? I'd like to use the Overlord Damage rule on more than just Overlords and Generals, if I want to particularly play up a threat, but that's not in the rules so I'm wondering if I'm missing something.

We just went and rolled with it, which might actually be what I'm supposed to do in this case, but I'd like to know if I have the option of scaling an encounter's difficulty up and down on the fly like I do in Dungeon World, when I say "you can't just hack and slash, the dragon is bigger and badder than you, you'll need to find a way to its weak spots..." - which Fellowship in principle codifies with the Advantage rule. Am I supposed to be able to say "You can't just Keep It Busy, you'll have to Overcome its attacks first"? It felt like none of the players actually triggered Overcome at all in my session.

Characters in Fellowship are really strong, yeah; you should probably throw up more in-character issues or make more things threats to the world.

Tricky
Jun 12, 2007

after a great meal i like to lie on the ground and feel like garbage


Check the rules on advantage again:

What is an Advantage? posted:

An Advantage is any means of fictional superiority you hold over someone else: When you do something that sounds like an advantage, then you have an advantage: If they are better than you, you do not have an advantage and you will need to turn the tables if you want to Finish Them.

There is a fair argument that a Giant, especially as the core of a set piece, is significantly better than the Fellowship. The blinding sounds like step 1 of a plan to turn the tables, not the entire plan.

inklesspen
Oct 17, 2007

Here I am coming, with the good news of me, and you hate it. You can think only of the bell and how much I have it, and you are never the goose. I will run around with my bell as much as I want and you will make despair.
Buglord

Kwyndig posted:

At no point has inklespren said this was regarding the signed hard copies, and those affected were notified before shipping so if they had an issue with it they could have brought it up with gnome directly either through KS messaging or elsewhere.

I know I have already been told to gently caress off for wanting non-defective product, but yes, I paid extra for the signed hard copy, gnome failed to check the proofs for them, and when he said he had no money to fix and reorder, what am I going to do, demand he find the money? My only option was to take the defective copy or take no copy. (I ended up sending it to another goon who didn't care about the defects, but my position stands.)

General Ironicus
Aug 21, 2008

Something about this feels kinda hinky
I ran a session Sunday at a small, local convention and had a great time, and thought I'd share it with you:

The Fellowship-
Duchess Delphina, the Heir of the High Kingdom. They built a wall to protect themselves from the Overlord's corruption and before the quest she had never been outside it
Donin Darksteel, noblest dwarf of the Darksteel clan. Dwarves' skin takes on the appearance of what they work with and he looked like gunmetal. He named his fists Rock and Hard Place
Harlan the Forsaken, our Harbinger, hails from the badlands beyond the wall that the High Kingdom cut off as a buffer zone
Seraphina Stargazer, the elf using sufficiently-advanced technology to appear magical. Elves are actually liquid held together by a thin membrane.
Gravy Train, dwarven Squire. They had an incredibly flamboyant hat.

The Overlord was a beloved noble of the High Kingdom, Palindros. We started in the middle of the quest, and decided their first adventure was when they discovered Zuggul the chaos beast waas not the overlord and source of the corruption, but merely a general of Palindros, Dekphina's former friend (and probably semi-distant cousin). We started with the fellowship navigating a storm on a ship hired from dwarf sailor Bronin; his skin looked like aged, twisted wood. Once they had a bit of a handle on the flow and the moves, I went into the Kraken set piece, because I have my predilections. It went well, and I had a good time with people doing what they're asked but not how the asker wanted, like the three sailors below decks (Stats: group, "Yes Sir!") when told to do something to hurt the Kraken lit their oars on fire. That did wind up with Bronin being thrown into the air by Delphina and Seraphina, and stabbing the eye with two of the flaming oars, so it worked out in the end. Captain Bronin's stats were Unerring Navigation, and A Tale for Every Star.

The ship limped into the island that held the source of power they sought, an artefact that would let Palindros cast a spell to turn his clever deception into an impenetrable illusion: The Shoe of lost Souls (Soles? It was unclear). It was a small, tropical-ish island and Gravy Train knew the mayor. Ed the halfling mayor: Raging Alcoholic, Impeccable Leader. They made a Fellowship with the halfling village on the tiny island, and set out to find the Shoe that Ed didnt believe existed. in the center of the island was Jenkins' General Store, beneath which was a trapdoor. This wasnt an atoll built on a coral reef, but built on the tip of an undersea temple left behind by the ancient minotaur civilization. They navigated the maze, by smashing through it, and recovered the Shoe, seeing it was actually a horseshoe. This is the forgotten source of the superstition about putting a horseshoe above doorways. Jenkins appears and is seen to be a servant of Palindros. He had been trying to get through the maze for weeks but the Fellowship did the heavy lifting for him. The Traitor Jenkins: Trader Jenkins, Trusty Servant, Business is Rough. After some clever talk and a big bribe, Jenkins gave up some intel and they have a double agent in Palindros' employ; but a double agent for whom...

And that was the end! We had such a good time and it was the best thing I did all weekend. Also, they were nervous Jenkins was Zuggul in disguise, because it was a 'General' store

gnome7
Oct 21, 2010

Who's this Little
Spaghetti?? ??
Constructed is now available in both print and PDF.

gnome7
Oct 21, 2010

Who's this Little
Spaghetti?? ??


Panic At The Dojo
is now live! It is a tactical, grid-based combat game, with a focus on crazy action movie physics and flashy, showy combat styles. There is also a free preview adventure available, with pre-made characters and encounters. Check it out!

spectralent
Oct 1, 2014

Me and the boys poppin' down to the shops

gnome7 posted:



Panic At The Dojo
is now live! It is a tactical, grid-based combat game, with a focus on crazy action movie physics and flashy, showy combat styles. There is also a free preview adventure available, with pre-made characters and encounters. Check it out!

Mind if I ask what the rationale for going grid-based was?

gnome7
Oct 21, 2010

Who's this Little
Spaghetti?? ??
I like maps and grids, they're fun in a very tactile way. I like pushes and pulls and positioning tricks, and there hasn't been a recent tabletop game that really scratched that itch like 4E D&D ever did (with certain, niche character builds that were definitely not the game's focus). By making the grid a major focus of the game's design, it's let me write a lot of creative ways to get around the battlefield. For example, there's an Action that places an obstacle then teleports you to it, and there's a Style where every time you damage someone, you shove them out of their space and take it from them.

Basically, my least favorite thing about 13th Age is how little positioning matters, and I'd just finished playing the end of Let's Play The 13th Age, so I wanted positioning to matter a lot. And in order for positioning to matter, I needed to include a terrain system and a grid, and to make it matter even more, I added a ring-out system. And having all of those just let me go hog wild with positioning tricks and weird movement abilities and I love those things, so it was a very natural fit.

Razorwired
Dec 7, 2008

It's about to start!

gnome7 posted:



Panic At The Dojo
is now live! It is a tactical, grid-based combat game, with a focus on crazy action movie physics and flashy, showy combat styles. There is also a free preview adventure available, with pre-made characters and encounters. Check it out!

Playtest was fun as hell. Putting money on this after I find out my job situation for the next few months.

Serf
May 5, 2011


gnome7 posted:



Panic At The Dojo
is now live! It is a tactical, grid-based combat game, with a focus on crazy action movie physics and flashy, showy combat styles. There is also a free preview adventure available, with pre-made characters and encounters. Check it out!

Hey Gnome, I finally got time to properly read through the PDF previews, and I gotta say this is the coolest game I've seen recently. Pumped as hell to get together a playtest group.

Hyperactive
Mar 10, 2004

RICHARDS!

gnome7 posted:



Panic At The Dojo
is now live! It is a tactical, grid-based combat game, with a focus on crazy action movie physics and flashy, showy combat styles. There is also a free preview adventure available, with pre-made characters and encounters. Check it out!

Baaaacked as much as I can.

Dog Kisser
Mar 30, 2005

But People have fears that beasts do not. Questions, too.

gnome7 posted:



Panic At The Dojo
is now live! It is a tactical, grid-based combat game, with a focus on crazy action movie physics and flashy, showy combat styles. There is also a free preview adventure available, with pre-made characters and encounters. Check it out!

Yeah I'm backing this ASAP. Never backed anything on KS ever, either. I'm all about forced movement and the ring out thing is rad!

gnome7
Oct 21, 2010

Who's this Little
Spaghetti?? ??
And a non-combat rules preview has just been posted for your eyeballs to experience.

Mors Rattus
Oct 25, 2007

FATAL & Friends
Walls of Text
#1 Builder
2014-2018

gnome7 posted:

And a non-combat rules preview has just been posted for your eyeballs to experience.

Do you have any I can experience with my elbow

Zenos Paradise
Apr 2, 2011

Did somebody say honeypot?
So glad I pledged for panic at the dojo. Looks super dope so far!

gnome7
Oct 21, 2010

Who's this Little
Spaghetti?? ??
http://www.sixfeatsunder.com/panic-at-the-dojo/

Hey, you know that preview adventure on the kickstarter page? Well now you can listen to me run the game, with real people, having a real good time.

Spiderfist Island
Feb 19, 2011
Hey Gnome, when you finish writing all the Fellowship expansion playbooks, will you publish something like a single-book compilation of all of them on DTRPG?

occamsnailfile
Nov 4, 2007



zamtrios so lonely
Grimey Drawer
Yes, please do this if possible. I love the material but having it all in one file at least (if not one paper book) would be great.

gnome7
Oct 21, 2010

Who's this Little
Spaghetti?? ??
I'd been strongly considering doing that so yeah, okay. If we get to 7 or 8 expansions, I'll combine them all into one big expansion book.

EscortMission
Mar 4, 2009

Come with me
if you want to live.
So this is kind of a goofy question but it has become surprisingly important recently. How long at minimum should reloading a weapon with the Reload tag take? Is a reload your entire action? Do you just make sure to say you're reloading before you attack? Can you reload while you're doing something else, maybe not getting to attack every turn but getting to call out advantages with Look Closely instead?

Also my constructed/cyborg is laying the groundwork to make its own moon base (with Inventor) to airdrop mass-production models of itself (with Forging A New Future) into communities in order to protect them from harm, so, thank you for writing a game where its OK for me to have a character that does that.

gnome7
Oct 21, 2010

Who's this Little
Spaghetti?? ??

EscortMission posted:

So this is kind of a goofy question but it has become surprisingly important recently. How long at minimum should reloading a weapon with the Reload tag take? Is a reload your entire action? Do you just make sure to say you're reloading before you attack? Can you reload while you're doing something else, maybe not getting to attack every turn but getting to call out advantages with Look Closely instead?

Also my constructed/cyborg is laying the groundwork to make its own moon base (with Inventor) to airdrop mass-production models of itself (with Forging A New Future) into communities in order to protect them from harm, so, thank you for writing a game where its OK for me to have a character that does that.

That rules.

And the basic idea for reloading is that you can reload while other people do things, but it takes up your own focus. Its mostly there so after you fire, you can't immediately fire again, and it gives the Overlord opportunities to make moves on you. Looking Closely or Speaking Softly while you reload makes a lot of sense, though, I'd allow that. You'll need to have no pressure on you while you Look Closely, or someone willing to listen to you in order to Speak Softly, but that's part of how those moves work anyway. But Keeping Them Busy while you reload is probably not viable, because you're clearly distracted with getting your weapon ready.

Apocron
Dec 5, 2005
One thing I wondered about is that when creating a character players end up with a lot of "bits and bobs" of companions and consumables that don't disappear but refresh whenever the players take a rest. Do people not find it cumbersome handling all that stuff? I personally found it all a little overwhelming.

Golden Bee
Dec 24, 2009

I came here to chew bubblegum and quote 'They Live', and I'm... at an impasse.
It does sometimes go from fellowship to rock 'n' roll show with dozens of roadies.

Noelor
Oct 5, 2009

When I ran the game, the fellowship did their best to mitigate this by deliberately committing their "excess" companions to protecting communities.
Which was just as well, given the elf walrus at one point recruited a whole army of goblins into the fellowship.

Elfface
Nov 14, 2010

Da-na-na-na-na-na-na
IRON JONAH
So, one of my players has expressed an interest in being some sort of slime-person, but I don't think I've got the know-how to convert the Rainlord when it's my first time with the system.

Has anyone done anything similar they could share with me?

Kai Tave
Jul 2, 2012
Fallen Rib

Elfface posted:

So, one of my players has expressed an interest in being some sort of slime-person, but I don't think I've got the know-how to convert the Rainlord when it's my first time with the system.

Has anyone done anything similar they could share with me?

While it might not be especially useful since I feel like someone will inevitably point this out it might as well be me, but depending on what exactly they want out of their slime person-ness it's entirely possible to simply take one of the already existing Fellowship races and say "oh yeah, they're slime people" in the same vein as having feminist mushroom orcs.

gnome7
Oct 21, 2010

Who's this Little
Spaghetti?? ??

Elfface posted:

So, one of my players has expressed an interest in being some sort of slime-person, but I don't think I've got the know-how to convert the Rainlord when it's my first time with the system.

Has anyone done anything similar they could share with me?

They may be interested in Constructed, which has Aether And Energy as a people move to be able to phase through gates and disappear without a trace when they Get Away. If they don't want to play as the loner that that playbook endorses, they could play as a playbook more suited to the kind of personality they want their slimes to have, like the Dwarf or Halfling, and then just use Aether And Energy instead of whatever people move that playbook has.

JesterOfAmerica
Sep 11, 2015
Hey gnome i know you are busy with panic at the dojo but how has the remnant coming along? No need for dates just a general idea of progress.

Big Mad Drongo
Nov 10, 2006

Elfface posted:

So, one of my players has expressed an interest in being some sort of slime-person, but I don't think I've got the know-how to convert the Rainlord when it's my first time with the system.

Has anyone done anything similar they could share with me?

My wife does this as an Orc. I Smell Fear is skinned as the fact that she's a sentient blob that can take on different unsettling shapes, the Junk Cannon/Iron Stomach is her engulfing something (then regurgitating it, in the case of Junk Cannon), and so far she took Lives in a Shoe with an advance to mimic slithering into small places, Brutally Cunning is her spreading herself out to keep foes from getting past, etc. Her people are Spawn of Darkness.

Elfface
Nov 14, 2010

Da-na-na-na-na-na-na
IRON JONAH
Thanks for the help! I'll run those things by her and see how it goes.

At least, when we actually find a day we can all make characters.

When things actually get going, I'm sure I'll have a lot more questions. Meanwhile, I'm writing up an Overlord, and trying to decide if his children imbued with some of his power should be The Organisation, or The Titans.

EscortMission
Mar 4, 2009

Come with me
if you want to live.
So I wrote up a new army type for a FF7/Snow Crash influenced game and I thought I should share it to see if there are any rough edges that need to be smoothed out. Comments are open if thats the sort of thing you're into.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Qd4gerlfurt0oRaPNydy5SYnK59U_sIdH3hXkqZR1Fs/edit?usp=sharing

An army is supposed to come with a Set Piece but I haven't thought of any really good ideas for it yet.

EscortMission fucked around with this message at 18:37 on Dec 27, 2016

Boing
Jul 12, 2005

trapped in custom title factory, send help
That looks really cool, I like a lot of the moves you've written. I really want to run a FF7 inspired game now, but with elves and wizards.

For a Set Piece idea: The corporate headquarters? Multiple floors, security systems, keycards required for access to different parts of the building, the penthouse with its own last-ditch security measures. You could get a few good threats out of it.

EscortMission
Mar 4, 2009

Come with me
if you want to live.

Boing posted:

That looks really cool, I like a lot of the moves you've written. I really want to run a FF7 inspired game now, but with elves and wizards.

For a Set Piece idea: The corporate headquarters? Multiple floors, security systems, keycards required for access to different parts of the building, the penthouse with its own last-ditch security measures. You could get a few good threats out of it.

The first leg of the trek to the penthouse is making a Long Journey up a seemingly endless set of stairs. While this Long Journey is in progress, the Overlord may add "someone accidentally says something that was shock humor in 1997 and embarrassingly rude in 2016" to your list of cuts.

Nea
Feb 28, 2014

Funny Little Guy Aficionado.
So I'm about to be Gming this for the first time, and I have a few questions- namely, the usage of moves in relation to the different types of scenes. Is it intended that you only use moves, gear, stats ect during challenges and showdowns? Or are you expected to still be doing play as normal even during Journies and Downtime, because I had gotten the impression those were a lot more freeform.

gnome7
Oct 21, 2010

Who's this Little
Spaghetti?? ??
You should use your moves whenever they are applicable. They will be used a lot during Challenges and Showdowns, used sparingly during Journies (0-2 moves per scene), and rarely during Downtime (0-2 moves total). If a scene escalates into something bigger, that might change, but that's roughly how it's worked out in practice. I find that a lot of scenes during the Journey end up with a single roll to resolve how they go, but that might just be my GMing style at work. Less or more rolls are fine.

The big exception during Downtime is the Overlord's Master Plan, which they may choose to use once per go around the table during downtime. I did not count that move in the above numbers.

Nea
Feb 28, 2014

Funny Little Guy Aficionado.
Alright then! that's pretty helpful. Now, with more questions- so, the Threat to the World trait means that they have to pay a price every time they take 'direct action' against the overlord or a general. How do you define direct action? Obviously this includes trying to gank them, probably trying to reason with a General or talk them down, also, keeping them busy, really most of the general moves. But how direct is that? Say, are these things counted as the sort of stuff 'direct action' should be?
-Trying to out-race a General in say, some sort of dramatic vehicle race for a Source of Power
-Trying to destroy the Overlord's Big Macguffin Machine during a dramatic fight!
-The Overlord is trying to capture the Cool but Not Very Good Prince, so you whisk them to safety?

gnome7
Oct 21, 2010

Who's this Little
Spaghetti?? ??

Neopie posted:

Alright then! that's pretty helpful. Now, with more questions- so, the Threat to the World trait means that they have to pay a price every time they take 'direct action' against the overlord or a general. How do you define direct action? Obviously this includes trying to gank them, probably trying to reason with a General or talk them down, also, keeping them busy, really most of the general moves. But how direct is that? Say, are these things counted as the sort of stuff 'direct action' should be?

Whenever the Threat to the World is in your way somehow, you need to pay a price to make your move. So:

quote:

-Trying to out-race a General in say, some sort of dramatic vehicle race for a Source of Power
[/quote

A dramatic vehicle race is probably an entire scene, with a lot of rolls. You'd need to pay a price before each roll directly opposed by the general, so if you're both racing through a straight-away side by side, you'd have to pay a price to Get Away and pull ahead. If you're trying to ram your vehicle into the General's, that's also a price. But if you're, saying, trying to maneuver through a dangerous area to get ahead of them and the General took a different route, then you don't need to pay a price first, because the General isn't there to oppose you.

[quote]
-Trying to destroy the Overlord's Big Macguffin Machine during a dramatic fight!

If the Overlord is busy with someone else or not present, you won't need to pay a price. The machine is a separate entity from the Overlord, so it isn't a Threat to the World itself, and damaging or attacking it won't make you pay a price. Unless the machine is one of the overlord's Generals, or the Overlord is actively there to menace you while you try it, then you'll be paying a price for trying to destroy their machine.

quote:

-The Overlord is trying to capture the Cool but Not Very Good Prince, so you whisk them to safety?

If you're swooping the prince right out of the Overlord's clutches, you definitely need to pay a price to try it.

Basically, if the Threat can actively menace you while you do it, you have to pay a price to try. If they're distracted or elsewhere, you don't need to pay a price to mess with their stuff, foil their plans, or otherwise cause them trouble. The exception is if you try to hurt them directly - you always need to pay a price to try that.

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Boing
Jul 12, 2005

trapped in custom title factory, send help
My players struggle sometimes with justifying why they're paying a price to, say, shoot at Fornax the Storm Wizard, and I'm not sure how to make it run smoother. The prices they can pay are basically anything they can mark off on their character sheet - gear, damage, Elven Arts uses, and sometimes more abstract things like positioning or 'not getting exactly what they want', but it gets thorny there.

So when I say "you can't just shoot him to Finish Him, you have to Pay a Price" and a player flounders a bit with "Uhhh, I guess I'm out of everything except stats, so I'll damage my Courage, because he's really scary to shoot at" - is there anything I can do to help them find more appropriate prices?

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