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Throwing in another recommendation for Blades, especially if you're interested in systems. If you've never read an Apocalypse World-inspired game it'll be substantially different from anything you've seen, which has novelty going for it. If you have, you'll get to see what the AW engine looks like after someone hybridizes it with Burning Wheel to do the impossible: run a long-term campaign. As mentioned, clocks are also neat as hell and eminently stealable for other games. It's a technology that's been around since Apocalypse World, but Blades takes that idea and runs with it hard. Blades also does the AW corebook thing of explicitly telling you how best to run the game, and frames the GM role less as an arbitrary referee and more as a form of player with an asymmetrical rule-set from the rest of the table. The setting is neat, and occupies much more of the book than it initially appears. There is an explicit setting chapter, but a lot of the connective tissue of Duskvol is built into the mechanics, and it's only by reading the whole thing - possibly twice - that you really figure out what's going on. Finally, reading Blades will also let you watch the phenomenal Blades in the Dark: Bloodletters, the author's streamed playtest campaign that began in the early beta of the game and is still running today. Also available in audiobook format up to episode 13 if you poke around a bit.
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Feb 21, 2017 19:48
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I really appreciate all the replies I've gotten so far. If nothing else, I'm glad there's people advocating for all three - sounds like I've chosen fairly well. Honestly I might end up grabbing all three eventually ( ).Has anyone looked at Dusk City Outlaws? It's only in KS right now, but it's weird to me how similar it is in concept to Blades. The presentation, art, and tone is all very different though. Not really mentioning that as a possibility because I don't think I'll go that route, but I thought I'd ask.
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Feb 21, 2017 20:02
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The author also ran a Blades game with the twitch crowd at itmeJP here: Rollplay Blades playlist Listening to the first episode. It's moody, descriptive and fun so far! vvv Edit: fixed! Thank you vvv Helical Nightmares fucked around with this message at 21:54 on Feb 21, 2017 |
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Feb 21, 2017 20:04
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^^ Broken link. Here's the Rollplay Blades playlist. That's another good show, and ongoing. I prefer the cast on Bloodletters - Stras Acimovic is my Platonic Ideal RPG Player - but once the guy who plays Aldo gets settled into his character, he puts on some excellent performances. Viewing them side by side shows the flexibility of the system, too. The Bloodletters go hard on building a gang to enforce their will and push their product, and they're very concerned with their reputation and being a dominant force "on the street;" It's basically dark fantasy The Wire. Meanwhile, the Last Word are virtual unknowns (by design, being assassins) who get work only through a carefully curated network of contacts.
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Feb 21, 2017 21:00
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Feb 21, 2017 21:22
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The Blades book also has some nice articles about why the system is designed the way it is, which go a long way to helping you get how the game's supposed to work.
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Feb 21, 2017 21:22
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JRR Heinsight. What fuckin name. Wow.
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Feb 21, 2017 21:26
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Am I the only one who heard that entire back copy in the Cryptkeeper's voice?
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Feb 21, 2017 21:37
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This sounds at least as readable as the first Xanth book.
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Feb 21, 2017 21:45
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Yawgmoth posted:This sounds at least as readable as the first Xanth book. I wanna know what JRR Heinseight was up to for the twenty years between (based on the cover art) 1967 and 1987.
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Feb 21, 2017 21:53
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I'd also like to know his pre-sabatical works.
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Feb 21, 2017 22:25
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More like Nite Crew amirite
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Feb 21, 2017 22:31
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gradenko_2000 posted:More like Nite Crew amirite lmao
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Feb 21, 2017 22:32
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Evil Mastermind posted:How is Mutant: Year Zero? It seems to be doing well but I never hear anything about it. Keep in mind I have only read the books, not playtested them. Overall, Mutant: Year Zero is a marriage of story game elements to base building and hex crawl mechanics. The feel is more of a ragtag group of struggling survivors who happen to be mutants; rather than a Fallout game where safety and stability increases in a linear fashion with the more gear you accumulate. For conflict resolution, you roll d6s. Generally you add your attribute score, skill level and gear, and roll that many dice. One six is a success, and extra sixes generate crits or bonus effects. To attempt to get extra successes, you can attempt to push the roll once. ‘Pushing’ involves grabbing any dice that did not roll a 1 or a 6 and rolling them again. The danger to pushing is that any 1’s rolled on the attribute dice will cause trauma to the attribute you used. The benefit is that you get a number of mutation points (used to activate a mutation) equal to the 1’s that cause attribute trauma. The rational is, when you exert yourself your mutant powers may bubble up to the fore and radically twist your body and mind. The story game elements come into play when you make your mutant character, and they determine how you earn exp. During character creation, a player chooses a ‘buddy’ PC, a NPC that they hate, and a NPC that they want to protect. You also chose the character’s “Big Dream”. Experience is doled out if the player risks something in pursuit of protecting a buddy PC or NPC, working towards the “Big Dream”, or meddling with their hated NPC rival. This is not a game where cutting down mass quantities of rot ghouls is going to net you that next level. Players can improve the Arc with the base building mechanics. Imagine Civ5 tech tree but for a dilapidated post-apocalyptic citadel. For example, you can have the NPCs in the Arc work on developing mushroom fields (or cannibalism!) to improve the Development Level of your Food technology. If the players come across a piece of gear like a M-16, they can either chose to use the gear personally or turn it into the Arc for an appropriate boost in a Development Level. For example, turning in that M-16 will make Warfare improvements develop faster, but have no effect on Food improvements. As I recall these rules earned Mutant: Year Zero a Silver Ennie. The Game master section has a series of tables and charts to generate random Zone encounters on a hex crawl through the Wasteland, or you can use the premade Zone locations. One of my favorites is the warren of mutant anthropoid rabbits who are militant against meat eaters. One rabbit is an easy mark, but they appear in frothing fanatic droves. The only actual play of Mutant: Year Zero I have found is the intro adventure False Haven, run by Tom of the RPPR crew. http://actualplay.roleplayingpublicradio.com/2016/10/genre/sci-fi/mutant-year-zero-false-haven/#comments Keep in mind this game only sets the scene, and doesn't get into hex exploration of the zone or the improving your Arc (base) mechanics. Ross said RPPR already has a Genlab Alpha campaign recorded and ready for release sometime. Genlab Alpha: https://www.modiphius.net/products/mutant-genlab-alpha-core-book-print-pdf Genlab Alpha can be a very different game though, if the storyteller decides to focus on the Rebellion plot arc in the main book. I'm not sure what angle the RPPR campaign takes so it may not be representative of a "traditional" hex-crawl-the-Zone for survival that is the core of Mutant: Year Zero.
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Feb 21, 2017 22:46
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gradenko_2000 posted:1. Are there any games that allow or expect you to play more than one character at a time? Call of Cthulhu suggests as an option that players run two Investigators each instead of just one.
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Feb 21, 2017 22:49
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gradenko_2000 posted:That got me thinking: If I were to get roped into running D&D 5th or 3.5/Pathfinder again, this would be my solution to the class power disparity issue. I would have each player play both a caster and a non caster. I don't always have a ton of players on hand so in old school D&D I often just let people play more than one character anyway. Most people are fine doing so. remusclaw fucked around with this message at 23:17 on Feb 21, 2017 |
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Feb 21, 2017 22:55
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LatwPIAT posted:Call of Cthulhu suggests as an option that players run two Investigators each instead of just one. In practice, I've like never seen that done. Lots of illdefined relatives that pop up when somebody dies, but not multiple characters per PC.
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Feb 21, 2017 23:17
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The Lemondrop Dandy posted:In practice, I've like never seen that done. Lots of illdefined relatives that pop up when somebody dies, but not multiple characters per PC. The suggestion is hidden away, and most people have a preconceived notion that roleplaying games are about playing one character, rather than troupe play.
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Feb 21, 2017 23:37
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From the creators of Mutant: Year Zero Mutant: MECHATRON https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1192053011/mutant-mechatron-rise-of-the-robots-roleplaying/description  Rise, as a robot with newly developed sentience. Discover why the humans abandoned you, and question why you should obey them at all. Protect Mechatron 7, the technological marvel of an underwater robot factory that is falling perilously into decay.   Explore the post-apocalyptic wasteland known as the ZONE and interact with friends and foes from the gamelines Mutant: Year Zero, Mutant: Genlab Alpha, and anything else printed in the game line. Aquire this product for a minimum $28. Relax, as you realize Mechatron will be produced because it already fully funded in less than 24 hours. Watch, as you receive a beta pdf around June, then the real game in approximately September. What else does the kickstarter say? ===What is Mutant : Mechatron?=== quote:
===New to Mutant: Year Zero?=== quote:
Want more information? Click on my short review of Mutant: Year Zero here: https://forums.somethingawful.com/newreply.php?action=newreply&threadid=3803702#post469637283  Robots. Will. Rise.
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Feb 21, 2017 23:46
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That Old Tree posted:If you're interested in actually running FFG Star Wars, you might want to start with Age of Rebellion instead. It's got a more concrete direction to it, what with the players presumably being part of the rebel hierarchy. That said, Edge is good too if you're perfectly down with assembling a more random group of rogues for vague reasons. I essentially agree with everything here albeit some groups may find the criminal under pressure of edge of empire appeals more than AOR cog in the machine (albeit depending on how you run it. My AOR game has them as the major drivers/leaders of the rebellion for a whole sector).
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Feb 22, 2017 01:08
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Helical Nightmares posted:Overall, Mutant: Year Zero is a marriage of story game elements to base building and hex crawl mechanics. Well that all sounds like stuff I'd enjoy! Of course, I'd have to find someone who'd want to run it for me because I've already got two campaigns (Fragged Empire and Shadowrun 4e) in the pipe.
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Feb 22, 2017 01:22
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Evil Mastermind posted:Well that all sounds like stuff I'd enjoy! Of course, I'd have to find someone who'd want to run it for me because I've already got two campaigns (Fragged Empire and Shadowrun 4e) in the pipe. I had thought about trying to run it PbP or over Dischord or something but I think that it's even less compatible with online play than most TTRPGs due to the hex crawling. There's actually another expansion that finished Kickstarting, Mutant: Elysium (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1192053011/mutant-elysium-rollspel-om-mansklighetens-sista-da). In this one, the characters are non-mutant humans "with or without cybernetic implants" in an Alpha-Complex-like "enclave." Based on the KS, the characters belong to post-megacorp-ish "lineages" that are engaged in low-level vendettas with each other and the hexcrawl/4X element is replaced with a system for developing your lineage and/or the enclave. That one's set to be released in Swedish in April, which seems to mean that the English version of that could be Kickstarted at the beginning of 2018.
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Feb 22, 2017 02:34
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Roll20 supports hex grids actually. It's a bit finicky to fit a map to, but it works just fine.
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Feb 22, 2017 02:46
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Japanese Dating Sim posted:I really appreciate all the replies I've gotten so far. If nothing else, I'm glad there's people advocating for all three - sounds like I've chosen fairly well. Honestly I might end up grabbing all three eventually ( I was curious about Dusk City Outlaws, too, but I'm hesitant to back an RPG that looks like its building its own system without a good idea of what the rules look like first
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Feb 22, 2017 03:40
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gradenko_2000 posted:That got me thinking: AD&D era Dark Sun suggested that players create a stable of 3-5 characters that they would rotate through with the anticipation that there would be a high mortality rate during adventures.
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Feb 22, 2017 03:44
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ManMythLegend posted:AD&D era Dark Sun suggested that players create a stable of 3-5 characters that they would rotate through with the anticipation that there would be a high mortality rate during adventures. Not only that, but whenever the character you were currently using gained a level, so too did one of the characters who'd stayed home.
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Feb 22, 2017 06:37
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Mutant: Year Zero sounds awesome. I had a guy talk it up to me at a local convention last year and he gave me a look-see of the book, and it was admittedly gorgeous, but I didn't really have the time nor the will to actually digest it (I was too stressed out about the games I was running at the convention). I'll need to give it a better look.
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Feb 22, 2017 08:04
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I'm struggling with myself to take advantage of the 20% sale they are running and picking up a poo poo load of stuff, or waiting until GenCon and getting everything without worrying about shipping.
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Feb 22, 2017 08:50
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Carteret posted:I'm struggling with myself to take advantage of the 20% sale they are running and picking up a poo poo load of stuff, or waiting until GenCon and getting everything without worrying about shipping. How are you getting to/from GenCon and how much other stuff are you looking to buy/pack for the return?
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Feb 22, 2017 08:58
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mango sentinel posted:How are you getting to/from GenCon and how much other stuff are you looking to buy/pack for the return? I'm flying just like last year, and I had plenty of room for my haul. I didn't really pick up all that much and my carry-on last year contained my check bag for the return trip. I've never needed to ship anything home in the 2 years I've been.
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Feb 22, 2017 09:19
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I wanna play/run a Tormenta RPG game but it's not translated to English and no one in my IRL group wants it 
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Feb 22, 2017 13:39
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Plutonis posted:I wanna play/run a Tormenta RPG game but it's not translated to English and no one in my IRL group wants it Quickly Googling this it seems like it was originally just a setting for D&D 3.5, but there's a new stand-alone game out. How much does it owe to 3.5 mechanically? It seems like it has some interesting stuff to it. Also, anime.
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Feb 22, 2017 14:06
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Ratpick posted:Quickly Googling this it seems like it was originally just a setting for D&D 3.5, but there's a new stand-alone game out. How much does it owe to 3.5 mechanically? It seems like it has some interesting stuff to it. Also, anime. Originally it was a setting for an anime-inspired original RPG, Defensores de Toquio, then ported to D20 to dubious results, then after the OGL was cancelled they made a Pathfinder/Star Wars mashup. Honestly a lot of the mechanics are rear end but nostalgia speaks louder (played the poo poo out of it on my teen years!) and I love the setting itself.
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Feb 22, 2017 14:20
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I did get pissed off when they retconned the cool snake person race into all of them being evil betrayers following a super evil god all along
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Feb 22, 2017 14:45
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Plutonis posted:I did get pissed off when they retconned the cool snake person race into all of them being evil betrayers following a super evil god all along snake people, dude.
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Feb 22, 2017 14:55
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Us millennials, always worshiping evil gods.
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Feb 22, 2017 15:24
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What a twist, the snake people were evil betrayers all along :O
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Feb 22, 2017 15:36
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Feb 22, 2017 15:39
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It's a freaking tired trope/cliche.
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Feb 22, 2017 15:45
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Yeah but if you go the other direction it rapidly turns into this
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Feb 22, 2017 16:11
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