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Helical Nightmares posted:Enjoying the actual play reports. Thanks for the nice words! I'd forgotten to post my second beat, I'll do that now. And yeah, I think worldbuilding stuff is super interesting, post it. I might try to document using the character generation tools in ALONe to aid in worldbuilding also. Basque Sandalpunk Game The second beat has some downtime at the end. Downtime is where you do a bit of narrative exposition to wrap up the beat once the stakes have been achieved or failed. There are some rules for advancing certain sorts of goals in downtime, but it's not always something you do, and I mostly haven't. Setting Character building Beat 1: Battle at the Base Beat 2: Archives Lost Stakes: Can the rebel archives be recovered? We reach my chariot, and I summon Luzio, my pilot whale. We have to find the ship with the archives. We assume it's heading broadly southeast, toward Egypt, so we head off at breakneck pace to scout the horizon. (Sensory: teeth chattering) It's cold, and night is falling. Simone huddles close as we ply the waves, hunting desperately. Do we catch sight of them before needing to rest? Positives: I am a skilled baleazia (+1), I've been around the Mediterranean making connections (+1), I am a rebel leader and know about naval recon (+1), Simone is a sharp-eyed rebel princess (+1). Negatives: night is falling (-1). Total: 3 vs. 5 (default diff.). Bad odds, qualified. (QB:N, but...) As the darkness falls, we see no sign, but we do spot a rebel craft. d8 to pick die (d8:6). Okay, so 2d12 for the size of the craft (2d12:9). With 9 people aboard it's a...(Rune:Fehu, wealth/prosperity)...small, quick trading vessel. We hail them, and quickly share the news about the destruction of Katovouno and the loss of the archives. They go pale, and swear to help. Who's in charge? (Name:Agamemnon) (Tag:Tower, Heart, Skull) (Rune:Mannaz, Self, skill) (Element:Water) It's Agamemnon, the mercurial, brilliant head of rebel logistics. He promises to sweep the sea, and orders us both (though we are his superiors, technically) to bed, at least for a couple hours. We dock to his ship, I unhitch Luzio, and we fall immediately asleep in a bunk together. We awaken at sunrise, and ask Agamemnon if they've located the Skullship. (QG:N, but...) No dice. However, they've learned that (catalyst:a portal opens) the ship is headed for the Suez, where construction of the planned canal is ahead of schedule. We decide that the archives are, for now, lost, and we decide to lick our wounds, and plan how to undermine construction of this canal. Downtime With the loss of the archives and the new information about the Suez, we decide that we need to develop some more allies in the fight against the Alliance. Agamemnon suggests seeking formal assistance from one of the Greek cities. There are a fair number of individual Greeks in the Pact, but there's been no official assistance from any of the Mediterranean powers so far. We decide to focus on Sardis in Lydia, since they are the Hellenistic city nearest the edges of Egyptian territory (and thus most anxious about an increase in Egyptian power), as well as the home of Melaina, the late commander of the Pact base at Katovuono. You might as well start somewhere you have contacts! As the chief diplomatist of the Pact I prepare to head to Anatolia, accompanied by my friend and fellow rebel Valente. Simone will be working on developing our current guerrilla forces into something that can incorporate (hopefully!) the addition of some Greek firepower. We spend a night wandering a Pact floatilla together, stepping lightly between the lashed-together ships, taking in an old romance told by an elderly rebel storyteller on one of the rare garden boats, and enjoying a meal of lamb and garlic at one of Simone's favorite bistros (a ship she hadn't seen in over a year). We stay the night in her ship, and part in the morning without promises. Luzio and I speed off to the northeast, chasing Valente's chariot, and I only glance back once, to see Simone already being briefed by one of the Lebanese guerillas whose name I don't know. The sun is low in the sky, and the morning has just begun.
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Jun 9, 2022 07:31
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Thanks for posting. Good stuff! It helps me to see other folk break down how they use these systems. I found my completely legit PDF of Renegade Crowns. Also found my Central Casting books - they're fun for completely randomly generating people. I might do a little writeup if a I get a minute.
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Jun 9, 2022 12:42
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HopperUK posted:I would very much like to read the results yeah! I got hold of Renegade Crowns and yeah it's a really fun worldbuilding tool. I enjoy messing with that one Game of Thrones RPG - Song of Ice and Fire RPG maybe? There were two with confusing names. But one of them has a really fun robust 'house builder' that can easily be adapted. Cool! Also thank you Kenning and HopperUK. In regards to the 'house builder' I think you are talking about A Song of Ice and Fire by Green Ronin. A few years back I asked the tg chat thread about base building, domain management and organization building RPG games. From this, I put together a list that I posted on my blog as a resource if you like things like A Song of Ice and Fire's house builder system or domain management games in general. It is here. Angrymog posted:It's a board game rather than RPG, but Under Falling Skies is excellent. I've not touched the campaign yet and it's very relatable. (And you can replay the campaign, or use the campaign components is standalone games. I was checking this out and it looks really cool. Like the global strategy map section of XCOM. Renegade Crowns Writeup Part 1 quote:I got turned on to the supplement Renegade Crowns for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (written by David Chart) by a fellow denizen on the Night At The Opera Delta Green discord. What Renegade Crowns is, is a kit. It is a kit with random tables for generating your own slice of the territory within the Border Princes, and populating it with monsters, lairs, villages and rulers for your Warhammer group to explore and politic with. And I have to say, the book is very good and brilliantly designed. Construction of the region flows organically from geographical placement of different biomes to natural results of points of political friction that the rulers of the area will vie for. I was also very impressed (and entertained by) the development diary included in the book called Making Masserschloss. I found another very well designed and written development diary on the RPG.net forums called Steve’s Renegade Crowns Diary. In addition, there is a GURPS adaptation of a Renegade Crowns development diary here. Inspired by the above three, I decided to try my hand at making a wild and (mostly) random driven Border Princes location of my very own. To make things easy on myself I googled how to make graph paper out of Excel and I used the humble Paint program to manipulate the images. Excel was great for setting the landscapes of the Borderlands because I could easily fill a large number of cells with a specific color indicating their terrain composition. So, let’s begin, shall we?  quote:The geological results of the map of the region I’m calling Two Geysers are interesting. Interesting in that there should be a food crisis for anyone living here. A good half the map is unfarmable barren plains. I’ve decided that that means the region is largely lacking in topsoil, and consists mostly of rocky ground. It is bisected by a small mountain range. The only saving graces of this rocky expanse of nothing are two geysers that produce rivers and the scrubland plains that are sort of farmable. So, I expect the rivers and scrubland plains to be natural resources to be fought over, and that food would be a major import of all settlements in the area. It is also possible that some folk turned to animal husbandry of grazing animals (likely goats) and that may fare better in the scrubland plains and possibly even in the scrubland mountains, assuming the latter is absent of greenskins. Next I've written up a rough history of the Two Geysers, define the Princes who politic and bicker in the region, and go into the relations they have with each other. I've kept these posts on my blog because I don't want to take up too much space. If you are interesting you can find Renegade Crowns Writeup Part 2 and 3 starting here: https://nightmarethoughts6.blogspot.com/2022/05/renegade-crowns-writeup-part-2.html Where Renegade Crowns really comes together is in the towns, villages and hamlets section, which I plan to write next. Once the geography and political boundaries are defined, it becomes immediately apparent which towns, villages and hamlets are going to be points of military contention and which holdings are going to become critical trade routes. Everything flows very well together and it becomes easy to bring the region to life.
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Jun 9, 2022 19:13
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Helical Nightmares posted:
Thanks! I peeked at the list and it's given me a couple of new things to read. I like that region generated there, looks very plausible.
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Jun 9, 2022 19:30
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https://twitter.com/deuceofgears/status/1534951297568342016
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Jun 9, 2022 19:38
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Helical Nightmares posted:
Just a note: my group played this when it came out (Jesus I'm old) and it was one of the best campaigns of any ttrpg I've been a part of. Our house heir was played by a friend of mine as basically a young Michael Corleone / Tywin Lannister and it was so awesome having the group be beholden to a guy with absolutely no scruples and no fear. Absolutely epic stuff, and we even played with the House management rules and had a legit battle with a neighboring family. SO good.
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Jun 9, 2022 20:53
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FLIPADELPHIA posted:Just a note: my group played this when it came out (Jesus I'm old) and it was one of the best campaigns of any ttrpg I've been a part of. Our house heir was played by a friend of mine as basically a young Michael Corleone / Tywin Lannister and it was so awesome having the group be beholden to a guy with absolutely no scruples and no fear. Absolutely epic stuff, and we even played with the House management rules and had a legit battle with a neighboring family. I own the physical core book and I'm so assmad I haven't had the chance to play it yet
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Jun 9, 2022 21:10
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Spoiler alert: he murdered his own sister and successfully blamed the maester for it. The maester was a member of the party. Lol epic
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Jun 9, 2022 21:56
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Recently received and am now playing through the "definitive" editions of Lone Wolf 1 - 5. Flight from the Dark has at the least been increased by an extra 200 sections, starting Lone Wolf inside the Monastery during the Darklords' attack. You do get more of a feel for the place. Several other encounters/locations have been fleshed out or just "epiced" up. Especially the Cenar temple. I think I still generally prefer the older version. In the old version there was a path through the book where you never had a single actual "fight" scene. Also, I liked the idea that Silent/Lone Wolf hosed up into heroism. The older version starts with LW sent out to cut firewood because he was inattentive in class (maybe too busy checking out Kai Initiate Large Hooters). He's outside the place when the Darklords descend and kill everybody else that's inside. The other definitive books? Eh, not so much. They've been edited and cleaned up some. Fire on the Water's notorious tunnel scene is a little more survivable though it still requires you to have either a specific item (and getting it needs a high Combat Skill) or a specific Kai skill. The content hasn't really changed through 2 and 3. Also, these aren't the Collectors' Editions so they don't have the bonus adventures at the end.
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Jun 13, 2022 01:17
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Okay fine. you asked for it... *CUE FANFARE* THE EXILED BLADE A Starforged Playthrough by Doctor Zero, esq. Prologue The Administrator showed up at J'ann's door looking more than a little worried. "A ship has arrived and is asking for you by name," he said. J'ann motioned him into the cramped quarters and opened the refrigeration unit. "Oh? Who's asking?" "The ship," Administrator Lerenc said, wiping at his bald head despite the coolness of the air. J'ann grabbed two bottles, handing one to the shorter, middle aged man. Lerenc was thin, but still managed to keep a doughy midsection, despite never seeming to eat. "Who on the the ship?" J'ann asked. "The ship is asking for you. It says it has no crew. Calls itself the Acaria." the Administrator opened and drank half of the alcoholic brew in one swig. J'ann froze. "Are you sure that's the name it said?" "Of course I am," Lerenc said, sounding offended. "And I have to tell you I don't like it at all. It appeared just outside the range of the defense guns. We didn't see it jump into the system or approach. Scared the hell out of us." J'ann nodded, eyes staring into space. "poo poo," he whispered. "You know it?" Lerenc downed the rest of the drink. "I know it. And if it's here, that means things have gone wrong at home. Very wrong. I have to go back to the Terminus sectors." Lerenc raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you say if you went back, people would be in danger?" "If the Acaria is here alone, people are already in danger." * * * Behind the Scenes:  Last year I started an Ironsworn campaign, but I quickly fell in love with the character (figuratively), the background, and the situation, so I decided to turn it into fiction instead. Rather than start another Ironsworn campaign, I decided to go for Starforged since it used a similar system. The campaign is introduced below. In order to avoid the risk of this game diverting into fiction as well, I am going to do a hybrid prose / gameplay mechanics style documentation. I decided to start with the Character first. I skimmed through the Truths section, but couldn't decide on things, so I thought starting with the character and situation would give me inspiration. 95% of it was rolled randomly1. There were only a couple rolls for the antagonist faction that I changed to fit the idea I had in mind. Character Creation:2, 3  NAME: J'ann Degas (juh-ahn day-gas) EDGE - 1 HEART - 1 IRON - 2 SHADOW - 3 WITS - 2 I set these values later in the process based upon the background - Shadow, Iron, and Wits seemed like it fit the Operative theme well. Background: I rolled twice on the character creation tables and got the following results: 51-55 Operator (Infiltrator, Blademaster) 21-25: Fugitive Hunter (Armored, Bounty Hunter) Operative sounded more interesting, but I managed to work in Bounty Hunter later as well. Backstory Prompt: 82-87: You were taken or lured away by someone I thought that a self-imposed exile sounded interesting. It's sort of a 'lured away' but more of a forced to move away thing. But what would make an Agent (I like the sound of 'Agent' better than 'Operative' since the latter makes me think of No One Lives Forever) go into exile willingly? Perhaps an enemy threatened his family unless he left the sector. Details would emerge later. Background Vow: Developed later, but documented here. "Stop Yan Min Sai's nefarious plot to attain godlike power." Ship History: 59-67 Inherited from a Mentor Must mean that there was a senior agent J'ann worked with that gave him the ship. I envisioned the mentor giving it to J'ann in order to escape into the outlands (although this changes a bit later). The Acaria  Ship Flavor: 81-85 Someone marked the hull with graffiti at a recent layover. This is awesome! However, I will hang on to this for early in the game. Name: The Acaria 'Acaria' is the name of an interstellar empire I like to use for a lot of things. In this setting, the Acarian Empire would be ancient history - the name of the Empire in the home galaxy that collapsed and the exodus left from. Envision your character: J'ann Degas  Everything we have so far makes me think of the Stainless Steel Rat. Yes, I know he was a different type of character completely, but I just had a flash of the book covers that used James Colburn as a model for Jim Degriz, and though I'd run with that. J'ann Degas (a bastardization of Jim Degriz) is young (mid thirties), but looks old for his years. As an Agent, he and his mentor fought to take down a criminal empire, and in particular their leader, 'Yan Min Sai' (name just materialized from the ether). She was a ruthless, bloodthirsty crime lord that would do anything or hurt anyone to gain power. Her rein of terror affected many sectors. After pursuing her for several years, J'ann and his mentor finally manage to take her out with the help of one of her lieutenants betraying her. After their victory, however, this lieutenant forced them to agree that J'ann would go into exile in the Outlands sectors, and the Mentor would quietly retire in exchange for not sending the remains of the organization after them and their families. People in the crime syndicate suspected his involvement, and he said he could keep them away, but only if the rest of the syndicate thought that they were no longer around to continue going after other syndicate members. And so, this lieutenant could take over Yan Min Sai's position, and remove the people who may come after them all later at the same time. J'ann left into self-imposed exile, spending years in the Outlands as a bounty hunter which leveraged his skills as an agent. He was at peace with his fate since he had taken down Yan Min Sai and his family was safe. After a number of years, The Acracia showed up in the outlands piloted by the AI (see Truths). The ship reports that J'ann's mentor (I'm getting tired of typing that, so he now has a name - Folgin) learned that Yan Min Sai had somehow returned4 and the crime syndicate (name generated later as 'The Ascendancy of the Ashen Talons') was coming after him. Folgin told The Acaria to find J'ann since Folgin knew he couldn't hold off the syndicate by himself, and his death was certain. He had also learned that Yan Min Sai had a new scheme in the works - it had something to do with finding an ancient device of enormous power that she believed would give her the means to control the Terminus sectors and maybe even the entire forge. He bid J'ann return and stop her. Folgin  Items: * Blade made from the hull of an Exodus Ship * Agent outfit and gear * Needler pistol (a quiet gaus weapon with low stopping power, but high penetration. Also safe for firing inside a ship or station.) * Photos of Family Assets: Starship - The Acaria Module - Stealth tech Path - Infiltrator Path - Blademaster Path - Bounty Hunter5 I figured Infiltrator would be perfect for an Agent, and then some kind of combat skill. I had envisioned the Truth where you swear on a fragment of an exodus ship so I had the idea for his blade, but got a slightly different truth which fit. I wanted a ship module, and Stealth Tech was a perfect fit for the character so far. NEXT ENTRY: Campaign Truths Footnotes: 1. I apologize that I don't have all the roll results. I made annotations in the pre-release version of Starforged, but deleted that rulebook file like a doofus when the release version came out. I remembered all the results though. 2. Almost all images shamelessly stolen from the inter webs without attribution. 3. I am using Stargazer to run and organize my campaign. Check it: https://nboughton.uk/apps/stargazer 4. Everyone was convinced she was dead, otherwise the deal of exile wouldn't have worked. It remains to be seen if she escaped her death, or somehow came back 5. I made a mistake and chose 5 asset cards (I thought the ship wasn't counted toward the starting ones) but later realized my mistake. I'll keep the Bounty Hunter path anyway since it fits in with the backstory. I'M MAD WITH POWER!
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Jun 13, 2022 22:05
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Found a link to what is probably the first CYOA published back in the 1940s: https://imgur.com/a/3JPsn
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Jun 14, 2022 23:41
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Everyone posted:Found a link to what is probably the first CYOA published back in the 1940s: This is awesome I love the art. Though I'm sure some ancient Roman scribe made up a choose your own adventure scroll, but it's been lost to time.
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Jun 14, 2022 23:50
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That is really cool! Thanks!
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Jun 15, 2022 01:26
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I like your dude Doctor that is super cool  thanks for posting that stuff! I love hearing about people’s characters I don’t even care.
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Jun 16, 2022 04:14
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I don't know if it fits in exactly with the roleplaying part of this thread so I hope okay to post. I have been enjoying Black Sonata. https://tgg-games.com/collections/our-games/products/black-sonata It is a deduction based solo game. You have to use clues to figure out who the mystery woman is who has ties to Shakespeare. She moves around the board and you have to track her down to get clues. I just got the expansion pack in the mail.
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Jun 16, 2022 19:34
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Read a bit through Geek Gamers book, and if you're familiar with her content on youtube, there's nothing too new here. Some extra thoughts and insights into her specific style of play that didn't make it into videos is what it most feels like. In general the book seems mostly focused towards new people and there's a lot of charts and such in the back that seem especially focused on providing content for new Soloists. Personally the thing that stood out to me to be the most different from my own style of play is her insistence to skip over character creation and get a good idea for the story you want to tell first. While for me, seeing how the system works is the most important. If I am playing a solo RPG, it's the mechanics that make the activity different than just writing a story. (which I also have fun doing from time to time) I've frequently found games I've liked with good tables or mostly good mechanics and either swiped the good stuff or made small changes to how dice or rolled or which dice are rolled in order to craft an experience that suits me better. Which, I think in general I think is the most important thing regardless of what your personal style is. Don't be afraid of tailoring your experience so that you feel you're having fun. Other than that, there's a lot of tidbits of advice that are broadly good. Make your own tables or modify ones you fine. Give them specific, descriptive names and not just "Random Encounter." One thing she alludes to, but I couldn't find written straight out was that sometimes you can just look at a table and something stands out as the thing you think will be most interesting. Go ahead and don't roll. Or sometimes you'll roll and the result will make you feel like you really wanted to see a certain other result instead. That's a good indicator you should just go with that instead. Letting yourself be okay with Roll and/or Pick is something I think is important for getting the most out of Solo RPG games. All in all this is a fine resource and there's some neat tidbits and thoughts. For someone new, someone who wants to broaden their horizons or for someone already a fan of Geek Gamers' content and just wants more I feel like there's a lot of value here.
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Jun 17, 2022 03:35
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The way GeekGamer says "solo work" when she is referring to playing solo rpgs makes me think she might be a witch. People that do witchcraft stuff constantly talk about workings and "shadow work". I donno, does anyone else use divination tools in their solo role-playing? Before I go on a solo adventure I like to do a tarot reading and an i-Ching fortune. A simple Past-Present-Future reading nothing big or weird. It's kind of like a prophecy, I can make it true if i'm the one making up the story! There are a lot of online tools for divination so its really easy, like this: https://tarotgoddess.com/cgi-bin/tarot/tarot.cgi quote:Past: https://www.ichingonline.net/ quote:Hexagram: Looks like some kind of machiavellian scheming is going on. The i-ching says "success if you keep your course" but the tarot says "transitory feelings of poverty" in the future so maybe its victory at a harsh cost? I donno it would become more clear as I play!
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Jun 17, 2022 05:10
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Rutibex posted:The way GeekGamer says "solo work" when she is referring to playing solo rpgs makes me think she might be a witch. People that do witchcraft stuff constantly talk about workings and "shadow work". I donno, does anyone else use divination tools in their solo role-playing? I've used runic and tarot spreads to help me get a backstory for characters, and a general idea where there story might be going. Similar PPF spreads.
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Jun 17, 2022 07:40
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I've played a number of tarot-deck based solo games, like Cursed Princess with a Sword. Does that count?
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Jun 17, 2022 13:51
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Got my physical copy of Apawthecaria in the post today and it's *gorgeous*. Just really lovely. There's a little fold-out map inside the front cover. It's all just whimsical as heck. I'm thinking I might play as my little hedgehog character from Sweaters by Hedgehog.
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Jun 22, 2022 11:53
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I'm so conflicted on Apawthecaria. I really, really like Apothecaria for its theme but wish it had a little more mechanical crunch. Apawthecaria looks like it addresses this perfectly but the Redwall-esque theme, while adorable, is just not doing it for me. Maybe I'll take the plunge but I wish I didn't have to choose.
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Jun 22, 2022 15:24
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wizzardstaff posted:I'm so conflicted on Apawthecaria. I really, really like Apothecaria for its theme but wish it had a little more mechanical crunch. Apawthecaria looks like it addresses this perfectly but the Redwall-esque theme, while adorable, is just not doing it for me. Maybe I'll take the plunge but I wish I didn't have to choose. I don't think it'd be all that hard to lift the mechanics you want out and back into Apothecaria.
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Jun 22, 2022 20:56
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HopperUK posted:I don't think it'd be all that hard to lift the mechanics you want out and back into Apothecaria. I've thought about it, but it's more work to hack them together than I'm willing to commit to. For example one of my favorite aspects of the animal game is how your foraging location is determined by the travel map, while the witch game is all about building up a cozy home base. There's not a straight one-to-one port between them. Similarly, I like the seasonal events in the animal game but there's no equivalent in the witch game, I'd have to write my own prompts. And if I'm doing that then I'm playing narrative calvinball anyway, which is what I wanted to get away from. What I might do is play Apawthecaria by the book but straight-up reskin it on the fly to be the story of a wandering human healer. Convert every prompt that references anthropomorphic animals into something else. It would not be the same vibe as Apothecaria and would miss out on all the unique text from that game, but it could be its own thing.
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Jun 22, 2022 23:18
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wizzardstaff posted:I've thought about it, but it's more work to hack them together than I'm willing to commit to. For example one of my favorite aspects of the animal game is how your foraging location is determined by the travel map, while the witch game is all about building up a cozy home base. There's not a straight one-to-one port between them. Similarly, I like the seasonal events in the animal game but there's no equivalent in the witch game, I'd have to write my own prompts. And if I'm doing that then I'm playing narrative calvinball anyway, which is what I wanted to get away from. Yeah, I think if the only trouble you're having is 'you are an animal in this' then that'd be really pretty easy to get past! Just convert on the fly, like you said. I think that'd be a really interesting and fun way to play.
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Jun 22, 2022 23:29
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One of the cool things about Apawthecaria that doesn't have a direct relationship to Apothecaria are all the references to behemoths (large animals) and titan relics (human remnants). I think it could be fun to scale those up into terrifying fantasy/alien creatures and magitech ruins.
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Jun 22, 2022 23:48
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wizzardstaff posted:One of the cool things about Apawthecaria that doesn't have a direct relationship to Apothecaria are all the references to behemoths (large animals) and titan relics (human remnants). I think it could be fun to scale those up into terrifying fantasy/alien creatures and magitech ruins. In checking out Apawthecaria, I see the author started with DELVE which is Dwarf Fortress inspired.  How is that? Worth getting?
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Jun 23, 2022 15:36
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Doctor Zero posted:In checking out Apawthecaria, I see the author started with DELVE which is Dwarf Fortress inspired. https://apawthecaria.carrd.co/#introduction Apawthecaria has an intro version if you're interested in checking it out!
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Jun 23, 2022 16:45
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Doctor Zero posted:In checking out Apawthecaria, I see the author started with DELVE which is Dwarf Fortress inspired. Delve was in the Ukraine fundraising bundle on itch.io, so if you bought that you already own it. I've read the rules, but haven't actually played it.
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Jun 23, 2022 16:57
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Doctor Zero posted:In checking out Apawthecaria, I see the author started with DELVE which is Dwarf Fortress inspired. Take a look and see if this inspires you. You can also check out the discord where people post some really great maps and playthroughs. https://youtu.be/egU3-sPmFUw I have only played one game of Delve myself, being intimidated by my lovely illustration skills. But that shouldn't be a barrier as there are people who play with Excel spreadsheets and no art at all. My impression of Delve (and the others in its line, Rise and Umbra) is that it's a great story generator but somewhat flawed as a tightly balanced game. The first rules question anyone has is "wait, so if I build a drawbridge over a volcanic shaft, have I just solved the game?" And the next is "why are prisons so overpowered, if I fill my hold with conscripted labor then it's easy mode." The author's response is basically "yup" with a side of "if you don't like it, make up your own rules that are more fun". She's a tinkerer and prefers to add new mechanisms and explorations to her games rather than linger and refine existing stuff. Much of her flavor is fascinating and clever but only skin deep when it comes to the crunch. Which is totally cool! Just maybe hold up if you are expecting "literally dwarf fortress on paper". All that being said, the game is taking off in popularity lately (largely because of the video above) and I think she's considering a revised second edition.
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Jun 23, 2022 17:31
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I play Delve and Rise and Umbra with a rule that says I win all combats and just play em like peaceful building games and I have fun with it, but I don't think that's really recommended. You're ignoring a lot of the game if you do that.
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Jun 23, 2022 23:33
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There is a Summer Campaign Sale (25% off select titles) at WargameVault and Ivan Sorensen (of Nordic Weasel Games) has put up most of his solo wargames up for sale. https://www.wargamevault.com/browse/pub/5701/Nordic-Weasel-Games 5 Parsecs from Home and 5 Leagues from the Borderlands are not on sale because (I think) they are published by Modiphius and hosted on DriveThruRPG. If you like WW2, and want an example of how 5 Men at Kursk plays then read on here for free: https://www.wargamevault.com/product/173387/Five-Men-at-Kursk-turn-example?manufacturers_id=5701 I also found a generator for crew creation and ship creation for 5 Parsecs from Home. It is hosted here: https://perchance.org/5-parsecs-ful-crew-and-ship-generator While I was exploring DriveThruRPG I found the FlexTale Solo Adventuring Toolkit (multisystem: Pathfinder, P2E, 5E, OSR, DCC) for effectively half off in this package: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/402410/2022-Ennie-Submissions-BUNDLE The package is $5.75 while the pdf alone is essentially $10. The FlexTale Solo Adventuring Toolkit is 613 pages of rules, tools and templates for Solo gaming. https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/375239/FlexTale-Solo-Adventuring-Toolkit-multisystem-Pathfinder-P2E-5E-OSR-DCC quote:What's Included
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Jul 9, 2022 02:53
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Helical Nightmares posted:
Thanks for these links. I got this because why not and it looks pretty neat, but I haven’t dug into it far. The graphic design of the book is *really*  though.
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Jul 9, 2022 23:33
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Helical Nightmares posted:
Thanks for this! I could use this for my Starforged game.
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Jul 10, 2022 00:10
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Cross posting this from the Ironsworn thread, sorry if it's annoying! I'm thinking of starting up a solo Starforged game, did some of the set up last night. Companions and Connections are two mutually exclusive things, right? It seems kind of weird for a space game to have a whole set of rules and an experience track about building relationships and then not let you use them for characters who your PC interacts with the most. Unless like, that's the whole point, and using connection rules for companions is OP? If that's the reasoning-- do people think it's because of the mechanical benefit of a connection/bond to moves or because it would let you get experience too quickly? I want to know what I'd be breaking if I decided a companion was also a connection. I mean, I know there's nothing stopping me from making companions important characters with beats and development and character growth but I do find it a little odd that the very clever mechanical incentives for that are excluded. I know it's not quite the same set of genre assumptions but it's like as if there was a Star Trek game that only incentivized building relations with Starfleet admirals, or a Mass Effect game that only had rules about relationships with the Spector council.
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Jul 13, 2022 17:46
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The Make A Connection move explicitly says no companions, yeah. The mechanics of bonds get a little wonky - I and a lot of other people in the discord server take it as building up a bond with a connection and eventually you can convert them to a Sidekick Companion if you want. It goes from one time bonuses to a constant bonus in a way. Shawn seems like he didn’t want Sidekick as an available starting Asset but relented at some point.
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Jul 14, 2022 15:26
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So I've been talking about solo and coop wargames for some time. Maybe some of you have questions you'd like to ask a solo wargaming designer yourself? Ivan Sorensen, the writer behind Five Parsecs From Home, Five Leagues From the Borderlands and a number of other wargames, and fellow goon is hosting a Q and A session.  Ivan posted:Cheers folks. I thought I would do a Q&A session where people can throw questions at me and I will go through them and reply to them all. 
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Aug 2, 2022 19:19
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Sure, I’ll bite- - You’ve been transparent about your media and gaming influences. Was the universe in 5 Parsecs developed specifically for the game? Or is it part of personal world building you’ve done in the past, (RPG campaigns, daydreams, etc) - any plans for more detailed rules for space combat? It would be cool to break out starship miniatures and play a space based tactical round.
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Aug 2, 2022 23:11
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The same person who did Lighthouse at the Edge of the Universe, a solo journalling thing which I thought turned out pretty good, has launched Fox Curio's Floating Bookshop.quote:Welcome to Bury River, the home to many animalfolk who trade and live along the riverbank. It is a bustling, lively place, with fish living in the clear waters and trees reaching overhead to the sun. Here, you can feel the tickling breeze through your fur and hear the lapping of the water at your paws. Seems promising. $9 digital, $16 printed.
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Aug 5, 2022 17:27
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"There will be a floor-plan in the zine for you to layout where the furniture goes." you get to lay out a bookshop boat
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Aug 5, 2022 21:14
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StarkRavingMad posted:The same person who did Lighthouse at the Edge of the Universe, a solo journalling thing which I thought turned out pretty good, has launched Fox Curio's Floating Bookshop. Looks awesome. Got it, thanks!
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Aug 5, 2022 21:29
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