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I have a very, very, very weird question. So you know how people often ask what games are best to play with kids? I have the exact opposite problem. I've been slowly corrupting my parents up to the point where now they're seasoned board-gamers who chewed through Gloomhaven and all of the Pandemic Legacies like champs. I turned some 60+ year olds into god drat turbo nerds (with the help of my little sister ; with the quarantine we've been getting together and board-gaming/day drinking a lot). Now they want me to run an RPG for them and I'm totally stumped. I'm not worried about the mechanics over-whelming them because, you know, they've played through all of Gloomhaven (although I wouldn't run like D&D or Shadowrun anyway just cause I don't like them), but I am worried about tone and genre. They were fine with Gloomhaven but in general more for the mechanics than the genre. My dad's an old-school sci-fi grog, but my mom isn't really into genre fiction. I'm thinking something PbtA but I can't immediately come up with something that'd appeal to them. They also said they'd be down for Blades but I'm worried that'll either go really well or really badly. tl ; dr : what's a good game for olds?
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Jan 13, 2021 18:43
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Have you considered The generic universal role playing system
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Jan 13, 2021 18:48
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Given just what you've told us, maybe Lancer? It's sci-fi but not schlock, and the gameplay is close enough to boardgames that it'll give your parents something to bite into while they explore the RPG angle. Beyond that it'll depend on what your parents are into and what you'd enjoy running.
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Jan 13, 2021 18:50
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Still gonna recommend the generic universal role playing system here but lancer is a good one
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Jan 13, 2021 18:53
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Session zero ur parents
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Jan 13, 2021 18:53
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I would honestly suggest sticking with your PBTA or Blades idea - in my (limited) experience, the fiction-first playstyle matches what people think RPGs are like from popular culture. But if think the tactical aspect is most appealing, Lancer would bes pretty great as well.
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Jan 13, 2021 19:02
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aldantefax posted:Have you considered More like geriatric universal role playing system 
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Jan 13, 2021 19:34
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Xiahou Dun posted:tl ; dr : what's a good game for olds? What films and books do they like? I’d recommend picking a PbtA or Firebrands game set in that kind of setting, as it’s something they’re used to while giving a framework to play off.
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Jan 13, 2021 19:44
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It sounds like they'd be good with any system, mechanically speaking. You just need to find out what type of story or genre they want to play, or you want to run.
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Jan 13, 2021 20:56
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Xiahou Dun posted:I have a very, very, very weird question. Depending on how "not into genre fiction" your mom is, it might be out as an option, but I'd suggest Traveller. I recently got into a game of Mongoose Traveller 2E and it's really fun! It's a nice sci fi game that adapts pretty well to all kinds of space adventurin'. The game hasn't really changed that much across editions, so if you really wanted to you could pick up an older book for the authentic old sci-fi grog experience, but MgT2E is a really good version of the game.
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Jan 13, 2021 21:46
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Tenik posted:It sounds like they'd be good with any system, mechanically speaking. You just need to find out what type of story or genre they want to play, or you want to run. The other question is whether they want to create their own characters. If they're fine with using pregens, or telling you a concept and having you crunch the numbers and present them with a finished character sheet, that opens up a wider range of possibilities. Many complex systems are actually quite simple to play once you get past chargen.
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Jan 13, 2021 21:53
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How come there are no games which expressly have music involved in its fictional context save for the inclusion of bards, I want player characters to have theme songs as part of their principal character design and that means something mechanically, but also same thing for antagonists
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Jan 14, 2021 04:44
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aldantefax posted:How come there are no games which expressly have music involved in its fictional context save for the inclusion of bards, I want player characters to have theme songs as part of their principal character design and that means something mechanically, but also same thing for antagonists one of the fanmade touhou rpgs had 'awesome theme song' as a merit you could take
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Jan 14, 2021 05:03
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aldantefax posted:How come there are no games which expressly have music involved in its fictional context save for the inclusion of bards, I want player characters to have theme songs as part of their principal character design and that means something mechanically, but also same thing for antagonists That's a very cool concept. What do you think the implementation might look like?
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Jan 14, 2021 05:42
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It's not exactly what you're looking for but Fair Winds and Following Seas has a sea shanty as part of its mechanics.
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Jan 14, 2021 06:02
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A sea shanty game. Well, that one's going directly to some friends with an obsession. Good find (I think? Haven't read it myself).
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Jan 14, 2021 06:47
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Elector_Nerdlingen posted:That's a very cool concept. What do you think the implementation might look like?
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Jan 14, 2021 12:16
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Conflict resolution by going into a Guitar Center, playing your theme, and seeing who gets kicked out last.
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Jan 14, 2021 12:28
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Star Trek Adventures except instead of dice everyone gets a flute
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Jan 14, 2021 12:32
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I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna give everyone a recorder though.
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Jan 14, 2021 12:54
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Xiahou Dun posted:I have a very, very, very weird question. Monster of the Week one shot The players are deep in Kentucky at an abandoned coal mine guarded by the skeletons of Pinkerton agents and the ghosts of Scab miners. The goal? Get to the bottom and destroy the lich phylactery before he can cause more damage than he already has.
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Jan 14, 2021 12:57
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Haven't played it, but I think https://buriedwithoutceremony.com/ribbon-drive involves creating a mix tape for the game?
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Jan 14, 2021 15:30
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There's also an optional character-and-setting creation ruleset in Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition that involves making a mixtape for your PCs, NPCs, and assorted relationships between them. And of course, epic music videos are an acceptable medium through which to essay your darkest immortal's backstory in Katanas & Trenchcoats, worthy of only slightly less Glory than epic poetry of great length.
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Jan 14, 2021 15:34
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And games like High Strung and Rockalypse that are expressly about playing as musicians, whether in a literal band simulator as an adventuring group.
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Jan 14, 2021 17:00
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Unrelated but make a map out of a coffee
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Jan 14, 2021 17:08
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aldantefax posted:How come there are no games which expressly have music involved in its fictional context save for the inclusion of bards, I want player characters to have theme songs as part of their principal character design and that means something mechanically, but also same thing for antagonists A finger on the monkey's paw curls: https://projects.inklesspen.com/fatal-and-friends/daeren/powerchords/
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Jan 14, 2021 19:59
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Hey, just getting some opinions on a design thing. In Kazzam, there are two magical implements. (Actually there are 3, but the question is about these 2.)quote:If you have a X, your range is 5, and you add 1 damage to your attacks. When you make an attack with your X, you grant an Opportunity to everyone adjacent. Using an attack action with your X ends your turn. So Ys are more versatile and make you more mobile and less vulnerable in melee than Xs, but Xs hit harder. In your opinion, which is a wand and which is a staff? Argument for wand = Y: staves are big and wands are light, so it makes sense that you'd be more mobile with a wand. Argument for staff = Y: staves seem more defensive, so it makes sense that you'd make yourself less vulnerable in melee when using a staff.
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Jan 14, 2021 21:18
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Wand seems fine
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Jan 14, 2021 22:42
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Both are sticks, just let people pick what kind of stick they want.
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Jan 14, 2021 23:07
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X seems like a staff to me, and Y more like a wand.
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Jan 14, 2021 23:08
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Yawgmoth posted:Both are sticks, just let people pick what kind of stick they want.  If the fluff doesn't matter to the mechanics (which it doesn't if you're deciding whether to arbitrarily call one a staff and one a wand), then let the players decide.
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Jan 14, 2021 23:18
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Leraika posted:
There are other mechanics attached to implement choice depending on your class. Sword alchemists smear potions on their blades while staff alchemists hurl flasks of potions lacrosse-style over long distances, etc. Reskinning is absolutely a thing in my games, so if a player wants to play with wand mechanics but say they have a lightweight staff or whatever, that's absolutely fine. But there does need to be a default for ease of use and new players and just to keep the text understandable. Players are choosing to go melee, to go ranged power, or to go for a versatile ranged option that isn't afraid of melee. But unlike Strike, this game does have a default setting and default fluff for everything. So it's important to have some grounding for this choice in the fiction even if people can reskin into whatever. So... which feels like which to you?
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Jan 14, 2021 23:26
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Elector_Nerdlingen posted:That's a very cool concept. What do you think the implementation might look like? I have tried (semi-unsuccessfully) to get people to send me theme songs for their characters for one shots and the like and they can choose to play their theme song to get bonuses and/or automatically succeed at stuff. If I wanted to operationalize it into a core gameplay mechanic, I would probably use it as something that anybody can trigger when anybody else is doing something cool or recovering from a setback to go on to do something cooler. Bonus points to develop: - A theme song for the party - A theme song for the game - A recurring song that has multiple interpretations (see: James Bond, Pirates of the Caribbean, etc) to play as a music bed but also "intense" versions that change the rules parameters (everybody deals double damage this fight because it's playing the intense version of the song) - Henshin music for if someone is about to go nova in a fight - A "Next Time, On..." sizzle reel song that people contribute ideas for what's happening next game session I dunno, stuff like that! I would almost certainly want to make it something that is more meaningfully represented instead of just playing Lord of the Rings generic OST while journeying and that has zero mechanical impact on a game though.
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Jan 14, 2021 23:34
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Basically I'm proposing making a game where it's an anime and you play through anime episodes including through opening and closing sequences: edit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWZD9xLyYeM but in LANCER
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Jan 14, 2021 23:35
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Jimbozig posted:There are other mechanics attached to implement choice depending on your class. Sword alchemists smear potions on their blades while staff alchemists hurl flasks of potions lacrosse-style over long distances, etc.
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Jan 14, 2021 23:35
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Jimbozig posted:There are other mechanics attached to implement choice depending on your class. Sword alchemists smear potions on their blades while staff alchemists hurl flasks of potions lacrosse-style over long distances, etc. It's, again, completely arbitrary, and I've found that saying 'this block of mechanics can only work for a staff and this block of mechanics only works for a wand' only turns off new players who have a specific concept in mind, even if you go 'oh but you can reskin to whatever you want' afterwards. There doesn't have to be a default! You could say 'boosting magic weapon' and 'mobile magic weapon' and get the same result. Neither feels like a wand or a staff to me, and I suspect further conversation in this vein isn't going to be particularly helpful to anyone.
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Jan 14, 2021 23:48
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Leraika posted:It's, again, completely arbitrary, and I've found that saying 'this block of mechanics can only work for a staff and this block of mechanics only works for a wand' only turns off new players who have a specific concept in mind, even if you go 'oh but you can reskin to whatever you want' afterwards. There doesn't have to be a default! You could say 'boosting magic weapon' and 'mobile magic weapon' and get the same result. When you make an attack with your X, you grant an Opportunity to everyone adjacent. <- this feels wandy Using an attack action with your X ends your turn. <- this does not you may take your attack action before your move action. <-this feels wandy If you hit an enemy with an attack from your Y on your turn, they may not take advantage of Opportunities against you for the rest of your turn. <- this feels staffy
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Jan 14, 2021 23:58
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aldantefax posted:How come there are no games which expressly have music involved in its fictional context save for the inclusion of bards, I want player characters to have theme songs as part of their principal character design and that means something mechanically, but also same thing for antagonists Have you heard of Renasistance? "True Music" is an express tool in your rebellion against the oppressive structures you fight against in-game, and your choice of genre affects what your abilities can actually be. It's in development currently, but is very interesting already.
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Jan 15, 2021 00:01
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Splicer posted:That's my issue too, none of these feel like one or the other so whatever gets assigned will be essentially arbitrary Yeah, this is kind of the thing that got me and my group talking. If I give the melee defense to the staff and the versatile movement to the wand, then extra damage on either end is not balanced. I might end up shuffling it like that. It's not just about coming up with mechanics that feel wandy and staffy, but also having them be balanced and fun. Having the sport be dynamic and exciting is more important to me than getting a perfect match to the fluff. Like, I'm going for good gameplay, not simulating a magical world with exactitude. The 3rd implement is swords, which are melee only.
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Jan 15, 2021 02:05
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Jimbozig posted:Hey, just getting some opinions on a design thing. In Kazzam, there are two magical implements. (Actually there are 3, but the question is about these 2.) I'm gonna step outside the mechanics for a sec. Does one of these (make you vulnerable to melee) feed into an already-existing vulnerability that mostly wizard types already avoid? Does one of these (make your enemy you hit suck) play into the Controller aspect of a wizard, while one (do +1 point of damage) only matter at low levels and probably not at all because 'do more damage' isn't in the Wizard's role anyway, they're more about making enemies suck? These are all (bad) D&D tropes so I'm maybe way off base here, but I think it's more important than how big the piece of wood might be, or even what feels more like wandy vs. staffy. If I'm making a ranged attacker I'm already gonna be vulnerable to melee and doing tons of stuff to avoid being standing next to enemies, so the drawback doesn't matter to me most of the time; if I'm making a controller, I don't care about +1 damage I wanna make the enemies suck or more vulnerable to my allies or maybe shove them into the campfire. Coming back to your actual question, if you must assign one set of bonuses/penalties to a flavor of implement, can you lever off of setting elements that aren't the same old tropes? In other words, in your Kazzam setting (is that a setting?) maybe some wizards cast spells via handheld mummified small animals with gems for eyes, and other wizards focus their powers through magic rocks that they have to juggle, while a third set of wizards zap baddies via fragile origami crafts. Or something. This is personal but I'm sick to death of wizard staffs and even more sick to death of wands. If your game is supposed to be setting-agnostic then it's a toughy because probably most settings that players try to use for this will be using the cliche'd implements too.
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Jan 15, 2021 02:26
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