FATAL & Friends 2014-15: The Neverending Storygame

The Something Awful Forums > Archives > Comedy Goldmine > The Goodmine > FATAL & Friends 2014-15: The Neverending Storygame

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Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Jef, try to find a copy of Alma Mater.

# ¿ May 22, 2014 22:03

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# ¿ May 15, 2024 13:06

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

it's also one of the only games to be booted out of Gencon due to some NSFW art...

# ¿ May 22, 2014 22:19

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

I like d20...but only if I use any other magic system than base.

# ¿ May 25, 2014 00:52

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Davin Valkri posted:

What he's saying is you want "Nyarlathotech: A Paul Ettin Game".

Eldritch Skies.

# ¿ Jun 5, 2014 04:49

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

theironjef posted:

Oh I have that! It's so lo-fi it looks like a 'zine. I'd hardly even count it as a first edition since it's a TMNT supplement instead of a separate game!

That's the one I have (1st ed) I've never seen a copy of 2nd Ed actually.

# ¿ Jul 8, 2014 21:17

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Alien Rope Burn posted:

Rifts Mercenaries feels like peak nineties, somehow, except for maybe Juicer Uprising. It's not that unusual as far as Rifts books go, but just the terrible art and being focused on every... single... NPC... being... bad... rear end.

Yeah, enjoy that cover art, because we've got a lot of awful interior art coming up.

That may be peak 90s but this is definitely peak 80s...

# ¿ Jul 18, 2014 22:43

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Consigning it to fire is the only thing that can help a Palladium game.

# ¿ Jul 23, 2014 04:37

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

JamieTheD posted:

Nice. I'd forgotten about that... But still... Read a book? Go insane. Cast magic? Go insane. Use a magic gubbins? Most likely go insane, possibly get injured/cursed/zambified as well. See a monster? Go insane, and die horribly to anything nastier than a Deep One, because even LAW Rockets bounce off, and the players refuse to believe this (Yes, okay, I stole that bit from Knights of the Dinner Table, but "Scream of Kachoolu" was pretty spot on.)

Meet Great Cthulhu? 1d10 people every combat round instantly die, everyone goes insane, and his attacks do about five times more damage than you'll ever have hitpoints.

Did I mention I love CoC? Because I love CoC.

The weirdest part is that in the source literature humanity won a lot. CoC the game is far more dangerous in some ways. It also reinforced the GM vs. Players mentality.

# ¿ Jul 25, 2014 01:56

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

WEG also had one of the best modern conflict board wargames in AirCav and a bunch of good historical board wargames. I wasn't really a fan of the D6 system, but I did like TORG.

# ¿ Jul 25, 2014 17:16

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

FMguru posted:

Yeah, WEG was really two companies: the 1980s WEG which made excellent boardgames (Tank Leader! RAF! Web and Starship! Junta! Tales of the Arabian Nights!), Paranoia, Torg, and Star Wars 1E, and 1990s WEG which spiraled down until it was shipping junk like the $30 hardback RPG supplement for Star Wars "The Truce At Bakura", Paranoia 5E, and RPGs based on the Species and Tank Girl properties. Oh, and one of the strangest, least-loved RPGs ever - Shatterzone.

Actually, there were three companies: I forgot that guy who bought out their IP in the 2000s and tried to relaunch it, only to become the dictionary definition of a nerd with a dream and a line of credit but less than zero business sense. What a trainwreck that was.

How could I forget about Tales of the Arabian Nights? That is a game worth tracking down immediately. It is absolutely superb.

# ¿ Jul 25, 2014 17:30

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Evil Mastermind posted:

While I fully admit I am ridiculously behind on the Torg megareview, I do want to point out that it looks like all the Torg books are available on DriveThru now, with the news that "there will be new Torg titles forthcoming in 2015", whatever that means (please be a new game line).

e: Gah, looks like it's a bunch off stuff except the core cosm books. What's the point of that?

I have all of those in hard copy. :smug:

# ¿ Jul 31, 2014 23:06

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

I backed the Indiegogo for Warbirds and it really is a neat game. They just released 'And They Called Me Mad!' the weird science supplement too.

# ¿ Aug 13, 2014 07:53

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Angrymog posted:

The NPC names are something special. Here are a few more.

Characters are Vampyres unless I say otherwise - Samantha X, Chilly Billy, Shagman Doctor D (Werewolf), Crucial Joe E, Shady Babe (Inuit), Professor Hell, "Sunny" Daze, C Spot Runn (Werewolf), Golgotha, Lisa "Blood" Bath, WO Babylon (Daemon), Johnny Limbo (unique - a hitman who kills his victims by vanishing them during teleportation), Captain N Tropy (Inuit).

It's not a game that takes itself too seriously.

You forgot IAVOL! I Achieved Victory Over Life

# ¿ Aug 19, 2014 17:11

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

psychopomp posted:

What's the breakdown between cubewolf and wolfcubed?

In volume or surface area?

# ¿ Aug 20, 2014 02:37

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Dilb posted:

Monsterhearts is definitely one of the most interesting, well designed games I've seen in this thread. Unfortunately it's a game of 'bisexual teenage melodramatics making poor decisions', which is going to be unappealing to a lot of people for a lot of legitimate reasons. Plop me down in a session, and I'd probably have trouble doing anything, as I'd always be thinking (in-character) "man, this is a terrible idea and everyone is really emotionally unhealthy, I should go home and study to be an accountant".

As a concept it's brilliant, as a game I would never play it. The real world is depressing enough that I don't need to add to it with simulated angst.

# ¿ Aug 20, 2014 21:38

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Impermanent posted:

This isn't an indictment of your personal preferences, but your title is literally from a work of simulated angst.

Monsterhearts is at its heart as much of a pulpfest as any clockwork steampunk dungeon game and it makes me sad that the gaming community approaches its (still pulpy, popcorny fun) angst-fest so tepidly.

People never did this with Vampire, and I think this has to do with the fact that Vampire was marketed at a time when emotionally distant vampires were still more of a masculine fantasy than a feminine one.

I didn't buy my title and I really want to know who did. Also I despise Vampire with every fiber of my being.

# ¿ Aug 20, 2014 22:33

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Lemon Curdistan posted:

Are you a robot who doesn't understand the concept of playing a game to play through cool story moments, or the idea that people might like RPGs that emulate genres other than "kill nonhumans to steal their stuff?"

I guess I am if those 'cool story moments' involve depression, angst, and melancholy.

# ¿ Aug 21, 2014 02:44

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

PresidentBeard posted:

I think most people who dislike Monsterhearts do because it isn't murderhoboing "like most RPGs" as you claim. That also really isn't the source of people not getting the motivations. After all Call of Cthulhu is a fairly popular game and in it the investigators have no reason to actually go out investigating. As soon as the supernatural horror stuff starts they should just book it back home and call the cops.

I think one of the biggest disconnects is that Monsterhearts demands that you be invested in your character from the get go for it to really function, as plots are primarily player driven and seem to be helped by spur of the moment emotional decisions. This is unfortunately at odds with how a lot of people play RPGs, only gradually becoming invested in the story and characters through the experience of several sessions. For instance you might not care if Bork the Barbarian dies in the first session of D&D because you haven't really done much with him, but would care if he died after a three month campaign. Monsterhearts is asking you to care right away and that takes a different frame of mind or less you end up with no motivation.

Absolutely, I don't play RPGs in the style that Monsterhearts encourages. I don't find them fun. I'm not saying that it isn't a brilliantly written game, just that not everybody likes that style or even tolerates it.

# ¿ Aug 23, 2014 00:14

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Valatar posted:

Stuff about Arcana Evolved

Map of the World from Monte's old website...

I love this setting and have been running a campaign of it for the last two years. The biggest problem I have with it one of the classes in particular(which I'm sure will be coveredOathbound).

# ¿ Aug 27, 2014 01:40

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

There was some interesting stuff that was hinted at like the Vallorians...

https://web.archive.org/web/20071108014022/http://www.montecook.com/cgi-bin/page.cgi?mpress_Legacy_vallorians1
https://web.archive.org/web/20071108014022/http://www.montecook.com/cgi-bin/page.cgi?mpress_Legacy_vallorians2
https://web.archive.org/web/20071108014022/http://www.montecook.com/cgi-bin/page.cgi?mpress_Legacy_vallorians3

...he released conversion notes to use Arcana Evolved with Ptolus (I use Ptolus in my campaign)...

https://web.archive.org/web/20071108014022/http://www.montecook.com/cgi-bin/page.cgi?mpress_Ptolus_enhance3

...and there was supporting material that was released such as Ruins of Intrigue which went into the Giant/Dragon War...

Link to the old catalog page -- https://web.archive.org/web/20071111094905/http://www.montecook.com/cgi-bin/page.cgi?mpress_Ruins

but I agree, the lack of a defined setting really hurt the line even with the (admittedly limited) 3rd party support that was out there.

# ¿ Aug 29, 2014 00:32

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Building the setting is always the most fun part for me. The Diamond Throne had just enough ideas to make me interested to figure out how they should all fit together. I know it's lacking in hard and fast stuff, but for me that's one of the reasons I like it so much is coming up with the missing background.

# ¿ Aug 29, 2014 03:21

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

The Sea Witch also gets to spray acid too for that same cost of a pick. Yes I know the sword is an at will but it also only does non-lethal.

In the campaign I'm currently running the Wood Witch has been killed once, the Magister twice, the Unfettered once,the Runelord once and the Warmain and Hawk Totem never. The majority of opponents in AE are intelligent plus there are very few beast type monsters in comparison to d20. This means when the party encounters enemies the spellcasters tend to get targeted, and everybody knows that Magisters without their staves are a hell of a lot less dangerous.

# ¿ Aug 30, 2014 17:11

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

In Arcana Evolved, Undead and Constructs. Energy Beings are too I think. (Those are the only summonings most spell casters can do)

# ¿ Aug 30, 2014 20:13

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

theironjef posted:

It's borne out correctly with the stuff from the 80s we've talked about on the podcast. Prime Directive, Car Wars, D6 Star Wars, and Skyrealms of Jorune are some of our episodes where we really get into how rulesy they are, and they're all 80s games. I think the one big exception would be the comically light Ghostbusters RPG.

Meanwhile the 90s output has all been forgettable, relatively rules-light garbage that tends to focus on one small idea writ large for setting. Haven, Don't Look Back, Furry Pirates, BESM. There are also exceptions, of course.

You really need to take a look at one of the FGU games from the early 80s (Just not Chivalry and Sorcery unless you need a sleeping pill). Villains and Vigilantes, Daredevils, Aftermath, PsiWorld, Flashing Blades, or Space Opera would be my recommendations.

# ¿ Sep 5, 2014 21:44

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

For an interesting comedic take on Earth and humans as insanely dangerous, look up an Australian RPG called 'Hunter Planet'.

# ¿ Sep 6, 2014 15:27

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

theironjef posted:

You know what I'm sick of? Reviewing things anyone has heard of or gives a poo poo about. Here's a review of a LARP we bought for three dollars. It is exactly that good.

System Mastery 27 - Nexus: Live Action Roleplaying - Play This Book, Vol. 1

Somebody else was stupid enough to buy that? I am not alone!

# ¿ Sep 9, 2014 08:46

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

The gear system in 2.0 is really good. Also the modular villains makes it very easy to configure encounters. I really like both versions to be honest.

# ¿ Sep 10, 2014 17:48

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Transmechs! They also did Real American H.E.R.O.es for GI JOE based shenanigans.

# ¿ Sep 10, 2014 20:05

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Fragile Minds was the Cosmic Horror one. There were also the Light of Olympus and Classic Fantasy books.

# ¿ Sep 10, 2014 20:20

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Who Knew?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAvug-z7lqM

# ¿ Sep 14, 2014 15:40

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

I like

game systems and I know I'm not alone. Fiddling with numbers and tables just feels so right. That said, the organization of Spycraft 2.0's rulebook is a tradeoff on usability and and flow. I can see why they made some of their layout decisions, but the fact is, it's a huge loving book (460+ pages IIRC) filled with a poo poo-ton of information and that alone will cause problems.

# ¿ Sep 14, 2014 18:19

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

What is it about people wanting to play angsty messes?

# ¿ Sep 20, 2014 20:45

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

It is the best gear system for any kind of espionage game. You will have the gear you need to accomplish your mission.

# ¿ Sep 26, 2014 02:50

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

I found Cortex+ annoying. I am extremely biased towards fiddly :spergin:

games though.

# ¿ Sep 26, 2014 06:31

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

I like Cortex original though. The 'simplification' MWP did for the Cortex+ version is what annoys me.

# ¿ Sep 26, 2014 16:57

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

hectorgrey posted:

Honestly, the only problem I have with SpyCraft is that if you genuinely enjoy that level of detail, with fifty million guns with ever so slightly different stats, you might actually be better off with GURPS.

Except for all the GURPS stuff of course.

edit:beaten

# ¿ Sep 26, 2014 22:12

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

The 1960s is an excellent book. Top Secret /SI did a nice pair of books on real world spy agencies too and so did Millennium's End actually.

# ¿ Sep 29, 2014 17:06

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

Those rumors bring back memories. The underground marketplace especially.

# ¿ Sep 29, 2014 21:01

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

The 1960s, as mentioned, is fantastic. The Splat books are decent enough. They expand on a lot of core books systems, have some pretty city maps, and some new gear along with adding extra classes and stuff. ShadowForce Archer is insane in a superspy so far over the top kind of way. I love it, but then Derek Flint and John Steed are personal heroes of mine.

With 2.0, World on Fire is very good and I think almost essential. Real American H.E.R.O.ES IS GI Joe, Origin of the Species : Transmechs is Transformers. The Bag full of Guns series is all weapons and the 3 Agent X books are new single class frameworks.

# ¿ Sep 30, 2014 00:06

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# ¿ May 15, 2024 13:06

Humbug Scoolbus: Apr 25, 2008; The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers, stern and wild ones, and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.; Clapping Larry

And I still love TORG. It is a horribly/wonderfully crunchy game with some extremely clever mechanics (Drama Deck, Possibilities) and a batshit awful magic/weird science system.

# ¿ Jan 2, 2015 16:43

The Something Awful Forums > Archives > Comedy Goldmine > The Goodmine > FATAL & Friends 2014-15: The Neverending Storygame

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