Powered By The Apocalypse: It's All In The Conversation

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Flavivirus: Dec 14, 2011; The next stage of evolution.

Astus posted:

Speaking of Rhapsody of Blood, I have a question about the Holy weapon tag. Mainly, what does it actually do?

I understand that you don't need mechanical effects in PbtA games, but even in the fiction, "causes intense pain" is very vague, and I'm not sure how to make that important when it happens. Since it's also the only weapon tag that's only usable through specific moves, and the tag only applies to a "particular foe", I feel like it should be important when it comes up. But in the example of play, Lucretia gets the Holy weapon tag against the Scholar of the Void, and then...it never comes up again. I just feel like I'm missing something obvious.

Oh, that's a shame it didn't come up again in the Example of Play. So, here's things that a Holy weapon could do:

Make an enemy avoid coming close to you once it's been hit once.
Plunge it into their hand to break free of a grapple.
Make it hard for them to concentrate enough to work magic.
Easily break through barriers they've thrown up.

Generally, if you're using a Holy weapon against its intended foe, I'd want the GM to respond to that by taking some of the Acolyte's reactions off the table, and let you overcome the defences and obstacles the Acolyte throws up a lot more easily. This may translate into more favourable framing of the results of your moves, less harsh reactions if you fail a move, or possibly not having to make a move at all - if the enemy is grabbing your friend and you fire a holy arrow at the creature, maybe it lets go of them without you needing to roll Stand With Me?

# ¿ Feb 3, 2019 20:18

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# ¿ May 15, 2024 00:32

Flavivirus: Dec 14, 2011; The next stage of evolution.

Poltergrift posted:

I just ran the best boss fight I've ever run in Rhapsody. This system is fantastic, and a credit to PbtA as a concept.

EDIT: Scratch that, possibly best session. Top two, at least.

E: by which I mean, tell me more! I want the gory details.

# ¿ Feb 4, 2019 07:48

Flavivirus: Dec 14, 2011; The next stage of evolution.

Pollyanna posted:

My dude have you seen the Castlevania anime

https://youtu.be/Q_EOHqTwl5s?t=46s

gently caress I love that show. That scene in particular, along with the fight against Dracula immediately afterwards, are absolutely 100% my guiding light for how Rhapsody should feel in play.

# ¿ Feb 4, 2019 15:38

Flavivirus: Dec 14, 2011; The next stage of evolution.

Poltergrift posted:

Rhapsody of Blood question: the Legendary Heroes' pact text says "Set your pact with them to 1," and the Half-Damned's says "set your pact with each other to 1." Do those mean exactly what they say (the Heroes change their pact with bloodline X to pact-1, the Half-Damned choose bloodline X and get pact-1 both ways to represent a tenuous alliance), or am I misreading? I've been assuming the former, but my players have some doubts.

It was likely written intending the first, but I'd say it's better to make it uniform as 'Gain 1 Pact on them' for all of the Bloodline's first pact question.

# ¿ Feb 6, 2019 20:31

Flavivirus: Dec 14, 2011; The next stage of evolution.

paradoxGentleman posted:

I also have a Rhapsody question, but focused less on mechanics and more on flavor.

What happens if the players pick breeches that don't really add together to a coherent Castle? What if they don't fit the Regent, either the adversary the GM had planned or the grail-grasping explorer from the last set?

In this situation, there�s a few approaches I�d take:

The Castle isn�t a single structure, but instead multiple intrusions (maybe connected through underground tunnels or portals through a nightmare dimension).
The Regent isn�t in complete control of their Acolytes, and they�re more like squabbling subordinates each working on their own plots.
The Regent doesn�t care about particular wards, being focused on their own obsessions, and in their absence something monstrous has taken them over and warped them to their own purposes.
You explore the mystery of how these wards make sense with the Regent you�ve planned, using the details players add with Travel the Labyrinth to fill in the gaps.

# ¿ Feb 7, 2019 12:16

Flavivirus: Dec 14, 2011; The next stage of evolution.

Angrymog posted:

I've asked this in a couple of places already, but I was wondering if anyone had printer friendly character sheets for Rhapsody of Blood. The character picture is really nice and atmospheric, but is a bit harsh on ink, plus people would probably want to put their own pictures there.

I've updated the download page with a few options for you: https://ufopress.co.uk/downloads/

# ¿ Feb 11, 2019 08:36

Flavivirus: Dec 14, 2011; The next stage of evolution.

Someone on the UFO Press discord wanted a Rhapsody of Blood castle that limited explorer's movement a bit more than standard. As I've sometimes wanted the core game to scratch that Dark Souls-y shortcut-finding itch, I put together this:

Castle Lockdown
When the castle emerged this generation, it was closely defended.
When you pick Breach options, only the first one is available from the mortal world. Each subsequent Breach leads from one of the Wards already described to a new ward; you may only move between wards along these routes (spending 2 Travel the Labyrinth hold as usual).
When you defeat an Acolyte, the player who struck the killing blow can draw a new route between this ward and either another ward or the world outside.

I'd be interested in putting together other 'mutators' on how the castle works, to make each generation's incursion a little different. Any suggestions?

# ¿ Feb 18, 2019 16:32

Flavivirus: Dec 14, 2011; The next stage of evolution.

lessavini posted:

So where's the Sid Meier Alpha Centauri hack for Legacy: Life Among the Ruins, @Flavirius ?

I mean, Katherine was 100% aiming for Alpha Centuari soooo

# ¿ Feb 18, 2019 23:20

Flavivirus: Dec 14, 2011; The next stage of evolution.

DoctorWhat posted:

Related: will that persona hack of Rhapsody be ready by september?

I'd like it to at least be playable by then, yeah. Our next kickstarter is a crystalpunk fantasy adaptation of Legacy, so that will take up a lot of my brainspace, but Voidheart Symphony is definitely something I want to return to soon.

# ¿ Feb 18, 2019 23:39

Flavivirus: Dec 14, 2011; The next stage of evolution.

I'm currently testing a system where your outfit has tags, and some of those tags protect against some kind of harm. For example, a rugged coat protects against terrible weather. If you use it to absorb harm, you just strike out that tag and it's no longer fictionally relevant. It's working pretty well at providing that ablative feel without being too bean-county.

# ¿ Feb 21, 2019 17:00

Flavivirus: Dec 14, 2011; The next stage of evolution.

lessavini posted:

@Flavirius, where's the usual MC pack (basic moves, MC moves, playbooks, etc) for Generation Ship and Worldfall? I can't seem to find it.

Oh, they should have come with the PDF wherever you bought it from. Give me a sec and I�ll put them up on the UFO Press downloads page.

# ¿ Feb 23, 2019 07:58

Flavivirus: Dec 14, 2011; The next stage of evolution.

lessavini posted:

Thanks, FLavivirus!

I'm pitching a Generation Ship game to my folks. If all goes well, we could continue on to Planetfall and then Legacy.

Some questions that came up during a read:

1) Shouldn't the Scrounger have more significant explorer capacities? By the fluff/drives he seems the more indicated to this role. More specifically, I thought I would see a move interfacing with Into the Dark as to arrive at ship destinations safer and faster, but nope. The A Man's Trash.. move seems the one helping out with exporing but only indirectly. Maybe the author opted for this because otherwise it would make ship exploring too easy?

2) On The Digital Ghost playbook, there's the option to interact physically with things around. How people usually justify it in fiction? Some nanotech or microbot swarms function as his "touch" or something? Also, how do you justify the move Mind Body Connection that let's you control living beings when you pass through them? Maybe the humans onboard are gene-upgraded to interface with machines by default, which would allow for such a control by the Ghost? Or I'm stretching things here?

Thanks in advance!

Hey!
1) I can certainly see that argument. I think Aaron wanted expeditions into the dark to be a risk no matter who you were. They do have above-average Steel, at least. If you wanted, I could see them getting a move where �if you roll a 10+ on Into the Dark, gain an extra hold no matter what you pick�.
2) I�ve seen nanomachines, yeah, but I find that�s the sort of thing that�s fun for groups to find an explanation for in the moment. Maybe the characters don�t know what allows a ghost to control people, and that can be another mystery to uncover?

# ¿ Feb 23, 2019 17:55

Flavivirus: Dec 14, 2011; The next stage of evolution.

lessavini posted:

I like that move suggestion for the Scrounge, as it's subtle enough to not break the Into the Dark one. Any name suggestion that feels fitting for the game theme?

About the digital ghost, yeah leaving it to the group is a good idea, just like the Maesltrom in AW.

Off the top of my head, something like �Tunnel Rat�? Or �At Home in the Dark�?

# ¿ Feb 23, 2019 22:18

Flavivirus: Dec 14, 2011; The next stage of evolution.

lessavini posted:

Hey @Flavivirus, I'm not grokking how damage works in Legacy/Generation Ship. Is it supposed to be fixed, like:

1 harm: all unarmed and small animals
2 harm: armed melee, most guns
3 harm: really big guns, explosives
4 harm: big acidents, huge explosions, etc

Somting like that?

Ah, yeah, the same harm table as Legacy 2e is assumed. Looking at it there was space to put that in with Harm Moves, wish we�d done that. So those are:
1-2: Unarmed blows and animal attacks.
2-4: High-quality weapons or monsters.
4-5: Natural disasters and supertech weapons.

# ¿ Mar 1, 2019 08:21

Flavivirus: Dec 14, 2011; The next stage of evolution.

lessavini posted:

What Keys-like advancement (as per TSOY) there is in PbtA games? The only one I remember now is Sagas of the Icelanders, where you declaring Relationships and gain advancement when you use moves 4 times on that.

I want to use this in Planescape PbtA, as I think it fits it's belief-focused motto.

It�s also used pretty directly in Cartel, with each playbook picking two starting keys from a choice of three.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2019 11:49

Flavivirus: Dec 14, 2011; The next stage of evolution.

Hey folks - I've put up playbooks and basic moves for Mysthea in our latest kickstarter update, so take a look if you're interested in how they all work.

# ¿ Mar 21, 2019 13:37

Flavivirus: Dec 14, 2011; The next stage of evolution.

Nuns with Guns posted:

Rhapsody of Blood Question: In the Turning of the Ages section, it mentions that everyone gets a Specialist:

But Specialists aren't mentioned anywhere else in the rulebook. Is that a typo and were Specialists dropped from Rhapsody, or are you meant to pick Specialists from the core Legacy rulebook?

That�s a typo - specialists were dropped from the game as unnecessary cruft, but obviously I didn�t catch every reference (turns out skipping editing to get the book out was a bad idea, who knew). That mechanic survives as the contacts on page 61.

# ¿ Mar 21, 2019 15:02

Flavivirus: Dec 14, 2011; The next stage of evolution.

Spiteski posted:

Looking back over the kickstarter, did Legacy 2e: End Game, and Engine of Life ever make it to print? Can't see them for sale on Modiphius with everything else.

They�re going to the printer next week. The PDFs are complete and in backer�s hands (fitting the kickstarter�s March ETA) and I�m hoping to get books to folks in time for the Kickstarter�s May ETA.

# ¿ Mar 26, 2019 21:51

Flavivirus: Dec 14, 2011; The next stage of evolution.

Spiteski posted:

Ah very nice! How soon after that do you reckon they'll be available for us non-backers who only found out about Legacy when it was toooooo late?

As soon as the books are on their way to backers, I plan on putting them up for the general public to buy!

# ¿ Mar 26, 2019 22:59

Flavivirus: Dec 14, 2011; The next stage of evolution.

Yeah, it's next on my to-do list after getting these final books out. I'm considering just asking the Blades folks who did theirs, and if I can hire them - I want the site to be a resource for guidance on how to make Legacy games as well as a basic set of rules if you want to put the Worlds of Legacy stamp on your book.

# ¿ Mar 28, 2019 09:06

Flavivirus: Dec 14, 2011; The next stage of evolution.

occluded posted:

Hello lovely PBTA thread, I wonder if you can help me out.

I have a concept for a campaign I want to run for some friends - the conceit is loosely that the PCs are members of a travelling circus who get into scrapes at each new place they perform at. (I wanted a way for the party to have murderhobo adventures while travelling but be tied to a community, and have a way for them all to play complete weirdos as that's what they enjoy).

The setting is loosely weird future (think borderlands or star wars, lots of broken tech and weird alien races) and any help with the fluff would be welcome, but what I really need is:

- a pbta setting that I can hack into that level of tech, with classes that make sense also as performers (the rogue can obviously do card tricks too, the wizard can do lightshows, the duelist can do acrobatics, the witch can read fortunes, that kind of thing, but with more interesting classes)
- and some ideas on how to make moves for their performances (I want the setup of the circus and everyone's act to be a part of the session - how do I represent people doing well and the crowd loving it, or loving up and causing a riot?)

I'm, well, new to GMing but have been given a lot of leeway by my players to just freestyle everything and make poo poo up, but I'd like to give myself some consistency and a framework to base things on as it'll help me focus.

Any ideas?

There�s a couple of �travelling circus� pbta games in the works at the moment actually! Under Hollow Hills is a fairy circus game by Meguey and Vincent Baker, while Crossroads Carnival is a Great Depression Dustbowl game from Kate Bullock drawing heavily on Carnivale. Of the two Crossroads Carnival might be easier to hack, I�m not sure.

# ¿ Mar 30, 2019 11:50

Flavivirus: Dec 14, 2011; The next stage of evolution.

DoctorWhat posted:

Any word on Voidheart Symphony?

Still in development! I recently updated it with a few more arcana, another Rebel playbook, a proper game start procedure and some guidance on building vassals and castle-shards. Ongoing development will be posted at https://ufo-jay.itch.io/voidheart-symphony

# ¿ Jun 28, 2019 20:24

Flavivirus: Dec 14, 2011; The next stage of evolution.

Hey folks, I�ve just released a big update for Voidheart Symphony - my Persona 5-inspired game of psychonaut rebels diving into the minds of their city�s worst monsters.
In this update I�ve added:

More character types.
Tons more covenants to form.
Rebalanced core moves and rewritten game setup rules.
A means by which you can construct your own personal Velvet Room.
And more!

If you�re interested, you can pick up the beta for PWYW here.

# ¿ Jul 18, 2019 20:25

Flavivirus: Dec 14, 2011; The next stage of evolution.

Yup, Voidheart has some of that - key threats are defined by three Qualities, packages of capabilities and reactions. As the battle goes on, players fight them by finding openings to attack those qualities and striking them away, gradually whittling down their capabilities even as the foe gets angrier and more desperate.

In completely different news, Urban Shadows 2 was just announced: was just announced. It feels like they only just got done with stretch goals from the 1e kickstarter, but I guess it�s been 5 years or so?

Flavivirus fucked around with this message at 05:50 on Aug 3, 2019

# ¿ Aug 3, 2019 05:47

Flavivirus: Dec 14, 2011; The next stage of evolution.

Spiteski posted:

Just saw the Engine of Life has been released, picked up my copy from DTRPG (too poor for the Physical yet) and excited to crack into it. It's a good reason to get the group back onto Legacy

Yup! Despite Modiphius absolutely punting on the planned Gen Con release, we�ve now put up Engine of Life and Free From the Yoke.

Engine of Life really emphasises the world-rebuilding aspect of Legacy, with rules about setting up new festivals and imagining a better future, playbooks to let you play community-builders and architects and signs of hope in the wasteland, and wonders to link settlements and spread greenery throughout the land.

Free From the Yoke, on the other hand, is a standalone medieval fantasy hack of Legacy. Inspired by Slavic myth and legend, it�s about rebuilding your nation after having finally pushed out a conquering empire. Its big twist is that, like Fellowship, the GM has a playbook. This Arbiter playbook describes the ruler of the new nation, the laws they enforce, the GM�s agenda and the ways Player Houses can exploit this government. As time goes on players can work with or against the arbiter, suffer under their rule, and rise up to overthrow them - and if they�re successful, the new arbiter can take over GMing.

I�m very proud of them, and they�re lovely books

You ought to be able to pick them up from Modiphius, and hopefully in distribution soon.

# ¿ Aug 11, 2019 07:48

Flavivirus: Dec 14, 2011; The next stage of evolution.

Foglet posted:

Was I supposed to get DTRPG codes for them, same as for the previous Worlds of Legacy? I backed Legacy 2e through Pledge Manager in March '18, the full digital tier.

Yup, I�ll check up with Modiphius what�s going on with that.

# ¿ Aug 13, 2019 12:43

Flavivirus: Dec 14, 2011; The next stage of evolution.

Angrymog posted:

When I bought Rhapsody and the God one through Modi I only got links for their shop, not Drive thru. Didn't realise I was supposed to get DT links

This is talking about original kickstarter backers for the Legacy 2e campaign, who were promised PDF links on DriveThru. Sorry!

# ¿ Aug 13, 2019 13:54

Flavivirus: Dec 14, 2011; The next stage of evolution.

mllaneza posted:

Even with all the D&D baggage and Defy Danger, DW itself with a good selection of 3rd party playbooks is a good game. In fact, a lot of its appeal these days is all the 3rd party goodies on DTRPG and various websites. Itjust not best of breed for fantasy PbtA anymore.

Free From The Yoke looks great. I'm working on a Legacy hack about refugees from an oppressive empire building societies in free space, so this looks like good material to crib from.

And is there really no print option for Legacy 2e itself on DTRPG ? All I saw was a PDF option.

The economics didn't work out for Print on Demand, but the book should be available to order from game shops, my website or the Modiphius website!

# ¿ Aug 22, 2019 10:00

Flavivirus: Dec 14, 2011; The next stage of evolution.

Hey, just thought you folks might like to know that a Legacy Bundle of Holding just went live! You can get the core game, art book and soundtrack for $9.95, or beat the threshold price (currently $19.97) to get 5 other settings/hacks of the game.

# ¿ Sep 2, 2019 19:19

Flavivirus: Dec 14, 2011; The next stage of evolution.

Foglet posted:

Any news on that front, by the way?

Oh jeez, is that still not done?? I�ll get on it ASAP.

# ¿ Oct 17, 2019 10:01

Flavivirus: Dec 14, 2011; The next stage of evolution.

Foglet posted:

The links for Free From the Yoke and The Engine of Life have just arrived, thanks a lot!
Only End Game remains now, which is not yet on DTRPG anyway.

Glad to hear they finally arrived! I've been trying to set End Game's release up with Modiphius today - likely 6th of November, I think?

# ¿ Oct 22, 2019 14:10

Flavivirus: Dec 14, 2011; The next stage of evolution.

malkav11 posted:

Is there a point at which these should all have been distributed? because I still haven't gotten any.

I�m gonna try and fix it today. PledgeManager is such garbage compared to BackerKit - wish Modiphius hadn�t convinced me to use it for Legacy 2e. Rest assured I�ll get you your PDFs as soon as I can!

# ¿ Oct 25, 2019 09:48

Flavivirus: Dec 14, 2011; The next stage of evolution.

Double Plus Undead posted:

Another Rhapsody of Blood question: if an explorer fails to Strike when fighting an Acolyte, is the Opening still there or do they need to make a new one?

It�s still there, unless when it was set up (by Line It Up, at least) the player picked that it was temporary and fleeting.

# ¿ Nov 19, 2019 11:24

Flavivirus: Dec 14, 2011; The next stage of evolution.

LaSalsaVerde posted:

Are there any good examples of Legacy 2e play I can dig into for inspiration?

This is a pretty good mini-campaign: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s91efEMH79U&t=1s

Or here's a one-shot/review thing: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/s2b03-legacy-life-among-the-ruins/id1449494177?i=1000452488590

# ¿ Dec 7, 2019 18:30

Flavivirus: Dec 14, 2011; The next stage of evolution.

Nuns with Guns posted:

Rhapsody of Blood Question: Anyone have an idea of how the Drive and Motivation work? They're both described as separate aspects of the bloodline/explorer but seem pretty much identical in practice. They're both chosen each generation for the new explorer and give them a reason to delve into the castle, it looks like?

Oh, hmm, you're right that motivations seem pretty extraneous. They don't do anything, and you'd be fine if you just ignored that step - if you want to do both, your motivation is why you became a monster hunting adventurer and your drive is why you're diving into the castle right now. Neither have a mechanical impact, they're all fiction framing.

# ¿ Dec 20, 2019 13:05

Flavivirus: Dec 14, 2011; The next stage of evolution.

DoctorWhat posted:

I'm running Voidheart for the teens at work. We've been playing weekly, give or take, for most of the school year, about 3hrs/week. Idk how well suited it is to a small town setting or magical realism; my players and I are entirely on our own bullshit 100% of the time and set it in 1999 NYC. I'm using the itch.io version because i missed the window to Kickstart it (I'd happily be a slacker backer now that I have disposable income tho).

The kids absolutely love it and I'm at 6 players now.

My main advice is to have a strong thematic gimmick for each dungeon/vassal and to use webs of connected NPCs to keep the players connected.

Oh wow this is extremely heartening to hear! I�ll be putting up the BackerKit preorder next week, along with the next release of the game (and the first backer-only release - currently the Itch version is the most up-to-date one). GM principles and scenario prep are definitely something to be worked on, though I recently commissioned 10 example Vassals from a bunch of writers to go in the book which should at least serve as a good source of example Qualities.

# ¿ Dec 28, 2019 17:32

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# ¿ May 15, 2024 00:32

Flavivirus: Dec 14, 2011; The next stage of evolution.

GimpInBlack posted:

Anybody have any experience with/opinions on Bite Marks? It's a werewolf-pack-as-family-dynamic game that seems like it might hit the same notes as Stephen Graham Jones's Mongrel, which I'm enjoying so far. I remember looking at the early drafts on the Kickstarter--back when it had the much more cringe-y title of Bite Me!--and not being terribly impressed, but I'm wondering if anybody's taken a look at the final, polished version and if it's any good.

I've played a one-shot and a short campaign of it and I like it a lot. The key is that it's very much a social PvP game about a group where there's a constant struggle for dominance but also there's an exterior threat you need to work together against. Obviously the game's framed around a werewolf pack, but I'd also say its mechanics evoke an organised crime family or a pirate ship crew. I had a lot of fun with it, but your mileage will vary according to how much you want werewolf drama as opposed to werewolf action.

# ¿ Jan 21, 2020 18:11

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