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I am introducing my seven year old to roleplaying games through Captain's Log. He decided to create a Vulcan captain with a background as a science officer. We got a very, very different character in the end. Raised on a space station, as a boy, the Vulcan was caught in a heist gone wrong that cost him his leg. He spent months in medbay recovering as they grew him a new one, and it cemented his worldview that it is not logical for children to be raised in space. He also decided to dedicate his life to understanding the criminal element and why people choose illogical pursuits over science and diplomacy. He then had a successful career as a diplomat for many years, learning about secret criminal organizations and espionage tactics. His first time taking command was by accident: a drunken Klingon stabbed the captain of the ship he was aboard on a goodwill mission to deliver medicine to a Federation candidate world. The Vulcan diplomat assumed command, negotiated a truce with the rowdy Klingons, and delivered the medicine, thus starting his Starfleet career. The first mission we rolled was a JAG mission. My son's response: "I self-destruct the ship." Much laughter later, I actually helped him through the adventure in as exciting a way as possible. Rather than it being a courtroom drama, I decided to have a comet fly by the ship. He scanned it and the frequencies he used to scan the comet picked up the remnants of an encoded transmission. A childhood friend of his had been framed for murder, and the transmission contained part of the conspiracy. His overworked crew was able to source the transmission to a moon above the world where his friend was being held. The captain transported down, but was ambushed. My son set phasers to kill and fired wildly until he heard a scream and then entered a secret underground base. There he discovered a conspiracy led by the Romulans who had decided to frame this guy for murder to destabilize negotiations between the planet and the Federation as it would hurt Romulan interests in the sector. Upon discovering the secret lair and computer memory banks, my son decided to "self-destruct the computers with the Romulans trapped in the room". I pointed out that this would not prove his friend was innocent, so he decided to apprehend the Romulans and download the data from their memory banks instead. Proving his friend's innocence, he returned to space for his next assignment.
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Oct 29, 2023 08:51
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Old school Vulcan, bloodthirsty.
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Oct 29, 2023 11:56
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When I rolled JAG for the maiden voyage, his first order was to self-destruct the ship. An entirely reasonable response from a 7 year old.
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Oct 29, 2023 13:10
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Kwyndig posted:Old school Vulcan, bloodthirsty.
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Oct 30, 2023 00:31
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Some free Acthung! Cthulhu supplements from Modiphius today, available on drivethrurpg:an email from Modiphius posted:Greetings!
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Oct 31, 2023 19:01
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Lord_Hambrose posted:It's one of the reason Marvel let the Conan comics license lapse, they get it all back for free in six or seven years. That, or maybe the current license holder outbid Marvel at renewal. I started to read their "warts and all" collections and was reminded that it's easier to gloss over some of the blatant racism when it's not being drawn for you.
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Nov 24, 2023 02:31
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Modiphius january sale coupon code: JANSALE24quote:In case you missed the news, our January sale is now on! As a small thank you for supporting Modiphius Entertainment, we’re sending our subscribers an exclusive January Sale 25% discount code for select supplements, expansions, and accessories in our January Sale collection on our online store. There is no minimum purchase requirement and the discount will be in addition to any other product discounts listed. The code is single-use and will be active until Sunday 4th February 2024, just in case you're waiting for payday!
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Jan 11, 2024 01:45
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Modiphius snagged the Discworld license: https://www.gamesradar.com/exclusive-discworld-ttrpg-in-the-works-by-studio-behind-fallout-wargames/
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Mar 3, 2024 15:51
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I'm fascinated to discover how you make structured rules around that universe.
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Mar 4, 2024 21:57
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Not a d20 game, but Modiphius announced a Mass Effect board game. Can an RPG be that far behind?
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Mar 5, 2024 01:34
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rydiafan posted:I'm fascinated to discover how you make structured rules around that universe. Just put in some jokes in the skill list and a detailed temperature tracker for trolls.  Discworld works pretty explicitly on the rule of drama and the momentum system is basically exactly that, it'll be fine. The actual problem’s going to be writing adventures that are about something more than hitting things with a half brick inna sock.
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Mar 5, 2024 13:09
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I picked up the free Quickstart to Fallout 2d20, on the recommendation of the chat thread, and I wanted to make sure I was understanding this correctly: the above is a section from the core rules on how to make a basic skill test  the above is a section from the scenario included with the quickstart, describing a skill test as the players enter a town  the above is half of a pregen character's sheet, where I've highlighted the PERception attribute and Survival skill, as it pertains to the prior skill test described in this case, Bailey's PER is 6 and their Survival is 2, so add that together and you get 8, so when a d20 is rolled, an 8 or less is a success, and since the difficulty is 1, then at least one out of the two d20s need to roll an 8 or less, to get a success [assuming no Action Points are used]. If both d20s rolled an 8 or less, then Bailey also earns one Action Point, for getting a success in excess of the difficulty. more broadly, the GM only ever sets the difficulty, as in the number of d20s that need to be successes, while the target number is a function of the character's attribute + skill, and the GM isn't involved in setting that number. As the character gets better, their skill/attribute increases, which means the target number increases, which means the probability of getting a success is higher, since you need to roll under the target number. is that right? ___ the pregens also have that column for "tag" skills, but I can't find any mention of it in the quickstart rules. I'm assuming that's a character creation thing? ___ finally, if I wanted to go in on this (it looks like there's even a sale going on right now), what would I pick up? just The Core Rulebook for all the basics? I can see that there's a Gamemaster's Toolkit, a Settler's Guide Book, and a Wanderer's Guide Book, but the descriptions make it seem like those are extra content.
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Apr 12, 2024 07:22
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gradenko_2000 posted:in this case, Bailey's PER is 6 and their Survival is 2, so add that together and you get 8, so when a d20 is rolled, an 8 or less is a success, and since the difficulty is 1, then at least one out of the two d20s need to roll an 8 or less, to get a success [assuming no Action Points are used]. If both d20s rolled an 8 or less, then Bailey also earns one Action Point, for getting a success in excess of the difficulty. I don't specifically have experience with Fallout's implementation of the engine, but in every other 2d20 game I've had experience with (STA, Dune), yes. You have it correct. The player's attributes/skills (each game uses different terminology but in the end they're all the same thing anyway) will always determine the TN, and the GM determines the number of Successes that need to be rolled (by setting the difficulty). If Fallout's like the other games, the GM and players also both have metacurrencies that allow them to tweak things further by granting additional successes, increasing or decreasing the difficulty of the roll, etc. I don't think Fallout deviates from this formula since it's pretty core to the 2d20 experience, but hope someone corrects me if I'm wrong. Drone fucked around with this message at 08:37 on Apr 12, 2024 |
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Apr 12, 2024 08:35
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gradenko_2000 posted:___ For tagged skills, if one of your d20s comes up as that number or lower, it counts as two successes instead of one.
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Apr 12, 2024 12:51
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Drone posted:If Fallout's like the other games, the GM and players also both have metacurrencies that allow them to tweak things further by granting additional successes, increasing or decreasing the difficulty of the roll, etc. and one of those "etc." is adding more d20s, which is a big deal A big part of this game is party members working out between them how to stack up successful rolls to generate metacurrency to boost success chances at a critical moment. The metacurrency has a decay, though, so you can't just endlessly store it.
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Apr 12, 2024 20:10
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One thing that annoys me a bit about the Fallout RPG is if you're playing a member of the Brotherhood on the combat side, you'd think eventually when you level it up you get 'congratulations, you're a Knight of the Brotherhood, here's your T-45' but it feels like you just have to scavenge it same as anybody. I'd prefer a rule saying something like "At level 8, you get your armor" and then maybe you can count rewards towards upgrading it after but this entirely a me issue.
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Apr 12, 2024 22:11
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What's the mechanical effect of power armor in Fallout 2d20? Is it like wearing a shield in Dune 2d20, where it makes you outright immune to certain types of attack?
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Apr 12, 2024 22:52
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Dawgstar posted:One thing that annoys me a bit about the Fallout RPG is if you're playing a member of the Brotherhood on the combat side, you'd think eventually when you level it up you get 'congratulations, you're a Knight of the Brotherhood, here's your T-45' but it feels like you just have to scavenge it same as anybody. I'd prefer a rule saying something like "At level 8, you get your armor" and then maybe you can count rewards towards upgrading it after but this entirely a me issue. The armor is earned through acts of bravery, aspirant.
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Apr 12, 2024 22:56
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Owlbear Camus posted:The armor is earned through acts of bravery, aspirant. I appreciate and respect this answer.
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Apr 13, 2024 00:46
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I grabbed the fallout starter set to see what I thought of the rules and drat, it feels like Modiphius rushed this thing out. The rule book is copy/pasted from the main rules, which is fine… until you get to a rule that hasn’t been included in the book. It says “as listed below,” but then there’s nothing. In fact it’s the last page in the book, so there isn’t a “below.” The page references are incorrect and the copy editing seems like it wasn’t done at all. The perks included mirror Fallout 4, which is to say they’d be fine if you had a computer keeping track of all the crunch. But of course you don’t; so… yuck. I’ve heard the main rule book is worse. I like the 2d20 system, but this feels like it should have spent more time in the oven.
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Apr 14, 2024 23:52
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Modiphius has always had atrocious editing. I assume they're aware of it and don't really care to invest in avoiding it in the future.
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Apr 15, 2024 06:37
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Drone posted:Modiphius has always had atrocious editing. I assume they're aware of it and don't really care to invest in avoiding it in the future. They are so driven by licenced products I wonder how much of the editing problems are driven by the licence pushing sales and not the rules system.
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Apr 15, 2024 11:58
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It’s frustrating with the Fallout one because someone clearly cared about this game somewhere along the way… then they found out they only licensed Fallout 4 and had to stick all the awful baggage into a pen and paper RPG. The written adventure in the starter set is actually pretty good, with compelling characters and good pacing. You can interact with NPCs and recruit them, and it’s written with a knowledge that the players won’t do everything on rails. It gives you options on how to handle common responses to the scenarios and how to compel the characters without forcing them. Personally I just wanted a non-specific fallout, not an advertisement for Fallout 4: You Must Play This Before GMing. The inclusion of perks nobody would take (stuff like using less ammo, which implies tracking every bullet) really cemented the idea that Marketing came in and told the writers that they need to include as much FO4 as possible, to the detriment of playability.
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Apr 15, 2024 13:28
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Ammo being a constant concern has been in every Fallout, I'm not sure why you think that's 4-specific.
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Apr 15, 2024 16:48
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Tsilkani posted:Ammo being a constant concern has been in every Fallout, I'm not sure why you think that's 4-specific. I think they mean translating a perk directly from the video game implies that unnecessarily. But also: lol if you weren't lugging thousands of bullets across the wasteland after like the 10-hour mark from FO1 through FO4.
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Apr 15, 2024 19:01
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Yeah, like everyone else I packed the absolute maximum amount of stuff into my butt in every fallout game, but that type of optimization stuff is not fun in pen and paper
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Apr 15, 2024 19:07
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There are some games out there where detailed resource tracking works for the setting, and I think post-apoc is one of them. We already have plenty of more fast and loose PA games out there, I don't mind Fallout being crunchier.
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Apr 15, 2024 20:07
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Drone posted:Modiphius has always had atrocious editing. I assume they're aware of it and don't really care to invest in avoiding it in the future. One thing that a number of RPG publishers have figured out over the year is that spending money on editing does not result in increased sales. Spending money on art and licensing does.
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Apr 15, 2024 20:22
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Leperflesh posted:One thing that a number of RPG publishers have figured out over the year is that spending money on editing does not result in increased sales. Spending money on art and licensing does. I have the entire Infinity collection, and you can practically see the life leave the editor's eyes as you get to the end of the line.
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Apr 15, 2024 21:01
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Leperflesh posted:One thing that a number of RPG publishers have figured out over the year is that spending money on editing does not result in increased sales. Spending money on art and licensing does. (If there are fewer "pg. xx"s and/or incorrect references today, I'm willing to bet the sole reason is better word processing and typesetting software, not a pound more spent on copy editing.)
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Apr 15, 2024 21:56
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBL503OhY5M Topical
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Apr 16, 2024 00:47
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Leperflesh posted:One thing that a number of RPG publishers have figured out over the year is that spending money on editing does not result in increased sales. Spending money on art and licensing does. Yeah, on the other hand I've actively chosen not to buy physical editions of their stuff anymore because of it. At least not in the first print run (which most of books only get one of anyway I guess).
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Apr 16, 2024 06:51
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Admiralty Flag posted:This obviously played a key role in the decline and fall of Games Workshop and its relegation to the gaming graveyard. 
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Apr 16, 2024 15:11
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I think it's just a joke.
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Apr 16, 2024 16:16
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Drone posted:Yeah, on the other hand I've actively chosen not to buy physical editions of their stuff anymore because of it. At least not in the first print run (which most of books only get one of anyway I guess). Let them know. I think this is the only thing that moves the needle: companies don't really know why a given product sells more or less if nobody tells them, and "I like your rules and your IP and this seems like a fun game but the copyediting is trash and so I'm not buying it" is valuable feedback. In my IRL job we have a web portal and we have a feedback button and something like 0.002% of our visitors ever use it, so we get maybe two or three comments a month and two of them are useless. An actual coherent bit of feedback is something we always pay attention to. And that's a site that gets over 2M hits a year.
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Apr 16, 2024 16:17
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Leperflesh posted:Let them know. I think this is the only thing that moves the needle: companies don't really know why a given product sells more or less if nobody tells them, and "I like your rules and your IP and this seems like a fun game but the copyediting is trash and so I'm not buying it" is valuable feedback. Oh I have, but I don't know that I've let the right people know. Jim Johnson, the line manager for Star Trek Adventures (at least he used to be, not sure anymore?), is really approachable and I've emailed him about it a time or two before over the years.
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Apr 16, 2024 18:27
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Someone sell or unsell me on Captain's Log. Seems like it might be good for playing duo with my daughter.
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Apr 16, 2024 18:44
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Drone posted:Oh I have, but I don't know that I've let the right people know. Jim Johnson, the line manager for Star Trek Adventures (at least he used to be, not sure anymore?), is really approachable and I've emailed him about it a time or two before over the years. well you've already done more than 99.9% of customers so that's actually awesome really
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Apr 16, 2024 20:09
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Owlbear Camus posted:Someone sell or unsell me on Captain's Log. Seems like it might be good for playing duo with my daughter. Captain's Log is fantastic. I haven't actually played STA, but it's supposed to be a streamlined version of it. I've solo played one episode and it gave me more of a 'real episode of Star Trek' feel than anything I've ever played / seen, and I've been playing since FASA came out with their system. The scene structure works perfectly. The characters and ship stats give you the right amount of characterization vs crunch balance. The mission generators give you interesting prompts without being too prescriptive, although you'll have to curate a bit to make sure you have missions that make sense (like don't have 3 planetary epidemics in a row). The planet and race creation is a good foundation, although you might want to revise the charts a bit. (I made adjustments and new charts to give humanoid races various face and forehead ridges LOL). I can't speak for playing with two people, but it seems like a great collaborative system. There are a few warts. Some book editing issues, natch. The order of the chapters building your character is strange (you start building your character before determining the race). The biggest issue is the time era race charts are way out of whack. Humans are only 1/20 in the charts so you almost always get an alien race. You may like that but it doesn't feel very TV Star Trek. The charts really need to be rebuilt. Why are Tholians a playable race in the TOS era but Andorian's aren't? Why are Gorn and Romulans playable in the Enterprise era? They hadn't even been seen yet. A Horta is a playable race in TOS? LOL They have Doopler as an option for TNG (good luck playing a Doopler I guess) and they also have Pakled (  ) Jem'Hadar, and Kazon.  Anyway, you'll be best picking what you want or making new tables. There are ship charts that include Picard and Discovery eras, but no race tables.  The STA supplements like the Utopia Planetia are totally usable. I haven't gotten to ship combat yet, but the ships seem a little fragile and shields are mentioned in ship Talents, but aren't mentioned in the 3 pages of ship combat rules so  . I don't know how that is in STA, but I'm probably going to home-brew overhaul ship combat when I get to an episode that calls for it.Regardless, it's a great framework, especially for Solo play and you can always  away any issues you might run into.
Doctor Zero fucked around with this message at 20:26 on Apr 16, 2024 |
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Apr 16, 2024 20:21
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Doctor Zero posted:A Horta is a playable race in TOS? LOL
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Apr 16, 2024 20:37
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