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 Hey folks! This is a thread about Hard Wired Island, a retrofuture cyberpunk RPG I made with former goon Freyja.  Hard Wired Island is a retrofuture cyberpunk RPG. The PCs live in Grand Cross, an O'Neill cylinder orbiting Earth in an alternate 2020. Players try their best to survive, help people, and investigate corporate conspiracies while the station slides into crisis. It's inspired by 90s anime, especially stuff like Ghost in the Shell and Cowboy Bebop. (There's a little Policenauts there too.)  The original Kickstarter demo version is currently up on itch.io and DriveThruRPG as a preview. A print version is coming, but I'm still getting the details sorted out. Additional Features Hard Wired Island also has:
Ettin fucked around with this message at 16:52 on Mar 17, 2023 |
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May 6, 2021 18:37
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This game is easily one of the best things I've ever kickstarted.
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May 6, 2021 18:55
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Congratulations, Paul or Freya maybe!
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May 7, 2021 12:09
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literally heard about this game through a coworker from a different continent. it looks neat and i am looking forward for the print version!
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May 9, 2021 07:01
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Really looking forward to running a oneshot of this with TTRPG friends. The extensive lists of NPCs etc are gonna be a big help in overcoming my main DM prep hurdle.
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May 9, 2021 07:39
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Actually, androids in Hard Wired Island are an allegory for David Cage
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May 9, 2021 14:24
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I really appreciate the subsystem design for sneaking, hacking, and social influence; the fact there exists mechanical concern for environment really helps these pop, I think, and they're nice lightweight systems on top of that.
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May 9, 2021 15:22
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I didn't really have any good ideas during the call for freelancers during the kickstarter, but HWI is a game that makes me go "hmm I wonder if I could do some stuff for this?"
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May 9, 2021 23:20
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Could someone buy back Freyja's account, or get the obviously misfired toxx lifted.
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May 10, 2021 12:45
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Roach Warehouse posted:Really looking forward to running a oneshot of this with TTRPG friends. The extensive lists of NPCs etc are gonna be a big help in overcoming my main DM prep hurdle. That would be great, because I need to justify the time I spent on them  StratGoatCom posted:Could someone buy back Freyja's account, or get the obviously misfired toxx lifted. IIRC Freyja has told me she could come back but chooses not to. That was before HWI and the leadership changes though so who knows 
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May 10, 2021 14:13
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I ran a one-shot of this over the weekend. It went pretty smoothly. The session included a bit of every subsystem - socializing, sneaking, hacking, and fighting. Every roll the players made fit well into one of the moves and I appreciated the social system having as much depth as the others. One issue that we ran into though was that I could not find a mechanic for characters helping each other. I ended up having one character make a set-up roll which, if successful, gave the next action Advantage. I'm not sure if I just missed the helping rules or if you had something else in mind. If you ever update the character sheets it would be helpful to have a damage track. Overall, it was lot of fun and we're going to start a short campaign with this system. I'm looking forward to seeing the character creation process.
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May 10, 2021 18:22
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I just watched dragonkid's video about this game and I am very intrigued but I have questions. Is hacking handled ala Cyberpunk/Shadowrun where the hacker can functionally be miles away in their lawnmower man suit and only tangentially part of the group or is their some setting concession that requires the hacker to hoof it with everyone else? I really like the idea of social engineering and theft being fleshed out as more than binary one-and-done tasks but my concern is whether they wind up as basically a set of single-player mini-games that the best person in the group for that task does while everyone else watches. This is a common problem of systems that try to recreate heist tropes in their character archetypes. Does the system address this in some way or just sort of acknowledge it as a genre element and work around it instead? I know the idea is to deemphasize leaning on combat as the "default" activity but typically the case is that, regardless of skill-level, you're ALL being shot at so everyone has something to do, even if it's just self preservation.
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May 12, 2021 00:20
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Hackers can stay at home, but it limits what they can do. Basically, really secure systems will have airgapping that requires either the hacker be there or the rest of the party get a special one use ID card to plug into the air gapped central mainframe to let the hacker in.
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May 12, 2021 02:59
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Not Keyser Soze posted:I just watched dragonkid's video about this game and I am very intrigued but I have questions. Is hacking handled ala Cyberpunk/Shadowrun where the hacker can functionally be miles away in their lawnmower man suit and only tangentially part of the group or is their some setting concession that requires the hacker to hoof it with everyone else? Also to go off what Mors Rattus said, hacking in Hard Wired Island and just social schmoozing/deception basically share the same framework in terms of how they work, so it's not really "everyone playing a minigame" so much as "everyone is operating off the same basic sort of rules paradigm."
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May 12, 2021 03:14
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I would say, also, the default thing everyone does is the social stuff, not combat. It’s super viable for a team to have one dedicated combatant to take out or distract the physical threats until everyone else is safe.
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May 12, 2021 03:23
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Mors Rattus posted:I would say, also, the default thing everyone does is the social stuff, not combat. It’s super viable for a team to have one dedicated combatant to take out or distract the physical threats until everyone else is safe. That's an interesting way to structure it, I like the social focus. I meant less about a bunch of different mechanics for each role and more like how sneaking often involves everyone just watching to see if the rogue sneaks successfully or not, and the fact that no one else is doing anything is alleviated by the fact that it's usually just the one Stealth check or whatever. If one, let's call it a Heist Pillar, can be completed by entirely by one player my worry is 3-4 other people that are now disengaged and doomscrolling or talking about Latest Marvel Show, etc. Actually, I should just read the DTRPG preview rather than ask 20 questions and sound like I'm down on a game I haven't actually seen.
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May 12, 2021 15:19
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Not Keyser Soze posted:That's an interesting way to structure it, I like the social focus. A single Stealth check from whoever in the party is best at it covers the entire group, so no, there's no "everybody else sits around and waits while the rogue sneaks."
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May 12, 2021 15:27
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Red Shoe posted:One issue that we ran into though was that I could not find a mechanic for characters helping each other. I ended up having one character make a set-up roll which, if successful, gave the next action Advantage. I'm not sure if I just missed the helping rules or if you had something else in mind. It's the latter! There's no general helping mechanic. Hacking has on in Social Engineering, and other than that there's specific Talents like Aid Another, Fixing the Odds, Helping Hand, Personal Trainer, Sync Up, Sponsored, etc.
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May 12, 2021 16:21
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Kai Tave posted:Also to go off what Mors Rattus said, hacking in Hard Wired Island and just social schmoozing/deception basically share the same framework in terms of how they work, so it's not really "everyone playing a minigame" so much as "everyone is operating off the same basic sort of rules paradigm." Why, that's so crazy it just might work! Wait, did I say crazy? I meant simple.
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May 12, 2021 16:38
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I’m a little unclear on a couple of the social mechanics. If someone is Eg Bullshitting an NPC does the NPC roll a save vs the bullshit roll, or do they have a static defence score (7 + their clever stat?)?
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May 14, 2021 10:05
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Roach Warehouse posted:I’m a little unclear on a couple of the social mechanics. If someone is Eg Bullshitting an NPC does the NPC roll a save vs the bullshit roll, or do they have a static defence score (7 + their clever stat?)? The latter. page 33 posted:...Each Action tells you to roll 2d6 + an Ability, against a difficulty set by the GM... Bullshit, as an Action, is 2d6 + Cool vs. Clever, so you would do a single roll against the NPC's Clever Defense. The NPC can later try to roll a Clever save against your Bullshit roll to snap out of it. HerraS fucked around with this message at 11:06 on May 14, 2021 |
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May 14, 2021 11:04
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HerraS posted:The latter. Thanks! I was a bit confused because the social examples on p.37 say things like “She rolls 9, and the defense roll is 13.”
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May 15, 2021 02:28
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Roach Warehouse posted:Thanks! I was a bit confused because the social examples on p.37 say things like “She rolls 9, and the defense roll is 13.” Defense rolls aren't a thing and yeah there are some references to them but they're being/have been patched out to be fully consistent, so maybe check if the pdf you have is a slightly older version.
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May 15, 2021 02:36
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Thanks for the tip. Popped over to itch for a fresh copy and it’s all making sense now.
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May 15, 2021 03:08
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Just want to pop in to note this game is Real Good, and I've been cracking up my Shadowrun playing friends with the tables in the back alone.
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May 15, 2021 03:22
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Snagged this on itch. It's a cool and thoughtful premise, an interesting and engaging system, and I seriously dig the soundtrack. I'm really excited about this game.
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May 16, 2021 12:17
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I'm excited as well. Upcoming game with my regular group, we haven't gotten everything worked out yet thanks to schedule conflicts but we've had fun ideas floating around. On my front, though, a mechanics question. Yes, I know, optimizing PbtA games and all that. I'm looking at a Thief, and comparing a few options to one another with one coming up as a "why would I ever take this".
I haven't quite had my optimizer brainworms come out yet but this immediately struck me as a talent that just does very little, in very limited circumstances, compared to its equally available counterparts and I'm trying to figure out the intended use case.
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May 16, 2021 15:57
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I just wanted to drop in and say that Liam's piece "All his email's are like this" is the hardest I've ever laughed while reading an RPG.
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May 21, 2021 05:42
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DalaranJ posted:I just wanted to drop in and say that Liam's piece "All his email's are like this" is the hardest I've ever laughed while reading an RPG. Aw heck, thanks 
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May 21, 2021 12:04
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SkyeAuroline posted:I haven't quite had my optimizer brainworms come out yet but this immediately struck me as a talent that just does very little, in very limited circumstances, compared to its equally available counterparts and I'm trying to figure out the intended use case. Parkour has a much broader trigger than Cat Burglar and is the only one that can reliably be used as part of an attack action (Athletic Legs explicitly excludes that, it's not flat). Parkour is designed as a multiplier for people who are already good at movement stuff (and thus more likely to roll criticals). It can be triggered at the same time as either of the others but it's not really designed for the same situations.
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May 22, 2021 16:18
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Ettin posted:Parkour has a much broader trigger than Cat Burglar and is the only one that can reliably be used as part of an attack action (Athletic Legs explicitly excludes that, it's not flat). Parkour is designed as a multiplier for people who are already good at movement stuff (and thus more likely to roll criticals). It can be triggered at the same time as either of the others but it's not really designed for the same situations. Gotcha. That's roughly the conclusion the folks I talked to had come to as well - the attack function alone explains some of the difficult trigger. Just seemed like a particularly narrow trigger condition for an earlier character to take. I ended up switching over to a Fixer instead (and keeping the Legs) to fit the concept better, so it ended up moot - oh well! Session 0 tomorrow so I'll have the rest of the group soon.
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May 22, 2021 17:34
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Are there any good actual plays (ideally audio and not video) for HWI other than the Talent Agency one? That one doesn’t sound like it really engages with the space station elements, and that’s one of the parts that really appeals to me.
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May 27, 2021 23:35
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Which platform gives Ettin and co. more money? Once I know that I'm all in baby!
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May 28, 2021 00:17
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Nessus posted:Which platform gives Ettin and co. more money? Once I know that I'm all in baby! Then itch.io is the one you want.
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May 28, 2021 00:46
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Yeah, itch.io provides sellers with a much more generous cut while DTRPG takes more but has a somewhat easier time grabbing casual customers who are "window shopping" so to speak, and DTRPG's various tier listings based on total sales are also a help for generating additional exposure...but if you already know where to grab the game, itch is usually the preferred platform.
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May 28, 2021 06:07
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I have obtained the game. It owns. My usual tabletop squad are curious if there are any premade adventures for it floating around?
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May 30, 2021 22:26
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Nessus posted:My usual tabletop squad are curious if there are any premade adventures for it floating around?
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May 31, 2021 05:28
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JMBosch posted:Not having obtained it yet but loving the excerpts I've seen, is there any advice in the book for writing an adventure to fit its style/intentions? Nessus posted:I have obtained the game. It owns. My usual tabletop squad are curious if there are any premade adventures for it floating around? There are two adventure outlines in the back of the book, but I believe that's all the premade adventures that currently exist (please correct me if I'm wrong). There's a fair bit of GMing advice but imo not the best GM section I've ever seen.
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Jun 2, 2021 17:53
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Today's discovery: Holy poo poo, Heavy Armor Frame might be a little busted. Our Street Fighter managed to get a Dreamer (!) in a "head"lock that it was impossible to break out of, because they couldn't do damage and couldn't even hit the "end grapple" target number. Fair warning to potential GMs. In unrelated news, Street Fighter is rerolling to a Hacker.
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Jun 7, 2021 00:27
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Nessus posted:I have obtained the game. It owns. My usual tabletop squad are curious if there are any premade adventures for it floating around? So there's a post-launch update that touches on this among other things. quote:Future Plans
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Jun 7, 2021 03:45
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