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Doc Hawkins
Jun 15, 2010

Dashing? But I'm not even moving!


MadRhetoric posted:

As a player it burns my rear end.
Totally fair.

quote:

It feels like the writer doesn't trust players to be creative or mature.

I find this genuinely shocking. It's almost exactly the opposite of every impression I have ever seen Vincent Baker give in everything he's ever written, AW included. That the game can come off like that concerns me.

quote:

I'm a very postmodernist, "meta-text matters" sort of guy so maybe I was reading too much of my own biases into it, but to me that seems to ignore the part of the game where you're a bunch of people loving around and playing pretend. That awareness of the player built fourth wall is where I got (and get) a lot of my enjoyment playing elfgames.

Ahhh, I see, sorry, we're not in disagreement on this. I misunderstood you at first to be saying the game should be going for ~immersion~, and I was trying to say that no game should actually try to destroy awareness of other people at the table, making their group interactions happen outside of consciousness (hence the tortured joke about eusociality, which I now regrert), and that luckily, AW does not try to do any of that: it just tries to make a narrative that feels less dreamy and pulpy and more gritty and 'real'. The theory "games are rules are overlaid on top of existing social structures" clearly doesn't deny the people playing pretend.

quote:

Since the MC is a character, and the MCs Moves are meant to impact, keep, and develop character, an MC "playing right" would completely remove the player from the character.

That, I'm less sure about. An engrossing story full of grit and hyper-realism which you tell with your friends is still told with your friends. The social situation cannot and should not be extracted. Among other things, the MC directives say to be a fan of the characters, which is in no way a social-neutral statement.

quote:

And there is a way to induce the tenor of "rapt contemplation of the shared fiction without sparing a thought for the dice and the rules" without tools; that's what improv is. Or Apples to Apples. You have the basics like "don't say no" or "put down a card you think will make your friends laugh at your monkey cheese humor" but those are mere guidelines.

Improv is done with an awareness of an audience. I think the only real-life example that comes close might be the kinds of religious rituals that inspired HeroQuest, but even those had structures and rules.

I for real and for serious don't get the guidelines/rules distinction. "Don't contradict or undermine what someone else has said" seems only and exactly as much of a rule as "Don't say you've won until they have zero hitpoints." Their reality is equally dependent on the group's shared understanding and agreement to be bound by them.

quote:

Is this the "opening your mind" kind of valuable or the "remove the madman's brain for science" kind of valuable?

You're a thoughtful and expressive person who wants for themselves and others to have fun, and I try to treat listening to what people like that have to say as an end in itself. v:shobon:v

e:

RyuujinBlueZ posted:

You know, using the old school names for the suits I totally expected you to toss in some major arcana action to go with that.

If suits are the stats, arcana could be the playbooks. Dibs on the Sphinx!

Doc Hawkins fucked around with this message at 03:42 on Aug 31, 2012

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RyuujinBlueZ
Oct 9, 2007

WHAT DID YOU DO?!
Not to throw out every last pretense of this conversation being on topic, but I gotta ask. Are you a game designer, Doc? You just seem to be addressing things as someone who makes game systems for a living. Hell, I'd think you were Vince himself if you didn't refer to him in the third-person.

So...Yeah.

On the topic of World games, and hacks, I'm hoping things will settle down a bit and I can get enough work on mine down to toss up a Google Doc or something and get some feedback on things as a whole.

RyuujinBlueZ fucked around with this message at 03:59 on Aug 31, 2012

MadRhetoric
Feb 18, 2011

I POSSESS QUESTIONABLE TASTE IN TOUHOU GAMES

Doc Hawkins posted:

Totally fair.

I find this genuinely shocking. It's almost exactly the opposite of every impression I have ever seen Vincent Baker give in everything he's ever written, AW included. That the game can come off like that concerns me.

Maybe it's just me, because VB sounds like the chillest motherfucker in the biz. I've been going over the Barf Forth Apocalyptica forums to really understand how the game ticks and I just wish more systems and designers would do that.


quote:

That, I'm less sure about. An engrossing story full of grit and hyper-realism which you tell with your friends is still told with your friends. The social situation cannot and should not be extracted. Among other things, the MC directives say to be a fan of the characters, which is in no way a social-neutral statement.

I agree with you, but the MC moves do sort of want you to jump into the game headfirst. With the lack of planning and the idea of MC as character and character as hybrid rule and fiction entity, there does seem to be a desire for ~immersion~. Maybe it's just another "seeing the wires" thing with me, seeing how, again, the mechanics are the fiction and the fiction are the mechanics in so many other places.


quote:

Improv is done with an awareness of an audience. I think the only real-life example that comes close might be the kinds of religious rituals that inspired HeroQuest, but even those had structures and rules.

I for real and for serious don't get the guidelines/rules distinction. "Don't contradict or undermine what someone else has said" seems only and exactly as much of a rule as "Don't say you've won until they have zero hitpoints." Their reality is equally dependent on the group's shared understanding and agreement to be bound by them.

The difference there to me is the HP rule is a violation of mechanics and the simulacra of the elfgame in question, whereas the contradiction rule is just being a dick. All rules are indicative of a social contract, yes, but the former is a "soft" rule and the latter is a "hard" rule to my perspective. Although the improv example can break the simulacrum of the bit and the HP example could merely be the player being a dick. This is a fuzzy designation and I apologize.


quote:

You're a thoughtful and expressive person who wants for themselves and others to have fun,

This is honestly the nicest thing anyone has said to me in years. I'm not sure how to feel about that.


quote:

If suits are the stats, arcana could be the playbooks. Dibs on the Sphinx!

They are, in fact. It's my workaround for the niggle that started this mess; there are a whole lot of people Walking the Fool (playing the game) and there are more than a couple Majors (people with playbooks), but in this Deck (party), there's only one of each Major (Arcana playbook) present. Just the way life deals it.

E:

I'm talking shop about my anime Goon project hack; we're totally on topic. :downs:

Echophonic
Sep 16, 2005

ha;lp
Gun Saliva
Has anyone found or come up with a cool front for Monster of the Week? I'm running it for my group this weekend and I'm having a bit of trouble coming up with something creative. I'm considering just bouncing over to the Fringe wiki and stealing something I recall being cool.

I'll also be writing up a post-play report so I can snag the Exile, hopefully. I can't wait to see how horribly I butcher this game.

Edit: Oh yeah, I found some fan-made playbooks that I haven't mentioned: The Mad Scientist and The Constructed. The Mad Scientist, especially, seems awesome. Have you every wanted to roleplay Walter Bishop? This is the book for you.

Echophonic fucked around with this message at 15:44 on Aug 31, 2012

Cyphoderus
Apr 21, 2010

I'll have you know, foxes have the finest call in nature

Echophonic posted:

Has anyone found or come up with a cool front for Monster of the Week? I'm running it for my group this weekend and I'm having a bit of trouble coming up with something creative. I'm considering just bouncing over to the Fringe wiki and stealing something I recall being cool.

It's not like I know anything about Monster of the Week, but both the Weeping Angels and the Silence from Doctor Who would be downright memorable foes for any modern-day scenario dealing with the supernatural :ohdear:

Doc Hawkins
Jun 15, 2010

Dashing? But I'm not even moving!


RyuujinBlueZ posted:

Not to throw out every last pretense of this conversation being on topic, but I gotta ask. Are you a game designer, Doc? You just seem to be addressing things as someone who makes game systems for a living. Hell, I'd think you were Vince himself if you didn't refer to him in the third-person.

Mad Rhetoric is the designer in this conversation. I'm just a living warning of what years of Forge-chat does to a man. :sweatdrop:

RyuujinBlueZ
Oct 9, 2007

WHAT DID YOU DO?!

Doc Hawkins posted:

Mad Rhetoric is the designer in this conversation. I'm just a living warning of what years of Forge-chat does to a man. :sweatdrop:

Fair enough. My buddy Rhetoric's obviously got mad design chops, there's a reason I'm taking so much of what he's said to heart, but you two were going back and forth like pros and I was curious about cred.

Also, I really need to pick up Monster of the Week. It sounds like such a fun "pick up and gently caress around" game. Good for just one shots or dicking off between sessions of something bigger.

MadRhetoric
Feb 18, 2011

I POSSESS QUESTIONABLE TASTE IN TOUHOU GAMES

RyuujinBlueZ posted:

Also, I really need to pick up Monster of the Week. It sounds like such a fun "pick up and gently caress around" game. Good for just one shots or dicking off between sessions of something bigger.

I want to do that, but Monsterhearts.

Holy gently caress Monsterhearts playbooks. The Mortal playbook is Bella meets Sakura Matou from F/SN. It is the best.

RyuujinBlueZ
Oct 9, 2007

WHAT DID YOU DO?!

MadRhetoric posted:

I want to do that, but Monsterhearts.

Holy gently caress Monsterhearts playbooks. The Mortal playbook is Bella meets Sakura Matou from F/SN. It is the best.

I'm uneasy about Monsterhearts, but that's mostly because I have an unnatural hatred of vampires. While I can still think of a few things to do with it, dropping ten bucks on it sight unseen doesn't sit with me.

SlimGoodbody
Oct 20, 2003

You know what I wanna see sometime try to wrangle, because I am a sadist who subsists entirely on fear and weeping? Rifts World. And not just playing AW while calling it Rifts. No.

Rifts. World.

The sheer amount of, just... STUFF that goes on and is available in that game is mind boggling. And mega-damage! It barely made sense or functioned in a game built entirely around the concept! How do???

MadRhetoric
Feb 18, 2011

I POSSESS QUESTIONABLE TASTE IN TOUHOU GAMES

SlimGoodbody posted:

You know what I wanna see sometime try to wrangle, because I am a sadist who subsists entirely on fear and weeping? Rifts World. And not just playing AW while calling it Rifts. No.

Rifts. World.

The sheer amount of, just... STUFF that goes on and is available in that game is mind boggling. And mega-damage! It barely made sense or functioned in a game built entirely around the concept! How do???

Give everyone the pie-chart health track and an HP score like D-World (or FATE's stress boxes/consequences). MDC just does damage to your pie-chart. SDC counts down from your HP. Pick a stat system that you like out of the Apocalyptica powered games. Then just cram all the playbooks together, adapted to the system you chose and cutting where necessary.

Since Sim didn't give a poo poo about balance, someone doing this wouldn't have to either. Outside of picking which version of the Apocalyptica system you want to start with, a true-to-form RIFTS World would probably be the easiest hack to make. :v:

Scrape
Apr 10, 2007

i've been sharpening a knife in the bathroom.
When you fight a South American vampire circus with your Juiced-up Glitterboy mech, roll +90's Bullshit and choose one from the list below:

*What the gently caress
*I give up

InfiniteJesters
Jan 26, 2012
So regarding that WW2 Regiment paratrooper game I mentioned earlier, I'm debating with myself whether it would be better for the characters to meet manually (they ARE all paras from different squads that have been separated, after all) or for it to take place presumably a few minutes/hours after they linked up with each other for survival.

I feel this is important because having the players introduce each other in-character for the genuinely first time seems more organic, not to mention satisfying.

InfiniteJesters fucked around with this message at 03:46 on Sep 2, 2012

Tasoth
Dec 13, 2011

InfiniteJesters posted:

So regarding that WW2 Regiment paratrooper game I mentioned earlier, I'm debating with myself whether it would be better for the characters to meet manually (they ARE all paras from different squads that have been separated, after all) or for it to take place presumably a few minutes/hours after they linked up with each other for survival.

I feel this is important because having the players introduce each other in-character for the genuinely first time seems more organic, not to mention satisfying.

Start in Media Res, but have the actual start of the session be a lull in the action. It's the first moment they got to know each other and if there is Hx gen in it (I just did a quick scan), say it came from being in the poo poo with these strangers before the game started.

InfiniteJesters
Jan 26, 2012

Tasoth posted:

Start in Media Res, but have the actual start of the session be a lull in the action. It's the first moment they got to know each other and if there is Hx gen in it (I just did a quick scan), say it came from being in the poo poo with these strangers before the game started.

I think I'm going to go with "they snowballed together a couple of hours ago and got a signal through the Officer's radio to rendezvous at a garrisoned townhouse somewhere nearby", and the game starts as they meet up with the handful of others who have made it to the meetup location, and then after being given a rough map of the area they decide where they're going to hit the Germans next.

Alternatively, have the first thing they do in-game *BE* capturing the townhouse from the Germans for use as a forward command point for any nearby troops to gather around.

InfiniteJesters fucked around with this message at 04:39 on Sep 2, 2012

mllaneza
Apr 28, 2007

Veteran, Bermuda Triangle Expeditionary Force, 1993-1952




InfiniteJesters posted:

I think I'm going to go with "they snowballed together a couple of hours ago and got a signal through the Officer's radio to rendezvous at a garrisoned townhouse somewhere nearby", and the game starts as they meet up with the handful of others who have made it to the meetup location, and then after being given a rough map of the area they decide where they're going to hit the Germans next.

The scattered remnants of paratroop squads coming together in ad hoc units is exactly the sort of thing a D-Day game should be doing. Run the assault on a farmhouse or something, then have the survivors introduce each other. Use the assault to kill off any characters who didn't make it into the game.

InfiniteJesters
Jan 26, 2012
Also, given they're the only WW2-era playbook with default access to demolitions training, I think it would make more sense to reskin the Commando as an Army engineer, as opposed to some sort of SAS badass.

EDIT: Alternatively, make him a Jedburgh:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Jedburgh

InfiniteJesters fucked around with this message at 11:58 on Sep 2, 2012

mllaneza
Apr 28, 2007

Veteran, Bermuda Triangle Expeditionary Force, 1993-1952




Finally, a playbook I'm happy with. These little lizard guys have two very useful moves in the additional moves section, but that's going to balance against their statblock, which also has to absorb starting with an extra stat. I'm also not going to be done with stats until I've written a bunch more moves and know what I'll really need.


Droyne Wanderer
The intrepid Sport caste Droyne mediate between clans and wander the galaxy to keep an eye on what the rest of the species are up to. Like all Droyne they are at least mildly psionic and can glide or fly in low gravity. They are built to fly, and so their hollow bones and light physiques make them more fragile than the average sophont. The Sport caste are made to be inquisitive, communicate individualists with a keen eye for the interrelated nature of complex things. They are the explorers, the scouts, the messengers and all the other things where one or a few must work alone and isolated for the good of the many. They can be found anywhere another caste would fear to tread.

Droyne Wanderers start with these three moves, psi+0, and pick two additional moves.

Built like a bird
When you take non-AP damage, you suffer +1d.

Soaring on tiny wings (tough)
When you flap your wings and get a running start, fly or glide as best the local gravity and air density will allow. Roll +tough, on a 10+ hold three, on a 7-9 hold one. Spend hold to
* Extend your air time
* Carry extra weight
* Increase your speed
Under ideal conditions, normal atmosphere and about 0.4G, a healthy adult Droyne can fly at 30kph for about 30 minutes.

Psionic Survival Trait (psi)
When you concentrate on not being seen, roll+psi. On a 10+ hold 3 and no entity susceptible to psionics will notice you or remember seeing you. On a 7-9 hold 1 and gain the same benefit. Spend hold to get away with someone confronted by your presence, pass by a rage group, or effect any noticeable change in the environment. On a miss you can still be seen and will need about 10 minutes to clear you head and try again; try and arrange to test your result before you really need it.

Additional moves

Psionic Adept
Add +1 to psi and pick a new psi ability the first time you take this move. If you choose it again, you choose between +1 psi, gaining a new ability or advancing one you already have.

Making friends and influencing aliens
When you apply your interpersonal skills to making a good impression, take +1 forward to your dealings with that person.

Everything is relative
When your solution to a problem takes advantage of the interrelated nature of the system you are working with, take +1 forward. It's all in knowing how things fit together.

Bold Wings
Take +2 on all of your Flying rolls.

Blazing the trail
When you lead the way into the unknown or carry on alone, take +1 forward.

A beak for business
Something about trading and business, maybe equivalent to a spy network or mercantile endeavors or something.



Advances
+1 harm
+1 tech
Gain a network of contacts and Spymaster
Take a new move
Take a new move
Take a new move
etc.

Edit: added "A beak for business"

mllaneza fucked around with this message at 01:31 on Sep 3, 2012

Cyphoderus
Apr 21, 2010

I'll have you know, foxes have the finest call in nature
In the Dungeon World thread, Scrape presented a dastardly elegant solution for a shapechanging dragon move, but what of a modern-world version of it? I'm still totally interested in doing a Leverage conversion to *world, and that's pretty much a game about con-men.

A big part of Leverage is the long-term relationship between mark and fake identities: the first moment of presenting yourself to the mark, using your identity's perceived authority to make the mark do something, and that moment when the mark starts to suspect you. The second of these is covered by seduce/manipulate, but I think the first and third deserve their own move.

pre:
Basic move: Gain Confidence
When you sell your story to the mark, roll+hot.
On a 10+, they buy it, for now.
On a 7-9, they need something more concrete.
It's very basic, but I'm stuck. Any suggestions?

MadRhetoric
Feb 18, 2011

I POSSESS QUESTIONABLE TASTE IN TOUHOU GAMES
i cant stop thinking of hacks

send help

Illusory World: A Game of Silly Hats and Sinister Specters

If you want to make friends and influence people, use Drink.
If you want to get out of a sticky situation, use Bomb.
If you want to make somebody hurt, use Shot.
If you want to do things with deftness and precision, use Graze.

To start an incident, roll +Shot. On a 10+, choose three. On a 7-9, choose one.

[*] It takes people a while to know what happened
[*] It's a huge deal
[*] Nobody knows you did it
[*] Everybody knows you did it
[*] Your incident changes the world
[*] Your incident is a natural function of the world

When you're staring down a Spellcard in a danmaku duel...

Roll +Bomb if you're trying to turn the tables
Roll +Graze if you're trying to not get hit
Roll +Drink if you're trying to get in your opponent's head

When you're on the offensive in a danmaku duel...

Roll +Shot if you're trying to wear them down
Roll +Bomb if you're declaring a spellcard
Roll +Drink if you're trying to beat your enemy without firing a shot

etc., etc.

InfiniteJesters
Jan 26, 2012
I'd play it. :v:

Preferably while drunk.

At any rate in all seriousness given the abstract nature of it ApocWorld would probably make for a good springboard for a Touhou game. Or at least as good a springboard as it's going to get for something that insane.

InfiniteJesters fucked around with this message at 19:40 on Sep 3, 2012

Benagain
Oct 10, 2007

Can you see that I am serious?
Fun Shoe
Re: That confidence move, maybe something like this.

When you sell your story to the mark, roll +hot. on a success, they buy the story, plus

On a 10+ pick three

On a 7-9 pick one

-They don't try to cut you out or doublecross you
-They don't get a third party to check it out
-They don't point out a flaw in the plan
-They don't decide it's too risky and try to pull out

Echophonic
Sep 16, 2005

ha;lp
Gun Saliva
So I actually got to follow through on a game I was planning, for once, and it wound up being Monster of the Week.

I'm still kind of new to GMing games, so this probably could have gone smoother, but we had a blast with it. It wound up being a lot more goofy than scary, but that's perfectly fine with me.

The party was:
  • Dr. Erika, an amnesiac Mad Scientist with a mysterious past
  • El Diablo Rojo, the greatest Luchador in all of Mexico (don't look into it too hard) and master of the Flame del Norte.
  • Agent 88, a mid-level Professional for the mysterious Corporation.
  • Tommy "Two Fingers" Blake, a conspiracy nut and Flake with a shotgun.
  • The Ragin' Cajun, a Chosen hero with a gigantic crystal sword joined up for the hunt.
You can see why we had a hard time with the horror side. This was mostly my fault, but it happens.

Character generation was really fun, we asked a bunch of questions and it clicked for me why the AW games have you mark down relationships between characters. AW uses Hx, MotW just has History, but both make you write down the names of the other characters so you KNOW WHAT THEY ARE. It's absolutely brilliant and I didn't get it until I saw it in action. Throwing around highlights was really cool, seeing what people thought of each other to flag skills was fun to see.

For prep, I put together the monster (a chimeric hybrid mutated from a researcher, Dr. Max Lasala), a Minion that was a former co-worker and lover (Dr. Anna Heinrich), and a pair of bystanders that consisted of the museum administrator (Erik Ashurst) and another researcher (Dr. Claire Lobdell). The hunters are brought in by the Corporation to investigate a brutal, apparently animal, attack in a small-town museum.

All of this stuff was super easy to put together. The hardest part is coming up with a good concept, at least for me. I borrowed from a few episodes of Fringe and the example in the book and I was off and running. I also hit this random name generator to generate a page of random names for people that weren't Threats. This came in VERY handy and I will recommend it to anyone trying this game out.

The first half of the session was the investigation. I dropped them off in an unnammed town, so I asked Tommy's player for a name. He named it Crayston, and we got underway. They initially split up, Tommy and Erika tried and failed to talk their way into the town morgue to examine the bodies while El Diablo and Agent 88 went to the museum. They eventually find out about a missing researcher and try to get his remaining personal effects from an uncooperative landlord (who I made up on the spot, pulling a name from the list). Agent 88 pulls some strings using the Official Influence perk from his agency and get Ashurst and the guard at the morgue off of the hunters' backs.

There's some fun roleplaying amongst the players as they get lunch and ask around town, before meeting up for donuts to compare notes. They're met by Drs. Heinrich and Lobdell, who give them some information and Lobdell agrees to smuggle their heavy weapons into the museum for the hunt.

At this point, The Ragin' Cajun shows up, and they head over to the museum, which is closed for the night. They head over to the offices to meet up with Dr. Lobdell to retrieve their weapons, only to find she isn't there yet. They get the feeling something is amiss and head to the side entrance in the storage area. The lights die after they reveal themselves, leaving only a few pools of emergency light. They find Dr. Lobdell unconscious by the entrance and hear the duffel the guns were in being unzipped. The hunters rush to the sound and find Dr. Heinrich pointing Tommy's shotgun at them growling "I won't let you hurt him." Agent 88 wounds her, making her drop the gun and she explains what happened once Dr. Erika applies some first aid.

After exposition, they actually manage to go and collect Dr. Lasala's research, finding him linked to a scientist named William Ladd, a former colleague of Dr. Erika's. His field of study? Animal hybridization. They learn they need a blood sample from the creature to synthesize an antidote. They head back to the museum to hunt the creature.

They enter the natural history museum, Tommy in the lead with his flashlight. I go for the cheap jump-scare and have it play across a large set of fangs, a foot from his face. He jumps and throws a garrote around the neck of a stuffed sabretooth tiger in an exhibit, to everyone's amusement. They make it to a loop at the end, surrounding a large, dark natural exhibit, from which Lasala ambushes the isolated Agent 88, rending him with his monstrous claws. They hunters deal a lot of damage to the resilient (2-armor) creature and get the sample they need as it tries to escape.

They head back to Dr. Ericka's lab, synthesizing the anti-mutagen to return Dr. Lasala to normal. I required one person to help her, letting everyone else recover 1-harm while they rested. Nobody was unstable, so some downtime after a fight seemed reasonable. I also gave them the option of doing some first aid, but taking any more time than the needed would be putting people at risk. They declined and headed back to the museum for the final showdown.

They enter the museum to the sounds of the researchers making a break for the exit, the reptilian Dr. Lasala hot on their heels. Agent 88 slows it with a burst from his assault rifle, followed by Cajun finishing the job with a slash and a finishing move (he pulled FINISH HIM! from the Hard Case), leaving the creature gravely wounded. They administer the antidote and save Lasala.

Like I was saying, we had a absolute blast. We normally do D&D, so getting to run stuff like this is a nice change of pace. Everyone really liked the system and for once we actually used character names. I really can't recommend Monster of the Week enough.

Evil Mastermind
Apr 28, 2008

Echophonic posted:

Monster of the Week
Very cool game; now all you have to do is post it somewhere public and let Michael Sands know so you can get the Exile playbook.

(Your players don't normally name their characters?)

Echophonic
Sep 16, 2005

ha;lp
Gun Saliva

Evil Mastermind posted:

Very cool game; now all you have to do is post it somewhere public and let Michael Sands know so you can get the Exile playbook.

(Your players don't normally name their characters?)

He's pretty quick about responding.

We don't normally remember to use character names. It's weird. We tried tentcards in D&D and it still didn't work. I think me referring to them by their characters is what really put it over the top, the few times I used the player name, I got correct.

Evil Mastermind
Apr 28, 2008

Echophonic posted:

We don't normally remember to use character names. It's weird. We tried tentcards in D&D and it still didn't work. I think me referring to them by their characters is what really put it over the top, the few times I used the player name, I got correct.
Huh, that's just weird to me. Although I'd be interesting to see if it carries back over to your D&D game.

So dish...how's the Exile?

Echophonic
Sep 16, 2005

ha;lp
Gun Saliva

Evil Mastermind posted:

Huh, that's just weird to me. Although I'd be interesting to see if it carries back over to your D&D game.

So dish...how's the Exile?

The Exile's pretty neat. You're a monster hunter from the past. The moves are all about traditional techniques and knowing things that have been forgotten. They can have a familiar, be tougher, and they have the ability to find a cache of relics that allies left or even to have allies from the past come forward to help. They have a pretty wild set of stats, too. One line even has +3 Tough.

mllaneza
Apr 28, 2007

Veteran, Bermuda Triangle Expeditionary Force, 1993-1952




You know what's way more fun than I expected ? Writing advances and equipment options.

Advances
* +1 harm
* +1 tech
* Gain a network of contacts and Spymaster
* Take a new move
* Take a new move
* Take a new move
* Take a move from another playbook in use in your group
* Learn to read the Coyns. When you cast the coyns as a divination tool, roll +psi...
* Take an equipment option, it comes to you as soon as it fits the fiction.


Equipment Options (pick 2)
* Vacc suit perfectly fitted for a Droyne, fully articulated wings allow for flight under appropriate conditions.
* Flight drugs that double your flying strength for an hour.
* Exo-Wings provide a powered assist to flight and greater lift, can be worn with a vacc suit.
* A full set of coyns, take +1 forward when relying on your status as a coyn holder. Mark XP is you pass the set to another worthy caretaker.
* An incomplete set of coyns, take +1 forward when on the trail of a secret that could be of Ancient or Droyne origin. Mark XP if you complete the set.
* TL+0 grav bike, riding leathers, googles and scarf.
* Backpack powered Droyne military assault laser. 3d, laser, autofire, backpack, copious ammo capacity. TL+1

grassy gnoll
Aug 27, 2006

The pawsting business is tough work.
Because I am the ultimate waste of carbon, I was thinking about how to run a Metal Gear knockoff game in *World, and apart from just changing the story, is there really anything less-than-optimal about using straight up A-world for such a terrible idea? I'm not really seeing anything that doesn't work mechanically or even flavor-wise.

HitTheTargets
Mar 3, 2006

I came here to laugh at you.

Desty posted:

Because I am the ultimate waste of carbon, I was thinking about how to run a Metal Gear knockoff game in *World, and apart from just changing the story, is there really anything less-than-optimal about using straight up A-world for such a terrible idea? I'm not really seeing anything that doesn't work mechanically or even flavor-wise.

Since the playbooks are the largest portion of any Word game, it robably comes diwn to what you want your players to be doing. How close are you adhering to the Metal Gear formula? I doubt an entire Chopper* gang would be all that sneaky, but there's room in the world for them somewhere. Probably as a PMC. And it might not make sense for the local Hardholder to be invading his own fortress, but hell, crazier poo poo has happened when The Patriots were involved.

*Oh hey, I'm not even into One Piece but a conversion would be great.

RyuujinBlueZ
Oct 9, 2007

WHAT DID YOU DO?!

HitTheTargets posted:

*Oh hey, I'm not even into One Piece but a conversion would be great.

gently caress you.

...Now I know what I'm doing when I'm done with Persona.

Mr. Maltose
Feb 16, 2011

The Guffless Girlverine

HitTheTargets posted:

Since the playbooks are the largest portion of any Word game, it robably comes diwn to what you want your players to be doing. How close are you adhering to the Metal Gear formula? I doubt an entire Chopper* gang would be all that sneaky, but there's room in the world for them somewhere. Probably as a PMC. And it might not make sense for the local Hardholder to be invading his own fortress, but hell, crazier poo poo has happened when The Patriots were involved.

*Oh hey, I'm not even into One Piece but a conversion would be great.

There's a Chopper gang in MGS4, Meryl and her dumbwits. Now I'm just imagining Drebin as a Hoarder giving out points to increase his hoard of deadly deadly guns.

Evil Mastermind
Apr 28, 2008

Haven't forgotten about this. I made some of the moves more "generic" and usable when not actively working against The Fucker. Still blanking on ideas for the Special, though.

quote:

THE REVENANT v0.5


Apocalypse World is a dangerous place; we all know that. Violence is a way of life. Towns get attacked by gangs, warlords make examples, people take payment out of your hide and the hides of your loved ones. Monsters walk the ravaged earth, leaving a trail of bodies in their wake.

You were supposed to be one of those bodies.

Maybe you weren't home when the attack happened. Maybe you weren't as dead as they thought. Maybe they just didn't give a poo poo about you and left you there standing in the ruins of your life.

It doesn't matter anymore. Your old life was burned to the ground, the ashes scattered to the wind.

Only one thing matters now. Revenge. You're going to find the fucker responsible, and you're gonna put him down once and for all.

There is no one more dangerous than someone with nothing left to lose.


LOOK
Man, woman, ambiguous
Tattered wear, bloody wear, symbolic wear
Dead eyes, rage-filled eyes, tired eyes, focused eyes
Slim body, ravaged body, muscular body

STATS (very much not done)
Choose one set:
• Cool+1 Hard+2 Hot-1 Sharp+1 Weird=0
• Cool-1 Hard+2 Hot+1 Sharp+1 Weird-1
• Cool+2 Hard+2 Hot=0 Sharp-1 Weird=0
• Cool-1 Hard+2 Hot-1 Sharp+2 Weird+1

THE FUCKER
When you create your character, determine what terrible thing (The Incident) you survived and how you survived it. Did they raze your town and leave you for dead? Did their goons ride in, destroy and/or violate your family and leave everything in flames? Did they kill a loved one while you were away and now you're back?

The MC will then create a special Front for the guy responsible, hereafter known as "The Fucker". This Front is just like a normal Front, but with two exceptions.
1) The Fucker will have a few Lieutenants. There are guys who enforce the Target's agendas and do some of his dirty work. They'll all be tricky to get to, and probably have a gang or something you'll have to kill your way through. Lieutenants might be small Fronts on their own, too, but generally they'll be the threats of the Front. They also don't need to be actual threats; the guy who runs The Fucker's drug production facility is a lieutenant, and the cowardly guy who's the main pusher is also a lieutenant even though he doesn't even know which end of the gun he's supposed to hold.
2) The Fucker doesn't have a countdown clock. Instead, he has a Lead on you. Lead starts at 6. Every time you defeat a Lieutenant or learn an important bit of information about The Fucker, you reduce the Lead by one. When you confront The Fucker (violently or not), you take -Lead ongoing until one of you is defeated or withdraws from the scene in some fashion. If the Lead ever reaches 10, then he's gotten away from you; you now take -1 ongoing to all rolls, lose access to all Revenant moves, and must immediately pick a new playbook.

Ultimately, when you kill or otherwise defeat the Fucker and have enough time to contemplate your victory, you immediately gain one advance that must be spent on taking one of either the change your character to a new type or [/b]retire your character (to safety)[/b] advances. If you change to a new type, you don't use the normal rules for this. Instead, the following happens:
• reduce Lead to 0 (or reduce it by a small amount? "leftover" Lead?)
• you lose access to one step closer and best served cold, but gain the following two moves instead, which carry over to your new playbook
The Legend: When you manipulate or go aggro on someone and tell them who you are (and who you took out), take +1 to the roll.
Cleaning up: Take +1 ongoing while fighting the leftover forces of The Fucker.


GEAR
You get:
• a memento of your old life
• a clue to the identity of The Fucker; part of his outfit, a blurry memory, whatever.
• 1 businesslike weapon
• fashion suitable to your look (you pick)
• oddments worth 1-barter.

Businesslike weapons (choose 1):
• sawed-off (3-harm close reload messy)
• 9mm (2-harm close loud)
• big knife (2-harm hand)
• katana (3-harm)

MOVES
You start with this one:
One step closer: When you confront The Fucker or his forces in some fashion (violent or not) and you get away alive, mark experience.

Pick 2 more:
This is between you and me: When you confront The Fucker or one of his lieutenants, roll +Hard. On a 10+ pick two, 7-9 pick one.
• You take +1 ongoing until they're defeated or run away.
• Nobody else will interfere on either side.
• They give away an important clue about The Fucker.
• You do 1-harm more damage against your opponent's gang or assorted forces.

I need your help: When you manipulate someone, roll +Hard instead of +Hot.

Best Served Cold: You can treat a roll you just made as a 12+, but you add one to the Lead.

Eyes on the Prize: When you arrive at a settlement you haven't been to in a while (or have never been to before) and ask around for leads to The Fucker, roll +Sharp. On a 10+, you get some info about The Fucker or one of his Lieutenants. On a 7-9, you get the info but word gets back to The Fucker or the local Lieutenant. On a miss, you get zilch and The Fucker's forces come looking for you. If you get info, take +1 forward when acting on it.

No One Else!: When acting under fire due to the Fucker or his Lieutenants, or Helping Out someone currently being harmed by them, roll +Hard instead of +Cool. If you let The Fucker or the Lieutenant get away, increase Lead by 1 but both you and the person you're helping get +1Hx with each other.

SPECIAL
Not sure yet.

HX

On your turn, choose 1, 2, or all 3
• One of them found you (or what was left of you) after The Fucker's attack. Tell that player Hx+2.
• You think one of them might be working for The Fucker. Tell that player Hx-1.
• One of them helped you track down a lead to The Fucker. Tell that player Hx+1.

Tell everyone else Hx+1. What happened to you isn't exactly a secret, and everyone knows you're out for revenge.

On the others' turns, whatever number they tell you, give it -1 write it next to your character's name. You have a little trouble getting close to people ever since The Fucker ruined your life.


ADVANCES
• get +1hard (max hard+3)
• get +1hard (max weird+2)
• get +1cool (max cool+2)
• get +1sharp (max sharp+2)
• get +1weird (max weird+2)
• get another Revenant move
• get another Revenant move
• get a move from another playbook
• get a move from another playbook
• decrease the Lead by 1
-----------------------
• get +1 to any stat (max stat+3)
• retire your character (to safety)
• create a second character to play
• change your character to a new type
• choose 3 basic moves and advance them.
• advance the other 4 basic moves.

ravenkult
Feb 3, 2011


Does anyone know anything about the playsets in ''tremulus'' and how they work?

Scrape
Apr 10, 2007

i've been sharpening a knife in the bathroom.

ravenkult posted:

Does anyone know anything about the playsets in ''tremulus'' and how they work?

I haven't seen the beta docs yet (are they available? I threw in on the kickstarter but I dunno), but my impression was that they are like a combination of Fiasco playsets and Dungeon World's Dungeon Starters. Like they have locations, descriptions, incidents, and characters to start a scenario, but not a full plot outline. I think that the grand story is sort of created during play.

That's just what I took away from the info I've seen so far. I could be wrong.

Lemon-Lime
Aug 6, 2009
You still have broken BB code in there from three versions ago.

Also,

quote:

If the Lead ever reaches 10, then he's gotten away from you; you now take -1 ongoing to all rolls, lose access to all Revenant moves, and must immediately pick a new playbook.

This needs an end condition.

Evil Mastermind
Apr 28, 2008

Nothing official (teaser or otherwise) has been released for tremulus yet, no.

Evil Mastermind
Apr 28, 2008

Lemon Curdistan posted:

You still have broken BB code in there from three versions ago.
Dammit. That's what happens when you try to do BB codes in a text editor.

quote:

Also,


This needs an end condition.
Not sure what you mean there. Unless you mean there should be a way for the character to get their old playbook back; I intended this to mean "once the Lead gets to large, he's gotten away from you forever and you've lost your shot at vengeance."

ravenkult
Feb 3, 2011


Thanks guys. I found some playtest reports and it sounds mildly interesting.

Would anyone be interested in a thread about my game I talked about upthread? Maybe I could crowdsource some moves and stuff.

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Mr. Maltose
Feb 16, 2011

The Guffless Girlverine

Evil Mastermind posted:

Dammit. That's what happens when you try to do BB codes in a text editor.

Not sure what you mean there. Unless you mean there should be a way for the character to get their old playbook back; I intended this to mean "once the Lead gets to large, he's gotten away from you forever and you've lost your shot at vengeance."

I think Lemon Curdistan means there should be an end condition for the -1 to everything you ever do.

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