xkcd

by **clockworkmonk** » Mon Apr 30, 2012 1:18 pm UTC

I might be able to find out Thursday from the guy I heard it from. And thanks.

by **pseudoidiot** » Mon Apr 30, 2012 1:27 pm UTC

Two guesses so far: Wraith & Hero's Banner

Also, I hadn't heard of Hero's Banner before, but it sounds really interesting and pretty close to your description.

http://tckroleplaying.com/herosbanner/

by **clockworkmonk** » Mon Apr 30, 2012 1:37 pm UTC

Looks like its Hero's Banner. Thanks a bunch!

by **clockworkmonk** » Fri May 04, 2012 2:45 pm UTC

turns out I was wrong about that. the game I heard about was hollowpoint

by **pseudoidiot** » Mon Jun 04, 2012 7:11 pm UTC

I've been keeping my eye on the development for a game called Dungeon World for a while. It's a D&D/fantasy hack of Vincent Baker's Apocalypse World. It's pretty great and it's not even 100% finished yet.

Anyhow, they finally launched a Kickstarter for the game and I highly recommend checking it out: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sag ... -old-sch-0

by **clockworkmonk** » Wed Jun 06, 2012 12:29 pm UTC

I've not seen much on apocalypse world, but have heard a good bit that it is good. What makes it special?

by **pseudoidiot** » Wed Jun 06, 2012 1:21 pm UTC

What grabs me about the game is that it's very simple and elegant, but has a lot of depth.

The core resolution is 2d6, generally modified between -1 and +3. A 7 or higher is a "hit". In general a 10+ goes really well for you, 7-9 you might get what you want, but have to make a tough decision. A 6 or less is called a miss and is referred to as a golden opportunity, because it allows the MC (GM) to do something.

The MC never rolls dice. Things in the game are accomplished in moves, which are just as narrative as they are mechanical. When a PC rolls a miss, the MC can make has hard a move as she wants to. It may mean really bad stuff for the character(s) now (like taking harm or losing stuff), or it may not (like setting up future badness). It's all about the fiction and the moves should flow from the fiction.

Also a lot of the text in the book can really be taken as advice for other games. Like be a fan of the players -- as the MC you're there to help the players be awesome and make a cool story. Give them the opportunities to do cool shit.

Another thing I think is cool is that you earn experience based on rolling highlighted stats. You have 5 stats, 2 are highlighted (one by a player, one by an MC). The cool thing is that the MC and other players can use that to help set the tone for the session (highlights can and often do change every session). Want a super-violent session? Highlight everyone's Hard. Want lots of crazy psychic shit to happen? Highlight everyone's Weird. Want everyone to have a chance to shine? Highlight their best stat.

You can get some idea of the game just by checking out some of the materials: http://apocalypse-world.com/ApocalypseW ... ybooks.pdf

Currently I've only played some oneshots at cons. I've had a blast every time, but I would like to see how it goes for a few sessions.

by **clockworkmonk** » Wed Jun 06, 2012 1:46 pm UTC

Well, you sold me. I just kicked into it. I am a sucker for the creative commons license and narrative focused games.

by **pseudoidiot** » Wed Jun 06, 2012 1:56 pm UTC

ONE OF US

Yeah, same for me.

Also, Sage & Adam are both software developers by trade. My understanding is they tracked the progress of the game through github or something, which is an interesting way to develop a tabletop game. Submitting tickets to a bug tracker for things to be edited/added and what not.

The community is pretty great, too. There's almost always some good conversation going over at http://apocalypse-world.com/forums/index.php?board=19.0 and there's quite a number of great AP's floating around.

by **SecondTalon** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 4:18 pm UTC

pseudoidiot wrote:...
Also a lot of the text in the book can really be taken as advice for other games. Like be a fan of the players -- as the MC you're there to help the players be awesome and make a cool story. Give them the opportunities to do cool shit.
...

... wait, is this why people give D&D such a bad rap? Are there DMs out there who aren't doing this already? Why am I asking questions I already know the answer to but didn't quite realize until just now?

by **pseudoidiot** » Thu Jun 07, 2012 6:01 pm UTC

Yeah an interesting thing I've seen is people read some of that stuff and get kind of confused about some of it. When someone points out it's really just general GM advice people realize "oh, yeah, I pretty much do that anyhow."

Some people need that sort of technique documentation, some don't. I find it useful, because I tend to be pretty disorganized and there's even rules for what Vincent calls Threats & Fronts which have to do with keeping track of how to challenge the players, which more or less comes down to keeping notes on possible things to do when a player fails a roll.

by **pseudoidiot** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 2:02 pm UTC

If you're a fan of Fiasco at all (or any other Bully Pulpit/Jason Morningstar games), he just launched a Kickstarter for his next game, Durance: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1407076428/durance

by **clockworkmonk** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 2:49 pm UTC

sometimes I think you are only posting things here to make me want things.

and I mean that in a me specifically way.

by **pseudoidiot** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 2:53 pm UTC

It's only fair. I already have a love/hate relationship with Kickstarter, so I may as well spread the misery.

I also just ordered Psi*Run, by Meguey Baker (Vincent's wife). I've heard some great things about it, so I finally decided to check it out.

That whole family is just full of game design awesomeness. Their oldest son is also working on a game, Blasters for Hire, which some friends got to play last year and had pretty good things to say about it.

by **clockworkmonk** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 4:43 pm UTC

It should come as no surprise that I kicked into Durance.

and what do ya know, durance just hit its goal.

I've been unable to play in a while, and am hoping to get a regular grout together soon. Whatever it is, I'll probably be running the game, and am very excited to try some other odd things with the Cortex Plus system. It is certainly one of my favorites for how it handles conflict pretty much on the fly. It's perfect for me, as I hate doing prep-work when I GM.

by **pseudoidiot** » Tue Jun 12, 2012 5:41 pm UTC

You and me both. The less prep-work I have to do, the better. I'm a supremely lazy GM.

by **clockworkmonk** » Fri Jun 15, 2012 3:24 pm UTC

So apparently there is an official Paranoia playset for fiasco

just thought you'd like to know

by **pseudoidiot** » Fri Jun 15, 2012 3:49 pm UTC

Awesome! That's brand new it looks like.

I'm running Fiasco at a con next month. I may just have to bring that playset along.

by **pseudoidiot** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 5:42 pm UTC

Speaking of Fiasco, this week's Tabeltop episode features Fiasco. Part 1 of 2.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXJxQ0Nb ... e=youtu.be

Good opportunity to see what makes Fiasco so much fun.

by **pseudoidiot** » Thu Oct 18, 2012 2:00 pm UTC

So last night I ran Psi*Run for my gaming group. Oh, wow, what a fantastic game. The basic premise is that the PCs (Runners) are all amnesiacs that all have some sort of psychic ability. The game starts with a crash (literally) and the Runners escaping. The rest of the game is about them trying to keep ahead of the Chasers (could be some shadowy government organization, some twisted medical corp, or maybe aliens, whatever works) and trying to fill in the holes in their memory. Every chaser has 4 to 6 questions that have the chance to be answered during stressful situations (so when dice hit the table) as they get flashbacks from their past. Once someone has all their questions answered, the end-game is triggered and each Runner gets a sort of epilogue.

The dice mechanic is simple, but fiendish. Players always roll 4-6 dice (d6). Then those dice have to be used on different aspects on what's at risk. By default you always have a Goal, Recall (you might remember something), and the Chase (the Chasers might get closer or catch up to you -- if they catch up you risk being captured and if you're captured you risk disappearing forever). If you're using your special ability it brings in Psi, and if there's a risk of injury, you have to use Harm. Harm & Psi are where the 5th and 6th dice come in.

So, you might have a mediocre roll -- some high results, some medium results, and some low results. So you have to decide where to place them. Do you put your low result on Psi which means your power goes out of control, possibly causing death or destruction? Do you put the low die on Harm and risk being injured for the rest of the session? Or maybe you put it on Chase and the chasers get closer and possibly catch up to you. Maybe it's suddenly not worth it to accomplish your Goal or maybe you don't want to remember anything out of your past that the situation may have triggered.

It's fantastic. Nearly every time (minus a couple really great rolls) the dice were rolled the player would agonize over how to place the dice. The other beautiful part is it varies who gets to narrate each piece. My favorite is probably Recall, with a 6 the player gets a question answered and gets to narrate it. A 4-5 they get a question answered, but the other players get to answer it. So, then the other players have a chance to really make that player's life more interesting and possibly take them in a direction they hadn't foreseen. For example, one of my player's had the question "Why do I carry this white bishop?" Later on the other players got to answer it and they decided it belonged to the first person he ever killed. He moaned and groaned because it wasn't anything like what he was envisioning and it was a fantastic moment.

So, yeah, I highly, highly recommend the game. It can easily be run in a single session (if you keep the players to 4 questions) or possibly stretch over 2 or 3 sessions if you go for the full 6 questions each. If anyone's interested in more I'll probably unpack the game a bit more and post an AP on my blog in the next couple days.

by **clockworkmonk** » Tue Oct 30, 2012 4:54 pm UTC

I recently picked up a copy of Our Last Best Hope, a one session GM-less RPG where you play a group of people sent to save the world from some big world ending disaster. The book has some editing issues, but is otherwise very good, and certainly fun if you want a game where you might not save the world.

Semi-related, I've begun working on a Smallville conversion for gossip girl that I am calling "Rich White People Problems." turns out the system is perfect for it, and have a surprising number of people interested in such a thing.

by **clockworkmonk** » Tue Nov 06, 2012 2:26 pm UTC

once again a used bookstore got all my money. They were shelving a new incoming box of RPGs in which I found My Life with Master, 3:16 Carnage Amongst The Stars, Reign and other ORE games, and Monsters and Other Childish Things.

My Life With Master seems built for extended session play, and am looking forward to working a one-shot out of it, while 3:16 Carnage Amongst The Stars seems to be Old Man's War: The RPG.

Both will occupy a good portion of my time, as will the other ones.

by **pseudoidiot** » Tue Nov 06, 2012 2:49 pm UTC

My Life With Master is one of those games I always hear brought up, but I don't really know much about it, other than being highly recommended. 3:16 is pretty interesting, although it's possible to focus too much on the planet missions/combat which will cause the game to fall flat.

In general, I'm not a fan of ORE, but Monsters & Other Childish Things is definitely my favorite of those I've tried (Godlike & Wild Talents).

My copy of Durance (Bully Pulpit's new game) came in Friday and I read through most of it yesterday. Definitely looking forward to trying out soon. I'm pretty sure it came about just as an excuse to use "Dimber Damber" in a game.

A couple weeks ago I attended Burning Con in NYC (just barely escaped Sandy). I got to play a couple fantastic games that are still in beta. I don't want to say too much about either, but hopefully they'll be seeing the light of day in the near future.

One is an old-school adventure hack of Mouse Guard. I've never had a game beat me down so much, but I enjoyed every minute of it. Is there a tabletop version of "Nintendo hard"?

The other was a focused larp (2 to 2.5 hours) for 9 players that centered on two viking houses dealing with the loss of a beloved grandfather, the return of an exiled son, and grandfather's inheritance. Firmly in the top 5 gaming experiences of my life. Probably in the top 2.

by **clockworkmonk** » Tue Nov 06, 2012 3:04 pm UTC

My Life With Master has you play Igor or Renfield for a monstrous Master. There are 5 numerical values, 2 for the Master, and 3 for the minions. The Master has Fear, representing how much his minions fear him, and Reason, how intelligent he is.

The minions have Self-loathing, Wariness, and Love. The mechanic is roll d4s equal to often a sum, for example, when you try to resist an order from master, you roll your love minus Wariness minimum 1, versus Fear + self-loathing. you roll d4s equal to the dice represented, and drop 4, taking the sum of the remaining dice.

The game has a set end point, that being when a minion resists an order from the Master, and then the game goes into endgame mechanics.

The big draw is how Love is handled. You gain ranks in Love through making emotional connections with NPCs.

The other two aspects that make up a character are How They are More Than Human, which is some strength with a catch, for example, they can heal anyone but not animals. They are also Less Than Human, which is a weakness with an exception, like is mute, but can communicate through singing Hymns.

I am looking forward to getting my copy of Durance, I've already read through the stuff in PDF and it looks like a blast, especially the Australia playset.

I am not a fan of The Burning Wheel overall, though Mouse Guard can be fun. I am both looking forward to the new splat for Houses of the Blooded, because I love that system and setting, and being weary of it, as John Wick's writing is often insufferable.

by **pseudoidiot** » Wed Dec 12, 2012 7:13 pm UTC

I recently had the chance to play a pretty interesting game. It's definitely not going to be for everyone, but I really enjoyed it and I look forward to trying it out again.

It's called The Quiet Year*. Players take turns describing the actions of a community in a post-apocalypse setting for a week at a time. When it's your turn you speak for the community and no-one can gainsay you. I think it pretty cleverly matches how real community & survival work -- it can be messy, trends change, and no one agrees with everything the community does as a whole (there's a contempt mechanic that addresses this).

Anyhow, I wrote a lot more about it on my blog. I'm not just trying to get page hits, I just don't want to copy everything I've already typed up about the game.
Actual Play
Thoughts

You can pick up the pdf for $6 (or check out his alternate Good Deeds method of payment if you'd like). If you have any interest in one-shot no-prep quirky story games, I definitely recommend it. I'm excited to get the physical book in my hands and see the deck of cards (instead of just using a standard deck).

*here's the original indiegogo page. It's done and over, but the intro video is pretty cool: http://www.indiegogo.com/thequietyear/x/1618171

by **pseudoidiot** » Mon Dec 17, 2012 3:14 am UTC

Epimas: a chance to get some pretty cool indie games for cheap. And share the love! Any games you buy will be sent to a friend.

by **existential_elevator** » Mon Dec 17, 2012 4:43 am UTC

Curse you. I want all of them!

by **Jesse** » Mon Dec 17, 2012 10:32 am UTC

I don't have $50, but maybe if you had $25 we could go halfs?

by **pseudoidiot** » Mon Dec 17, 2012 9:34 pm UTC

My work here is done.

I went in for Dread House, Time & Temp, Final Girl, & Fortune's Fool. The only others that interest me I already own anyhow.

by **existential_elevator** » Mon Dec 17, 2012 9:37 pm UTC

Jesse is basically the awesome, and I now have a lot of reading to do.

by **Jesse** » Mon Dec 17, 2012 11:03 pm UTC

existential_elevator wrote:Jesse is basically the awesome, and I now have a lot of reading to do.

Let me know if they're good. I don't get them until Christmas Eve D:

by **pseudoidiot** » Tue Jan 15, 2013 6:50 pm UTC

Want a bad-ass deicide rpg? What if I said it was free?

BAM: http://mythenderrpg.com/

Haven't actually had a chance to start looking it over yet, but I've heard good things from people that have played earlier alpha/beta versions.

by **clockworkmonk** » Fri Feb 08, 2013 6:18 pm UTC

So yesterday I ran my first session of Dungeon World, and things went wonderfully. The session itself had mostly standard first adventure fair, hunting goblins and what-have-you. It led to a good understanding of the world b letting things flow easily. I now have to actually do work for the next session, but I have a better start due to the world-building I left to the players.

by **pseudoidiot** » Fri Feb 08, 2013 7:40 pm UTC

Yes! A big draw of indie games for me is how so many of them encourage player participation in world building. And if I don't want to define something I can just make one of the players do it!

I haven't played DW since it's Red Book version from GenCon a couple years ago, but I've been following the progress. And I got the Kickstarter of course. All my swag got delivered on Wednesday. I'm really impressed by all of the stuff.

I'm thinking about running B2: Keep on the Borderlands with D&D Basic for my group. And then try the same thing with Dungeon World.

by **clockworkmonk** » Fri Feb 08, 2013 8:18 pm UTC

Well, the original plan was to try to convince my group that what they really wanted to play was 2nd Edition Spelljammer. Because I have a big soft spot for the Ptolemaic model and Phlogiston theory.

by **pseudoidiot** » Wed Feb 13, 2013 9:46 pm UTC

Spanish version of Apocalypse World. The art is amazing.
http://www.conbarba.es/novedades/leer/a ... na-ballena

by **Woopate** » Thu Feb 14, 2013 5:08 am UTC

Anybody here ever play Eclipse Phase? I was putting together my own singularity-timeframed system, when, lo and behold, a buddy shows me a pdf of the Eclipse Phase rulebook and the fluff is nearly identical to what I wanted to do with mine. If you've played it, how do the mechanics work? How do the various morphs handle?

Linky (eclipsephase.com)

by **clockworkmonk** » Thu Feb 14, 2013 3:28 pm UTC

The mechanics are a pretty straight forward percentile system (d100, roll under related skill to succeed, doubles are critical) with a plot point mechanic known as Moxie that can be spent to do various things such as flip the digits in your roll, make it critical, make it not critical, ignore modifiers). The most complicated part is by far Character Creation, and I would strongly recommend using the spreadsheet to help make your character. Morphs have certain stats tied to them (mostly hit-points) and gives bonus to others. This functions because most of the stats are not physical in nature. I have found that preparing morph index cards helps to smooth out play a lot if there is a bunch of body-hopping.

The game can easily support high lethality play through generous use of backups.

by **pseudoidiot** » Tue Feb 19, 2013 4:46 pm UTC

Undying.

It's a pretty significant vampire-based hack of Apocalypse World. I haven't played it, but reading it was really interesting. Definitely some cool things to play with.

by **pseudoidiot** » Tue Mar 12, 2013 3:43 pm UTC

Durance Demo. Jason Morningstar takes a few guys through setting up a game of Durance. It's a recording of a G+ hangout so the audio/video quality is all over the place, but it's enough. It's always nice to hear things in a designer's own words and definitely taught me some things.

I also asked him about what he was using doing the setup and he pointed me here and said that's version 1 and that version 2 will be even better.

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