So, I was thinking of running a Android: Netrunner FATE game to learn the system (so, obviously you'd have to be willing to put up with that. ) (though, after seeing the new Destiny live action trailer, I'm tempted to run a game in that setting instead, ha.)
Would anyone be interested in playing a short little adventure in which there will likely be a bit of floundering?
Origin for Dragon Age: Inquisition Shenanigans: Inksplat776
The issue with the oWoD is that the books never really imparted what a game looked like. It was very hard to read those and get a sense of what the average session looked like and, if you didn't have someone to show you the way, the game probably died after a session or two.
This.
To use a term coined in this insightful RPG.net post, oWoD games tended to suffer from a lack of obvious rut.
On this topic, what is the expected "rut" in a game of nWoD? I'd like to run a plain mortals game, but I'm not at all sure how to go about it. The book throws in several appropriately spooky and mysterious scenes almost as an afterthought, but doesn't give you any guidance on where to take them.
I can think of several "ruts" and their disadvantages:
If you give the players things they can fight, it stops being a horror game and starts being "badasses vs the Darkness".
If you give the players things they can't fight, it quickly becomes frustrating.
If you give the players challenges that can only be overcome in unconventional or symbolically-appropriate ways (like destroying the pocketwatch in the Nightmare at Hill Manor published scenario), it devolves into puzzle-of-the-week, which will be boring and/or frustrating depending on the GM's skill.
My first personal experience of oWoD is a bunch of Goth people digging into vampire lore and identifying with the dark broodiness of the whole affair, while only marginally playing an RPG on the side. For those people, it was more of a lifestyle choice than a game that they played on weekends. I'm fully aware that my "vampire groupie Goth lifestyle" exposure probably wasn't the game that was intended (especially when I played through some of the Vampire computer games), but everyone has their own different kinks I guess. Everyone has some sort of identity issues... some folks just choose to identify as pale people with fangs.
If you are playing an all-mortal campaign, like Hunter, there's nothing wrong with setting up like an episodic television show where you have the "mystery of the week" like X-Files or Fringe, as long as everyone is on board with it. There's also nothing wrong with going on a hack-and-slash kill'em-all approach, either. And if you are running a Scooby-Doo campaign, the "running away" aspect might even be appropriate.
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ThomamelasOnly one man can kill this many Russians. Bring his guitar to me! Registered Userregular
The issue with the oWoD is that the books never really imparted what a game looked like. It was very hard to read those and get a sense of what the average session looked like and, if you didn't have someone to show you the way, the game probably died after a session or two.
This.
To use a term coined in this insightful RPG.net post, oWoD games tended to suffer from a lack of obvious rut.
On this topic, what is the expected "rut" in a game of nWoD? I'd like to run a plain mortals game, but I'm not at all sure how to go about it. The book throws in several appropriately spooky and mysterious scenes almost as an afterthought, but doesn't give you any guidance on where to take them.
I can think of several "ruts" and their disadvantages:
If you give the players things they can fight, it stops being a horror game and starts being "badasses vs the Darkness".
If you give the players things they can't fight, it quickly becomes frustrating.
If you give the players challenges that can only be overcome in unconventional or symbolically-appropriate ways (like destroying the pocketwatch in the Nightmare at Hill Manor published scenario), it devolves into puzzle-of-the-week, which will be boring and/or frustrating depending on the GM's skill.
If I ran a mortals game, I'd probably do something like the Friday the 13th TV show with some x-files mixed in. I'd be looking at a mixture of second tier kind of monsters. Some of the lower end slashers, spirits, and relics. The idea for mortals is weird. The other splats are Weird + Politics but for mortals it's about more them seeing the weird and those would be the elements I focus on. Maybe it's a monster of the week they can beat like a slasher. Maybe it's something they can just contain like the plans of a Immortal.
Then you have stuff like Innocents which as a very focused rut to play in.
The issue with the oWoD is that the books never really imparted what a game looked like. It was very hard to read those and get a sense of what the average session looked like and, if you didn't have someone to show you the way, the game probably died after a session or two.
This.
To use a term coined in this insightful RPG.net post, oWoD games tended to suffer from a lack of obvious rut.
On this topic, what is the expected "rut" in a game of nWoD? I'd like to run a plain mortals game, but I'm not at all sure how to go about it. The book throws in several appropriately spooky and mysterious scenes almost as an afterthought, but doesn't give you any guidance on where to take them.
I can think of several "ruts" and their disadvantages:
If you give the players things they can fight, it stops being a horror game and starts being "badasses vs the Darkness".
If you give the players things they can't fight, it quickly becomes frustrating.
If you give the players challenges that can only be overcome in unconventional or symbolically-appropriate ways (like destroying the pocketwatch in the Nightmare at Hill Manor published scenario), it devolves into puzzle-of-the-week, which will be boring and/or frustrating depending on the GM's skill.
Core book/Mortals games are kinda rough on finding a "rut" to get into. I always tried to make it a mix of 1 and 3. I always made sure there were minions around for the combat-oriented folks to get their game on with and puzzles and such to overcome the main antagonist.
If you focus on atmosphere and exploration it's a bit easier to keep it horror. Some of the main WoD books that don't fall under a "Splat: The Splooshing" do a good job of showing the kinds of things that build the world outside of the specific supernatural creature types. Midnight Roads has some cool stuff for the highways and back roads of the WoD, Tales from the 13th Precinct covers police stories, Slasher does the serial killer genre... There's a lot of good setting stuff out there depending on what you're looking for.
nWoD has less "rut" than oWoD because there isn't as much focus on the overall metaplot. It's a lot more what you make of it.
So, I was thinking of running a Android: Netrunner FATE game to learn the system (so, obviously you'd have to be willing to put up with that. ) (though, after seeing the new Destiny live action trailer, I'm tempted to run a game in that setting instead, ha.)
Would anyone be interested in playing a short little adventure in which there will likely be a bit of floundering?
What is a "rut" in this context? Normally ruts are bad...
It's the question of what do we do in this game. So with D&D it's kill monsters, take their loot. With Shadowrun it's make an elaborate plan to steal stuff then throw out that plan when it's time to steal stuff.
But in short, it's "Here's a path for how you are going to play each session." Also "What do the PCs actually DO?"
For example, in Shadowrun, it's pretty obvious... you are Shadowrunners who go on Shadowruns, which are illegal missions done on the behalf of corporations under the guise of plausible deniability and secrecy.
In Dungeons and Dragons, it's usually "You are a party of adventurers... go forth into the world and kill a bunch of monsters and grab the loot while leveling up."
Stargate SG-1 "We go through the gate, we get into trouble, we fix the problems, we leave (and let the SGC or Daniel Jackson sort it out later)"
You could run something where it isn't about killing the monsters but understanding them. Scientists studying werewolves and vampires, trying the find the "science" behind magic, ect. It let's your players decide the path, let them come up with how certain things work (even if it isn't what the other games say blah works) and throw in conspiracy and government politics, something between Supernatural, X-Files, and Alphas.
It's the mode of play. It's what PCs actually do for their living. I'll name a few examples to make it clearer.
In Vampire we often joke that you can either play Superhero-With-Fangs or Angst-Drama. If two guys both run a Vampire game they will share the same system (crunch), the same world of darkness (fluff), but they can wildly diverge in terms of what they envision for the PCs to do (rut).
Other example, D&D 3.x is a game about dungeoncrawling and killing monsters Yet it had rules for basketweaving, playing the violin, and other seemingly superfluous things. Along came 4e, a game about... dungeoncrawling and killing monsters. While the fluff was largely the same (an implied setting without anything really substantial) and the rut was identical, the crunch was not only different but also focused purely on the expected rut. Gone are arts and crafts, cooking, and dancing. You get new rules, but they'll only cover the adventuring. (Much wailing and gnashing of teeth.)
As for what to do in the WoD campaign, why not add a little shadowrun or D&D to the old formula. Maybe the Immortals need something from places that only mortals can go? Big big prizes await their success. So you get kind of a dungeon crawl/ heist rut.
But in short, it's "Here's a path for how you are going to play each session." Also "What do the PCs actually DO?"
For example, in Shadowrun, it's pretty obvious... you are Shadowrunners who go on Shadowruns, which are illegal missions done on the behalf of corporations under the guise of plausible deniability and secrecy.
In Dungeons and Dragons, it's usually "You are a party of adventurers... go forth into the world and kill a bunch of monsters and grab the loot while leveling up."
Stargate SG-1 "We go through the gate, we get into trouble, we fix the problems, we leave (and let the SGC or Daniel Jackson sort it out later)"
I don't like the term "rut" either. :-P
"Rut" is an awful, terrible nonsensical abbreviated pseudo-word.
Shadowrunners typically don't have day jobs. But some do. That can get interesting sometimes, but unless it's a "you've got work to do, wagemage" campaign those characters can end up getting everything all messed up...assuming your GM is going to do that. Which is probably why everyone was super confused by the value of the SIN "drawbacks." Because it generally isn't a thing GMs do.
D&D adventurers actually can (and often should) have day jobs because it makes them more interesting characters and encourages role-playing.
Stargate SG-1 actually talks about what the teams do when they're not "on stage." In short: military life is generally 70% or more tedium. Like cleaning weapons, writing and filing after action reports, etc. Then there's training. You'll do a lot of that. Honestly I'm pretty sure I could run a Stargate game that nobody would actually want to play if I injected enough "verisimilitude" into it.
I wonder why WoD hasn't included aliens. Imagine playing a race that goes from planet to planet taking resources like locusts and you are an advance party. Except Earth isn't like any planet you visited before and humanity is changing you. So you could pretend to be human, help stop the coming invasion, or stick with your mission.
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ThomamelasOnly one man can kill this many Russians. Bring his guitar to me! Registered Userregular
I wonder why WoD hasn't included aliens. Imagine playing a race that goes from planet to planet taking resources like locusts and you are an advance party. Except Earth isn't like any planet you visited before and humanity is changing you. So you could pretend to be human, help stop the coming invasion, or stick with your mission.
There are a couple of hints of them. Summoners has Grey Aliens (kinda) and I believe one of the books has the alien abduction style MiBs.
So, I was thinking of running a Android: Netrunner FATE game to learn the system (so, obviously you'd have to be willing to put up with that. ) (though, after seeing the new Destiny live action trailer, I'm tempted to run a game in that setting instead, ha.)
Would anyone be interested in playing a short little adventure in which there will likely be a bit of floundering?
Is getting me all sorts of amped to run something that looks like that. But, since you're the one who responded, if Android is more your setting of choice, that'll just give me more time to work on what to plug in for a Destiny game once i'm more comfortable with the system.
Origin for Dragon Age: Inquisition Shenanigans: Inksplat776
But in short, it's "Here's a path for how you are going to play each session." Also "What do the PCs actually DO?"
For example, in Shadowrun, it's pretty obvious... you are Shadowrunners who go on Shadowruns, which are illegal missions done on the behalf of corporations under the guise of plausible deniability and secrecy.
In Dungeons and Dragons, it's usually "You are a party of adventurers... go forth into the world and kill a bunch of monsters and grab the loot while leveling up."
Stargate SG-1 "We go through the gate, we get into trouble, we fix the problems, we leave (and let the SGC or Daniel Jackson sort it out later)"
I don't like the term "rut" either. :-P
"Rut" is an awful, terrible nonsensical abbreviated pseudo-word.
Shadowrunners typically don't have day jobs. But some do. That can get interesting sometimes, but unless it's a "you've got work to do, wagemage" campaign those characters can end up getting everything all messed up...assuming your GM is going to do that. Which is probably why everyone was super confused by the value of the SIN "drawbacks." Because it generally isn't a thing GMs do.
D&D adventurers actually can (and often should) have day jobs because it makes them more interesting characters and encourages role-playing.
Stargate SG-1 actually talks about what the teams do when they're not "on stage." In short: military life is generally 70% or more tedium. Like cleaning weapons, writing and filing after action reports, etc. Then there's training. You'll do a lot of that. Honestly I'm pretty sure I could run a Stargate game that nobody would actually want to play if I injected enough "verisimilitude" into it.
It's a real word, and it's the one the post used, so I borrowed it for clarity. But the question was, "What do you actually DO when you play this game?" not, "What do the characters do when they're not onstage/adventuring?" So I'm not sure what point you were trying to make.
It's the mode of play. It's what PCs actually do for their living. I'll name a few examples to make it clearer.
In Vampire we often joke that you can either play Superhero-With-Fangs or Angst-Drama. If two guys both run a Vampire game they will share the same system (crunch), the same world of darkness (fluff), but they can wildly diverge in terms of what they envision for the PCs to do (rut).
Other example, D&D 3.x is a game about dungeoncrawling and killing monsters Yet it had rules for basketweaving, playing the violin, and other seemingly superfluous things. Along came 4e, a game about... dungeoncrawling and killing monsters. While the fluff was largely the same (an implied setting without anything really substantial) and the rut was identical, the crunch was not only different but also focused purely on the expected rut. Gone are arts and crafts, cooking, and dancing. You get new rules, but they'll only cover the adventuring. (Much wailing and gnashing of teeth.)
The bolded part seems like a point of confusion. The way they are using the term "rut" is NOT what the PCs do for their living. It's the way you are going to play each session as the PCs when you sit down the play the game.
Again, I don't like the term, really.
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RingoHe/Hima distinct lack of substanceRegistered Userregular
It's a real word, and it's the one the post used, so I borrowed it for clarity. But the question was, "What do you actually DO when you play this game?" not, "What do the characters do when they're not onstage/adventuring?" So I'm not sure what point you were trying to make.
That's a modus operandi or MO if you need a short pseudo-word.
I wonder why WoD hasn't included aliens. Imagine playing a race that goes from planet to planet taking resources like locusts and you are an advance party. Except Earth isn't like any planet you visited before and humanity is changing you. So you could pretend to be human, help stop the coming invasion, or stick with your mission.
There are a couple of hints of them. Summoners has Grey Aliens (kinda) and I believe one of the books has the alien abduction style MiBs.
Aliens exist in oWoD. They're just hidden among the other monster types.
It's the mode of play. It's what PCs actually do for their living. I'll name a few examples to make it clearer.
In Vampire we often joke that you can either play Superhero-With-Fangs or Angst-Drama. If two guys both run a Vampire game they will share the same system (crunch), the same world of darkness (fluff), but they can wildly diverge in terms of what they envision for the PCs to do (rut).
Other example, D&D 3.x is a game about dungeoncrawling and killing monsters Yet it had rules for basketweaving, playing the violin, and other seemingly superfluous things. Along came 4e, a game about... dungeoncrawling and killing monsters. While the fluff was largely the same (an implied setting without anything really substantial) and the rut was identical, the crunch was not only different but also focused purely on the expected rut. Gone are arts and crafts, cooking, and dancing. You get new rules, but they'll only cover the adventuring. (Much wailing and gnashing of teeth.)
The bolded part seems like a point of confusion. The way they are using the term "rut" is NOT what the PCs do for their living. It's the way you are going to play each session as the PCs when you sit down the play the game.
For anyone who either wants to play, or give me any suggestions on the chargen I've laid out, feel free to check out the [pbp] Android: FATE of the Net thread I tossed up earlier.
Origin for Dragon Age: Inquisition Shenanigans: Inksplat776
This is sort of a condensing of the lessons experienced FATE players utilize when jotting down Aspects. Personally I'm also fond of providing some example compels and invokes so the GM knows where it should be applicable. For example:
Seeker of the lost The first real nudge that sent Jax spiraling out of Imperial orbit were rumors of a lost starship that could dredge new Canals and he’s still looking for other relics and artifacts of the past glories of the Stellar Empire. Of course, he has little use for most of them once acquired, as he is perhaps the least materialistic person most people will ever meet. Invoke to recall details of a lost treasure, locate something hidden, or navigate to an object of interest. Compel to force Jax to turn over a relic, let someone else “win” a prize, or get Jax lost.
I know @InkSplat mentioned it but Destiny is seriously getting me jonesing for some more Novo Aether FATE.... I just need to not run a bunch of games and start a new job at the same time.
I know @InkSplat mentioned it but Destiny is seriously getting me jonesing for some more Novo Aether FATE.... I just need to not run a bunch of games and start a new job at the same time.
Thanks! I missed this place. I am very tempted to try and get Aftermath back up and running. No idea how many of the original people are still around though.
Personally I'm also fond of providing some example compels and invokes so the GM knows where it should be applicable.
I get my players to do this, it's fantastic. It can also help you dodge a bullet if it turns out you can't think of anything it would do that another aspect doesn't.
Personally I'm also fond of providing some example compels and invokes so the GM knows where it should be applicable.
I get my players to do this, it's fantastic. It can also help you dodge a bullet if it turns out you can't think of anything it would do that another aspect doesn't.
Yeah, we constantly find ourselves forgetting that we can be compelled. The invoke helps when scoping the aspect. Does it make sense for him to be able to use the aspect to help pick an ancient mechanical lock? Yeah, that's pretty much what it's for. Does it mean he can use it to hack a malfunctioning electronic lock to his quarters that's on the fritz? Nope. That's not really aspect-related.
Missing compels is the hardest thing I found about running Fate.
There's a ton of character material that the gamemaster has to keep track of constantly.
This is, amusingly, one of the primary topics of the weekend over on the G+ community. There's a variety of responses on ways to handle this.
Cheatsheets is the common one. It's interesting because old school cheatsheets included a bunch of stuff you wanted to know in general like falling damage and such, where now you want a cheatsheet for specifics: a handful of aspects likely to come up frequently for each character, some notes on their unique stunts, etc.
Ironic that we've sort of inverted the old standards.
FATE has quickly become my go-to system after backing FATE Core. I usually run with a list of character aspects before each scenario and it helps a lot.
FATE has quickly become my go-to system after backing FATE Core. I usually run with a list of character aspects before each scenario and it helps a lot.
The FATE-using community is significantly larger now than it was even three years ago, so I only get blank looks half as often when I put FATE forward.
WearingglassesOf the friendly neighborhood varietyRegistered Userregular
What, in your opinion, are the elements of a really good boss battle?
- Not just a bullet/swordhack/damage sponge
- Not anticlimactic
- Any surprises should not make the PC feel like the boss pulled it out of its ass
- ???
Posts
You're not the only one, @Glazius
http://talescorps.tumblr.com/
Unless, of course, that's you
(My friends and I are just starting a FATE Numenera game, but we've decided to run with FATE Core as it's more familiar)
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
Would anyone be interested in playing a short little adventure in which there will likely be a bit of floundering?
On this topic, what is the expected "rut" in a game of nWoD? I'd like to run a plain mortals game, but I'm not at all sure how to go about it. The book throws in several appropriately spooky and mysterious scenes almost as an afterthought, but doesn't give you any guidance on where to take them.
I can think of several "ruts" and their disadvantages:
If you are playing an all-mortal campaign, like Hunter, there's nothing wrong with setting up like an episodic television show where you have the "mystery of the week" like X-Files or Fringe, as long as everyone is on board with it. There's also nothing wrong with going on a hack-and-slash kill'em-all approach, either. And if you are running a Scooby-Doo campaign, the "running away" aspect might even be appropriate.
If I ran a mortals game, I'd probably do something like the Friday the 13th TV show with some x-files mixed in. I'd be looking at a mixture of second tier kind of monsters. Some of the lower end slashers, spirits, and relics. The idea for mortals is weird. The other splats are Weird + Politics but for mortals it's about more them seeing the weird and those would be the elements I focus on. Maybe it's a monster of the week they can beat like a slasher. Maybe it's something they can just contain like the plans of a Immortal.
Then you have stuff like Innocents which as a very focused rut to play in.
Core book/Mortals games are kinda rough on finding a "rut" to get into. I always tried to make it a mix of 1 and 3. I always made sure there were minions around for the combat-oriented folks to get their game on with and puzzles and such to overcome the main antagonist.
If you focus on atmosphere and exploration it's a bit easier to keep it horror. Some of the main WoD books that don't fall under a "Splat: The Splooshing" do a good job of showing the kinds of things that build the world outside of the specific supernatural creature types. Midnight Roads has some cool stuff for the highways and back roads of the WoD, Tales from the 13th Precinct covers police stories, Slasher does the serial killer genre... There's a lot of good setting stuff out there depending on what you're looking for.
nWoD has less "rut" than oWoD because there isn't as much focus on the overall metaplot. It's a lot more what you make of it.
Steam ID: Obos Vent: Obos
I would be interested @InkSplat
It's the question of what do we do in this game. So with D&D it's kill monsters, take their loot. With Shadowrun it's make an elaborate plan to steal stuff then throw out that plan when it's time to steal stuff.
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?433358-Crunch-fluff-and-the-other-thing
But in short, it's "Here's a path for how you are going to play each session." Also "What do the PCs actually DO?"
For example, in Shadowrun, it's pretty obvious... you are Shadowrunners who go on Shadowruns, which are illegal missions done on the behalf of corporations under the guise of plausible deniability and secrecy.
In Dungeons and Dragons, it's usually "You are a party of adventurers... go forth into the world and kill a bunch of monsters and grab the loot while leveling up."
Stargate SG-1 "We go through the gate, we get into trouble, we fix the problems, we leave (and let the SGC or Daniel Jackson sort it out later)"
I don't like the term "rut" either. :-P
In this context you have "crunch" which are the rules of the game, "fluff" which is the settings, and "rut" which is what you do.
To be topical about it, every game in this thread uses the same crunch (FATE), but every game uses different fluff (star ward, android, etc). The originally linked post has a pretty good example of rut:
http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?433358-Crunch-fluff-and-the-other-thing
As for what to do in the WoD campaign, why not add a little shadowrun or D&D to the old formula. Maybe the Immortals need something from places that only mortals can go? Big big prizes await their success. So you get kind of a dungeon crawl/ heist rut.
Steam ID: Obos Vent: Obos
Shadowrunners typically don't have day jobs. But some do. That can get interesting sometimes, but unless it's a "you've got work to do, wagemage" campaign those characters can end up getting everything all messed up...assuming your GM is going to do that. Which is probably why everyone was super confused by the value of the SIN "drawbacks." Because it generally isn't a thing GMs do.
D&D adventurers actually can (and often should) have day jobs because it makes them more interesting characters and encourages role-playing.
Stargate SG-1 actually talks about what the teams do when they're not "on stage." In short: military life is generally 70% or more tedium. Like cleaning weapons, writing and filing after action reports, etc. Then there's training. You'll do a lot of that. Honestly I'm pretty sure I could run a Stargate game that nobody would actually want to play if I injected enough "verisimilitude" into it.
There are a couple of hints of them. Summoners has Grey Aliens (kinda) and I believe one of the books has the alien abduction style MiBs.
@Ringo Would Destiny be good for you? Cause...
http://youtu.be/9ZyQK6kUdWQ
Is getting me all sorts of amped to run something that looks like that. But, since you're the one who responded, if Android is more your setting of choice, that'll just give me more time to work on what to plug in for a Destiny game once i'm more comfortable with the system.
It's a real word, and it's the one the post used, so I borrowed it for clarity. But the question was, "What do you actually DO when you play this game?" not, "What do the characters do when they're not onstage/adventuring?" So I'm not sure what point you were trying to make.
The bolded part seems like a point of confusion. The way they are using the term "rut" is NOT what the PCs do for their living. It's the way you are going to play each session as the PCs when you sit down the play the game.
Again, I don't like the term, really.
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
We could call them boondoggles.
Or... maybe not.
Creating GOOD Aspects for FATE
This is sort of a condensing of the lessons experienced FATE players utilize when jotting down Aspects. Personally I'm also fond of providing some example compels and invokes so the GM knows where it should be applicable. For example:
The first real nudge that sent Jax spiraling out of Imperial orbit were rumors of a lost starship that could dredge new Canals and he’s still looking for other relics and artifacts of the past glories of the Stellar Empire. Of course, he has little use for most of them once acquired, as he is perhaps the least materialistic person most people will ever meet. Invoke to recall details of a lost treasure, locate something hidden, or navigate to an object of interest. Compel to force Jax to turn over a relic, let someone else “win” a prize, or get Jax lost.
Side note: welcome back, man.
Penny Arcade Rockstar Social Club / This is why I despise cyclists
I get my players to do this, it's fantastic. It can also help you dodge a bullet if it turns out you can't think of anything it would do that another aspect doesn't.
There's a ton of character material that the gamemaster has to keep track of constantly.
They tried to bury us. They didn't know that we were seeds. 2018 Midterms. Get your shit together.
Cheatsheets is the common one. It's interesting because old school cheatsheets included a bunch of stuff you wanted to know in general like falling damage and such, where now you want a cheatsheet for specifics: a handful of aspects likely to come up frequently for each character, some notes on their unique stunts, etc.
Ironic that we've sort of inverted the old standards.
- Not just a bullet/swordhack/damage sponge
- Not anticlimactic
- Any surprises should not make the PC feel like the boss pulled it out of its ass
- ???