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Tabletop Games are RADch

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  • DevoutlyApatheticDevoutlyApathetic Registered User regular
    City of Mists isn't exactly a superhero game. The first edition I played was...well I don't know if we played it right. The core gameplay loop didn't feel real solid. The game just oozes setting and style but felt kind of loose. I have heard the newer edition tightened things up a bit.

    World in Peril is pretty lightweight for supers being a vaguely pbta game. Marvel Heroes is OOP but is a stylish illusion of gameplay that can be great once you accept it is less a system as an excuse to roll lots of dice.

    Nod. Get treat. PSN: Quippish
  • Albino BunnyAlbino Bunny Jackie Registered User regular
    City of Mist is a super hero game about playing the kind of super heroes that exist in a street level game: Your powers and your identity aren't concrete and shift with the game.

    Also have some bullshit writing flavour for a game that Will Not Exist:

    Steel Against The Void: You Are Fighter Pilots

    You wage terrible war against the void.

    The void can be home grown fascists.

    The void can be unknowable space aliens.

    Your Bombs Will Not Kill The Void.

    But you fight.

    Scientists will kill the void with new discoveries.

    Politicians will organize the people, the void will quiet enough for you to die in peace.

    You are neither, you are fighter pilots, you fight the void.

    You deploy, fight and die to push it back till hope can win.

    Your body is frail.

    Your fighter rumbles in the vacuum.

    You Steel yourself for those who can not.

    And push back the void in a tide of bleeding machines and photoshopped memorial photos.

    You and your squad hold.

    As Steel Against The Void.

  • AuralynxAuralynx Darkness is a perspective Watching the ego workRegistered User regular
    I've heard good things about City of Mist too. You essentially take on the mantle of a legendary figure and have access to some of their powers, using them to solve mysteries and fight crime. Fantasy noir setting.

    City of Mists' core dynamic is the inherent tension between the components of the phrase "the man, the myth, the legend."

    The fact that we all thought somewhat less of His Airness Michael Jordan for his late-90s moustache is a weirdly apt real-world analogy for how City of Mists wants inhabiting a character to work.

    kshu0oba7xnr.png

  • StraightziStraightzi Here we may reign secure, and in my choice, To reign is worth ambition though in HellRegistered User regular
    City of Mists is a superhero game in the way that every CW show is a superhero show, I feel

    Obviously you're going to wear a leather jacket and beat up some criminals, and yeah you probably have cool powers or realistically unsustainable resources

    It's just more incidentally of that genre than actually aimed at that genre (which, to be clear, is not a criticism necessarily)

    I'm also going to shout out Apocalypse Keys, which is currently in beta on itch.io (although it's a very complete feeling beta if you have familiarity with PbtA), a very Hellboy inspired game about playing doomed apocalyptic monsters who are trying their best to save the world

  • StraightziStraightzi Here we may reign secure, and in my choice, To reign is worth ambition though in HellRegistered User regular
    Actually, hell, let me talk up Apocalypse Keys proper, I've been reading this over the past couple of days and I really like it. The cool thing about Apocalypse Keys is...

    Well, you know how PbtA is balanced based around the mixed success? 7 is the most likely number to roll with 2d6, with everything around it descending in equal measure as you get closer to the extremes, and presumably if you're good at that activity you're going to largely be hitting 7+ with your rolls.

    Apocalypse Keys is balanced around a full success, in a similar way. You're still rolling two dice, but 8-10 is a best case scenario. 7- is a failure now, in traditional PbtA terms, and 11+ represents going too far - you're a monster who is designed to bring about the end of days, you kind of don't want to be too good at fighting.

    And then this gets compounded by rolls of course having something to modify them. Here, rather than it being your stats that modify rolls, you're adding Darkness tokens, which you have a pool of based on the sort of temptations and tribulations of being the particular monster that you are. So when you go to make a roll, you can say, wager two of your Darkness tokens against it, making it a 2d6+2. Six to eight is very good odds with two dice, right? That's assuredly going to be enough, that's definitely not going too far.

  • MahnmutMahnmut Registered User regular
    admanb wrote: »
    Phant wrote: »
    I have lurked here for awhile since the thread title changed, but I don't see any reference to it. Does this mean there isn't a TTRPG based on the Ancillary novel series in the offing?

    I don't remember what inspired the title change, but there's not currently a bespoke system for the Imperial Radch series. That said, if you're looking to run a game I could recommend some systems to look at. I'm a big fan of the novels.

    I'd love for you to expound on this -- it's never occurred to me to run an Ancillary Justice game, and now I'm like hm! What would I want to get out of that? Seems natural to do something ground-level on an outer-Radch planet/station, Blades in the Dark style?

    Steam/LoL: Jericho89
  • DevoutlyApatheticDevoutlyApathetic Registered User regular
    Mahnmut wrote: »
    admanb wrote: »
    Phant wrote: »
    I have lurked here for awhile since the thread title changed, but I don't see any reference to it. Does this mean there isn't a TTRPG based on the Ancillary novel series in the offing?

    I don't remember what inspired the title change, but there's not currently a bespoke system for the Imperial Radch series. That said, if you're looking to run a game I could recommend some systems to look at. I'm a big fan of the novels.

    I'd love for you to expound on this -- it's never occurred to me to run an Ancillary Justice game, and now I'm like hm! What would I want to get out of that? Seems natural to do something ground-level on an outer-Radch planet/station, Blades in the Dark style?

    Blades style games tend to be centered around self destructive PCs in some shape. That feels very antithetical to the Radch stuff. There might be room for it somewhere in that universe but it will clash with the stories told there so far.

    Nod. Get treat. PSN: Quippish
  • never dienever die Registered User regular
    Steelhawk wrote: »
    never die wrote: »
    Has anyone checked out the new Icewind Dale Adventure? I'm tempted to pick it up, though will readily admit I have no plans to currently run it.

    My groups picked it up (we share a DnDBeyond account....or rather, they pay equal shares me to access to my content) and one of my players is SUPER excited to run it himself. So, while I haven't seen it, that only because its so good I'm not "allowed" to see it. I'm not sure that's helpful to you though. :)

    So fun fact: when I went to pick up a comic today the local comic shop, they had the special cover version setting ok a shelf for same price as the basic. I grabbed it immediately. The cover is great

  • MahnmutMahnmut Registered User regular
    Mahnmut wrote: »
    admanb wrote: »
    Phant wrote: »
    I have lurked here for awhile since the thread title changed, but I don't see any reference to it. Does this mean there isn't a TTRPG based on the Ancillary novel series in the offing?

    I don't remember what inspired the title change, but there's not currently a bespoke system for the Imperial Radch series. That said, if you're looking to run a game I could recommend some systems to look at. I'm a big fan of the novels.

    I'd love for you to expound on this -- it's never occurred to me to run an Ancillary Justice game, and now I'm like hm! What would I want to get out of that? Seems natural to do something ground-level on an outer-Radch planet/station, Blades in the Dark style?

    Blades style games tend to be centered around self destructive PCs in some shape. That feels very antithetical to the Radch stuff. There might be room for it somewhere in that universe but it will clash with the stories told there so far.

    Riight, although the characters are prominently self-destructive (Seivardennnnnn), there's a trajectory of healing and communication.

    Steam/LoL: Jericho89
  • admanbadmanb unionize your workplace Seattle, WARegistered User regular
    I actually think Blades/Forged in the Dark is a really good system for self-destructive characters with growth arcs, as the game kind of naturally encourages you to get trauma fast and early but then slow down and rely more on your skills and allies (assuming you don't burn all your bridges) as you go along. You can certainly play it with continuous escalation until an explosive end, but it's not required.

    With that in mind I think Scum and Villainy is a solid system for it. You might want to extract the Way (Force) but you could also re-flavor it as less space magic and more posthumanism.

  • TubeTube Registered User admin
    There's a pretty big sale on the Acq Inc book on D&D Beyond if anyone is interested:

  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    edited September 2020
    Still thinking about making a forum game on here where participants vote to sway the outcome of wrestling matches and events. It’s nonsense really, but it might be funny for one run through of a season, ending in a tournament.

    I’m gonna call it Absolute Wrestling Eternal (AWE).

    It’s basically just roll a 2d6 for each combatant, with your votes being added as +1s. Highest roll wins, I describe how it went. There’d be outlandish stakes and random effects each match. Besides that I’d throw in events, where you can vote which wrestler becomes a cyborg etc.

    Does that sound interesting? It really wouldn’t take much from you as a participant.

    Endless_Serpents on
  • zekebeauzekebeau Registered User regular
    edited September 2020
    Still thinking about making a forum game on here where participants vote to sway the outcome of wrestling matches and events. It’s nonsense really, but it might be funny for one run through of a season, ending in a tournament.

    I’m gonna call it Absolute Wrestling Eternal (AWE).

    It’s basically just roll a 2d6 for each combatant, with your votes being added as +1s. Highest roll wins, I describe how it went. There’d be outlandish stakes and random effects each match. Besides that I’d throw in events, where you can vote which wrestler becomes a cyborg etc.

    Does that sound interesting? It really wouldn’t take much from you as a participant.

    Did you ever play in the CYOA "Space Australia" that was played in the Critical Failures sub forum? It is similar to what you are thinking of doing, where it was one person doing all the planning and writing, with the rest of us just cheering on the direction we wanted to go. It got a lot of engagement at the time, so I bet you'd get a lot of people to participate, but it looked like a lot of work for the creator.

    zekebeau on
  • webguy20webguy20 I spend too much time on the Internet Registered User regular
    Tube wrote: »
    There's a pretty big sale on the Acq Inc book on D&D Beyond if anyone is interested:

    My group and I were about 40% of the way through the adventure before Covid hit. It’s real good!

    Steam ID: Webguy20
    Origin ID: Discgolfer27
    Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    edited September 2020
    zekebeau wrote: »
    Still thinking about making a forum game on here where participants vote to sway the outcome of wrestling matches and events. It’s nonsense really, but it might be funny for one run through of a season, ending in a tournament.

    I’m gonna call it Absolute Wrestling Eternal (AWE).

    It’s basically just roll a 2d6 for each combatant, with your votes being added as +1s. Highest roll wins, I describe how it went. There’d be outlandish stakes and random effects each match. Besides that I’d throw in events, where you can vote which wrestler becomes a cyborg etc.

    Does that sound interesting? It really wouldn’t take much from you as a participant.

    Did you ever play in the CYOA "Space Australia" that was played in the Critical Failures sub forum? It is similar to what you are thinking of doing, where it was one person doing all the planning and writing, with the rest of us just cheering on the direction we wanted to go. It got a lot of engagement at the time, so I bet you'd get a lot of people to participate, but it looked like a lot of work for the creator.

    I’ll have to try to find it! I wasn’t aware of it.

    Edit:
    No set time to start as yet, but leave an agree if you’d be interested in voting on the outcome of fictional melodramatic events in this trying time.

    68k62rieaycv.jpeg

    Endless_Serpents on
  • webguy20webguy20 I spend too much time on the Internet Registered User regular
    Space Australia was fucking great. I stopped being a lurker in that sub forum because of that game.

    Steam ID: Webguy20
    Origin ID: Discgolfer27
    Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
  • StraightziStraightzi Here we may reign secure, and in my choice, To reign is worth ambition though in HellRegistered User regular


    CrashCart is really neat y'all. Cyberpunk ambulance game working on a modified version of BitD that uses a deck of cards instead of dice. Also absolutely gorgeous art.

  • Endless_SerpentsEndless_Serpents Registered User regular
    edited September 2020
    Yeah I’m gonna go for it tomorrow if I think enough folks are interested (like... 5 people to make it work at all to start with) then keep it up regularly. With the drop in and out nature of it I can see it taking off.

    It’s not really for anything, I just think it’ll be fun.

    Will you be a fan of Al Natural? Or are you a supporter of La Calavera? Time will tell!



    CrashCart as an Idea is the most fascinating roleplaying game this year.

    Endless_Serpents on
  • TallahasseerielTallahasseeriel Registered User regular
    Bah

    I got invited to a new d&d game but I don't think I'll join. It's with pretty much the same group as before but with the older demand he's gonna run the forgotten realms published adventures.

    Mostly I don't want to play because no one ever likes my character ideas. I always try to make something fun and unique or have an interesting narrative hook built in and always get told that that's too much of a stretch or too non traditional or whatever.

    I'm just not allowed to be actually creative in that group.

  • MaddocMaddoc I'm Bobbin Threadbare, are you my mother? Registered User regular
    Part of that is certainly the fault of the group

    Part of that is that D&D is just not designed for out of the box concepts and actively chafes at them, so I can see why a group might be wary of them

  • ToxTox I kill threads he/himRegistered User regular
    Uriel wrote: »
    Bah

    I got invited to a new d&d game but I don't think I'll join. It's with pretty much the same group as before but with the older demand he's gonna run the forgotten realms published adventures.

    Mostly I don't want to play because no one ever likes my character ideas. I always try to make something fun and unique or have an interesting narrative hook built in and always get told that that's too much of a stretch or too non traditional or whatever.

    I'm just not allowed to be actually creative in that group.

    That's trash. Care to share an example?

    Twitter! | Dilige, et quod vis fac
  • GlalGlal AiredaleRegistered User regular
    ...is... is this you?

  • DepressperadoDepressperado I just wanted to see you laughing in the pizza rainRegistered User regular
    there is nothing I like more than a weird, unique character.

    my DMs are generally okay with it because my attention span is such that after a little while I get bored and kill the character off

  • TallahasseerielTallahasseeriel Registered User regular
    edited September 2020
    Tox wrote: »
    Uriel wrote: »
    Bah

    I got invited to a new d&d game but I don't think I'll join. It's with pretty much the same group as before but with the older demand he's gonna run the forgotten realms published adventures.

    Mostly I don't want to play because no one ever likes my character ideas. I always try to make something fun and unique or have an interesting narrative hook built in and always get told that that's too much of a stretch or too non traditional or whatever.

    I'm just not allowed to be actually creative in that group.

    That's trash. Care to share an example?

    I basically wasn't allowed to even play an oath of vengeance paladin because "it didn't like up with the deity I picked" which was pelor.

    All my ideas for how to make my barbarian anything other than "dumb guy who hit things good" were actively shut down. And was constantly encouraged to just play a clone of the character from critical role. A show I hate. My barbarian actually had pretty high Int due to random stat generation so I wanted to play him as a cunning guy who could play up his own "out of place in society" position to his advantage, make folks underestimate him. Never really got the chance.

    Tallahasseeriel on
  • AistanAistan Tiny Bat Registered User regular
    edited September 2020
    That group is really just leaving the potential of a Slap-Happy Jack off the table.

    https://www.tricksywizard.com/comics/2018/10/21/class-clown

    Aistan on
  • webguy20webguy20 I spend too much time on the Internet Registered User regular
    Uriel wrote: »
    Tox wrote: »
    Uriel wrote: »
    Bah

    I got invited to a new d&d game but I don't think I'll join. It's with pretty much the same group as before but with the older demand he's gonna run the forgotten realms published adventures.

    Mostly I don't want to play because no one ever likes my character ideas. I always try to make something fun and unique or have an interesting narrative hook built in and always get told that that's too much of a stretch or too non traditional or whatever.

    I'm just not allowed to be actually creative in that group.

    That's trash. Care to share an example?

    I basically wasn't allowed to even play an oath of vengeance paladin because "it didn't like up with the deity I picked" which was pelor.

    All my ideas for how to make my barbarian anything other than "dumb guy who hit things good" were actively shut down. And was constantly encouraged to just play a clone of the character from critical role. A show I hate. My barbarian actually had pretty high Int due to random stat generation so I wanted to play him as a cunning guy who could play up his own "out of place in society" position to his advantage, make folks underestimate him. Never really got the chance.

    Yea, you're fine. Those character concepts seem great.

    Steam ID: Webguy20
    Origin ID: Discgolfer27
    Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
  • TallahasseerielTallahasseeriel Registered User regular
    See I wasn't even going for anything to out there I think.

    My paladin would have been a more reluctant conflicted type than most, which might have just been too melodramatic? and my barbarian I played longer was just supposed to be playing up how the other characters treated him like little more than an animal despite the fact that just because he comes from what they consider a less cultured society he's still just as smart and capable as anyone they know.

    Both of these concepts were too much most of the time for the rest of the table. Whose character concepts tended to be "related to this or that noble" or "has dragon heritage" and little else.

  • AistanAistan Tiny Bat Registered User regular
    edited September 2020
    With 5th ed their interpretation of a paladin doesn't even fit the rules anymore. Paladins follow oaths, not deities. A paladin of Pelor who takes things too far sometimes only opens up more opportunity for interesting interactions down the road. Maybe a priest of Pelor sees stuff happen and calls them out, or any other infinite number of possibilities.

    Aistan on
  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    I love the idea of a barbarian who has consciously rejected society.

  • DevoutlyApatheticDevoutlyApathetic Registered User regular
    DarkPrimus wrote: »
    I love the idea of a barbarian who has consciously rejected society.

    "I prefer the term AnCom to the slur barbarian."

    Nod. Get treat. PSN: Quippish
  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    edited September 2020
    DarkPrimus wrote: »
    I love the idea of a barbarian who has consciously rejected society.

    "I prefer the term AnCom to the slur barbarian."

    "The people who were first called barbarians were no less civilized than those who coined the word. They were only labeled such because they lived differently than those from whom our shared tongue is descended. A battle of words is no different than any other: engage with an unknown foe and you might find yourself outmatched. This conversation has little else to offer, if you wish to engage with me further, stay your tongue and draw your blade."

    DarkPrimus on
  • gavindelgavindel The reason all your software is brokenRegistered User regular
    DarkPrimus wrote: »
    DarkPrimus wrote: »
    I love the idea of a barbarian who has consciously rejected society.

    "I prefer the term AnCom to the slur barbarian."

    "The people who were first called barbarians were no less civilized than those who coined the word. They were only labeled such because they lived differently than those from whom our shared tongue is descended. A battle of words is no different than any other: engage with an unknown foe and you might find yourself outmatched. This conversation has little else to offer, if you wish to engage with me further, stay your tongue and draw your blade."

    "Actually I'm a libertarian!"

    Every player in the party at once: "I roll initiative!"

    Book - Royal road - Free! Seraphim === TTRPG - Wuxia - Free! Seln Alora
  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    Soon-to-be-dead NPC: lol u mad?
    Barbarian: No, but I am about to enter my battle rage.

  • Der Waffle MousDer Waffle Mous Blame this on the misfortune of your birth. New Yark, New Yark.Registered User regular
    hehehe barbarian go barbarbarbar...

    Steam PSN: DerWaffleMous Origin: DerWaffleMous Bnet: DerWaffle#1682
  • AistanAistan Tiny Bat Registered User regular
    edited September 2020
    I just realized that with my cleric's family probably having been mind altered to forget her I'm going to have to do a bunch of writing coming up with events she would talk about to try and convince them she is who she says she is. Her arms are covered in tattoos mostly representing her family and faith but this is medieval times her husband's face isn't going to be there it's all symbolic and patterned. Given how bad I am at improvising I'm going to have to come up with a lot, these are people she's known for 25+ years.

    Aistan on
  • ButlerButler 89 episodes or bust Registered User regular
    Uriel wrote: »
    See I wasn't even going for anything to out there I think.

    My paladin would have been a more reluctant conflicted type than most, which might have just been too melodramatic? and my barbarian I played longer was just supposed to be playing up how the other characters treated him like little more than an animal despite the fact that just because he comes from what they consider a less cultured society he's still just as smart and capable as anyone they know.

    Both of these concepts were too much most of the time for the rest of the table. Whose character concepts tended to be "related to this or that noble" or "has dragon heritage" and little else.

    Okay now I kind of want to play in your group just to see how much I could make them hate me.

  • The Zombie PenguinThe Zombie Penguin Eternal Hungry Corpse Registered User regular
    Uriel wrote: »
    See I wasn't even going for anything to out there I think.

    My paladin would have been a more reluctant conflicted type than most, which might have just been too melodramatic? and my barbarian I played longer was just supposed to be playing up how the other characters treated him like little more than an animal despite the fact that just because he comes from what they consider a less cultured society he's still just as smart and capable as anyone they know.

    Both of these concepts were too much most of the time for the rest of the table. Whose character concepts tended to be "related to this or that noble" or "has dragon heritage" and little else.

    Your group sounds like assholes and your concepts sound fantastic and the sort of thing i want at my table.

    Those are cool concepts! They've immediately got hooks, ways to be played off, they suggest things about your character, and that's fantastic.

    They'd hate my barbarian I've just started playing. She knows how to use magic! She's clever. (Well, at least as clever as 10 int character is, but she knows what she's doing generally.) I'm fully planning to depict her rages something closer to mania/just being entirely too into the battle than Grrbarbariansmoosh.

    Ideas hate it when you anthropomorphize them
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  • GlalGlal AiredaleRegistered User regular
    Unless I was really desperate for a group to play in I don't think I'd choose to play with a party that rejects interesting character concepts outright like that. The system's combat is fun and all, but I have video games if I want to get that itch scratch, I play social games for the social aspect and who wants to interact with a brick?


    Well, unless said brick is roleplayed well. A well played straightman can be a delight when you're playing a weirdo.

  • Albino BunnyAlbino Bunny Jackie Registered User regular
    Glal wrote: »
    Unless I was really desperate for a group to play in I don't think I'd choose to play with a party that rejects interesting character concepts outright like that. The system's combat is fun and all, but I have video games if I want to get that itch scratch, I play social games for the social aspect and who wants to interact with a brick?


    Well, unless said brick is roleplayed well. A well played straightman can be a delight when you're playing a weirdo.

    I usually wind up playing campaign straightmen/down to earth concepts among weirder characters.

    My favourite was Camille, a Solo in Cyberpunk who got famous as a B grade action hero in her youth after rescuing an exec on TV and now is in her fourties after the whirlwind is over and still doing jobs.

    Extremely tired mom bodyguard looking after a bunch of rockerboy and tech weirdos.

This discussion has been closed.