Tabletop RPG Catch All

Quintin_Stone wrote:

My RPG group started a game of this new Star Wars Edge of the Empire. I hadn't really heard anything about it before we started. It's from Fantasy Flight Games and uses a dice system similar to the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying 3rd edition (some info on that here).

Nice, that game looks pretty cool. In my group we're currently playing the Warhammer RPG, and enjoying it a lot. The dice system seems like a gimmick at first but I've come to really enjoy the gameplay. It's really solid, Fantasy Flight rocks.

McIrishJihad wrote:

I have a serious hard-on for Burning Wheel, but my problem is not knowing anyone local that really wants to focus on "character driven narrative" :/

Aren't we local? Perhaps we can pull together a Boston Goodjer Burning Wheel group.

TheHipGamer wrote:
McIrishJihad wrote:

I have a serious hard-on for Burning Wheel, but my problem is not knowing anyone local that really wants to focus on "character driven narrative" :/

Aren't we local? Perhaps we can pull together a Boston Goodjer Burning Wheel group.

If not, and you want to try running it via Google hangout, I'd be really excited to get in

TheHipGamer wrote:
McIrishJihad wrote:

I have a serious hard-on for Burning Wheel, but my problem is not knowing anyone local that really wants to focus on "character driven narrative" :/

Aren't we local? Perhaps we can pull together a Boston Goodjer Burning Wheel group.

@Hip - I'd be down for that. I've seen you post in the Boston thread before, and I know there's a few others who have mentioned a semi-regular board game night.

Anyone down for a G+-run game of Fiasco on Thursday? I'm open on time, but would presume afternoon/evening for most everyone. Thinking of doing the Camp Death scenario, but open to others if anyone has one they really want to play.

Rubb Ed wrote:

Anyone down for a G+-run game of Fiasco on Thursday? I'm open on time, but would presume afternoon/evening for most everyone. Thinking of doing the Camp Death scenario, but open to others if anyone has one they really want to play.

I work late and wouldn't be home until 7 pm EST but if that would work I'd be down.

Rubb Ed wrote:

Anyone down for a G+-run game of Fiasco on Thursday? I'm open on time, but would presume afternoon/evening for most everyone. Thinking of doing the Camp Death scenario, but open to others if anyone has one they really want to play.

As has been said, I'm in 7PM - 10 PM EST is my sweet spot for a work night.

I can do 7PM EST. That's pretty good for the majority of 9-5 folks, I'd imagine.

The whole "but it's the GM's job to entertain me" crowd really can't be reasoned with. I've tried. Many of them do come around with time, but make sure you don't agree to run a game you don't enjoy yourself. I came to a point where I just had to run less GM-heavy games due to not having time to prepare games, and that basically forced our group to adapt.

It also has a lot to do with how you present it. A good trick to start teaching them is to just ask for incidental details from the players, but don't make a whole scene about them.

But if Fiasco isn't working, you just might not have a great fit... I find it very beginner friendly, and have played it with complete RPG noobs, but players set in their bad old ways may be more difficult to bring around.

jlaakso wrote:

The whole "but it's the GM's job to entertain me" crowd really can't be reasoned with. I've tried. Many of them do come around with time, but make sure you don't agree to run a game you don't enjoy yourself. I came to a point where I just had to run less GM-heavy games due to not having time to prepare games, and that basically forced our group to adapt.

It also has a lot to do with how you present it. A good trick to start teaching them is to just ask for incidental details from the players, but don't make a whole scene about them.

But if Fiasco isn't working, you just might not have a great fit... I find it very beginner friendly, and have played it with complete RPG noobs, but players set in their bad old ways may be more difficult to bring around.

Some people just don't seem to want actual story agency, for whatever reason.

Though, along those lines, Dungeon World has a few tricks to push player participation in the setting further, tricks that I'm dying to try in other contexts. Like asking the players a provocative, leading question about the setting: "When did you realize that the horses wouldn't survive?"

Gremlin wrote:

Though, along those lines, Dungeon World has a few tricks to push player participation in the setting further, tricks that I'm dying to try in other contexts. Like asking the players a provocative, leading question about the setting: "When did you realize that the horses wouldn't survive?"

It's a good technique, although it can still fall flat sometimes (especially if the player isn't used to being allowed to make up something about the game world).

In terms of drawing out players, I think Apocalypse World is stronger than Dungeon World. DW still has the D&D-like setting, which might let players fall back into expected patterns. AW, by contrast, is an unstable and unplanned setting - if the players are not proactive, things will just get worse and worse.

MikeSands wrote:
Gremlin wrote:

Though, along those lines, Dungeon World has a few tricks to push player participation in the setting further, tricks that I'm dying to try in other contexts. Like asking the players a provocative, leading question about the setting: "When did you realize that the horses wouldn't survive?"

It's a good technique, although it can still fall flat sometimes (especially if the player isn't used to being allowed to make up something about the game world).

In terms of drawing out players, I think Apocalypse World is stronger than Dungeon World. DW still has the D&D-like setting, which might let players fall back into expected patterns. AW, by contrast, is an unstable and unplanned setting - if the players are not proactive, things will just get worse and worse.

My group jumped to it after having a bad streak with the crunchier systems (If I remember right, Shadowrun 4 with a side dive into D&D4/Pathfinder).

I did a Hollowpoint single session for a palette cleanser (Hollowpoint is pretty easy for me...gave me time to think ;)), and waltzed into the next session handing them all of the playbooks and saying "There is only one of each. You will pick one, and follow them." Playbooks are a 2-3 page sheet that contains all of the rules to play your class, including character creation. There are usually another 2 page sheet with the basic, general moves.

My first question, to the player who picked the Hardholder was, "What is your biggest threat?" and as the night went, I built it up from there. The follow ups were "How do you get your food and water? Describe it." or "Why do you, a Brainer of all things, work for this...low life scum sucking barbarian?" All of the answers built up to a set of great sessions. It lasted 10 total sessions over 20 weeks.

The players loved Apocalypse World so much, we made the jump to Dungeon World without major incident. There are a couple of reinterpretations in there, different mechanic for hit points, and the absolute coolest way to deal with PC death I've seen, listed below:

Note: roll means roll 2d6

Last Breath
When you're dying you catch a glimpse of what lies beyond the Black Gates of Death's Kingdom (the GM will describe it). Then roll (just roll, +nothing—yeah, Death doesn't care how tough or cool you are).

  • On a 10+, you've cheated Death—you're in a bad spot but you're still alive.
  • On a 7–9, Death himself will offer you a bargain. Take it and stabilize or refuse and pass beyond the Black Gates into whatever fate awaits you.
  • On 6-, your fate is sealed. You're marked as Death's own and you'll cross the threshold soon. The GM will tell you when.

Very very cool. A lot of the game is based on decisions like that. The core mechanic is, you roll 2d6 and add a stat (stats depend on the game)

10+ means you do it with little or no problems. 7-9 means you do it, with a twist or complication, 6- means you either fail, or do it with a major consequence.

Apocalypse World is my favorite system to GM in. FATE is a close second (FATE Core rocks my socks). My players are, 15 sessions (about 30 weeks) in and level 4-5 (out of 10) and loving it. For anyone who wants to try it, the full text of the book is under Creative Commons, and an older version is here. Also, you might want the Dungeon World Beginners Guide, located here.

Somebody could sell me on FATE... I'm really resistant to buying any more RPG rulesets because I have so many and I'm happy with them, but I hear so much good about it. What makes it special?

jlaakso wrote:

Somebody could sell me on FATE... I'm really resistant to buying any more RPG rulesets because I have so many and I'm happy with them, but I hear so much good about it. What makes it special?

I like it as a fairly simple system that's easily adapted to what you want to run. Like GURPS or Hero, but not insanely finicky or immense.

I've had fun with Spirit of the Century and I ran a convention Traveller scenario using FATE to quickly get some rules in place (I mainly wanted to get the feel of my early 80s games in there, without going back to those rules).

The Evil Hat people are very good at getting high-quality, polished games out, too.

But the biggest thing about their Fate Core kickstarter is the pure mass of material that's now included. For $10 you get all the materials in electronic form: 14 campaign settings/adventures, 3 complete games (4 if they make their final goal), a book on hacking Fate, and the main Fate Core and streamlined Fate Accelerated rules.

I've seen some of the draft material that's been released to backers, and I have to say not all of it has grabbed me, but enough have to make it worthwhile.

For me, I'm already mentally planning a game using Jason Morningstar's (of Fiasco fame) Fight Fire campaign - firefighting drama, and it looks really cool. And John Rogers (of Leverage) is writing a crime sourcebook, which I expect will be great. The time travel campaign has some cool stuff in it, although I've only skimmed that draft so far.

Okay, sold, in for the $10 on the KS. Thanks!

I've heard some vague things about Dresden Accelerated. In my experience, the only part that goes slow is magic. Evocation isn't bad if you define your spells beforehand. Thaumaturgy is always a grind though.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

I've heard some vague things about Dresden Accelerated. In my experience, the only part that goes slow is magic. Evocation isn't bad if you define your spells beforehand. Thaumaturgy is always a grind though.

This is, sadly, also true of the original Dresden Files RPG. I eventually got the hang of it, enough to walk my players through at speed, but the game did slow down a bit whenever anyone cast a spell. On the flip side, the flexibility made for some awesome effects being thrown around, especially when things got out of control. Like the localized gravity reversal that got out of hand and started throwing an entire art gallery into the air, bit by bit.

MikeSands wrote:
Gremlin wrote:

Though, along those lines, Dungeon World has a few tricks to push player participation in the setting further, tricks that I'm dying to try in other contexts. Like asking the players a provocative, leading question about the setting: "When did you realize that the horses wouldn't survive?"

It's a good technique, although it can still fall flat sometimes (especially if the player isn't used to being allowed to make up something about the game world).

In terms of drawing out players, I think Apocalypse World is stronger than Dungeon World. DW still has the D&D-like setting, which might let players fall back into expected patterns. AW, by contrast, is an unstable and unplanned setting - if the players are not proactive, things will just get worse and worse.

I've run a couple of sessions of tremulus now, which is a Lovecraftian game based on the Apocalypse World system. I was a bit concerned with how the players would handle such a player-driven system and they did fall flat a few times waiting for me to point them in the right direction but overall it went well. One or two of them got really into it and added an entirely new layer to the investigation.

Man, I helped Kickstart Tremulus and I still haven't read the damn PDF :S

Trachalio wrote:

Man, I helped Kickstart Tremulus and I still haven't read the damn PDF :S

I've read it, but haven't played yet

Looks like their main guy got nailed by the Super Flu, and was down for more than a month. He's back up and running, so hopefully the physical books will ship at some point.

Gremlin wrote:
Quintin_Stone wrote:

I've heard some vague things about Dresden Accelerated. In my experience, the only part that goes slow is magic. Evocation isn't bad if you define your spells beforehand. Thaumaturgy is always a grind though.

This is, sadly, also true of the original Dresden Files RPG. I eventually got the hang of it, enough to walk my players through at speed, but the game did slow down a bit whenever anyone cast a spell. On the flip side, the flexibility made for some awesome effects being thrown around, especially when things got out of control. Like the localized gravity reversal that got out of hand and started throwing an entire art gallery into the air, bit by bit.

Oh, I was referring to the original DF RPG. Don't know much about how Accelerated will change it.

Karla/The Brennil has the Dresden Files RPG books, and we've tried to play it once or twice, but it's pretty damn dense. I think we need someone who's played it a few times to teach us how to "get" it. Same thing with Evil Hat's other FATE based RPG: Spirit of the Century. I've read the book and I feel like I understand it, but when we go to create characters we're all completely lost

Trachalio wrote:

DF/Spirit of the Century. I've read the book and I feel like I understand it, but when we go to create characters we're all completely lost :(

I think that over-complicatedness has been a problem for them in the past (I seem to recall that in Spirit of the Century every character has ten aspects? That's way too many to give them all time in the game). Fate Core and the bonus settings seem to generally point towards a simpler system with less stuff on the character sheet, which I am all in favour of. And Fate Accelerated should be even better from that point of view

I really, really want to run some Spirit Of The Century. Haven't, sadly, but I'm positive it would be awesome. Actually just the character creation might suffice! I would probably combine it with Gear Krieg, which is something I'll never run, but it's got cool super science Nazi themes.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

Oh, I was referring to the original DF RPG. Don't know much about how Accelerated will change it.

Ah. So I guess we're just agreeing violently, then.

MikeSands wrote:
Trachalio wrote:

DF/Spirit of the Century. I've read the book and I feel like I understand it, but when we go to create characters we're all completely lost :(

I think that over-complicatedness has been a problem for them in the past (I seem to recall that in Spirit of the Century every character has ten aspects? That's way too many to give them all time in the game). Fate Core and the bonus settings seem to generally point towards a simpler system with less stuff on the character sheet, which I am all in favour of. And Fate Accelerated should be even better from that point of view :)

Basic FATE without all of the accouterments is pretty simple and can be summed up in two pages. Now, that's lacking some of the explanations as to why you'd want to do some of the things in the rules, and you have to come up with your own skills and stunts (which can be tricky for beginners) but as a summary of everything you really need it does pretty well. Once you grok it, it's a really simple but versatile system. The big problem is understanding that winning fights is usually based on manipulating Aspects and making declarations, not just dealing damage.

I think a lot of FATE supplements and settings suffer from trying to be GURPS, but the rules don't really need all of the detail. Looking forward to seeing if Fate Accelerated can act as a much-needed the introduction.

Dammit. In for $10 for FATE. Dresden Accelerated is what pushed me over.

I like SotC, ran a game of it a while ago with my group. Although they had fun, they didn't like the Fate system and much prefer the more tradtional systems in CoC and the Warhammer games. The problem we then had was that they didn't want to play CoC for a while since we played it quite abit late last year and nobody else seemed to be willing to run anything but me.
The only systems I have are CoC, SotC, Don't Rest Your Head (which I had a go at running but don't think I will be going back to with this group) and Burning Wheel (which I would love to try but really think it is a game I need to see in action before I try running it and don't think they would like it). So it looked like we were without a game to play and as much as I love boardgaming, I do that all the time with my parents, other mates ect. Thankfully someone has stepped in and will be running World of Darkness so we will see how that goes.
Doubt I will ever get to play Fiasco though

Okay, definitely doing Fiasco tomorrow if we get enough people. 7PM Eastern. If you haven't played, I'll teach you, and we'll do an easier set. If everyone has played, or newbies are feeling adventurous, we'll do the Camp Death set (which has a special rule regarding the dice which may throw newbies off).

Burning Wheel is incredibly dense. It has a few differently levels of abstraction for resolving conflicts. Sadly, when we tried to go from very abstract to less abstract in our game, the game fell apart because no one was sure what to do. Not trying to scare anyone away from it, just trying to make you aware of the depth there. Read the rules beforehand and take notes on what you manage to glean from it, a cheat sheet.