He will then proceed to produce exactly 11 copies of the $150 convoluted box set that contains the slightly modified dice and weird-sized deck of cards that are almost but not completely mandatory to actually play the game, never issue a reprint, and violently attack anyone who requests one with a knife carved from the thigh bone of a woman who dared to say Adam Koebel made her uncomfortable.
(I may have some Luke Crane-related emotions I need to work through, sorry)
If you need a copy of Inheritance, I have one to loan.
The important thing here is that the Mouse Guard boxset is still in print and at a reasonable price (edit: uh, actually, maybe it’s not technically still in print, but it is still available from certain online retailers).
And the second edition of Torchbearer is shipping!
In the last year, one friend introduced “Stars and Wishes” as a tool in the game he runs. At the end of a game session, ask each player to identify one highlight moment of the game, the star, and one thing they would like to have happen, the wish. The star is grounded in recent, discrete events. The wish can be anything at any scale.
I felt like his games became more interesting within a few months. I added it to the game I run, and I have found it to be simple and powerful. Its potency comes from making it more obvious when I’m creating something that pleases me versus something that is known to please others. It’s like planning a meal. I’m going to balance nutritional needs with preferences and treats.
An example from last night is some rabid dogs were attacking an old man in an alley behind the dive bar where the characters needed to talk to someone. They investigated the growls, were too indecisive to save the man, but completely wanted to save the dogs, using all of their abilities to do so. Perhaps obviously, that encounter showed up in their stars and wishes. What’s important for me is it shows how much the immediacy of an animal friend mattered to them compared to the long-term currents of political intrigue, faction positioning, and backstory mysteries. I think all of the latter items are important for a game with consequences. The dogs are important to my players for spark and life.
P.S. This might the origin for Stars and Wishes. Stars and Wishes - THE GAUNTLET
@Madmarcus You were looking for an Urban Fantasy TTRPG in last year’s thread, and Liminal was discussed. No one had played it, and you were unwilling to shell out a bunch of cash (I just reread the discussion). Well, I still haven’t played it (haha, I don’t get to play these things these days, just read them), but a bundle of the base book, the London source book, and a book of 7 scenarios is up on Bundle of Holding for $10. I decided to buy it to add to my ever-growing g digital stockpile.
Tempting! I might have to add it to my digital RPG stockpile also.
Space Opera kthxbye
I know what you really want: Gamma World
Awwww yeah. Check this out -
The flow chart for figuring out how to use technology in that game is my most favorite game chart ever.
I’ve had that box since I was a kid! I had no idea what a role playing game was, but I loved the art and the description of the world and its inhabitants on the back. And almost as cool as the game itself, it was my gateway to a lot of great science fiction like the novels of Brian Aldiss and Sterling Lanier. I’ve never even played Gamma World but it’s got a lot of sentimental value to me.
I bought Vaesen in the Free League Black Friday sale. The source book just arrived and I’m impressed. This has instantly become one of my favourite source books ever.
The illustrations are beautiful, otherworldly and/or spooky.
The book contains nursery rhymes and traditional spells of the region, which adds flavour. The rules and setting are well laid out. It all seems simple enough to learn and run from a quick page through. Familiarity with other Year Zero engine games helps a lot, of course.
The paper is also thick and feels nice to the touch, which doesn’t hurt. What an awesome product.
I don’t know whether @Razgon and you ended up getting the books. But having recently watched an actual play and seen the quality of the core rules, I would recommend giving it a chance.
I’m currently playing in a Call of Cthulhu campaign with another one to follow. But I’ll definitely try to make space for some Vaesen in between.
Also, Free League are launching a campaign for Vaesen Mythic Britain & Ireland this month . I don’t think I’ll be able to resist it.
Not yet. I got into Symbaroum instead because a local game group started playing it, but that campaign is on indefinite pause (thanks COVID). I’m going to try to rope in some family members over the holidays to play Vaesen with me, so it’s still very much on my mind.
One thing I like about Fria Ligan is how much they support their games post release. Symbaroum has a (pretty good!) multi-part campaign plus lots of other supplements for instance. While Vaesen doesn’t have a linked campaign, it already has a few supplements, and the British Isles one is probably going to be great. It’s a nice contrast to most publishers who put out a rule book and then wash their hands of the product aside from occasionally reprinting it (e.g., I would really love that Band of Blades continuation right about now, Evil Hat).
Nice. I’ve got Ruins of Symbaroum, the 5E conversion, coming next year (we just received the final PDFs today). I’m also looking forward to playing that campaign. You aren’t wrong about their support for their products. The Throne of Thorns campaign will also be coming out for 5E and I hope to play through it with my roleplaying club.
And, of course, Blade Runner is coming out next year. I probably should commit to buying everything FL does at this rate. :)
My daughter and I attended our first TTRPG convention in 2 years yesterday. Between the stalls, chatting with various RPG and boardgame designers and the board game library, it felt a bit like the before times. Except with masks, COVID passes (double/triple vaccination of proof of recent recovery) and tests.
That said, Dragonmeet is reasonably small by design (2 floors, a few seminar rooms for talks and one giant tabletop gaming room with a boardgames library). So you don’t have to deal with huge crowds and the stress of a comic con.
It’s also a very dangerous willpower test when you haven’t had the chance to visit one in a long time.
That said, it was fun to chat with creators of indie RPGs about their games. I found out there is a post Brexit apocalyptic RPG published by Leyline Press for instance. “It can get a bit heavy”, I was told. :)
We also chatted with a Scottish company and their Carved in Stone project (which I backed), the author of the Era system which has source books settings as diverse as Sci fi, Post Apocalyptic Survival , super heroes and a few others. Also Leyline and their approachable and super fun Salvage Union. I also backed that one on the spot. My daughter and I were playing a boardgame while a playtest was going on nearby and the players were having a ball. I then chatted with some of them who were super enthusiastic about the ease of play and focus of the gameplay. I went to chat to the designer and what he showed me about gameplay and advancement sounds great. It was an easy back (and we got the physical beta rulebook as a perk too, which doesn’t hurt).
It was fun to remember there is a whole community eager to chat and play together out there. We had a ton of fun.
We brought back a decent haul (everything to the right of Conan to Era silence is what my daughter spent her own cash on. She made sure she had seen everything before deciding what she wanted to run or get):
Now I need a year to recover, read through the stuff and play. She wants to find the next one ASAP. :)
Very envious! We’re hoping to make GenCon 2021 happen in our group, but that’s a long, long way away still. . .
That Free League booth would test my mettle for sure.
I must admit I am pretty curious as to what a “post Brezit” RPG looks like.
The only saving grace is that I already own everything Vaesen, most of Alien and some Symbaroum. As for Mork Borg, trying to read the rules gives me a headache. So I’m immune to its “charms”. :)
Free League ça. do no wrong though. I’m also in for Blade Runner next year.
Apparently, it’s pretty bleak, full of moral quandaries, groups trying to navigate them and no jobs (as shown on the page). Basically every day life. :)
