General Chat

I thought the same thing, where does the gold come from?
Did they rob one of the barons? The mayor's Treasury?

Or asha's uncle Midas changed the people's copper to gold.
Or just a plain old magic pouch, ...

Should this be moved to the ooc?

Probably.

Moving conversation from RP-OOC.

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I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I thought we were talking about putting this one on hold due to time limitations [ref] —though it is possible drawing this to a close took long enough that that is resolved? :)
If we are going to continue this story now, we can talk about changing to a more robust system. Did you have anything in mind?

If we did, would you two still be interested in also being available here for (occasional) new players, possible with new characters of your own (could be awkward playing the same character in different games)? Maybe the new system necessitates making new characters for that game, though, we can see how it turns out.
OK.

How is your schedule, @Airshark?
How does this relate to our discussion about 'starting a new game', with a new system, to continue this story?

On my end, I can keep going now. The super busy period is behind me. So I have a bit more time again.
I know you're a fan of PbtA, as am I. So I'd keep it within that realm. Preferably something that's still friendly to new players. So I'm thinking something like Dungeon World (but I think I remember you not being a huge fan of DW, that's why I added the 'something like'). Either something where character creation is fast and simple or with playbooks which make it easy to start.

I really like the Fate way of character creation where you work with descriptive words that you can use within the game mechanics in different ways depending on your RP. I suppose that's kinda what WoDu did with the skills too.

I'll have a look around to see if I find anything that combines those elements. Maybe a Monster of the Week variant?
I see that just as a continuation with some changes. So no problem at all unless it requires me to read 200 pages of a handbook :P
Happy to keep playing Albert with different mechanics.
New players are also welcome. I quite like the dynamic of bringing in new people.

That was an interesting part of this game, I agree. There is some incompatibility between changing to a more robust system and maintaining that easy-drop-in-drop-out attitude that WoDu allowed. Getting started with DW, for instance, can be very quick for someone familiar with the system, but a new player would, at a minimum, need to read through a few pages of Moves, as well as the pages for any Playbooks they were interested in (we could ask them what sort of character they were interested in and suggest a Playbook or two, but it is still a lot more reading for them to get into things).

If we changed the system it would not be aimed purely at 'new players', allowing us to get more in-depth in terms of what we do. I would keep this game for new players.

That said, even if we don't pitch the game exactly the same as this one ("don't bargain on leveling up, don't expect to significantly change the world (we need to remain viable for those new players)"), I would always be open to new players, both in the sense of teaching new players to play and accepting new players at random times.
Sure.
DW is low on my list of games, but it is still on my list.

I have been thinking about running a Fellowship game here, and that just happens to be on 50%-off sale for today [DriveThruRPG]. I would have to read the rules again, it is a bit set in its ways and might not properly convert to taking up the game we have, but we could look into adjusting what is happening to fit Fellowship's 'big-bad, overlord' assumptions.

This game might also port quite well to AW:Fallen Empires (a not yet finished Fantasy themed version of Apocalypse World by the original author (available though their patreon)).
I have very much enjoyed Fate's character creation process —though it is not 'easy' for new players, and heavily favours those with experience— but have never found Fate to work well in play.

I am struggling with the restrictions that current game rules place on us, so would like something 'free-form' as you describe, but am not convinced there is anything that really fits the bill.
I have been on the verge of starting a Monster of the Week game here for months. I must finish reading the new Monster of the Week: Codex of Worlds supplement and see if any of the settings there would work, but porting vanilla MotW to play this sort of 'fantasy' could be more work than I can afford at this time.
I would be very interested in what you find.
I prefer 'proper' PbtA games that don't require the players to read more then and Reference Material (Moves and Playbooks), so I would assume you could get away with not needing to read 200 pages if you did not want to.
That is what I figured, we will, therefore, keep any new system compatible enough that we can keep the core of the character. If we have to bend the rules a bit, that is fine by me.

Some example/suggestion I was thinking about. It doesn't have to be that :) . Just thinking aloud.

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I really enjoyed this system. Though it doesn't state any way of "leveling up". I guess you'd just get extra gear and maybe a new skill. It's really light on rules and probably easy to mold into what we want/need.
Here's my character from that game.

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I also found something called "Neon City Overdrive". The system looks interesting to me, but it's in the wrong setting unfortunately.
It's got a Fate-like vibe to it and uses d6, but still also uses the PbtA idea of having partial successes.

I am not seeing how Kosmosaurs would fit our bill, I glanced at it a while ago but did not see anything that make me want to play (meh, mechanics, with the main focus being on the 'setting'... which did not appeal).

I have read Neon City Overdrive and was really impressed with they had, but it never quite had enough to make me want to play it, there are so many Cyberpunk games out there, and this is just another one.

Yeah it doesn't have the most amazing mechanics, but it's easy to pick up and just a bit more complex compared to WoDu. So still very new-player-friendly I think.
But if it doesn't excite you, we shouldn't use it :)

I'm purely talking about the system for these suggestions, not the setting. I'd like to keep that as is for this game.

I don't know many RPG's but I've played dungeon world before.
Since I'm mostly on Mobile, it's hard for me to look up rules. Well not hard but more of an annoyance that I have to overcome everytime and keeps me from posting regularly. So this FFA game was ideal for me.
The ooc in the 'and beyond game' was a bit much.
For me the fun is in adventuring and getting surprised, not in 'did I use the right move/action/...- discussions.
Don't get me wrong, of course there have to be some basic rules, but the less the better in my opinion 😉

Does that mean you are no longer asking us to put this on pause as you asked for previously? I think we are OK to carry on, but only if that suits you and your timing.

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I'm assuming that means you are not currently wanting to learn new RPGs either? Quite understandable if time is short.
Agreed. Do you have access to a 'real' machine where you can read rulebooks (if you want to) or are you limited to rulebooks that work well on mobile? I, too am sometimes mostly on a phone and many games just are not readable on such devices, the games that require me to get back to a computer to read take a lot longer to get through than the mobile friendly ones.

If we change systems we can try to ensure that what we pick has (even if we have to make it) easy reference on mobile. But needing to look things up is always a vastly bigger chore than not needing to look anything up.
Would you say that it would be easy enough for you on mobile. There is the SRD, which fairly easy on mobile, but this still calls for looking things up until people become completely familiar with the moves and such.
That was a large part of why I picked these games for this. And is why I would not want to replace this 'for new players' game with whatever we change to if we change.

I have no problem sticking with WoDu. I don't really want more complexity. I was just making the offer if you guys wanted something with more meat.
Agreed. Though there were many factors at play there. I think that once everyone is very familiar with the rules, Traveller would be an OK ruleset, but there is a common, prevailing theory that "character creation is the best part of Traveller" and I can see that point.
Even with more structured games, I tend not to focus on nitpicking such things. But having rules for 'how to do something' can lead to a lack of freedom to do things other ways. I don't want players looking at their sheets to see what to do, I want them looking to the fiction, but the more that is on the sheets the more they tend to focus there.

Oh I see. Well if it's a hassle for Airshark and you don't feel any need to change, then let's just stick with what we've got.

I'm fine with the rolling, skills, and abilities mechanics of WoDu, the only part I'm not a fan of is the focus on getting loot. I think none of us here at the moment are that kind of player.
You solved that by having Ahsa give us money, but it doesn't feel like a great solution. In the 2 years that I've been playing Albert I've finally gotten to level 2 :P and to be honest it's underwhelming. I thoroughly enjoy the RP and the story, though. Don't see this as me saying the game is not enjoyable.
Which specific restrictions do you mean? Is it an option to just change a few WoDu rules to fix that issue?

Yeah. This was not meant to be a long-term-game. I did say "don't bargain on leveling up" and have mostly ignored this part.

The way we have played this is really just a 'milestone' system, but implemented badly. If we agreed that levels would come when appropriate (which would possibly have been earlier if we had been thinking about it), would that be to your liking?
I may have meant more about 'games in general', than specifically about WoDu, though WoDu does still have more rules than I really want :)
Not in a 'game for new players'. I prefer to keep it 'by the book' so as to avoid confusion. The WoDu 'book' is very lite, though, so 'fleshing out how things work' is still 'by the book', we are just bound by what the book does say.

I'm definitely in favor of milestone leveling! :)

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Ah, understood.

I thought about it and I would like to play on. But I also like the dynamic of new players coming and going. I don't know if that is complementary with leveling. (Not that an extra level has that much influence)
The biggest obstacle for me is learning a new, rule-heavy, game. Like with Traveller I noticed everybody was diving into the rulebook all the time and that's not something I'm good at both because of practical reasons and characteristically.

That being said, I like playing with you guys (don't know if Vague is a guy so 'no offence') and with Traveller off the table I have time to play on and if it's not too hard: learn something different that doesn't acquire the need to check the book with every move. 😉.

And so the prophecy hath been foretold, thus 't was not even a fortnight before such an event occurred.I couldn't resist signing up for a Mörk Borg one-shot :P

Doesn't change my involvement for this game though :)

Cool. I will look for the easiest way to get us from where we are to whatever comes next. We can probably just pick up with Albert's conversation with the captain.
Good. That could be irritating to some players, so I am glad that we are all on board for that part of this game. I have opened it up again for recruitment.
I don't think it is a problem. Like most PbtA games it levels sideways rather then upwards in power (though you do get more HP, which I am not really a fan of), so this just means you guys are more able to help out those new players with their new characters.

I don't foresee problems, but we might have to look into how your characters' experience impacts on the 'fresh-faced' aspect of the new characters, but I have confidence you guys will be supportive and let the new player take the reins (even if that does result in some weird story choices:).
I think I can say with some confidence that vague is... unoffendable. :)
If you actually want to try a new system, we can seek out something that is simple enough and do that, but that will be a new game. We can look at picking up this story and characters in that system as you guys like.

This game will continue using WoDu, for the ease of new players. We can look at the friction points as we go forward.

That works for me :)
Are you going to actively recruit people or just wait for players to find their way here?
I have no problem substituting the extra HP with something else. Or giving new players the same level as our characters. If that helps.
Even though I'd like to focus on the horned wolf story, I really don't mind following a new character to a different story. However, seeing the history of players quitting pretty fast (not talking about fossball here) it would be a shame if that hinders our progress.
So, I'm hoping that you'll have a good way to make detours still work with/be relevant to the current objective.

If we're continuing this game (which it looks like we are) I don't see the point in starting up a second game for it.
There are plenty of games being made weekly in the tavern.

Guess that it's decided then?
We keep playing with a fresh face.
And everything's made up and the experience points don't matter.👍

Nice reference :D