Welcome Bigvyner

Welcome Bigvyner.

I see you are new here. What at you hoping to get from this game?

Do you have any past experience: with this game system, PbtA (Powered by the Apocalypse) games in general, other RPG systems, or with PbP (Play by Post)? It is fine of you don't, we can teach you as we go along.

Take a look at the Help! thread for guidance. Feel free to ask any question here or in the General Chat depending on where they seem relevant.

Hey :)
I have played quite a few PbtA games, and GM'd quite a bit of Scum and Villainy (which is a pretty close spinoff). That's all been via Discord audio and Roll20, though. Oh, and I play DnD5e. But yeah, I haven't done any PbP so I am looking forward to that!

Which ones, and which did you like (or not like)?
For the purposes of this interrogation I am prepared to accept BitD and PbtA-adjacent. :) I like Blades!
Cool, don't hesitate to ask as many questions as you need. There are no stupid question... allowed.

It might be useful to take a run through bowlofspinach's Tutorial game. Not only is it a good introduction, but it is good fun too.

Mmm lets see. I've done some short one shots as a player of Monster of the Week, a Jetset Radio hack of Thirsty Sword Lesbians, a Band of Blades campaign that didn't finish because schedules, and a periodic group with shared GMing of Golden Sky Stories (also not really PbtA but yeah...) I'm also playing some Star Wars Edge of the Empire fortnightly (that session starts in a half hour) which has a messy dice system I don't really like but the RP is good.

I liked Monster of the Week's tone a lot, it was a fun game and I'd play it again if I got the chance. Band of Blades fell apart partly because of schedules but also partly because players (including myself) didn't really get into the resource management side of things, and we'd come back after a week and not remember what resources we won or lost last session- I felt like that game needed a spreadsheet to track stuff.

Scum and Villainy I'm experiencing NPC bloat, too many options for the players and I want to do too much, I have a lot of possible plots floating around in my head and most of them will never see the light of day. There's a bit of turnover, I only have 1 player left from my original 4, but players seem to have fun. It can end up being played in a quite fun and relaxed way, or in a hardcore serious way, and I love both. I do enjoy it. Usually mentally exhausted after running a session.

The Thirsty Sword Lesbians didn't go that well, mostly because the GM style didn't work for me, they didn't call for many rolls and didn't really work on spotlight management. When the GM pulled it for personal reasons after 2 sessions I didn't mind that much. They had a great imagination and come up with some cool concepts, but they either didn't prep much or weren't good at coming up with challenges/problems on the fly.

I guess I enjoy drama. I'm happy to have my character die as long as its part of a good story. I like the idea of an overarching plot, or at least the illusion of one, where the innocent farm boy/girl the players encounter in an early session comes back in a later session having developed into someone powerful.

I'm reading back over the story so far, so that I have a better understanding of how things work.

For a brief summary, see the end part of this post to paladintodd.

Nice! And from context, one of them is some sort of fighter and one is roughly a cleric?

I mean, the 2 players Meht and Rook

Rook is a thief type and Meht is a... um... brainy-ranger-druid?

I really like Monster of the Week. I still maintain that it has about the best magic system of any game (provided the players buy into the conceit). I am permanently on the verge of running another game. :)

I find MotW is better in longer games than in one-shots.
I really like Stras Acimovic and his work, but have not been able to read through Band of Blades, and have not played it. It does look like it could be a slog if not run through quickly.
It is no Urban Shadows, but, yes, SaV does tend to accumulate NPCs scattered all around the cosmos. Some are never seen again, but need to be maintained, just in case.

Actively killing them off can help. This can also lead/encourage engagement with those dangling plot elements. :)
'Drama'? As opposed to 'action'. That can be good since combat scenes can get very slow in PbP.
Noted. But I try to avoid needlessly killing PCs of people I don't know very well. :)
Careful playing can make this game fairly safe. Heedless rushing towards violence can quickly result in death. Fighting is best avoided when clever plans are available.
Illusion may be all I can offer, given this game's focus on small scale, with drop-in-drop-out players.
Yes. I like to do that too.
Pity most players are unlikely to even remember them when they reappear.
"Tada!! It's Bob!... um, you know, the farmgirl you spared but scared into not taking risks...? That backfired..." :(

Okay, lets roll for some stats.

Why did I just do gusset as a thief? We already have a thief.

I hope you are not expecting me to answer that. :)

Rezart: Are you happy with another Thief? Are you happy with all the Skill and Ability overlap? Are you still with us?

Okay, Gusset is now back, and submitted as a cleric.

Very generous.

Do you want to reroll (or discuss redistribution of) your stats to try for a better fit with a Cleric?

Rolling in order to set stats does tend to make for overlap.

Eh, I'm happy for him to go as is. Failure is just as interesting as success, after all :D From what I gather of the stats, it's really the difference between a +0 or a +1 in each stat, rather than a literal 3/12 in charisma, for example. So yeah assuming that's the case he can just be a priest 'as is' :)

However, you know the rules better, if you advise me to swap those +1s from STR and DEX into WIS and CHA, then I'll go with your advice.

Yes, we don't care about the 3 vs 6 numbers, as rolled. They are purely to generate the +1s.

For a 'Cleric': maybe swap one of the +1s to WIS? (For free since you are doing it to accommodate 'party composition' in this case.)

Which two of those Special Abilities are you taking (feel free to take from outside the 'cleric' template).

We have not seen (or heard of) any 'undead' yet, but if a player takes Turn, we will, of course, encounter them. That is not to say if no one takes Turn that we won't, just that having it on a sheet means it comes into focus.

Cool, I've switched a +1 from DEX to WIS.
Ah I missed that, just copy-pasted all of them! Okay, he's updated now, only has "Bless" and "Cure".

I'm happy to leave undead out of things for the moment :D