Dec 1, 2017 8:52 pm
While I wait for the Apocalypse World games I've joined to restart and players to respond in the game I'm running, lets give me something else to do around the site.
Who wants to play some more PBtA? PBtA (Powered by the Apocalypse) is fun for PbP because the character sheets pretty much fill themselves out so you don't even need the rulebooks to play. Just a fancy storytelling, fiction first mindset. They're fairly quick to organise, need little stat juggling, and allow a lot of range for roleplaying without all of it needing huge massive okaying from the gamesmaster (who generally doesn't need to roll much in the way of dice or do much in the way of prep).
I figure I've got time in my schedule for running two of these in between the DW game at roughly a post every few days frequency (more if you're in the middle of conversations with each other). Shout below if you're interested in any of these.
Games I am willing to run...
Urban Shadows
Urban Horror / Fantasy and Conspiracy
"The streets bleed shadows as the supernatural politics of the city threaten to swallow you whole. Will you die a hero—a savior for those who have never had enough—or live long enough to become the villain? Will you fight the darkness...or give in for power? The choice is yours."
Who's up for some vampiric politics, warlock deal making and demonic protection racketeering? A game about the dark underworld politics of a city, with supernatural horror elements sprinkled on top for taste. I figure a mostly fictionalised American city is the best deal here. The mechanics lean into co-operation and attaching strings to people to get them on the hook for favours, rather than outright trying to murder each other as what happens in some other PBtA games.
Similar Media: Angel, The Dresden Files, World of Darkness, The Wire
Site: Main, Playbooks & Moves
Masks: A New Generation
Teenage / Young Adult Superheroes
"Masks: A New Generation is a superhero roleplaying game in which a team of young heroes fights villains, saves lives, and tries to figure out who they are—noble paragons? Dark avengers? Or regular kids? All against the backdrop of Halcyon City, the greatest city in the world."
About as close to Monsterhearts as I'm likely to ever run, Masks is primarily a game about growing up (and punching bad guys trying to take over the world in the face while wearing a cool outfit). A lot of it's themes and mechanics are based in how the world labels you, and how you want the world to see you. More lighthearted than the other games on the list, but not without it's own angst.
Similar Media: Teen Titans, XMen, Mutants & Masterminds
Site: Main, Playbooks & Moves
The Sprawl
Cyberpunk Missions and Killteams
"The Sprawl is a game of mission-based action in a gritty neon-and-chrome Cyberpunk future for an MC and 2-4 players. Create your own Sprawl at the nexus of bleeding-edge technology & fragile humanity. Play hardbitten professionals caught between ruthless corporate interests. Win sometimes, lose sometimes and be double-crossed a lot. There are a thousand stories in The Sprawl. What’s yours?"
No idea how the site's other Shadowrun games are going, but for everyone who was put off by how many rulebooks you need to have access to just to make a character in that game, Sprawl is a good substitute. Mechanics for this one are all built around two phases; a setup planning Legwork phase where everyone gathers resources, and an action filled Action phase where the mission gets underway. Campaign starts with us making Corporations to rage against / be a source of paycheques, and we build characters from there. I run one of these IRL monthly and it goes pretty well. Cyberpunk's back in fashion after all although I have no idea why (*looks at the news*).
Similar Media: Blade Runner, Shadowrun, Android Universe
Site: Main, Playbooks & Moves
Apocalypse World
Original Flavour Post Apocalyptic Weirdness Spiralling Out of Control
"Something's wrong with the world and I don't know what it is.
It used to be better, of course it did. In the golden age of legend, when there was enough to eat and enough hope, when there was one nation under god and people could lift their eyes and see beyond the horizon, beyond the day. Children were born happy and grew up rich.
Now that's not what we've got. Now we've got this. Hardholders stand against the screaming elements and all comers, keeping safe as many as they can. Angels and savvyheads run constant battle against there's not enough and bullets fly and everything breaks. Hocuses gather people around them, and are they protectors, saviors, visionaries, or just wishful thinkers? Choppers, gunluggers, and battlebabes carve out what they can and defend it with blood and bullets. Drivers search and scavenge, looking for that opportunity, that one perfect chance. Skinners and the maestro d' remember beauty, or invent beauty anew, cup it in their hands and whisper come and see, and don't worry now what it will cost you. And brainers, oh, brainers see what none of the rest of us will: the world's psychic maelstrom, the terrible desperation and hate pressing in at the edge of all perception, it is the world now.
And you, who are you? This is what we've got, yes. What are you going to make of it?"
Let's try this again. It'd be my third time running an Apocalypse World game, and the third time I've tried to be part of an AW game here. The easiest ruleset; it encourages violence, pushing people into bad situations, and generally not being nice people in a world where scarcity is the primary opposition. We'd do world creation as normal. No extended playbooks, no Marine, and no new thing Vincent is releasing in a few days time.
Site: Main and Playbooks / Rules
Also, not PBtA but also on the table!
FATE Acellerated: The Aether Sea
Space Fantasy Outlaw Adventure
"One tiny ship, One huge expanse of aetherspace. Maneuver your ship through the vast aether in The Aether Sea. A thousand years of war on Homeworld left it a magically-blighted wasteland, so the elves and dwarves stopped fighting for five minutes and figured out how to leave it behind. Soon everyone took to the vast, empty aether sea. The Royal Hegemony keeps a tight rein on the Spellcaster’s Union, and the magic that makes aether travel possible. Play the crew of a little aethercraft out in the deep sea. But you’ve got bad blood with the Royals, so take jobs carefully and make do with the best magic unofficial channels can provide. Keeping the ship afloat won’t be easy. The sea’s a dark and lonely place, and secondhand magic is... fussy. When it works at all."
Light on rules, fast on play, FAE is one of my favourite systems. And Aether Sea is FAE Spelljammer Firefly. Go flying through partly breathable space on a jalopy made of wood, powered by magic, on the lookout from a bureaucratic space empire that just doesn't quite agree with your outlaw lifestyle. Also the books are Pay What You Want on DriveThruRPG (links below with gamersplane's affiliate code attached).
Similar Media: Treasure Planet, Spelljammer, Firefly
Sites: FATE Accelerated (Pay What You Want!), Aether Sea (Pay What You Want!)
Who wants to play some more PBtA? PBtA (Powered by the Apocalypse) is fun for PbP because the character sheets pretty much fill themselves out so you don't even need the rulebooks to play. Just a fancy storytelling, fiction first mindset. They're fairly quick to organise, need little stat juggling, and allow a lot of range for roleplaying without all of it needing huge massive okaying from the gamesmaster (who generally doesn't need to roll much in the way of dice or do much in the way of prep).
I figure I've got time in my schedule for running two of these in between the DW game at roughly a post every few days frequency (more if you're in the middle of conversations with each other). Shout below if you're interested in any of these.
Games I am willing to run...
Urban Shadows
Urban Horror / Fantasy and Conspiracy
"The streets bleed shadows as the supernatural politics of the city threaten to swallow you whole. Will you die a hero—a savior for those who have never had enough—or live long enough to become the villain? Will you fight the darkness...or give in for power? The choice is yours."
Who's up for some vampiric politics, warlock deal making and demonic protection racketeering? A game about the dark underworld politics of a city, with supernatural horror elements sprinkled on top for taste. I figure a mostly fictionalised American city is the best deal here. The mechanics lean into co-operation and attaching strings to people to get them on the hook for favours, rather than outright trying to murder each other as what happens in some other PBtA games.
Similar Media: Angel, The Dresden Files, World of Darkness, The Wire
Site: Main, Playbooks & Moves
Masks: A New Generation
Teenage / Young Adult Superheroes
"Masks: A New Generation is a superhero roleplaying game in which a team of young heroes fights villains, saves lives, and tries to figure out who they are—noble paragons? Dark avengers? Or regular kids? All against the backdrop of Halcyon City, the greatest city in the world."
About as close to Monsterhearts as I'm likely to ever run, Masks is primarily a game about growing up (and punching bad guys trying to take over the world in the face while wearing a cool outfit). A lot of it's themes and mechanics are based in how the world labels you, and how you want the world to see you. More lighthearted than the other games on the list, but not without it's own angst.
Similar Media: Teen Titans, XMen, Mutants & Masterminds
Site: Main, Playbooks & Moves
The Sprawl
Cyberpunk Missions and Killteams
"The Sprawl is a game of mission-based action in a gritty neon-and-chrome Cyberpunk future for an MC and 2-4 players. Create your own Sprawl at the nexus of bleeding-edge technology & fragile humanity. Play hardbitten professionals caught between ruthless corporate interests. Win sometimes, lose sometimes and be double-crossed a lot. There are a thousand stories in The Sprawl. What’s yours?"
No idea how the site's other Shadowrun games are going, but for everyone who was put off by how many rulebooks you need to have access to just to make a character in that game, Sprawl is a good substitute. Mechanics for this one are all built around two phases; a setup planning Legwork phase where everyone gathers resources, and an action filled Action phase where the mission gets underway. Campaign starts with us making Corporations to rage against / be a source of paycheques, and we build characters from there. I run one of these IRL monthly and it goes pretty well. Cyberpunk's back in fashion after all although I have no idea why (*looks at the news*).
Similar Media: Blade Runner, Shadowrun, Android Universe
Site: Main, Playbooks & Moves
Apocalypse World
Original Flavour Post Apocalyptic Weirdness Spiralling Out of Control
"Something's wrong with the world and I don't know what it is.
It used to be better, of course it did. In the golden age of legend, when there was enough to eat and enough hope, when there was one nation under god and people could lift their eyes and see beyond the horizon, beyond the day. Children were born happy and grew up rich.
Now that's not what we've got. Now we've got this. Hardholders stand against the screaming elements and all comers, keeping safe as many as they can. Angels and savvyheads run constant battle against there's not enough and bullets fly and everything breaks. Hocuses gather people around them, and are they protectors, saviors, visionaries, or just wishful thinkers? Choppers, gunluggers, and battlebabes carve out what they can and defend it with blood and bullets. Drivers search and scavenge, looking for that opportunity, that one perfect chance. Skinners and the maestro d' remember beauty, or invent beauty anew, cup it in their hands and whisper come and see, and don't worry now what it will cost you. And brainers, oh, brainers see what none of the rest of us will: the world's psychic maelstrom, the terrible desperation and hate pressing in at the edge of all perception, it is the world now.
And you, who are you? This is what we've got, yes. What are you going to make of it?"
Let's try this again. It'd be my third time running an Apocalypse World game, and the third time I've tried to be part of an AW game here. The easiest ruleset; it encourages violence, pushing people into bad situations, and generally not being nice people in a world where scarcity is the primary opposition. We'd do world creation as normal. No extended playbooks, no Marine, and no new thing Vincent is releasing in a few days time.
Site: Main and Playbooks / Rules
Also, not PBtA but also on the table!
FATE Acellerated: The Aether Sea
Space Fantasy Outlaw Adventure
"One tiny ship, One huge expanse of aetherspace. Maneuver your ship through the vast aether in The Aether Sea. A thousand years of war on Homeworld left it a magically-blighted wasteland, so the elves and dwarves stopped fighting for five minutes and figured out how to leave it behind. Soon everyone took to the vast, empty aether sea. The Royal Hegemony keeps a tight rein on the Spellcaster’s Union, and the magic that makes aether travel possible. Play the crew of a little aethercraft out in the deep sea. But you’ve got bad blood with the Royals, so take jobs carefully and make do with the best magic unofficial channels can provide. Keeping the ship afloat won’t be easy. The sea’s a dark and lonely place, and secondhand magic is... fussy. When it works at all."
Light on rules, fast on play, FAE is one of my favourite systems. And Aether Sea is FAE Spelljammer Firefly. Go flying through partly breathable space on a jalopy made of wood, powered by magic, on the lookout from a bureaucratic space empire that just doesn't quite agree with your outlaw lifestyle. Also the books are Pay What You Want on DriveThruRPG (links below with gamersplane's affiliate code attached).
Similar Media: Treasure Planet, Spelljammer, Firefly
Sites: FATE Accelerated (Pay What You Want!), Aether Sea (Pay What You Want!)
Last edited December 1, 2017 9:08 pm
