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Other Games, Development, & Campaigns => Other Games => Topic started by: Tensen01 on January 10, 2013, 06:48:02 PM

Title: [Technoir] Making Transmissions at the table?
Post by: Tensen01 on January 10, 2013, 06:48:02 PM
Howdy all, I just got my hard copy of Technoir and I had an idea for when I run it.

I figured, when we all sit down as a group, before character creation, we could make the Transmission right there at the table. That way everyone can have a say about what kind of thing they'd like to have possibly come up during the game. But, of course, Technoir being Technoir they won't know HOW the element will come into play.

Having built a couple transmission on my own I can't see this being to long or terrible of a process and I have a sheet made up to use to keep track of everything and build the Connected/Unconnected lists.

The group will be Myself and 5 players(A bit large I know) so I figure basically we would each contribute one of each Plot Node category.

I was just wondering if anyone else has tried this and if so how it went. And if you haven't, but have an idea for how to make it also let me know.
Title: [Technoir] Making Transmissions at the table?
Post by: RPGPundit on January 12, 2013, 12:56:12 PM
What the hell is technoir and what the fuck is a transmission?

RPGPundit
Title: [Technoir] Making Transmissions at the table?
Post by: Tensen01 on January 12, 2013, 04:32:00 PM
Quote from: RPGPundit;617270
What the hell is technoir and what the fuck is a transmission?

RPGPundit

Wow, thank you for making such a meaningful contribution. I'm so glad to see that Admins care so much about new members and learning about new game.

Technoir is an RPG and a Transmission is a Setting/Adventure for said game.
Title: [Technoir] Making Transmissions at the table?
Post by: The Traveller on January 12, 2013, 04:36:51 PM
Quote from: Tensen01;617338
Wow, thank you for making such a meaningful contribution. I'm so glad to see that Admins care so much about new members and learning about new game.

Technoir is an RPG and a Transmission is a Setting/Adventure for said game.

Welcome to theRPGsite Tensen, I'll have to admit I haven't heard of it either, can you fill us in on a few more details from your experiences? Shared setting creation from my own perspective is fine in limited quantities, usually being most valuable during character creation.
Title: [Technoir] Making Transmissions at the table?
Post by: K Peterson on January 12, 2013, 04:41:49 PM
Quote from: Tensen01;617338
Wow, thank you for making such a meaningful contribution.

No need to get butthurt about it. Your post "sat" for ~2 days without comments, probably because no one was familiar with that RPG, or had a clue about the gamespeak you were talking about.

If you want some feedback, maybe provide some more detail about the system and method of play.
Title: [Technoir] Making Transmissions at the table?
Post by: Tensen01 on January 12, 2013, 04:45:31 PM
Quote from: The Traveller;617340
Welcome to theRPGsite Tensen, I'll have to admit I haven't heard of it either, can you fill us in on a few more details from your experiences? Shared setting creation from my own perspective is fine in limited quantities, usually being most valuable during character creation.

I agree about Shared Setting creation being fine in limited quatities. Having actually used 'Dawn of Worlds" to make a game setting... and having the game fail for that reason.

Technoir is a Cyberpunk/Noir game that could, by some people, be considered a Story Game, though only in the GMs role really. There is a mechanic/system and characters have skills and stats and the whole Nine yards.

The Transmission is basically the setting. It is a large list of 36 "plot nodes" spread evenly between 6 Categories: Contacts, Events, Factions, Locations, Objects and Threats. At the beginning of the game the GM randomly picks Three of them and sees how they can be connected, this creates the main hook and as more plot nodes get pulled in the story gets bigger and more connected.

Since the GM can't really plan any story beforehand having the Transmission made prior to the game isn't really a requirement. So I thought, as a way to get the players more involved we would make the transmission at the table. Each player contributing one Plot Node in each category. This way they can have a say in what they'd like to see. But, the way the game works they wouldn't know HOW they're going to see it or even if they will at all.

I have made Transmissions before and they don't take that long so I think it may be a cool thing to do at the beginning of the first session. I can organize it during Character creation.
Title: [Technoir] Making Transmissions at the table?
Post by: Tensen01 on January 12, 2013, 04:47:20 PM
Quote from: K Peterson;617342
No need to get butthurt about it. Your post "sat" for ~2 days without comments, probably because no one was familiar with that RPG, or had a clue about the gamespeak you were talking about.

If you want some feedback, maybe provide some more detail about the system and method of play.


None of that excuses the language and rudeness used.

The Traveller asked politely and I supplied said information.
Title: [Technoir] Making Transmissions at the table?
Post by: The Traveller on January 12, 2013, 04:52:47 PM
Quote from: Tensen01;617344
I agree about Shared Setting creation being fine in limited quatities. Having actually used 'Dawn of Worlds" to make a game setting... and having the game fail for that reason.

Yeah you really need a single vision in these games. Whether or not its a good vision is a different question!

Quote from: Tensen01;617344
Technoir is a Cyberpunk/Noir game that could, by some people, be considered a Story Game, though only in the GMs role really. There is a mechanic/system and characters have skills and stats and the whole Nine yards.

Cyberpunk and noir blend very well.

Quote from: Tensen01;617344
Since the GM can't really plan any story beforehand having the Transmission made prior to the game isn't really a requirement. So I thought, as a way to get the players more involved we would make the transmission at the table. Each player contributing one Plot Node in each category. This way they can have a say in what they'd like to see. But, the way the game works they wouldn't know HOW they're going to see it or even if they will at all.

Doesn't sound too horrible, does it feature things like players having narrative control beyond the actions of their characters in play?
Title: [Technoir] Making Transmissions at the table?
Post by: Tensen01 on January 12, 2013, 04:58:08 PM
Quote from: The Traveller;617348
Doesn't sound too horrible, does it feature things like players having narrative control beyond the actions of their characters in play?

I have only played it once, and I'm still working through the book so I'm sadly not as savvy as I'd like. But from what I remember and have read so far... Not especially. No more than any other game that uses Fate/Character/etc Points to reroll or a bonus or such. But the way this one works is, in spending that point you've given it to the GM to then spend on screwing with you. And you don't earn more unless you put your character into danger.

But Narrative control... Not really.

Though in a way they are kind of responsible for new Nodes coming into the story. When they talk to one of their contacts that triggers a roll to see what that contact "Knows" based on whether they are connected or unconnected to the rest of the story and what they know gets added to the story connected to them. So it's not really control, but it's definitely an effect.
Title: [Technoir] Making Transmissions at the table?
Post by: K Peterson on January 12, 2013, 05:36:18 PM
Quote from: Tensen01;617346
None of that excuses the language and rudeness used.

Far be it from me to excuse the comments of the Pundit. It was never my intention to.

But, let me suggest something: I haven't been a member of this forum for that long, but one thing about the RPGSite is abundantly clear. This isn't a message board for the faint-of-heart, the overly sensitive, and those offended by strong language. Check out enough of the threads around here, and you're going to see some vicious conversations, and rampant "personal attacks". That's the nature of this particular beast. Honestly, I find this one of the better RPG forums that I frequent because communication is not censored, and it's not so heavily moderated that it feels stale and sanitized. There are some good discussions here, but you've got to be ready to handle the heat.
Title: [Technoir] Making Transmissions at the table?
Post by: Benoist on January 12, 2013, 06:13:03 PM
Quote
Playing it safe isn't working anymore; you're not going to get out of this clean. You have illicit tech and the talent to use it. Time to go shake the city and see what falls out. You'll get hurt, sure, but what kind of pain will you deal out?

Technoir is a roleplaying game. You play protagonists like cyber-tweaked couriers, hard-nosed investigators, and drugged-out hackers making opportunities for themselves in a despairing world. Using a rules-light system with enough intricacies to spark new fires of hardboiled crime novels and cyberpunk science fiction, Technoir lets you coax, hack, fight, prowl, and shoot your way through a dark future. It features Transmissions--city guides brimming with plot nodes to inspire your high-tech adventures--that the GM uses to create tangled and compelling plot webs that expand and evolve as the players' characters engage it.


http://technoirrpg.com/

So... you are talking about players and GM basically creating the setting by collaborating as they play to create some sort of plot hooks, a story-line and such, correct?
Title: [Technoir] Making Transmissions at the table?
Post by: Thalaba on January 12, 2013, 07:18:36 PM
Quote from: Tensen01;616819
Howdy all, I just got my hard copy of Technoir and I had an idea for when I run it.

I figured, when we all sit down as a group, before character creation, we could make the Transmission right there at the table. That way everyone can have a say about what kind of thing they'd like to have possibly come up during the game. But, of course, Technoir being Technoir they won't know HOW the element will come into play.

Having built a couple transmission on my own I can't see this being to long or terrible of a process and I have a sheet made up to use to keep track of everything and build the Connected/Unconnected lists.

The group will be Myself and 5 players(A bit large I know) so I figure basically we would each contribute one of each Plot Node category.

I was just wondering if anyone else has tried this and if so how it went. And if you haven't, but have an idea for how to make it also let me know.


I played in a game of Technoir this summer and enjoyed it, however I haven't read the book and couldn't begin to answer your questions. Although I enjoyed the game, I don't like Cyberpunk enough to want to run it myself, which is why I never dug deeper into the game.

What prompted you to sign up here (of all places) to discuss this? Technoir and The RPG Site seems a bit like oil and water to me.
Title: [Technoir] Making Transmissions at the table?
Post by: Tensen01 on January 13, 2013, 04:54:44 AM
Quote from: K Peterson;617357
Far be it from me to excuse the comments of the Pundit. It was never my intention to.

But, let me suggest something: I haven't been a member of this forum for that long, but one thing about the RPGSite is abundantly clear. This isn't a message board for the faint-of-heart, the overly sensitive, and those offended by strong language. Check out enough of the threads around here, and you're going to see some vicious conversations, and rampant "personal attacks". That's the nature of this particular beast. Honestly, I find this one of the better RPG forums that I frequent because communication is not censored, and it's not so heavily moderated that it feels stale and sanitized. There are some good discussions here, but you've got to be ready to handle the heat.


I am an old RPGnetter. I am far from Faint of heart, and I suppose it wasn't the language(as I am a curser myself IRL) but the apparent attitude behind the comment that upset me. Regardless of whether it got the thread going it was uncalled for. a Simple "I don't know the game or terms" would have been just as effective for kickstarting the thread.
Title: [Technoir] Making Transmissions at the table?
Post by: Tensen01 on January 13, 2013, 04:56:39 AM
Quote from: Thalaba;617380
I played in a game of Technoir this summer and enjoyed it, however I haven't read the book and couldn't begin to answer your questions. Although I enjoyed the game, I don't like Cyberpunk enough to want to run it myself, which is why I never dug deeper into the game.

What prompted you to sign up here (of all places) to discuss this? Technoir and The RPG Site seems a bit like oil and water to me.


Well I didn't see any signs saying that this was not the place to talk about RPGs... So I figured I'd give it a shot. As you can probably tell I'm not exactly well versed with the ins and outs of the site.
Title: [Technoir] Making Transmissions at the table?
Post by: Tensen01 on January 13, 2013, 04:59:53 AM
Quote from: Benoist;617368
http://technoirrpg.com/
So... you are talking about players and GM basically creating the setting by collaborating as they play to create some sort of plot hooks, a story-line and such, correct?


Sort of. It's basically building a very simple framework for the setting and then "populating" the setting with possible plot-hooks Prior to actually playing. The players, however, don't really have any saying in how those hooks are used in the story-line, as they are determined randomly when they come up.
Title: [Technoir] Making Transmissions at the table?
Post by: RPGPundit on January 14, 2013, 02:44:43 AM
I gave you two pages, and counting, for a thread where you failed to properly set up an introduction to a game no one here has apparently heard of.

You're welcome.  And welcome to theRPGsite.

RPGPundit
Title: [Technoir] Making Transmissions at the table?
Post by: Piestrio on January 14, 2013, 03:23:29 AM
Um....

Okay then.

0_o
Title: [Technoir] Making Transmissions at the table?
Post by: crkrueger on January 15, 2013, 01:21:24 AM
Quote from: Tensen01;617338
Wow, thank you for making such a meaningful contribution. I'm so glad to see that Admins care so much about new members and learning about new game.

Technoir is an RPG and a Transmission is a Setting/Adventure for said game.

You don't want Pundit to find out about Technoir, he'll move the thread. ;)

Here's the basic mechanic - called Contention

Title: [Technoir] Making Transmissions at the table?
Post by: Daddy Warpig on January 15, 2013, 01:56:53 AM
Quote from: CRKrueger;618199
You don't want Pundit to find out about Technoir, he'll move the thread. ;)

Wow. That is the storygamiest stuff I've read in a long time.
Title: [Technoir] Making Transmissions at the table?
Post by: Drohem on January 15, 2013, 02:06:52 AM
Quote from: CRKrueger;618199

Here's the basic mechanic - called Contention

  • Recharge Push dice - The player starts an action with all of her Push dice charged.
  • Assemble the dice - The player gets a number of Action dice equal to her rating in the verb she is using. She can add a Push die for each postive adjective, object, or tag that helps her. She must take a Hurt die for each negative adjective she has.
  • Describe the action - The player uses her verb, adjectives, objects, and tags to inspire a narrative of the action that would assert the intended adjective on her target.
  • Roll the dice - The player rolls all of her Action, Push, and Hurt dice.  The Hurt dice cancel out any and all matching Action and Push dice. The highest number on her surviving Action or Push dice is her result.
  • Determine Reaction - The verb the target uses to react determines his reaction rating. For each, positive adjective, object, or tag that helps him, he can discharge a Push die and increase his reaction rating by 1.
  • Resolve the roll - If the player’s result is higher than the target’s reaction rating, her action is effective.
  • Apply the adjective - With an effective action, the player asserts a new adjective on the target.  By default the adjective is fleeting.  She can spend 1 Push die from her rolled dice to make it sticky. She can spend 2 Push dice to make it locked.
  • Discharge Push dice - Any Push dice left in the player’s roll are discharged.
  • Respect the adjective - Play continues with the new adjective representing a change in the narrative.


That's a hearty bowl of alphabet soup!
Title: [Technoir] Making Transmissions at the table?
Post by: Piestrio on January 15, 2013, 02:17:19 AM
Quote from: Daddy Warpig;618201
Wow. That is the storygamiest stuff I've read in a long time.


The only thing that might be storygamey is the last bit,

"9. Respect the adjective
€ Play continues with the new adjective representing a change in the narrative."

But even that sounds like consequences from FATE.

"Verbs", "Adjectives" etc... just sound like different names for abilities and aspects.

*shrug*
Title: [Technoir] Making Transmissions at the table?
Post by: Daddy Warpig on January 15, 2013, 03:20:44 AM
Quote from: Piestrio;618207
The only thing that might be storygamey is the last bit,

"The player gets a number of Action dice equal to her rating in the verb she is using. She can add a Push die for each postive adjective, object, or tag that helps her. She must take a Hurt die for each negative adjective she has."

The game may not actually be storygamist.

But to make a traditional RPG, and refer to Attributes as Nouns, actions as Verbs, and situational modifiers as Adjectives...

That's storygamey vocabulary through and through. Stats as words? Sheesh. You can feel the Story wafting off the mechanics.

If they didn't intend that — and you may be right — it presents a gross misimpression.
Title: [Technoir] Making Transmissions at the table?
Post by: Tensen01 on January 15, 2013, 04:05:09 AM
Quote from: Daddy Warpig;618201
Wow. That is the storygamiest stuff I've read in a long time.


Believe it or not, on the part of the players it's a fairly typical Roleplaying game.
Title: [Technoir] Making Transmissions at the table?
Post by: Tensen01 on January 15, 2013, 04:13:15 AM
Quote from: Daddy Warpig;618223
"The player gets a number of Action dice equal to her rating in the verb she is using. She can add a Push die for each postive adjective, object, or tag that helps her. She must take a Hurt die for each negative adjective she has."

The game may not actually be storygamist.

But to make a traditional RPG, and refer to Attributes as Nouns, actions as Verbs, and situational modifiers as Adjectives...

That's storygamey vocabulary through and through. Stats as words? Sheesh. You can feel the Story wafting off the mechanics.

If they didn't intend that — and you may be right — it presents a gross misimpression.


Believe it or not, on the part of the players it's a fairly typical Roleplaying game.

Attributes/Skills are Verbs: "Prowl, Fight, Shoot" Really no different than "Hide, sneak, etc", just using a term that actually means the same thing for everyone (Attribute/Stat/Ability can mean 10 different things in 10 different RPGs). Instead of applying damage you apply an adjective... "Hurt, Wounded, dazed" The same things that happens when you get hurt in Fate or L5R, they just don't count hit points. you are "Wounded" and thus later roll penalty dice.

For the GM it's really no different than what all GMs do when writing a game... You just do it at the table based on what the character are doing.

And I didn't realize "Story" was a bad thing in a roleplaying game
Title: [Technoir] Making Transmissions at the table?
Post by: Daddy Warpig on January 15, 2013, 04:25:22 AM
Quote from: Tensen01;618232
And I didn't realize "Story" was a bad thing in a roleplaying game
There's a lot of discussion of that around here. Search for "Forge", "Ron Edwards", or "GNS".

It'll come up.

FWIW, here's (http://www.therpgsite.com/showpost.php?p=618200&postcount=116) my take.
Title: [Technoir] Making Transmissions at the table?
Post by: Tensen01 on January 15, 2013, 04:32:43 AM
Quote from: Daddy Warpig;618235
There's a lot of discussion of that around here. Search for "Forge", "Ron Edwards", or "GNS".

It'll come up.

FWIW, here's (http://www.therpgsite.com/showpost.php?p=618200&postcount=116) my take.

Meh, TL/DR if I wanted your take I'd have asked for it.

The Forge is a pretentious pit, no clue who that is, no clue what that is.
Title: [Technoir] Making Transmissions at the table?
Post by: The Traveller on January 15, 2013, 05:25:37 AM
Quote from: Tensen01;618232
And I didn't realize "Story" was a bad thing in a roleplaying game

Story means different things depending on context. In this context its almost completely a misnomer however, adopted purely for PR. A better description would be "shared narrative" games.
Title: [Technoir] Making Transmissions at the table?
Post by: Tensen01 on January 15, 2013, 06:16:05 AM
Quote from: The Traveller;618242
Story means different things depending on context. In this context its almost completely a misnomer however, adopted purely for PR. A better description would be "shared narrative" games.


Which Technoir isn't... No more so than any game where the GM is adlibbing story elements.
Title: [Technoir] Making Transmissions at the table?
Post by: crkrueger on January 15, 2013, 09:58:27 AM
Let's not derail the thread, I'll make another post in a bit to discuss the game mechanic in more detail.

To answer the OP, I see nothing wrong with players helping to brainstorm the Transmission, at least to come up with the 36 terms and the names/roles of the contacts.  I think the GM should fill in the stats for the NPCs though.  It would be similar to the group worldburning of Burning Empires or the Aspect brainstorming that can go into a Fate campaign.  Posts here by Insufficient Metal for his own SBA campaign show this to good effect.
Title: [Technoir] Making Transmissions at the table?
Post by: Tensen01 on January 16, 2013, 06:19:26 AM
Just wanna say thanks to everyone who showed interest in this thread but I am rather pissed that it got moved and likely won't continue to follow the thread as I completely disagree with it's exclusion from tabletop RPGs as that is 100% what this game is.

I suppose I shouldn't have expected thought out reactions from the admins of an RPG site...