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Author Topic: What small press RPG are you playing? Or played recently?  (Read 4237 times)

jeff37923

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What small press RPG are you playing? Or played recently?
« Reply #30 on: May 29, 2019, 12:56:55 AM »
After hunting for a good Star Trek RPG earlier, my group has started with Far Trek (which is pretty damn good and elegant and free). They are currently negotiating with the Kzinti Patriarchy in order to gain their assistance in the Federation's ongoing struggle with the Klingons and Romulans.
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Spinachcat

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What small press RPG are you playing? Or played recently?
« Reply #31 on: May 29, 2019, 03:15:17 AM »
After a few more sessions, please post a review of FAR TREK. I'm definitely interested in how it actually plays. It was a fun read.

rgalex

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« Reply #32 on: May 31, 2019, 08:54:40 AM »
So, Motobushido is about a pack of motorcycle-riding samurai.  The PCs were all soldiers in a huge war and their side lost.  The game is about what happens after that, after the world has moved on and the PCs are basically pariahs.

The first thing that happens in the game is a flashback to the founding of the pack.  The players will play the first founders and the session sets up the tone of the pack, details of the world, etc.  Any First Founders that survive the flashback become NPCs for use later.  

The players then bring in their own PCs.  These can be decedents of the First founders or new blood.  PCs have several aspects to them but one of the biggest is your role in the pack.  You have:
  • Bosozoku – Full fledged pack member without any additional responsibilities
  • Den Mother – you have the pack leader's ear and often the "other leader" when he's away
  • Trail Blazer – the fastest rider in the pack, often sent ahead to scout new areas
  • Enforcer – close to the pack leader, you follow orders without question, often assigned the messier tasks
  • Historian – in charge of designing the pack's masks and mon, keeping spirits high and bolstering confidence in battle
  • Tail Gunner – a combo of the rear guard, quartermaster and grease monkey
  • Prospect – you get to be the new guy
  • Pack Leader – in charge of the pack, your word is law and you must be ready to enforce that

PCs also have a range of Birth Signs and Fighting Styles to pick from when making their character. You round out the PC with Maxims which fall into 3 types: Pack, Sword and Highway.

Finally, the Pack has 3 resources they need to manage: Sustenance (food and money), Operation (fuel and spare parts) and Moral. The current level of these are randomly generated at the start of the game.

The game itself uses cards, not dice.  The PCs get a deck and the GM gets a deck.  You have Gambits and Duels covering the 2 types of tests you may need to make.  Minor actions that may have significant side effects are Gambits. Duels are actions directly against another opponent and usually very significant in their outcomes.

For a Gambit, the GM flips the top card from his deck at the same time you play a card from your hand.  The difference between the cards (Player's – GM's) determines what happens. If it's 0 or lower the player can choose a "No, but" or a "Yes, but" outcome for the action they were taking.  If it's 1 or higher you get a "Yes, and" where the GM gets to add a beneficial boon in addition to your action.  There are ways to modify your card values, but I won't get into those here.

Duels are… more involved.  They factor in a few other PC stats and situations and have some varied outcome possibilities.  It's about 10 pages worth of rules, but they aren't complicated.

That's the quick and dirty rundown.  I can try to answer questions if people have them but that kinda covers the basics.

BronzeDragon

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What small press RPG are you playing? Or played recently?
« Reply #33 on: May 31, 2019, 10:00:32 AM »
I'm DMing one of my two current campaigns using Basic Fantasy.

Two true newbies (first RPG gaming ever for them) seem to be enjoying it capitally.
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Itachi

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What small press RPG are you playing? Or played recently?
« Reply #34 on: June 02, 2019, 10:57:54 AM »
Quote from: rgalex;1089989
So, Motobushido is about a pack of motorcycle-riding samurai.  The PCs were all soldiers in a huge war and their side lost.  The game is about what happens after that, after the world has moved on and the PCs are basically pariahs.

The first thing that happens in the game is a flashback to the founding of the pack.  The players will play the first founders and the session sets up the tone of the pack, details of the world, etc.  Any First Founders that survive the flashback become NPCs for use later.  

The players then bring in their own PCs.  These can be decedents of the First founders or new blood.  PCs have several aspects to them but one of the biggest is your role in the pack.  You have:
  • Bosozoku – Full fledged pack member without any additional responsibilities
  • Den Mother – you have the pack leader's ear and often the "other leader" when he's away
  • Trail Blazer – the fastest rider in the pack, often sent ahead to scout new areas
  • Enforcer – close to the pack leader, you follow orders without question, often assigned the messier tasks
  • Historian – in charge of designing the pack's masks and mon, keeping spirits high and bolstering confidence in battle
  • Tail Gunner – a combo of the rear guard, quartermaster and grease monkey
  • Prospect – you get to be the new guy
  • Pack Leader – in charge of the pack, your word is law and you must be ready to enforce that

PCs also have a range of Birth Signs and Fighting Styles to pick from when making their character. You round out the PC with Maxims which fall into 3 types: Pack, Sword and Highway.

Finally, the Pack has 3 resources they need to manage: Sustenance (food and money), Operation (fuel and spare parts) and Moral. The current level of these are randomly generated at the start of the game.

The game itself uses cards, not dice.  The PCs get a deck and the GM gets a deck.  You have Gambits and Duels covering the 2 types of tests you may need to make.  Minor actions that may have significant side effects are Gambits. Duels are actions directly against another opponent and usually very significant in their outcomes.

For a Gambit, the GM flips the top card from his deck at the same time you play a card from your hand.  The difference between the cards (Player's – GM's) determines what happens. If it's 0 or lower the player can choose a "No, but" or a "Yes, but" outcome for the action they were taking.  If it's 1 or higher you get a "Yes, and" where the GM gets to add a beneficial boon in addition to your action.  There are ways to modify your card values, but I won't get into those here.

Duels are… more involved.  They factor in a few other PC stats and situations and have some varied outcome possibilities.  It's about 10 pages worth of rules, but they aren't complicated.

That's the quick and dirty rundown.  I can try to answer questions if people have them but that kinda covers the basics.

Very cool ideas! How is the setting? Is it developed in detail or just given broad strokes etc?

rgalex

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« Reply #35 on: June 03, 2019, 07:03:36 AM »
Quote from: Itachi;1090230
Very cool ideas! How is the setting? Is it developed in detail or just given broad strokes etc?


Broad strokes would even be an understatement I think.  You are basically given the can of paint and a brush and told to go for it yourself.  The only real world building the book has is

Quote
In this game, your group will play a pack of motorcycle-riding samurai – motobushi – in the days after a great war ravaged the land. You were soldiers in that war, but your side ultimately lost. The how and why of what has come before are all up to you. You will work as a group to define your own aspects of that war, including any cross-genre story elements your group desires. You will then play out the lives of these motobushi as they travel around in a world which largely rejects their ideals, and tell the stories of their trials and adventures, their wins and their losses, and their inevitable grim fates.


and

Quote
The First Founding
Sensei will run you through a key moment on the road to the original founding of your Pack. Taking place during a War in your world's past, this scene involves characters in the military unit from which your Pack is descended. This flashback-style scene will set up both key details of the world and the circumstances which ultimately led to your Pack's creation. Some of the participants might survive, others will die, and still others will vanish entirely from the annals of history; regardless their fates, the First Founders' choices set the stage for the story to come: the story of your own motobushi.


There is a lot of advice on how to make the world feel authentic in the GM section.  It details using omens to affect the game.  There is also a one-shot adventure in the back

Quote
Following a series of rumors, the Pack rides forth to the war-ravaged town of Willow Ridge, seeking someone who hides from them. Once known for its mystical hot
springs, the town was all but ruined during the war, and now survives as a sad relic of older, gentler times.

grodog

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What small press RPG are you playing? Or played recently?
« Reply #36 on: June 12, 2019, 11:06:56 PM »
As is often the case, I played some ASSH at the North Texas RPG Con this past weekend---"The Brazen Bull," an excellent ASSH scenario written and run by Chainsaw.

I played some Upwind from Biohazard Games back in the fall, but otherwise I've been happily chugging along playing mainstream AD&D 1e in an online game, and a F2F game, while DMing some occasional delves into my version of Castle Greyhawk.

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remial

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What small press RPG are you playing? Or played recently?
« Reply #37 on: June 19, 2019, 03:05:50 AM »
At the local game store's Free RPG day, I played Dungeons and Doggies, which was cute.  You play as dogs in a D&D world.   Personally I feel Pugmire, a game based off of 5th ed D&D is a better game as it is stand alone, where as D&Doggies is an add on that requires the big 3 books.  But Doggies does have some cute things in it that could be added to Pugmire easily.

I also played Kids on Bikes, which was enough fun that I've ordered a copy of the game for myself.  We started off by going around the table and answering a series of 8 questions about the town to create it, and then we created characters.  there are 6 attributes and each one gets one of the 6 standard RPG dice.  Then we answered a question about the player to our left, and started playing. The game ended up being set in a small town built around a mental institution that used to be a prison, and was famous for a jail break, resulting in most of the prisoners being killed, and the prison being closed. (as well as being infamous for a baby boom 9 months after the jail break).  the monster of the week was an escaped patient who was a psyco disney princess, complete with animal control and musical numbers.

I ran a Tales from the Loop game, where the new kid in town (16 years old) cobbled together a spell book out of 80's RPGs (in a town where the laws of reality are a bit fuzzy because of the underground particle accelerator) and had a mind control spell running that was powered by a 5 year old Cthulhu who just wanted to go home to mommy and daddy.  (oh, and the new kid was using the mind control spell to get the cheerleaders to go out with him)  The PCs (who were 12) got the Squid Kid home, the new kid was squished by mom's hand, and Dad thanked the PCs for their help, and made everyone in town forget what had happened, except the PCs, who still have the spell book.

Myrdin Potter

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« Reply #38 on: June 19, 2019, 05:26:39 AM »
I have been preparing to run some Operation: Whitebox one shots. I want to start up some White Star or Stars without Number games this fall as well.

Otherwise I run 5e 3x a week right now and plan on reducing it to 2x most weeks and run something else instead (DCC and ASSH are on the top of my list).

finarvyn

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« Reply #39 on: June 19, 2019, 08:00:05 AM »
Quote from: remial;1092721
I also played Kids on Bikes, which was enough fun that I've ordered a copy of the game for myself.  We started off by going around the table and answering a series of 8 questions about the town to create it, and then we created characters.  there are 6 attributes and each one gets one of the 6 standard RPG dice.  Then we answered a question about the player to our left, and started playing. The game ended up being set in a small town built around a mental institution that used to be a prison, and was famous for a jail break, resulting in most of the prisoners being killed, and the prison being closed. (as well as being infamous for a baby boom 9 months after the jail break).  the monster of the week was an escaped patient who was a psyco disney princess, complete with animal control and musical numbers.

I ran a Tales from the Loop game, where the new kid in town (16 years old) cobbled together a spell book out of 80's RPGs (in a town where the laws of reality are a bit fuzzy because of the underground particle accelerator) and had a mind control spell running that was powered by a 5 year old Cthulhu who just wanted to go home to mommy and daddy.  (oh, and the new kid was using the mind control spell to get the cheerleaders to go out with him)  The PCs (who were 12) got the Squid Kid home, the new kid was squished by mom's hand, and Dad thanked the PCs for their help, and made everyone in town forget what had happened, except the PCs, who still have the spell book.
Since you have played both Kids on Bikes and Tales from the Loop, I'd like to hear which one you liked better. I own a copy of each of those, but am torn as to which one to run for my group.
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Imaginos

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« Reply #40 on: June 19, 2019, 01:05:30 PM »
Ordered Dusk City Outlaws and Spectaculars over the weekend.  Looking forward to getting those to a table to play.

jhkim

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« Reply #41 on: June 19, 2019, 01:51:28 PM »
I have a twice-monthly group that mostly does small-press games. Last time I ran Hellcats & Hockeysticks, which is a great schoolkid-rampage RPG based on the St. Trinian's comics and films.

remial

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« Reply #42 on: June 19, 2019, 07:07:47 PM »
Quote from: finarvyn;1092728
Since you have played both Kids on Bikes and Tales from the Loop, I'd like to hear which one you liked better. I own a copy of each of those, but am torn as to which one to run for my group.

well, I ran TftL, not played it, and both were one shots, but IMO, Loop seemed more structured towards ongoing play then Bikes.  Bikes, with the town creation questions, seems great for a series of one shots, but maybe not so good for ongoing campaigns.  my initial thought was that I didn't need Kids, because I had Tales, and if I wanted to run (or play) a game of 80's adventure movies I could use Tales. However Kids with the weird powered character/monster that is controlled by the players, and motivations that you can use to screw with the other players was enough fun that I'm getting the book.
Mind you I don't have it yet, and I'm going off of what the GM said the rules were.

Also, Kids, at least the way it was run, was more of a (I'm almost afraid to use the word as it seems to be an expletive here) Storygame, where the players and GM tell the story of what happened in play, where as Tales is more of a standard RPG, where the GM has greater control of the events, and determines the outcomes of the events based on the dice rolls.

SavageSchemer

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« Reply #43 on: June 19, 2019, 09:53:30 PM »
Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies, off and on again, for years.
The more clichéd my group plays their characters, the better. I don't want Deep Drama™ and Real Acting™ in the precious few hours away from my family and job. I want cheap thrills, constant action, involved-but-not-super-complex plots, and cheesy but lovable characters.
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grodog

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« Reply #44 on: June 20, 2019, 01:03:55 PM »
Quote from: remial;1092807
well, I ran TftL, not played it, and both were one shots, but IMO, Loop seemed more structured towards ongoing play then Bikes.  Bikes, with the town creation questions, seems great for a series of one shots, but maybe not so good for ongoing campaigns.  my initial thought was that I didn't need Kids, because I had Tales, and if I wanted to run (or play) a game of 80's adventure movies I could use Tales. However Kids with the weird powered character/monster that is controlled by the players, and motivations that you can use to screw with the other players was enough fun that I'm getting the book.
Mind you I don't have it yet, and I'm going off of what the GM said the rules were.

Also, Kids, at least the way it was run, was more of a (I'm almost afraid to use the word as it seems to be an expletive here) Storygame, where the players and GM tell the story of what happened in play, where as Tales is more of a standard RPG, where the GM has greater control of the events, and determines the outcomes of the events based on the dice rolls.

Kids on Bikes has a Free RPG Day scenario this year, anyone check it out?  

I have it in my head that I should be able to use KoB in conjunction with Tales from the Loop, but I've not looked at the KoB system yet.  Are they compatible-ish?

Allan.
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