A Few Loose Cannons On Deck! Interest checks from the MadPanda

[MadPanda]

Someone who shall remain nameless (but who deserves many virtual hugs for the obvious suggestion) told me a while back to start a 'rolling idea' thread for my One on Ones.  This is the same one for the (rarer) group games that my evil little brain feels need discussing--feel free to discuss below.  This initial post will occasionally be updated as things get kicked off or added.

Please do not debate the merit of various systems here: what I've listed for any given project is what I want to run (or play).  Feel free to ask questions if something isn't clear, but there's a reason I don't offer some systems.  (Synnibar?  *shudder*)

UPDATE:
New Suggestion!  Uncharted Worlds
Space Opera Powered by the Apocalypse!  I have a major jones for this baby, in no small part because anything PbtA appeals to my sense of shared creativity and narrative fun.  (And yes, also because the MC never has to roll dice, which lets me escape accidental TPK syndrome when my usual poor luck with the polyhedrals flips...).  The particular idea that hits my evil little bamboo-fueled brain?  An all-cat-girl reskin of Firefly!

PDQ# / Swashbuckling! 

I'm a BIG fan of Chad Unterkoffler's excellent Prose Descriptive Quality Sharp rules--crunchier than Wushu, more Narrativist than the OGL, and excellent for light-hearted, laid-back, free-flowing cinematic fun.  Inevitably my tastes return to this one, no matter the season.

Sword and Sorcery

I'm also a big fan of Ron Edwards's Sorcerer, which is a great indie game geared toward narrativist play and emergent stories.  Now, maybe it's the John Carter of Mars previews, and maybe it's just me, but a hoped-for back-burner project of mine is something along the lines of the early days of S&S.  (Muse shares some of the blame and credit for this one, since we discussed it once upon a whim.)

Here's the springboard--the description of a setting from Sorcerer and Sword:

WELCOME TO XAR
Xar is the setting for fierce, exotic, erotic fantasy and adventure. It’s got a strong Arabian Nights and medieval China influence, with perhaps a fair amount of Tanith Lee ( Night’s Master and Cyrion) mixed in. There are teeming masses of people living by ancient traditions in stone cities; they interact with deadly politeness and hot-blooded recklessness. Magic is fun, wild, and colorful, with urbane, delightful, surrealistic demons. A land of feathered serpents, clashing castanets, and sultry, intelligent, gorgeous women.

Doesn't that sound like fun?   >:)  Some assembly, again, is required...I, for one, would like to try something with a stronger touch of India in it, as opposed to the usual Arabian/Persian thing.

Another Sorcerer idea...I just got to see the last half-hour or so of Fight Club.  Just enough to get my mitts on the whole Tyler Durdan thing.  Somewhere out there, there's a free playtest document for Sorcerer that uses the idea of one's dark reflection as a demon.  Three guesses where I'm going with that thought!


Doing It Old School

For Dungeon Crawls: Basic Fantasy!  Dungeon crawling for those of us who remember when Elf was a Class and there were only three Alignments.  Streamlined with input from the OGL, it's good old fashioned nostalgia with pointy sticks and the invariable horde o' goblins thrown in.  I have no clear plot or world concept for this, but I'd be willing to work on something.  Also, the rules are available for free...

For alternate Dungeon Crawls:  The same bright fellow who came up with Stars Without Number (see below) has published a fantasy sandbox game called Spears of the Dawn.  It's fantasy gaming with an African base instead of the usual pseduo-European stuff.  Definitely very cool!

For Starfaring Sandboxes: Stars Without Number!  It's like the best features from Traveler and Basic D&D tossed in a blender and released into the wild for aggressive stress-testing.  Looks playable.  Also, there is a free version for download (with fewer bells and whistles than the re-release via Mongoose).

Post-Apoc  Sandbox gaming is covered by Other Dust.  Much grittier than Gamma World 7e, no laugh track, but the Aftermath has a grim logic and internal consistency that is a welcome change from, say, the 'radiation is magic' approach we all know and love from GW.

Solo Sandbox!  Sine Nomine just launched a kickstarter for something called Scarlet Heroes, which is pretty much one-player and GM gaming.  While it uses another of Mr. Crawford's worlds as a setting, there's nothing stopping a conversion to something more traditional (like, say, a generic D&D world) or even one of his other games.  Plus now he's added rules for solo play in Stars Without Number.  Woo hoo!


Cultural Mash-up!

There is only one thing here: the soon-to-be-released Far West.  This is ALL Hairy Heretic's fault, since he introduced me to it.  Either H2 or I, if not both of us, will be all over this one as soon as it's out (with some possible help from mi amigo Lanzlo, who is a fellow Backer).

CURRENT STATUS: They've failed to meet every single deadline they've ever announced, but the first sixty-five pages are in my grubby ikkle pawses.  It's nearly here, folks!  Nearly here.  But that last five percent seems to be taking forever--and a recent stay in the hospital by the person responsible for finishing it all off isn't helping.  But we've been patient this long, so a bit longer won't hurt.

Gamma World 7e
This is the newest version, and now that I've stopped chuckling over the calamari cheesecake on the box cover, I have to admit that this is post-apoc RPing with a sense of humor.  (Long story short, I only got these rules recently but have been in a game on another forum in which I was playing a vaguely humanoid swarm of flaming rats.)  It's a bit like D&D 4e, and not really all like the original 1978 version...or its successors.  I also have the Famine in Far-Go expansion and Legion of Gold is on its way, and am pleased to note that the Gallus Gallus 5/13 are still very much in business.  If anything, they're now much meaner.  Not at all for serious play, but perfect for beer and pretzels RPing.

(Can't help laughing at the Neep Neeps, though, which strike me as a cross between Doctor Bunsen Honeydew and certain Doctor Who enemies.)

Mortal Coil
Diceless, narrativist, and built around emergent stories (notice a trend here?), this one actually edges out Sorcerer as a massive wanna-play...reason being that Sorcerer hinges on demons and requires a particular mood, whereas MC is a bit more open ended on the build.  I also took the liberty of picking up the campaign framework compilation, mostly for Old Gods (Scion-like) and Twisted 50's (Cast A Deadly Spell) and then found that I liked the Saint-Germaine Legacy, especially on the wilder settings!  Has a few problems with play-by-forum format, but nothing that can't be worked around, granted a bit of trust.  Warning--requires world-building!

Tenra Bansho Zero!
Hyper-Asian fantasy.  This is Ninja Scroll cranked up to eleven.  Mystically powered mecha.  Kickass supersoldiers who can take on armies singlehanded and win.  Dark Jedi given a mindwipe, trapped in a magic mirror, and used to power killer androids.  Ninja and onmiyoji and Buddhist Magic in a grim world of never-ending war.  VERY Japanese.  Very cool.  Very different than we'd expect.

Anima Prime and Monkey
Two more very Asian little games.  AP (not to be confused with Anima) is basically Final Fantasy, the pen-and-paper RPG.  It's a pick-up-and-play sort of thing, with light and flexible rules.  Monkey is based on Journey To The West, and is just plain cool...immortal, deifically empowered PCs working off their misdeeds in service to the Eastern Heaven.  I particularly like the Ministry of Thunder idea contained therein, largely because it frees the PCs from having their very own monk-shaped not-a-damsel in distress in tow.

ICONS
This falls under the heading of 'want to play'...I also like Truth & Justice, from Atomic Sock Monkey, but this has a FATE-like system that's more popular than PDQ.

LORDS OF OLYMPUS
Short version--this is Scion, at least for the Greek Pantheon, redone as a variant of Amber Diceless RPG.  I like the adjustments to the system--the attributes were renamed, Stuff is now Luck (which makes MUCH better sense anyway), the magic system is definitely improved, and that pesky high-end budget problem with the elders was resolved in a nicely elegant fashion that remains consistent with the rest of the mechanics.  (And since they DO include hints about other pantheons, and released an open license for derivative works, there's room to introduce a few extra godlings now and again.)

This is very much a back-burner interest, at the moment, but it's on the radar.

More to come!

[Muse]

Wow, bro, there's not much here I'm NOT interested in. 

[MadPanda]

 XD

Too many cool ideas, too many neat indie systems, never enough players or time...the traditional GM's lament.

[HairyHeretic]

If Into the Far West holds off til I actually have free time again, that'd be nice :P

[MadPanda]

Given the unfortunate delays due to (let's see) the artist's RL concerns, the printer closing down for the holiday season, and assorted other last-minute concerns, there's a fair possibility that might happen   ;D

[AndyZ]

I don't seem to recognize ANY of the names in bold, but I'd be interested.

[TheHangedOne]

Mech game looks interesting to me.

[MadPanda]

I don't seem to recognize ANY of the names in bold, but I'd be interested.

That, ah, might be because some of those bolded bits (Basic Fantasy, Stars Without Number, and Houses of the Blooded) are systems while others (Avatar:the Last Airbender) are not.  Mea culpa.

Cross my paw with virtual silver and I'll dig up some links for you.    ;)

One vote for Aegis Forge, so noted.  (You'll have to wait to play a mecha pilot for a few missions if we do the Long War arc, though.)

[MadPanda]

I'm definitely in swashbuckler mode right now...perhaps something piratical, since for some reason never quite clear to me pirates seem more popular than musketeers (and I'm more of a D'Artagnan at heart than a Jack Sparrow.  Or maybe a Porthos.  Hard to tell).

The initial dial settings will probably look like this:

Thumbnail: Pirates of the Caribbean with a hint of Avatar: Last Airbender, a soupcon of Castle Falkenstein, and a wee bit of Jules Verne thrown in for good measure!
Underlying Aesthetic: Pirate
Concentration: Humor, Action/Adventure, Romance, Naughtiness
Themes: Honor, Loyalty, Friendship, Revenge
Style: Semi-Episodic
Why are the PCs together?  PCs are crew on the same pirate vessel.

Anyway, a new game or two has been added up above.

[Aoife]

I'd be up for a fair bit of dashingly handsome swashbuckling, or perhaps buckling on a swash.  One never knows when it gets truly dire in His Majesty's service.

[Saric]

I am entirely unfamiliar with any of your systems. That said color me interested on all fronts, just send me a link to the rules and tell me which one your running and I'll break out the virtual character sheets. Just let me know if you need me to bring my rapier (+5 to wit checks), the mono-edge fruit slices (for when the dread pickle ray isn't enough), the cyanide capsule (the trick always seems to be getting the other guy to swallow it), or the micro nuke (for when you absolutely, positively must  take as many of the bastards with you as you can). The outside of the box is, as always, required adventuring gear.

[Aoife]

You've forgotten the two most essential pieces of gear for any swashbuckler!  For shame...

You must have a gloriously fabulous hat, and an egregiously poofy shirt.

[Saric]

You've forgotten the two most essential pieces of gear for any swashbuckler!  For shame...

You must have a gloriously fabulous hat, and an egregiously poofy shirt.

While this is true, I was volunteering for a selection of settings and listing only the bare essentials. After all a true swashbuckler is fully dressed wearing naught but his sword and his wits.

[MadPanda]

There is an NPC in Swashbucklers of the Seven Skies (the sadly not-free game that uses PDQ#) who has a Technique called Situation: Semi-clad.  Apparently she has a lot of experience with angry wives, mistresses, mothers, et cetera interrupting her liaisons with handsome men.

If we can but muster four or five reasonably reliable persons to dare all, we can get something launched!

Any preferences between Damsels and something piratical?

I must hasten to add that I have not been quite clear on this--posting the dial settings, which I've done for both swashbuckling ideas, provides a starting point for discussion.  That is, this is what I as GM have in mind, but players are free to suggest things they want to see or ask for changes...they aren't set in stone.

(There are also a couple more that need to be hammered out, but we can worry about that when we know what we'll be doing.  Things like...do guns do the same damage as other weapons, or are they deadlier?  What does poison do?  Do we want to have mad mojo slinging around, and if so how rare and difficult do we want it to be?)

[Aoife]

While this is true, I was volunteering for a selection of settings and listing only the bare essentials. After all a true swashbuckler is fully dressed wearing naught but his sword and his wits.

Only partly true.  Are they running from the King's bedchambers?

And, personally, I'd prefer the non-piratical version, simply for the fun that comes of being onland and not being bound to the same tired old tropes every pirate game seems to run into.

[Saric]

There is an NPC in Swashbucklers of the Seven Skies (the sadly not-free game that uses PDQ#) who has a Technique called Situation: Semi-clad.  Apparently she has a lot of experience with angry wives, mistresses, mothers, et cetera interrupting her liaisons with handsome men.

If we can but muster four or five reasonably reliable persons to dare all, we can get something launched!

Any preferences between Damsels and something piratical?

I must hasten to add that I have not been quite clear on this--posting the dial settings, which I've done for both swashbuckling ideas, provides a starting point for discussion.  That is, this is what I as GM have in mind, but players are free to suggest things they want to see or ask for changes...they aren't set in stone.

(There are also a couple more that need to be hammered out, but we can worry about that when we know what we'll be doing.  Things like...do guns do the same damage as other weapons, or are they deadlier?  What does poison do?  Do we want to have mad mojo slinging around, and if so how rare and difficult do we want it to be?)

I'd take anything but my preference would be for the Spelljammer setting. Also how wedded to the idea of the whole party being damsels are you? Other then that I like the dials as are.

As for guns and poisons... I'd say your just as dead with a musket ball through your heart as a rapier, so same; for poison I'd say go with the book suggestion of using all options and just changing the cost based on what it does. I have no real position on mojo, ether it's existence or difficulty.

Only partly true.  Are they running from the King's bedchambers?

And, personally, I'd prefer the non-piratical version, simply for the fun that comes of being onland and not being bound to the same tired old tropes every pirate game seems to run into.

You disappoint me M'Lady! The question is not "Are they running from the King's bedchambers?" it's "What kind of swashbuckler runs out of bedchambers when there are windows to leap dramatically out of?". The answer? "One who is afraid of heights!" or "One who doesn't want their hat to get wet!" The first case is an transient answer that leads only to more questions. The second lets you know that the swashbuckler has their hat, in which case everything is fine.

[Aoife]

I have no real setting preferences so long as it's vaguely Victorian, and at a technology level that supports at least a modicum of what constitutes civilized society.  I'd also like to state I've got no problem with a 'King's Guard' style frame, with both genders represented.

Balancing between gunpowder and melee weapons should be right in the middle.  Either/or really.  Poison should probably be played down a bit, or otherwise used in a narrative sense.  No one particularly likes being poisoned in a lighthearted swashbuckling game. Despite any realism it may have.

I'm also fine with mojo, so long as it's used in a narrative context or by the devious men of dastardly intentions.  I'd prefer players stick with the overall theme.


And I daresay one only leaps out of windows when one lacks a convenient chandelier.  If lacking a chandelier, one must improvise using a ladies petticoats as an improvised parachute, or simply pray there is a convenient cabbage cart lying underneath said window.  Heavens knows that we swashbucklers are the only things that keep cabbage sellers in business after all.

[Muse]

  I'd favor the Leauge of Extraodrinary Damsels idea over the pirate one, but eihter one I'm there! 

  A bit of mojo woudl make a fun add in.  :) 

[MadPanda]

The Spelljammer bit is mostly for the Space Opera version.

Two for League of Extraordinary Damsels it is!  And yes, I'm afraid that, given the inspiration, that the idea of a trio (or quartet, or quintet) of female musketeer types is pretty much what I had in mind.  The good news is that you're allowed to be perfectly straight...but if someone wants to play a rather effeminate young man (eyes many an anime reference) that would be acceptable.  That said, if we have at least three damsels, I can let someone play Bosley.   ;D

The general rule on 'mojo' with PDQ# is as follows: if you're using it in a fight, it counts like any other Forte.  If you're using it out of combat, it costs a Style Die and may also require a Challenge to work.

On Guns and Poison...this is not a particularly lethal system, unless you're an un-named Extra.  Consider the source material, in which the heroes and heroines often take massive amounts of injury and yet still rise to fight again.  It's Romantic rather than Realistic.   :-)  While you can kill your archnemesis, you must first wear them down in a nicely cinematic duel--just sniping the guy from five hundred paces would be Bad Form.

I do indeed have a few setting bits in mind, and since Players can use Style Dice to add facts to the world, a mere sketch is all we need.  But yes, there's a women's branch of the Musketeers!  The Crown Princess wanted her own bodyguards...

Further discussion should probably have to wait for an OOC thread!  Where would you nutty funsters like to play--Light or Bondage?  (NC and Extreme would be kind of inappropriate for the genre.  Bodice-ripping is one thing, actual ravishing is another.)

[Aoife]

Probably Light.  This game seems like it would be significantly more fun if the main focus didn't lie entirely in one another's knickers ;)

Bodice ripping is just part of the daily job description.  You wouldn't expect me to wear armor, now would you?  A lady has to maintain her sense of exquisite style.

[Saric]

The Spelljammer bit is mostly for the Space Opera version.

Two for League of Extraordinary Damsels it is!  And yes, I'm afraid that, given the inspiration, that the idea of a trio (or quartet, or quintet) of female musketeer types is pretty much what I had in mind.  The good news is that you're allowed to be perfectly straight...but if someone wants to play a rather effeminate young man (eyes many an anime reference) that would be acceptable.  That said, if we have at least three damsels, I can let someone play Bosley.   ;D

The general rule on 'mojo' with PDQ# is as follows: if you're using it in a fight, it counts like any other Forte.  If you're using it out of combat, it costs a Style Die and may also require a Challenge to work.

On Guns and Poison...this is not a particularly lethal system, unless you're an un-named Extra.  Consider the source material, in which the heroes and heroines often take massive amounts of injury and yet still rise to fight again.  It's Romantic rather than Realistic.   :-)  While you can kill your archnemesis, you must first wear them down in a nicely cinematic duel--just sniping the guy from five hundred paces would be Bad Form.

I do indeed have a few setting bits in mind, and since Players can use Style Dice to add facts to the world, a mere sketch is all we need.  But yes, there's a women's branch of the Musketeers!  The Crown Princess wanted her own bodyguards...

Further discussion should probably have to wait for an OOC thread!  Where would you nutty funsters like to play--Light or Bondage?  (NC and Extreme would be kind of inappropriate for the genre.  Bodice-ripping is one thing, actual ravishing is another.)

When I said Spelljammer I think what I had more in mind was the League of Extraordinary Damsels in a flying islands and skyships kind of setting. That way be can get a dramatic boarding action scene or two (in the middle of a storm perhaps?) without getting stuck in with everything happening on ship or in the dock and taverns section of town like we might if we were actually pirates. That said I'm good ordinary romantic Victoria.

...
Dibs on Bosley if we get four... (I'm fine with running a damsel if I need too, just the character idea I've had works better as a man... in my mind anyway.)

What about Flashy Challenges and cantrips (small, minor uses like lighting a cigar or knocking over a flask of oil. The kinds of things you could accomplish with a match or a pebble but didn't for flavor reasons)?

Clearly you challenge him to a duel of wits by sniping the feather from his hat and 'favored' minion#7 over his shoulder. His attacks and defenses then consist of trying to figure out where you are and sending troops after you and hiding behind guards or having smoky fires lit. You meanwhile use your skill with firearms, knowledge of the terrain, and skill at hiding and disguise to counter. Admittedly, even if you win, this kind of duel does tend to result in the archnemesis escaping rather then falling before you but it still allows for those long range duels of fate.

Doesn't that mean the game is more "Regimental Comrades" rather then "League of Extraordinary X"? Or am I reading this description of shared PC structures wrong?

I'd say put it in bondage to be safe. If no bondage happens, fine. But if we're in light and some characters get it on and happen to have a few kinks... it becomes a denied area rather then an optional one.

And I daresay one only leaps out of windows when one lacks a convenient chandelier.  If lacking a chandelier, one must improvise using a ladies petticoats as an improvised parachute, or simply pray there is a convenient cabbage cart lying underneath said window.  Heavens knows that we swashbucklers are the only things that keep cabbage sellers in business after all.

Know you nothing at all? Clearly the King's bedchamber window is surrounded by thick vine trellises, to grab hold of and climb or hide in, and overlooks the moat! And cabbage carts? Clearly you aim for the hay cart containing an impressionable young lady or driven by an impressionable young man, to taste of course, if only for the quips about a roll in the hay to say nothing of the chance to make up for lost opportunity! Cabbage carts are for using to block carriages and pursuing cavalrymen or for overturning to block chases by men on foot. I will concede the use of chandeliers and application of ladies petticoats as parachutes but there is a time and place for such things! Ladies petticoats are for when you are found with an innkeeper's wife or when leaping from the castle tower that holds the chambers of your true love (Whose station prevents someone of low birth, like yourself, from ever being openly with them. Being declared an outlaw is also an accepted alternative to incompatible stations in life.). Chandeliers are for use in the Great Hall of the castle or tavern main rooms, they can be used in warehouses in a pinch but only when ambushed and dramatically outnumbered.

[Aoife]

Alas, it seems we have a vast difference in methods.  I daresay a hay cart is all well and good if you don't mind picking out prickly bits from your bodice for the next few days, in the meantime though, I'll take my cabbages. (and merchant carts make a much better distraction than cabbages!) Not to mention such a low class pun is surely the realm of lesser swashbuckling personalities.

And, unless the king is particularly foolish or has particularly inept guards, no vines would ever surround the King's bedchamber (the Queen and the Princess, however...)  Regardless, quips are always appropriate, and I must surely cede ground in this regard.

[MadPanda]

It is League of Extraordinary Damsels because not everybody is going to want to play a King's Musketeer (or any variation thereof, such as a Queen's Champion, Cardinal's Guard, or Maidenguard).  Unless everybody wants to play one.

Flashy Challenges are part of the Duel sequence.

I misunderstood you IRT the skyships.  Rest assured, we can still do exciting boarding actions.  They just won't be a constant event.  'Course, if you really want to do skyships, I'd heartily encourage you to pick up a copy of Swashbucklers of the Seven Skies, which is more or less what you're talking about!  (I just ported it into the Space Opera hack written by the game designer, because even Buck Rogers deserves to board an enemy vessel via zipline.)

One for Light, one for Bondage.  I have one person who deserves right of first refusal, and her character might be getting ported straight over from our S7S solo game if she accepts.  Anyone else want to chip in so I can get a-building in my spare moments?

[Aoife]

Nope, I'm pretty happy so long as wit, swordplay, and sheer classiness are the core elements.

[Muse]

Whoot!  Seems I have some reading to do! 

[MadPanda]

Indeed!

The other invitee will not be joining us, alas, so we have three?  Four people for this one?  (pauses to take role call)

[Muse]

  Yo! 

[MadPanda]

Votes are in, at least for the first three of you--it'll go in Bondage, just in case!  Which is to say, we're rating this in case things go there at some point.  Sort of like shooting for a PG-13 rating just in case a re-write of the script has a few extra cuss words.

OOC is here:
https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=131631.0

We can finish up discussing the Dials there and start Char-gen.  I'll be filling out a few world details in the other thread, which is for rules and general reference:  https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=131630.0

[Saric]

I have invaded the OOC thread!

[Aoife]

*Doffs madly stylish hat*

Away we go, it seems.

[Muse]

Got time ot run any others, M.P.?  Like, say, Gama World? 

[MadPanda]

Uncertain.  If I get that very badly needed job in the near future, I might not.  But...you never know!

[MadPanda]

Main list updated...with an idea that will be getting cross-posted to my One-on-One thread.

The soundtrack for this experiment will be mostly Gary Numan's later work, with occasional repetitions of a song by Beck ("Fuckin' With My Head").

Another Sorcerer idea...I just got to see the last half-hour or so of Fight Club.  Just enough to get my mitts on the whole Tyler Durdan thing.  Somewhere out there, there's a free playtest document for Sorcerer that uses the idea of one's dark reflection as a demon.  Three guesses where I'm going with that thought!  Now.  Where'd I leave my copy of Phantasmagoria: A Puzzle of Flesh?

[MadPanda]

In the meantime, we've got one possible vote for Aegis Project...and I'm eying the sandbox that is Stars Without Number for future reference.  So I'm opening that for discussion as well.

Aegis:
Upside--a cool if gritty meta-arc that does a decent job of replicating some of the more pessimistic anime of the 1980's era.  Very simply char-gen.  A flexible system that allows for the GM to impose Murphy's Laws of Combat.  (Also, the PDF is quite affordable.)

Downside--the system has a few bugs!  And it takes some getting used to.  Cookie cutter characters with the lifespan of the average mayfly.  Book-keeping (for an online game) might be awkward.

Possible change--take the Alien Other out of the rules, and you've got something that could replicate any military-themed mecha show from the period.  Just in case we'd rather try something more like Gear Krieg.  :-)  But some conversion would be necessary, unless we want WWII with AI.  Teach me to look at the book again before opening my big yap!  I forgot all about the Second Era, which is Humans fighting Humans instead of Humans versus faceless Aliens.  D'oh.

Stars
Upside: if you ever played Traveller or Basic D&D, you know enough of this system to play.  It's available for free.  It's a sandbox, so the players get to be the stars of the show.
Downside: It's a sandbox, which isn't for everybody.  It's also kind of deadly.


Muse is after me to do something with Gamma World, which'll be the next discussion I open. Suffice to say, I've managed to house rule the Origin table so that you'll start by sending me 2 1d100 rolls instead of rolling a d12 and then a d20 or a d8...but since the GW thing won't be adult (probably), it might be offsite.

[MadPanda]

League has failed to launch!   >:(

It's back on the table for discussion, but I'm leaving the threads where they are in hopes that something can be salvaged.

UPDATE: two of four responding.  This'll go off anyway, I think.  No point in wasting good backstory.  But we'll be looking for a replacement.   :-)

[Muse]

I hope so too! 

[MadPanda]

Playerus Nonrespondus makes for a very cranky Panda.  So it looks like you'll be getting your wish IRT Gamma World 7e, O Muse.  Assuming anyone else wants to try it...

But!  It's going to be a non-adult game, and I'm not quite sure how I want to try doing the whole tactical encounter bit yet.

[MadPanda]

Quick update: although this is NOT going to happen right away, there are rumblings behind the scenes about that Sith Project playtest being cobbled together, since one of the folks who is playing in Red Doctor's Houses of the Blooded game has expressed interest, and I've dragooned my good friend Lanzlo into helping.

I'm throwing some notes together toward that end, so if you're interested by all means speak up and we'll save a spot at the table for you.  (When World of Dew becomes available later this year, some adjustment may be required, because there are new giri that will be opening up, but we'll get there when we get there.)

As a quick warning, because Blood and Honor is the 'vassal' edition of Houses of the Blooded, the first part of this game will be to build the world a wee bit: that is, you get to decide what your Sith Lord is like, what assets your particular faction has, the Aspects you'll be taking when you build your characters and so on.  This is a vital part of the process!  If you want to play, but this sort of thing isn't your cup of tea, be forewarned that you'll be limited to the decisions made by the other players.

[MadPanda]

Mutatis mutandis.

Some things have been removed.  Others have been altered, taking into account recent experiences (not all of them pleasant and enjoyable).

[MadPanda]

A few adjustments have been made, including a couple of new systems that are in the works and updates to older ideas.

[MadPanda]

A couple updates for updates' sake, and one new system added in Old School.

[AndyZ]

If you run Don't Rest Your Head, please let me know.

[MadPanda]

Cross my paw with silver and see what happens, effendi!    >:)

UPDATE:

He did.  OOC is here.
https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=169721.0

Chargen, Rules Summary, and Cast is here.
https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=169726.0

[MadPanda]

A couple of updates!

First, Tenra Bansho Zero has landed--got my physical copy!  Excellent for a one-scenario run rather than an extended committment.

Second, ran across a game best described as Scion by way of Amber Diceless RPG...for the Greeks, anyway.  As an old Amber hand, I can honestly say I like the changes Lords of Olympus makes to the mechanics.  Already at work trying to convert my daughter of Hades in hopes of finding a GM for this one.   ;D

Third, Far West finally lurches into the home stretch before publication!  They're partnering with Cubicle 7 to make this puppy happen.  More to follow when and as I know it!  (This is entirely Hairy Heretic's fault, since he told me about it, and I know for certain that at least one other person here is a backer of FW, same's me, so there'll be a game sooner or later.)

[HairyHeretic]

Got a link for the Lords of Olympus? Sounds like it might be something that'd appeal to me as well.

And yes, still waiting on Into the Far West. They given us a publishing date yet?

[MadPanda]

No hard and fast date yet.  In fact, they've been pretty good about not teasing us anymore by saying "oh, end of next month" and having to revise that several times over.

Most recent news items are here:
http://intothefarwest.com/2013/05/09/cubicle-seven-heads-into-the-far-west/

and here:
http://intothefarwest.com/2013/05/16/adventure-game-support-revealed/

Lords of Olympus may be found here:
http://www.pigames.net/store/default.php?cPath=113

[MadPanda]

Tweaked, teased, and a few minor adjustments made where necessary.

Am thinking the Kingdom Hearts thing would work better as a Gamma World 7e patch.   :-)

[MadPanda]

The usual brief revisit followed by a couple of tweaks in the lineup.

[MadPanda]

A new project has been added, courtesy of Sine Nomine's new kickstarter!  It isn't really appropriate for a 'group' game thread, since it's one-player and GM, but there you go.

[MasterMischief]

Do you still have a hankering to run something in PDQ#?

[MadPanda]

That's one of my eternal "wanna do" games, I'm afeared!  So, yes.

[MasterMischief]

Ooo!  Ooo!  Me!  Pick me!

Let me know when you start up a recruitment thread.  I am so there.

[Jefepato]

Anima Prime sounds interesting.  And I backed Far West way back whenever, but it's been so long I'd practically forgotten about it.

[MadPanda]

It's slouching the last five percent or so to completion.  Nearly there!  Nearly.

[HairyHeretic]

Tell them to hurry up :)

[MadPanda]

When the last reason for delay involves surgery and about 8 weeks of recovery time?  I'll be patient!  (This is also another downside of having two people finish a ten-person project.)

[HairyHeretic]

Okay, as excuses go, that's a pretty reasonable one.

[MadPanda]

Indeed it is!  But when at last it is good to go, I will be announcing it here for all and sundry, and maybe getting my lil' Jade Family lass up to speed.

[MadPanda]

Anima Prime sounds interesting.

Not to mention available for free!  Me, I splurged on the version with the artwork.

http://www.animaprimerpg.com/main/docs/Anima_Prime_CC_04-07-2011.pdf

I have a few setting ideas bouncing around in my noggin, as Muse could tell you, but the one currently playing is a mash-up of Final Fantasy, Gold Digger, and Cadillacs and Dinosaurs.  'Cause nothing says pulpy post-apocalyptic fun like catgirl treasure hunters, muscle cars, and velociraptor ninja!

[Jefepato]

I actually sprang for a hard copy; I have a nice new bookshelf that needed more RPG books weighing it down.

The rules are a bit more complicated than I expected, but it certainly looks worth a try.

[MadPanda]

They're quite simple, I think, but they take some time to get used to since they're so unusual.  All that shuffling of dice from pool to pool!  Still, the overall feel is about right for FF.

[Zeth]

Sword and Sorcery

I'm also a big fan of Ron Edwards's Sorcerer, which is a great indie game geared toward narrativist play and emergent stories.  Now, maybe it's the John Carter of Mars previews, and maybe it's just me, but a hoped-for back-burner project of mine is something along the lines of the early days of S&S.  (Muse shares some of the blame and credit for this one, since we discussed it once upon a whim.)

Here's the springboard--the description of a setting from Sorcerer and Sword:
Doesn't that sound like fun?   >:)  Some assembly, again, is required...I, for one, would like to try something with a stronger touch of India in it, as opposed to the usual Arabian/Persian thing.

Another Sorcerer idea...I just got to see the last half-hour or so of Fight Club.  Just enough to get my mitts on the whole Tyler Durdan thing.  Somewhere out there, there's a free playtest document for Sorcerer that uses the idea of one's dark reflection as a demon.  Three guesses where I'm going with that thought!

I am interested in a Sorcerer game. I have all the books but never had a chance to play it.

[MadPanda]

You mean someone other than me picked that baby up?  (laughs evilly)

[CarnivalOfTheGoat]

You mean someone other than me picked that baby up?  (laughs evilly)

<---- Guilty of having picked that up. Also the supplements (including Supplement 3, which has such amazing analysis in it that at times when reading it I forget what a transgression the whole thing can be seen as). Also some non-Ron supplements.

Never played it, though...

EDIT: A curious query about your vision of Xar as more "Indian:" there are many, many elements that one might label "Indian" ranging from the decidedly imperial settings of the Raj which Kipling enjoyed subtly deconstructing to saying 'Well, it's somewhat like the Arabian/Persian setting but it has caste-based social structures and the myriad pantheon-of-thousands, temple-on-every corner feel to its religion rather than Muslem-ish or Egyptian-ish religious trappings.' to a variety of other interpretations...So I guess what I'm asking is, "what aspects do you mean when you say 'a stronger touch of India'?" Not an expert on India or anything, just sort of an awareness of how much varied richness is involved in the huge mesh of cultures (and portrayals of cultures) which've occupied parts of what we now call India down through the years. I'd definitely be more interested in this than in the 'Fight Club' possibility...

[Jefepato]

I actually have Sorcerer as well -- I semi-recently acquired the two-volume version from the Kickstarter.  It's kind of hard to wrap my brain around, though.  I don't know if I could really handle a proper game.

[CarnivalOfTheGoat]

I actually have Sorcerer as well -- I semi-recently acquired the two-volume version from the Kickstarter.  It's kind of hard to wrap my brain around, though.  I don't know if I could really handle a proper game.

An awful lot of indies strike me this way, at first. It's one of those things I think is either best alleviated by reading APs, or by just getting in and creating a few characters and throwing them into situations and seeing how the rules work.

[MadPanda]

A curious query about your vision of Xar as more "Indian:" there are many, many elements that one might label "Indian" ranging from the decidedly imperial settings of the Raj which Kipling enjoyed subtly deconstructing to saying 'Well, it's somewhat like the Arabian/Persian setting but it has caste-based social structures and the myriad pantheon-of-thousands, temple-on-every corner feel to its religion rather than Muslem-ish or Egyptian-ish religious trappings.' to a variety of other interpretations...So I guess what I'm asking is, "what aspects do you mean when you say 'a stronger touch of India'?" Not an expert on India or anything, just sort of an awareness of how much varied richness is involved in the huge mesh of cultures (and portrayals of cultures) which've occupied parts of what we now call India down through the years. I'd definitely be more interested in this than in the 'Fight Club' possibility...

I do confess, I was thinking in terms of exotic and underutilized settings in an evocative sense rather than any more serious and deep examination, so your first encapsulation is more or less dead on.  However, I also have a passing interest in the Harappan culture, which was pre-caste (so far as I can tell), and you are quite right that there's far more depth and complexity to the idea than a mere surface impression would give.

Also, it's the architecture that came to mind.   :-)

[Zeth]

I actually have Sorcerer as well -- I semi-recently acquired the two-volume version from the Kickstarter.  It's kind of hard to wrap my brain around, though.  I don't know if I could really handle a proper game.

It can be hard to play on forums because the sorcerer is controlled by the player while the demon his/her power comes from is controlled by the GM.

Example 1. Sorcerer Steve tries to use his parasite demon eye Blinky to see through walls, but Blinky chooses not to let Steve activate the power because Steve hasn't filled his need of reading trashy romance novels. So  the two have a non verbal argument that stretches on for 4 posts or so then they compromise. Meanwhile as they argue the other player characters go off and achieve the goal which leaves Steve's player pissed because he missed out on the action.

[MadPanda]

You're assuming the others aren't willing to let the matter resolve first.

Actually, that's another game that's had repeated failures-to-launch, so while I'm willing to consider one-on-ones where such delays aren't really an issue, I'm currently very uncertain about trying a group game.  Maybe a 'shared setting' sort of thing with cameos...

[CarnivalOfTheGoat]

There are an amazing lot of games which have systems which are difficult to bring about on a forum. Option-to-intervene-during-another's-move is a particularly rough one.

[Zeth]

True, but we must try to play them anyways.  Sometimes you see a character idea that is so outstandingly great want to play it/play with it but, it will simply not work n another system. For example, I ran Sorcerer 'The Day of the Dupes' setting/scenario. (I think it is in The Sorcerer's Soul.) One of the PCs was an Agent of Cardinal Richelieu and a sorcerer. He actually had a epic swashbuckling battle with the Kings Musketeers and a Foppish Demon Swordsman.  That RP turned me on to swashbuckling games like Flashing Blades, 7th Sea, and  Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies, etc. I admit I have shamelessly borrowed some concepts from the Sorcerer line and applied them to other fantasy games,especially Sorcerer & Sword.

[CarnivalOfTheGoat]

Admit it? You should brag about it. I, for one, feel like every new game should be an opportunity to drag in anything and everything fun I've picked up along the way elsewhere, however I can twist and tweak it to suit.

I have spent much of the day re-acquainting myself for the first time in several years with Sorcerer, Sorcerer & Sword, and The Sorcerer's Soul, and developing an itch that's just unimaginable in terms of brain spewing out possible concepts.

One of my chief issues with forum games is that often there's little focus on the players to meshing their characters into some sort of whole via interrelations, and inevitably this leads to GMs who feel that they have to set up some sort of a meet-n-greet scenario, and often this scenario ends up being framed in a fashion which one or more PCs have difficulty picturing their characters responding to, and the whole shebang falls apart before ten IC posts have occurred.

Sorcerer seems to scream for the alternate approach, where the GM says 'Here's my setting.' and the players look over it for a few minutes, and then it begins.

"That bit over there in the corner? Yeah. My character has just kicked that over and is currently enmeshed in a brawl with the guards, and apparently there just aren't enough of them, because he's winning."

"There aren't enough of them because most of them have responded to the fire my character set over here, which has nothing to do with planning to help out that other guy, it just looked particularly flammable from my character's perspective."

"You go ahead and deal with those two. While you're doing that, my character is going to be quietly going through the audience, rifling their pockets for loose change."

Or as one of my fellow players in a rather different RPG once said, "Y'all got a right purty town here. Be a shame if something happened to it."

Player agency is antithetical to an awful lot of gamers. And to an awful lot of GMs, too. Instead of going 'Whoa, it's on fire.' and fanning the flames in a direction that will make for maximum climactic events, you see a lot of GMs suddenly forgetting what they are doing and starting to play whack-a-mole.

At its most dramatic, this ends up with the teleport-railroad, where if a PC goes off the charted path, the GM literally has forces-beyond-PC-reckoning chuck the character back to where the GM wants them. And there are people who like that.

I now have a character kicking around in my head. I'm not sure if Sorcerer can handle it, because one of the concepts that attached itself to my backbrain before I got heavily into reading the game, was that the character is kind of stuck with their initial demon. There is no "easy out" of banishing it. It's not an original idea...For cying out loud, Sorcerer cites Elric and Bloodstone left and right. There's probably a way to sort-of-arrange that sort of situation in Sorcerer by setting up specific levels of PC Will and Lore vs. Demonic Power, but I'm not grokking the numbers enough to see it. Hmmmmm.

Odds are I will have to modify the character a bit to suit the mechanic, though. That's doable. But I have to say, today's reading has really churned my creativity to an almost disturbingly productive froth.

[MadPanda]

Have I created a monster?  Yes, yes I have.  I'm such a good little evil GM...I guess I should think about getting something Sword and Sorcerer together with that modified Xar setting.  Now, where's my copy of Legends of Araby?

The key to GMing Sorcerer, to paraphrase Houses of the Blooded, seems to be: make contingencies, not plans. And treat your NPCs like stolen cars--fun to joyride, but ditch 'em at any point.  But the nice thing about the annotated version is that at least I found out what I was doing Wrong.

Being 'stuck' with a demon works for me.  My two ideas on tap are a demon that craves to be used for justice (in a "smite the wicked" sense) and the one and only tentacle demon I ever wrote up...

[MadPanda]

Currently in progress (because I'm a bit of a masochist when it comes to this sort of thing, apparently)...League of Extraordinary Damsels, regeared for Numenera.  Because the Ninth World could use some equal-opportunity ass kicking from self-rescuing princesses.

Blame Monte Cook for this one.

[MadPanda]

Updated with an all-catgirl* reskin of Firefly, Powered by the Apocalypse!  How could this possibly go wrong?

Two thoughts on setup.  There's the easy way (pre-gens!) and the hard way (actually walking folks through char-gen)...



* okay, okay, dog-girls, bunny-girls, fox-girls, et cetera both permitted and encouraged.

[Idlewyld]

Color me interested!