Topic: Interest - Attack on Titan

[TheSithChicken]

After several days of running games at Colossalcon I had the chance to play a couple of sessions of the fanmade Powered by the Apocalypse AoT rpg called Titan World. It's awesome. Fantastically simple in execution, perfect in emulating the feeling of the series, and producing the most intense combat I have ever experienced in 26 years of roleplaying. Dark, unforgiving, and brutal but with this great sense of being a hero when you succeed.

I really, really want to run this. So let's start with what Attack on Titan is for those unfamiliar with it.

Long ago, the world belonged to humans. Those days vanished, however, when the Titans came.

The origins of the Titans remain shrouded in mystery. All we know is that their rise was sudden and brutal, and soon, they were everywhere. Massive and all but indestructible, the Titans sought nothing but to eat humans.

And eat they did - before long, humans had been pushed to the brink of extinction. Now this world belongs to the Titans.

All that remains of humanity lives in a single nation, surrounded by three enormous walls. The world beyond the walls is a dangerous one, full of ravenous Titans that seek nothing more than to consume human flesh. Behind the walls, humanity is safe - but all it would take is a single breach to plunge humanity into chaos once more.

If the first wall were to break, half of humanity’s territory would be lost. If the second were to break, what little remained would not be able to support even its own population, let alone the refugees from outside.

If the third wall broke, then every last human would surely be devoured.

You have just graduated from the military training corps, and been trained in the dangerous craft of fighting Titans.

People like you patrol the walls, keep the peace, and go on expeditions beyond the walls to unearth resources and information.

You do not know the true horror of battle between man and Titan.

But you will.

And this is what I am thinking. Use the setting as it is at the beginning of the series but go our own way from there using elements of the series. I want to do this for a couple of reasons. One is that I don't want to recreate a series - I want to create a new story for us. Two is that I don't want to spoil the story past the point of the anime for anyone who isn't caught up.

Seems fair, no?

This will be a Extreme game for the level of violence, brutality, and dark themes. It will be using the free Titan World rules which will be linked below with the caveat that I will be adding various Basic Moves from Dungeon World to provide more out of combat options. The game will involve character death. Probably a lot over time. It's just the nature of the setting. That being said the game will be more than just fighting monsters. There will be lots of other things really. I like story and the nature of Elliquiy with people almost instinctively building relationships will make the death and brutality a lot more meaningful I think.

Titan World: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bw7QgogbK6wSOWluWEpPMDV4Vzg/edit

So would anyone be interested in this?


Application!

Due to the mortal nature of characters in this setting I am only going to ask for a few things. None of which are character or backstory.

- To know how familiar you are with Attack on Titan and World rpgs. Neither familiarity is required. I just want to know.

- Three things you would like to see in this game. Stories, themes, situations - anything. I just want to know what draws you to this idea.


Game Link: https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=251533.msg12434823#msg12434823

Game Chat: https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=251534.0

[wander]

Attack on Titan + Powered by the Apocalypse?

I AM SO IN!! 

[TheSithChicken]

So that is one incredibly excited player.

[AndyZ]

Keeping an eye on this.

[TheSithChicken]

2 interested... that's a start.

If anyone has any questions or concerns feel free to share them.

[wander]

As a pre-emptive, I'll probably go with this for a character;

Felix (Level 0)
Agility +1
Execution +1
Awareness +0
Discipline +2
Rage -1

As for the extra piece of gear, I believe it best to see what other players would feel is best to equip for the first mission at hand. All of additional equipment is pretty useful.

As for questions, I saw nothing about what kind of stats Titans have in those rules, I play and run Dungeon World so I understand the GM doesn't ever roll however monsters in that game have damage done (for players to roll when they miss a dodge roll) and also HP and armour for when they score hits. It seems more to me from an initial read that a Titan is killed by two successful strikes and it will insta-kill anyone that rolls 6 or less on specific actions... Is this correct?

[TheSithChicken]

Ish. You generally get multiple rolls before you die - which includes chances for another players to rescue you. In Titan World there is no hit points or armor for anyone. Every attack is a killing blow more or less. It's a brutal system but it very accurately reflects the source material in action. That being said we only lost one character during the two sessions we played at the con and that was my badass who was eaten in the first five minutes of game. Terrible luck on those dice.

Now be aware I am going to change a few things up rules wise. Mostly I am going to add a few Moves properly modified from Dungeon World (though I might look into Tremulus for some of it's mental trauma type mechanics) but the big change is that I am considering is replacing the Titan Shifter as a base playbook. I have a created playbook (the Survivor) to take it's place. I would make it more of an advanced playbook. Like you get to level 6 you could take it's starting moves as a level advancement and become a Titan Shifter. I would then use the Titan Shifter's appearance as a big plot point.

But that is only if the players are fine with that. If someone really wants to be one and the other players are cool with it then that is what we would do.

[wander]

I'll say I'd be interested to see what you include before passing full judgement. The rules from tremulus for mental trauma seem very interesting... I noticed that there isn't a 6 or less option for the Keep Your Cool action, which makes me think something like that would come into it.

For me at least, The Leader seems like the playbook I'd like to work towards once the first mission is completed. :)

[TheSithChicken]

Mostly it seems like I'm just supposed to make a Hard Move on a 6- for Keep Your Cool but if I can make something more interesting using Tremulus.

The Leader is what I played at the con. It's fun.

[AndyZ]

The Shifter seems interesting.

[mcmuffinfluffin]

I'd be interested if only for the Attack on Titan setting alone.

Need to read through the mechanics still, unfamiliar with this system as I have really only played D&D3.5 and Deadlands

[TheSithChicken]

The system is very simple. Everything is 2d6 + Stat. 10+ is a success, 7-9 is a partial success, and 6- is a failure. The Moves will tell you what can happen at each except for failure usually. That's GM territory. Mechanically that's pretty much it. Simple but providing narratively complex options.

[mcmuffinfluffin]

Just read through it and you are right, it is not complex. Though it does seem a fair bit unforgiving, not that it is a bad thing given the setting.

[TheSithChicken]

It gets more forgiving once you get past the rookie stage but the game remains brutal. It's one of the reasons I really want Elliquiy to do it's thing when it comes to relationships between characters. Having romances or torrid affairs or whatever between characters will make that failure on an Escape Death roll a lot more potent narratively.

[mcmuffinfluffin]

Alright that is nice, I am thinking going towards the naturalist route. Agility as my +2, Awareness and Discipline as my +1, but not sure which to drop out of rage and execution for -1.

And building up relationships will be a nice touch, gives us something to look forward to between missions. And I like to imagine people may play a bit differently if they have reasons to try and survive or protect others, should be fun!

[TheSithChicken]

The plan was always to have more than just missions in the field. When it comes to AOT I am just as interested in the world and the culture as I am the action. To me giving the chance to explore the world and build relationships is what will make the game work over time.

[wander]

I'm glad you talked about character relationships, having that element of emotion, potential heartbreak and living lives to the fullest is what I love about the game, Grey Ranks, another rules-lite game based in WW2. Glad to see that in an Attack on Titan game.

I'm interested to see how specific missions are set up like... I'm old hat on the rules of Powered by the Apocalypse (the 2d6 system used here) but the Titans seem very much more narrative-based than the antagonists I'm used to. I also like the add of the advantages and disadvantages, that's cool to be low on blades and/or gas potentially and need to reload.

One thing I didn't see mentioned were how horses would be implemented, in canon they're faster than most Titans but don't have the manoevrability to fight them but are useful for charges and more importantly quick escapes nonetheless. I know there's a Dungeon World supplement that deals with steeds but I wonder how they'd be implemented here.

Oh and can I mention Thunder Spears? ^^'

[TheSithChicken]

A game's no fun to me without all that honestly. The relationships are what drive the game. If you don't care about the other characters the events in game don't mean anything.

I would just list horses as an Advantage. Easiest way of dealing with it. Thunder Spears I would treat as just another equipment or maybe a Move? Could be a Special Move like Undertaking a Journey in Dungeon World.

[wander]

I'd guess there's the option for multiple characters too, seeing as it seems very easy for characters to get killed. Looking through though, things seem doable... It'd be rare to attack before Getting into Position and Desperate Rescue and Escape Death are good last ditch actions for when other actions such as Avoid Harm or Strike to Kill fail.

[TheSithChicken]

It's harsh but it gives you options.

[wander]

Completely off-topic, but...

I just noticed Andy's new avatar... That's a great pic of Mei and I don't even like her that much... xD

[AndyZ]

^_^ ThatRPGuy found it.

There's an Overwatch thread in On Topic if you want to meet some of the rest of us Overwatch E players.

[wander]

He's a good dude, would he be interested in Attack on Titan?

Back to keep things on-topic; I wanted to ask how much of the AoT canon as in the world and it's secrets would show up in the game? As in, what would be the mix of canon and GM-made elements to the world and secret spoilery stuff?

[TheSithChicken]

It's going to be a mix of same premise - different secrets. More or less so that I am not a slave to existing canon and so that the story is not spoiled by the game for people who haven't gone beyond the anime. Make the game uniquely ours by filtering the premise through the howling night madness that is my brain.

[AndyZ]

Oh, do we start with rookies or with full characters?