mrcj
Journeyman Douchebag
Posts: 173
|
Post by mrcj on Feb 28, 2018 12:22:36 GMT -8
I didn't see a thread for this episode yet, if there is one, oops.
Just a note about Sauron and games. Sauron is a complex villain because he is simultaneously absent (up in his tower moving his minions across the face of Middle Earth) and he is also always present (primarily in the corrupting power of the ring).
Many very successful games have an arc that is like: there is a big evil in the world, the party deals with the evil's agents then eventually, over time, advance to kill the evil itself and end. One action leads to another and eventually the party will be powerful enough to face the big evil directly. In many ways this is a parallel conflict, one fairly static force (the big bad) is eventually confronted by an ascending force (the players) on equal footing.
In a game setting the idea of having a super powerful big bad is hard. Most players will try to run up to the tower and kill him. Creating separation is difficult. But if it is possible to have a very rich non-parallel conflict. It forces players to find other ways to address evil in the world. This would become even more complex if the GM can create that dual nature, create a mechanism where the primary antagonist is simultaneously untouchable and always intimately present.
|
|
bobcatt
Apprentice Douchebag
Patron
An infinite number of monkeys can't be wrong...
Posts: 81
Preferred Game Systems: AD&D 1e, 2e, 5e, Top Secret/S.I., Classic Traveller
Currently Playing: nothing at all :-(
Currently Running: completely stalled doing 5e via Roll20
Favorite Species of Monkey: Barrel of
|
Post by bobcatt on Mar 2, 2018 12:46:29 GMT -8
Re: the GM with their 16 strong, ensemble cast of PCs. That's great news!
I was hoping that such an episodic approach would work. I'd posited something similar for con games, keeping the setting consistent with actions from previous sessions affecting future ones. Fingers crossed that this appraoch will save me prep time.
Chris in Canada
|
|
|
Post by EricaOdd on Mar 3, 2018 5:47:12 GMT -8
So is anyone else now eagerly awaiting the fully-costumed AP of The Good Society? Also, about keeping a journal, I use Google Sites. I created a website that I go in and write up session journals for each game I run. I've given edit permissions to another GM in our group so he can do the same for his game. Works well so far!
|
|
hoobuk
Apprentice Douchebag
Posts: 80
Preferred Game Systems: PbtA, D&D 5E, Savage Worlds, WoD20, Cortex+
Currently Playing: Vampire Dark Ages 20th Anniversary, D&D 5E, Pathfinder
Currently Running: Monster of the Week
Favorite Species of Monkey: Capucin
|
Post by hoobuk on Mar 3, 2018 11:23:42 GMT -8
I just backed it so I could get the PDF! Kimi and I will take a look at the system and start costuming!! So is anyone else now eagerly awaiting the fully-costumed AP of The Good Society? Also, about keeping a journal, I use Google Sites. I created a website that I go in and write up session journals for each game I run. I've given edit permissions to another GM in our group so he can do the same for his game. Works well so far!
|
|
|
Post by EricaOdd on Mar 3, 2018 13:59:53 GMT -8
Nice! Lol
|
|
fredrix
Master Douchebag
Posts: 2,142
Preferred Game Systems: Fate, L5R, Pendragon, Gumshoe, Feng Shui
Currently Playing: Pendragon, Song of Ice and Fire, L5R, Feng Shui, Traveller
Currently Running: Fate, Coriolis, Nights Black Agents
Favorite Species of Monkey: 1970's NTV, dubbed by the BBC (though The Water Margin beats it)
|
Post by fredrix on Mar 5, 2018 6:33:00 GMT -8
I know ya’ll excited about Good Society now, but in answer to Kimi’s original question, she should check out Reign, which is I understand, all about court political manouvering, but also in the One Roll Engine!
|
|
|
Post by greatwyrm on Mar 11, 2018 14:07:46 GMT -8
I'd also strongly recommend Hillfolk (and the underlying DramaSystem). There's also the companion book, Blood on the Snow, and tons of other setting starters. It's specifically made to give the experience of interpersonal conflict dramas.
|
|
|
Post by HourEleven on Aug 15, 2018 9:02:59 GMT -8
Kimi also, the soon to be released (but the unedited and not laid out version is available) Cortex Prime can easily handle a purely social political game. The key to Cortex is that the GM determines what matters mechanically and the single resolution method carries it out. If you want a purely social game, only put social attributes on the character sheet. Can’t roll strength if you don’t have a strength stat. Roll your manipulation, or your coercion, or your charm. You can replace tradition skills with things like family or faction loyalties. Roll your charm + loyalty to the DeGuirre family stat. The GM determines what goes on the sheet, what goes on the sheet determines what options are mechanically viable to the story, those mechanics then reinforce the themes and style of play. @hyvemind can back me up, Cortex can be anything you want it to be.
|
|
|
Post by Kimi on Aug 15, 2018 23:35:28 GMT -8
Kimi also, the soon to be released (but the unedited and not laid out version is available) Cortex Prime can easily handle a purely social political game. The key to Cortex is that the GM determines what matters mechanically and the single resolution method carries it out. If you want a purely social game, only put social attributes on the character sheet. Can’t roll strength if you don’t have a strength stat. Roll your manipulation, or your coercion, or your charm. You can replace tradition skills with things like family or faction loyalties. Roll your charm + loyalty to the DeGuirre family stat. The GM determines what goes on the sheet, what goes on the sheet determines what options are mechanically viable to the story, those mechanics then reinforce the themes and style of play. @hyvemind can back me up, Cortex can be anything you want it to be. We are using Cortex Prime for our Gene X AP right now! I am really liking the system! That's a great suggestion!
|
|
fredrix
Master Douchebag
Posts: 2,142
Preferred Game Systems: Fate, L5R, Pendragon, Gumshoe, Feng Shui
Currently Playing: Pendragon, Song of Ice and Fire, L5R, Feng Shui, Traveller
Currently Running: Fate, Coriolis, Nights Black Agents
Favorite Species of Monkey: 1970's NTV, dubbed by the BBC (though The Water Margin beats it)
|
Post by fredrix on Aug 16, 2018 0:07:30 GMT -8
Kimi also, the soon to be released (but the unedited and not laid out version is available) Cortex Prime can easily handle a purely social political game. The key to Cortex is that the GM determines what matters mechanically and the single resolution method carries it out. If you want a purely social game, only put social attributes on the character sheet. Can’t roll strength if you don’t have a strength stat. Roll your manipulation, or your coercion, or your charm. You can replace tradition skills with things like family or faction loyalties. Roll your charm + loyalty to the DeGuirre family stat. The GM determines what goes on the sheet, what goes on the sheet determines what options are mechanically viable to the story, those mechanics then reinforce the themes and style of play. @hyvemind can back me up, Cortex can be anything you want it to be. We are using Cortex Prime for our Gene X AP right now! I am really liking the system! That's a great suggestion! The ORE game Reign also has good social mechanics I am told. Currently kickstarting a new edition too.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 16, 2018 4:31:56 GMT -8
Yeah with Cortex Prime the possibilities are wide open as it's a modular system and the main release will be generic with all the base options listed. There's going to be a load of Spotlight settings released highlighting particular rules combos, believe Hyvemynd may be doing one of them.
Given how much Kimi has managed to repurpose the ORE would be interesting to see what she could do with Cortex.
|
|
|
Post by HourEleven on Aug 16, 2018 9:36:31 GMT -8
I’m hoping Cortex gets the recognition it deserves in the industry when Cam finally finishes it. I think it’s the system a lot of people have been looking for without knowing they were.
It’s the toolkit system at the other end of the spectrum from Gurps, between the two you can make anything (Gurps where mechanics follow a customizable reality and Cortex where mechanics follow a customizable theme.
Every time I played or ran a game of Fate, and it still didn’t do the thing I wanted it to the way i wanted it to, it’s because I was hoping it would play like Cortex, even though I didn’t know what Cortex was yet.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 16, 2018 10:15:18 GMT -8
Agreed, I think it gets unfairly dismissed by a lot of people because it has tended towards licensed properties in the past.
|
|
|
Post by Kimi on Aug 16, 2018 15:29:08 GMT -8
I'm loving the system so far. Combat seems a little slow, but I think that is because we are new and talking through it every time we make a dice pool so listeners can hear. It's very exciting through and I really like how the dice pools are based on character/player choice in some ways.
|
|
|
Post by ericfromnj on Aug 16, 2018 19:02:54 GMT -8
Agreed, I think it gets unfairly dismissed by a lot of people because it has tended towards licensed properties in the past. Was that the system that they used for Marvel? Honestly if it is I don't remember much except just hating the system....
|
|