Also, I like the name "editor" but like I said before, too early to tell.
As long as the GM/DM role isn't called "Didio". (Heyo! Obscure-ish comic book industry joke!)
Gonna need to follow that blow of yours, then! I am a perma-DM, basically. I used to hate it, but I've grown to appreciate the role.
Bowie S, pronounced like David, not like Knife, can be found in Minneapolis and has Monomaniacal Reverse Engineer d10 Death and the dice level all distinctions. -Samuel Foote
Teaching GMs to run a game, including how to run pre-written ones, modify them or build new ones are things near and dear to me. My particular expertise in this project gravitates around making the GM experience as smooth and as exciting as possible.
It is the hardest job around the table, but it doesn't have to be a chore, expecially when plenty of tools are made available to make it easier and more rewarding. Those who've been following my blog these last years know how dedicated I am to the art of running games. :)
As somebody who has read Phil's stuff on and off through the years, I'll second that he cares a lot about helping bring new GMs into the hobby, whatever their background is.
As somebody who has read Phil's stuff on and off through the years, I'll second that he cares a lot about helping bring new GMs into the hobby, whatever their background is.
This would be very good to know. As it will likely be me introducing this to my normal game group, and none of them are RPGers like myself, anything that could be done to make it accessible to noobs is gonna be a plus. At least for my demographic.
Chief Editor, so we can have a two character acronym, CE, instead of GM or DM.
Sticking with Editor on this. Dunno how obsessively into comics you are, but it's given a two-letter abbreviation in comics all the time, a la:
[See issue #14 of Freedom Four -Ed]
Bowie S, pronounced like David, not like Knife, can be found in Minneapolis and has Monomaniacal Reverse Engineer d10 Death and the dice level all distinctions. -Samuel Foote
I also approve of being called Ed as opposed to GM. It seems a lot friendlier and less prone to presumptions of genocide. "Uh-oh, we pissed off Ed" sounds a lot less ominous than "Uh-oh, we pissed off the GM."
Bowie S, pronounced like David, not like Knife, can be found in Minneapolis and has Monomaniacal Reverse Engineer d10 Death and the dice level all distinctions. -Samuel Foote
Thank you Phil for all the information you've given us. Two questions if I may;
1) Can you talk a little bit more about how experience will work?
2) What sort of timeline are you looking at for the beta/getting more playtesters involved and are there any open slots for playtesters?
It's been a pleasure!
1) As of now (subject to change), experience represents the number of adventures your character has been in since you started playing with it. Each adventure gives you "an issue" in a comic book collection. During play, you score "spotlight moments", moments where your hero shines through great success, great failures or just plain weird events. There are mechanics that cover how to get those moments.
At the end of an adventure (that can last from one to a few sessions) all players tally up thier spotlight moments. The character(s) with the most are featured as the main character(s) of that particular issue. And the group names the issue appropriately. (ex: Legacy #52: Peril on Mars) or (Legacy and Unity Special #2: Portal Trouble in Idaho). All other players are considered secondary characters in that issue.
Players mark both types of issues on their character sheets: Spotlight ones and ordinary issues where they were secondary characters. There are mechanics to make it harder for players to get consecutive spotlight issues.
So XPs are like a comic book collection that tells of your previous adventure.
You tap into them in two ways:
Callbacks: Once per spotlight issue per adventure, you can callback to a previous adventure where your hero did something that would help you in a particular situation. Doing so either counts as minor cost to offset a minor failure, or allows you to Max out one die of your pool after a roll.
Trade Paperbacks: Once you get 6 issues in your collection, regardless if they are spotlight or not, you trade them away and your character "levels up" and gets a dice size increase on a power/quality and other options we're working on.
I'm real excited about these (as I came up with a few of the ideas behind them, refined by Cam and Dave. amazing designers that they are.)
2) I can't answer that, because I don't know. I know people can't wait to playtest this, but it's not entirely in our control and much of our energy is spent on designing the bits that are still missing. :)
I also approve of being called Ed as opposed to GM. It seems a lot friendlier and less prone to presumptions of genocide. "Uh-oh, we pissed off Ed" sounds a lot less ominous than "Uh-oh, we pissed off the GM."
That's my entire reason of the suggestion. Helps that my name is Ed :)
Also players should be called True Believers! For reasons :)
So XPs are like a comic book collection that tells of your previous adventure.You tap into them in two ways:Callbacks: Once per spotlight issue per adventure, you can callback to a previous adventure where your hero did something that would help you in a particular situation. Doing so either counts as minor cost to offset a minor failure, or allows you to Max out one die of your pool after a roll.Trade Paperbacks: Once you get 6 issues in your collection, regardless if they are spotlight or not, you trade them away and your character "levels up" and gets a dice size increase on a power/quality and other options we're working on. I'm real excited about these (as I came up with a few of the ideas behind them, refined by Cam and Dave. amazing designers that they are.)
This seems very reminiscent of the classic Deadlands methodology of XP, wherein you could spend Fate Chips for rerolls and to activate in-game benefits, but those same Fate Chips acted as your character's personal XP.
It's worth noting, I think, that a lot of games have moved away from this, based on the tendency for players to be reticent to "burn their experience points" for a one-time bonus. The current edition of Deadlands--and Savage Worlds in general--don't use this method; experience and Fate Chips are kept entirely separate.
While I tend to like games that include some form of meta-currency--Bennies, Fate points, Hero points, Vigilance dice, etc.--I don't think tying that currency to a character's advancement is a great idea...
I think it isn't quite like that. I think you have X comics in your past. Each adventure you can harken back X times (once per past comic) for a boost. And, once you've collected 6 comics, you level up. Once you level up, I guess you can't call back the spotlight events from the previous comics because they're "spent". So, you both get to have the boosts and eat them too (for a level).
"Deja-fu? You've heard of that?"
- Lu Tze, Sweeper, Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett
I like editor too, but the abbreviation ED isn't a great direction, unless we are going to have ads with Mrs. Parsons talking about how Paul got his passion back.
Thanks for answering questions, I thought of some more:
1) I'd like to hear how two different groups solved the same problem in different ways in the games you ran. Combat or Non-Combat problem, or both if you are feeling generous.
2) Did all the groups finish the storyline you had prepared? How long did the sessions take? (I ask becasue I'll be a new GM with new players and am curious what kind of time we'll need, I know it will vary from group to group, but I'm curious how long it took from hook to Voss showdown).
3) I may only have myself(GM) and two other players, is it reasonable to run a two player adventure or like the card game its designed for 3+ heroes? Or 2 players is possible but I'll have to modify the rules/senarios?
I like editor too, but the abbreviation ED isn't a great direction, unless we are going to have ads with Mrs. Parsons talking about how Paul got his passion back.
Well, that's if you call it ED... if you call it Ed, less so!
I had already thought of that. But yeah. There's a huge difference between "Ee Dee" and "Ehd" in pronunciation and meaning.
Bowie S, pronounced like David, not like Knife, can be found in Minneapolis and has Monomaniacal Reverse Engineer d10 Death and the dice level all distinctions. -Samuel Foote
3) I may only have myself(GM) and two other players, is it reasonable to run a two player adventure or like the card game its designed for 3+ heroes? Or 2 players is possible but I'll have to modify the rules/senarios?
I'm not Phil, but:
Most narrative-focused games work even for one player. Hell, even crunchy games can, but you have to supplement the character (in D&D, this would be things like lots of health potions). My ideal game is for 3-4 players at a table. Less isn't bad, but more tends to be. The less players you have, the main problem ends up being those players having to share a lot of burden for pushing their story. With more players, you can hope for a little distribution of interest in that way. But if your players are really interested in the subject and the game, less players might be better and let you tell more intimate, richer stories.
I ran an MHR game for two players for a while. It went very well. I would be shocked if this did not work just as well.
Bowie S, pronounced like David, not like Knife, can be found in Minneapolis and has Monomaniacal Reverse Engineer d10 Death and the dice level all distinctions. -Samuel Foote
3) I may only have myself(GM) and two other players, is it reasonable to run a two player adventure or like the card game its designed for 3+ heroes? Or 2 players is possible but I'll have to modify the rules/senarios?
I'm not Phil, but:Most narrative-focused games work even for one player. Hell, even crunchy games can, but you have to supplement the character (in D&D, this would be things like lots of health potions). My ideal game is for 3-4 players at a table. Less isn't bad, but more tends to be. The less players you have, the main problem ends up being those players having to share a lot of burden for pushing their story. With more players, you can hope for a little distribution of interest in that way. But if your players are really interested in the subject and the game, less players might be better and let you tell more intimate, richer stories.I ran an MHR game for two players for a while. It went very well. I would be shocked if this did not work just as well.
GenCon Interview with Christopher about Sentinels RPG posted. Not a lot new in it, but some mechanics discussion. And a lot of Christohper being Christopher.
Well some of the mechanics are clearer now for me so it's worth a read if you didn't get to sit at the demo. It sounds awesome and it may give the system with the flow to give life to a really weird superhero game we were working on.
Nice interview. There was one tidbit that I had missed earlier: the characters will have more than two principles, and will have two principles active at any one time. That reminds me of the Sentinel Tactics mechanic.
@eviltoon: On your Legacy Character Sheet, Lead From the Front (green) and Inspirational Charge (yellow) are exactly the same power. Was that intentional?
Also, did anyone figure out what was on the backs of those cheat sheets? Like when you try to recover but roll a 5, do you recover any stress at all?
Anyone can game alone, but it is much more fun to game with friends.
As long as the GM/DM role isn't called "Didio". (Heyo! Obscure-ish comic book industry joke!)
Gonna need to follow that blow of yours, then! I am a perma-DM, basically. I used to hate it, but I've grown to appreciate the role.
Bowie S, pronounced like David, not like Knife, can be found in Minneapolis and has Monomaniacal Reverse Engineer d10
Death and the dice level all distinctions. -Samuel Foote
As somebody who has read Phil's stuff on and off through the years, I'll second that he cares a lot about helping bring new GMs into the hobby, whatever their background is.
Thank you Phil for all the information you've given us. Two questions if I may;
1) Can you talk a little bit more about how experience will work?
2) What sort of timeline are you looking at for the beta/getting more playtesters involved and are there any open slots for playtesters?
Chief Editor, so we can have a two character acronym, CE, instead of GM or DM.
Hi. My name's Andy. Feel free to call me Andy, since, ya know, that's my name. (he/him/his)
If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If not now, when? If I am for myself alone, what am I? -- Hillel
This would be very good to know. As it will likely be me introducing this to my normal game group, and none of them are RPGers like myself, anything that could be done to make it accessible to noobs is gonna be a plus. At least for my demographic.
Sticking with Editor on this. Dunno how obsessively into comics you are, but it's given a two-letter abbreviation in comics all the time, a la:
[See issue #14 of Freedom Four -Ed]
Bowie S, pronounced like David, not like Knife, can be found in Minneapolis and has Monomaniacal Reverse Engineer d10
Death and the dice level all distinctions. -Samuel Foote
Plus, then we can always call the GM "Ed". Which is funny.
Well, I think it's funny.
"See, this is another sign of your tragic space dementia, all paranoid and crotchety. Breaks the heart." - Mal
Unicode U+24BD gets us Ⓗ. (Thanks, Godai!)
I also approve of being called Ed as opposed to GM. It seems a lot friendlier and less prone to presumptions of genocide. "Uh-oh, we pissed off Ed" sounds a lot less ominous than "Uh-oh, we pissed off the GM."
Bowie S, pronounced like David, not like Knife, can be found in Minneapolis and has Monomaniacal Reverse Engineer d10
Death and the dice level all distinctions. -Samuel Foote
Chalk me up for another vote in favor of EDitor. Alternatively, Editor-in-Chief (EIC). But yeah, I like ED better...
It's been a pleasure!
1) As of now (subject to change), experience represents the number of adventures your character has been in since you started playing with it. Each adventure gives you "an issue" in a comic book collection. During play, you score "spotlight moments", moments where your hero shines through great success, great failures or just plain weird events. There are mechanics that cover how to get those moments.
At the end of an adventure (that can last from one to a few sessions) all players tally up thier spotlight moments. The character(s) with the most are featured as the main character(s) of that particular issue. And the group names the issue appropriately. (ex: Legacy #52: Peril on Mars) or (Legacy and Unity Special #2: Portal Trouble in Idaho). All other players are considered secondary characters in that issue.
Players mark both types of issues on their character sheets: Spotlight ones and ordinary issues where they were secondary characters. There are mechanics to make it harder for players to get consecutive spotlight issues.
So XPs are like a comic book collection that tells of your previous adventure.
You tap into them in two ways:
Callbacks: Once per spotlight issue per adventure, you can callback to a previous adventure where your hero did something that would help you in a particular situation. Doing so either counts as minor cost to offset a minor failure, or allows you to Max out one die of your pool after a roll.
Trade Paperbacks: Once you get 6 issues in your collection, regardless if they are spotlight or not, you trade them away and your character "levels up" and gets a dice size increase on a power/quality and other options we're working on.
I'm real excited about these (as I came up with a few of the ideas behind them, refined by Cam and Dave. amazing designers that they are.)
2) I can't answer that, because I don't know. I know people can't wait to playtest this, but it's not entirely in our control and much of our energy is spent on designing the bits that are still missing. :)
The Chatty DM
You can find my blog here (if Craig doesn't kill the link with fire... he he he)
http://www.critical-hits.com/blog/category/critical-hits/columns/chattydm/
Be forewarned, there's like 950 articles in there... It harkens back to D&D 3.5...
:)
The Chatty DM
That's my entire reason of the suggestion. Helps that my name is Ed :)
Also players should be called True Believers! For reasons :)
This seems very reminiscent of the classic Deadlands methodology of XP, wherein you could spend Fate Chips for rerolls and to activate in-game benefits, but those same Fate Chips acted as your character's personal XP.
It's worth noting, I think, that a lot of games have moved away from this, based on the tendency for players to be reticent to "burn their experience points" for a one-time bonus. The current edition of Deadlands--and Savage Worlds in general--don't use this method; experience and Fate Chips are kept entirely separate.
While I tend to like games that include some form of meta-currency--Bennies, Fate points, Hero points, Vigilance dice, etc.--I don't think tying that currency to a character's advancement is a great idea...
I think it isn't quite like that. I think you have X comics in your past. Each adventure you can harken back X times (once per past comic) for a boost. And, once you've collected 6 comics, you level up. Once you level up, I guess you can't call back the spotlight events from the previous comics because they're "spent". So, you both get to have the boosts and eat them too (for a level).
"Deja-fu? You've heard of that?"
- Lu Tze, Sweeper, Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett
If you're able to do both, that's fine.
The way it was worded earlier, it sounds like it's an 'either/or'. Could we get clarification?
I like editor too, but the abbreviation ED isn't a great direction, unless we are going to have ads with Mrs. Parsons talking about how Paul got his passion back.
Thanks for answering questions, I thought of some more:
1) I'd like to hear how two different groups solved the same problem in different ways in the games you ran. Combat or Non-Combat problem, or both if you are feeling generous.
2) Did all the groups finish the storyline you had prepared? How long did the sessions take? (I ask becasue I'll be a new GM with new players and am curious what kind of time we'll need, I know it will vary from group to group, but I'm curious how long it took from hook to Voss showdown).
3) I may only have myself(GM) and two other players, is it reasonable to run a two player adventure or like the card game its designed for 3+ heroes? Or 2 players is possible but I'll have to modify the rules/senarios?
Well, that's if you call it ED... if you call it Ed, less so!
I had already thought of that. But yeah. There's a huge difference between "Ee Dee" and "Ehd" in pronunciation and meaning.
Bowie S, pronounced like David, not like Knife, can be found in Minneapolis and has Monomaniacal Reverse Engineer d10
Death and the dice level all distinctions. -Samuel Foote
I'm not Phil, but:
Most narrative-focused games work even for one player. Hell, even crunchy games can, but you have to supplement the character (in D&D, this would be things like lots of health potions). My ideal game is for 3-4 players at a table. Less isn't bad, but more tends to be. The less players you have, the main problem ends up being those players having to share a lot of burden for pushing their story. With more players, you can hope for a little distribution of interest in that way. But if your players are really interested in the subject and the game, less players might be better and let you tell more intimate, richer stories.
I ran an MHR game for two players for a while. It went very well. I would be shocked if this did not work just as well.
Bowie S, pronounced like David, not like Knife, can be found in Minneapolis and has Monomaniacal Reverse Engineer d10
Death and the dice level all distinctions. -Samuel Foote
You get to tap into your spotlight issues until you hit six issues, then you'd have to trade them.
As I said, work in progress, in need of further testing. :)
The Chatty DM
In the interest of expediency: What he said. ;)
The Chatty DM
GenCon Interview with Christopher about Sentinels RPG posted. Not a lot new in it, but some mechanics discussion. And a lot of Christohper being Christopher.
http://www.rpgamer.com/event/gencon15/cbadell.html
G+ games: I am part of the 100%
Well some of the mechanics are clearer now for me so it's worth a read if you didn't get to sit at the demo. It sounds awesome and it may give the system with the flow to give life to a really weird superhero game we were working on.
"New" video!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJ-AcEAPXvQ
Stop lurking, it makes you look like a villain target
When you do things right, people won’t be sure you’ve done anything at all
Another year before it's out.
I'll live. :)
"A lot of Christopher being Christopher"
I'm going to take that as a compliment...?
"Your goodness must have some edge to it — else it is none."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
That would totally be a compliment if I said it. I can't speak for Pwatson though!
Just assume I'm always doing that.
Damn it, Ronway!
It sounds like everyone that got to play really enjoyed the game. I hope that remains the same when the kickstarter comes out! :)
Anyone can game alone, but it is much more fun to game with friends.
Chrono
@eviltoon: On your Legacy Character Sheet, Lead From the Front (green) and Inspirational Charge (yellow) are exactly the same power. Was that intentional?
Also, did anyone figure out what was on the backs of those cheat sheets? Like when you try to recover but roll a 5, do you recover any stress at all?
Anyone can game alone, but it is much more fun to game with friends.
Chrono
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