Author: Christian Svalander

Did you enjoy Half-Life, The Thing, or Zygote?

Did you enjoy Half-Life, The Thing, or Zygote?

Did you enjoy Half-Life, The Thing, or Zygote? Join me on Saturday on the 10/20 for a second playtest of my Anomalis (a game PbtA) at Gauntlet Con 2018, and explore your survival options in a catastrophically failing research facility, while trying to save your work and credibility! All seats available on Saturday! cc @GauntletRPG #halflife #thething #zygote #onlinettrpgconvention #gauntletcon

Playtest 01: Full

Playtest 02: https://gauntlet-con.firebaseapp.com/event-detail/-LKSL3FR27kNPCrOS07I (4 seats available)

More info: http://www.gauntlet-rpg.com/gauntlet-con.html

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[Crossposted from Slack]

[Crossposted from Slack]

[Crossposted from Slack]

After lurking Gauntlet Con last weekend while working, I realized I had a hard time following people time schedules. If anyone feels they need, much like me, a tool for overviewing timezones (and to find others in the same if you have limited availability), I have created a Gauntlet team at Timezone.io for anyone here to join. It is really convenient and gives organizations an overview of who’s in which zone. Created by a developer at Buffer I think.

Check it out here: https://timezone.io/join/ffa1de1c9769c8ce

https://timezone.io/join/ffa1de1c9769c8ce

After having some awesome feedback from Christo Meid and Phillip Wessels I have made some good progress with…

After having some awesome feedback from Christo Meid and Phillip Wessels I have made some good progress with…

After having some awesome feedback from Christo Meid and Phillip Wessels I have made some good progress with Anomalis. So here’s a short chapter digging into the components of the core theme of the game, the catastrophe. You’ll recognize them from fronts and threats from other #pbta games, but here adjusted to fit my idea of a research facility disaster. Also, this is woven into game creation, where the players collaboratively pin down the outlines of their research project and the facility.

As before, I appreciate all types of feedback!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XOVquDAGzYMji22gDBLsWlzyCMg9CwCNnMHCW4yW5po/edit?usp=sharing

So I’m working on my Anomalis project, in short, a science/catastrophe pbta game.

So I’m working on my Anomalis project, in short, a science/catastrophe pbta game.

So I’m working on my Anomalis project, in short, a science/catastrophe pbta game. I have vented some ideas around group trust mechanics and ended up with a new credibility mechanic which I’m fairly happy with as of now.

Players are scientists working in a secret lab where things start to go awry, which escalates into a disaster. Their employer is very demanding, forcing them to correct their ‘mistake’ or suffer consequences. If you’ve seen The Thing, the short Zygote, or played Half-Life, you know what this game is about.

In short, the credibility is a shared trait among the players, that rate their social standing in the eyes of their employer (who is also their primary stakeholder in their research project). It is a health track that during play is harmed by bad decisions and ill managed consequences from the catastrophe in question. When the credibility track reaches certain levels of harm, it is tagged with ‘backlashes.’ At a low level, a backlash is easy to deal with, but as it increases in severity, it becomes more of a problem. What I came to realize was that the credibility should be tied in the opposition (i.e., the consequences of the employer’s unhappiness). This way the ever-increasing opposition to the PCs stands in relation to their failure in dealing with previous consequences. I don’t know if this makes sense yet, but I’ll try to clarify this separately later.

Now I have made a draft over some moves I’d appreciate input on, based on a set of uses cases I made for the game. A lot of the gameplay will for starters deal with the interaction between the PCs and staff on the research facility (authority moves), but also for the actual research they might participate in before the catastrophe is actually happening (the lab moves). Later during the game, there will be a lot of other different types of moves, both survival and conflict oriented, but I haven’t dealt with them yet.

All sorts of feedback are welcome!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YFUyYakdp9vFX_4qP84zRXhbqTDHz6p9qqdy0lKqUPI/edit?usp=sharing

I have also put this is the Slack channel #design_feedback if anyone there want to share their thoughts.

Thanks!

Next question for #tcde:

Next question for #tcde:

Next question for #tcde:

5) How should descriptive traits (non-numeric) affect the dice pool use?

Note 1: This question builds on the premise of having both numeric and descriptive traits.

Note 2: Due to comments in and conclusions from previous polls, question number four 4 was removed.

TL;DR – I’m asking about 20 questions of your preferences around game mechanics. The results will be summed up into a crowd-directed game mechanic document. I have been asked a few question about why I post them one and one, and the answer is I want to lower the threshold for participation, and to have time to follow up each question’s comments and feedback.

—

There are some limitations of the G+ poll functions, so I have made some compromises. From now on I will add the full list of questions in this post so every poll get the correct context (thx +Yoshi Creelman), and the most recent poll results will be added to the premise post here: http://bit.ly/2hSt1vG

The questions asked so far are:

* What dice pool complexity appeals the most to you?

* What dice type do you prefer?

* What should the dice pool be derived from?

* How should the dice pool be used? <--- Removed

* How should descriptive traits (non-numeric) affect the dice pool use?

The questions left are:

* Should we add more features to the dice pool?

* How should the target number/difficulty be handled?

* What type of resolution measurements should be used?

* How should the effect/outcome from successful actions be handled?

* How could descriptive traits relate to resolution and conflicts?

* What trait should be the character’s most dominant?

* How should a character’s competence be structured (excluding characteristics)?

* How many derived (secondary) traits do you prefer (that describe resistance abilities, generic abilities not covered by characteristics, or extraordinary bonuses, e.g. Armor Class or Humanity, etc)?

* Through what process should character development mainly take place?

* What health mechanics do you prefer?

* What health mechanics detail level do you prefer?

* To what extent do you like parallel health mechanics?

—

For those of you who are interested in the premise and the details, check this link out: http://bit.ly/2hSt1vG If you miss a particular question that could broaden our perspective, don’t hesitate to share it with us in the comments.

After this poll, there is only one more question regarding the dice pool.

I’ve tried to find info on how people in general use portents in their dangers/fronts, but haven’t found more than…

I’ve tried to find info on how people in general use portents in their dangers/fronts, but haven’t found more than…

I’ve tried to find info on how people in general use portents in their dangers/fronts, but haven’t found more than what’s written in Dungeon World (yet, still waiting for my AW 2ed and Urban Shadows books to arrive).

To anyone GMing DW – how do make the most of portents and how do you prefer to implement them in your GMing?

EDIT: Used the wrong word. It should read Portents, not dangers. Sorry.

As we say in Sweden – Great Continuance to all of you! Here’s our third question for the crowd-directed experiment:

As we say in Sweden – Great Continuance to all of you! Here’s our third question for the crowd-directed experiment:

As we say in Sweden – Great Continuance to all of you! Here’s our third question for the crowd-directed experiment:

3) What should the dice pool be derived from?

TL;DR – I’m asking about 20 questions of your preferences around game mechanics. The results will be summed up into a crowd-directed game mechanic document. I have been asked a few question about why I post them one and one, and the answer is I want to lower the threshold for participation, and to have time to follow up each question’s comments and feedback.

—

There are some limitations of the G+ poll functions, so I have made some compromises. From now on I will add the full list of questions in this post so every poll get the correct context (thx Yoshi Creelman), and the most recent poll results will be added to the premise post here: http://bit.ly/2hSt1vG

The questions asked so far are:

* What dice pool complexity appeals the most to you?

* What dice type do you prefer?

* What should the dice pool be derived from?

The questions left are:

* How should the dice pool be used?

* How should descriptive traits (non-numeric) affect the dice pool use?

* Should we add more features to the dice pool?

* How should the target number/difficulty be handled?

* What type of resolution measurements should be used?

* How should the effect/outcome from successful actions be handled?

* How could descriptive traits relate to resolution and conflicts?

* What trait should be the character’s most dominant?

* How should a character’s competence be structured (excluding characteristics)?

* How many derived (secondary) traits do you prefer (that describe resistance abilities, generic abilities not covered by characteristics, or extraordinary bonuses, e.g. Armor Class or Humanity, etc)?

* Through what process should character development mainly take place?

* What health mechanics do you prefer?

* What health mechanics detail level do you prefer?

* To what extent do you like parallel health mechanics?

—

For those of you who are interested in the premise and the details, check this link out: http://bit.ly/2hSt1vG If you miss a particular question that could broaden our perspective, don’t hesitate to share it with us in the comments.

After this poll, three more questions regarding the dice pool will follow. Next one will be posted some time before NY. #tcde

Time for our second question for the crowd-directed experiment:

Time for our second question for the crowd-directed experiment:

Time for our second question for the crowd-directed experiment:

2) What dice type do you prefer?

There was a great response on our first question, so thanks everyone that participated! If you’re interested in the premise or what more questions I’ll post, check this link out: http://bit.ly/2hSt1vG If you miss a particular question that could broaden our perspective, don’t hesitate to share it with us in the comments.

After this poll, four more questions regarding the dice pool will follow. Next one will be posted after Christmas, so have a Happy Holiday everyone! Cheers! #tcde

Ok, so s long story short.

Ok, so s long story short.

Ok, so s long story short. I have just stumbled across Dungeon World after finding out about this community and after backing Vincent Baker’s Apocalypse World 2nd edition. Had heard of PbtA through friends, but never really took the time to give it a try. Until now, and oh man what I realized I’ve been missing out. Can you recommend any other game based on the PbtA engine, that has a high production value and is easy to read and get started with?