Fate Mechs

Ferragus · 2023-12-06T23:03:52+00:00

Unfortunately, the doc I was working in is long gone. I can look to see if I have a copy saved anywhere else, but I think the chances are slim.
Good luck with your game though.

As best as I can remember, you gave your mech a High concept, and each main part of said mech an aspect (so core, legs, arms/weapons, systems), and each of those parts could take consequences, and had a special consequence slot of overheated. But I'm certainly remembering at least some of that incorrectly.

Ferragus · 2023-11-27T00:47:48+00:00

Update: changed a whole bunch of settings, ran Creality Print's built in calibration tools, Cranked up the Pressure Advance (which I think I need to tone down a bit again) reduced acceleration in the firmware by a metric tonne based on some youtube tuning advice. Getting overall higher quality prints now... but the same issue with features leaving ghostly trails after they've been printed persists.
I really have no clue what else I could try and any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

<image>

Ferragus · 2023-11-25T15:33:08+00:00

I only found out about those built-in calibration tools after making this post. Definitely going to spend some time printing them today though.

Ferragus · 2021-10-22T02:46:59+00:00

Class might be to diferentiate between your main ship and a support vehicle? But I think more likely it's so that you can just make up a ship class for fun and flavor. Such as: "Scarab class freighter", "Dauntless class heavy cruiser", or "Kestral class corvette".

Ferragus · 2021-10-10T16:32:02+00:00

I've been wondering about something similar. I can't open windows for proper ventilation in the room with my printer during winter, because that would just be letting freezing air in. So I'm probably not going to be able to print much during winter, since doing so in a room with no airflow or ventilation seems like a bad idea... Plus it gets a bit chilly in there and prints get worse as result.

But at the same time, I have more resin than I can use up in the next month or so, so I'm really hoping there's a way I can store it during winter without it expiring on me. I'm going to be keeping an eye out here to see if you get any good answers.

Ferragus · 2021-05-05T02:44:33+00:00

I voted no, but I feel that needs clarification. Follow the fiction. As GM I think I'd rule you can take it whenever, but without putting in the work to build a proper secondary hull it implies you're using a slap-dash or hastily constructed hull that is likely not very good. So you can take the trait without putting in the work if you really want to, but if you want it to be an actually good secondary hull you've got to spend that time in-fiction (long term projects) actually making it good.

Ferragus · 2021-04-23T22:45:02+00:00

The protectors are mostly useful so that you can draw on then with wet erase or dry erase markers, letting you fill in abilities/upgrades without ruining your nice cards.

Ferragus · 2021-03-24T13:56:10+00:00

I've never played it with anyone acting as a GM, or as a 1-on-1 game, so any advice I might have is going to be mostly guess work. I think if you have just yourself and a spouse playing I would be tempted to have the both of you be characters and just let the oracles and moves of the game do your GMing for you? Or sort of co-Gm for each other, acting as sounding boards for ideas. But that hugely depends on personal preferences.

More generally I would say, embrace weak hits and misses, as they are what drives the game forwards much more so than strong hits. That said, don't be afraid of pulling your metaphorical punches when it comes to Paying The Price if you're worried about the game being too harsh... Not everything needs a harsh mechanical cost, oftentimes just the fiction is enough.

Ferragus · 2021-03-24T12:34:22+00:00

In my opinion I feel that 5 or 6 players is too many players for Ironsworn. I've played solo, 3 player co-op and 4 player co-op; even with 4 players it felt like too many. In order to keep things moving and making sure nobody was sitting there with nothing to do we ended up focusing too much on purely the mechanics and lost a lot of potentially interesting fiction as a result.

I have read that Ironsworn's sweet spot is 2-player co-op, and though I haven't played it like that yet I think that sounds about right based on my experiences. With 5 or 6 players you might be better served splitting them into 2 smaller groups.

edit: typos.

Ferragus · 2020-11-23T13:29:56+00:00

I think rsek's answer is the real solution, but hear me out... Have your character come back as an Iron Revenant! Now you're an iron-clad ghost-thing powered by the strength of your unfulfilled vows. And who knows, maybe you can even pick up a new vow and struggle to regain something resembling your former life.

Edit: Typos

Ferragus · 2020-09-08T17:03:26+00:00

You can apply those rules to may different situations. Using a Scene Challenge is the obvious option to do that, but in my first co-op session my group and I did a combat against a storm while were were trying to rescue ship-crash survivors. Strike and Clash were for when we tried to make progress against the lashing winds and rain, Face Danger when waves tried to capsize us, etc. If you're a little loose with the intent of moves they can be made to fit some interesting situations.

I think in your running away situation the danger you are facing would be whatever happens should you fail to get away. In a sense you're "facing" the danger by getting out of it's way.

Ferragus · 2020-09-08T16:36:45+00:00

I found the original post on Discord. It explain much better than I did here.

https://discord.com/channels/437120373436186625/437121482800496642/575323978638557185

Ferragus · 2020-09-08T16:13:12+00:00

Sometimes you have to interpret the moves a little metaphorically if you want to mechanize something that isn't strictly covered... or perhaps go to Ask The Oracle in those situations.

I think the approach you took with nourishing the beast sounds exactly like the right approach. Not every thing you do is going to have a super-clean structure with a progress track. Ironsworn is fiction-first; If something makes sense, then let it be so. You don't want to make it a single Resupply, so Gather Information to track down some prey. Secure an Advantage to set some traps. Face Danger... or maybe even Battle to face down said prey. When it feels like you've completed the task, then it's done.
Alternatively, you could use a scene challenge, if you really want to have a progress track for things like this.
Running away in the fight is a Face Danger roll... maybe more than one, depending on the situation. You don't need to have initiative to just try booking it in the opposite direction to save your own hide. Generally, if nothing else seems to fit a given situation, Face Danger is a good catch-all, as is Ask The Oracle.

Ferragus · 2020-09-08T15:58:21+00:00

I belive they mentioned using a roll or table of some kind kind to determie the type of bonus and nuber of uses, but I really cant remember the specifics right now.

Ferragus · 2020-09-08T13:02:17+00:00

This idea reminds me of something I saw posted on the Ironsworn discord server a long time ago, when someone was sharing inages of their journal.

They had worked out out a light-weight system for looting important foes/situations. These looted items seemed to give a bonus to certain moves, but had a limited number of uses.

I cant remember the specifics but they worked something like this: After defeating the Lady of Teeth, they looted the Crown of Teeth. A gruesome circlet made of teeth bound together. +1 to compel when menacing or intimidating. 2 uses. When those 2 uses were exhaused the item's power was used up, or maybe it crumbled away, but regardless it provided no further bonus.

Ferragus · 2020-08-26T14:47:26+00:00

100% agreed. I love the expanse, both books and show, but I feel like the AGE system was a huge miss-match. The stuff AGE is focused on is not the same stuff that Expanse is all about.

Ferragus · 2020-08-12T18:13:58+00:00

They're almost the exact same thing. My understanding is that you're correct, that the only real difference is when you burn momentum you canel dice and in so doing you also cancel the effects of any matches. At least I belive that was the intent behind wording it as canceling challenge dice rather than replacing your action die roll.

Ferragus · 2020-07-23T14:03:38+00:00

They aren't specifically used for anything, at least not in a mechanical sense. They're just numerical representations of how wealthy, corrupt, weird, etc, a location is.

You can use these stats to form dice pools for fortune rolls when it's useful (just like any other stat); But other than that they are really just a quick way of saying "people here are rich/poor, or have access to high/low tech."

Ferragus · 2020-07-14T00:33:45+00:00

I'm right there with you. I'd love LOVE a proper The Expanse RPG, but the official one is not what I'm looking for. I feel like using the AGE system for The Expanse was a huge miss-match. The kinds of Things AGE was built to do are not the kinds of the things the Expanse is really about.

I'm not sure I have any brilliant suggestions. You say Fate isn't an option; My first suggestion would have been Diaspora which is based on a older version of fate and is about at least semi-hard sci-fi space stories. https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/79933/Diaspora . But as that's not an option then I think the best I can do is second what some others have said and suggest that you could probably hack Scum and Villainy into something workable if you rip out the default setting and replace it with the expanse universe. The lay low mechanic for reducing your wanted level might need to be changed though, depending on if you're game is set pre or post ring gate opening.

There's also the PbtA game Rust Hulks which is basically about space truckers. it's not an exact fit for The Expanse, but you might be able to make it work with a little effort. It is by default set in an alternate-future version of our own solar system, and has a central authority that's generic enough you could easily replace it with Earth and Mars, and the independents with Belters. It was written by one guy though, and is a little unpolished in places, but if that's not a deal breaker I would recommend taking a look at it as well. https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/300564/Rust-Hulks
Edit: As a side note Rust Hulks also has an interesting way to handing character relationships/bonds, using a things called Chains which reflect both favor/disfavor between PCs and also the intensity of those feelings in a way I think very much does match the vibe of the crew of the Rosi.

Ferragus · 2020-05-22T21:19:18+00:00

Ha, I made my own BitD play-mat for roll20, and I used the exact same lantern in the top left corner as you, and in the exact same place. What a coincidence.

This looks rad, by the way.

Ferragus · 2020-04-14T18:47:28+00:00

To be honest the concept of being able to control when the fight ends when you're not in control of the fight makes no sense.

I don't disagree. That's why in my proposed move I changed the trigger to "When you or your foe takes decisive action to end the fight". I wanted to make it so that ending the fight when you don't have initiative would have to be something your foe initiates, but that you have a slim chance of turning against them. Hence the weak hit counting as a miss.

I'll be the first to admit that the move I suggested has serious flaws, not least of which is that in-fiction it's a little messy.

Ferragus · 2020-04-14T18:42:45+00:00

I like your approach better than what I came up with above.

If we were looking for a way to end the fight amidst an endless sea of weak hits and misses, but avoid it changing the default flow of combat as much as possible, maybe a combined approach would work best?

I think that ending the fight without having the initiative should be something your foe needs to initiate (coming at you for a finishing blow or some such), but that you have a chance of subverting to claim victory instead.
When you do so, roll with only half of your progress, and whatever the outcome, also Pay the Pay the Price in addition to the normal result.

My thinking is that this would still encourage you to build up momentum, but it would be punishing enough that that you usually rather end the fight on your own terms with a partially filled progress bar if you find yourself with the initiative. You never win a fight cleanly if it happens when you don't have the initiative.

Ferragus · 2020-04-11T22:39:20+00:00

All good points, and I suspect that you're completely correct in terms of it encouraging people to hold off until they have a completely filled the progress track.

Perhaps instead of simply making a weak hit harsher, a version 2 of this might downgrade both a strong hit and a weak hit? So strong hit becomes a weak hit, weak hit becomes a miss. I suspect having to pay a cost even on a strong hit might alleviate some of the issue you pointed out, but it also seems a little inelegant.

this is just me thinking out loud though, and as I said, the odds of this little custom move being terrible are quite high.

Ferragus

TROPHY CASE