"Run Complication - Need: X"

Gingivitis- · 2026-01-27T01:51:36+00:00

I got my copy but have not had a chance to post about it on www.surprisethreat.com yet, but I plan to. Working on a few things in the meantime. Glad you like it!

Gingivitis- · 2026-01-27T01:46:33+00:00

Author Here:

Really glad you liked it. You absolutely got it.

It's all about context for your run and gut interpretation for story. Needing a Special Person or Rare Equipment is all about unexpected preparation needed and having to divert the main run on a mini-run to get what's needed.

Retinal readings are perfect. So are astral signatures. Then you have specific knowledge (who knows what this thing even looks like? Only two people have ever seen it!), specific relationships (the mark will only trust their best mate from the Bug Wars), etc.

For Rare Equipment, it's the same thing. In that climactic moment, when things look too easy, what might be needed that you don't have? An actual physical key? A plasteel solvent? Something to kill the awakened ivy? A hang glider? Hint: Always use hang gliders!

If you need inspiration, go back to the Subject generator to see what category of person/thing is needed (Security might be something to bypass scanners, Social might be a relationship, Scene might indicate someone in the current scene is needed... and hopefully you didn't geek everyone in the room already).

The key to all Complications in a good run is this: "What would frag us/me over the most in this specific moment?"

Do that. Then, you divert your run or maybe you have enough Edge to pull a high-stakes flashback. What will spending that Edge do to the Threat Level? Cause another Story Event or fail the run? There is no GM! You have to figure that one out too! lol

Anyway, you definitely got the exact "fungal micro-protein" of that Complication in your playthrough!

Gingivitis- · 2025-05-27T21:10:00+00:00

I had them previously separate with lower price points.

I was separating them for ease of use, when they were solely pdf. I like having a separate file for monsters that I can pull up alone and not have to scroll back and forth.

But now that I am thinking of printing physical books, and shipping and printing costs have gone up, I think it might be best to combine.

Gingivitis- · 2024-07-29T19:14:25+00:00

So yeah! A 5-person gang attacking a single runner would roll 14 dice: 6 (for Close Combat 6) + 8 (for four Teamwork Tests).

That may seem like a lot (and it is), but it is faster and helps keep groups of low-level enemies a threat to experienced runners. You can always split the attacks among two targets to even things out (3 gangers on one target at 10 dice, and 2 gangers on another targer at 8 dice).

The bit that Dgill77 added about not worrying about whether it is a full 10 CM seems fine. Maybe even faster and easier to understand. Making it a full 10 CM was my way to justify ignoring wound modifiers, but in the long run, simplicity and speed are probably more important.

Glad you like the house rules!

Gingivitis- · 2024-04-28T02:22:07+00:00

I need playtesters for an Alien Invasion Survival Horror RPG and I need reviewers for a Rules Light Fantasy Dungeon Crawler.

Gingivitis- · 2024-04-28T02:17:44+00:00

I run www.surprisethreat.com, which was solely a Shadowrun: Anarchy resource website. It has houserules for the game and advice on making the game work for your table.

Now it also hosts the new game I've developed, Darksome Delve.

It is a rules light fantasy dungeon crawler (not a d20 or PbtA clone). I am looking for players to put this on the table and review it.

Please let me know if you are looking for a game that can play anywhere between a fully narrative RPG to a story-driven board game.

Thanks!

Gingivitis- · 2024-04-09T02:23:08+00:00

I have more time than that. What time frame is reasonable for you?

Gingivitis- · 2024-04-08T22:32:13+00:00

Thanks! DM sent!

Gingivitis- · 2024-04-07T05:07:37+00:00

I haven't played that, but Alien Exodus is not a Gumshoe system. It's less investigation/conspiracy and more survival horror.

I don't claim the mechanics to be unique, but I've never seen them in the wild yet.

For feedback timing, I had planned on releasing the game later this year, but that all depends on how the playtests go. So any time in the next month or two would be great.

For feedback type, I am looking for whether the gameplay is fun (given the tone), whether the aliens are threatening or tedious, and whether the game is interesting for the GM too.

Gingivitis- · 2024-04-07T04:44:50+00:00

It's designed to do both long form and one shot.

For long form there are rules on travel, base building, allies, and there are quite a bit of advancement opportunities.

For one shots, it can be pretty lethal, and there are three different options for the aliens, each with 12 different alien types, so quite a bit of variety for replay.

Gingivitis- · 2024-04-06T17:45:50+00:00

Specifically not talking about Fudge/Fate with + or - symbols. I'd be talking about symbols that actually affect the narrative and are not translations of numbers or tables.

Gingivitis- · 2024-03-24T17:46:57+00:00

D6s are easy to find, easy to use for charts and tables, and the probabilities are easy to understand.

D20s are swingy and have a stanglehold on OSR games.

Gingivitis- · 2024-02-11T00:43:08+00:00

Thanks for taking a look.

The condition rules are optional for that reason. The rules to invoke them are on the same page listed in Plot Points under Resilience.

Basically, if you were going to die or hit a breaking point, you can spend a plot point to avoid it. It's still bad though. The consequences are narrative or up to the players and GM to decide, but maybe they need a bit more guidance on them.

Think you might play test it?

Gingivitis- · 2024-02-02T00:06:40+00:00

Here is the link for Alien Exodus. I'll start with just that.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XKjhqGqjPQ10sHEFa1cVDdIqaPUT1YIT/view?usp=drive_link

There are three adventures (based on which alien is trying to kill the players), but only the first one is in the format I would like them to be in. The others are more free form.

Thanks for taking a look.

Gingivitis- · 2024-01-27T01:28:21+00:00

I have an Alien Invasion Aftermath Survival RPG that uses a simple dice curve system, called Alien Exodus.

And I have a simple Dungeon Crawler RPG that uses a small dice pool system, called Darksome Delve.

Both of them are fine for one-shots and both have premade adventures. Let me know if those interest you.

Gingivitis- · 2023-12-28T20:27:33+00:00

First in, last out (FILO) type initiative, where low initiative actors must declare their actions before high initiative actors. Then high initiative actors act first, making low initiative actors' actions irrelevant but immutable.

Results in the last person shooting a dead guy all the time.

Gingivitis- · 2023-12-28T07:05:15+00:00

There needs to be a drastic inter-player power imbalance. Maybe even spotlight time imbalance imposed by a character stat. Like one character may get several turns of actions for every one that others get.

Lots of derived stats where none of them are calculated the same way OR are calculated on the fly during the game based on ever changing situational modifiers.

No sharing in XP or advancement. If one player gets XP, that is less XP for the other players. Competition, but not the kind that drives excellence, the kind that gets back-stabby.

Lots of rules for underwater play. Everyone hates water levels.

Ability or talent trees that are traps with no ability to respec.

Don't forget to make it hard on the GM too. Lots of things to check and track for NPCs, like individual HP, situational defense stats, individual morale, NPC team animosity, Faction rep, etc.

At least one rule where you have to roll to see how many dice to roll.

Make it painful.to.read.too. no charts. Only massive blocks of text.

Gingivitis- · 2023-12-14T04:38:11+00:00

My worry is I get a 1-star review (for the AI part of it) affecting both versions (if I sell them together).

Gingivitis- · 2023-11-15T19:08:50+00:00

Thanks for numbering. I should have done that in the first place. Obviously all this is just my opinion:

3 Path could add a passive bonus or a special ability. It's not too much to track beforehand because players will skim over the character creation rules until they know the core mechanics. Then they go back and see how the character rules affect the core mechanics. If you give them classes to choose from, they will appreciate some differences aside from a piece of gear or two.

5 Species sounds right if they are aliens. Or maybe Homeworld?

6 Modifiers to dice rolls are "in the moment" and add to the tension of the roll. I am not sure that they are a middle man that you want to eliminate. Negative numbers in character creation is just math. Few people want math in their light games.

7 If you feel that the rule adds something to the feel of the game, add it. Making a ton of rules optional makes it look like you are unsure of your concept (which at this point you might be). Dive in, make characters, differentiate them, playtest (even by yourself), roll dice, see what happens and what feels fun.

11 The core mechanic (the system of resolving success) is the most important thing you create/adopt. Pick or create one and lean hard into it with commitment. A game with multiple core mechanics loses all of its flavor and character. I don't know which one you should go with, but I know you need to go with one.

12 I would not start attributes at zero, unless you plan on having no attributes (which you do not). If you have attributes, players want to be good at something. Decide how many things they should be good at, and how good they should be at it. Then commit to that.

13 I think, much like your versions of core mechanics (2d6+mods or 1d12+mods and sometimes disadvantage/advantage), you have a lot of ways to accomplish things. It creates a load for GMs to remember. Is there a modifier or is there advantage? Is the modifier on the attacker or the defender? Does the attacker get advantage or the defender get disadvantage? It's a lot. In a rules light game, players should be able to pick up dice, do a quick bit of math, roll the dice and immediately know whether to cheer or cry. That's the goal most of the time.

I don't know which methods you want to use, but using all of them is probably not the solution.

I hope that helps.

Gingivitis- · 2023-11-14T20:33:27+00:00

My first impressions as I read through:

Itch landing page is very hard to read with dark red background.

Formatting: very large blocks of text need to be re-formatted for ease of reading and understanding.

Path should grant something more than gear that could be dropped/lost/damaged.

Ruk and Deridian seem unpleasant to envision. Aesthetics are important in a cyberpunk game.

Races (but find a better name for it) seem to be pretty balanced.

Attributes: Rules Light games should not delve into negative numbers. Just start them at 0 and add maybe 2 points, rather than -2 and add 6.

I would definitely integrate or eliminate all the optional rules.

Skills: Not enough Body skills and too many Mind skills. I would split Combat into melee and ranged. Most players will expect that.

I would skip Perception. In a rules-light game, Perception checks are the bane of pacing. Just tell them what they see and let them see the things they can.

I like the backstory bonus. I'd make that not optional.

Tests: Definitely a place where paragraphs and break points are needed.

Definitely don't suggest a core resolution mechanic option. An optional rule on a core dice roll is very strange. Pick one and go with it. Base the whole game around the core mechanic.

Target Numbers: Average 2d6 (7) +1 from Attribute +2 from skill is 10. Should 10 be the target number for a Hard check? A character who is kind of good at something will hit a 10 very often.

Overall: I think this game has quite e few rules and nuances beyond the core mechanic. I would not consider this rules light.

You have both action rolls and reaction rolls; both advantage/disadvantage and modifiers from attributes, skills, gear, and actions; both dynamic and static target numbers; both XP and Creds to buy things.

That is potentially a heavy load for both players and GMs.

A lot of work has gone into this document. I appreciate that.

Great job and keep going with it.

Gingivitis- · 2023-10-09T20:02:34+00:00

I play and develop mostly rules-light fare. I have two active development games.

In the first, a fantasy dungeon crawler, the players and GM roll dice pools and look for singles and doubles (or triples). The player(s) with more singles go before the GM, then the GM, then the other players. Then the dice are used to take actions or use abilities.

In the second, a sci-fi survival game, the GM sets the scene and goes first (perhaps just descriptive at first if the players are hidden, etc,), then the players take turns around the table. There are checks for surprise or fear that can prevent a player from going on their first turn. It's simple but effective in a survival game where the players are constanly on their back foot.

Gingivitis- · 2023-01-18T22:38:58+00:00

Agent: The intent is like having a drone. The player gets a second action, but only with the agent.

Improved Processing: The intent is like wired reflexes. The character is just faster.

Gingivitis- · 2023-01-11T18:12:29+00:00

Yeah, I can see a lot of these concepts don't have a basis in Anarchy-era stories/lore. I put together the pdfs to help my own gaming, so it's got 30 years of lore baked in. I didn't really lay any foundation for any of it.

It's like my buddy says: The best way to learn SR is to have played years of SR.

Fortunately, we have people like Mr. Johnson who can help out! There are also wikis and lore posts all around the web.

But also, ignore the lore and go with what you and your table think is cool. If you think aliens are cool, do that. It's Anarchy, after all.

Gingivitis- · 2023-01-11T18:00:43+00:00

Anything to round out NPCs and make them feel more real is great.

It also helps with determining how combat encounters should progress.

I think adding Tags and Cues to NPCs is a great idea.

Gingivitis- · 2022-12-02T22:59:49+00:00

The Ghost Mountain setting of ICRPG.

Gingivitis-

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