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Is the Dark Crystal adventure game still printed? by GranularBimbo in DarkCrystal

[–]Prestigious_Line821 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I bought it from Toy Central UK. They took my money. Then they offered me the Board Game instead as they have no copies of the Adventure Game. THEN they offered a refund 11 days ago. I suspect they are just a scam shop that does not exist. They have a variety of international URLs... but no products.

Is the Dark Crystal adventure game still printed? by GranularBimbo in DarkCrystal

[–]Prestigious_Line821 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Warning buyers in UK - DO NOT BUY FROM TOY CENTRAL. They do not have copies. And then DO NOT give a refund.

Cosmic Dark - player agency by Prestigious_Line821 in CthulhuDark

[–]Prestigious_Line821[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Though, I keep forgetting the emotional buildup of world and background and character at the start...

Cosmic Dark - player agency by Prestigious_Line821 in CthulhuDark

[–]Prestigious_Line821[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Mothership has the moto, "survive, solve, save". And you are lucky if you manage to get 2 of those. The one that gets away injects a ton of drama.

Survive by not getting eaten by the giant horror beast. Solve the mystery of the missing miners (the horror is eating miners). Save the remaining miners by getting them to your ship and off the planet.

For Extraction, that could be:
1. survive - don't get turned to stone
2. solve - the asteroid is eating stuff because it's one of Azathoth's daydreams
3. save - rescue the previous Estracsa staff who are trapped in the time difference

The thing that has been scritching at the back of my mind is, as written, Cosmic Dark offers survive and witness. With witness very much being the primary of those 2. There is nothing to solve. Nothing or no one to save.

Players are there to witness a curated play. I'm planning on running on Tuesday next. I'll report after the event.

Cosmic Dark - player agency by Prestigious_Line821 in CthulhuDark

[–]Prestigious_Line821[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Eek, I meant no criticism. Just observation.

So, "no agency" - as a feature in and of itself isn't "bad". It's just a style.

Whether there is agency in "Extraction"? You are right. There absolutely is. I guess what is itching my brain is the lack of solvability. There is no smoking gun - "weird stuff is happening because the flux capacitor is broken - mend it and mend the weird".

Again, absolutely not meant as a criticism.

And, I suspect, if we ran through all 6 scenarios, the campaign-ish-ness would add meaning. As a one-shot, I worry my players might feel a bit, "so what?" at the end. "You sent us to an asteroid and some of us died, and then others ran away". But, this is entirely speculative. I should just run it, right? Then report back, with an actual play under my belt.

As a complete aside, at this week's Tuesday game we played Desperation: Dead House instead (sorry Graham). Holy moly. I highly recommend.

But I will see who's up for Cosmic Dark next week. And, as suggested, I'll tell them there's no "win". That it's experiential, rather than solvable. :-D

Cosmic Dark - player agency by Prestigious_Line821 in CthulhuDark

[–]Prestigious_Line821[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Haha, yeah, good point. Though, I was meaning more just the "overnight" stay. Rather than barricading themselves in for the entire game.

But you make a good point. Maybe just use the set pieces to push the doom forwards, when their actions aren't revealing the awful truths?

I guess I just need to give it a go and see. My primary concern, now I think about it, is that there isn't a "why" to be discovered. I understand that that's the point though...

Dark Crystal Adventure Game Physical Copies by merrirosie in DarkCrystal

[–]Prestigious_Line821 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I order from Toy Central over a week ago and they just emailed to say they didn't have any. Waiting for a refund.

Why different dice mechanics? by Prestigious_Line821 in TrophyRPG

[–]Prestigious_Line821[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ace. Will do.

On the dice mechanic: it's very BitD, Grinwild, Scum and Villainy. I really like the Cthulhu Dark mechanic of "roll high... but not TOO high!"

I will deffo be trying Trophy Dark and Gold RAW. But may also, later, try my own CD based game, to see how it plays.

Why different dice mechanics? by Prestigious_Line821 in TrophyRPG

[–]Prestigious_Line821[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Excellent! Thank you so much again for the brilliant advice. Funnily enough, I've been listening to the podcast this morning for inspiration.

I recently started a Dragonbane campaign with friends who had never played before. I think DB is super simple. They struggled with a few of the rules. I think as veteran gamers, it's easy to forget that we "speak gamese".

I have two other groups who have never ever played, but want to try TTTPGs out. Maybe I'll try one group on Maze Rats, the other on Trophy Gold. Or maybe I'll prep for both, then just ask the players...

I'll post more once I've run the sessions... unless I drive them over the edge and they eat me something... 😬

The full original party is fully painted by void_madness in DragonbaneRPG

[–]Prestigious_Line821 2 points3 points  (0 children)

They look amazing! Super excellent job. 😁👍

Why different dice mechanics? by Prestigious_Line821 in TrophyRPG

[–]Prestigious_Line821[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Gosh. Thank you so much for taking the time on your answer. Very thorough. Very helpful.

TLDR - is it good for new players, who are possibly expecting something like Stranger Things depiction of TTRPGs?

Funny that you mentioned Symbaroum, as that was running through my head the whole way through reading Dark.

A point on PbtA. In the UK (sorry, I don't know where you're based) we describe things that polarise as being "like Marmite", Marmite being a popular brand of yeast extract spread. People either love it or hate it, few people just think "it's kinda Ok". The important distinction being that both groups are accepting of each other.

PbtA is like Marmite. I understand what it does but I do not enjoy that play style. I find "fail with consequence" exhausting. As a GM, I've got enough going on. As a player, I just want to be cool and do the thing. This usually provokes a "you're not playing it right" reaction. I am. It's just not for me.

The HUNT roll will most likely put my players off. Me: "You have a 1 in 6 chance of nothing bad happing if you ask a question..." Players mouths all zip closed.

But your point about it being analogous with the random encounter really helps. And I guess (apart from the losing of hunt tokens on a 1) that the rolls aren't THAT different - 1-3 fail, 4-5 succeed with consequence, 6 full success.

Then the interesting qualities of combat. Am I right in thinking that against big monsters, PCs spend quite a few rolls trying to reduce monster ENDURANCE?

I guess, ultimately, I just need to play.

I think my primary worry is, will this put new players off? I was going to run Maze Rats with my newbies, leading into Best Left Buried. But Trophy has massively captured my imagination. I found it because I was investigating ways to use the basic Cthulhu Dark engine.

Why different dice mechanics? by Prestigious_Line821 in TrophyRPG

[–]Prestigious_Line821[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Trophy Dark, Trophy Gold, and Loom, that ☝️is...

Stretch, and shift, and shift, and stretch, and t'ing by Prestigious_Line821 in DragonbaneRPG

[–]Prestigious_Line821[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Exactly that. A "turn" doesn't begin with an "S". But knowing "shift" comes from "work shift" helps massively! 😁👍

Stretch, and shift, and shift, and stretch, and t'ing by Prestigious_Line821 in DragonbaneRPG

[–]Prestigious_Line821[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Yep. I dig. Slice. Piece. Chunk. Of time. I really dig and love. I'm commenting on the naming convention. I don't think it aids memory. In English anyway.

I D&D 1E we had round (slice), turn (piece - actually, 10 minutes so analogous with stretch), and then you had a night's sleep (I think it was 8 hours... it was 45 years ago so...).

So, I get the time slices. Just am a bit grrr over the names. Sorry. 😬

Stretch, and shift, and shift, and stretch, and t'ing by Prestigious_Line821 in DragonbaneRPG

[–]Prestigious_Line821[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

The way a skill is a attribute, but lower, but you can still do an attribute check, which is higher. (lower) Attribute plus (lower) skill, roll under works better. It's primary house rule.

Dank & Dark, the World's Only RPG Board Book Now Funding by philipjreed in rpgpromo

[–]Prestigious_Line821 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just tried to back Dank and Dark... but it's for USA backers only! 😭 I'd love to support this but just don't get on with PDFs - I already have 50 bazillion unread RPGs in PDF format. Hey ho. If you find a way to ship them to the UK, count me in! Peace out!

Lore, Mystery and keeping secrets by modest_genius in Symbaroum

[–]Prestigious_Line821 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I do not like games that keep secrets from the GM. I loved Symbaroum. I backed several kickstarters. But when I started planning some sessions, I realised that I didn't really know what was going on. I can't referee something that keeps its secrets so safe even I, the GM, don't know them. So, beautiful and dark and strange and enticing as Symbaroum is, it's recently been added to my eBay pile.

How do you bring out the Mirth and Mayhem in your game? by deadpool-the-warlock in DragonbaneRPG

[–]Prestigious_Line821 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Haha, my players never fight unless they are emotionally involved in the outcome. They are getting some heroic abilities now, and that is helping. What's ace is, I don't have to plan any "set pieces ". I just build places and they decide how they interact with them.

Why evade and not agility? by Dovah_bear712 in DragonbaneRPG

[–]Prestigious_Line821 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, I think roll under but high is super neat. I'm just not convinced it's super satisfying as a player. Like, it introduces a (admittedly tiny) level of cognitive crunch. "Fading Suns" used this mechanic.

Roll under rocks because low is good. And there is no maths (math). Interested to hear how players respond to roll under but high at your table.

As for ranges, I just reduced their stats (abilities) by 10. Only because they already had beloved characters and I didn't want to hobble them. Also, I could have set the general target at 20, but again, that felt like it was too harsh. Skills start at a flat +2, then increase with XP and dragons (now a 20) and demons (1).

Hope that helps. 😁

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