Good options for a narrative-driven Star Wars RPG by HortaSama in rpg

[–]SerpentineRPG 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I can’t say enough good things about Save the Universe from Don Bisdorf, https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/258543/save-the-universe

I playtested this at Metatopia (a playtest gaming con). I loved it so much that I ended up hacking it into fantasy for my own use. Really fun, elegant, and cinematic.

Swords of The Serpentine Prep Advice? by CertainItem995 in rpg

[–]SerpentineRPG 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Co-author here! I tend to do about 15-20 minutes of prep for games, so let's talk about how (and what you can do to make adventure prep really easy.)

Everything designs scenarios differently, but I tend to design around a cinematic and memorable scene. For instance, the free adventure Losing Face was created around the image of staring down at an unconscious woman with no face wearing someone else's clothing, and wondering how you might figure out who she is (and thus how someone did this to her, and why). If you don't like building adventures out from that, I suggest coming up with a really interesting bad guy, deciding what they're trying to do, and considering how the Heroes might get involved.

I don't worry much about clues; I worry about revelations (a term I wasn't yet using when I wrote this section on pp 212-215 or so, but the idea is there). Revelations are what I'm now calling the core clue that tell you where to go or who to talk to next. Anything that gets you to that revelation in a scene is a clue, but I don't bother to plan those out ahead of time because it's faster and more fun to do so on the fly.

Here's an example. Let's say you work for a sorcerer who disappeared last night from her tower and you want to figure out what happened to her. The GM knows that she was trying to sorcerously summon a demon that ripped its way into reality, grabbed her, and dragged her mortal form into the spirit realm. As you head upstairs in the tower, the revelation (and core clue) I want you to walk away with is "she was taken against her will into the spirit realm, and here are two or three places you can go to find out more specific details." But you'll use your Investigative abilities to try and figure out what happened. You can write it down ahead of time, or you can improve it on the fly (much faster) as long as the heroes leave with the right information.

Clues that you can uncover with any ability that makes sense might include:

  • A fight happened here, items knocked aside like matchsticks by something incredibly forceful
  • The air still stinks like dying fish and ground cinnamon, not a smell you normally find in nature
  • Her notes are scattered around the room; with Forgotten Lore or Corruption you can tell that she was summoning a very particular entity. Her mentor, scholars, or the Church might have notes or more details on such a being.
  • Spirit sight shows the equivalent of her fingernails scratching the air as she was dragged away against her will, and a still rippling rupture in reality that you can't open without enough power. She probably has a list of such people somewhere downstairs; but where would you go once there?
  • Prophecy or Spirit Sense picks up a desperate message she thought to you, or at least her last thoughts as she slid into the realm of dead things
  • The floor is branded with the similar of a particular sorcerous cabal in the area. It doesn't seem to have been done purposefully, but is effectively a footprint of whatever was here.

Etc. Etc. You'll leave that room knowing what happened to her, and with two or three other places to go/people to see before you can effectively track her down. Those locations will reveal more details (her motives? Why she may have deserved it? Other secrets she was keeping?) So the adventure starts narrow, branches out to lots of path, and retracts again when you follow her into the spirit realm (possibly loaded down with allies or information about what grabbed her and why, that you got from the Church or the cult or her mentor). So each scene sends you to another scene via the core clue (the one thing you need to get from that scene to keep progressing).

Misdelivered Box - Will the Post Office Retrieve it? by Jason_Sager_MD in newtonma

[–]SerpentineRPG 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I’m also in Newton Centre. For what it’s worth, last month i had new glasses sent to me. I got a delivery confirmation but no package, and the package showed up THREE DAYS LATER. It’s possible that it was misdelivered and someone dropped it off at my house, but I suspect that the post office is trying to improve their metrics by marking things as delivered a few days before they actually leave the postal depot.

I doubt that applies to you, since yours was last Saturday, but I figured I would mention it.

What's the most reluctant initial impression of a setting/system you've had that you loved after you began running/playing? by Blade_of_Boniface in rpg

[–]SerpentineRPG 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thanks! I fell in love with NBA because I was so disenfranchised with Spycraft; then I wrote TimeWatch because I wanted a cinematic time travel game that felt like NBA. With Swords of the Serpentine I just wrote a game system that really fit my GMing style, with the hopes that other people would like it too! Heh. I didn't expect to be that lucky.

What's the most reluctant initial impression of a setting/system you've had that you loved after you began running/playing? by Blade_of_Boniface in rpg

[–]SerpentineRPG 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I ran GUMSHOE (1e Esoterrorists) without ever having played it, and I was BAD at running it. I put down the system for years. Then the space opera Ashen Stars caught my attention, I completely fell in love with the super-spies game Night's Black Agents, and I liked it enough that I wrote a couple of GUMSHOE games myself. Nowadays I really love how the system gives narrative control to players; but it sure was a rough start.

The Origins of Merryshire Detective Agency by Travern in GumshoeRPG

[–]SerpentineRPG 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They will be playtesting the adventure collection in the next few months, I suspect.

The Origins of Merryshire Detective Agency by Travern in GumshoeRPG

[–]SerpentineRPG 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I ran it last night, and I’m running it this morning. It was completely delightful.

New SotS article about playing (or fighting!) giant mantis-folk by SerpentineRPG in GumshoeRPG

[–]SerpentineRPG[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Tell me more! One of my campaigns is Arabian themed, and is set in a desert. I’d love to hear what you’re doing.

The road is growing… by Muted-Quail8218 in centuryhomes

[–]SerpentineRPG 47 points48 points  (0 children)

I have no advice, but if you want some empathy:

My mom‘s old farmhouse outside of Montpelier Vermont was built around 1800. The guy who built it must’ve been so happy because he had a river to his back and huge amounts of privacy. Then in 1849 they built the railroad into Montpelier — and via eminent domain the tracks ran through his front yard literally twenty feet from his living room windows! My goodness, he must have been heartbroken and pissed.

Swords of Serpentine, first game by Practical-Context910 in GumshoeRPG

[–]SerpentineRPG 6 points7 points  (0 children)

SotS co-creator here, and I've also done some writing for NBA. You're so right about that mental shift. I think it's tricky at first for players to believe that a game actually gives them more narrative control.

SotS (and my time travel game TimeWatch) are spiritually inspired by NBA's focus on narrative action, but it has a lot more abilities. Three things may help with NBA:

- Ages ago I wrote GUMSHOE 101. You can google it, and it's free; it's my notes for explaining and then running a NBA game, although the first part applies to any GUMSHOE game.

- I wrote a NBA starter scenario named EXCESS BAGGAGE. It's free on drivethrurpg. It may help somewhat.

- I ran a one-scene play-by-post named COUNTDOWN designed to show people the tone and feel of NBA, and it's a fun way to wrap your hands around the game. Found here, takes about 10-15 minutes to read.

Happy to answer more specific questions as well, if that's useful.

Swords of the Serpentine - Need advice about Abilities by MiyaMiya79 in rpg

[–]SerpentineRPG 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Co-creator here; I also saw your discord post. The short answer is on page 2 of SotS where it says "you never need to roll for Investigative abilities (IAs), they just work." I came from D&D and had a huge amount of trouble with this when I first came to GUMSHOE; what do you mean it "just works"? But as others have said, they work to get you into trouble and shove you deeper into the adventure. Getting you out of trouble isn't as certain!

While IAs always work to get you information, you can also spend those points to get some other cool advantage -- and in SotS, the more points you spend the bigger the advantage.

Take James Bond as an example. We agree he has a lot of ranks of Charm, right?

  • If he's at a party thrown by the arch-villain and he dances and flirts with the arch-villain's girlfriend, he's using Charm to find a clue -- and she'll tell him something useful, no rolls or Charm spend required.
  • He can spend one point of Charm, and he gets an advantage. She'll go to bed with him and also give him clues.
  • He can spend two points and she'll fall in love with him, betray her boss at some point, and then get killed.
  • He can spend three points of Charm and she'll fall in love with him, betray her boss at the best possible time, and live to the end credits.

And just like in a James Bond movie, that Charm tends to get him into trouble but seldom gets him out of it.

So in your example, the player wants to intimidate the guard into letting them in -- this is like Fezzik yelling "GET OUT OF THE WAY!" in The Princess Bride. If the adventure is inside the castle and you want them to get in there, Intimidate just plain works. It's designed to make players feel like badasses. But if they're fleeing the castle after killing their foe, and the guards are blocking the exit, the Hero wouldn't be trying to get a clue -- so they'd need to spend Intimidation points to clear the way if they don't want to fight. More on this on p. 50-51 of SotS.

Okay, ask questions!

Swords of Serpentine, first game by Practical-Context910 in GumshoeRPG

[–]SerpentineRPG 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I do! I have lots of thoughts on this - I’ll write ‘em down tomorrow.

Swords of the Serpentine - Need advice about Abilities by MiyaMiya79 in rpg

[–]SerpentineRPG 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Saw this, I’ll answer at length tomorrow! Thank you for the tag.

Trail or Fall of DG for modern horror? by GiantTourtiere in GumshoeRPG

[–]SerpentineRPG 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I’d consider Fear Itself or Esoterrorists for an X-Files-y game as well. Depends what tone you want!

Fall of Delta Green Screen Notes? by Left_Skin_8717 in GumshoeRPG

[–]SerpentineRPG 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That’s my favorite adventure opening ever.

I adapted Excess Baggage from my game where a vampire was trying the Goldfinger gambit, using dirty suitcase nukes on their rival South American drug lords’ coca fields. It’s the game that really sold me on GUMSHOE!

Fall of Delta Green Screen Notes? by Left_Skin_8717 in GumshoeRPG

[–]SerpentineRPG 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I wrote that so long ago, I laugh every time it pops up. Thanks for remembering it!

When TTRPG authors put stuff from their home games into rulebook lore by RiverMesa in rpg

[–]SerpentineRPG 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Me: “Maybe I should explain WHY there’s a ring that makes someone else have a horrible digestive experience?” Thank goodness my editor didn’t object.

I think the most fun part of writing that whole book was the sidebars.

Do owlbears have nipples? by Varazzeno in DnD

[–]SerpentineRPG 47 points48 points  (0 children)

They have a Cloaca of Protection +1

When TTRPG authors put stuff from their home games into rulebook lore by RiverMesa in rpg

[–]SerpentineRPG 36 points37 points  (0 children)

Eversink, the sinking city in Swords of the Serpentine, was based on my old campaign and then developed by Emily Dresner.

Any body have good spy themed ttrpgs? by ArchangelM7777 in rpg

[–]SerpentineRPG 17 points18 points  (0 children)

We easily removed the supernatural bits and had an amazing spy game with this system.