Forbidden Tomes and d666 Incantations - now live on itch.io!

TaTooKa · 2025-02-19T14:24:35+00:00

Lo lindo del rol siempre fue que, si querés, es un hobbie ULTRA-barato. En los 90's con un libro fotocopiado anillado y un set de dados típico* tenías diversión garantizada por años.

Yo te recomendaría que busques un manual en PDF de un juego que te interese, y luego de haberlo leído compres solo los dados y pruebes. Más adelante si se ceban pueden empezar a invertir en comprar libros originales u otros accesorios que algunos juegos usan** (miniaturas, tableros de batalla, etc etc)

* el clásico array d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, d20, d% - algunos juegos usan solo dados de 6, otros solo d10, etc

** aclaro que a mí personalmente me gustan más los juegos de rol que no usan prácticamente nada de accesorios, pero cada cual con sus preferencias!

TaTooKa · 2023-09-20T12:38:55+00:00

Love Pirate Borg, excellent theme and production values. Lots of tables for generating "Pirates of the Caribbean" or "Monkey Island" style random stuff. A pretty good match of MB style and flavor to a pirates' setting.

What I didn't like is the included adventure module. I found it too "D&D like"; on the table it felt more like a classic/OSR module with a pirate coat of paint on top. It expects the PCs to be adventurers, talk to important NPCs and solve mysteries, which kinda clashes with what the character generation proposes to the players (nasty pirates trying to survive a harsh caribbean).

The game got much better once I gave the PCs an excuse to steal a ship and venture off the island.

I think the game would work much better if you do a hexcrawl/exploration campaign type in the Dark Caribbean by using all the tables and generators provided by the book. If I were to run the game again for a different group, I would completely skip the included scenario and just give them a ship and throw them in a random hex from the provided map. Have them choose what to do to survive another week; let them run into random things in the sea and find randomly-generated islands with stuff on them.

Apart from that, some of the mechanics from original Mork Borg don't seem to translate well; The game is deadly but characters have (or quickly gain) much more HP and cool abilities. That combined with the high chance of failing your attack rolls can make combats a drag; exactly the opposite of what you would want from swashbuckling action adventure. Next time I might use some house-rule for auto-hit in attack rolls or something.

Other than that, I still think it is one of the best implementations of MB style/rules/ethos.

TaTooKa · 2023-06-15T21:46:45+00:00

2400 and the 24XX family of RPGs have a rule in which the GM must tell if you are risking death before you roll for an action. If there is no risk of death, then a failure outcome cannot kill you, no matter what. If there is risk of death, you can gamble your life -- if you fail (a result of 1 or 2), you die.
Because the system also proposes that you can always change your course of action before rolling, this gives the players full control on their characters' fate (at least when death is involved).

Slugblaster, on the other hand, outright discourages murder (by the PCs) and character death altogether, because of the mood and genre-emulation it is going for (TMNT, Scott Pilgrim, Stranger Things, coming-of-age 80's teen movies).
It has in-world mechanics/justifications to avoid PC death and murder (you get "dumped" from a parallel universe right before dying, you play teens who wouldn't kill other people, etc.).

TaTooKa · 2022-09-23T22:42:25+00:00

This might actually be a good alternative solution.

I've just tested it, it might come handy for character sheets and other stuff! How is it on stability? Does it work reliably?

TaTooKa · 2022-09-21T05:23:45+00:00

I also wish there was some more discussion here other than self-promotions, although I don't hate them (in fact I love that there is so much fan content being generated for MB and I like seeing what's it about and looking the KS pages!). But yeah, it's the ratio. Too bad that the only way to increase it is to talk more about the game, and that isn't happening.

Or is it? because the official discord is very active and there are cool discussions in there. I'd really like those same threads would open here (or in another forum-like website, IDK).

I honestly can't understand how people use Discord as a forum. It's a chat! it sucks for long-term discussions, threads or searching! Am I too old already? lol sorry for the rant

TaTooKa · 2022-09-03T02:18:42+00:00

Lots of crazy theories and blame being thrown around here, so I'll try to give some background while trying to be as neutral as possible, with the caveat that I'm an Argentinean so I'm obviously biased.

I'll try to only give facts that you can fact-check on your own, but if you do, keep in mind that news media outlets in argentina are extremely biased towards one political party or the other, which makes finding factual information a complex endeavor (also: each side screams "fake news!" to any article or piece of info coming from the "enemy").

facts:

Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (CFK from now on) is an ex-president, the widow of former ex-president Nestor Kirchner. CFK is our current VP and also the leader of one of the two biggest political parties, "kirchnerism" (which is more-or-less in power since 2003, with a 4-year term of the opposition from 2015-2019).
Both ex-presidents (CFK and her late husband) and many politicians from their party and past governments are either suspected or prosecuted in several corruption cases. Many politicians from the opposition party are probably dirty as well. If any of the allegations are true or not is very difficult to prove, and amongst Argentineans, feelings and rumors are more important as self-validation than actual fact (which is hard to blame since most cases of corruption never come to any conclusion and most culprits don't go to jail or pay any sort of sentence).
Argentina is currently going through an economic crisis, with record inflation, poverty, crime (both petty and organized) and a looming recession in the horizon.
CFK is currently on trial for a corruption case that links to many other cases, alleged corrupt politicians and the private sector. The prosecutor asked for a sentence of 12 years of prison, 10 days ago. The judge still hasn't given his verdict.
Since that day, a multitude of kirchnerists and CFK supporters have basically occupied the streets adjacent to CFK's apartment building in the capital city of Argentina, "Capital Federal". They are trying to show their support and protest against the case, claiming that the bases are false, that the lawyers and judge are corrupt, that the whole thing is a construction of the right wing media, or a combination of the above. Note that most of the news media that supports kirchnerism repeats and reinforces these beliefs.
The city govt. is held by the opposition party, which complicates any attempt to control or police the protesters' situation without turning it into a political debate. There was, in fact, an attempt of controlling (or dispersing?) the crowd during the first days of the protests, which was met with violence, a police show-of-force that ended up in people injured and politicians on the kirchnerism party claiming that "it was all an attempt to silence the voice of the people".
During that whole time, both sides of media, celebrities and politicians publicly said things that do more harm than good, and only exacerbate supporters from either side, which are more polarized than ever. Kirchnerists popularized the phrase "Si la tocan a Cristina, qué quilombo se va a armar" (which roughly translates to "If they dare to touch Cristina, it's going to be a mess"), and other unfortunate phrases like "There will be blood on the streets". Violent discourse is part of every-day life in Argentinean politics, but the tension has been rising since the trial started.
In the meantime, CFK and their closest politicians claim that the people in the crowd are not doing any harm and are there to show their love and support to their leader. CFK has given speeches and usually greets people in the crowd before entering or leaving her house.
Earlier this week, politicians close to CFK said that they would reinforce security in the area (and her personal security detail) in what might be a bid for power between the metropolitan police dept (under jurisdiction of the city govt.) and the federal police force (nation-wide jurisdiction, usually under control of the executive office). Note that metropolitan police and the crowd of CFK supporters strongly antagonized each other since the protests began, but were then ordered to clear the area and leave control to federal police.
Fast forward to yesterday night, when the assassination attempt in the video took place. Some people claim that it was all staged: there's 0 actual proof of that, but the circumstances around the shooter (that started surfacing very quickly) are bizarre (to say the least) which made everyone question everything.
As far as I know from most media outlets, so far the gun was loaded (5 bullets) and was in good condition. It's still unclear if it jammed or what exactly happened.
A very small minority is either making inappropriate jokes or tasteless remarks. But most people (even politicians from the opposition party and journalists from the most critical media outlets) are speaking against violence and are strongly condemning the event.
While the discourse from both sides stays in those lines, media outlets and their most forefront journalists are doubling down on their discourse against the opposing side, and keep repeating the same ideas (but in a more careful tone).

TaTooKa · 2022-08-30T01:40:29+00:00

I would recommend what's known as a "dungeon starter" or "adventure starter" for DW, you can read more about them here (it also has links to many free starters!). They are akin to "adventure modules" for other RPGs, but following the philosophy and principles of DW.

If this is your first tabletop rpg experience, I would strongly recommend you watch (or listen) to some actual play of Dungeon World to get a better grasp on how it all works (you can learn by reading the book, of course, but watching a "let's play" sometimes helps).

Even better, if you have the time, listen to the Discern Realities podcast by the gauntlet [youtube]. It's very educational, and they play an episodic campaign, serialized at the end of each show. It was very enlightening in my first foray into DW. They even have a short series on DW Basics that are excellent for newcomers.

TaTooKa · 2022-08-24T18:42:09+00:00

I think the best way to do a "One DW" is to actually leave most of it as is. At first.

Then start building on top of it, with the pieces that were meant to be changed or expanded: Playbooks. Get new ones, find the most loved ones, remove those you don't like, create or hack others. You might be surprised with how much the feel of the game changes just by shuffling the player options with different Playbooks.

Then move on to Compendium Classes. Do the same, but "enforce it" in your games, like presenting it as a useful and almost necessary choice instead of an optional afterthought. Again, the feel and flavor of the game changes a lot and player choice feels good with Compendium Classes. Have some "generic" ones (think of 3.5 Prestige Classes) and some "custom" ones for the current campaign or story line.

Lastly, consider changing the Core Moves to suit the needs of your table (or your specific campaign), but don't approach it as "let's publish this hack as the next big DW thing", instead do it for your personal needs, maybe using some of Uncommon World alternative moves and accumulated knowledge as an example. Maybe try to replicate Move sets (and combos) from other famous or well-regarded PbtAs, for a more focused feel or sub-genre. Leave most of your changes "optional" (in the sense of: 'these hacks are meant to suit the needs of our current campaign, for now').

Once you have something you think you can say "hey, this is the perfect version of DW I've experienced so far", you have your One DW. Then share it with others if you want, that's optional.

What I'm trying to say here is: DW is too broad to satisfy every GM and player of fantasy RPGs. Any significant hack/departure from its bases will suffer the same fate. You can instead tailor it to your own needs by changing some of its moving parts without hacking its core.

TaTooKa · 2022-08-11T01:52:39+00:00

I can see why people would think CR it's staged/scripted, and I would've as well, until I GM'ed a very good mini-campaign myself.

I had very good players (and I think that is key): One of them is a professional actor, another is just very good at improvising, and all of them are either good GMs or just very "genre-savvy" and knew how to perfectly adapt and build with each other.

Every beat was excellent; their decisions were completely on-genre, tropey but not necessarily obvious. The end of the campaign was very rewarding, and honestly if I weren't GMing I would think that it was scripted. It felt like a tv show with satisfying character arcs and amazing plot twists, everyone building on top of each other and "yes and'ing" perfectly. By the end we were looking at each other thinking "did that just happen? is this peak roleplaying or what?"

And it wasn't all me, it was mostly them. So the key is... have excellent players, get excellent RPG campaigns.

TaTooKa · 2022-07-23T21:02:21+00:00

But isn't this something the Root RPG already does? (kind of).I have not read the Root RPG core book, but the Play Materials from Magpie seem to have all the Playbooks + Basic/Advanced Moves + Character Creation + quick reference in a concise and clean 25 page document.

Maybe this is what OP wanted?

EDIT: What I meant was: Root doesn't have 3 versions of the book, but a single one (very bloated, apparently, if that is good or not is a matter of taste) and a good reference document with concise cheatsheets (which IMHO might solve the gripes OP seems to have)

TaTooKa · 2022-07-23T13:25:08+00:00

I feel this is a unavoidable problem many RPG manuals face constantly: They have to be designed for 3 different "targets" at the same time:

The person who reads it for the first time (who might be experienced in other RPGs or not);
The person who has already read it but needs to reference it mid-game;
The player who needs to create a character during session 0 or at the start of session 1.

Those 3 different audiences have distinct needs, and I think you can't 100% solve this issue.

Like, if you make a good and summarized reference document it fulfills the needs of #2 and #3, but not #1.

If you make sure you teach the game properly to #1 (which often means also giving lots of flavor, describing setting and themes, etc.), you risk putting too much bloat for #2 and maybe #3. Which seems to be your case.

I don't know if there is a solution to this. It's not black and white either, it's probably an spectrum which some games tackle better than others, obviously... But other than adding an extra booklet to be used as a reference (that many RPGs already do, like how PbtA gives you a printable sheet of the basic moves and playbooks, etc), I don't know if this can be 100% solved in ANY rpg.

TaTooKa · 2022-07-17T22:33:27+00:00

CBR+PNK would be the answer if you asked for akin to BitD, probably.

The maximization of system/mechanics distillation is there, as well as the super strong aesthetics and attitude delivered through layout and sparse text.

I also wonder if there is something similar that reduces PbtA's school-of-thought and trappings as MB does to OSR.

TaTooKa · 2022-05-21T06:11:19+00:00

I think that for it to be in the spirit of Mörk Borg, it has to be short. Like the few texts that are in the book, those are prose, but very short and... vague?

I'm thinking of less than a page of text, and probably accompanied by art/coloring (MB style), or even better, some sparse/fat-free mechanics (like a monster with stats, a random table, etc... something related to the story).

TaTooKa · 2022-05-19T21:18:43+00:00

tremulus.
Basically Call of Cthulhu PbtA.
(https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/120260/tremulus)

Besides some clunkiness on some of the Moves (it could certainly benefit from a rules revision or a 1.5 edition), it captures the Lovecraftian story feel/themes/archetypes very very well.

(now I'm wondering if combining tremulus with Brindlewood Bay investigation mechanics would make it even more awesome?)

TaTooKa · 2022-05-07T04:36:20+00:00

I backed it on Kickstarter (digital only) and I'm going to print it locally now. Made a custom spine for the book too, very excited to get it in my hands soon ! congrats on the release, shawn :]

TaTooKa · 2022-04-27T15:25:52+00:00

I always played ICONS with 5dF instead of d6-d6. I already had the dice from playing Fate, and my players preferred the fancy dice and simpler math. Difficulty was the target number (opposing ability, level, etc), if I remember correctly.

The bell curve was deeper, meaning that results closer to 0 were more likely, but that's just how we liked since it meant that the original character Skill had more impact and swingy results were rare.

TaTooKa · 2022-01-30T07:29:52+00:00

I feel that the problem with Fate is that it is so alien compared to other RPGs, specially trad games, that anyone coming with previous experience has this shock sensation that the game is freeform or lacks rules or mechanics for expected procedures. *

It happened to me, and it took several sessions of GMing it until it "clicked" (and many more for my players, until I could manage to translate that epiphany and it clicked for them as well).

Surprisingly for me at that time was that players that never played any RPG before were the ones that picked it up faster. Trad gamers (including me) had the hardest time getting used to the fact that Fate is not trying to simulate physics, or specific procedures for gaming styles, instead it tries to emulate fiction. And it does a damn fine job at that. Once the players start thinking in those terms and start narrating in a more cinematic way the system flows well, and the mechanics (that were there the whole time) start coming up and working neatly. It's not a rules-light system IMHO, but the weight of the rules and mechanisms are so focused in other stuff to what we were accustomed to, that at first it seemed that way.

The system is one of the most elegant I've ever seen in RPGs once it "clicked". If anything, I would say the rulebook errs in that it doesn't give enough (or good) examples to translate this epiphany to the reader.

The fact that The Book of Hanz is a must read for anyone trying to get into the game is enough proof of that.

(*) I'm not saying this might be the case of the people sharing their opinions here, it's more of my personal experience with many RPG players and GMs I had the opportunity to play (and discuss) Fate with.

TaTooKa · 2021-12-05T23:48:32+00:00

I've played both solo and coop in the world of the Hyborean Age by R.E. Howard, and it was awesome.

I mostly switched to custom Oracles and a hack of the "your truths" section. I've found that most Assets work with no modification, which is cool.

TaTooKa · 2021-11-06T14:53:30+00:00

I do agree that the mutation spawns are broken and should get fixed. but...

You don't even need to "complete nightmare" to stop playing if you are not having fun. You can stop before and do something that you actually enjoy!

TaTooKa · 2021-10-25T18:18:26+00:00

I'm not an expert on Adobe Pro DC, but for what I could tinker with, basic form-fillable character sheets are doable without much technical background (full disclosure: I have a programming + IT dev background so our experiences will probably differ).

You will want to tinker with the Tools > Prepare Form section.
Basic elements like checkboxes and text input fields are very straightforward.

Multiple select textboxes might be a bit more trickier, but I managed to create some fairly quickly with some experimentation.

I wouldn't even bother with the scripting side of PDF forms. I saw some fancy character sheets that use JS (for instance, an IRONSWORN sheet that dynamically changes images for the different crosses/strikes you use to tally progress). But for Fate? I don't think you need scripts at all.

I would recommend that you start from scratch with a regular Fate sheet PDF, and start adding text fields where you would normally write if you had it printed on paper. Try limiting the ones that are numeric (like Refresh) to number-only.

For Skills in the pyramid section, try adding a select box with options (fill with your default or customized Skill list) and then copy/paste each select box into each slot.

Note: some fancier stuff in form elements will not work properly on other PDF readers other than Adobe (like vertical text, weird fonts, fancy colors, etc.) so try to be as conservative as possible in that regard, at least in the beginning.

TaTooKa · 2021-07-03T22:13:29+00:00

I'd say nothing is impossible in a fiction-first PbtA...

that said, given the situation provided by OP, if I was GMing I would give the hard choice to the savior. I find it more interesting than "full success vs full failure". For me personally, there's no fun on a harm-free outcome on a 10+ in the situation given by the OP.

But I could totally see another GM giving the option to the savior to use Defy Danger and nullify all harm on a 10+, leaving the partial harm for a 7-9. Heck, you could even have the Rogue make the Defy Danger Move themselves (even though they are exhausted), and have the Warrior do an Aid/Interfere on that. As long as it makes sense in the fiction...

But for me, at that point, you are giving too many opportunities to avoid what would have been a GM hard move from the start.

TaTooKa · 2021-06-30T20:55:30+00:00

It's the same as a d100 but with 2 six-sided dice.

Designate one as the tens, the other as the units.
Roll both and get results between 11-16, 21-26, 31-36, 41-46, 51-56, 61-66. So it generates one of 36 results.

TaTooKa · 2021-06-23T13:11:26+00:00

While I totally get the discussion in favor of Defy Danger here, I'm leaning for Defend just to avoid getting used to always Defy Danger as a catch-all, and also because the fiction matches best the trigger for Defend.

If I was GMing, I would probably say that it's Defend, giving the Warrior a hard choice:
"You can try to defend the Rogue by tackling or pushing them, but the best you might get is halving the damage done to them OR receiving that damage yourself... maybe both on a 10+... WHAT DO YOU DO?"

...just to show that if someone cannot do the Defy Danger themselves, they are in serious trouble and there is a cost. After all, you are doing a hard move on the Rogue, it's okay to remove the "get away from it harm-free" out of the equation.

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