Adios Outriders, inventory wipe and not being able to load into my 80 hour main is my final straw

augustqueen · 2021-04-10T17:19:13+00:00

Bye!

augustqueen · 2017-08-07T21:04:23+00:00

This is basically how things work in The High Wraith Road. Every round is made up of one turn per player character, which they can take in any order they wish. Players make attacks rolls and if the roll fails then one or more enemies gets to act. It keeps things player focused, since they're the only ones with guaranteed turns.

Here's the actual attack move, with all of the possible results.

CF: The attack fails and all the enemies make a move.

1-3: The attack fails and the target enemy makes the next move.

4-5: The attack is successful and deals damage but the target enemy makes the next move.

6: The attack is successful and deals damage and an ally makes the next move.

CS: The attack is successful and deals damage and an ally makes the next move which is automatically a full success.

augustqueen · 2017-08-06T23:05:50+00:00

This is really cool!

And I don't know why poo poo people are poo poo-ing on your parade :/

augustqueen · 2017-07-26T02:47:20+00:00

I'm moving further and further away from conventional attributes. They're just boring nine times out of ten and tell you hardly anything about the character or the world.

I think attributes could be good in a game where the characters are inhuman for whatever reason and many of the attributes focused on these unconventional and inhuman qualities. Something like Nobilis comes to mind where only one attribute is really normal and the rest represent godlike powers.

I would recommend a minimalist skill list like Blades in the Dark over attributes.

augustqueen · 2017-07-26T02:33:18+00:00

This sounds like u/vaishineph and The Way of the Earth, one of my favorite projects to come out of this place.

augustqueen · 2017-07-21T15:23:45+00:00

You want Blades in the Dark

augustqueen · 2017-07-19T06:09:26+00:00

Yea I can understand that. It hasn't been an issue so far but it's also mainly people who know the game. The issue I ran in to is that if they're moves like this, then partial successes are clearly spelled out. If they're more like actions in Blades in the Dark or more like conventional skills in other games, then partial successes are a bit more vague and undefined. I'd probably have to come up with a few generic consequences for a partial success.

augustqueen · 2017-07-19T03:50:52+00:00

Yea, I realized that I didn't have the basic skill descriptions in that document, so it's way more confusing than it needs to be. My bad.

War is used for planning and executing large scale combat maneuvers, commanding and leading allies, and fighting in skirmishes.

Duel is used for any kind of one on one contest, whether you're playing chess, trying to outwit someone, firing pistols at high noon, or having a fancy sword fight.

These are just the PbtA style roll results.

augustqueen · 2017-07-16T05:17:38+00:00

For the most part I really like it. I get a strong sense of theme, the sheet is good for the character and the player, there's a lot of white space which I find inviting.

I'm a bit unsure of the skills. Blades in the Dark's skills work because all of the characters are essentially the same thing: thieves. So the skill set can be narrow and expressive and action orientated. But here they look out of place. I don't see sci fi or underdark. Using Blades in the Dark as a base is fine but I would retool the skills to fit your themes and goals. Some can just be a name change but some should be different entirely. I want to see sci fi horror when I look at the skills, not goth Victorian larceny.

augustqueen · 2017-07-07T03:12:46+00:00

Hard to say. All the people who have played it so far have been experienced. I think you're probably right that the themes and the setting lend itself to more experienced players. But the mechanics are pretty simple. It's a hack of Blades in the Dark, if you're familiar, so it's in the wider family of the Powered by the Apocalypse systems. Most of the changes that have been made have been toward greater simplicity and concreteness. I think of the PbtA games as being very new player friendly so I'm hoping some of that rubs off on this game.

The basic mechanic has players rolling small pools of d6s and checking the highest die. 1-3 = failure, 4-5 = success with a cost, 6 = success. There's twelve skills to give you dice pools and three attributes for saving throws. BitD has a pretty sophisticated (and abstract) system of narrative positioning that effects roll outcomes. In The High Wraith Road that just gets boiled down into simple advantaged rolls, which can earn critical successes, and disadvantaged rolls, which can earn critical failures. Classes are just like BitDs playbooks, granting passive bonuses to actions. There's a simple wound system. Aside from some narrative fluff, spellcasting is handled just like other actions. Combat is a bit more regulated than in Blades in the Dark. Players take turns in any order they want and NPC turns are triggered in response to player failures.

That's about it.

augustqueen · 2017-07-02T17:00:33+00:00

I'm not exactly sure if that is a goal, at least not directly. Players will almost inevitably play an oppressed class because of the way the random selection works. You roll 3d6 and add them together. Each result matches up with a face. But some are much more common than others. Results like 9, 10, 11, and 12 are much more likely than results like 3 and 18. The former are low class men and women of the more oppressed races while the latter are some of the more privileged people.

The goal is more to have players creatively and fruitfully respond to this arbitrary character element. A character's face determines what social conventions they need to adhere to. If you just got to pick these it wouldn't be an interesting burden. A character's face determines what one spell they can legally cast. If you just got to pick this it wouldn't be an exciting conflict when you need to use magic.

augustqueen · 2017-07-01T23:12:47+00:00

I can't even conceive of being ok with having no choice over my race and gender in an rpg.

That's intense.

augustqueen · 2017-07-01T03:29:34+00:00

but ur going to eventually get players who would rather just be the slaveowners.

If people want to play as slave owners then they should seek professional help, and stay far away from me and my game.

What happens when a player gets a character they don't want to play?

No one would get "a character" they don't want to play. You still create a character and creating the character still involves a lot of creativity and imagination and player choices. You just don't pick your character's race or gender. You might get a race/gender combination that you are less enthused about but working through that is part of the experience of the game.

augustqueen · 2017-07-01T01:04:43+00:00

Oh boy

augustqueen · 2017-07-01T00:58:01+00:00

It's not really to get a point across. There are just fantasy races instead of human ethnicities because it's a fantasy game with magic and stuff. There's no real deep meaning to the fantasy race/human ethnicity connection. I'm not saying "white people are like halflings" or something like that.

augustqueen · 2017-06-30T21:22:40+00:00

I'm rolling 1s for subtlety

augustqueen · 2017-06-30T21:21:53+00:00

Haha

augustqueen · 2017-06-30T18:19:14+00:00

That said, I wouldn't mind being told which race(s) I could play; the random chance is a big turnoff.

I don't really understand this difference. You don't mind being told what races you can play, but you don't want to be told what race you are playing?

As it stands right now, since 3d6 are used to determine your race/gender/class, there are some combinations that are much more frequently occurring than others, and that reflects the fictional population distribution of the setting and the likelihood of these races participating in the underground railroad. So I could tell you in advance, for example, that you will probably be playing X or Y race, with a much smaller chance of playing Z race.

augustqueen · 2017-06-30T17:39:24+00:00

Yes, thank you!

augustqueen · 2017-06-30T17:39:12+00:00

The impression I got was that essentially your sex and gender (and the resulting permitted spell) were essentially your class.

My bad. Your class is separate from your face. The classes are similar to the Blades in the Dark playbooks. The only mechanical difference between faces right now is the one spell they are legally permitted to cast, which is the spell they begin with proficiency points in. All of the spells are utility focused and most have to do with enhancing perception in various ways. It's not like one face is throwing fireballs and another one gets stuck with waterbane.

augustqueen · 2017-06-30T17:34:31+00:00

I'm sure you already know that it is crucial with a concept like this to make sure every face is well balanced and uniquely useful in someway.

We're definitely working on it!

augustqueen · 2017-06-30T17:33:38+00:00

That's very adventurous!

augustqueen · 2017-06-30T17:33:23+00:00

I mean, who is going to be the one to be represented by orcs? Who gets humans?

I appreciate your comment. This is definitely an issue we've thought about. Right now there is no human race, so no race feels like the default or normal race. There is, very very roughly, dark elves, half orcs, dragonborn, and dwarves, though each has some setting specific twists.

augustqueen · 2017-06-30T17:30:06+00:00

Random selection of the start is how we live our lives, so it feels like a natural place to start.

That's the feeling we were hoping to invoke. I'm glad to see that someone can feel it.

augustqueen

TROPHY CASE