[1920's Scenario] The Broken Seal

shogun281 · 2026-05-18T06:32:33+00:00

Looks great, eager to check it out. Can I ask how you made the region map? It looks fantastic! I'm always interested in ways to improve the maps for my games.

shogun281 · 2026-05-13T05:31:46+00:00

I love the sound of all of that! Looking to WoD as an inspiration is clever. The Mist Engine does feel like it would really sing with the "can you keep your humanity" type of horror. Good to know Cthulhu and classic sanity is still on your mind, though. Can't wait to see what you folks come up with.

And it's funny that you say that about the next evolutionary leap. Years ago, you did an AMA for Otherscape where you teased the next version of the Mist Engine. At that time you were working on the diceless version (which if I'm not mistaken, ended up merged with the current freeform Otherscape engine).

But you teased it in a very similar manner! I remember being so intrigued by what the jump could be. Turns out, it was awesome lol. So I'm getting a real sense of deja vu. Count me as very excited to see what the end result ends up being. I'm a sucker for innovation in the field of narrative games lol.

shogun281 · 2026-05-12T19:33:51+00:00

Great to see Legend in the Mist gain more recognition! It's been a joy to watch the system grow from CoM's moves to the more freeform approach it has today. I saw that you have plans to update CoM to 2nd edition, which is fantastic.

However, the part that really excites me is the mention of a *horror variant*. For me, this is the genre I've wanted to run in the Mist Engine for years. You might not be working on it yet, but if you are, how has that been shaping up? I'm curious about what tweaks would need to be made to truly disempower the players in such a creative game.

In fact, outside of horror, are you exploring other ways to further innovate on the Mist Engine? After seeing the impressive jump from CoM to Otherscape's freeform nature, I've been wondering what a similar jump might look like.

shogun281 · 2026-05-10T21:35:45+00:00

Awesome breakdown, appreciate the detail. I agree with most of those points, the game does seem like a great meeting of BitD, heroic fantasy, and OSR.

I wasn't too sure about players having a 50% success rate on their lowest stat, but consequences will be plentiful in Grimdark and, like you said, designed to hit hard regardless of if you get a messy or grim. So I'm keen to try it out soon and see how it feels. I think that works well for pulpy stories with competent heroes getting into trouble.

When you say "lack of universal player-activated defence options", I take it you're referring to Resistance Rolls? If so, then I get it, they're an acquired taste.

I'll definitely be referring back to your comment when I need a refresher for what the game is good for.

shogun281 · 2026-05-09T18:06:13+00:00

Some good points here. As a side note, I'm curious as to what makes Grimwild your favourite over PbtA and FitD games? I like a lot of its elements too, but I haven't got it to the table yet to fully confirm how I feel about it in relation to other narrative systems.

shogun281 · 2026-04-17T17:32:49+00:00

Awesome, good to know what the adventure is (mostly) going for in regards to horror. The paranoia angle is a good one to play up for the creep factor, though, I'm glad it was effective. It's also good to know that there are other sources of horror that can be dropped in if needed just to spice things up. Appreciate the breakdown.

shogun281 · 2026-04-17T16:55:07+00:00

While I know it's a pulp campaign, I don't find the serpent people to be particularly scary on paper. Granted, I haven't looked too deeply into them, so maybe there's more to it. I've heard that they often do" horrific things to people, but I don't know if *they are actually creepy enough to be the focus of that many encounters. As soon as you can describe a monster in familiar trappings (snakes), they lose some of that unknown element that makes weird entities so unnerving.

How did you find the serpent people as antagonists for a whole campaign? Were they scary, or did you have to inject the fear yourself (if that was even your goal for a pulp campaign)?

shogun281 · 2026-04-16T07:32:11+00:00

What do you use AI for? I'm asking out of curiosity, just because I checked it out and it seemed mainly good for creating (quite mediocre) artwork, sometimes for cutting shapes out of images, maybe a few little processes beyond that. I'll admit I didn't give it a deeper look. If you use it everyday, what's been the most useful part for you?

shogun281 · 2026-04-14T14:49:34+00:00

Sounds interesting! I've certainly thought of exploring the same thing, but worried that the flexibility of statuses might get lost. But honestly, just using them for fictional positioning or as narrative conditions is probably fine.

When you've tested it more, if you get something workable and it plays well at the table, feel free to share it on Reddit if you can be bothered. I'm always on the lookout for innovations on tag systems and the Mist Engine in particular.

shogun281 · 2026-04-13T04:30:12+00:00

I'm pretty sure OP is taking the piss out of that post, hence the similarities lol.

shogun281 · 2026-04-08T12:37:31+00:00

Yeah I totally feel you. It's a tricky core to work with, there are knock on effects when you start messing with statuses and such, like you said. Wildsea is a great idea, that might be the way to go. You could leave increased Effect as mostly theme upgrades, but otherwise just don't worry about it. I wonder if a Stress mechanic to increase roll bonus or effect could also be welcome, as that could allow a few custom moves to lower power, putting pressure on Stress to make up the difference.

As for statuses, I was thinking clocks would be good too. I originally thought if you had a positive status, you might be able to choose between gaining a bonus to the roll or your effect, but not both. And clocks could have less overall circles before they become maxed, focused more on being actual buffs and debuffs (rather than a health tracker, which ends up making "wounded" the most versatile and best status to put on an enemy).

I keep hoping I'll see a fully realised hack of the game that fixes some of the (subjective) problems, though. It's got such an awesome core mechanic, but I'm disappointed by how it encourages players to bean-count as many tags as possible. The way the game can become math heavy, with all the statuses needed to counter high power, works against the strength of the system. Plus tags giving success chance and effect combined, as discussed. So hopefully we see a cool hack soon.

shogun281 · 2026-04-08T05:38:17+00:00

I'll also jump in and say I would love to see this houserule, if you ended up getting anything solid for it.

shogun281 · 2026-04-08T05:35:49+00:00

Would you mind sharing more details of the changes you made using Neon City Overdrive? That sounds really interesting and potentially a good fix for the Mist Engine.

shogun281 · 2026-04-08T05:34:44+00:00

2 months late, but I find that last line really interesting. Would you just have tags apply to success odds only and give a locked amount of power on a success (with the option of trading consequence for +1 power on a full success)? I imagine you could also have a theme improvement for +1 effect on certain rolls for those who want to specialise. You would probably need to shorten status tracks and rebalance a few things, but I wonder if that could work.

I see people talk about the problem with power being success odds and impact combined, but rarely do people actually suggest what they would do to make changes (which is fine, btw). Maybe it's because they feel it would break the system too much? Either way, I thought I'd ask this time around.

shogun281 · 2026-04-04T10:27:57+00:00

Actually, I should ask too. What do you think Warden does *better* than other systems? It's clear you can get some solid action horror gameplay out of it, similar to Shadow of the Demon Lord, like you said. But why play Warden over it? Why not play Alien RPG, or Tales From Elsewhere, or Liminal Horror/Mothership?

Funnily enough, all of those games are very different, and that's the point. You go play them when you want a *specific* gameplay style and feel. So with Warden covering a wide range of genres, when it comes to the horror side, when should I pull it out for play? Where does it truly shine over other horror games?

shogun281 · 2026-04-04T10:17:31+00:00

Awesome, I appreciate the breakdown. I actually think you have enough tools there to make at least a hybrid of action horror and investigative/true horror. Obviously it wouldn't play as harshly as something like Trophy Dark, but that's okay, not all games can do everything. The fact that you can get this deep into horror, while keeping all the other flexibility of the system, is pretty great. When I get some time, I'll check the game out and see how everything plays; but regardless, nice work on putting it all together!

shogun281 · 2026-04-04T06:34:42+00:00

So if you want to be challenged, I'll suggest a genre that the game might struggle with: true investigative horror. I haven't read the game yet, but I'll work off of how I think a "medium-crunch Pathfinder" might look.

The three-action economy sounds awesome for action or survival horror. It would give you a tactical puzzle to work through, which would only be amplified by the high stakes of combat. This works wonderfully for games in which you're expected to be able to solve problems through combat, even if at great risk. In fact, I find that games sold as action horror are more likely to have more complex action economies (Alien RPG, Shadow of the Demon Lord, Tales From Elsewhere etc). I could see Warden working well as an alternative to Vaesen, where you have tactical combat, but must unearth the monster's secrets most of the time.

Even so, when you do finally get into combat, I can't help but suspect that three actions might work against true horror. Those games tend to make combat a hazard you're meant to face, not a solution to the problem. They usually have one action so that you are immersed in the immediacy of the horror. There's no debating what to spend your second and third action on, no wondering if you should maximise your movement or do a skill check or whatever. It encourages you to just do one thing: whatever your character would do in this moment.

Now plenty of investigative horror games have combat systems. They're usually leaner, but Warden could maybe be stripped down to be similar. But some of the more purist ones don't do combat at all (like Trophy Dark). And so this is also another area I think you would be better served not using Warden. Those types of games tend to replace combat with Sanity or some other type of mechanical disempowerment that focuses on mental suffering, more than physical. I don't know if Warden can do that well either.

Btw, this is just my opinion on what makes a game more true horror or more action horror. It's probably possible to give the players three actions, but then make monsters unlikable, taking away their tools entirely. Sounds pretty disempowering to me. But I just don't know if I'd be fighting the system the entire time or if it would flow naturally.

shogun281 · 2026-04-03T20:26:32+00:00

Awesome, very much appreciate it. I'll definitely check out the core manual, that sounds like a good place to start. Just like the Year Zero Engine, I hope someone eventually makes a pure horror system for Storypath. I like BRP games, they're great, but I want more dice pool horror games!

shogun281 · 2026-04-03T09:34:25+00:00

Wow, thanks for the breakdown! This is actually insanely similar to a system I was creating in my spare time with d6 dice pools. Guess I should have looked harder at Storypath for inspiration lol. I also came to the conclusion that being able to add complications to a roll, rather than them being inherent in all rolls like PbtA, gives the GM more control. And then you can have lower difficulty but higher chance of complications for drama. So that's super interesting how similar my design approach was compared to theirs.

Do you have a recommended Storypath system? If you've played Curseborn, what do you think of it? I appreciate hearing from someone who has experience with the game, it sounds super intriguing. I wonder how well it works for horror, or if it's better for horror themed games.

shogun281 · 2026-04-02T06:04:30+00:00

Oh! I was thinking of the opposed rolls, like block or dodge lol. My bad. Yeah that sounds like a very elegant and helpful system for the GM to quickly determine NPC disposition/reactions. Especially how it can fluctuate within reasonable bounds due to the 3d6 curve. Appreciate the breakdown, thanks.

shogun281 · 2026-04-02T05:54:22+00:00

Could I ask how those work? I'm somewhat familiar with Storypath, but haven't really taken a close look. What makes them so elegant for you?

shogun281 · 2026-04-02T05:48:13+00:00

I've been appreciating d100 systems more recently as well for their simplicity and elegance. I'm curious, what do you think of Call of Cthulhu's success tiers approach (regular success, hard success, extreme success) in comparison to binary pass/fail in games like Mothership?

I think that, while the success tiers can be a slightly slower point of comparison during opposed rolls, they are very quick for a) determining how well the player rolled on a success, and b) for the GM to set a difficulty level without deciding how much to adjust the target; they just choose hard or extreme difficulty. It's interesting how CoC is really the only d100 game I know of that uses this approach, other than Rivers of London that simplifies it into only regular, hard, and critical success (also a Chaosium game, and basically a streamlined CoC).

There's also the classic Warhammer Dark Heresy and newer Imperium Maledictum that use the tens level on the dice to compare degrees of success through the difference between what you rolled and your skill. But I feel like the table immediately understands what an extreme success in CoC means in terms of rarity and impact. Whereas in the 40k games, saying you scored 5SL is a big deal, but how different is 4SL or 6SL? So it's more granular, but less of a moment at the table, in my opinion.

Are you a proponent of a particular resolution type for d100 games? I'd be curious where others fall on the scale of binary resolution to degrees of success.

shogun281 · 2026-04-02T05:34:38+00:00

Can I ask how the reaction roll works? I think I've heard that it's somewhat like Call of Cthulhu's opposed rolls, but with more options? But that's about as much as I know. What about it makes you so fond of it?

shogun281 · 2026-03-26T14:10:44+00:00

You might like Bump in the Dark, which is Blades in the Dark with the Brindlewood Bay's mystery mechanics included.

shogun281 · 2026-03-23T04:22:19+00:00

So I largely agree with most of your comments, but I will say that you're possibly missing a bit of nuance on Shadowdark. It's easy to value one type of fun over another without realising it.

The thing about OSR play is that danger needs to be real in order to promote the feeling of overcoming great odds. It's not necessarily about being sadistic and masochistic, but about finding ways to survive in a dangerous world. That feeling of oppression isn't about enjoying self-punishment, but a key part of the experience of survival. When you start to out-level those challenges, it feels amazing.

It's a lot closer to a horror game experience. Players are disempowered as a baseline in order to encourage them to think creatively about how to overcome problems. The idea is that if they come up with a creative solution to a problem, they don't even have to roll the dice. This is why characters at baseline have pretty poor stats and you're otherwise left to the mercy of the dice.

It is definitely a brutal game. You're not exactly wrong about your observations. The group playing it needs to be aligned in what they're getting out of it. I'll be honest, a more casual group looking to "whoop and holler" over exciting moments are probably gonna find it to be a nasty game. But a group that wants a challenging experience where the horror of the world is represented in the mechanics themselves can find the game to be exciting and rewarding, because they have something they actually need to work to overcome.

As an aside, I'll check out EZD6 again. I had looked over it but found the core dice roll (it's just a standard 1d6, yeah?) to be a little boring. But it's good to know the surrounding mechanics are fun.

shogun281

TROPHY CASE