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If you like It's Not My Fault (INMF), you'll like this sci-fi variant. The game lends itself well to a pick-up GMless improv game. It prints out as a single page.
Like INMF, each player pulls three cards to create a character. This variant uses an ordinary deck of playing cards (no jokers) instead of the custom cards used by INMF. That makes this even easier to use as a pick-up game.
In Fate Accelerated Edition (FAE) terminology, you wind up with the usual six approaches, rated 0-3 each, totaling 9 points. You also wind up with three aspects. The game avoids conflicting aspects by asking you to avoid using two cards of the same rank. Example character: a silver-tongued navy gunner with acrobatic running skills. Approaches: Careful +1, Clever +1, Flashy +2, Forceful +2, Quick +2, Sneaky +1.
Unlike INMF, this game doesn't give you any FAE stunts. If you understand the FAE system, you could make up FAE stunts on the spot. If not, it'll probably be enough to recognize that you can do what any silver-tongued navy gunner with acrobatic running skills can do. And you can do it well, because you're a hero in this story.
Like INMF, you draw cards to create the situation. Draw three times to answer three questions. You wind up with something like you'd find in a classic sci-fi action/adventure movie. There's nothing above a PG-13 rating. Example situation, generated by card draws: We're in what appears to be natural caverns. The alternative was getting recycled. It's about to get worse because the natives are restless.
Your job as players is to figure out what the initial situation means, and then you take it from there.
Perhaps a key difference between this game and INMF is that this doesn't tell you what to do or how to play after you've created the characters and the situation. Maybe they assume you already know how to play INMF and how to use the FAE system.
From my perspective, you don't have to know INMF or FAE. Just improv the story starting from the situation you generated, and have fun. Wrap up the story when it feels like it's time to wrap it up. If you don't know how to play FAE, at least come to an understanding of what the six appraoches mean. Make up some game mechanic for resolving situations using the approach you've chosen for handling it.
For our use, we decided it needed goals, so we created a table of 13 goals, and then we draw a card at the start to pick one.
It's been a fun game for our gamng circle.
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I like the concept but I find many of the consequences too severe and somewhat uneven.
Consider mild consequences. In Fate Accelerated, which is what I use, "mild consequences vanish at the end of the scene, provided you get a chance to rest" (page 22). In Fate Core, "Mild consequences don’t require immediate medical attention. They hurt, and they may present an inconvenience, but they aren’t going to force you into a lot of bed rest" (page 163). I recall someone's rule of thumb that mild consequences need first aid or a brief rest, moderate consequences need a doctor, and severe consequences need an emergency room; I'm not sure that's official, but it seems compatible with the Fate Accelerated and Fate Core descriptions.
And yet this deck includes "mild" consequences such as Lost Some Fingers, Cooked Off Ear, and Fractured Thigh. A brief rest or a little first aid isn't going to grow back your fingers, you know?
And then among the severe consequences, we find [1-5] Fingers Crushed and Broken. Broken fingers are severe but missing fingers are mild?
My workaround is to tell players who pull harsh "mild" consequences to replace them with a milder equivalent that can go away with a little rest or first aid. But if we have to make up our own consequences anyway, that works against the stated purpose of the deck.
I realize now that although the deck is tagged here with Fate as the rule system, Fate is not mentioned anywhere in the product description or in the deck itself. The deck includes not only mild, moderate, and severe consequences, but also extreme consequences, which I haven't seen in any Fate products (although my knowledge may well be incomplete on that point). If these cards weren't intended to go with Fate, it's been tagged misleadingly.
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I'm looking at the v1.5 document.
Things you might like:
- It's a system-neutral way to give a qualitative description of a character - personality, traits, etc.
- It's easy to mix and match different elements, rolling up some and assigning others non-randomly.
- The brief personality descriptions give you a good thumbnail picture of each type: desires, temptations, fears, etc. For some characters, the personality description alone may be sufficient, and you won't need to roll up the other elements.
- Similarly, the Virtue and Vice descriptions are brief but also flexible and useful. Rolling up either or both might sufficient for some characters, without having to roll up the other elements.
- The Stat Archetypes are descriptive and system-neutral, not numeric, but it'll probably be easy to figure out which character stats you should nudge up or down.
Things you might not like:
- If you're looking for a quantitative character generator (rolling up specific stats and selecting a particular species), you'll want another tool. That's not what this is.
- Since it's system-neutral and setting-neutral, there's nothing to factor in differences between species (which ones are taller, stronger, faster, ...). Obviously, you could decide for yourself that Hobbits will tend toward certain personalities and Wookiees toward others, but that's on you. This tool makes no distinction.
- The probability distributions are odd here and there. In the d10, d12, and d20 columns, the tables make the middle rows more likely than the upper or lower rows. So far so good, if the intent was indeed to make the middle rows more likely. The 3d6 column, however, makes the top row the most likely outcome. That is, rolling 3-7 on 3d6 is more likely than any other table result (probabililty 36 out of 216 instead of 27 or lower for other results); that seems like a mistake, or at least it's an unexplained inconsistency with the other tables. Another unexplained probability quirk is that the d100 column makes the middle row the least likely result instead of the most likely, with only a 3% chance instead of the 11-13% chance for each of the other rows. These unexplained quirks seem more like mistakes than design features, but if they're deliberate, it would help if the text pointed them out.
- The Encounter column (which is called Common Professions in the text) is fairly brief and generic. If you have a setting, and if you want a table of common professions, you'll probably want to cook up your own list. Also, note that because of the probability quirks mentioned above, farmers are either the most likely or the least likely profession, depending on which dice you use. Or guards can be anywhere from least likely to most likely, again depending on the dice you use.
- Mistake: The Vices table lists Crazy as the bottom entry. The text explanation uses Deceitful instead. The obvious fix is to decide on your own whether the character is Crazy or Deceitful. I mention this because it looks like a mistake the author might want to fix in a future version.
- Mistake: Every d12 column leaves out a roll of 4. This too has an easy DIY fix, but I mention it in case the author wants to fix the tables.
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It's on the right track, but it needs work. Its worthy goal is to guide how NPCs converse and react without falling into the rut of having all the characters sound and act the same.
The Vocal Quailty Table can be skipped. Variations in vocal quality are a good thing, but the random combinations of keywords from this table aren't inspiring. Suppose you roll up Throat, Jargon, and Child-Like. That's too arbitary. Instead, ask yourself how someone like this NPC would talk and skip the table.
The Dialogue Mood & Topic table is more promising.
Good elements of the Dialogue Mood & Topic table:
- I like the mix of response types. Each row has a common theme, with variations for the friendly, hesitant, and hostile columns. There's a row on generalities, a row that touches on character motivations, a row for commentary on the scene or conflict, and rows for the character's personality, virtues, and vices. That gives a good mix of things for an NPC to mention.
Not-so-good elements of the Dialogue Mood & Topic table:
- Despite the table's strengths, it can be disruptive to the mood and flow and unnecessarily time-consuming if you stop to make a series of dice rolls and table lookups - only to find out an NPC says, "Nice weather, huh?" or "Idiot."
- You can offset that disadvantage by pre-generating a few conversational things for each PC, but a) that could involve a lot of prep work for conversations that might never happen, and b) your prep work might not cover all the potential conversations anyway. Instead, you might need to hone your skills at improvised NPC dialogue instead of relying on table rolls.
- The product description says certain other generators by the same author are "required." They're not. In particular...
- The table cites the Fact Generator in case you need inspiration for a character making small talk. Do you really need inspiration for small talk? Just have the character state something minor and obvious about whatever's going on at the moment. Rolling up (for example) "Further" or "Manipulate" from the Fact Generator doesn't help.
- The table cites the Motivation Generator in case you need inspiration for an NPC discussing motivations. While you might want that inspiration, the table isn't "required" if you already have some character motivations in mind.
- It cites the "FRPG conflict or Plot Generator." If you're using those to generate situations, fine, go for it, but they're not required. The table has the NPC commenting on the scene or conflict, which works no matter how you came up with the situation.
- It cites the Character Generator for references to the character's personality, virtues, and vices. Again, the extra generator isn't required. You can still use this table no matter how you create your characters.
The Archetype Dialogue table is the most helpful piece.
Good elements of the Archetype Dialogue table:
- Whereas the Vocal Quality Table is completely arbitrary, this table is very much not arbitrary. It's not a random combination of disconnected elements. It's a unified set of guidelines on how nine different character archetypes might handle a conversation.
- Each column adds a useful element for each archetype. Which archetypes are more interested in taking action, or more interested in discussion? What are their likely goals? What are some typical things for them to say?
- The Pressured and Relaxed columns in particular are a nice touch. They offer a straightforward approach for altering a character's behavior in high-pressure or relaxed situations, namely, by temporarily using a different profile. For example, a Caregiver has a set of reactions, but in a high-pressure situation, the Caregiver temporarily becomes a Skeptic. In a relaxed situation, the Caregiver temporarily acts like a Lone Wolf. That's an interesting extra dynamic for character interaction.
- You could skip all the rest of the FRPG6 Dialogue Engine and just have the Archetype Dialogue table ready for quick glimpses during play. Assign each NPC an archetype, either in advance or on the spot, and glance at the Archetype Dialogue chart when you need a quick inspiration for how the NPC might react.
Not-so-good elements of the Archetype Dialogue table:
- The archetypes are listed without the descriptions you'd find in the Character Generator. That's a negative if you'd want the extra description (and if you weren't planning to use the Character Generator), but the archetype names are obvious enough in most cases. If some of the labels are less obvious to you, skip them. The Character Generator isn't required, as stated in the product description.
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This is a copy-and-paste job on the century-old English translation, except it's just the headings. The one-page introduction slapped onto this version can be summed up as "Pick one of these situations." This document adds nothing to the original.
Do a web search for Georges Polti Thirty Six Dramatic Situations and you'll find the full text. Reading a 100-year-old English translation of a 19th-century French work about classic (mostly Greek or French) literature can still present some challenges, but at least you'll have the full text if you want to read more.
Your web search should also turn up articles that will help you put the "36 Dramatic Situations" to use, although generally from a fiction writer's perspective, not from an RPG perspective.
Whichever source you use, keep in mind that these are situations, not plot outlines. Suppose you go with the sixteenth situation ("Madness"). You find that you need a Madman and a Victim. Suppose you pick variant B ("Disgrace Brought Upon Oneself Through Madness"). In this stripped-down version, that's all you get. If you use the full text, you'll get Polti's discussion of the topic, but it's still not going to help you with inciting incidents, plot points, encounters, or possible goals.
If you can run with "Madness" and "Disgrace Brought Upon Oneself Through Madness," this document may be enough for you. If you want to get more understanding of what Polti meant by those things, dig up the full text. If you want more help and inspiration to turn this seed into a fun adventure, neither this document nor the full text are enough.
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Set your expectations correctly before ordering. It's only $1 and it's only 8 pages long. It'd be even shorter without the artwork, which is thematic filler, not illustrations of game elements.
In short, I'd use it to seed a Star Trek-like one-shot adventure.
You might like this title if you're expecting:
- Fate Accelerated. It's there in the title.
- A somewhat Star Trek-ish setting in that characters are members of a starship crew, facing aggressors and seeking out new worlds.
- A straightforward, non-crunchy way to handle starships.
- A page with some general discussion on creating characters for this setting, including some sample stunts.
- Material suitable for a one-shot: five basic world types, six typical plot seeds. These are seeds only, not fleshed-out worlds or fleshed-out adventures.
You'll be disappointed if you're expecting:
- Fate Core. There are no skill lists.
- Star Trek canon (or any other canon). That's not what this is.
- A full campaign setting. You get a one-paragraph overview, and that's it.
- An adventure generator or a sample adventure. These are simple seeds.
- A world generator a la Traveller. Each world type is described in a few sentences. The descriptions are qualitative, not quantitative.
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As a character creation system, it's brilliant. There are 20 ways to combine 6 approaches taken 3 at a time (without repetition and order doesn't matter). That makes a convenient deck size. The system ensures that all approaches are in the 0-3 range, that there'll be variety in the approaches, and that each character has 3 aspects and 3 stunts. Doling out cards ensures that we'll have a mix of character types.
The character system also strikes a good middle ground between other potential methods for creating one-shot characters. It's less time-consuming and less daunting than having players make up characters from scratch. It gives players some say in their characters instead of handing them pre-made characters.
I've started making custom character decks for various settings. I can fit the necessary information into a business card size. I can make a custom deck with two sheets of business card printer stock.
The situation generator has some decent variety, but not all cards are suitable for all audiences. I take some cards out ahead of time, depending on who'll be playing. For example, I knew that a certain father/daughter pair of players wouldn't want to see the "Currently naked" card come up.
I added some goal cards. Some players said they were at a loss about what to do or they had trouble recognizing when the game was over. A goal card gave them something they could focus on and run with, without feeling railroaded. It helped keep the action crisp and created a recognizable ending.
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All in all, the product offers a good mix of elements that have the right feel for Greek and Roman mythology.
Things you might like:
- The "plotlibs" template sentence lays out a decent situation.
- The tables have generally good content for the topics they cover. They capture the spirit of a lot of stories from Greek and Roman mythology (although see below for some omissions).
- Hallelujah, the author (or his editor) can spell and punctuate and put apostrophes where they belong. A quick skim just now finds only one editing mistake, and it's a minor one ("an disbelieved oracle"). (Okay, maybe that's "Things I might like" more than "Things you might like," but I'm saying it anyway!)
Things you might not like:
- If you need help turning random elements into a coherent whole, this doesn't provide it. It's on you to find a way to tie the random pieces together and flesh them out.
- A strange omission from the tables are the Greek and Roman gods themselves. Some of the lesser ones appear by name (Hecate, Pan) and a few others appear by indirect reference (god of the sea, hunting god/dess), but most of the Olympians are nowhere to be found in tables that are supposed to have "a very Greco-Roman flavor."
- The tables don't give you any help for rolling up locations found in Greek or Roman mythology. It would have been helpful to include the rich variety of locations found in the myths, by generic type (temples, typical city-state features, magical springs, sacred mountains, mysterious islands, oracular shrines, etc.) or by specific name (specific city-states, islands, foreign lands, etc.).
- The table entries offer no explanations. Some entries are obvious. For many items, such as the Sibylline Books, Cercopes, the Titanomachy, and Stymphalian birds, you may need to spend some quality time with web searches to figure out what they are, where they occur, and what you might do with them.
- There are some anachronisms, such as "Gypsies," Mithraism, and the Dancing Plague, that didn't appear in the Greek or Roman myths.
None of those are negative enough to make me regret the $3.
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It wasn't what I was hoping for, but hey, it was free.
The description calls One Shot "a role-playing system designed for single session gaming." I didn't need to see yet another rules-light RPG system. I was more interested in its focus on single-session gaming. I was hoping to get some great insights and cool ideas on one-shots.
The 15-page document consists of 1 cover page, 5 pages on the game system, and 9 pages on a sample adventure.
The game system is yet another rules-light generic RPG system. There's nothing new there.
The 9-page sample adventure seems like way too much material for a single-session game, especially since it's "presented for only a single character." It's loaded to the gills with background material on the people, places, and history - way overkill. My eyes kept glazing over as I tried to read the walls of text. That wouldn't do in a single-session game.
What about the main thing I was after - tips on single-session gaming? Hardly anything.
If you skim the headings in the rules, not a single one of them makes any explicit reference to single-session gaming. You have to wade through the game system text to hunt for it.
The single-session advice comes down to not taking the long view. Yup, that much is obvious - no need to worry about session #2 if there won't be one.
But there's more to single-session gaming than not worrying about session #2. What about tips for engaging the characters from the start when, by definition, they have no history with their own characters, the NPCs, or the game world? (Reading pages of background isn't engaging.) What about guidelines on making the material modular so you can expand or compress depending on what the players do? How about some guidance on how to teach the players the rules quickly? What about techniques to keep the pacing crisp instead of (for example) letting one non-climactic battle chew up half of the available time? What about techniques to make sure you've got a rollicking good ending that's neither too early nor too late, that flows well with whatever choices the players have made, and that gives them a satisfactory resolution to the adventure? Are there any tips for finding a nice single-session balance that avoids excessive railroading (no decisions for the players) and excessive sandboxing (nothing in particular to do)?
None of that is present, but that's what I was hoping to see in a system designed for single-session gaming.
In short, I was disappointed. The rules system is light, but otherwise it does very little to aid single-session gaming.
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