WttC - Year Zero Engine starting point

 

Reworking the game to use the Year Zero Engine from Free League Publishing. I'm really liking my experiences with that system so far and it's available for free to use. Going to try and push this one to actually make it to the playtest level, unlike before. 

What I've decided on so far. 

The four stats and twelve skills. Some modifications here to fit the setting but not much. 

Force (Strength)

Close Combat (Strength)

Stamina (Strength)

Marksmanship (Agility)

Mobility (Agility)

Piloting (Agility)

Machinery (Wits)

Observation (Wits)

Survival (Wits)

Medical Aid (Empathy)

Manipulation (Empathy)

Persuasion (Empathy)

Stealth will be a specialization instead of a skill. Computer Operation will be a specialization that works with Machinery since people who actually know how to do anything beyond the very basics with a computer are not that common. 

Stress Dice will be used. 

A health bar, similar to the one in Alien, will also be used.

Need to add in some sort of Toxic measure in there. To show how badly the toxic environment has affect the well being of the characters. Thinking of something similar to the Immunity Check that was in the old game Kromosome from the Amazing Engine line. Not sure how I'm going to do that yet.

That and the basics of Psionic abilities as well. 

My PbtA dislike in one sentence

 

Somebody summed up what I don't like about Powered by the Apocalypse games in one sentence really well. 

"The thing that many people miss with that is that PbtA isn't really meant for freeform roleplaying; it's about telling specific kinds of stories."

Right there. I'm here to roleplay, hopefully a good fun story comes out of it, but not always. I sure as shit don't want to tell a specific kind of story. This why every time I've played a PbtA game it has been my definition of 'not fun'. As little fun as a player I have means I sure don't want to be the poor fool trying to run it either. 

But guess what? I'm free to not like something. If you like it, good on you. Just stop expecting everybody else to think your favorite thing should be their favorite thing as well. 

EDIT: I've decided to add more comments about PbtA that just make me shake my head and walk away.

"PbtA is not a system, it's a philosophy. Don't go into a PbtA expecting things to be exactly the same"

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Vaesen acquired

 

Well after giving the game a try at DieCon I knew I was going to pick this one up. So using my gift card money at the shop I work at some purchases were made. So now I have acquired the Vaesen corebook, gm screen and dice. Not sure when I'll get around to running it. Hell I still have to read it. But I'm thinking this one will be a great addition to game night once folks get used to the more rules light nature and overall strangeness. 

DieCon 25 report

 

Just attended a gaming convention called DieCon, they are in their 25th year and, for me, the first time attending. Went with my step son Zack and my friend Larry. I have to say we had a great time.

A lot of tabletop wargaming going on. Some great set ups on the tables. Some really well done scenery and miniatures. Boardgaming was also there in quantity including a free library of games to chose from for those just wanting to set down and play.

For us three though, we were mainly there for the roleplaying. Which there was plenty of. The usual Living DnD, Pathfinder Adventure League stuff and then a lot of others. Surprisingly there was no Cyberpunk RED or Borg products being ran. Those two are runaway popular right now so not seeing them was surprising. 

The first game I got into was Vaesen from Free League Publishing. Nordic supernatural roleplaying, and it was great. The rules, art, lore, just everything impressed me enough that it's going to be the next game I purchase. Had a fun time tracking down a werewolf and learning the difference between our western version of them and the Nordic/Scandinavian version. The group was great to play with as well.

Second was a Call of Cthulhu 7th ed game from Chaosium. Last edition I actually played was probably 2nd ed so I was just curious about the changes. I don't remember there being hard and extreme success levels in the old one. But overall mostly the same. Wanted to strangle one 20 something idiot in our group who kept doing stupid shit over and over. But we still solved the mystery and successfully finished the session with minimal sanity loss.

Last I played a game of Morrow Project. I love Morrow Project, especially the older edition they were doing. Didn't have a full group but we played on anyways. While it was fun I wasn't overly impressed with the way the guy was running the adventure. That and in the end he leaned way into the scifi a bit more than I like. Ah well. 

There weren't many dealers offering up stuff that I wanted to buy. Several 3D print folks which I have zero interest in. Miniature Market put up the most pathetic booth I have ever seen for a company their size. The Troll and Toad folks also didn't do anything beyond just having some books on a table for sale. The artist Brent Chumley was probably the best one there. Ended up buying a new mousepad for me and a T-Shift for my wife from him.

We preregistered for next year. Got a better idea of how to plan our games out better and I may even run a game or two there if I get a chance to playtest out the adventure beforehand. A lot of fun was had buy our little trio and we hope to get a few more locals to show up next year. 

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