The 4th edition of Green Ronin's capeshit-themed d20 fork is in the work. There's also a playtest version which you have to buy for 15 bucks.
I'm already dreading the 4th edition of their main setting (which has already become a woke clown shown in 3rd edition). Though maybe this time they have actually figured out how do balance Defensive Roll* end the various movement powers**.
*) It's what you buy to get "tougher" if you're a normie like Batman, as opposed to someone like Superman who is just tough. In the game's long history of shafting normies, the toughness gained from Defensive Roll costs exactly as much as just being supernaturally tough - except it's worse because being surprised and shit will just remove any bonus you get from Defensive Roll.
They've definitely borrowed the idea from Combat Luck used in Champions/Hero System, except that game actually has more granular point costs and specifically made this way of shrugging off damage cheaper than the more reliable alternatives.
**) Flight has always been too cheap, making shit like Leaping just a way to purposely gimp yourself.
Holy shit this is from the Witch Girls Adventures guys.
Eh, not riffing on older fatter Blastphamous HD too much, he looks like he was alive during the segregation and has no pronouns in bio.
If he worked on WGA there's a good chance he has a transformation fetish.
Or a fetish for (underaged) ladies smoking.
Or a fetish for getting transformed into a cigarette and then being smoked by an (underaged) lady.
WGA is a weird game.
Autism attracts more autism. Sooner or later, an internet nobody will attract the exact kind of fans - and detractors - he deserves.
-Yours Truly
I guess this is the unholy combination between the Radiant Citadel (aka Gay Planescape) and Strixhaven (aka Gay Hogwarts), or something new but equally horrifying.
I'm surprised they're still tweeting on the "nazi site".
Autism attracts more autism. Sooner or later, an internet nobody will attract the exact kind of fans - and detractors - he deserves.
-Yours Truly
Girl by Moonlight (by Evil Hat) Core Systems Part 1
We're back shitting on the Hat of Evil. This time the actual rules. I think. And Hope.
Note: I had to cut this chapter in half for brevity, as this fucker is the longest chapter in this book by a mile.
RiffingShow
We also get our first glimpse at one of the scary monsters that the book has been warning us about
Not for the faint of heartShow
Why am I not surprised that this Magical-Girl-in-Name-Only game can't into monsters, either? Except once again that mecha guy.
Also I can't tell if that guy is using a flamethrower or some kind of ray gun.
Role playing games function just like a conversation. Players will take turns speaking and listening to one another, building on what has already been said.
Improv theater. Just say it. It's not hard.
Typically the director’s role in the conversation is to present the situa- tions and settings the protagonists are in, and it’s up to the protagonists to take action. This is where the mechanics come in, to help resolve the outcome of the protagonists’ actions, and take the conversation in unexpected and exciting directions.
By "help resolve the outcome" and "unexpected and exciting directions", this game means "Have the GM figure shit out".
Through this back and forth of conversation supported by mechanics, a story emerges. No player is deliberately crafting it moment by moment, rather, it is a byproduct of play that can only be seen in hindsight.
I know what they're getting at, but this makes it sound like you can't plan any action, and random shit will just keep happening.
If I want that I'd once again stick with Maid RPG. That game has actual tables for random shit that anyone can trigger at any time.
Actions
These are basically the stats/skills of the game, which already shows that this is older than that Tomb Raider RPG, because more modern narrative RPGs (Tomb Raider included) don't like stats/skills. I guess the writers fear that stuff isn't "narrative" enough, or they're paranoid about players min-maxing their precious game.
Actions can be used to produce a variety of effects, and choosing to use a particular action does not necessarily limit the possible outcomes. A protagonist might use express to taunt an opponent, in the hopes of making them too angry to focus. They might also use express to convince someone to calm down, and resolve an issue non-violently.
Diplomacy: It can do a lot of things.
Confess wrote:When you confess, you expose the inner world of your thoughts and feelings to another.
Roll to admit that you've played the Wizard Game.
You could try to use your feelings to change someone’s mind (but express might be better).
Every action has a line like this, just to remind everyone that you should argue with the other players about using your highest action(s) for everything.
Forgive wrote:When you forgive, you show that you care for someone despite a mistake they have made.
Roll to forgive someone for playing the Wizard Game.
You might embrace a monster that was once human, in the hopes that it might be human again someday.
That might end very badly, depending on the kind of monster we're talking about. Also something something Trump supporters.
Perceive wrote:When you perceive, you see the world as it presents itself, without judgement.
Even the fucking Perception skill needs to have a flowery description.
Express wrote:When you express, you use words with an agenda in mind. You might teach someone a valuable lesson about friendship.
Or tell him how many genders there are.
And if you follow the Leftist logic that everything is political, this handy action should be able to do everything.
Defy wrote:When you defy, you muster your courage and face opposition head on. You might stand up to a bully, fixing them with a stern glare.
You might also get an atomic wedgie from that bully.
You might unleash your mightiest attack against a dangerous foe.
As opposed to mid-tier attacks against cannon fodder?
Empathize wrote:When you empathize, you understand a person intuitively, and feel their emotions as if they were your own.
Roll to convince yourself that the other character is just as trans as you are.
You might touch a horrifying monster, and feel the frightened heart that beats within it.
You might also get your hand chomped off.
Conceal wrote:When you conceal, you hide your true intentions and feelings.
Roll to conceal your conflicting feelings regarding the Wizard Books. Yes, I'm back with the Harry Potter examples.
You might choke down your true feelings and lie to someone.
You might whine and bitch about it later on Bluesky, though.
Flow wrote:When you flow, you move with grace and adapt to your circumstances. You might leap across a gap to reach safety. You might act in accordance with other’s expectations.
So acrobats make great conformists. Got it.
Analyze wrote:When you analyze, you search beyond the surface presentation of the world, and discover secrets.
Roll to find "hints" that orcs are black people.
Attributes
Here's where shit gets confusing:
The 9 actions are split into 3 groups know as attributes: Sun, Moon and Stars.
Attributes are basically Saving Throws, used to resist shit.
Judging by that progress bar, this is probably partially to prevent you from min-maxing by limiting how often you can improve an action in a single group or something.
Your rating in an attribute is determined by how many of the 3 actions it governs have a rating of at least 1, which is another attempt to prevent min-maxing.
And just when you thought this game didn't hate you boosting a single action too much, you find out that action ratings of 3 and 4 are only active when you henshin.
Weird way to do derived attributes aside, my favorite bit is the 3-4 ratings. You're paying for the honor of sometimes having that higher rating. You don't automatically get better at shit when you henshin, you have to invest time and effort for the privilege of being better when you henshin. That's not ass-backwards at all.
Rolling the Dice
As is typical for Blades in the Dark, you usually roll up to 4d6 and pick the highest result. Should you have no dice you instead roll 2d6 and pick the lowest result (aka LMAO, get fucked).
There are technically different kinds of rolls, but they mostly boil down to resistance rolls (aka Saving Throws) and various action rolls that are named differently depending on which phase you're using them, just to make things more obtuse.
Annoyingly enough, active rolls you do in the Mission phase are called action rolls, while the ones you do in other phases are named after that phase.
Also there's this:
Fortune roll wrote:The director can make a fortune roll to disclaim decision making, and leave something up to chance. When there’s no clear answer, and no one is in a position to make a judgement call, a fortune roll is a good way to keep the story moving forward.
Bev isn’t sure if Crux, a supporting character, would choose to side with the adversary. They make a fortune roll using the adversity tier to determine Crux’s fate.
After the group faces the leviathan ICARUS, Bev makes a fortune roll, using a table to generate some unintended consequences of the group’s mission.
Being a GM in this kind of game is annoying, so I can get Bev's desire to have the game essentially run itself.
Action Roll WTF is going on here? Why is she peeking out like that? Does gravity work differently in that room/closet?
Aka what you're rolling when you're on a mission. It's a multi-step process:
Declare what you wann do, and how.
The GM tells you to either get fucked, or go on.
Figure out how many dice you're gonna roll.
Roll the dice and figure out WTF happens.
Often their goal is clear based on the fictional circumstances and the description they provide, but even in those cases it is still helpful for them to state their goal explicitly. Sometimes players will make overly sweeping goals that go beyond what seems reasonable in a situation.
"I want to end capitalism!"
Choice of action is one way that protagonists make statements about who their characters are, by showing how they deal with problems. Sometimes this will mean choosing actions that are not a great fit for their goal, or the situation at hand. The protagonists struggling, sometimes applying ill suited tools or techniques to problems, is an equally important part of their story as their successes and strengths.
Also avoiding actions where you have a shit rating is optimal.
Establishing the Field of Action
This is a text box mostly aimed at the GM that basically boils down to "Describe everything in excruciating detailt to feed everyone's Theater of the Mind (tm)", but I'm most here for this bit:
Because there are several emotion-oriented actions, we know that feelings matter in this game.
Just like how the dedicate rape action in FATAL lets us know that raping matters in that game.
Evaluating Position
This is basically the GM warning the players about how grave the consequences might be for a roll, going from Controlled to Risky (the default) to Desparate.
This isn't realy about difficulty, since the numbers you need to hit to succeed stay the same. It's just the descriptions of the "... but shit (also) goes wrong" portions sound more dire as you go up in position.
This isn't actually explained or shown in this section. The core action resolution chart for this game is at the end of the book. Like Tomb Raider, it goes like this:
6: You did it!
4-5: You kinda did it, but shit goes wrong.
1-3: LMAO, get fucked, nigga.
Stars wrote:Van powers up the thrusters on her engine, and attempts to lead her squad through ICARUS’ defensive swarm. Dylan chooses flow, and Bev thinks about the possible dangers in the situation before replying with a position for the roll. A head on assault against the leviathan seems like it should be very dangerous. Bev decides it’s a desperate action; everything is stacked against the pilots here. They might fare better if they break through, but for now the situation is as dangerous as it can get.
(Friendly reminder that it doesn't matter how much shit is stacked against you, since there's no actual increase in difficulty.)
Evaluating Effect
Rated as Limited/Standard/Great and is kinda the opposite of Position in that it's about how much you can accomplish if you succeed.
Like Position, I hope this gets more of mechanical meat behind it, since it seems pretty wishy-washy so far.
Oh wait, it turns out position might influence how much Harm aka basically wounds you could suffer from fucking up.
In Girl by Moonlight, the most significant factor in this evaluation is whether or not the protagonists are transcended. While they are their mundane selves, the protagonists can contend with mundane problems at stan- dard effect, and should expect limited or no effect at all against the supernatural elements of the game. In such cases, they will need to push themselves for increased effect, or make savvy use of set up actions or team work. While transcended, the protagonists can face magical threats on a more even footing, and the director should start their evaluation at standard effect before considering advantages and disadvantages that might change it.
Do giant Not-Tyranid Hive Ships count as "supernatural"? And what do the mecha pilots do when they henshin? Activate their mecha's Gundam super mode of choice?
Why Position and Effect? This is one of the few art pieces for that Lain/Paprika playset. This shit's so boring, even the player character is checking out.
Aka the writer justifying trying to quantify narrative consequences.
The conversations around position inform us about how dangerous the world is, and how severe the cost of failure can be.
I would've liked more crunch for this shit, but sure.
Each series playset will have different guidelines for what constitutes the default position in different situations, as well as appropriate types of consequences.
I'm sure this won't get confusing.
Keep in mind that struggle and tension are at the heart of what makes role playing games like this one function. It’s important to have credible threats, and challenging opposition for the protagonists. Trivial opposition will tend to make the story feel flat and uninspiring.
That's fine and all, but the action resolution itself doesn't really care how "credible" the threats are. They just determine how hard you might get fucked if you don't roll at least one 6.
Bonus Dice
There are ways to temporarily get more dice, and you'll probably need them considering you start of kinda gimped. One other player can assist you, which costs him Stress (aka damage) or a Link (which hasn't been explained yet), and grants you one extra die. You probably want to always do this.
The rolling player can push himself for yet another die, though this costs more Stress. Alternatively he can accept a poisoned promise for the same bonus, which is really just a mandatory complication that happens no matter what except the name is a bit weird.
Abyss wrote:Raven and her friends are sneaking into the excavation where the Nebula Crown was dug up. Claire wants to roll conceal, but she doesn’t like her odds since she has no dots in that action.
Why the fuck do you want to roll conceal? With a rating of 0 that's 2d6 keep lowest, aka something will go wrong unless you roll a 12.
Bev offers a poisoned promise: “Maybe Raven’s mother is part of the group the authorities sent to lock down the dig site?” Bev is introducing a troublesome character. “You hear her directing her security detail at the opposite end of the excavation. Does that work?” Claire thinks it over—this could mean that Raven has to confront her mother, or that she gets put in danger. That sounds interesting (if troublesome) to her, so she accepts the poisoned promise and takes an extra die for her roll.
Great. Thanks to Raven's quantum mother something has already gone wrong, and there's still a 83% chance of something else going wrong.
Stars wrote:Having touched down on its massive shell, Himna tries to find a way to communicate with ICARUS. Claire announces she wants to use analyze, and asks if anyone has a good poisoned promise for her. Anya offers, “maybe there’s some kind of massive port that your engine can interface directly with, but plugging it directly into the leviathan will overload its systems and cause a bunch of damage?”
“Oh, that sounds good! My poor engine, though… I think I’ll just push myself instead.”
Yeah, fuck Anya. That sounded like a terrible idea.
The cost of the promise need not relate directly to what is at stake in the roll, but it is usually best for the severity of the cost to be relative to the stakes. Asking for a protagonist’s immortal soul in exchange for a bonus die to tie their shoes will tend to rub players the wrong way.
But what if I can turn them into a real girl?
Harm Penalties
Fuck yeah, a death spiral mechanic in my narrative game! If applicable to what you're trying to do, Harm you've accumulated might cause shit like reducing your die pool to... being incapacitated? Shouldn't that one apply all the time?
Harm is a type of consequence, and is described in more detail on page 67.
Oh, right. This book hasn't explained what Harm actually is yet.
Evaluating the Results of a Roll
Oh shit, I spoke to soon. The core action resolution chart is also here and not just at the end of the book. My bad.
It's similar enough, but also reminds you that rolling more than one 6 is a critical success.
Between their own abilities, teamwork, and poisoned promises, we can see that characters in this game are generally going to succeed, but that most success will not be without complication.
Which is why the optimal way to play these kinds of games is to roll as little as possible.
Teamwork This has more of a "I'm helping!" vibe, tbh.
Because the organization of this book is a bit fucked, we already get a repeat of what assisting does.
Abyss wrote:Hawk is trying to force her way through a wall of angry spirits. Raven helps her by singing to calm the spirits. Raven marks 1 stress, and Hawk gets +1d to her defy roll.
Oh, so that's what you two are doing in that image.
And you're telling me that fat brown/black guy is a "she"?
As it turns out there more than just one player assisting: If there are more people assisting it's a group action, and of course it works slightly different.
The leader, and all others participating, roll the same action, taking the best result from among all contributors as the overall result for the group. For every member of the group action whose result is 1-3, the leader takes 1 stress.
We still don't know what Stress actually does, or how hard it is to get rid of it, but shit man, this sounds like a great idea to get an arbitrarily high dice pool.
And there's another new thing that someone might do: set up. This is really just "a roll you do might have some impact on what another roll might accomplish".
Abyss wrote:Caspian Hulme is following Fawn, so she slips into a dead end alley where she knows Hawk is waiting, luring Caspian into a trap. Anya rolls Fawn’s flow, and gets a 6. She decides that this gives Hawk better effect when she steps out from the shadows to confront Caspian. When Dylan rolls Hawk’s defy, he gets great effect instead of standard, thanks to the setup action
Riveting stuff. Though seeing what kind of brick shithouse Hawk is, she should get that bonus no matter the setup. I'd be scared shitless if that fat bitch just materialized out of the shadows.
Transcendence
It's fucking time to henshin in this (alleged) henshin game. And look at whatever the fuck this is supposed to be.
How to Transcend
Each protagonist can activate their transcendence once per mission. They may transcend at any time—before making an action roll, in response to a consequence they are suffering, or any other time they feel makes sense.
Technically it's really just a "battle mode" in actual magical girl stuff, but sure, do it whenever the fuck you want.
Their look, their body, their gender, might all shift to reflect the true self that otherwise lies hidden within them.
I knew there was gonna be gender-bending.
Though apparently the artists didn't get the memo about this. Then again they don't really seem to get henshining in the first place. Don't forget that our Not-Sailor Senshis have one character who actually transforms, two who just put on an ill-fitting breastplate, and one nerdlinger who doesn't appear to change at all. Good job, everyone.
Abyss wrote:When Fawn transcends, she adopts a heroic alter ego ‘The Midnight Quill’ a dashing scoundrel who works from the shadows to secretly aid her friends. Midnight Quill wears a mask that hides her identity, and her friends (or at least Hawk) suspect that she is in league with the adversary, mistaking her efforts to help them as meddlesome interference.
I knew this was the Attention Whore class. And how about telling everyone that you're one of the good guys?
I know in Sailor Moon there was some early confusion about WTF Tuxedo Kamen's deal was, but that didn't last that long and isn't really the core of the character.
Stars wrote:Van was vat-grown, engineered from birth to pilot her engine, Alastor. When she transcends she enters an intense flow state, her body humming with energy as she taps into her specially manufactured physiology. For a moment we see her floating in the vast, alien landscape of Alastor’s mind, before snapping back to herself in the engine’s cockpit—her pupils dilate, then contract, that same landscape now faintly visible behind them.
I don't see this working when she's outside of her mecha
Benefits of Transcendence
You get access to special abilities (whatever they are; I assume this book's equivalent of "Moves")!
You get to use your armour! Whatever that is, because it hasn't been explained yet!
You finally have the honor of using your 3- and 4er ratings if you were dumb enough to get them that high!
Increased effect against supernatural shit! Aka the GM will probably let you accomplish more!
Stars wrote:As Van charges her thrusters and prepares to make an attack pass at the leviathan ICARUS, she transcends. A mundane pilot would be shot down easily, but with her heightened awareness and deeper connection to her engine, she is able to slip through the leviathan’s defences, and lead her squad into position to stop its rampage.
Sounds like you have to henshin to do your job.
Limits of Transcendence
Each protagonist has a transcendence track in their playbook. Every action roll made while transcended advances the track by one segment. This includes group actions, and any action rolls made in flashbacks in which the character is still transcended. Once the last segment of the track is filled, their transcendence ends.
Four things. You can do four things before your henshin is just gone.
Also that flashback stuff sounds confusing.
If, however, they run out of transcendence in the midst of a mission, with their adversaries still threatening them, they might end up bereft of power when they need it most.
No shit, Sherlock.
Abyss wrote:Fawn, in disguise as Midnight Quill, follows her friends as they sneak into the university security office after hours, looking for clues to the Nebula Crown’s location.
Are these Not-Sailor Senshis ever gonna fight a monster of the week? Or are they just sneaking into various places to look for this dumb crown?
Abyss wrote:She distracts patrolling security, and secretly opens the way for her friends, all while remaining perfectly concealed… until her friends trip an alarm, and the whole situation escalates.
That was bound to happen with the general odds of shit going wrong.
Hoping to buy her friends time to escape, Fawn makes a last ditch attempt to draw the police away from the others, stepping dramatically into the searchlights.
It’s her last transcended action, and it goes badly. She draws their attention, but isn’t able to get away cleanly.
Fawn finds herself alone, running across the moonlit campus grounds, without her powers. Just a girl in an ill-fitting costume now, desperately looking for somewhere to hide.
Remember all those Sailor Moon episodes when the Senshis would just stop being Senshis all of a sudden at the worst possible moments because they've been posing dramatically too often that night? Me neither.
And hang on a sec. The costume stays on even after you've run out of henshin juice?
Links "You WILL wear this. And you will look FABULOUS."
These are basically the Fate Points of this game. Gamify inter-party relationship by gaining points that you can use to help out either yourself or the loser you've made these links with!
Funny how these "narrative" games always do this. But then again, there wouldn't be much of a game otherwise.
Also 10bux that a good chunk of the Moves in this game will revolve around making links and shit.
The protagonists’ ability to make these connections, despite the weight of obligations and oppressive day-to-day routine, are an important part of what makes them heroic.
"I can make friends even though I have to go to school. I'm a real hero!"
All unspent links are lost at the end of each episode.
Nothing shall carry over between episodes. Always make sure to hang out with everyone at every time.
Assisting someone by using a link has already been mentioned, but you can also use it to get rid of stress, prevent Harm, or play Morning Rescue when another PC has too much of the sads.
Abyss wrote:Hawk slams her hammer into the monstrous Professor Hulme, who is lunging at a stunned Raven. Dylan goes to roll Hawk’s defy, and looks to Claire for some help.
“I don’t think Raven can do much directly here, she’s not ready for a fight. But since you’re coming to my rescue and all, I’ll spend one of my links with Hawk to give you a bonus die.”
Dylan grabs an extra die for his roll, “Yeah, Hawk is yelling Raven’s name as she charges in!”
>shouting a character's name for moral support.
You're really phoning it in here. Whatever gives you guys a bonus die, I guess.
Stars wrote:Himna just reached 9 stress due to a bad resistance roll, which prompts Claire to make an eclipse roll. She gets a 4. Dylan looks at his sheet, and sees that Van has one link with Himna, so Dylan spends it to prevent Himna falling into eclipse. Van hears Himna panicking, and reassures her over the radio “Don’t give up, I’m with you. I’ve got your back.”
Personally, I would've gone for "Stop being so melodramatic, you stupid bitch."
Next Time: Gaining Stress until you can't even.
Autism attracts more autism. Sooner or later, an internet nobody will attract the exact kind of fans - and detractors - he deserves.
-Yours Truly
What the hell am I looking at? I only see one monster here.
Also bold of you to assume xers gender, but from the looks of it it could be related to Oglaf's barbarians.
Players will take turns speaking and listening to one another,
Ugh, this is going in the direction of "Listen when a black woman speaks", isn't it? I'm feeling patronized already.
You might embrace a monster that was once human
Tell that to MarzGunt and her dehumanizing of Vic by calling him "sex pest voice actor man".
When you perceive, you see the world as it presents itself, without judgement.
So you see that trannies are lunatics? Cool.
When you express, you use words with an agenda in mind.
Woah, they're so close to grasp what they're doing there.
I'm sure I saw this in PUR's etsy store one time or another.
She distracts patrolling security, and secretly opens the way for her friends, all while remaining perfectly concealed… until her friends trip an alarm, and the whole situation escalates.
Ah, it's one of those sadist narrative adventures where no matter how many critical successes you roll, the GM just gets to decide you are fucked because one of the other characters fucked up.
Why can't there be an Oglaf RPG?
Oh wait, that's FATAL.
And critical success (aka multiple 6s) are rare enough tgat tve GM doesn't need much ignoring. Bear in mind these games are designed so that rolls tend to produce complications.
Autism attracts more autism. Sooner or later, an internet nobody will attract the exact kind of fans - and detractors - he deserves.
-Yours Truly
