modoreadsttrpgs

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Game Reactions: Out of the Fold & Other Games (x4 playing card TTRPGs)

Link: https://ratwave.square.site/product/out-of-the-fold-and-other-games/62?cp=true&sa=true&sbp=false&q=false

This is one of the books I picked up at UKGE 2025, from Kayla Dice of Rat Wave Game House. It contains four separate games, all using a deck of regular playing cards, among a couple of other tools. Kayla is behind Transgender Deathmatch Legend II, which also uses primarily a deck of regular playing cards. I’m a big of fan of using playing cards. Tarot decks are quite popular within TTRPGs, especially solo ones, for obvious reasons. I enjoy tarot decks, but I’ve got such strong memories of playing cards with my family as a kid, there’s a real nostalgia to handling a deck. On top of that, they’re a nice size to hold and having a hand of cards gives you a constant tactile connection to the game, as well as a fun stim toy honestly.

Each game has its own vibe and aesthetics within the book, but there’s a consistency maintained throughout. As a collection, the games show an abundance of ways to use cards - even a single game can use them in multiple ways.

Out of the Fold

The title game is a GM-less story of magicians escaping from the secret society that trained them. Classes are represented by the face cards and jokers. Players meet a series of obstacles to their escape. Each one has a level of poker hand required to beat it, with escalate in difficulty.

Players collaborate to play cards into a central hand that forms the spell (poker hand) required to beat the obstacle. I got Balatro vibes as I was reading, and sure enough it was shouted out as a big inspiration. The game has great flavour, and I love using poker hands for the mechanics. This one seems fun and I’ll be keen to play it.

Save Our Souls

This has an incredible premise: the players all traded their souls to a dark power in exchange for something, and they’re going on a heist to the underworld to steal them back. It’s so fucking cool.

It’s a hack of Steal the Throne by Nick Bate, which I know of but haven’t read or played. The group sets up the dark power and their domain together. There’s a structure to this, but I wonder whether more prompts and mechanisation would be a benefit. Though with a creative group, I think you could have a lot of fun coming up with some wild stuff here.

From there, players rotate roles between the thieves, the dark power itself, and saviours, who can have a variety of impacts on the process. It’s a really cool engine for some outrageous stories. There’s a lot asked of all the players in terms of generating interesting obstacles and other elements of the world though. I’d suggest finding the best group of weirdos you know to play with, and you’ll probably have a great time.

Once again, we are defeated

A map-making game about a village that is going to be attacked, so the villagers persuade a group of skilled outsiders to defend them. Every premise in this book is just great.

To start with, players create the village, ensuring they’re hopefully invested in its safety. To do this you pull cards which link to prompts. After, you create the outsiders and their motivations - I really felt like you could go melodramatic and ham it up here, really have some fun with it.

The premise is strong enough that the game gets to be genre agnostic and still feel coherent and like it has a voice. This means you could get quite a bit of replay doing different genres, settings, and tones.

Planning the defense is achieved by taking roles of the outsider, a nay-sayer, and a judge. This is a structured debate on the merits of the defensive idea, with the judge determining the chances of success (which has a mechanical impact later). It’s a nice setup, and the game even gives you an additional optional process for the argument, to more structure if that feels better.

From here, you resolve the attack on the village and see the ending. There absolutely will be heavy losses, and the fate of the village as a whole is precarious. Vibes are good, and I think it’s a type of story that is easy for a lot of people to latch onto.

Illustrator’s Guide to the Dreamtlands

The last game is a solo journaling and sketching journey through a surreal landscape. You have an actual flask of coffee and a real tea light, which factor into the game as you play. Playing cards are used mainly for prompts in this one.

Each spread in the book is one step of the journey, and contains one page of text and one that is entirely art. Combined with the coffee and the tea light, a lot of effort is being put into creating the right atmosphere, getting your mind in the right space to generate elements of this surreal land. Getting the right playlist for this would be good as well!

It’s a straightforward (as much as this kind of surreal thing can be straightforward) solo road trip from here, and I don’t want to spoil any specific elements. The quality of the prose is critical though, and it delivers here, it’s very evocative.

Overall

I’m a big fan of the book and all of these games. They’re all really creative, and as a whole they’re varied but still have a coherent and consistent voice to them. It’s also a bargain as a book, for four fully-realised games.

[modoreadsttrpgs]

Love this. I'm running Tomb of Annihilation in 90 minute, weeknight sessions. If we weren't doing weeknights we wouldn't be able to play, and if it went longer than 90 minutes then weeknights wouldn't be an option.

I'd read Jason Morningstar's article before, and second that as a great help. Running this campaign has made me a much better GM. I had the conversation explicitly in session zero that I wanted to skip the bs and keep it moving. Big helps for me so far:

End scenes when they feel done

Transparently tell the players if an NPC has given them all the useful information they can - this feels wrong initially, but it’s necessary (especially in a sandbox campaign like ToA) to avoid them running down their entire list of sidequests with every NPC

Don’t leave them exploring a VTT map, unsure where to go or if they should move on - I say “hey, would you like to go upstairs now?” to indicate that it’s a reasonable option

Skip travel - ToA is a jungle hexcrawl, so we do those mechanics, but when they land in the hex their destination is in, I just say “you’ve reached [location]…” and start reading the description

You have to balance all this with retaining the player freedom and autonomy that makes TTRPGs so much fun, but you might be surprised at how straightforward that can be. I’ve come to realise how much time of a 3-hour plus session is spent faffing around, uncertain what to do next, where to go, whether we can get more out of this NPC etc. You’ll enjoy the game far more in tighter sessions, and get more gaming in overall, it’s a win-win!

The Tight 90

(This is a continuation or a fractal reviewing of what I've written about in The Worksheet Manifesto and The Quickstart, The Home Game.)

THE TIGHT 90 is a 90-minute RPG session. It riffs on the perfect length/density of a movie, and I think it's a term I learned/stole from will jobst.

WHY RUN SHORT GAMES?

Short games are easier to fit in a schedule. (We're all so fucking busy.)

Short games are easier to pay attention to. (We're all so fucking mentally ill.)

Short games focus on the good stuff and discard the bad stuff. (We're all so fucking tired.)

HOW RUN SHORT GAMES?

Tell everyone, "We're only going to play for 90 minutes. Because of that, I'm going to focus on the things that are most interesting and exciting for everyone at table, and I'm going to skip over everything else. I would appreciate it if you would do the same. If there's something you're really excited to do, tell the table! And if things are dragging, offer an alternative that moves the game along."

But then we actually have to do that. :( How?

SET SCENES AND STAKES

Don't start in a place where nothing is happening and ask your players "What do you?" Give them something to latch onto! Give them an immediate problem! Here are the first four pages of an issue of Uncanny X-Men by Chris Claremont, Dave Cockrum, et al:

In four pages we get a fatal problem, introductions, flashbacks on how they got here, and spotlights on everyone's powers. Awesome!

And while you don't have to have your players' characters falling out of the sky, at least start them at the dungeon entrance with a couple clear things to DO.

(For more on setting scenes and stakes, check out Primetime Adventures by Matt Wilson, which Sam Dunnewold was kind enough to run for me.)

Of course, if they're falling out of the sky or standing at a foreboding dungeon entrance, some player is bound to ask, "What do I have with me?" To which I say:

CUT THE BORING SHIT

Shopping? Don't do it! If someone would logically have something, they can have it. And if they try to exploit that, they're no fun to play with! Tell them no. (More on that later.)

Conversations on meandering horseback? Don't do it! Comic writer Chuck Dixon said that if Batman and Robin needed to have a heart-to-heart, they should never just stand around talking. They should have a heart-to-heart while training on top of a speeding train.

(The example was actually Nightwing and Robin, but I didn't want people to click away and look up who Nightwing was. Also, Dixon is a shitty guy! But at least in this, he was right.)

Basically, almost anything you can get out of a shopping scene or a campfire chat, you can get from everyone falling out of the sky or trying to escape a wildfire. ALL SCENES SHOULD PULL DOUBLE DUTY AS PLOT AND CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT.

BE GENEROUS WITH INFORMATION

Imagine a scene at a gaming table. The characters walk into a house in an empty town and ask what they see. The GM tells them to roll perception. The highest result is middling at best. The GM says, "You think you can see some blood." Someone else asks if they can roll investigation. They get a middle high result. The GM says, "There are some bullet casings on the floor and claw marks on the walls." Are the claw marks big? Roll perception again. Do they look like any local animals? Roll nature.

THIS SHIT SUCKS. It's a way to take 30 minutes to poorly tell the players that something interesting happened, and it doesn't give them anything to do after.

Instead, try this: the walls are splattered with blood and empty shell casings lie cold on the floor. The blood doesn't line up with what you know about bullet wounds, though; it lines up with the huge claw marks that tear the walls and floor. And blood drops continue in a line outside...

AND THEN if a player has a cool ability or is an investigator or druid or whatever, you get to write them a cool note that says, "These claw marks are bigger than any animal from around here. Maybe bigger than any animal you've ever seen."

Other examples:

The prince says he doesn't feel threatened by the king. He's clearly lying.

Moving stealthily, you make it to the general's bedroom, but it's clear that he has some sort of sensors or security system set up there.

As a wizard, you know they're casting some sort of summoning spell, and if at least half of the cultists aren't hurt or incapacitated in five minutes, the spell will succeed.

GIVE THE SESSION AN ENDING

It could be an exciting cliffhanger if you think everyone will be there next session to pick it up. But if you're not sure, end with a calm moment where the players have a clear next step. That way you can start next session with, "Last time you'd promised the Cult of Mirrors that you would lead them in war against the Skeleton Army. They're ready to go and ask you what your plan is."

FURTHER HOMEWORK

"How To End Things" by Jason Morningstar. On cutting scenes. Don't be fooled by the Patron link; it's free.

"Grand Experiments: West Marches" by Ben Robbins. The ur-text of running player-motivated sessions that don't require everyone to be there.

BUT WHAT IF!!!

What if rolling investigation rolls are vital to building tension in my mystery game? What if knowing the exact inventory and distance are vital to my high-stress dungeon game? What if campfire stories are my favorite part of our cozy travel game?

COOL! There are lots of resources out there for you, so this isn't for you. But maybe I could tempt you into considering a different style of game sometimes?

(Special thanks to @ladytabletop for supporting my Tight 90 obsession.)

[modoreadsttrpgs]

Have you played HERE, THERE, BE MONSTERS !

by Wendi Yu

here, there, be monsters! is a rules-lite response to monster-hunting media from the monsters' point of view. It's both a love letter and a middle finger to stuff like Hellboy (and the BPRD), the SCP Foundation, the Men in Black, the World of Darkness games and the Urban Fantasy genre in general.

It is an explicitly queer, antifascist and anti-capitalist game about the monstrous and the weird, in any flavor you want, not as something to be feared, but to be cherished and protected.

Play as a diverse crew of monstrous, anomalous or just generally odd beings, fighting against those who would use, abuse or even annihilate you. reate and populate your own supernatural underworld, abnormal gang and extra-dimensional haven. Hunt monster hunters! Punch nazi occultists! Eat the rich! Protect each other! Fight back! Here, there, be monsters!

[modoreadsttrpgs]

Game Zine Reactions: RPG Design Zines

Link: https://ndpdesign.itch.io/rpg-design-zine

The RPG Design Zine, and the follow up RPG Design Zine 2, are by Nathan Paoletta (World Wide Wrestling). I backed the second zine on kickstarter this Feb, and the PDF was just delivered yesterday.

They’re cut-and-paste zines about designing TTRPGs. Literally, they’re built with excerpts cut from various books and stuck to the pages haphazardly, with handwritten notes and edges visibly blurred from photocopying. It’s a delightfully DIY aesthetic, and nicely mirrors the way the zines collect guidance and wisdom together about design.

Both zines are worth reading. The first runs through a lot of fundamentals like game ideas, characters, roles, core loops, and mechanics. It’s all in service of helping the reader think through their own games in a practical way. The second zine delves further into some aspects like authority and responsibility, adversity and conflict, scenes and storytelling structure. Each gives you a lot of food for thought, and plenty of examples.

They’re PWYW, so really there’s no excuse not to give them a look if you have even a passing interest in RPG design.

[modoreadsttrpgs]

New in stock! New in store! The Stall 3A-813 hit from UKGE! Out of the Fold & Other Games!

This is a paperback collection of four tabletop roleplaying games, all playable with pen, paper and a single deck of cards. The games cover break outs, break ins, final stands and great unknowns. They're connected by their utensils, a focus on group storytelling and a question of finding out what's important to you.

Also I should remind people that patrons at the tenner or above level receive a hundred percent off new releases from the Webstore.

[modoreadsttrpgs]

Game Reflections: Lasers & Feelings

Link: https://johnharper.itch.io/lasers-feelings

Right, I’m not explaining Lasers & Feelings. I’m sure everyone knows it - one page sci-fi TTRPG. Really I just want to share a little story about it. Yesterday was Father’s Day in the UK, and we spent the day at the in-laws. My spouse suggested I run them through a one-shot TTRPG, since they have never played one and hear us talk about them. So we spent just a little over an hour playing Lasers & Feelings with my spouse, their mum and dad, and their aunt.

A couple of observations:

1. Going through character creation, my spouse went first, so we could demonstrate how it worked. My mother-in-law digested the process easily, and when we moved onto my father-in-law for the second character, she was explaining what he needed to do straight away, with perfect accuracy.

2. My father-in-law had no idea what was going on, and hadn’t really wanted to play as he doesn’t like games. But he created his character as a dangerous explorer, and when I asked for a name he didn’t miss a fucking beat, and just yelled out “JOCK ANDREWS!” It was immediate, literally about half a second. There couldn’t have been any conscious cognition, it just emerged fully formed. Jock had a Scottish accent for some reason. I love everything about it.

(Side note, he doesn’t like games because his brothers used to bully him whenever they played games as kids. When we referred to this as trauma once, he said “no it’s not trauma, it’s just that when I think about playing games all those memories come flooding back.” It’s possibly my favourite thing anyone has ever said.)

3. No surprise, but the system is fantastic for this kind of scenario. They pick one number to represent their character, and even this required a couple of explanations. It’s probably the maximum crunch you want, and can handle. They roll between 1 and 3 dice, and need to roll either low or high, it’s super easy for them to understand.

4. Playing with absolute rookies who bring zero baggage from D&D or video games is brilliant. Their only reference point for the activity is storytelling as kids, so this is how they engaged with it. They had no hang ups about what they could and couldn’t do, they weren’t trying to game the system to keep their characters safe, they happily shared suggestions with each other for actions, and based their decisions on both what made sense for their characters and what seemed most fun. It was such a breath of fresh air.

I know this is so often said, but we’re sitting around telling stories together to entertain ourselves, and rules are only there to facilitate and hopefully enhance that play. This was honestly the starkest example I’ve had of that. Four players, three of whom had zero clue how a TTRPG functioned, told a complete story within roughly an hour. It had ups and downs, tension, jokes, and action. The five of us will always remember that time Jock Andrews took out an entire room full of bad guys, and finished with a ridiculous ‘heroic’ pose that my father-in-law gleefully demonstrated for us. TTRPGs are magical things!

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Game Reactions: Punk is Dead

Link: https://www.criticalkit.co.uk/collections/punk-is-dead-ttrpg

Punk is Dead is a Mork Borg compatible game by Tim Roberts. It’s set in a post-apocalyptic UK, now known as the Ununited Kingdom, split into 5 realms. The party plays a punk band, each with a specific role such as vocals, drums. I backed the Backerkit campaign in early 2024, and received the physical copy (with some very nice sharp-edged dice) in January of this year. I’ve finally managed to make time to read through it fully this weekend.

Thoughts will be relatively short on this one I think. As you might expect, it’s Mork Borg but punk and British. Mechanically, there are no real surprises. What makes this sing is the vibes and presentation. The book is full of fun UK pastiche, and functions well as essentially a unique Mork Borg setting. It’s a well-realised world, and I would look forward to exploring the Ununited Kingdom to meet the awful creatures that populate it, such as the Literal Corporate Vampires of Londinium, or the Stag Folk, guardians of The Fern Jungle (aka Scotland).

There’s a solid introductory adventure included, which would be easy to run since it revolves around a single location with a clear objective. Though I think that, after this adventure, there is a lot of work for the GM to build out the world with things for the players to do. The book is full of flavour, but light on details, which may work better for some GMs than others.

Interestingly, one spread is dedicated to songwriting. Players can accrue creativity points to spend improving their rolls. These are collected by contributing elements to songwriting. The songwriting itself is explicitly not mechanised, and that’s where I’m unsure how I feel. The game is partially structured around gigs, but otherwise I’m not clear when and how the songwriting works. How literal is this intended to be, should the party be actually creating music, just lightly discussing what the music sounds like, or something else? The reality is presumably that it’s up to the group, and I could see a group of creative people whose tastes align having a lot of fun with it. Myself, usually being the odd one out with my music tastes, not inclined to music creation in the slightest, and super anxious, I feel like I’d struggle with this aspect and may end up not using it a great deal. I’d prefer something more explicitly mechanised and abstract, to encourage more engagement with the concept without requiring me to actually write lyrics or music.

Overall though, it’s a really fun setting, and looks the part sitting alongside Mork Borg and Cy_Borg.

[modoreadsttrpgs]

Game Reactions: Cycles of the Eye (Citizen Sleeper Solo TTRPG)

Link: https://www.lostincult.co.uk/shop/p/citizendeluxe

Summary

In short - I like the game. I already love Citizen Sleeper, and I think that does a lot of the heavy lifting here. The prompting is extremely open-ended, and I think I would’ve struggled to come up with ideas if I hadn’t played the video game. If you’re a fan though, it can capture the vibes nicely.

The Full Cycle

Cycles of the Eye is a solo, tarot-based game based on the video game Citizen Sleeper. I have actually played through a full run of this, which I finished early this year. Normally I’ll post about games I’ve only just read, but I figured it would be fun to revisit this game, especially as I’m not sure how many people bought it, with the way it was released as part of a deluxe kit.

I was a huge fan of the game, and jumped at the chance to spend a frankly embarrassing amount of money on the deluxe package from Lost in Cult that included a design book, the TTRPG, a tarot deck, dice, and some other goodies. You can see it all layed out above. Below is the box lined up with some other games on my shelves. It was expensive, I want to share photos of how cool it looks!

For those familiar with the video game, Cycles of the Eye casts you as a sleeper arriving on Erlin’s Eye, the station from the first game. It repeats the premise of the game, and includes a cast of characters from the base game and the excellent DLC. 

If you’re not familiar, this is a sci-fi setting with themes of gig work, exploitation, and community. You play as an escaped sleeper, a mechanical body with the implanted consciousness of a real human, and a built-in obsolescence that means you’re reliant on a specific substance to stay alive. The purpose being to keep you under the control of the corporation that ‘owns’ your body.

Cycles of the Eye itself is a journaling, prompt-driven game. It uses a tarot deck to create three decks of cards. Each one becomes a ‘thread’, literally a story thread. At any given time you will have three ongoing storylines that you can choose to spend resources on, completing tasks, which will allow you to reveal the next card in the deck, using that to prompt story development based on the suit and number. Major arcana represent key characters who affect your story in specific ways, and may or may not become a regular part of your life on the station. You can see below how the play space looks mid-game.

There’s quite a lot going on - the tray I’m using here is one I bought while I was playing this game, because I realised I needed a dedicated space for the game that I could put away and get out again without packing the cards away. Though to be honest, I’m currently playing Koriko and it has an extremely similar setup, so maybe this is just standard for a tarot-based solo game. I hadn’t played one before Cycles so I’m not sure. It did feel pretty fussy to play though, especially early on as I’m grasping the various piles of cards and flicking through a rulebook and a separate lookup reference book.

When you resolve a thread, you’re encouraged to journal about how that storyline closes. You’ll then need to set up a new thread - determining what the drive (objective) is, and interpret each new challenge it throws up within that storyline. There are prompts within this process, but it’s very open-ended. Each suit is associated with a specific skillset (interface, intuit, endure, engineer), and there is a page per suit with a handful of prompts and questions to help come up with drives and rewards. It’s not a lot of information though, and you’re left with a very wide possibility space. I relied on my experience with the video game, without which I’m fairly certain I would’ve had a difficult time generating satisfying stories.

To begin with I also found it strange that there are no pass/fail mechanics, maybe I’m still shaking off that D&D baggage. As I progressed though, I found myself comfortably complicating things and building a nuanced story regardless, without the game having to push back on me or force me to do it. 

On the physical object, the books themselves are nice, small and an unusual landscape orientation, but easy enough to use and well layed out. The dice are great, feeling like the video game has come to life. The tarot deck is extremely fancy, with a nice box, the awesome art on the major arcana, and a gorgeous foil effect on the red. It’s my first tarot deck, and aside from the suits not actually being named on the cards, I’m really excited to use these for other games, as I am doing with Koriko currently!

If you’re not already a fan of the video game, this is probably a tough sell, but also you probably aren’t too interested anyway. For anyone who is a fan, this is worth trying out. Despite some of my issues with it, I came out with a really meaningful and memorable story that fits the game’s themes perfectly, which is a win in my book.

[modoreadsttrpgs]

Building a Time Machine to Review Lancer

This article begins with Snow completing a time machine and traveling back to the year 2006. Snow appears in her childhood bedroom with her Fourteen-Year-Old Self [from now referenced as 14].

Snow: I’ve come from the future to ask you some questions. I’m struggling to review this book.

14: I become a girl?

Snow: We don’t have time for that. I’m only here for the book.

Snow holds up Lancer, the 2020 Mecha TTRPG from Massif Press. Funded on kickstarter in 2019 to the tune of $432,029 on the back of a long beta-phase, facilitated by the Lancer subreddit, and the vibrant illustrations of Tom Parkinson Morgan, creator of Kill Six Billion Demons, the wildly successful web comic.

Snow doesn’t tell this to 14 because it would take too long to explain that, in the future, people could have a job like that and make that kind of money. And if 14 knew, then the entire trajectory of her life would change.

14: Makes sense. It’s really big. What’s a Lancer?

Snow: Like 500 pages, but It’s not important. It’s like a Gundam.

14: Like Gundam SD? Zaku Zaku hour?

Snow: No.

14: Like G Gundam? With the horse guy?

Snow: No. I thought you were cooler than this.

14: Shrugs. So it’s just a mecha thing? Mechs are cool. That art’s really sick. Can I be that guy on the front?

Snow: Ideally. It’s like 4th Edition. Has that come out yet? Never mind, you’ll like it. Here. Hands 14 the book. I want you to read through it and tell me what you think.

14 opens the book, flipping a few pages, then cuts the book in half, flipping quickly through the front and middle.

Snow: What’s that? What’re you doing?

14: I never read the front stuff. I tried with D20 Modern, but it’s all just kinda boring. I wanna make a mech. In the Naruto game we played, making your ninja was the best part.

Snow and 14 sit on the floor with some paper and make their mechs.

Snow: It says here that all new players start with the same basic frame, the Everest.

14 flips to the Everest.

14: There’s no picture for it.

Snow: Well, my guess is that they let you make it look however you want since everyone starts with it.

14: The others have pictures though, and look how cool they are. The Blackbeard, the Drake, the Nelson. I wanna be the Nelson. Look at the cape!

Snow: Can you make sense of the stats and stuff?

14: I mean, it mostly makes sense. I don’t know what Repair Cap is. Or Heat or anything like that. But the traits are cool. Boost is probably an action. Immobilized or Slowed make sense as conditions. And the Skirmisher ability is so cool. I’m like, gliding through the battlefield with a spear, cutting down mechs and backflipping away.

Snow: Okay so…

Snow bookmarks page 140 with a finger and flips back to page 30. She does this several times before reading through to page 36.

14, bored, tries to draw a mech.

Snow: Um, ah, I see. So these things are your stats, like in Star Wars or Pathfinder.

14: What’s Hull?

Snow: That’s like your strength. It says “Roll Hull when smashing through or pulverizing obstacles.” But you won’t know what your Hull bonus is until you make your pilot. They get mech skill points to put into your mech stats. We need more bookmarks if we’re gonna do this..

14: Mom’s got the printer. A lot of books are big and confusing, so I just print off the important pages. You really only need like 20 of them to figure out the game I bet.

Snow: Speed is movement, Evasion is kind of like Armor Class, Sensor is your range to detect enemies and use hacking things on them, and E-Defense is Armor Class for hacking, but Heat is like HP for hacking, and then Stress is like Structure but for hacking, so, like, Structure and Stress are, like, if you drop to 0HP, you lose a Structure and regain all HP and kinda do it all over again, so it’s like extra lives, except you might get a scar or something, same for Stress–

14: Mom’s got the printer.

14 sits at a buzzing Dell computer on the enclosed front porch while the bulky printer spits out some pages in jagged black and white ink.

Snow reads about combat.

Snow: Do you still have the old gundam figurines? I think we put them in the basement. I don’t remember when.

14: I’m not sure, why?

Snow: First of all, don’t let mom throw them away. She’s gonna throw away a lot of your stuff and you’ll wish you still had when you get to where I am. Secondly, we can use them for combat. It’s grid-based, so we’ll have to figure that out. Get a map or something.

14: I hate grids.

Snow ignores 14 and continues to read.

14: Figure all that out yet?

Snow: Yeah, I think so. I think it’s actually really simple, just that everything’s spread out. You’re just rolling a D20-plus-stuff against the static numbers to see if you hit. Then your attachments can raise the static numbers. Accuracy and Difficulty are like additional modifiers that can happen with cover or if you’re affected by a status. It’s just like D&D. But with mechs.

14: It does just kinda give you a buncha numbers.

Snow: We also just flipped to the mechs though, so–

14: But that’s why we’re here though, right? I don’t want to read about all this random stuff. I want to take the mechs and play the game in as little time as possible. If I have to sit and explain all this to the guys, they’re gonna be so bored. They’d rather play Star Wars or something.

Snow: You think it would be better if you opened the book and it was just mechs right up front?

14: It sounds kinda silly when you say it like that. It’s more that, it being a big book you already know it’s going to be boring, right? They always are. I feel like the good version of such a big, mecha book is that it would be filled with mechs. It should be filled with pre-built pilots and just, like, the rules for making your own if you want to. The art is so cool, why would you want to start by building your own mech when you could pick this cool gunslinger one? If I opened this book and it was just like “pick a pilot and pick your mech, here’s a grid so you can fight and here’s the one page with all the basic rules on it,” then I could play it right now and we wouldn’t be sitting here waiting for these pages to print.

The printer stutters.

Snow: Would it make you feel any different if I told you this was made by just two people?

14: What? Really? Why?

Snow: Well, not only two people. Miguel Lopez and Tom Parkinson Morgan wrote and designed the whole thing. Tom and a bunch of others did the art. It was edited by Melody Watson and the layout was done by Minerva McJanda.

14: I don’t know who any of those people are.

Snow: It was a small team, is what I’m trying to say.

The printer whirs to a stop.

14: But look, I just put together the important parts so that we can actually play. And I’m fourteen.

14 and Snow continue talking, sitting at the dining room table.

Snow: What about the GM section? Won’t you need it to run the game?

14: No. I’ve seen Gundam Seed and Patlabor and Appleseed. I’ll just do that but with, like, a Death Star or something.

Snow: Just take a look. I want your opinion on it.

14 skims the section.

14: GM Principles. Facilitate fun, no duh. Renounce control? That’s a no brainer. Just last week the group killed the big bad in the Star Wars campaign in the first session. Funniest shit that’s ever happened.

Snow: Haha, I remember that.

14: Consider your players… I’m sorry, but what is this? Is this book trying to teach me how to be a good friend to my friends?

Snow: Well, maybe you’re not playing with friends?

14: Why would I do that? And why would playing with strangers make me act like a jerk all of a sudden?

Snow: Shrugs. Remember that game at the card shop when that new worker ran a game and was killing everyone’s characters for fun?

14: Yeah…that sucked. But that guy was just a jerk. He got fired for stealing Magic cards or something, I think.

Snow: Well, maybe the idea is that if this is in the book, stuff like that won’t happen or can be stopped. Y’know, like a kid reading this might feel comfortable enough to speak up.

14: The only reason we didn’t speak up was because he was an adult. We knew he was a jerk the whole time, we just wanted it to be over so we could go do something else. Maybe if adults weren’t assholes things would be better.

Snow: I understand.

Beat.

Snow: I kinda like the questions here under Eliciting Responses. Those are actionable and could be nice for awkward pauses.

14: Yeah, those are alright.

14 and Snow sit at the table having just finished making pilots.

Snow: How’d you like that?

14: That was kinda fun. The pilot portraits are really cool. There’s a lot of cool art in here that makes me really want to be those people. The backgrounds remind me of D20 Modern, but they’re actually useful here. I like the Triggers and I want to make a bunch of them. I can’t wait to see what the group ends up making.

Snow: My favorite part is that all skill checks are just trying to beat a 10. I’ve stolen that for some of my own games.

14: Wait, you make games?

Snow: Yeah. It’s sort of why I’m doing this interview with you.

14: Oh, so this is your job?

Snow: Thinks for a moment. No, this is just sort of a compulsion. But my job is making games. I’ve made a few.

14: That’s really cool. I didn’t even know that could be a job.

Snow: You’re gonna like it. It’ll be a while before it happens though. You’ve gotta go through some things first.

14: Ignores her. But yeah, I really like the pilot stuff. I could honestly see us using that for its own game. I don’t know, my mind has like six different ideas for a campaign right now. You could use this as like pilots for fighter planes, or race cars, or like even some kind of Code Lyoko situation.

Snow: Is that important to you? Being able to reuse ideas or think of new ways to use what’s in the book?

14: Well…I think it’s more that the book showed me an easy way to make ideas I already had into a reality. Like, we always wanted to run a zombie game, but with D&D it didn’t feel right. After we read D20 Apocalypse though, it felt more natural.

Snow: That’s a good thought. What about Section 2: Missions and Downtime?

14: I probably won’t use any of it.

Snow: Why not?

14: I don’t know. Like I said before, I’ve seen Gundam. I already know the stories I want to have. I think that’s the easiest part.

Snow: What’s the hard part then?

14: Um, maps, enemies. Cool rival pilots. Things that give me more ideas. I don’t really need it to tell me how to do a mission or whatever. I’ve watched Saving Private Ryan and I’ve played Medal of Honor, so… the only thing missing is the inspiration. Stuff I couldn’t think about by just sitting and watching T.V.

Snow: And what about the downtime actions?

14: I don’t know.

Snow: No opinions?

14: Shrugs. Same answer, I guess.

Snow: Do you think the rest of the book is used well?

14: I don’t really know what you mean by “used well.” But it’s a lot of information to parse. They can’t expect I’ll read this all at once, or even read it all before I play the game. There’s so many templates and different types of NPCs. Tons of symbols for weapons and attacks. It’s just a lot of information that my brain can’t really make sense of right now.

Snow: Do you wish it were simplified?

14: I think we both agree that the game is rather simple, the actual rules are easy to learn, but the way it’s presented makes it hard to grasp.

Snow: Yeah, I agree. But when I actually stop to read any of it, the ideas are pretty good and usable. Like, reading the Sniper NPC gives me an idea for an encounter. But you’re right, it is A LOT. But I don’t think it’s any more or less than, say, what the Monster Manual has, for instance.

14: Yeah, but there’s so many optional things. The Monster Manual really just gives you one instance of a thing, so you can take out, like, a dragon, and just use it right then. You don’t have to build it or be selective about it. I don’t really know if one way of doing it is better, I just know that I feel overwhelmed by the book right now and will probably just make a lot of stuff up on the fly as we play.

Snow: I understand.

Beat.

Snow: I wish mom would take you to the doctor.

14: Huh? Why?

Snow: It’s nothing. There’s so many things I wish I could tell you–so many things you’ll learn between now and when you become me–

14: A girl?

Snow: Unphased. And you’ll wish that maybe someone paid more attention. So many things that would help you make sense of who you are and how your brain works.

14: Wait, are you crying?

Snow: No, no.

14 and Snow run a few rounds of combat, just the two of them. 14 pilots the Nelson, decked out with a Custom Paint Job, Expanded Compartment, and Manipulators. The last of 14’s SP is spent to get the Type-1 Flight System. So now the Nelson counts as flying while it boosts towards enemies, War Pike at the ready. Sides strapped with two pistols and a shotgun in case things get hairy.

Snow builds out Horus’s Pegasus model but doesn’t use it for the combat. Instead, they control a few squads of infantry and an Archer NPC with the Flier Ship Template.

Snow sets the scene: 14 is sent behind enemy lines to take out a ship that holds a nuclear armament. It’s set to leave the atmosphere this evening and must be grounded.

The fight is slow and methodical. They listen to the Halo 2 Movement Suite the entire time.

Snow: That was fun.

14: Yeah, that was epic. I don’t normally like grids, but it kinda makes sense with mechs. It’d be really fun to, like, be the pilot and do Gundam Wing stuff before getting into this big conflict that’s, like, really intense.

Snow: I bet it might get a little monotonous with all the guys here.

14: Naw. They love it when combat takes forever. I think it’ll be even better with more people. You can use strategy and talk to each other about where you’re gonna go and who you’re gonna attack. Coordinate stuff. I’m sure there’s a limit to how many people you can add before it’s too much, but that’s true of everything.

Snow: Good point.

14: I can’t wait to play some more tonight.

14 and Snow sit quietly for a moment.

Snow: Well I should really get back. Do you think I should leave the book with you or take it back with me?

14: If you need it, you can keep it.

Snow: It’s your choice, kid. I came here for you.

14: I’ll definitely keep it then.

Snow hands over the book to 14. They don’t hug or anything. They just stand there as awkward reflections of each other.

Snow: So…you like it after all?

14: Yeah. It’s really cool. I’ll probably read it all some day. Or not. I’ll probably just make up the stuff that makes my brain all fuzzy.

Snow: Good plan.

Snow says goodbye to 14 and steps back through into the present.

When they return, on their desk is a beat-up copy of Lancer. The pages are torn, some removed completely. Spine bent. Water damaged. Notes written in the margins. Black marker crosses out enough to make it look like poetry.

And atop it, a solitary Gundam figurine sits waiting.

You can find lancer on itch.io.

If you enjoy writing like this, consider supporting my patreon and following my substack, where this and many more articles have been available already~

[modoreadsttrpgs]

honestly the single funniest character in all of zeta is jerid, hands down like it's not even close

[modoreadsttrpgs]

This article has been in my to-read list since it came out, so I could pay proper attention to it. Definitely the right call, what a brilliant piece of writing. I just got a fascinating piece of critical thinking about Realis, a stirring introduction to surrealism, and a kick up the arse to push myself creatively. All in one go!

[modoreadsttrpgs]

Just got home from UKGE, first time I've been! It was great, though I think we'll do two days next year - there was a lot more TTRPG stuff than I expected, not easy to try to see it all in one day.

As cons go, it's a nice setup, not the worst in terms of noise, access, or being too busy (on the Sunday at least).

I could've spent soooooo much money, but as it was I got quite a few. I've wanted to pick up Dream Askew/Dream Apart for a long time, and have almost bought Notorious, Orbital Blues, and Here There Be Monsters before. Paint the Town Red is a "sad gay vampire RPG" that was on the Soul Muppet stand and sounded cool. Out of the Fold is by Kayla Dice of Transgender Deathmatch Legend II fame, a collection of four games to play with a regular deck of cards - I love using a normal deck of cards, it's really nostalgic and tactile in a nice way. Tournament Arc is a sports anime game that we stumbled on in the last hour, it seemed really fun and had 50% off so I really couldn't say no.

The coffee dice are so adorable, they're mine. The ice cream dice and the chonky d20 were my spouse's (very excited) purchases.

Oh, and a gunpla because I like the anime where the special boy gets in the big robot.

[modoreadsttrpgs]

You can fight AI in indie publishing by leaving reviews.

Seriously.

Ai-generated garbage is flooding the self-publishing market. It works as a numbers game- put out ENOUGH fake crap and eventually someone’s aunt will buy them the ebook as an unwanted gift, and you’ll have made two dollars. This tactic works at SCALE, which means real independent titles are now a needle amongst a haystack of slop.

If you have read a book this year that has less than 5 reviews, your rating is an algorithmic spotlight on that needle.

A one sentence review helps. Really. A star rating helps if you really can’t think of anything to say, but if you can muster up even “I laughed at the part about the tabby cat” you are doing indie authors a favor like you cannot believe.

(Also if you left a review on one of my books this year I am kissing you so softly on your forehead and I adore you)

[modoreadsttrpgs]

For four years I've been saying I make games about alienation and connection, this month's blog post involves me asking "so what does that actually mean?"

"A vast majority of my games are about the ways people relate to each other and to themselves. They’re often focused on outsiders and the maladjusted. There’s a tension in virtually all my depictions of friendship. The world is rarely a place you belong, and never a place that understands you. Where there’s bitterness, it’s empathetic, and where there’s hope, it’s bruised."

I don't go much into the reasons why this perspective dominates my games, that's not the focus of the post, though I do make an argument of why I think doing this self-analysis is useful to me.

[modoreadsttrpgs]

Love this. I was reading Heart at the same time I watched the Slugblaster review from Quinns. The other thing I was doing then was prepping to run a Tomb of Annihilation campaign, so I did exactly this and jammed in a basic beats system.

Honestly, I tried not to be too ambitious with it, I've just listed beats for each character to prompt my players to pick a direction for their characters, and push them to seek out risk rather than play it safe. It's worked out well so far, they've been very focused on achieving them, even though I keep explaining that it's literally my job to ensure they get the chance to 😄

We've just started discussing a long term beat for each of them, from which I'll reverse engineer some intermediate beats. This will be what gets them on arcs, and I think this post has helped me to clarify some of what I want from that process.

I don't think layering beats on top of D&D can achieve anything like the Slugblaster experience, but this is the first time I've managed to get this group to explicitly discuss where they want their character to develop and find themselves at the end of the campaign, which is great.

So I've been thinking about narrative mechanics in games, particularly the Beats system in Slugblaster.

For those unfamiliar, I highly recommend watching this Quinns Quest review, Quinns is awesome and he really does play games with his group before reviewing them, usually an 8+ session adventure if not a whole campaign.

Basically Slugblaster is about teenagers riding hoverboards and flipping off cops in other dimensions, drawing a lot of inspiration from skateboarding culture, and it has a big emphasis on a kind of coming-of-age vibe.

One of the core mechanics of the game is the Beats system. Quinns does a better job explaining it than I will, but basically Beats (and especially Arc Beats) are like small structured storylines for your character. They follow a particular theme like family trouble at home, or teenage angst, or a romantic relationship, or signing on with a sponsor.

The Arcs all contain four Beats, and they follow a very familiar story structure. Exposition, rising action, climax, resolution. And that means some of the events are good, and some of them are bad, and there are mechanical incentives for all of it and it's very well done and I want to try it.

BUT. The reason I'm talking about this is because this is something I have wanted from TTRPGs for a long time.

See, I mainly play combat heavy heroic fantasy games, which I previously tried to make work in D&D5e but am now having much more fun with in Draw Steel. There are a great many games in this genre, and they tend to work pretty similarly in a lot of ways, but one thing that almost all of them have in common is that as the adventure goes on, your character is consistently getting stronger.

You face challenges, overcome them, and get rewarded by levelling up and getting new powers, or looting magic items, or getting special benefits awarded by NPCs or whatever. But you are always getting stronger. Outside of rare cases where you lose a magic item or something, you never really get weaker or lose access to powers you've gained.

But in virtually all fantasy media where the characters have magic powers, they don't JUST get stronger as the story goes on. They inevitably have a darkest hour, a lowest point where the combination of their internal conflict and the external opposition seem too great to overcome. Often in these moments, their powers might weaken or stop working entirely, or they might lose control, or they might be afraid to use their power.

And once they emerge from that, they're stronger than ever.

The oaths in the Stormlight Archive series are a great example of this. Spoilers I guess, but look at Kaladin! In Words of Radiance when he strays from his oaths and allows the assassination plot to continue, his bond with Syl weakens and he loses his powers. Once he resolves his inner conflict and commits to protecting even those he hates, he swears the third ideal and gets his powers back.

That is a direct correlation between character growth and character ability. You see this in other media too. Zuko loses his firebending after joining the avatar, and regains it once he fully turns away from his anger and decides to commit himself to restoring balance. In the first Spiderverse movie, Miles struggles the entire time to control his powers and it's only when he overcomes his fear and takes a literal leap of faith that he really takes ownership of his abilities.

And THAT is something I have always wanted in TTRPGs. Tying mechanical advancement, at least in some respects, to the personal growth of your character. Levelling up from fighting monsters and getting stronger from experience is all well and good, but becoming more powerful as a consequence of learning more about who you are, what you stand for, what you believe in? That's the juicy shit right there.

Now, in Slugblaster, these Beats don't usually make your character any more powerful. Some of them can give you access to new abilities, but it's not a game where you become a godlike skater by the end. It's just not a game principally focused on becoming more powerful in order to overcome bigger obstacles. The Beats system in Slugblaster is primarily a way to let gameplay set up character and story moments, in a way that is structured enough to let almost anyone create really compelling journeys of personal growth and yet vague enough to let the story be unique and interesting every time. The Beats you go through also determine your Doom and Legacy, two resources that accrue over the course of the short campaign and are used in a final roll to decide your character's epilogue.

The Beats system, I think, is what makes Slugblaster really work as a game about coming-of-age stories. Without it, it might still be a cool fun game about riding your hoverboard in weird dimensions and trying to go viral with videos of your tricks, but it would take a lot of work from the whole group to really make it into a compelling story. With Beats, the game does all that work for you and gives you a very clear recipe for dramatic and memorable narratives. Again, that might sound restrictive or flat or like it's going to make for very predictable stories, but all it really does is lay out the classic story structure that sticks around because it works.

There's also a lot of potential for tragedy, because you don't have to complete the Arcs. In the class arc for the Grit class, for instance, you spend the first two beats trying to do something really hard, failing, and getting back up determined to try again. In the third beat, you try, you fail, and you give up, because you've been trying so hard and maybe you really just can't do it, no matter how hard you try. We've all been there. And then in the fourth beat, you try one more time, spurred on by the people who believe in you, and you nail it. Amazing! Simple recipe, but an awesome emotional payoff every time.

But you don't need to do the fourth beat. You can just stop after the third, where you give up. If that fourth beat wouldn't make sense, if you don't have the support you need to face up to the potential for failure again, nothing in the game requires you to do it.

And I think that's part of what makes this system really sing. If the Beat would feel forced, just don't do it. So even though the path is laid out, the whole group really does need to work to reach the end. There is a happy ending, but only if you actually do your best to make it happen. Brilliant.

I'm thinking about adapting something like this for Draw Steel, a Chronicle system where you can choose to embark on a character arc for your hero where they will encounter both triumphs and defeat. So in addition to levelling up as you gain Victories, you're also having a personal journey and dealing with inner conflict, and you become more powerful by resolving that as well. These Chronicles would also include their low points, their darkest hour, where they might be less powerful. They might include moments where the hero has conflicts with other party members or NPCs, or makes an unfortunate decision, because those moments are essential for the drama.

I'm still toying with the idea, and deciding how it should work and how it might interface with the rest of the game, but I think it might be interesting.

[modoreadsttrpgs]

Another ttrpg i recently tried is The Lonesome Cartographer, a solo mapmaking rpg by Wren-the-Forester on Itch.io (are they on tumblr? if so, i‘d love to find them!)

It is a fantastic game and i spent a lovely hour or so letting my mind wander with just a piece of paper, a pencil, a d6 and tarot cards. I made up the story and lore of the places as i went, with whatever came to mind. After, I scanned it and coloured it digitally.

I recommend it severely to anyone wanting to get back into the groove of spontaneous creating, especially if you‘ve been stressed and trapped in the systematics of daily life. This session and the map it resulted in inspired me to start making my own little ttrpg test system, Henoimos, which I am currently working on refining.

[modoreadsttrpgs]

Any recommendations for a rules-lite mecha game?

THEME: Rules-Lite Mechs.

Hello friend, I sure do! I had a really fun time putting this recommendation list together, so I hope you also find something fun in here!

Reactors & Romance, by JP Bergamo.

Reactors & Romance is a rules-light, narrative-focused, one-shot-oriented RPG featuring mechs and flirting.

Players take on the role of a hot-shot mech pilot with only two ways of problem solving: flirt your way through with your romantic charm, or fight your way out with your mech. Your ability to do either is measured with one stat, your HEAT. Your HEAT measures both how hot your mech’s reactor is getting, and how hot of a pilot you are. Your mech will get less and less reliable as it builds up heat and takes on damage. Fortunately, you have always done your best flirting under pressure.

Say hello to a beautiful, quick game that focuses on the emotions that sizzle inside the gigantic battle machines, as well as the fights that might make those relationships complicated. With a nod to Lasers & Feelings, Reactors & Romance has some additional bits and pieces to play with, such as heat, which both propels you into the danger zone and also makes you very attractive. You also have Keepsakes, which are meant to represent romantic connections that help you clear your Heat. The author references Thirsty Sword Lesbians, Promare, and Gurren Lagann, which all make me super excited about this game.

Mech and Kaiju, by Minbot.

You are the pilot and crew of the Dominator, an advanced bio-mechanical skyscraper sized battle suit designed and built to fight the Kaiju, gigantic leviathan creatures from beyond the depths of space.

Based on the popular Lasers and Feeling RPG by John Harper and created for the Minimalist TTRPG Jam 3.

Simple and descriptive, Mech & Kaiju asks you to determine a few traits of your characters, a few traits of the mech you pilot, and a few truths about the Alien Overlord and the Kaiju you're going up against. When it comes to rolling, it's typical Lasers & Feelings: roll under your target if the situation is related to logic, reason or technology, and roll over if your approach is related to emotion, reasoning, or biological understanding. If you want a contrast between flesh and metal, you might like this game.

Resonance, by Foolhardy Press.

You and your team are Pilots; called upon as a team to control a single Mech capable of defeating the Intelligence

With your skills combined, your party alone can pilot the mech via Resonance, a state of understanding acquired through intense training and compatibility.

Each of you has an individual role to be expressed through your control of the Mech; the Captain, the Gunner, the Engineer, the Hacker, or the Muscle.

You must defeat the enemy Intelligence within a constricted amount of rounds or fail your mission.

Resonance feels very much inspired by Pacific Rim, what with the idea that all of your team is responsible for piloting a single mech, and the fact that the game defines success as relative to a target called The Drift. I like the idea that success here is related to how aligned the crew is in regards to the goal; it's an excellent example of a game that tries to weave the themes of the story into the mechanics.

Mechers, by Jason Pickering.

Welcome to Odin Corp new employee. You get to start your exciting new career as a Mecher working with our resource gathering facilities on the planet Sif 11. Your exciting career will see you wearing an Odin Corp Mech Suit as you transport cargo and supplies between our many different planetary stations as well as light resource gathering duties. In your journey you will see the wondrous sights, flora, and fauna this planet has to offer. Yes! It’s dangerous work, but your hard work will allow the facilities to keep operating so we can supply Odin Corp products to families galaxy wide.

Mechers is a rules-lite ttrpg that uses a 2D6 system, to determine outcomes for player actions. Players pilot a mech equipped with gear and adventure across an alien planet dealing with wild flora and fauna and an overbearing corporation. So grab your Dice, Load your tools, and head out into danger.

If you love mechs but you want to do something other than fight, Mechers is probably where you'll feel most at home. Your players are using mechs as tools to help them explore planets, rather than fight battles, although I wouldn't be surprised if you have to get a little bit physical to get yourself out of some tricky situations. Getting past obstacles requires filling tracks to represent the effort it takes to work through difficult situations.

Attempting to overcome an obstacle involves rolling 2d6 and trying to get a 7 or higher, with results of 10 or higher being without any consequences. It feels very akin to PbtA in terms of result range, but I think the ethos is a little less about generating interesting results and more about using what resources you have to improve your rolls and reduce any damage you take.

Immortal Gambit, by TitanomachyRPG.

IMMORTAL GAMBIT is a pick up and play 1-page mecha TTRPG you can start as soon as everyone has arrived to the session. Every player picks a different role (Pilot//Pilot’s Mech//Battleship Captain// Faction Leader//Rival//Rival’s Mech) and their own goal. Try to accomplish your goal while deducing who you can trust--and who is working against you!

Immortal Gambit looks to be about pitting children against each-other in gigantic mechs, all for political gain. I think it's interesting that a character and a character's mech are two different roles that are played by different people. Each character has a personal goal, one that is hidden from the rest of the table. You take turns trying to turn the tides of battle in your direction, using a d20 and a coin. I think it's interesting that this game is very competitive, and encourages your characters to work against each-other. It's a little bit like a hidden role game, so if you like keeping secrets, I think you might like this.

Big Robots, Big Feelings, by RentAThug.

Prime your laser cannons, draw your energy sword, and pilot your mech to glorious victory the only way you know how: how by feeling more feelings than anyone has ever felt! Battle enemy mecha and your own raging emotions in BIG ROBOTS, BIG FEELINGS!

Big Robots, Big Feelings is a one page RPG designed for the 2024 One Page RPG Jam! The game uses a simplified version of the Powered by the Apocalypse system, with Action Rolls determining outcome. Inspired by mecha anime, these Action Rolls are influenced by your character's emotions and relationships with other characters, allowing you to literally use the power of friendship to destroy your enemies.

This game feels very in tune with the color-coded superhero genre, with bright colors and themes that really double down on tropes. Your character has a background, three emotions, and a Mech that's designed to reflect their personality. When you try to do something, you use 2d6, as per a typical PbtA game, with modifiers related to your emotions and your relationships. In Big Robots, Big Feelings, you truly do win fights with the power of friendship!

Sad Teen Mecha Pilots, by Unknown Dungeon.

INCOMING TRANSMISSION….

Over twenty years ago, the first Demon attacked. Humanity fought back, but suffered great losses in the process.

In the decades since, a secretive program was initiated to build monstrous bio-mechanical mechas to fight the Demons, and to train the young pilots who control them.

You are those pilots.

Sad Teen Mecha Pilots is a collaborative story-telling RPG about the lives of young people faced with the impossible task of saving the world, and the strain it puts on them and their relationships.

A simple one-page game, this is all about the motivations behind a war, and the strain of trying to hold off Doomsday. The lose state of the clock is represented in a Doomsday clock, which looks like it's already partially filled when you start to play the game, although I'm not entirely sure if that's the intention. When the clock hits the Eleventh Hour, your characters are pulled away from their teenage lives for a nearly-hopeless battle.

The bulk of the game is definitely focused on the daily lives of your characters; their family relationships, their struggles with school or friendships, and recovering from wounds. I'd be interested in seeing how this game might combine with a more mechanically complex mech game to provide a lot of pathos in between high-combat scenes - although you as a group would have to be OK with going up against pretty impossible odds.

Also Check Out…

Mechs Part 1 Recommendations

Mechs Part 2 Recommendations

Gundam TTRPG Recommedations.

Metal Sword, by Mousewife Games (simplified Beam Saber!)

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