Author: Alan Barclay

Seeking players interested in Fate Core and Apocalypse World Engine games. Meeting face to face every other Sunday afternoon in Ballard neighborhood of Seattle 1 pm to 5pm.

We’re interested in playing story arcs of 3-8 sessions, with occasional one shots with systems other than FC or AWE. GM may rotate between sessions, so aspiring GMs are welcome.

The kind of worlds/stories that currently interest us include:

– – Firefly type SF, with a crew of traders, bounty hunters, or criminals-with-hearts-of-gold struggling to get by in an oppressive galaxy.

– – Post apocalyptica, particularly about a group striving to find a cure or fix the world.

– – Fringe / X-Files /Monster of the Week style covert investigation of paranormal/Lovecraftian phenomena.

You would collaborate in the creation of our next series of sessions.

Is this a place to look for players? I’m seeking for a player to add to a face to face game every second Sunday in Ballard neighborhood of  Seattle. My group is currently playing a Star Wars game using AW rules.

no shit driver — when you add the vehicle power to a seize by force roll, do you also add the character’s hard?

I’m tinkering with some of the basic moves in Star Wars world. I aim to support combat exchanges that are more like the lightsaber duels from the movies. I think this draft of the moves will serve for both  lightsabers and any old combat in the  swashbuckling world  of SW. Star Wars World gives PCs and some NPCs more harm than in standard AW, so I think it can sustain the system I’ve come up with.

I hope to playtest these soon. In the meantime, what are your impressions? Do you see any imbalances or exploitations that would undermine what I’m trying to achieve?

Rules

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Advantage. Advantage means you have the momentum or positional  advantage in a fight. It functions like right of way in fencing–only one member of an opposed pair may have it at a time. It can represent many things: simple momentum and pressure of attack, flanking your  opponent, getting them off balance, getting inside their  guard, or taking advantage of a longer weapon.

>>When you sacrifice your advantage to defend, reduce harm by 2.

Assault. When you attack with intent to cause harm or seize an objective, roll+hard:

On a 10+, exchange harm as established. If you have advantage suffer no harm. Choose 1:

* Seize the advantage. If they have it, they lose it and you get it.

* Seize an objective.

* Impress, frighten, or scatter your enemy

* Force your enemy to pause and listen.

* Immediately follow with a Threat attempt with potential  +1 harm.

7-9, exchange harm as established. If your opponent has  advantage, inflict no harm. Choose 1:

* Seize an objective.

* Suffer -1 harm.

* Inflict full harm despite opponent’s advantage.

Act Under Fire. When you act under threat, surveillance, or psychological pressure, or when you maneuver for advantage in combat, roll+cool:

10+, you do it. In a fight, take no harm and inflict no harm, then choose one:

* Disengage or circle. Eliminate their advantage

* Close or flank. If they don’t have it, gain the advantage.

* Create an opportunity to persuade, observe, read, or trust the force without getting cut down.

7-9, you can abort safely, or succeed at a cost. In a fight, choose one:

* Take harm but eliminate advantage

* Take no harm, but suffer a drawback or be maneuvered by your opponent

Threaten. When you attempt to control your opponent’s behavior with the threat of harm, roll+hard:

On a 10+, they must comply or suffer full harm. If you have advantage, inflict terrible harm (+1).

On a 7-9, they may choose to comply, suffer harm, or choose 1:

* get the hell out of your way

* barricade themselves in

* give you what they think you want

* back off, hands in the air

* tell you what you want to know (or hear)

>>If you have advantage and don’t like you’re opponent’s choice, you may sacrifice advantage to force them to remain engaged with you.

NPC Advantage. NPCs normally take advantage only in hard moves, though an NPC might gain advantage in some circumstances with a soft move — for example, taking a strong defensive stance. Of course, the PC doesn’t have to charge at them and PC or NPC might lose advantage if they give up their strong position (say, but charging).

Comments

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I removed most of the pluses and minuses to harm because I want  those to come from the interplay of advantage. These moves are designed, I hope, to interplay and feed back and forth into each other. The extra harm that they have in SWW should allow more than one assault roll before someone dies

I could get more elaborate, having four or five moves to represent different dueling tactics, but I would rather have a a system integrated with a few basic moves–a system of simple rules that creates complex patterns.

So…impressions? Do you see any imbalances or exploitations that would undermine what I’m trying to achieve?

Making Seize by Force more swashbuckling. I’ve been running star wars world and have noticed that when two force users enter into a seize by force exchange, lots of damage happens to both very quickly. This doesn’t feel to me like a good match to the nature of lightsaber duels in the star wars movies.

(I’ll use the AW names for moves rather than those from the star wars world hack just for broader reach).

What thoughts have other people had about this? Should I simply encourage more detail from the players and look for go aggro and acting under fire, or would it be fair to modify the seize move — perhaps having a complete success allow the winner to escape return harm altogether? Any other suggestions?