Uncharted Worlds: Discussion – Page 34 – Powered by the Apocalypse G+ Archives

I’m thinking of running a star wars one shot mid June some time but I’m curious what type of star wars game people…

I’m thinking of running a star wars one shot mid June some time but I’m curious what type of star wars game people like. I don’t want to run any force users yet until FBH is released. I’d love some ideas.

In a recent design post by Sean Gomes there was a mention of re-using the Cramped Quarters move for some things.

In a recent design post by Sean Gomes there was a mention of re-using the Cramped Quarters move for some things. Which I think is excellent.

But does anyone have other scene setting moves they use? Moves that give the players scene authority? Moves that mimic Mouse Guard’s “player turn”? Any sort of “refreshment scene”?

I’ve done these things without the moves, I’m just a little curious if anyone has codified them

So here’s a question for you folks: How do you imagine the player characters would control their spacecraft?

In a WWII Bomber flight deck layout? An Enterprise-like bridge? The CnC on Battlestar Galactica? Or something else entirely.

(For those of you wondering what I mean by WWII Bomber flight deck, look at the flight deck of the Leonov from 2010: The Year We Make Contact that’s what I call a Bomber flight deck.)

Or… is it more like:

Captain: Ship?

Ship: Yes sir?

Captain: Plot a course for the Gary’s Excuse jump point.

Ship: Done sir.

Captain: Engage once we get clearance from System Control.

Ship: Yes sir. Sending query. [beat] Flight path approved.

Captain: Engage!

Ship: Yes sir. Attention crew, ship will be engage ship’s fusion drive in 5 minutes. Please secure all loose items and belongings. [3 minutes] Engaging fusion drive in 2 minutes. [1 minute, 45 seconds later] Engaging drive in 15 seconds. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, drive spin up, 3, 2, 1. Drives engaged.

Let’s be honest, you don’t need a bridge or even a cockpit on a spaceship. You’re not going to be flying it, the computer is. Even when you dock, your ‘puter will do a better job than any person could. (That’s assuming the space port will let you dock under your own steam. It may use tugs or even docking arms that reach out and grab you and control the whole process.)

Warships will have a CnC, Command and Control, center not a bridge and it will be buried deep inside the ship. That’s something Battlestar Galactica got right.

Barring computer control, at least use a system where the pilot plugs into the ship and becomes the ship for critical maneuvers or at the very least use VR/AR systems to control the ship with virtual consoles and 360° view.

Simple intent question: Education (allies get a Data Point too) + Interrogation (you get 3 Data Points) – do allies…

Simple intent question: Education (allies get a Data Point too) + Interrogation (you get 3 Data Points) – do allies get 1 or 3 in this case?

Here’s some thoughts about Uncharted Worlds – I’ve now run 3 sessions (I’m trying to put up a short writeup soon),…

Here’s some thoughts about Uncharted Worlds – I’ve now run 3 sessions (I’m trying to put up a short writeup soon), and am still not sure if pbta/uw style is best for me. But I enjoy a lot running it, and my game prep and stressing for it has dropped dramatically. I tend to get ideas between sessions and write them up, and sometimes I sit down for a moment, trying to come up some interesting npc, locations, factions and other details. This a fraction of preparation I’ve done for other games.

But what doesn’t come naturally to me is asking players to tell what happens, who’s coming in etc. I do it sometimes, but often just once or twice a session, and even then about less important things. I also find myself to have bad imagination when it comes to moves – right after today’s session I realized what I should have done with the player rolling partial success when salvaging an alien wreck and trying to leave in hurry as something big and bad was approaching. Breaking another character’s drone was quite boring.

I need some ideas what to do when it’s time to do moves. I really like Impulse drive’s gm materials and use them when running Uncharted Worlds, but I could use even more help. I appreciate elegance of uw gm moves but they are not my style (at least yet). I’ve been carrying Rory’s story cubes with me for inspiration but have forgotten to use them when I would have needed them =o)

Another thing I’ve noticed is that my game doesn’t meet character’s xp triggers. No XP has been shared yet, which is strange, although Sessions have been shortish. I let present players take 2nd triggers and thought of giving them 1xp for free to help them a bit. I don’t know if my jump point took the game to bad direction, but that would be wrong to say too as the games have been fun! I have an idea where the session is heading but don’t prepare it thoroughly and am open to changes.

Cool ideas just come to me but I wonder should I try to drop even the little preparation I do, except for jump points?

Foreword: This is just idle speculation rather than concrete decision-making or anything.

I’ve been considering the impact of the two book stretch goals, and the order in which I chose to approach them. During the Kickstarter, I set Carta Galaxia to be the smaller of the stretch goals, to be unlocked first. Thus after UW was out the door, I began working on Carta right away. However, both personal gut-feeling and general commentary from community members have led me to wonder if I shouldn’t have started Far Beyond Humanity first.

I’m almost done the first pass of The Core quadrant of Carta, which is by far the largest. But the other 3 quadrants, and the general universe chapter, will still take a lot of time.

People are chomping at the bit to inject magic and robots into their UW games, and I realize that I’m missing an opportunity to have community playtesting done. Had I been smart (hah), I would have knocked out an Alpha version of FBH for people to play while I wrote Carta, then gathered that data to polish up the final product.

It might not be too late to attempt that, but it would require a conscious decision to put Carta aside and focus on at least getting a working prototype of FBH’s content out there into the hands of the community.

Thoughts?

There is somebody who has started a forum for all Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) games on Roll20. I am a big fan…

There is somebody who has started a forum for all Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) games on Roll20. I am a big fan of the roll20.net teleconference system for games, though other places exist. It has great features but is system-agnostic and works for any rules set apart from the biggies like D&D or Pathfinder.

To discuss starting PbtA games or joining games, go to the Looking For Group listing and ask to join. You will then get a link to joining the forum proper (this one is not a game as such but set up as a forum only).

https://app.roll20.net/lfg/listing/44388/powered-by-the-apocalypse-pbta-game-club

Category: Uncharted Worlds: Discussion