I had the chance to review some comments about the Advantage Die used in #cityofjudas  and I wanted to share some…

I had the chance to review some comments about the Advantage Die used in #cityofjudas  and I wanted to share some…

I had the chance to review some comments about the Advantage Die used in #cityofjudas  and I wanted to share some thoughts about this specific mechanic. Somehow, this is also connected with the Spirit counter mechanics.

In a few words: the Advantage Die is incremented during the game by some successful moves (usually on a 10+, sometimes on a 7-9), and the same happens to Spirit (increased by certain moves on 10+ or 7-9). Both are “good” for the characters when they have high values: the Advantage Die can be used to replace any die that rolled low, and Spirit can become problematic especially if getting to a negative score.

Both of them are somehow a measure of how well things are going for the given character.

Now, in terms of design, an epic RPG telling the story of a group of heroes, would reverse this mechanic.

If we’re aiming for powerful characters — with solid chances of defeating any type of opponent and with some sort of “balancing” power against unfavorable twists in the story — then I’d say give +1 to the Advantage Die on a 6-, and give +1 to Spirit when the character suffers some setback (bad outcomes) in certain moves.

This would basically create a mechanical counterbalance for failure.

The reward for success (let’s say 10+) would be the fictional result of the success itself, while the consolation prize for a 6- would be a +1 to the Advantage Die – that would allow the player perhaps later on to break out from a series of bad rolls by using indeed a high Advantage Die.

This is all nice and cool.

Actually, if anyone wants to give it a try, please do! and let us know how it went.

But City of Judas is something different. It aims to create a different fiction.

It gives certain rewards (i.e. the +1 to the Advantage Die or to Spirit) as additional prize for certain successes, inline with the spirit of each playbook. It does so to make certain actions, certain successes, to bear even more weight in fiction — so that we see the ripple-effect of these positive consequences even later on.

When players roll a 6-, on the other hand, City of Judas can be quite harsh. In combat, and in general when it comes to harm, City of Judas can be deadly. Should be deadly.

A single 6- won’t kill a character, but a few of them, against a powerful opponent, would do it. This is by design.

I think you can see now why — since I wanted to depict a harsh and dark-fantasy world — there is no “consolation prize” for  failure. The prize of failure has to paid by the character, and the rules offer no compensation for it.

If anybody has any advice, suggestions (or requests) on how to prepare playbooks and GM materials for a one-shot at…

If anybody has any advice, suggestions (or requests) on how to prepare playbooks and GM materials for a one-shot at…

If anybody has any advice, suggestions (or requests) on how to prepare playbooks and GM materials for a one-shot at a convention, please comment!

Originally shared by Davide Pignedoli

So, I’m making a quickstarter document for #cityofjudas  – i.e. for conventions.

First of all I am filling the playbooks with some basic info/choices already made for the players. The character creation process can take a little bit of time, and while I believe some players would love to customize their character further, an almost-already-made character can save up quite some time.

Pick the playbook, circle names and looks, answer the background questions, play.

www.daimongames.com/listing/5-TheCityOfJudas-QuickStarterForConventions.pdf

I am going to complete the next characters hopefully in a couple of days. If you played any of these characters, or if you’ve read the manual, please have a look.

Let me know if you think by making certain choices for the players I might be taking away too much, or if you think this will work well for a single session, convention-style, adventure?

If you haven’t read the manual you can probably still comment at least on my choice of moves.

Second question: as a GM, what would you like to see in a document for a convention?

I assume you’ve read the manual if you’re the GM; but if this is your first adventure with City of Judas, would you like a couple of quick-starters for adventures?

And what else could be useful?

http://www.daimongames.com/listing/5-TheCityOfJudas-QuickStarterForConventions.pdf

So, I’m making a quickstarter document for #cityofjudas  – i.e. for conventions.

So, I’m making a quickstarter document for #cityofjudas  – i.e. for conventions.

So, I’m making a quickstarter document for #cityofjudas  – i.e. for conventions.

First of all I am filling the playbooks with some basic info/choices already made for the players. The character creation process can take a little bit of time, and while I believe some players would love to customize their character further, an almost-already-made character can save up quite some time.

Pick the playbook, circle names and looks, answer the background questions, play.

www.daimongames.com/listing/5-TheCityOfJudas-QuickStarterForConventions.pdf

I am going to complete the next characters hopefully in a couple of days. If you played any of these characters, or if you’ve read the manual, please have a look.

Let me know if you think by making certain choices for the players I might be taking away too much, or if you think this will work well for a single session, convention-style, adventure?

If you haven’t read the manual you can probably still comment at least on my choice of moves.

Second question: as a GM, what would you like to see in a document for a convention?

I assume you’ve read the manual if you’re the GM; but if this is your first adventure with City of Judas, would you like a couple of quick-starters for adventures?

And what else could be useful?

http://www.daimongames.com/listing/5-TheCityOfJudas-QuickStarterForConventions.pdf

Here they’re playing #cityofjudas!

Here they’re playing #cityofjudas!

Here they’re playing #cityofjudas!

Originally shared by G. Dzi

So this is a report of our last session of COJ (and the fist!).

First of all, the casting :

– we had the veteran, Azim Ben Arrabas a follower of the book of Q who fought during the crusades (against the crusaders) and stayed at Jerusalem afterwards with a wish of redeeming himself through combat for some things (which stayed a mystery for now) he’s done during the siege of the holy city. That’s why he joined the Iron Fist.

– then there was Zeno the raider, a local from Jerusalem who was, alongside with his men, a bandit and made the most of the crusades to raid and plunder the poor soulswho managed to escape the war. Then when things calmed down he had no choice but to join the brotherhood to avoid getting revenge from those he stole from (especially a noble family from whom he killed a member). NOTE : the player didn’t chose the leader move so he was considered by his gang as a founding and important member but no more. He came up with several names for other important members of his gangs and we discussed a bit about their relatioships between one another. Turned out that the former leader of the gang (Tobias) led it to a bad situation (which has to be defined) and disappeared during it. Was he left for dead? Did he run away? The gang’s opinion on that matter is divided between the two.

As suggested in the book, I chose to run a focused mission for this first game, so here it was : The characters were sent by the Magister Geoffrey (from Anglia and looking a lot alike with Liam Neeson) to bring a package (of opium) to the port of Ashdod (roughly half a day of Jerusalem) for the benefit of the Judaists. They’ll have first, to pick up the package at a Judaist priest’s place, brother Timeus located in the Essenian district. (I came up with the name after seeing an older map of Jerusalem and made it like a maze like place with many small alleys and a potential nest for thieves). The brother Timeus will then tell them on what vessel they’ll have to drop the opium.

Before dropping them into action, I presented couple more Blood Brothers (as I didn’t see another way to name them, I called them Fraeters to stick with the Magister and Caesar nomenclature (not even sure if it makes sense!). Then they were on their own…

The plot roughly was that a Venitian merchant had some connection inside of the Iron Fist’s fortress and was told about the package and therefore will try to snatch it for himself. His plan was simple : to bribe some guards (as a matter of fact christians) to get the opium shipment as soon as the players will get it and if it doesn’t work he’ll have a gang of mercenaries at the port.

Azim the veteran deicded to check if they were followed as soon as they left the fortress and as he succeeded his perception move, I oltd him that effectively they were. They tried to ambush whoever was following them when they reached the Essenian district but failed. I made a move and decided that the spies managed to avoid the ambush and to follow them again more cautiously (if they had got a 7-9 rather than a 6-, I’d probably stated that they scared the spies and that they wouldn’t have been able to be on their tail again).

By the end of the day, as darkness fell upon the city of Judas, they reached a small plaza where a priest of Judas was giving a hateful speech against the christians at a small crowd and where a young woman was giving water to the old and the weak from a nearby well. She then turned to the PCs and asked them if they were thirsty telling them that Christ gave water to Judas as Judas quenched the thirst of blood of the people of Jerusalem. (I was hoping to introduce differences between Judaists and Christians here and build up the fiction. Not really sure if it worked but well).

They finally managed to talk to the priest who was delivering his spiteful speech. They’d found brother Timeus. He led them through some houses (some of which were occupied by families who looked at him with radiant smiles and respect even if he was accompagnied by a band of bloodthirsty cutthroats. They had a little chat during which he told them the name of the vessel they were supposed to deliver the package (le Fol Ventoux from Frankia) insisting on the fact that the captain of the ship was in a hurry and if they didn’t get a hold on him by mid-day (that is to say the next day) he’ll leave and they’d have failed the mission. Time wasn’t their ally… He then showed them the package : two sturdy barrels placed on each side of a mean looking mule. He gave to Azim some carrots and a stick when screams started to be heard from nearby…

End of the first part. I apologize in advance for the grammar and vocabulary as I can’t really review it right now (I’m as well in a kind of a hurry!^^). At this point they didn’t really make lots of move and the fact that the spies were still tailing them meant that I advanced my front to one step which will lead to what happens in the next episode.

Anyway hope you enjoyed it and if you want to know more about this adventure, I’ll try to post the rest of it asap. Cheers!