Jochen Steimel – Powered by the Apocalypse G+ Archives

I have one question about starting a new physical game (as opposed to a game via chat).

I have one question about starting a new physical game (as opposed to a game via chat). How would you organize the logistics of character creation? In all other PBTA games it is dead simple as you only have to pass around the playbooks and there are no doubles.

In Uncharted Worlds nothing hinders a player to select identical careers or origins. Passing around a copy of my GM book does not seem like a real option. As I am trying to show/teach my players this game, they do not have copies of the rulebook themselves.

Do you plan on creating a player set with just the steps for character creation and the careers/origins? Would it be okay if the GM distributed a printout of those at the table? If yes, how many would you print? One for every player (waste of paper) or just two or three?

I want to gm a one-shot session at the end of the month, and it seems to me that the mechanical part of character creation takes much longer than in any other PBTA game. Would it be a good advice to hand out the careers and origins beforehand so that the players can get aquainted with them?

Hello Community

Hello Community,

I am planning to run a game of Urban Shadows set in Current-Day Rome. As I want my game to be more than a few overdone cliches of Pizza and Mafia I want to ask around if anybody here has some nice ideas for background plots and threats set in the Italian capital.

Currently I have the following topics written down:

– Catholic Church

– Corrupt Politicians

– Mafia (can’t do without)

– Immoral industries (probably connected to mafia and politics)

– youth unemployment

– Roman Gods and Spirits

– Immigration and human trafficking

We will have our first game on the next sunday, and I want to be prepared to ask more leading question that ties the characteres deeply into the setting, so that the game “feels” Italian.

What are your ideas for such a game? Any topics that I missed? Tips and tricks that I should remember? Do you know any urban legends about Rome?

I am eager for you responses.

I have recently bought the PDF of this really nice looking game, but I have some questions, which I hope some of you…

I have recently bought the PDF of this really nice looking game, but I have some questions, which I hope some of you can answer:

1. How do you fictionalize the stake of cred after you take a job? Why is the runner not able to buy expensive stuff or pay his contacts? Is is because of the time constraints (and his inability to liquify his assets) or is is because their contacts are nervous and want to await the outcome of the run? I see how this is a nice game mechanic, but I struggle to come up with an explanation to my potential players.

2. Matrix Moves and ICE. The compromise security move allows the hacker to activate or deactive ICE. But in the description of ICE it tells me that ICE cannot be compromised and has to be melted. Compromise security and Melt ICE have different results on a partial success or a 6- so it could provide an interesting choice to the hacker (do I risk another alert, or do I risk getting burned by the ICE).

I am eager to hear your takes on these subjects.

From my Feedback of todays game i understood that my players think of the game as too easy.

From my Feedback of todays game i understood that my players think of the game as too easy. It seems to me that i have problems making the right hard moves, chaining only soft moves until eventually someone just succeeds with a move and resolves the situation.

From my point of view that would be no problem, but my players think that they get their success too cheaply.

Maybe we can gather a few examples for hard moves that the gm can make as a response to failed moves. I really want to avoid being an arbitrary railroad GM but as it is right now, the players can always escape the situations because i always ask “what do you do?” before i get the chance to pull through with a hard move…

In our group one character plays a dragon and still has to use the playtest version of the playbook.

In our group one character plays a dragon and still has to use the playtest version of the playbook. We have some trouble with the corruption move and thought about changing it a bit.

Looking at how the other playbooks had their corruption move changed (the vamp getting corruption for drinking, the wolf for hunting), it seems to me that the corruption should be gained when the characters to something selfish, or solve problems which are impossible for normal humans by tapping into their inner darkness.

What would be an appropriate move for dragons? It should be something which is tempting for the player and the character as well. The old version mentions “when you give away a prized posession”, but this really doesn’t work with us. We have no idea when this should trigger or how this would be desirable for the dragon.

Has somebody encountered the same problem and is willing to share his ideas?

Hey there

Hey there,

I was planning on running a single-player game with my girlfriend some time in the future, because of some difficulties in getting a group together. Can you give some hands-on experience with this kind of setup, beyond the tips given in the book?

I thought about structuring it more like a film (which often have only one main character and some sidekicks) instead of a serial (with a larger cast of important characters).

I think world building would pose no big problems as you can have some nice questions which start the brainstorming process.

But what about the actual game? Do you suggest using sidekicks from the beginning, so my one player has other characters to interact with? Should the player be able to have some control over the characters? Maybe she can begin with a gang/clan/troupe/pack?

Do you have any suggestions to keep the game from getting stale? I fear that with only two players, you would not get the critical mass of complications and creativity needed to spark a nice, chaotic session of everyday madness 🙂 Without switching the spotlight around a bit, the player might get burned out quickly. Maybe shorter sessions would be more appropriate?

Feel free to discuss this topic with me in here! Thanks for your help!