Good Monday, Gamer,
Last week was a mundane week of Lifted edits, paying taxes, last-minute dad stuff, and office rearranging. I missed the last session of Rich Roger's OSR 5-in-1 game, where he's running five different OSR sci-fi systems. My Debt Punk work drew me in. It'll need a sci-fi system, and Rich was running a couple I wanted to see and a few I didn't know about. While OSR definitions are challenging, I love how BX D&D (Old School Essentials) plays on the table. It suits my play style. I'd like that experience, but tailor-made for Debt Punk or even sci-fi fantasy, not a port of BX or OSE. Whatโs your favorite sci-fi game?
I have gotten a lot of Miseries and Misfortunes reading in. I made two characters from the ground up. I love the "secret" score mechanic of Mortal Coil and Gnosis. Mortal Coil is the difference between your expected age and current age. This value is hidden from the player. During dice tests, the player can "Exert" themselves to reroll with a bonus but then spend a year off their life to do so: +5 for the first exertion at a thing, +10 for the second try, +15 for the third. Until all Mortal Coil is spent, and they are at the whims of the fickle dice!! I love this!! Gnosis is similar; it is used to perform rituals, spells, etc. Each invocation has a required Gnosis score. Gnosis is gained by reading grimoires that have Gnosis values. Fantastic!! I have dreams of running a Ninth Gate-like campaignโwhich are called Moments in M&M.
My Wizard Time project is moving along. The current work is building a turn-based loop separated from the graphics rendering loop and robust enough that I can try out a couple of different mechanics for handling combat. I've got a process roughed out on paper and minis inspired by the dice pool mechanics from Sorcerer. And I'm playing out on paper a thing inspired by the phased combat system of Rolemaster I and BX D&D. I'd like to slide the needle a bit away from random and a little toward tactical puzzle.
Has anyone seen The Creator yet? I think I'm going this week.
And hey, it's Inktober!!
I tried a few sci-fi games but have never really captured the thrill I had as a 12 and 13-year-old playing Star Frontiers - even acknowledging that Star Frontiers is probably a bit clunky today (it's mostly the nostalgia). Mothership may be the closest right now - but it's obviously geared toward a sci-fi/horror vibe rather than broader sci-fi. Love your updates - and I'm especially interested in reading your Wizard Time coding updates. I've been playing around with some basic python games, both to get some skills back and as examples for my son. You are motivating me to dust off the C/C++, which I only ever used for big crunchy electrical engineering calculations and simulations! Thanks!
Jay that photo looks like you are drinking a mug overflowing with art supplies. Which I guess is what Inktober could be :grin: