#glowinthedark
Glow in the Dark alpha thingy release go!
This is the white-line nightmare of the Cold War brought to half-life, a mythical doomsday that never was. Twisted metal rusts away under shifting dunes. Maniacs kill for food, for fuel, or for fun. You are part of a crew – a gang of post-apocalyptic scavengers and warriors desperate to survive. We will play the game to find out if your crew can flourish despite other hungry gangs, forgotten pre-war threats, the unforgiving elements, and their own dark impulses.
The rules link is here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B436j88kgCAtYkpMY0pEMjJiRjA/view?usp=sharing
The playbooks are here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B436j88kgCAtbGZOMXFmRzdTVGc/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B436j88kgCAtYkpMY0pEMjJiRjA/view?usp=sharing
Oh I love it, especially all the subtle things.
Supplies, upkeep, and the new form of entanglements based on friction/hatred/supplies are awesome. I also love the taboo in place of heritage, adding uniqueness while spotlighting the wanton moral state of the world. Ammo is elegant and appropriate. I love the custom ride and bodytanks, plus the upkeep basic vehicles require. The postcards from the apocalypse are a great touch too. 🙂
Can’t wait to play this!
Thank you! If you do get a chance to use it, let me know how it goes!
Holy shit, dude! That is freaking amazing!
Oh, I meant to suggest that the crew types could maybe use just a few words of description up by the name like the PC playbooks. I mean raiders are obvious, but the schtick/aesthetics/intentions of Relics and Shepherds are less apparent without making inferences from smaller details like abilities, gear, and claims.
Good call. I’ll add that in.
I saw it said Necromunda. I’m going to read this later.
Printing to read on the train.
I’ve just started reading this, and it looks really cool. You’ve really put a lot of thought into this. I have a couple of quick questions about the friction, heat and supply equations.
1. Do friction + heat + supplies > 12 fallouts happen instead of the other ones, or in addition to? When the third equation is true, one of the first two likely is also.
2. What do you do when friction + hatred == supplies and friction + hatred + supplies < 12?
Just finished reading it, and the whole thing is really nice. Very well done.
Tweaked the conditionals for fallout so it’s supplies >= friction+hatred.
Added blurbs about the crew types.
Mark Griffin my intention for the third fallout table is for those results to take precedence, but all that section is sufficiently untested that I don’t feel comfortable nailing it down yet. 🙂
And thank you all again – your feedback and willingness to read random crap people post on the internet is why I stuck it out and tried to get the rules as complete as possible first.
Sorry I’m so late to this!
I like your Factions. I’m interested to see how much more setting material you want to create. Is there a map?
I really like wasting resources as a replacement for +heat from killing. It’s a nice idea and a nice implementation of it.
I also like the description of what Claims are. It’s a good explanation of the hazy nature of Claims.
Thanks! The Claims come from a few posts by John on here that clarified the quickstart in a few places. The underlying idea is you have to take something from someone in order for it to be a proper Claim.
There isn’t a map, for several reasons. I would want a map to make sense, and this wasteland I have in my head is a very mythical place, and you encounter what you need to encounter when you need to. I have avoided asking myself “but what do they eat!?” * for a long time now. 🙂
Also I am bad at maps. The questions you could ask about why X is there and why Y would settle in Z area would befuddle me. What I am considering are some random tables. Those could be cool. I’d like to get some random faction tables in there too, since exploration could be part of the game, since that’s harder to do in Duskwall.
Mostly, I want to evoke a potential setting that, if you play this, you’ll be inspired to detail with your own groups. Stuff that sounds cool but that might be different in my game vs. your game.
* They probably eat like A Boy And His Dog, digging down into pre-war ruins for canned food. Or stunted, sad little farms like in Fallout 4. Or jealously-guarded hydroponics like Fury Road. Or they grow families of sentient slave-corn for harvest. Or herds of mutant cattle, bleeding and milking them slowly for sustenance. Or they hunt and eat deadly dire insects. Whatever works for your game.
I read it and I have to say: it’s pretty good. Starting with the things here I like, and will probably be mining for my post-apoc planetary romance: Actions, Fallout, Items, Playbooks, Abilities, Bodytanks and Rides look like a lot of fun to stat up, and the Equipment section also pleases me. The whole body of work is quite splendid.
That being said, the delivery of information or presentation seems to need some work. Namely, the reliance on name changes over fictional changes struck me as odd, as the mechanics like Vice seemed fine as written in Blades. I also wanted to see the fictional setup for the game (what will I be doing ). That is just the overall opinion I have after reading. However, more specific thoughts came to me as I reread each section heading:
Digging the structure of Fallout (as a function of current Supplies) but I don’t like some of the choices about their specific character (established link from the expected fiction of raids or expeditions to results like Weather is poor).
Factions are detailed just enough. Great work, though their placement in the text seems off. Should come later (and in the beginning, just focus on two or three as a starting point, saving the larger body of Faction fodder for later).
Playbooks are an inspiring point. The names are evocative, and I enjoy some of the ability designs. However, my feedback is mixed: some things you described as Abilities sound like things I would either roll into your actions, or do with Devil’s Bargains, but I am sure you are making different decisions there for Reasons – so I don’t really complain so much as point it out.
I would present the Mutant as a special playbook. Like a Hull: if it’s a player’s selected playbook, it should come with a host of character specific Needs and mechanics, similar to how the Hull is set up. Of course it serves an important role fictionally, and so it needs to be a playbook, but it should also come with special treatment.
Interested to know: How do you hand out more Supplies than you would Coin in Blades? That is, I refer to the added expenditures during each Downtime phase; and the lack of a “Rewards” section (an equivalent to what we find in “Player Reference 2”)
I don’t like Vices being called Taboos. Because that word “taboos” seems to exclude things I would consider “vices” but I guess it was a style choice or something, so What do I know?
Actions are pretty good. Maybe perfect for you. I don’t like the decision to make Trek the fourth Resolve action though; I would rather a further division of social action over the inclusion of an action like Trek (mainly because its description seems to remove functions of the Prowess or Insight resistance rolls, and seems to preempt the description of risks by its inclusion as an action).
Ammo system could use more detail. Are you unable to fire when you are unwilling or unable to mark more Ammo? Also, explain whether players should treat Ammo as “rounds” or something else (like “the rounds needed for one effective attack” or whatever).
Ahoy Adam Schwaninger, have you posted a new version of the rules for Glow In the Dark that you’re playtesting, or are you playtesting this alpha version?
I’m playtesting this alpha Adam Minnie. We have a fortnightly game and haven’t gotten our first downtime, but I imagine I’ll revise some things after that.