The Gaming Den

I happened to come across the tvtropes listing for the game, was intrigued, and thought I'd see what the Den had to say about it. But a quick search didn't turn up any related threads.

Anyone tried it and willing to share their opinions?

I haven't read/tried it, but I worry about the fact an online search frequently shows it described as something you'll never play.

Combined with the fact that the game is about time travel, I'd say that's pretty high praise.

I'm looking at the core resolution system. More to follow later tonight.

At first glance, it's a d10 system where you need to roll under your Attribute+Skill. There are three attributes where 1-7 covers the breadth of human capability (3 is average), and skill is slightly smaller (Master is +3). Flaws are an optional rule, gaining bonus character points in exchange for a random character flaw (infertile, no arms, short, etc). DCs are similar early stages of 5E. You assign a title and compare it to your skill rank, applying the rank difference to your [Attribute+Skill]. However, there is a qualitative difference between Attribute and Skill. If your skill is 2 or more ranks higher than the task, you auto-succeed and attribute means nothing. Predicting success is therefore not a linear affair; a barely mobile (Body 1) Grandmaster gymnast absolutely cannot lose against a Body 7 Journeyman.

It's been a while since I've read it, but the basic gist is that your character gets inducted as a low-level recruit into a shadowy cabal of time cops who are better than you and can solve every situation that your character will ever find themselves in and actually have all the time in the world to do that. So already, your character's contributions to anything are pointless. Beyond that, you are supposed to actively maintain the existing timeline, to the point where your bosses are literally Hitler, the actual and many stand-in Hitlers having died or faked their death. More than that, the game expects you to actually manage your character's personally timeline, including keeping a journal of everything your character did, and everything the DM decides your character will do. Overall, it's a huge headache for a game that already struggles with motivation.

There is an expansion for the much more playable 'narcissists' who actually run around changing the timeline, but I haven't read it and reviews tend to paint is as more self-empowerment and becoming the god of a different world than actual timeline hijinks.

It's fun to read but quite tough to play. The one time i tried, I spent more time trying to figure how it all works (not only game mechanics, but time travel itself) than playing. But it was fun

LR wrote:It's been a while since I've read it, but the basic gist is that your character gets inducted as a low-level recruit into a shadowy cabal of time cops who are better than you and can solve every situation that your character will ever find themselves in and actually have all the time in the world to do that. So already, your character's contributions to anything are pointless.

I'm trying to track down a copy to read - a friend of mine collects RPGs and may have squirreled one away, we'll see - but I don't think that's quite accurate. From what I can tell, the more times a time traveler crosses paths with other time travelers (including themselves) the more vulnerable they and everyone else are to frag. Given that even very powerful travelers can find themselves doomed, and there are always more narcissists, there's a constant need for new blood.

I got a copy, and can do an OSSR of it. It will be in installments, but I should at least get the first post of it tonight. Heads up: it's not good.