The Strange is Monte Cook's new RPG, and it seems to fall into his usual range of "very interesting idea that he probably can't write good mechanics for."
Is that the key to being an indie RPG designer these days?
Monte's New Thing: The Strange
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nockermensch
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Re: Monte's New Thing: The Strange
This is when you realize that "comprehensive rule systems" is treated as a fad that is already over at the RPG industry.K wrote:The Strange is Monte Cook's new RPG, and it seems to fall into his usual range of "very interesting idea that he probably can't write good mechanics for."
Is that the key to being an indie RPG designer these days?
@ @ Nockermensch
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What happened to/with Numenera... or w/e it's called?
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nockermensch wrote:Advantage will lead to dicepools in D&D. Remember, you read this here first!
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Concise Locket
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Re: Monte's New Thing: The Strange
FATE, GURPS and Cortex+ are the only ones keeping that flame burning, but FATE Core seriously tells you to go to TVTropes to learn how to storygame so...nockermensch wrote:This is when you realize that "comprehensive rule systems" is treated as a fad that is already over at the RPG industry.K wrote:The Strange is Monte Cook's new RPG, and it seems to fall into his usual range of "very interesting idea that he probably can't write good mechanics for."
Is that the key to being an indie RPG designer these days?
And yeah, K; good ideas with some form of execution is good enough for an indie designer. Also tits, if you're making a wargame.
FrankTrollman wrote: Halfling women, as I'm sure you are aware, combine all the "fun" parts of pedophilia without any of the disturbing, illegal, or immoral parts.
K wrote:That being said, the usefulness of airships for society is still transporting cargo because it's an option that doesn't require a powerful wizard to show up for work on time instead of blowing the day in his harem of extraplanar sex demons/angels.
Chamomile wrote: See, it's because K's belief in leaving generation of individual monsters to GMs makes him Chaotic, whereas Frank's belief in the easier usability of monsters pre-generated by game designers makes him Lawful, and clearly these philosophies are so irreconcilable as to be best represented as fundamentally opposed metaphysical forces.
Whipstitch wrote:You're on a mad quest, dude. I'd sooner bet on Zeus getting bored and letting Sisyphus put down the fucking rock.
Well...the Strange is based on Numenera mechanics, so yeah.Concise Locket wrote:Numenera is out. Kickstarter backers got their copy and it's for sale to the general public.codeGlaze wrote:What happened to/with Numenera... or w/e it's called?
I'm not a fan of his work but props to him for putting out completely new TTRPG products rather than coasting along on Numenera splats.
After actually reading the article, my guess is that he's going to try and print several settings all connected through The Strange.malak wrote:Well...the Strange is based on Numenera mechanics, so yeah.Concise Locket wrote:Numenera is out. Kickstarter backers got their copy and it's for sale to the general public.codeGlaze wrote:What happened to/with Numenera... or w/e it's called?
I'm not a fan of his work but props to him for putting out completely new TTRPG products rather than coasting along on Numenera splats.
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nockermensch wrote:Advantage will lead to dicepools in D&D. Remember, you read this here first!
I'm not sure that firing and forgetting (e.g. Monte's World of Darkness, Dungeon-A-Day, his abbreviated retirement to pursue a novel-writing career) is what I admire most about him.Concise Locket wrote:Numenera is out. Kickstarter backers got their copy and it's for sale to the general public.codeGlaze wrote:What happened to/with Numenera... or w/e it's called?
I'm not a fan of his work but props to him for putting out completely new TTRPG products rather than coasting along on Numenera splats.
It looks like Cordell and Monte are doing an AMA on reddit:
http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1 ... nd_shanna/
Looking through their responses, I don't know what kind of questions they were expecting to answer. They're pretty much saying things that are already said in the article, or things the gm can and will change (ie, how many recursions are connected to the prime?)
Honestly the whole system looks like Cordell was looking at the Genesis power for a bit to long and thought he could make a game out of it with Monte.
http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1 ... nd_shanna/
Looking through their responses, I don't know what kind of questions they were expecting to answer. They're pretty much saying things that are already said in the article, or things the gm can and will change (ie, how many recursions are connected to the prime?)
Honestly the whole system looks like Cordell was looking at the Genesis power for a bit to long and thought he could make a game out of it with Monte.
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Plague of Hats
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Re: Monte's New Thing: The Strange
Here's the only mention of TVTropes in Fate Core:Mask_De_H wrote:FATE, GURPS and Cortex+ are the only ones keeping that flame burning, but FATE Core seriously tells you to go to TVTropes to learn how to storygame so...
If you’re inventing a setting, you have more work cut out for you. It’s beyond the scope of this chapter to tell you how to make a setting; we’re assuming you already know how to do that if that’s what you’re choosing to do. (Besides, we live in a vast world of media. See tvtropes.org if you don’t believe us.) One word of advice, though—don’t try to invent too much up front. As you’ll see over the course of the chapter, you’re going to be generat- ing a lot of ideas just through the process of game and character creation, so the details will come in time.
what I am interested in is far more complex and nuanced than something you can define in so few words.
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You are super terrible at this proving people wrong thing, Plague.
In the section for setting creation, the book punts to TVTropes for an idea of the breadth and depth of media. Could've used IMDB or Wikipedia or Project Gutenberg, but they went with TVT.
In the section for setting creation, the book punts to TVTropes for an idea of the breadth and depth of media. Could've used IMDB or Wikipedia or Project Gutenberg, but they went with TVT.
FrankTrollman wrote: Halfling women, as I'm sure you are aware, combine all the "fun" parts of pedophilia without any of the disturbing, illegal, or immoral parts.
K wrote:That being said, the usefulness of airships for society is still transporting cargo because it's an option that doesn't require a powerful wizard to show up for work on time instead of blowing the day in his harem of extraplanar sex demons/angels.
Chamomile wrote: See, it's because K's belief in leaving generation of individual monsters to GMs makes him Chaotic, whereas Frank's belief in the easier usability of monsters pre-generated by game designers makes him Lawful, and clearly these philosophies are so irreconcilable as to be best represented as fundamentally opposed metaphysical forces.
Whipstitch wrote:You're on a mad quest, dude. I'd sooner bet on Zeus getting bored and letting Sisyphus put down the fucking rock.
You are super terrible at this proving people wrong thing, Plague.
In the section for setting creation, the book punts to TVTropes for an idea of the breadth and depth of media. Could've used IMDB or Wikipedia or Project Gutenberg, but they went with TVT.
In the section for setting creation, the book punts to TVTropes for an idea of the breadth and depth of media. Could've used IMDB or Wikipedia or Project Gutenberg, but they went with TVT.
FrankTrollman wrote: Halfling women, as I'm sure you are aware, combine all the "fun" parts of pedophilia without any of the disturbing, illegal, or immoral parts.
K wrote:That being said, the usefulness of airships for society is still transporting cargo because it's an option that doesn't require a powerful wizard to show up for work on time instead of blowing the day in his harem of extraplanar sex demons/angels.
Chamomile wrote: See, it's because K's belief in leaving generation of individual monsters to GMs makes him Chaotic, whereas Frank's belief in the easier usability of monsters pre-generated by game designers makes him Lawful, and clearly these philosophies are so irreconcilable as to be best represented as fundamentally opposed metaphysical forces.
Whipstitch wrote:You're on a mad quest, dude. I'd sooner bet on Zeus getting bored and letting Sisyphus put down the fucking rock.
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Concise Locket
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Gah. Reading comprehension failure. My bad.codeGlaze wrote:After actually reading the article, my guess is that he's going to try and print several settings all connected through The Strange.malak wrote:Well...the Strange is based on Numenera mechanics, so yeah.Concise Locket wrote:
Numenera is out. Kickstarter backers got their copy and it's for sale to the general public.
I'm not a fan of his work but props to him for putting out completely new TTRPG products rather than coasting along on Numenera splats.
I like the themes of science-fantasy in the abstract but I didn't see anything in Numenera that actually excited me as a player or a GM.
Last edited by Concise Locket on Thu Oct 31, 2013 4:53 pm, edited 2 times in total.
To the point that you can call them that, yeah.malak wrote:Well...the Strange is based on Numenera mechanics, so yeah.Concise Locket wrote:Numenera is out. Kickstarter backers got their copy and it's for sale to the general public.codeGlaze wrote:What happened to/with Numenera... or w/e it's called?
I'm not a fan of his work but props to him for putting out completely new TTRPG products rather than coasting along on Numenera splats.
I am impressed, though. He's going to work on a setting even less compelling than Numenera. 'Aliens are going to get you from the interwebs.' Somehow.
I understood it like that:Voss wrote:I am impressed, though. He's going to work on a setting even less compelling than Numenera. 'Aliens are going to get you from the interwebs.' Somehow.
Bruce Cordell wants to have teh Kickstarter lootz too, so he rings up his old buddy Monte. They agree that Cordell has to split the lootz but has to do all the work, but for his 50%, Monte will provide him with his name and successful previous project on Kickstarter. Using Numenera mechanics has more to do with the fact that Numenera was funded previously, and less with .. well, mechanics.
Obviously, the settings sucks. That's because it's written by Bruce Cordell.
Last edited by malak on Thu Oct 31, 2013 7:02 pm, edited 3 times in total.
That makes me want to break out a setting book by Bruce and laugh at the stupid.malak wrote:Obviously, the settings sucks. That's because it's written by Bruce Cordell.
Last edited by ishy on Thu Oct 31, 2013 7:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Gary Gygax wrote:The player’s path to role-playing mastery begins with a thorough understanding of the rules of the game
Bigode wrote:I wouldn't normally make that blanket of a suggestion, but you seem to deserve it: scroll through the entire forum, read anything that looks interesting in term of design experience, then come back.
Mmmm. this suddenly makes more sense.
It's a meta-setting. Monte can farm out the flavor text to down-on-their-luck designers and take a cut of the profits from each of the micro-settings. He doesn't even need for all of them to be winners because he's only providing business services and taking profits.
Clever.
It's a meta-setting. Monte can farm out the flavor text to down-on-their-luck designers and take a cut of the profits from each of the micro-settings. He doesn't even need for all of them to be winners because he's only providing business services and taking profits.
Clever.
This is becoming a standard racket for Kickstarter TTRPGs; get a bunch of your buddies or some broke-ass designers, give them the rub and profit off their ideas.K wrote:Mmmm. this suddenly makes more sense.
It's a meta-setting. Monte can farm out the flavor text to down-on-their-luck designers and take a cut of the profits from each of the micro-settings. He doesn't even need for all of them to be winners because he's only providing business services and taking profits.
Clever.
FrankTrollman wrote: Halfling women, as I'm sure you are aware, combine all the "fun" parts of pedophilia without any of the disturbing, illegal, or immoral parts.
K wrote:That being said, the usefulness of airships for society is still transporting cargo because it's an option that doesn't require a powerful wizard to show up for work on time instead of blowing the day in his harem of extraplanar sex demons/angels.
Chamomile wrote: See, it's because K's belief in leaving generation of individual monsters to GMs makes him Chaotic, whereas Frank's belief in the easier usability of monsters pre-generated by game designers makes him Lawful, and clearly these philosophies are so irreconcilable as to be best represented as fundamentally opposed metaphysical forces.
Whipstitch wrote:You're on a mad quest, dude. I'd sooner bet on Zeus getting bored and letting Sisyphus put down the fucking rock.
Its pretty standard for Monte as well. Remember his name was scrawled across the top of Iron Heroes (MC presents...), and MC's d20 World of Darkness had such luminaries as SKR writing parts (including the absolutely shit Mage mechanics). It has died down some (largely because a lot got sucked into Paizo), but he has his own fanbase that will take anything he sanctifies on faith.
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Concise Locket
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