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Lessa

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Heya! Anybody else love PvP games here? What have you been playing?

I played a pretty fun one called Badlam Hall last month, that the GM pulled out of the blue in a "surprise session". Luckly it was hillarious and a blast! In it, players assume the role of a early century noble mansion's workers (maid, buttler, chauffeur, etc), and try to solve the family issues (there's some supernatural stuff involved), while competing among themselves for Prestige. What's fun is that there isn't a combat system at all, and everything is resolved through subterfuge (while there is physical damage, the most important one is to your prestige, which can make you FIRED if drop to zero). Everybody had a good time and I can't wait to play again. There's a review here (click).

Other than that, the Shinobigami expansion with new ninpo (ninja techniques), sub-clans, and new campaign setups is coming in early July, according to the KS page.

And I still haven't had the opportunity to play Fiasco... oh man. :dead:
 
All my games can be PvP at anytime. Is there a specific draw to these games? Or do people forbid PvP in their RPGs normally?
 
In a Rifts campaign, the party plotted against an evil team member and there was a mega damage shoot out that left a basketball sized hole in his chest. He knew it was coming. We didn't set out for a PvP game, but he was the one evil character in generally a good guy team. I think he was a former Coalition officer. He had a Headhunter ready to go as his back up.
 
All my games can be PvP at anytime. Is there a specific draw to these games? Or do people forbid PvP in their RPGs normally?
I think there's a big difference between games where PvP is permissible and those where that's the focus.

With the latter, you tend to find there's more support for PvP, both setting and mechanics.

In the same way as you could certainly run political intrigue in something like Tunnels and Trolls, but the RAW don't exactly give you a lot of content to do so.
 
All my games can be PvP at anytime. Is there a specific draw to these games? Or do people forbid PvP in their RPGs normally?
Well, Blackleaf nailed it. But please, feel welcome to tell us cool PvP situations that arose from any and all games. :thumbsup:

In a Rifts campaign, the party plotted against an evil team member and there was a mega damage shoot out that left a basketball sized hole in his chest. He knew it was coming. We didn't set out for a PvP game, but he was the one evil character in generally a good guy team. I think he was a former Coalition officer. He had a Headhunter ready to go as his back up.
That's nice. Was the player cool with the situation then?
 
When it comes to trpgs I generally don't like PVP. I have been in some Vampire games though, that developed in that direction. That's fine, but I don't like it if the is set to be PVP from the start.

My exception to this view is various narrative games. Mountain Witch and Dogs in the Vineard for example, where it's build into the rules. It's okay for me there since those games, usually are meant for one shots.

I once ran a game of Mountain Witch, emulating the Reservoir Dogs movie. The Player's each played one of the heist members. Each player played a member of the heist team, with a random name based on a color. I based the starting trust of each character towards each other on the movie. Things like undercover cop and the psychopathy of Mr. Blonde, became dark secrets. I started the game with the diner scene that takes place before the heist. We then played through the heist, which went as badly as the movie (hint it was supposed to). The rest of the game went somewhat like the movie. Unlike the movie though no one got away with the loot.
 
Well, Blackleaf nailed it. But please, feel welcome to tell us cool PvP situations that arose from any and all games. :thumbsup:
Oh lord. Well I kinda feel you guys are talking about games I don't really play, so I don't want to step on toes.

If your'e talking about RPG's in general and not the specific Fiasco-kind, yeah I have tons of PvP stories. My games tend to be highly social and political and it often happens that players end up working at odds of one another and knives come out. Fortunately my players are "fairly" mature and generally no one takes it personal as everyone understands The Deal.
 
That sounds very cool, The Mad Hatter The Mad Hatter . I would love to try Mountain Witch but could never convince my group to do it. I've "tested" Dogs in the Vineyard once, and it was nice, but we didn't play a full session of it either.

I agree with you that inserting PvP in a non-PvP setup can be dangerous, specially if not communicated beforehand. We had a real fight (for real!) happen once, and another situation where a player felt clear discomfort but continued playing out of politeness (but we all regretted after the fact). If I did it nowadays it would be only after I'd made sure everybody is on same page first.
 
Oh lord. Well I kinda feel you guys are talking about games I don't really play, so I don't want to step on toes.

If your'e talking about RPG's in general and not the specific Fiasco-kind, yeah I have tons of PvP stories. My games tend to be highly social and political and it often happens that players end up working at odds of one another and knives come out. Fortunately my players are "fairly" mature and generally no one takes it personal as everyone understands The Deal.
Games don't have to be narrative to focus on PvP I think.

Paranoia, Gangbusters (specifically if you have both criminal and law PCs) and En Garde! are all very much trad RPGs with some level of focus on PvP.
 
Lessa Lessa - I think John Wick's Houses of the Blooded would be in your area of interest. Really detailed gameworld, PvP focused and very narrative indeed. (Way more than even most narrative RPGs. I'm talking about things like players deciding what clues are in a murder scene if they roll successfully, which I'd guess is your kind of game).
 
Lessa Lessa - I think John Wick's Houses of the Blooded would be in your area of interest. Really detailed gameworld, PvP focused and very narrative indeed. (Way more than even most narrative RPGs. I'm talking about things like players deciding what clues are in a murder scene if they roll successfully, which I'd guess is your kind of game).
HotB has a fame world so detailed that there's literally no detail that the players can't change if they want to.

The GM seems to be there just to arbitrate and set the start point. After that, everything is open to a Wager.
 
Lessa Lessa - I think John Wick's Houses of the Blooded would be in your area of interest. Really detailed gameworld, PvP focused and very narrative indeed. (Way more than even most narrative RPGs. I'm talking about things like players deciding what clues are in a murder scene if they roll successfully, which I'd guess is your kind of game).
Actually I'm not that much into explict world editing mechanics (or director stance as some people call them), but if it's nicely implemented in the package (which seems the case here) then I'm good. I had Houses of the Blooded at some point but ended up giving it to some friend as I couldn't convince my group to try it. Yeah, I remember it having a neat setup for PvP, with a well-made and GoT-like setting. :thumbsup:
 
Paranoia, Gangbusters (specifically if you have both criminal and law PCs) and En Garde! are all very much trad RPGs with some level of focus on PvP.
Paranoia and En Garde are two games I've always found super neat but could never play. EDIT: In truth, I came to know En Garde just some time ago (from yourself), but I loved the concept instantly.
 
I recently got "The 13th Fleet" which is a kind of comedic PVP sci fi game. The idea is take a Star Trek like federation, and all their shitty officers and rejects get placed into one fleet, the 13th Fleet. Then after some kind of major mishap, the entire armada is defeated, and then separated as they flee through jump gates.

The players play the captains of the ships in the 13th fleet as they try to make their way home. However, they're all backstabby bastards and each wants to be named admiral of the entire fleet upon returning home, so they're all scheming and plotting against one another even as they have to work together to face the challenges they need to overcome in order to get home.

The players will also take on the role of Redshirts who get sent on tactical missions. It's based on Forged in the Dark, and it seems pretty entertaining, although I've not yet had a chance to play it.
 
My crew would typically rather plot and scheme against the goons instead of against each other... Although there was that one time in the Exalted game where our self-styled "master of mischief" Daybreak-caste Abyssal ended up in a prank-war with our trickster No Moon crow-totem Lunar. By the time the group's Sidereal Chosen of Secrets was forced to step in and thoroughly punk them both, that had started to get a little out of hand.
 
I love Paranoia, Fiasco is also a lot of fun. Heard good things about Bedlam Hall need to check it out.

Carolina Deathcrawl reads like it would be a hoot to play with the right group. I love games with a black sense of humour.
 
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