Silver Haired Sentinels (more ADHD)

[lategamer]

And this is a little thread for a new book.


This game is directly inspired by:

Watchmen (Comic and Movie)
Kick The Can (from the Twilight Zone)
The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish (from Cloud Atlas)
Brindlewood Bay (roleplaying game)
New Tricks (TV series)


and by the general realisation that I'm closer to 70 years old than 25 years old.


The name itself is referential to Silver Age comics (and the name of the RPG Silver Age Sentinels).
Re

 

[Fenris-77]

I like the idea a lot. You could a lot of ways too, in terms of kitsch, nostalgia, and/or grit too.

 

[Silverlion]

Sounds neat, depending on which way you go might be fun to play.

 

[lategamer]

Sounds neat, depending on which way you go might be fun to play.

I'm playing it pretty straight right now as I develop the rules, how to generate challenges. Toying with the idea of making it almost solo-able as I've never written a solo game before.

Commissioned the first art for the book too.

Not sure how much lore to add in. Might make it optional.

 

[Fenris-77]

There's a solid hack of The Between for a Watchmen style game. If you're interested I'll dig up a link.

 

[lategamer]

There's a solid hack of The Between for a Watchmen style game. If you're interested I'll dig up a link.

Yeah, if it's easy to come by. Ive got a copy of The Between but like BB, I struggle with the mechanics. It's just not my play style. I do like mining for ideas though.

 

[lategamer]

Just a bit of fun....

 

[lategamer]

 

[lategamer]

OK, I have the basics of a game complete. It's been sent out to a few people I use for sounding off. Does anyone here want a copy of the draft in their inbox? In return for some criticism?

 

[Silverlion]

OK, I have the basics of a game complete. It's been sent out to a few people I use for sounding off. Does anyone here want a copy of the draft in their inbox? In return for some criticism?

Sure!

 

[Fenris-77]

Yup, I'd happily read it and front some constructive criticism.

 

[lategamer]

Sure!

Check your messages

Yup, I'd happily read it and front some constructive criticism.

I'll gladly accept that, plus deconstructive and outright aggressive.

 

[Fenris-77]

Check your messages


I'll gladly accept that, plus deconstructive and outright aggressive.

I can do those too.

 

[lategamer]

Weird, it doesn't look like it sent them to you, fenris. Will retry.

 

[Ram]

OK, I have the basics of a game complete. It's been sent out to a few people I use for sounding off. Does anyone here want a copy of the draft in their inbox? In return for some criticism?

Nice job. I enjoyed thinking about your Silver Haired Sentinels. I think there is a lot of fun to mined in this nugget. Feel free to ignore my thoughts if they run counter to something you had in mind, I'm just going to spitball some of my initial responses to your request for input. I hope you find the comments helpful.

Page 10 feels like it needs a discussion of setting the stakes for any rolls the Warden calls for. Set the stakes before the roll. This helps with identifying when the Rule of Thumb might be useful. The Rule of Thumb saying don't roll if there are no interesting stakes. This is a bit broader than just don't roll to do what the character should be able to do…. But it feels consistent with your intention… and might be helpful for the next comment.

Page 10. Fail forward. It seems like this discussion should at least note that possibility that the Rule of Thumb (discussed just above) might be appropriate to avoid failure hindering the plot.

Page 10. Yes and… in this explanation the player responds (with a version of 'yes and') that his character has dealt with the villain a couple of times and beat him both times. Yet, the following instruction is that the Warden will check with the player… (the player has made the suggestion as written). I presume you meant to present this scenario differently?

Page 12. Having the Edge. It seems like the Edge can be applied for free when there is narrative support for the Edge or at the cost of a point (also called an Edge) if there is no narrative support. I wouldn't call that overriding the Warden. If the player discusses the scene with the Warden and the Warden says there is no narrative support, you have to spend a point if you want the Edge… that's not overriding the Warden so much as taking the Edge at a cost. (Also, see below in discussion about Quality.)

Page 13. Regaining Edge. By afternoon, do you mean daytime? So that there are two daily refresh periods, day and night?

Page 13 Getting More Edge… consider the heading Getting More Edge Points to distinguish the earning of points from the use of the Edge modifier. Same concern with saying that the Edge point overrules the Warden as mentioned above.

Page 14 Conditions. It would make more sense to me to have the Conflict section before the Conditions section that appears here on page 14. Either order could work with more written support.

Page 14 Conditions. It appears to be the case, though I don't see it clearly stated, that a resident moves through the three conditions linearly. Characters go from no condition to the first condition to the second condition to the third condition.

Page 14. The second condition, worse. Is there any mechanical support for the one act before exhaustion statement here? It is written with "probably act once"… but there is no guidance for how to determine that? Is it just based on the results of a conflict given the worse condition of the resident? If so, that might be something to make explicit.

Page 21. Quality. Quality seems to provide a free application of the Edge modifier. Is the narrative application of the characters quality the only narrative justification for the Edge, or is this just an explicit free application of the general statement that the Edge modifier can be applied when there is narrative support? The quality itself provides narrative support?

Page 26. Named People. The opening description in talking about the "young" quality seems to make it seem like named people have more than one quality. ("young people always have the Edge of being "Young".) However, under the Staff heading it says the staff should be named and given "a Quality". What if you have a young, smart staffer… do you need to select either young or smart or can you note multiple qualities for staff?

Page 39. Is it assumed that the residents super powers are known? Most of the questions under Why now seem to rely on that assumption. Can Bruce Wayne be a resident without the staff or the world generally knowing he is Batman?

 

[lategamer]

Nice job. I enjoyed thinking about your Silver Haired Sentinels. I think there is a lot of fun to mined in this nugget. Feel free to ignore my thoughts if they run counter to something you had in mind, I'm just going to spitball some of my initial responses to your request for input. I hope you find the comments helpful.

There's definitely some ordering needed. I don't like the way I have it but this is the way I write and I'll sort it out better when it's in layout.

There's some "writing support" comments which are well made and I guess I make assumptions and need to make more explicit writing on Edge, Conditions. Again, Stream of consciousness rather than editing.
Comments on the Rule Of Thumb, Fail Forward and Yes And taken and I'll look at those.

All helpful.

What did you think of the premise? I mean, taking into account the very basic rules and the limited superpowers, do you think it works? I toyed with the idea of re-doing it with PBTA but....I actually have a Next Project which will be PBTA (and will be all about Escaped Humanoid Slaves but that's for another thread)

 

[lategamer]

Things I'm interested in right now. Gut feelings are fine.

Does the Edge mechanic work?

So that it's a
- point based thing which the player can spend
- can be invoked with a career or a quality
- can be narratively described depending on the situation.

Would Edge be better allowing a re-roll?

Does the Dice Roll work?

2d6 with Success on 7+ is pretty common (harking back to Traveller)
Is the extra dice with Edge enough?
Is the Great Success frequent enough?

Are the Powers good?

Do they feel right?
Do you understand the distinction between Hero powers and Villain powers? And why?

Conditions

These were written based on language used in the hospital when talking to relatives or between staff. (My mom and sister work in the NHS - one in elderly care and the other in a psychiatric ward).
Are they levelled right?
Are they debilitating enough?
Someone with Blast can literally put someone on deaths door with a great success.

 

[lategamer]

Nice job. I enjoyed thinking about your Silver Haired Sentinels. I think there is a lot of fun to mined in this nugget. Feel free to ignore my thoughts if they run counter to something you had in mind, I'm just going to spitball some of my initial responses to your request for input. I hope you find the comments helpful.

I think I have fixed (or at the very least improved) all of these.

 

[lategamer]

Got some more preview art. There will be a few pieces like this.

 

[lategamer]

Two more pieces on the way - with the women included. But I love these. Finally stopped sailing so I'm going to get back to writing.