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Introduction
This is something of a companion to the discussion thread here. It's a review based on a readthrough although I hope to get it to the table at some point.
It's always somewhat difficult with a new edition to make the review relevant both to newcomers and fans of the newer edition and I've resolved it with a wishy washy compromise that should hopefully satisfy absolutely none of you. The setting hasn't changed much, so that's largely focused on newbies. I've gone into some detail about changes to the mechanics although as some of you know I'm not exactly the guy you ask to describe mechanics if you have a choice.
A Brief Moment of Solemnity
As some of you will know, this is a bit of a sombre situation because the creator of Tales from The Floating Vagabond, Lee Garvin, passed away in 2019 and the game was completed by his friends. I don't intend to spend much attention on this here - my view is that the best tribute to his memory is to look at the game he left us. But you can find more details here if you wish.
Get the Beers in: The Setting of Tales from the Floating Vagabond
So, there's this guy called Spit who buys a bar on an astroid. But it's not doing very well. So he buys an interdimesional portal generator and installs it on his door. And what it does is randomly take people from any random bar, pub, tavern, coaching inn, wine bar or similar establishment as they enter and has them deposited in the Floating Vagabond instead. I didn't say it made sense.
But it works. Yes, it's very gonzo, even silly. But the setting and extra detail provides itself to the kind of amusing adventures you want in a game like this. It even provides you with some enemies to get you off the ground running. There's Trask Industries (your typical souless corporation who sell guns to both sides), The People's Revolutionary Temperance League, The Time Police (for when your players go back in time to save the dinosaurs or more likely to bet on horses) and the Space Nazis. There's also Solomon Crane of "Crane's Nest", a rival dive bar. And as any Brit can tell you, rival pubs are very serious business indeed and you should scorn them and all their foul works.
It also means that PCs (called Patrons in the game) can be from any genre, trope or setting as long as they might walk into a drinking establishment. A Ninja, an orc, a cyberpunk solo and a superhero walk into a bar? Perfectly normally starting session. And it provides support for all of those Patrons (see? it will grow on you) in a single rulebook. How do you like those apples, GURPSheads?
Generally from 1e edition and the one 2e scenario currently released most of the adventures we've seen so far fall into one of two categories. "Go and do this thing and then go back to the pub" and "thwart the plans of Crane's Nest". This is actually pretty broad in terms of possibilities, but I don't see why you couldn't run a more dimension hopping game à la Star Riders.
Have I mentioned that I'm bad at covering mechanics?
Seriously, I'm not going to do a full walkthrough or anything. I'll leave that to other people. Other, more hard working people. Salt of the earth, those types, even if you wouldn't want them at your formal dinner party. My role is much more to swan round in a dressing gown like a pound shop Oscar Wilde and carefully avoid those parts of reviews that feel like work.
I'll do some highlights though.
Base System
This has been much streamlined from the 1e's "lots of modifers" 90s style. It's done well; it doesn't feel like it loses any depth just chrome.
At its heart, it's a Stat plus Skill system. Skills come in levels from 1-6, that's the normal range for stats but occasionally goes higher depending on species etc. Add the two together to get a total. Then you roll a die depending on the difficulty level (d4 for pitifully easy, d8 for routine, d100 for nigh impossible) and have to roll the total or less. Simple, but versatile.
A roll of 1 is a chug (critical), the highest possible number is a spill (fumble). That the observerent will note is that those with low totals are going to both critical and fumble more. That definitely adds a certain feel to the game with "100 in 1 chances" tending to go very badly or very well. I like it as a vibe, but those who dislike heavy swinginess will probably feel less happy.
The other main adjustment is bumps and slides, which replace the previous modifers. Each bump "bumps" the die required to the next level and gets harder. Each "slide" slides it down to an easier level.
I really like the changes here. It simplies the somewhat clunky original but without feeling like it's gone *too* abstract.
A Cast of Thousands: Creating those Characters
As mentioned before, the options here are near limitless. It's based on a point buy system. The stats are Strength, Nimbleness, Aim, Smarts, Common Sense, Cool, Luck, and Cheese and you get 20 points to spread between them although you can sacrifice some of them if you want to start with lots of equipment or money instead. You can choose to have a stat of 0 if you want to annoy your GM by playing a disembodied voice in the ether.
The system for species has again been streamlined somewhat. They get stat modifiers, bumps or slides to certain kinds of skills and sometimes a special cheese power. What's been added to 2e is that Humans now get a special gimmick of their own; they can use their shticks (see later) an extra time without penalty. That's a really nice touch. No longer are humans just the "boring option". Perhaps the other patrons will stop calling you "Billy No Modifiers" now.
Skill buy is similar. 100 points. Buy per level. Different skills cost different amounts of points depending on level.
There are also simple templates ("tough guy") for the lazy players among us.
The one stat that is probably unclear is Cheese. First edition had separate subsystems for magic, cyberpunks and superheroes. Cheese now covers that and psionics, weird alien abilities, supernatural powers and pretty much anything you can think of. These are balanced out by "Cheese Stink", which are disadvantages ranging from hunted by the law to having a silly appearance everyone laughs at.
Part of me nostalgically misses the clunky charm of the old subsystems, but I think this is inarguably a better design. It's more flexible and uses unified rules.
Something that has always been a highlight of Tales from the Floating Vagabond is Schticks.
A Schticky Situation
These are special powers of a sort, but different from Cheese Powers. They aren't schticky cheese. (Sorry, I do actually feel slightly ashamed of myself for that). But they're less about super strength or cybereyes and more about comedy effects. They come with a major effect, sometimes a minor effect and a downside.
This is best illustrated with an example.
The Rogers and Hammerstein turns your life into a musical. The Patron gets a slide to all social skills as long as the PLAYER sings about what the character is doing. (Finally, a character power aimed at theatre kids!). But not only must the player sign at dramatic moments and for plot exposition, they get a bump to all steath rolls because they. will. just. not. shut. up. (Finally, a disavantage aimed at theatre kids!).
Schticks are lovely and one of the best things about the game. It should be noted that in 1e certain of them were broken to the point of being unplayable as unwritten. Partly because they were always on. Thankfully, this has been fixed. Shticks now need to be activated and they no longer have any overly gamebreaking disadvantages. Not only that, but they get more difficult (a higher die) to activate with each level. This avoids the issue in 1e where shticks would frequently come to overshadow everything else.
This is such a good revision.
You Can't Touch Me, I'm Part of the Union
In 1e these were a Shtick, but they've now been separated off making them available to all. You have to pay your dues (2d6 x 10 a month) and be willing to regale your fellow adventurers with a story about the job any time the Bartender demands it. (This is why you shouldn't turn up late and annoy me).
They pretty much work like mini shticks, with each getting a major and minor effect. Paid up members of Magically Active Gentlebeings Enclave (MAGE) get to do a magic "cold reading" on other people, pitching their Smarts against their Cool to know every bit of trivia about their person. They also sometimes get warnings of danger allowing them to take precautions. Although amusingly the Bartender (GM) gets to give them warnings as often as they like and only one a session will turn out to be correct.
Other unions range from Bartender's Ancient Brotherhood (BartAB) to Righteously Indignant Goodguys and Heroes against Tyranny (RIGHT). There's also two strictly (and I mean strictly Mr "can I play a Setite?") NPC Unions; Eclectic Villains' Inter-Dimensional League (EVIL) and Glorious Order of Deities (GOD).
These are a lot of fun and I hope we'll see more unions in supplements. They aren't necessary, but they really help flesh out the (multi)verse.
A Few Tidbits of Miscellenia
A non comprehensive list of other mechanical bits that stood out for me, especially those added since 1e.
Drunk Dice. Extra dice for getting drunk! (I can't believe these weren't in 1e to be honest). For each level of inebriation you get one of these. You can roll them as d6 with any attack or skill attempt. 1-5 it helps (-1 to the result), on a 6 it not only adds 1 but also makes it count as a spill even if it appears. This is a very good mechanic to the point of feeling almost mandatory in a game centred round bars.
Patrons who get a skill to Specialist (+5) or Master (+6) now get a special little gimmick as a reward. So a Specialist in Make Wiseass Remark can now add their levels to Dodge or Run Really Fast for two rounds after making a remark. And the rare Masters can affect a group of people, up to their Cool. A small change, but a really nice one. Not only does it allow the specialists to really shine, I think it gives more longevity to the idea of a Tales from the Floating Vagabond campaign with actual things to work towards in terms of character experience.
Yeah, Yeah, But How Do I Shoot People?
We all have them. Those players that will have turned straight to the equipment (well, guns) section before even reading the introduction. So how will these people (that we shall call "Ben") find the game.
Honestly, this is the only real bit in the game that feels like a downgrade from 1e for me. I can understand the motivation behind streamlining, but in this case it feels like too much character was lost. It's just as hard to get as interested for the stats for "rifle" as the entry for "Militech G-13 Air-Cooled, Clip-Loading, Fully- Automatic, Multi-Purpose Assault Rifle (Bang Maker)". The game does suggest choosing your own silly names for your guns but it's not really the same.
A relatively minor quibble and hopefully one we may see rectifed in a future equipment supplement (hint hint). There's a reason Cyberpunk 2020 was so popular and, let's be honest, it was at least 50% the equipment splats. ("I'm a solo who looks like a shark and has a Mr Stud on my forehead!")
A new arms trader has been added to the universe however.
No, YOU have something in your eye.
Last Orders
You can probably already tell, but I'm highly impressed by Tales from the Floating Vagabond 2e. I'd go as far as to say it's one of the best RPGs to come out (just!) last year. The vast majority of edition changes seem good to me, with the system now being straightforward but without going overly rules lite compared to the original. A great piece of work with both Lee Garvin (for the draft) and the rest of the team (for getting that into a playable state) deserving full credit. If you like comedy games this seems a new brainer. The original was fun but broken in places. This is as fun but fixed.
This is something of a companion to the discussion thread here. It's a review based on a readthrough although I hope to get it to the table at some point.
It's always somewhat difficult with a new edition to make the review relevant both to newcomers and fans of the newer edition and I've resolved it with a wishy washy compromise that should hopefully satisfy absolutely none of you. The setting hasn't changed much, so that's largely focused on newbies. I've gone into some detail about changes to the mechanics although as some of you know I'm not exactly the guy you ask to describe mechanics if you have a choice.
A Brief Moment of Solemnity
As some of you will know, this is a bit of a sombre situation because the creator of Tales from The Floating Vagabond, Lee Garvin, passed away in 2019 and the game was completed by his friends. I don't intend to spend much attention on this here - my view is that the best tribute to his memory is to look at the game he left us. But you can find more details here if you wish.
Get the Beers in: The Setting of Tales from the Floating Vagabond
So, there's this guy called Spit who buys a bar on an astroid. But it's not doing very well. So he buys an interdimesional portal generator and installs it on his door. And what it does is randomly take people from any random bar, pub, tavern, coaching inn, wine bar or similar establishment as they enter and has them deposited in the Floating Vagabond instead. I didn't say it made sense.
But it works. Yes, it's very gonzo, even silly. But the setting and extra detail provides itself to the kind of amusing adventures you want in a game like this. It even provides you with some enemies to get you off the ground running. There's Trask Industries (your typical souless corporation who sell guns to both sides), The People's Revolutionary Temperance League, The Time Police (for when your players go back in time to save the dinosaurs or more likely to bet on horses) and the Space Nazis. There's also Solomon Crane of "Crane's Nest", a rival dive bar. And as any Brit can tell you, rival pubs are very serious business indeed and you should scorn them and all their foul works.
It also means that PCs (called Patrons in the game) can be from any genre, trope or setting as long as they might walk into a drinking establishment. A Ninja, an orc, a cyberpunk solo and a superhero walk into a bar? Perfectly normally starting session. And it provides support for all of those Patrons (see? it will grow on you) in a single rulebook. How do you like those apples, GURPSheads?
Generally from 1e edition and the one 2e scenario currently released most of the adventures we've seen so far fall into one of two categories. "Go and do this thing and then go back to the pub" and "thwart the plans of Crane's Nest". This is actually pretty broad in terms of possibilities, but I don't see why you couldn't run a more dimension hopping game à la Star Riders.
Have I mentioned that I'm bad at covering mechanics?
Seriously, I'm not going to do a full walkthrough or anything. I'll leave that to other people. Other, more hard working people. Salt of the earth, those types, even if you wouldn't want them at your formal dinner party. My role is much more to swan round in a dressing gown like a pound shop Oscar Wilde and carefully avoid those parts of reviews that feel like work.
I'll do some highlights though.
Base System
This has been much streamlined from the 1e's "lots of modifers" 90s style. It's done well; it doesn't feel like it loses any depth just chrome.
At its heart, it's a Stat plus Skill system. Skills come in levels from 1-6, that's the normal range for stats but occasionally goes higher depending on species etc. Add the two together to get a total. Then you roll a die depending on the difficulty level (d4 for pitifully easy, d8 for routine, d100 for nigh impossible) and have to roll the total or less. Simple, but versatile.
A roll of 1 is a chug (critical), the highest possible number is a spill (fumble). That the observerent will note is that those with low totals are going to both critical and fumble more. That definitely adds a certain feel to the game with "100 in 1 chances" tending to go very badly or very well. I like it as a vibe, but those who dislike heavy swinginess will probably feel less happy.
The other main adjustment is bumps and slides, which replace the previous modifers. Each bump "bumps" the die required to the next level and gets harder. Each "slide" slides it down to an easier level.
I really like the changes here. It simplies the somewhat clunky original but without feeling like it's gone *too* abstract.
A Cast of Thousands: Creating those Characters
As mentioned before, the options here are near limitless. It's based on a point buy system. The stats are Strength, Nimbleness, Aim, Smarts, Common Sense, Cool, Luck, and Cheese and you get 20 points to spread between them although you can sacrifice some of them if you want to start with lots of equipment or money instead. You can choose to have a stat of 0 if you want to annoy your GM by playing a disembodied voice in the ether.
The system for species has again been streamlined somewhat. They get stat modifiers, bumps or slides to certain kinds of skills and sometimes a special cheese power. What's been added to 2e is that Humans now get a special gimmick of their own; they can use their shticks (see later) an extra time without penalty. That's a really nice touch. No longer are humans just the "boring option". Perhaps the other patrons will stop calling you "Billy No Modifiers" now.
Skill buy is similar. 100 points. Buy per level. Different skills cost different amounts of points depending on level.
There are also simple templates ("tough guy") for the lazy players among us.
The one stat that is probably unclear is Cheese. First edition had separate subsystems for magic, cyberpunks and superheroes. Cheese now covers that and psionics, weird alien abilities, supernatural powers and pretty much anything you can think of. These are balanced out by "Cheese Stink", which are disadvantages ranging from hunted by the law to having a silly appearance everyone laughs at.
Part of me nostalgically misses the clunky charm of the old subsystems, but I think this is inarguably a better design. It's more flexible and uses unified rules.
Something that has always been a highlight of Tales from the Floating Vagabond is Schticks.
A Schticky Situation
These are special powers of a sort, but different from Cheese Powers. They aren't schticky cheese. (Sorry, I do actually feel slightly ashamed of myself for that). But they're less about super strength or cybereyes and more about comedy effects. They come with a major effect, sometimes a minor effect and a downside.
This is best illustrated with an example.
The Rogers and Hammerstein turns your life into a musical. The Patron gets a slide to all social skills as long as the PLAYER sings about what the character is doing. (Finally, a character power aimed at theatre kids!). But not only must the player sign at dramatic moments and for plot exposition, they get a bump to all steath rolls because they. will. just. not. shut. up. (Finally, a disavantage aimed at theatre kids!).
Schticks are lovely and one of the best things about the game. It should be noted that in 1e certain of them were broken to the point of being unplayable as unwritten. Partly because they were always on. Thankfully, this has been fixed. Shticks now need to be activated and they no longer have any overly gamebreaking disadvantages. Not only that, but they get more difficult (a higher die) to activate with each level. This avoids the issue in 1e where shticks would frequently come to overshadow everything else.
This is such a good revision.
You Can't Touch Me, I'm Part of the Union
In 1e these were a Shtick, but they've now been separated off making them available to all. You have to pay your dues (2d6 x 10 a month) and be willing to regale your fellow adventurers with a story about the job any time the Bartender demands it. (This is why you shouldn't turn up late and annoy me).
They pretty much work like mini shticks, with each getting a major and minor effect. Paid up members of Magically Active Gentlebeings Enclave (MAGE) get to do a magic "cold reading" on other people, pitching their Smarts against their Cool to know every bit of trivia about their person. They also sometimes get warnings of danger allowing them to take precautions. Although amusingly the Bartender (GM) gets to give them warnings as often as they like and only one a session will turn out to be correct.
Other unions range from Bartender's Ancient Brotherhood (BartAB) to Righteously Indignant Goodguys and Heroes against Tyranny (RIGHT). There's also two strictly (and I mean strictly Mr "can I play a Setite?") NPC Unions; Eclectic Villains' Inter-Dimensional League (EVIL) and Glorious Order of Deities (GOD).
These are a lot of fun and I hope we'll see more unions in supplements. They aren't necessary, but they really help flesh out the (multi)verse.
A Few Tidbits of Miscellenia
A non comprehensive list of other mechanical bits that stood out for me, especially those added since 1e.
Drunk Dice. Extra dice for getting drunk! (I can't believe these weren't in 1e to be honest). For each level of inebriation you get one of these. You can roll them as d6 with any attack or skill attempt. 1-5 it helps (-1 to the result), on a 6 it not only adds 1 but also makes it count as a spill even if it appears. This is a very good mechanic to the point of feeling almost mandatory in a game centred round bars.
Patrons who get a skill to Specialist (+5) or Master (+6) now get a special little gimmick as a reward. So a Specialist in Make Wiseass Remark can now add their levels to Dodge or Run Really Fast for two rounds after making a remark. And the rare Masters can affect a group of people, up to their Cool. A small change, but a really nice one. Not only does it allow the specialists to really shine, I think it gives more longevity to the idea of a Tales from the Floating Vagabond campaign with actual things to work towards in terms of character experience.
Yeah, Yeah, But How Do I Shoot People?
We all have them. Those players that will have turned straight to the equipment (well, guns) section before even reading the introduction. So how will these people (that we shall call "Ben") find the game.
Honestly, this is the only real bit in the game that feels like a downgrade from 1e for me. I can understand the motivation behind streamlining, but in this case it feels like too much character was lost. It's just as hard to get as interested for the stats for "rifle" as the entry for "Militech G-13 Air-Cooled, Clip-Loading, Fully- Automatic, Multi-Purpose Assault Rifle (Bang Maker)". The game does suggest choosing your own silly names for your guns but it's not really the same.
A relatively minor quibble and hopefully one we may see rectifed in a future equipment supplement (hint hint). There's a reason Cyberpunk 2020 was so popular and, let's be honest, it was at least 50% the equipment splats. ("I'm a solo who looks like a shark and has a Mr Stud on my forehead!")
A new arms trader has been added to the universe however.
No, YOU have something in your eye.
Last Orders
You can probably already tell, but I'm highly impressed by Tales from the Floating Vagabond 2e. I'd go as far as to say it's one of the best RPGs to come out (just!) last year. The vast majority of edition changes seem good to me, with the system now being straightforward but without going overly rules lite compared to the original. A great piece of work with both Lee Garvin (for the draft) and the rest of the team (for getting that into a playable state) deserving full credit. If you like comedy games this seems a new brainer. The original was fun but broken in places. This is as fun but fixed.
