What games for hooding?

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Lessa

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Hooding in Shadowrun parlance is fighting the Man. Environmental activism, helping the poor, protecting your 'hood, etc.

One of my groups is interested in exploring that. What games are good for it?


P.S: The Spire does it, but I never played it. Does it flow well in play?
 
If you don't mind heading in the storygames direction (can't remember off the top of my head whether that's your thing or not) Comrades is the obvious choice.
 
Or Cyberpunk 2020 or Interface Zero.
Seconded. CP2020 has "fighting the Man" as a strong core element although many ignore that aspect. I ran CP2020 for years and a large minority of my players desired that experience. Dystopian or grim dark settings can be an excellent challenge for players who want to make the world a better place. It's easy to be good when mainstream society has your back; when the deck is heavily stacked against you, success is more rewarding and meaningful.
 
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I would go Cyberblues City because it suits me. To be honest it doesn't really provide any direct support for hooding. I wrote it because I wanted to run a Leverage with more guns and sci-fi, but left loose so that people could play it anyway they wanted.
 
If you specifically want the Shadowrun type/feel of hooding, but think the rules are too much, where's also Shadowrun: Anarchy.
Shadowrun: Anarchy is much more rules-light, some would say narrative, than standard Shadowrun
 
Blades in the Dark kinda touches on this sort of thing, if you want to direct your crew in that way. From the example stuff I've seen for A|State 2e, it's going to double down on the "community" side of the setting concept

Hooding in Shadowrun parlance is fighting the Man. Environmental activism, helping the poor, protecting your 'hood, etc.

One of my groups is interested in exploring that. What games are good for it?


P.S: The Spire does it, but I never played it. Does it flow well in play?
I haven't played Spire but I have played Heart, which uses the same underlying system; it's Apocalypse Engine roots are pretty clear, but the system works well for ensuring the characters are constantly in dangerous situations. I like it, but it's not going to win anyone over to that family of games.
 
Hunter: The Vigil has 'Block By Bloody Block', which is all about protecting your neighborhood from monsters of various sorts, human and otherwise.

And it’s less than $7 right now on DTRPG and a hell of a great sandbox. Threats are built in, just add a few NPCs with connections to the PCs and bam, campaign (sorry, “chronicle”)
 
I haven't played Spire but I have played Heart, which uses the same underlying system; it's Apocalypse Engine roots are pretty clear, but the system works well for ensuring the characters are constantly in dangerous situations. I like it, but it's not going to win anyone over to that family of games.
I read Spire and didn't realize it was an Apocalypse Engine thing. There are a few bits that felt 'loosey goosey' to me but overall I thought it looked pretty solid, and playable for someone like me that has NOT enjoyed various attempts at playing other PBTA games.
Makes me wonder if I might get along better with Blades In The Dark than I'd assumed... the setting sure does appeal to me.
 
I read Spire and didn't realize it was an Apocalypse Engine thing. There are a few bits that felt 'loosey goosey' to me but overall I thought it looked pretty solid, and playable for someone like me that has NOT enjoyed various attempts at playing other PBTA games.
Makes me wonder if I might get along better with Blades In The Dark than I'd assumed... the setting sure does appeal to me.
It's obviously not using the Apocalypse Engine, but I thought a lot of the design - the playbooks, the "everything at a cost" resolution mechanic, the way moves work - showed heavy influence from that family of games, along with other rules-light stuff like Cthulhu Dark.

I'd definitely say give Blades in the Dark a look - again, heavy influence, but the things it does differently may work a lot better for you.
 
Does it have to be cyberpunk? If not, I would probably do this kind of thing using a street level (hood level) supers game, either Supers! Revised or Vigilante City.
 
Blades in the Dark kinda touches on this sort of thing, if you want to direct your crew in that way. From the example stuff I've seen for A|State 2e, it's going to double down on the "community" side of the setting concept

If you're going for this in Blades you want to look at either the Vigilantes playbook - https://seannittner.com/blades-in-the-dark/ or the Radicals Playbook - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0IrYKSJRl46bTNTZklQSWpuMFE/view

You might also want to check out the attached beta version of the Demagogue playbook, made by, well, me. Exclusive to RPGPub (because I haven''t got round to posting it elsewhere).
 

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I remember the Blades in the Dark Kickstarter promised a module about freedom fighters fighting the Emperor, but apparently it never happened. A pity, as I think the game gives an awesome framework for that.

A Fiery Flying Roll Black Leaf , those Vigilantes and Radicals sheets look very good. I'll take a deeper look at them later, and at your Demagogue playbook too. Thanks.

Underground was pretty much specifically about Hooding and had rules for it.
Looks great. The the "group can change a neighbourhood parameter (say, reduce violence) but another one is adjusted (say, basic income)" sounds very good. How is the basic system like ?

If you don't mind heading in the storygames direction (can't remember off the top of my head whether that's your thing or not) Comrades is the obvious choice.
Heard of it today as a suggestion in a whatsapp group. Can you talk about it more? Is it PbtA? If so, how does it differs from the norm?

Seconded. CP2020 has "fighting the Man" as a strong core element although many ignore that aspect. I ran CP2020 for years and a large minority of my players desired that experience. Dystopian or grim dark settings can be an excellent challenge for players who want to make the world a better place. It's easy to be good when mainstream society has your back; when the deck is heavily stacked against you, success is more rewarding and meaningful.
The thing with Shadowrun (and I believe, CP2020) is that they cite this mode of play in the books but don't give much tools in order to organize play around the theme. Things like Heat tracking, Corp Awareness Level to your group, safehouses consipicuity level (does this term exist?), relation to other agents like gangs and crime etc. would be useful. See Blades in the Dark for one example.

But I could be mistaken, of course. Are there rules and tools for that somewhere I haven't seen in CP2020 or Shadowrun?

I would go Cyberblues City because it suits me. To be honest it doesn't really provide any direct support for hooding. I wrote it because I wanted to run a Leverage with more guns and sci-fi, but left loose so that people could play it anyway they wanted.
Never heard of this. If it's Leverage-related I'm immediately grabbed, as I'm a fan of Cortex Plus/Prime.

Hunter: The Vigil has 'Block By Bloody Block', which is all about protecting your neighborhood from monsters of various sorts, human and otherwise.
Sounds good. Care to talk more about it? Vigil is probably my favorite line of that edition of WoD.

I haven't played Spire but I have played Heart, which uses the same underlying system; it's Apocalypse Engine roots are pretty clear, but the system works well for ensuring the characters are constantly in dangerous situations. I like it, but it's not going to win anyone over to that family of games.
Yep, I've heard Spire is PbtA-inspired, but how does it flow in play? Mutant Y0 is also PbtA-inspired but the way it runs at the table didn't pleased our group much (I don't dislike MY0, mind you, just thought some parts could flow better). And I've also read in some online review that The Spire is indeed clunky in some parts, so you have that (sorry if I can't give more details, I would have to re-read that review).
 
Looks great. The the "group can change a neighbourhood parameter (say, reduce violence) but another one is adjusted (say, basic income)" sounds very good. How is the basic system like ?
Underground is based on the same system as DC Heroes, if you know of that.
 
Sigmata: This Signal Kills Fascists: It's set in an alternate reality dystopic U.S. in the 80's. Very dystopic, sometimes simply doing horrible things to people Ex: JUST questioning people with no evidence to a creepy extent to make them afraid and turn others against each other by the illusion of "they've done something wrong."

Radio gives the characters superpowers so the closer one is to the signal, the more powerful they are (of course the Signal is a rebel act of itself.)

The PDF is pay what you want on DriveThru. However, I highly suggest getting the companion as well since it adds some additional improvements/options.
 
The thing with Shadowrun (and I believe, CP2020) is that they cite this mode of play in the books but don't give much tools in order to organize play around the theme. Things like Heat tracking, Corp Awareness Level to your group, safehouses consipicuity level (does this term exist?), relation to other agents like gangs and crime etc. would be useful. See Blades in the Dark for one example.

But I could be mistaken, of course. Are there rules and tools for that somewhere I haven't seen in CP2020 or Shadowrun?
...just one question: have you checked the "fixer's handbook" and "cop handbook" for CP2020:shade:?

Because I'm pretty sure they're doing basically everything that you're asking for, and possibly more.

Sigmata: This Signal Kills Fascists: It's set in an alternate reality dystopic U.S. in the 80's. Very dystopic, sometimes simply doing horrible things to people Ex: JUST questioning people with no evidence to a creepy extent to make them afraid and turn others against each other by the illusion of "they've done something wrong."

Radio gives the characters superpowers so the closer one is to the signal, the more powerful they are (of course the Signal is a rebel act of itself.)

The PDF is pay what you want on DriveThru. However, I highly suggest getting the companion as well since it adds some additional improvements/options.
Ah yes, Sigmata. One of the few "wink-wink-nudge-nudge" games that I feel should be banned at the Pub under the "no politics" rule:thumbsup:.
 
Seconded. CP2020 has "fighting the Man" as a strong core element although many ignore that aspect. I ran CP2020 for years and a large minority of my players desired that experience. Dystopian or grim dark settings can be an excellent challenge for players who want to make the world a better place. It's easy to be good when mainstream society has your back; when the deck is heavily stacked against you, success is more rewarding and meaningful.

Or even better, Cybergeneration.


Ah yes, Sigmata. One of the few "wink-wink-nudge-nudge" games that I feel should be banned at the Pub under the "no politics" rule:thumbsup:.

One of the few times in my short time here that I disagree with you. It's a great game even if you don't like its politics. Just don't discuss the political aspects if there's no politics :thumbsup:

Mod Edit: Discussion regarding this topic specifically has been moved to the Site Rules thread in the community forum. Please take any responses there.
 
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I remember the Blades in the Dark Kickstarter promised a module about freedom fighters fighting the Emperor, but apparently it never happened. A pity, as I think the game gives an awesome framework for that.

It's out now, at least unofficially. Check out Broken Spire on Sean Nitter's site.

Heard of it today as a suggestion in a whatsapp group. Can you talk about it more? Is it PbtA? If so, how does it differs from the norm?

It is PBTA and mechanically it doesn't deviate much from that core. The big innovation is probably "pathways", five scales that monitor the kind of revolution your characters are building. They're increased through "pathway moves" at the end of a session and can lead to any outcome from your characters standing for election to just bombing things indiscriminately.

The other big thing it offers is its optional setting, Kresht. It's a fictional 1905 Russia and is a lot more detailed than some PBTA settings. It would also be pretty easy to make up your own setting in any time period (I've toyed with doing a far future one but haven't tried it yet).

One of the few times in my short time here that I disagree with you. It's a great game even if you don't like its politics. Just don't discuss the political aspects if there's no politics :thumbsup:

Agree with this. If the "no politics rule" is taken to mean "no RPGs that contain politics" that's every single game mentioned in this thread out of the window. And Space Opera, amusingly.

(Apart from I didn't actually like Sigmata that much).
 
Or even better, Cybergeneration.


One of the few times in my short time here that I disagree with you. It's a great game even if you don't like its politics. Just don't discuss the political aspects if there's no politics :thumbsup:
I'm glad we mostly agree, chuckdee chuckdee though I'm sure we're going to disagree many more times:smile:!

Anyway, to me that's a thinly veiled attempt at popularizing a particular political cred under the form of a game. I've found it unpalatable, but the OP is free to see for himself.

I'll also admit that I haven't played Cybergeneration, only parts from the "classical" CP2020 line:wink:.
 
I pretty much used Shadowrun and used a lower starting level.
 
Anyway, to me that's a thinly veiled attempt at popularizing a particular political cred under the form of a game. I've found it unpalatable, but the OP is free to see for himself.
Sigmata doesn't even pretend to hide it's political leanings. It's not thinly-veiled, there's no veil at all. I don't think anyone is going to pick it up by accident without knowing exactly what they're buying.
 
Sigmata doesn't even pretend to hide it's political leanings. It's not thinly-veiled, there's no veil at all. I don't think anyone is going to pick it up by accident without knowing exactly what they're buying.

Ironically on that score the designer of Stigmata has been attacked by some for making the game too moderate or 'counter-revolutionary.' Similar to Comrades its politics are not as simple-minded as a cursory look may suggest.

My issue with the game is more its convoluted Watchmen-ish sf background and premise which just didn't grab me. I think Chad Walker's Cryptomancer is a much better game more people should check out and look forward to his next game.

And of course neither game is hiding its intentions, as a PbtA game Comrades states its intentions right there in the Premise for GMs and players!

And afterall we have an entire thread here dedicated to the (admittedly tongue in cheek) Price of Freedom, a game I quite like as well.

Lessa silva Comrades sticks pretty close to the standard PtbA framework, seems well designed but would require a run at the table to really see how it works but as it isn't (ironically!) too radical in design, I think any group familiar with PbtA would be good with it.

In terms of the idea of improving one's setting the aforementioned Underground which we discuss here has the most thought-out system I've ever seen. Kinda crazy it is still innovative after all these years.

The recent Hit the Streets: Defend the Block also has a hood system as the very name suggests, I suspect it is good as Rich Rogers is a good designer in my experience. He used the very cool, minimalist PbtA game 1%centers as its base. I haven't got it yet but believe Silverlion Silverlion may have.
 
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Sigmata doesn't even pretend to hide it's political leanings. It's not thinly-veiled, there's no veil at all. I don't think anyone is going to pick it up by accident without knowing exactly what they're buying.
Yeah, "thinly veiled" was actually me attempting to be polite:smile:.
 
Ironically on that score the designer of Stigmata has been attacked by some for making the game too moderate or 'counter-revolutionary.' Similar to Comrades its politics are not as simple-minded as a cursory look may suggest.

Yeah, we probably shouldn't discuss its politics in detail (although I'll not Dan Davenport did a full interview which didn't go into the politics at all). I just think banning the discussion of any game entirely is getting overly paranoid.

My issue with the game is more its convoluted Watchmen-ish sf background and premise which just didn't grab me.

Same. It felt like the background was overly intricate to no good purpose. And couldn't decide whether it wanted to be gritty or silver age. For the latter, the stuff like not being able to attack any enemy who took their helmet off, which just seems silly.

And of course neither game is hiding its intentions, as a PbtA game Comrades states its intentions right there in the Premise for GMs and players!

I also think Comrades would be really easy to use for something like a Star Wars type Rebels and Empire setup.
 
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I read Spire and didn't realize it was an Apocalypse Engine thing. There are a few bits that felt 'loosey goosey' to me but overall I thought it looked pretty solid, and playable for someone like me that has NOT enjoyed various attempts at playing other PBTA games.
Makes me wonder if I might get along better with Blades In The Dark than I'd assumed... the setting sure does appeal to me.
It was certainly a hit with the (generally pretty trad) group I played it with. Thing with Blades is it's easy to run it more or less as a trad RPG depending on your tastes. Purists will scoff, but fuck 'em.
 
Yeah, we probably shouldn't discuss its politics in detail (although I'll not Dan Davenport did a full interview which didn't go into the politics at all). I just think banning the discussion of any game entirely is getting overly paranoid.

And I think as respectful citizens of the Pub, this shouldn't be too high a bar to vault.

I'd forgotten about Hit the Streets: Defend the Block. That's a really good suggestion, and it is a great implementation of the theme. I don't like dice pool mechanics, so start out biased against the system, but the theme of the game and how he reinforces it makes me want to try it.
 
Yeah, we probably shouldn't discuss its politics in detail (although I'll not Dan Davenport did a full interview which didn't go into the politics at all). I just think banning the discussion of any game entirely is getting overly paranoid.
You'll notice that I didn't start a thread about banning it, though - simply said that I feel it should be avoided on this forum. I'm just less and less inclined to be charitable to games with a strong political agenda, because reasons...:shade:
And it's not like I have the power to make you respect my preferences for which games to discuss, do I?

It was certainly a hit with the (generally pretty trad) group I played it with. Thing with Blades is it's easy to run it more or less as a trad RPG depending on your tastes. Purists will scoff, but fuck 'em.
Think carefully, they might be waiting for exactly this reaction:thumbsup:!
 
And I think as respectful citizens of the Pub, this shouldn't be too high a bar to vault.

Yeah. I mean I'm going to roll my eyes if someone suggests I can't discuss my Unknown Armies campaign because it centers round the characters trying to remove the Lord Mayor because of his occult activities.
 
I actually love Sigmata, the author seems to be a great chap, and yeah its DIRECTLY and clearly Anti-Fascist. (Similar to #ihunt, though it is more of an editorial/writer directly stated in iHunt, compared to directly making the game against that ideology.)
 
In Nomine. :wink: Can deep dive that 'hooding' from any direction, and twist the knife with shades of grey ramifications, too. How far down the rabbit hole you wanna go? :devil::gunslinger::angel:
 
In Nomine. :wink: Can deep dive that 'hooding' from any direction, and twist the knife with shades of grey ramifications, too. How far down the rabbit hole you wanna go? :devil::gunslinger::angel:
After this suggestion, I expect the next idea to be for adapting either Kult, Black Tokyo or Big Breast Small Waist:devil:!
 
After this suggestion, I expect the next idea to be for adapting either Kult, Black Tokyo or Big Breast Small Waist:devil:!

I was thinking "Macho Women with Guns" or "S.P.A.N.C.s, Space Pirate Amazon Ninja Cats," but you gotta ease people into the deep water slowly... :devil:
 
I was thinking "Macho Women with Guns" or "S.P.A.N.C.s, Space Pirate Amazon Ninja Cats," but you gotta ease people into the deep water slowly... :devil:
Yeah, it wouldn't do to go for it all at once:thumbsup:!

I mean, you could, but that doesn't even hold a candle to the above. Yes, I've got it.

Though maids can be considered working proletariat exploited by The Master, especially if you replace Favour with Bonus Checks:evil:.
 
About Sigmata: it's pamphletary nature makes me wary, but I'll take a look at it anyway. Thanks.

...just one question: have you checked the "fixer's handbook" and "cop handbook" for CP2020:shade:?

Because I'm pretty sure they're doing basically everything that you're asking for, and possibly more.
Nope, don't know those. Would they be useful for other cyberpunk games? The Sprawl is my CP game these days.

It is PBTA and mechanically it doesn't deviate much from that core. The big innovation is probably "pathways", five scales that monitor the kind of revolution your characters are building. They're increased through "pathway moves" at the end of a session and can lead to any outcome from your characters standing for election to just bombing things indiscriminately.

The other big thing it offers is its optional setting, Kresht. It's a fictional 1905 Russia and is a lot more detailed than some PBTA settings. It would also be pretty easy to make up your own setting in any time period (I've toyed with doing a far future one but haven't tried it yet).
That's cool. Thanks. I'll take a look.

I'd forgotten about Hit the Streets: Defend the Block. That's a really good suggestion, and it is a great implementation of the theme. I don't like dice pool mechanics, so start out biased against the system, but the theme of the game and how he reinforces it makes me want to try it.
Interesting. I don't like Supers but then I'm usually open to genres I don't like if the mechanics are interesting (Ie: I came to enjoy Masks: a New Generation). I'll take a look at this, thanks.

And thanks for citing Cybergeneration. I've heard good things about it before.
 
Ironically on that score the designer of Stigmata has been attacked by some for making the game too moderate or 'counter-revolutionary.' Similar to Comrades its politics are not as simple-minded as a cursory look may suggest.
I got my copy of Repeat the Signal today and there's a chapter going over mistakes and things that This Signal Kills Fascists didn't make clear enough.
 
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