Post by hamsterking123 in Vengeance California comments

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Hello, I hope this is a good place for feedback/questions. I haven't had a chance to play it yet, but I'll definitely gather a crew, especially since I've recently been looking for something to play in the style of the Tarantions movie (with beer and pretzels).

I love the graphic style (“Disco Elysium” comes to mind), the minimalist mechanics and the cinematic tone.

However, I ran into a few problems while reading and I hope that maybe you can help:

- Vice - I didn't see them listed there, but I assume it's some kind of addiction that allows the player to control Rage. Is there any exact mechanics of this ?

- Equipment - can players have something to start with besides bare fists such as: baseball bat or a hammer that will allow them to take revenge without coins ? Especially since SANTA VISTA is quite a city and without transportation it is difficult. In addition, I have the impression that clothing is not worth coins (I find it hard to find a use for cool glasses and suits), unless it went more in the direction of NPC equipment, but then each NPC has its own wardrobe, so it will come out of that. I assume that all the equipment is narrative, but I feel that the default list does not encourage the purchase of anything other than weapons, vehicles or equipment that can help in action.

-Fighting - I haven't seen a specific rule for this, I would then assume it's a Rage Check and if successful, the player kills/wounds the target (depending on the situation). Can it then at all come to, for example: the end of ammunition in weapons or destruction of the sword? Or does it rather not fit the tone of the game ?

- Any general advice on how to run a session? I've got some hooks in my head, but I'm having a hard time embedding it in the structure of the game (which has acts, but also can have episodes, and then there's Odd Jobs so that characters can buy the things they need). In general, I lack a bit of vision as a director for middle of story, so I am looking for some tips, which help you during playtests (I was "director" in other ~~games~~ moves genres, but this is first time when i work with action cinema) .

I also saw a few editorial errors (“Lines” is a game mechanic, but also a term for things that aren't talked about during the session, and the use of “+1d” where I assume is about additional d6), but it doesn't interfere with understanding the rules.

I am waiting the full release and feedback from other peoples games !

I wish you fruitful work and success.

PS: When I play my game, I will also give feedback

Hounskull27 days ago (1 edit)

Hey, thanks for the notes, let me try to run through them in order:

- Vice: This is used when a PC takes the "I need a..." line. The next version will include a table for Vices so you can roll one randomly.

- Equipment: Currently, there's no starting equipment. I'm doing some work to re-tool how equipment works, but I'm thinking random loadouts (like Mothership) might be a nice solution. Equipment is mostly narrative, so maybe having the Really Cool Sunglasses could give you +1d when impressing someone, and having a shotgun would give you +1d when blasting open a door. It's pretty loose, so the Director is going to have to make some calls around items.

- Fighting: Anything violent or dangerous is a Rage Roll. If a single roll is too quick for the scenario (a boss fight, a big group brawl), you should use a Complex Task to see who wins the fight.

- Sounds like I should clarify some terms in the book. In some places, a single game (most likely one session) is referred to as an Episode. This is mostly for fun/flavor, but maybe that's unclear. Each Episode (or session) is divided into three structured Acts.

Odd Jobs can come up in any of the three acts — I'd recommend running an Odd Job as a Complex Task. So, make a few rolls in quick succession and see how it goes. Think of it as a montage scene in an action movie. This will be explicitly spelled out in the next version.

For running the game, the best advice I can give is to trust your players to drive the story. In this game, the Director has very little control of the plot—your main job is to control the pacing. Keep it moving, throw in complications whenever you can, and just let the chaos unfold. I'll be adding a more robust "Advice for Directors" section down the road, but I hope that helps.

Last things: Lines vs lines is a little weird—"lines" as a safety tool is very well established, but I'm having a hard time thinking of a better term for the "Lines" game mechanic, let me know if you have one. I'm debating going to an all d6 system, which would make +1d clearer since there's only one dice type.

If you are thinking of playing it, I'm putting together a new version hopefully by the end of the week

hamsterking12327 days ago(+1)

Thank you for your reply! That was very helpful to understand more things about game.

- Vice: Now clear, i didn't marge both mechanics (because Vices pop-up in 2 different moments of rule book)

- Equipment: I'll probably use an idea from other OSR/NSRs (the first time I encountered this was in the NUMA RPG), where players at the start draw some personal item that will give their character some flavor (your father's Vietnam watch that an army buddy brought you one day while watching cartoons or a guitar case that can also serve as a gun case). They are not powerful, but players can make good situational use of them

- Fighting: That's clear.

And as for the advice of running a session - I think it fits into the entry, that currently the game is such a chaotic collection of ideas, which should ultimately give away just pulp action cinema (something from playtest log)

Lines vs lines - During reading, I noted possible name of things - for "lines" as main mechanic, I have "Catchphrase", but I not sure if that fits your idea.

Dices - i think this is also good idea, you can easily replace 1d10 by 2d12 (adding one records to table, because you have results from 2 do 12) and you have a pure d6 system.

Good to know that a new version is on the way - I'll definitely take a peek when it comes out. Again, glad I came across the project and keeping my fingers crossed.

itch.io

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