I have to share my first thought when I saw this: I pictured a queer romance manga about boys in high school where the D&D club members discovering their true feelings while acting out dates with these waifus.
My brain went a layer deeper from “This book would’ve been awkward with my old game group” to “If I had brought this book to the group I would’ve figured some things out a lot earlier!”
Also, kudos for including demihumans. Monster girls represent!
I’ll have to play this game before I decide if it’s good or not, but after reading through it I am impressed! This isn’t a hastily thrown together rules hack, this looks like a solid skeleton of a game system. That’s more than I can say about a lot of PWYW games on itch, which I say not to demean the work of other TTRPG creators but to point out that I think Glory & Greed deserves some attention!
There’s a typo in the Unit Builder and example. The example shows a stat of 9 being worth -1 CP, but the table lists a 9 as being worth -2 CP.
This is a small rules nitpick, but I realized that if the CP total isn’t a multiple of 4 then you might and well increase Guard by 1-3 because the unit cost will be the same.
Otherwise, I’m really into this game! I love the rules for Into the Odd games and it’s awesome to have a wargaming supplement. I would totally use this as part of a campaign.
Are you supposed to make a character in BXLLET and then add the devil contract? This game doesn’t explain equipment, tools, or abilities like in the core game. I understand that fights in Chainsaw Man usually don’t feature the same kind of situational advantages as in westerns, but some clarity about how these rules slot together with the base game would be nice.
Another point that I feel needs clarity is whether demons have the same limitations on their powers as the PCs. It’s a big deal in BXLLET when NPCs use their own bullets, but the tules in DXMON don’t specify whether NPCs need to make the same sacrifices based on the source of their powers. Can demons use their powers without a human to sacrifice to them? Can new NPCs be built using the same guidelines as in BXLLET?
At the bottom of the Choose Game/Configure page, there is a link to click on for more details about adding new games. However, my iPhone will not scroll to the bottom of the page. I can scroll down to see the text, but the page always moves slightly upward so that the text is always slightly offscreen. I can't simultaneously scroll with my finger and click on the link.
The only difference between your system and CHEW is what kinds of clues you uncover. Since the PCs are federal agents solving crimes, the clues are lists of possible suspects, motives, and means. The game even recommends a corkboard for keeping track of clues and making connections to build a case against the perpetrators. The CHEW Quickstart comes with a scene-by-scene breakdown of a prewritten case, but also an improv-friendly version that follows a very similar format to mysteries from Bump and ECB.
From a game design perspective, I think the difference between CHEW and Brindlewood is that the former is about deciding what details are relevant to the case, while the latter is about using all the information you have to find the truth. That's why Brindlewood has you count up the number of clues you find, while CHEW has you roll the same number of dice as long as you have a theory. Brindlewood wants you to tie it all together, while CHEW wants you to question whether the weird details are just dark absurdism or not.
I do like the Carved from Brindlewood mechanics of rolling +clues-complexity, but I think the simplicity of “answer the three questions and roll 3 dice” works better for this game.
Even the FitD game CHEW uses the exact same showdown roll as Bump in the Dark, which I consider a major improvement over External Containment Bureau rules as written. It
I think the rules for the Showdown Roll are worded in a confusing way. It looks like you add a d6 to the pool for each of the 3 questions you can answer, but it also says that each clue contributes a d6. It’s a little ambiguous as to whether you need to count up the clues or if you just need to have found at least 3 clues
This is also a problem I have with the rules for External Containment Bureau. I like the mystery solving from The Between and Apocalypse Keys, but the Move is only about counting the clues that are part of your theory. When I first read ECB, I thought that you made a separate Theory Roll for each question you try to answer and whether you had found every clue.
I was playing this game with a group and we ran into a major problem. It took so many rounds to unlock new stages because we had to roll a specific number. We ended up playing scene after scene where nothing new happened and the threat didn’t escalate, but still couldn’t finish in a one shot.
Then I looked at the original rules for Abnormal and noticed there is a rule for rolling above the number of the next stage. That rule isn’t in your game and without it the game dragged on far too long. We thought we were supposed to roleplay a scene even if we rolled too high.
This game so interesting that I’m almost annoyed that the lore is so tied to the MCU. I would really like to use it to play as local heroes dealing with a comic book Crisis that effects the whole world, but it’s not as open ended as a game like Before the Endgame. Link: https://www.gauntlet-rpg.com/blog/age-of-ravens-before-the-endgame
Even the stats on the character sheet are named after the Infinity Stones, which is great if you specifically want to play in the MCU and this version of Los Angeles, but I personally want a toolkit to create my own community of survivors.
I have been frustrated that Mothership has so much interesting content and I’m super into the sci-fi horror vibes, but I don’t care for the game mechanics. So I am delighted that there is an lighter OSR game system in the reproductive rights bundle I bought! Thanks for creating this, I already like Into the Odd and this is everything I wanted from a sci-fi variant. Even the worldbuilding provides a great foundation.
My only feedback is that you should create a printer friendly version of the rulebook. Each page is so well laid out that they would make great table aids. I want to print the rules reference on the back of character sheets, then do the same with the pages about Detachments and Ships for their character sheets. The book looks beautiful and the art perfectly sets the tone, but you wrote them so well I want to use the pages as handouts.
