I would love critique of my Heroic/Arcanepunk RPG!

[upogsi]

Not sure if this is the right subforum, but here goes. Veera is an RPG I'm making that aims for characters that take risks and grow, tactical gameplay and encouraging cinematic gameplay. Most of the core is hammered out so I wanted some feedback. It's less than 20 pages, with plenty of whitespace and reasonably large fonts.

Here is the brief features/goals list:

• Uses 1d12 and d6 dice pool that is easy to read and not too slow to resolve.
• Cinematic Pulpy feel, where characters can use their motivations as justification to shrug off blows
• Character creation that is clean and flexible.
• Characters that grow and change through intense experiences
• Tactical gameplay without tracking tons of rules. (Med-crunch)
• Overflow damage and risk dice that drive tension and encourages taking risks
• Stunt point mechanic to power character abilities.
• All characters have internal supernatural power. Some characters might cast spells, while other characters can manipulate the odds or improve their skills.

You can find the document here. (Or in the attached PDF)

While it is incomplete, I would love to hear your thoughts! Am I living up to my goals so far, or failing miserably? What is good so far? What would you like to see? What critique and criticism do you have? Feel free to be as harsh as you want!

 

[Umbran]

My basic critique is that the suffix "-punk" has been overused to the point where it doesn't actually tell you anything about the game's style. Consider a description that better informs the audience of what you are offering them.

 

[upogsi]

Thanks! The thing is I'm not really sure how to categorize this right now. My tentative setting is one where elements of magic and science coexist and that is apparently termed arcanepunk, so I went with that.

My problem is I'm going for a feeling, not a setting. Kind of a swashbuckling/gambling feel to it. The whole action adventure style that encourages taking risks and has larger than life actions, but doesnt feature superheros. I'm not sure what to call that in an appealing way.

 

[Umbran]

Thanks! The thing is I'm not really sure how to categorize this right now. My tentative setting is one where elements of magic and science coexist and that is apparently termed arcanepunk, so I went with that.

Fair enough. I expect you more care about critiquing mechanics, so you can just gloss over this if you aren't interested in the nomenclature...

The suffix "-punk" in terms of genre, comes to us from "cyberpunk". The "-punk" has nothing to do with the technology. It has to do with the punk (as in "punk music") sensibilities to the fiction - generally typified by a dystopian world, driven by authoritarian, usually corporate concerns. The protagonists are typically counter-culture, anti-authoritarian, non-conformists living outside, and often working against, "the system".

William Gibson is the seminal cyberpunk author, but so few today have read him. For a more contemporary reference: if you took the movie "The Matrix", and change out the computer programs for spiritual entities, and swapped the matrix itself for a magical dreamscape, and made Neo a human magical spellcaster among mundanes, then you'd have "Arcanopunk".

So, the "-punk" doesn't denote "mixing something with technology", and will confuse some players, who are instead expecting that dark and dirty world, especially if you are aiming for high action-adventure.

My problem is I'm going for a feeling, not a setting. Kind of a swashbuckling/gambling feel to it. The whole action adventure style that encourages taking risks and has larger than life actions, but doesnt feature superheros. I'm not sure what to call that in an appealing way.

How about, you call it what it is - "techno-magical adventure"?