Does Anyone Care? (Cosmere RPG)

[Parmandur]

sounds like a lot of words for 'I am bored with the stuff I have done for 30 years already'?

I'm not even bor3d with older games like D&D or Call of Cthulu, bit I am uniquely excited d y what this game is bringing to the table.

 

[zakael19]

I'm not even bor3d with older games like D&D or Call of Cthulu, bit I am uniquely excited d y what this game is bringing to the table.

Besides the plot dice thing, can you talk a little bit about the core mechanics setting exclusive that have you excited based on what you've been prepping? Have you had a chance to run yet? I see stuff about how the classes (?) can have emphases apart from combat but not feel like htey're failing to contribute, what's your take on that and do you have any input on how exactly they play into the game's designed modes?

 

[mamba]

I'm not even bor3d with older games like D&D or Call of Cthulu, bit I am uniquely excited d y what this game is bringing to the table.

nothing wrong with that, just not like how that post read to me. It did not sound excited for anything in particular, just tired of stuff they have been doing for 30 years

 

[Hermes_Alexandria]

Why as a non-fan of Sanderson would I want to play in Cosmere? What does it do as a setting that others don't do as well. I've literally never seen this pitch.

I see the Cosmere RPG as one of several titles emerging from the post-OGL scandal, each attempting to capture a different segment of the D&D market. Each game has its own design philosophy:

• Shadowdark offers an "OSR-ified" 5th Edition, blending modern design with old-school simplicity and lethality.
• Daggerheart provides a "narrativised" 5e, focusing more on story-driven mechanics.
• Draw Steel returns to gaming's first principles, emphasizing tactical, high-fantasy combat.
• The Cosmere RPG presents a more aggressive mechanical revision of 5e than the official D&D updates, deeply integrated with its IP while also giving nods to narrative play.

Following this pattern, its generic counterpart, the Plotweaver RPG, is likely to be mechanically a D&D heartbreaker for the Cosmere RPG players that completely miss 5.5e.

 

[mamba]

Shadowdark - 5e OSR-ified
Daggerheart - 5e narrativised
Draw Steel - back to gaming first principals, tactical high fantasy
Cosmere RPG - a review of 5e mechanics that was more aggresive than D&D 5.5e

the categorizations sound accurate, you could add

Shadow of the Weird Wizard as a more aggressive redesign of 5e as well (and one I prefer over 5.5)
Tales of the Valiant as an alternative to 5e / 5.5 for those who like D&D but are fed up with WotC / Hasbro (I might start to fall into that group, if nothing else I certainly prefer the availability of PDFs over WotC's strict refusal to offer any)

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Why would I limit it to Kickstarters that high?

Because you said:

I don't doubt that's true, but I'll just note I've seen a number of non-IP based games that had pretty good kickstarters and then vanished without a trace.

And I'm sorry mate, but $10k is not a "pretty good Kickstarter", nor really is $50k when we're talking about comparisons with IP-based games with Kickstarters like $1.7m (Blade Runner).

That a what, 170x difference? Is that right? That's like not comparing yourself to Usain Bolt, that's comparing a literal snail to Usain Bolt, and saying they're "basically the same thing" and should be judged by the same standards.

None of those you list are over $50K (if they are, they're the two who have broken links, or maybe links that only work if you're a backer or something).

If you're not going to compare like with like, you're not being helpful, you're not being fair, you're just playing silly beggars because you know perfectly that there's a huge difference between an RPG that takes $200k or $1m and on that that takes $10k or maybe, on a good day $50k.

What the lowest-money-making IP-based TTRPG you can even find there? I couldn't find one making less than a 100k (in fact, I couldn't even find one taking that little).

Either compare like with like or you're really just proving my point completely, frankly.

 

[Parmandur]

Besides the plot dice thing, can you talk a little bit about the core mechanics setting exclusive that have you excited based on what you've been prepping? Have you had a chance to run yet? I see stuff about how the classes (?) can have emphases apart from combat but not feel like htey're failing to contribute, what's your take on that and do you have any input on how exactly they play into the game's designed modes?

Haven't had the chance to run it yet (I want them physical stuff to run it, just studying the books so far).

So, yes, completely non-combst oriented characters, like a merchant or a scientist, instead exist in these rules and contribute, largely because the game has types of "Scenes" outside of combat, namely Social encounters (which involce a sort of social combat that is gameified with the Cognitive Stats and Focus points) and "Endeavors" (which are basically Skill Challenges ala 4E but fully baked). Endeavors, in particular, allow for the ramifications of narrative elements like mass combat between armies or heists (Mistborn is going to play with Endeavors pretty heavily, apparently).

So, at merchant who is completely useless in a knock down drsg out fight can dominate a Social scene, or the master Strategist might be able to deftly maneuver through an Endeavor centered on a siege. Both of which are roles and types of narrative that D&D isn't really built around: you can build a super-magic warrior dude who can dominate combat in Stormlight, but that's not the only thing the game is about. D&D remains an attrition based war game about Dungeoneerijg, which is fine for what it is...but the Plotweaver system can accommodate a lot more.types of character and narrative.

 

[Hermes_Alexandria]

Shadow of the Weird Wizard as a more aggressive redesign of 5e as well (and one I prefer over 5.5)
Tales of the Valiant as an alternative to 5e / 5.5 for those who like D&D but are fed up with WotC / Hasbro (I might start to fall into that group, if nothing else I certainly prefer the availability of PDFs over WotC's strict refusal to offer any)

ToV was definitley reactionary, but since they didn't do much re-design of 5e there's not a compelling reason to switch to it, unless you really want to cut out WotC from D&D.

I really like SotWW, it's sitting on my shelf, but I suspect it would have happened anyway as an evolution of SotDL, rather than being explicitly reactionary to the OGL.

 

[Parmandur]

Following this pattern, its generic counterpart, the Plotweaver RPG, is likely to be mechanically a D&D heartbreaker for the Cosmere RPG players that completely miss 5.5e.

Plotweaver RPG will probably mostly serve to allow DMs to weave Elf Wizards, Dwarven Clerics, computer hackers, and non-IP infringing Jedi into their campaigns.

It might back it's way into being a new standard for Superhero genre RPGing, since it sounds like the "advanced" paths for the Modern iteration will be Superheros (the game has 6 base mundane Careers built around the 6 Attributes, like d20 Modern, with supernatural paths added on top of those).

 

[Thomas Shey]

Because you said:

And I'm sorry mate, but $10k is not a "pretty good Kickstarter", nor really is $50k when we're talking about comparisons with IP-based games with Kickstarters like $1.7m (Blade Runner).

I count "pretty good" as "got well over what they asked for" not absolute amount. If you don't need a lot, asking for a lot makes no sense.

Nothing is going to get those high end assigns unless they have a popular IP or are hooked to a creator with a very strong presence. I don't think that has anything to do with what I was talking about.

If you're not going to compare like with like, you're not being helpful, you're not being fair, you're just playing silly beggars because you know perfectly that there's a huge difference between an RPG that takes $200k or $1m and on that that takes $10k or maybe, on a good day $50k.

I don't think comparing absolute value is necessary. If you do, that's on you but I'll thank you to not be insulting because I have a different view of it.

Either compare like with like or you're really just proving my point completely, frankly.

And I don't agree. I think you've essentially trying for a tautology.