I am surprised I am still excited for Daggerheart

[Ruin Explorer]

I'm super curious if Sanderson's Cosmere rpg will be a mostly unplayed, merch-only purchase. I suspect it will be. But if it gets more people into the hobby, it's a win for all of us.

You know, I was thinking about that too, I should have mentioned it. I do wonder - I suspect it might have at least a bit higher "attempted to play it" ratio than is typical for these, because I think the very "game-ified"* way the magic works in virtually all Cosmere books people often have ideas about stuff "they'd do" if they had those kind of powers, and might have a character in mind and so on. Whether that will translate to actually running the game? Harder to say.

One thing I do wonder - a decent number of new TTRPGs have a "solo mode" or a co-op "GM-less mode" - if they have that for the Cosmere RPG, I bet that sees some use!

* = Like, so game-like that with the Mistborn books, I worked out how you could have mapped Vin's abilities to an Xbox 1 controller. It wouldn't even have been difficult!

 

[Micah Sweet]

Yeah good point, though I will say, I don't think SW TTRPGs perform as well as one might expect them to given the practically 1:1 audience crossover and, as you say, the fact that the SW universe is one of the most "game-able" fictional universes, perhaps the most game-able one from a movie or TV show! I feel like both WotC and FFG kind of "fumbled the bag" as they say here, not that either did terribly, but I suspect that with more thoughtful and less grasping approaches, both could have done better.

As is, by far the best SW RPGs I've played remain WEG D6 (which not amazing-amazing but definitely a cut above WotC/FFG's approaches) and the surprisingly excellent Star Wars World PtbA hack (specifically a Dungeon World hack, as the title might indicate).

My main issue with WEG is simply that it is massively out of date in regards to SW lore. I like the new material for the most part and want game stuff to cover it.

 

[Micah Sweet]

My favorite way to play Star Wars is with Savage Worlds. It just works, like right out of the book with almost no effort. The more Jedi or space are a focus the more likely you might need a little bit of extra support, but even then not much.

I also like WEG 1E for Star Wars because it is easy. 2E and 2E revised unfortunately bloated the system.

I don't really believe in bloat. I just don't use material I don't need. 2e revised is my favorite WEG.

 

[Reynard]

I don't really believe in bloat. I just don't use material I don't need. 2e revised is my favorite WEG.

I hate scouring books for information. When new editions are 2 or 3 times the page count of the previous edition, I assume it is mostly bloat.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I hate scouring books for information. When new editions are 2 or 3 times the page count of the previous edition, I assume it is mostly bloat.

Bloat has a negative connotation. I don't see more material as a bad thing.

 

[Reynard]

Bloat has a negative connotation. I don't see more material as a bad thing.

I kind of do. At least core book bloat. I like games to be clear, concise, easily navigated and easy to use at the table.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I kind of do. At least core book bloat. I like games to be clear, concise, easily navigated and easy to use at the table.

And brief, apparently. I want as much bang for my buck as I can get, and feel secure in my ability to ignore stuff I don't need.

 

[Reynard]

And brief, apparently. I want as much bang for my buck as I can get, and feel secure in my ability to ignore stuff I don't need.

Brevity is, after all, the soul of wit.

 

[TwoSix]

Brevity is, after all, the soul of wit.

Agreed.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Brevity is, after all, the soul of wit.

Wit is for me a secondary consideration in a RPG sourcebook. I want comprehensiveness.