Tell me about Spirit of the Century

[Desdichado]

I haven't played SotC, but I can say that the little thingy where you write the novel blurbs to tie your characters together before the campaign actually starts? That's now a permanant, required houserule for every game I ever run ever again. No matter what system.

That made such a huge difference in the last game I ran (am running still, actually) that I can't imagine ever not using it again.

 

[Mallus]

I think I'd be tempted to incorporate the mustache somehow -- "It's The Mustache, Right?", or something like that. But that might be too silly, I dunno.

That's not too silly. In fact, it's perfect.

You could tag it maybe when you're trying to help out said sucker, or when you yourself have been suckered...

Thanks, that's what I was missing. For some reason I couldn't see the how that Aspect might be beneficial. Obviously, it helps you accomplish things while you're being suckered. Also, it might make some people who once duped you take pity and help you out.

I might try compelling "So Easy..." to get you to act overconfidently ("of course you should KO the pilot; you can always land the plane -- it's so easy, a caveman could do it!"), or otherwise bite off more than you can chew.

Yup, that's how I see it working.

I might, as GMIt would fit more easily if the aspect were "Square Peg, Round Hole - No Problem", or along those lines.

I like that. Primarily I see SP/RH as the ability to temporarily fix devices through a combination of ignorance and violence. Of course, this breaks the device (after working for a short, dramatically appropriate period of time).

So, the GM might compel this to have you sapped from behind, and carried off to meet some miscreant or otherwise wake up in a precarious position.

I see the character being compelled to hit the wrong person at the wrong time.

 

[Mallus]

-- that seems unfair, since the player probably intends that they be the BONKer, and others be the BONKee...

Yep. Initially I was thinking of a stunt that let me bring a club --actually a 'long-barreled .44 Magnun' used as a club-- to a gunfight and win. This morphed into a more general tendency to leap before looking.

I feel like Square Peg and Caveman have a lot of overlap -- which is good, since you can tag both for a +4 to the roll! -- but something I tend to try to avoid.

I see Square Peg as being a sort of caveman Fonzie, fixing things by hitting them, and So Easy as the ability to drive a car or fly a crop-duster without any training (because those things just aren't as hard as they look). Should they be a single Aspect?

You might consider taking something like Mastadonian Physique or similar to reflect your Cro-Manon construction; as is, you wanted to be the tough guy but don't actually have anything that makes you hard to knock out.

Done. Though I'll call it 'Built Caveman Tough' or some such.

Edit: the mustache, PI License, and block-of-ice could both form good aspects too. ::shrug::

And done.

 

[Lackhand]

Yep. Initially I was thinking of a stunt that let me bring a club --actually a 'long-barreled .44 Magnun' used as a club-- to a gunfight and win. This morphed into a more general tendency to leap before looking.

Makes sense. You can usually find something to use as a club in a scene, so you only really need the aspect if it's a really defining part of who you are. Your take on it sounds fun and is definitely reasonable.

I see Square Peg as being a sort of caveman Fonzie, fixing things by hitting them, and So Easy as the ability to drive a car or fly a crop-duster without any training (because those things just aren't as hard as they look). Should they be a single Aspect?

Purely a matter of taste. As a DM, I can't really think of any situations where I'd let you use Square Peg where I wouldn't let you use Caveman, but I can think of a few where you could use Caveman but not Square Peg. Neither is really Compel-fodder, so the only reason I could see (mechanically!) to have both is so that sometimes you could have +4 to rolls to fix things.

I'd axe one of those, personally, but it's valid to leave them both.

Edit PS: another BONK! compel: Hit first, ask questions later, to lash out in surprise or break something when a gentler touch would have been helpful (such as when opening a bottle or something).

 

[SteveC]

One thing you might want to look at if want to take SotC out of its 20s/pulp roots is Starblazer adventures from Cubicle 7. I believe it was just released in print, but you can also get it as a PDF. It gives you spaceships, agency, aliens and technology rules that you can port over to the system in general.

I ran a game set in the Firefly universe before having this, and in hindsight it would have been soooo much easier with these extra rules. Still, the game was a fantastic success and sold my group on rules light games.

I wish you a fantastic summer of gaming!

--Steve

 

[Mallus]

As a DM, I can't really think of any situations where I'd let you use Square Peg where I wouldn't let you use Caveman, but I can think of a few where you could use Caveman but not Square Peg. Neither is really Compel-fodder, so the only reason I could see (mechanically!) to have both is so that sometimes you could have +4 to rolls to fix things

I think I'll drop Caveman then. Square Peg is easier to Compel --and that's an important part of choosing Aspects, isn't it?-- since it implies that the thing being forced to work might break.

Edit PS: another BONK! compel: Hit first, ask questions later, to lash out in surprise or break something when a gentler touch would have been helpful (such as when opening a bottle or something).

Nice! I'm definitely going to use that. I see some shattered Ming vases in my character's future.

 

[Mallus]

One thing you might want to look at if want to take SotC out of its 20s/pulp roots is Starblazer adventures from Cubicle 7.

I'll check it out.

I wish you a fantastic summer of gaming!

Thanks! If everything goes according to plan, we'll be playing SotC, "little black book" Traveller, and the last act of long-running my "Chronicle of Burne, et al" 3.5e campaign.

 

[RangerWickett]

Thanks for posting about this, and especially for the Wiki link. I'm very intrigued.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

One thing you might want to look at if want to take SotC out of its 20s/pulp roots is Starblazer adventures from Cubicle 7. I believe it was just released in print, but you can also get it as a PDF. It gives you spaceships, agency, aliens and technology rules that you can port over to the system in general.

I ran a game set in the Firefly universe before having this, and in hindsight it would have been soooo much easier with these extra rules. Still, the game was a fantastic success and sold my group on rules light games.

I wish you a fantastic summer of gaming!

--Steve

Just got finished reading it and it adds some nice stuff to the SotC experience. Some good GMing tips and tools, and lots of good examples. I agree it would be a perfect fit for a Firefly-ish game, or something similar to Slipstream (B-movie scifi).

 

[Nameless1]

I too have gotten the SotC bug. I am not a huge fan of straight pulp, but the rules are easy to use for fantasy as well.

I think that the biggest problem with the SotC/Fate rules is that they have begun to ruin me for other games. I can't play other games without wanting to houserule in aspects and chargen phases/novels. Those might be my favorite game mechanics of all time.

I am working on a homebrew that uses SotC as the major mechanical framework, while adding in some of the design goals of 4e and adding in the keys of Shadow of Yesterday. I get aspects and integrative chargen, rules light system, with a very inovative XP system, and a semi-class/level based and tactical system, with some narrative elements in a somewhat old school "rulings not rules" approach. Haven't played the hack, and I am still working on details, but it is coming together.

SotC is rules light enough that you can make it what you want, while retaining an interesting amount of tactical RPG elements. Best game ever.