THE REAL THING Is An Official RPG Based On 80s Band Faith No More

If Wendy's can have an official RPG, why not a rock band? This officially licensed tabletop RPG is inspired by the rock music of Faith No More's 1989 album, The Real Thing, and is on Kickstarter right now.

Faith No More started in 1979 in California--although it only got its current name in 1983--and broke up in 1998. They reunited again a decade later.

The Real Thing is Powered by the Apocalypse. It describes itself as a 1990's style dark and gritty RPG.Set in the 1990s, it's a 110-page zine-style book, intended to be the first in a 5-part series based on different albums.

The Real Thing RPG

Officially based on the music of Faith No More, this TTRPG is a Powered by the Apocalypse adaptation that is simple and gritty.

www.kickstarter.com

First and foremost, this game is for fans of the dark, gritty RPGs of the 1990s. This was the height of Vampire: the Masquerade and its sibling titles. It was when many of us were discovering Anne Rice’s works. It was a time of grunge, the war on drugs, gangsta rap, and the goth-industrial lifestyle. The story is flooded with early '90s ambiance and flavor.

 

[payn]

Built in soundtrack, nice.

 

[dragoner]

Now everything's ruined.

Saw them play 1990 new years in sf, and mike drink urine from a shoe...

 

[Blue Orange]

Does the fish survive in the metaplot?

 

[pauldanieljohnson]

Cool stuff. But don't call them an "80s band" in the headline. They put out several amazing albums in the 90s and Sol Invictus from 2015 is a great album, too.

 

[MGibster]

Does the fish survive in the metaplot?

I'm going to play the fish in the campaign.

 

[Dire Bare]

Cool stuff. But don't call them an "80s band" in the headline. They put out several amazing albums in the 90s and Sol Invictus from 2015 is a great album, too.

Heh. My first reaction was, "They're a 90s band, not an 80s band!" But, after checking the dates, they are an 80s AND 90s band. I guess they didn't cross my radar until the 90s.

 

[Jacob Lewis]

Well this came From Out of Nowhere! Adventuring with a band of War Pigs and a Woodpecker From Mars to fight Zombie Eaters at the Edge of the World? Sounds like Undewater Love until The Morning After. If this is The Real Thing, then its going to be Epic! Just don't roll bad or Surprise! You're Dead.

Edit: Missed one! My memory is just Falling To Pieces at my age.

 

[Longspeak]

Thanks, Russ. Way to blow my monthly kickstarter budget.

(I like that t-shirt, though. I hope it comes in extra-fat.)

 

[pemerton]

Got it.

Do you know Classic Traveller? Of the early and enduring RPGs, I think it is the closest to PbtA - here's how I can preesent Traveller in PbtA format:

When you try a non-ordinary manoeuvre in a vacc-suit, throw 10+ (+4 per level of vacc suit expertise). If you fail, the referee will tell you what sort of trouble you're in. Throw 7+ to remedy the situation (-4 if no vacc suit expertise; +2 per level of vacc suit expertise). If you fail, the referee will tell you the consequence - and you won't like it!

Likewise When you try to make contact for the purposes of obtaining information, hiring persons, purchasing contraband or stolen goods, etc, make a throw dictated by the referee (eg the name of an official willing to issue licenses without hassle = 5+, the location of high quality guns at a low price = 9+; -5 if no Streetwise expertise; +1 per level of Streetwise expertise). Close-knit sub-cultures (such as some portions of the lower classes, and trade groups such as workers, the underworld, etc) generally reject contact with strangers or unknown elements; if you fail, the referee will tell you how they have rejected you.

When you pilot your air/raft in a chase, throw 5+ (+1 per level of air/raft expertise); if you fail, the referee will tell you what mishap ensues. When you jump out of a starsystem in your starship, make a throw [actual number required varies a bit between 1977 and 1981 versions] to avoid drive failure.

What PbtA games have in common with Classic Traveller is that they don't pretend to be universal - they have moves that correspond to what the game is intended to be about. I don't quite know what that will look like for this game; but it helps explain why PbtA supports a proliferation of "niche" RPGs.

Where PbtA design is stronger than Classic Traveller is in better exploitation of the maths of 2d6+ modifier to help ensure a pass/kind-pass/fail cycle in play that means the story drives itself. I think Traveller gets close to that in its vacc suit rules, but not in all its other "moves".

 

[Bolongo]

The 1990s had an apocalypse?
And I missed it?

Huh? Yea that makes sense. Not sure if I’d remember it anyway.

Yes, the Berlin Wall fell, the Soviet Union (and the Warsaw pact) broke up, and despite "winning the Cold War" the West entered a significant recession.

To those of us entering the workforce then, who had been raised on the promise of an ever-expanding economy, it kinda felt like the world we grew up in had ended.