Ooooohhhh finally.
I’m in.
EDIT: Nathan Paoletta explains why this is an essential indie RPG design in the comments.
Ooooohhhh finally.
Ooooohhhh finally.
I’m in.
EDIT: Nathan Paoletta explains why this is an essential indie RPG design in the comments.
Sounds interesting. Getting a more formal (aka more mechanical) vibe of Swords Without Master. Could be a really fun con game.
Chris Groff it excels as a con game.
(He says with great confidence, having played it at several cons…. 10 to 12 years ago….)
I read the first edition and can’t grok this game. Can someone tell me what makes it cool? Everyone seems to love it
It’s one of my favorite games! I actually disagree that it’s a great con game, not because you can’t have a good con game of it (you can), but more that it is an order of magnitude better when you don’t have time limitations and give it enough time for players to really identify with their Dark Fates and get nuanced with their character portrayal.
Mechanically, it’s very elegant, in the sense that it has very few inputs but many unpredictable, but welcome, outcomes. You can think about it as one of those stool-with-three-legs metaphors. In the case, the legs are:
– each characters Dark Fate
– the Trust mechanic
– the known ending (everything is building towards a confrontation with O-Yanma at the end)
The resolution mechanic is super simple and kind of boring because spending Trust on it to boost it is actually what the game cares about. When the Ronin all work together, it’s literally impossible to beat them. When they split up, work at cross-purposes or simply don’t trust each other, they become weak and easy to manipulate.
The Dark Fates, of course, point the characters at each other, but you need to play to find out WHY, since they’re secret knowledge. So that impacts Trust, everyone tries to read into everyone else’s actions, and that’s a great play dynamic.
Knowing you’ll confront O-Yanma means you can figure out your characters deal (most Dark Fates have some kind of relevance to the Witch) and play towards that, and also gives motivation for the idea of betrayal, since some Dark Fates are just incompatible with each other, but you won’t really know until the end.
The play experience explodes out of those elements! It helps a lot for the GM to be invested in really loading up the scenes with colorful monsters and dangerous situations, along with have plans for pressuring the Ronin, separately and together, to test their trust.
Anyway. I’m super excited that Tim finally is getting the new edition out!
The best part about it is: by the time the witch dies, that’s the least of your problems.
Yeah, I backed it. Looks/sounds super cool.
Nathan Paoletta that is a very good explanation of why The Mountain Witch works so well.