Demonic Influence

::pikachu face::

FLASHBACK

When I was a kid, my mom made me stop playing Pokemon for a time, it was another panic, these pocket monsters were teaching the kids to be evil. I saw it in the news, I heard it from the pulpit. I remember speaking to another adult at that time, he said something along the lines of “just imagine the things on those cards and what kinds of spirits are attached to them”. Akephalos was silent back then and my head was full of wonder. What power humans must have to conjure spirits to reality from our imagination.

Akephalos Speaks!

Roleplaying games are magic. With a shared imagination we tell stories of otherworldly heroes achieving feats unknowable to us otherwise. It’s time to spend with your friends in enjoyment.

Roleplaying games are frustrating. For me, half of the hobby is reading rpg books. Another quarter is talking about roleplaying games with fellow hobbyists. The last quarter is for playing the game. It’s time to buckle down and put your hand firmly on the wheel that controls your character if you’re a player, or your world if you’re running the game. This is the frustrating part to me. I mean frustrating in a good way, like a really worthy opponent to be wrestled with. As a group everyone must come together with shared intent to “play ball”. But that’s where we with our meat brains can get lost in the weeds, everyone’s got slightly different expectations, and some of us (lookin’ at you over there Sparky!) can’t communicate as fast as we think. Before you know it that Charm Person spell is either the most useful or useless thing you can have. If you know what I mean.

Akephalos is Silent.

You see, I wanna design Torch Borg. But to do that I feel like some of mastery is required on my part to achieve that vision. So I run and play Torchbearer. I also throwdown OSR one-shots at a monthly meetup when I can. I’m engaging with lots of systems to see what might work and what might not for Torch Borg. In the end, most games feel pretty much the same. The distinction is what Torchbearer (and Burning Wheel for that matter) taught me about being a player. Writing beliefs and goals for my character had a profound impact on how I approach playing any game. Now no matter what game I’m playing I consider what my character believes and what they’re going to do about it by the end of the session. This allows me to enjoy games that might have less interesting dice mechanics, because I can create this expectation as a player for myself. I’ve found that this doesn’t work as well long term if the game or GM you’re playing with doesn’t support or share this expectation. Sometimes you just need a good one-shot though, and that’s fucking awesome.

That’s why I find Torchbearer so compelling, because it’s entire structure supports this expectation and the game is about fighting for/playing towards your character’s beliefs. It’s peak RPG experience in my humble opinion. On the other hand, Torchbearer isn’t so great for one-shots, and that’s o-fuckin-kay.

Akephalos Speaks!

Look, we’re not here to rehash all the old definitions and arguments for “what a RPG is and isn’t”. Sparky’s just sharing his experience and preference. I don’t know why I’m even talking right now, you’re good people, you get it.

Akephalos is Silent.

So I guess this is a game design blog right? I’ll just shut up and give you a Torchbearer stat block:

Headless Jotun

Nature 11, Might 7, Precedence 6

Nature Descriptors: Revealing Secrets, Raging, Terrorizing

Instinct: Always guard secret knowledge.

Special Rules:

• Undead Immunities

• Sightless Seeing: even without a head this Jotun can see through the souls of mortals, it instantly gains a wise related to any social conflict opponent.

• Consume Light: Once per session a Headless Jotun can create and aura of darkness that snuffs all light sources. The aura persists for 4 turns once activated, durning this time attempts to ignite light sources will prove futile within a 5 mile radius of the Jotun.

Dispositions: Flee 12, Kill/Drive Off/Capture 24, Haggle 7

Axe Cleave: K/DO: +2s A

Indomnitable Will: K/DO: +1D M

Headless Visage: Haggle: +1s F

Rotten Stench: Flee: +2D A