Crow Fortunes & The Awesome Game

[Filip Luszczyk]

So, a while back Kamil ordered some games at Lulu. The package came delayed, though, and instead of Dirty Secrets he received this, possibly due to ordering The Princess Kingdom as well. Surprise, surprise!

“I got TPK and some dumb children’s book!”, he says, and I’m like “LOL. What’s it about?”

So he checks it out and says: “Looks like some boring stuff about picking a job when you grow up.”

But I’m like “LOL. Let’s see who you’re going to be when you grow up. Open it at a random page.”

So he reads:

Heather, when you grow up you will be a glam rocker. You will have a huge Boeing jet and travel across the globe with your closest friends who are also main members of your band.

So I’m like “LOL. Dude. You better start practicing on that ukulele of yours now!” But he reads on:

Naturally, this is just a cover. When you aren’t playing shows you and your fellow band members strap on form fitting powered armor suits to battle with alien robot species. You sometimes battle Lovecraftian menaces from deep under the ocean.

And I’m like “Oh crap!”

And he checks out another page, and there’s something about a water nymph that breeds mutant sharks.

And he’s like “Hey! That’s better than Dirty Secrets!”

And I’m like “Dude! Awesome! Let’s play it!”

Crow Fortunes includes, like, a hundred wicked cool characters that simply beg to pick some randomly, put them into a party, and see what will come out of it. Check it out yourself. The preview on Lulu gets interesting at page five. Alternate. Universe. Tattooed. On. Your. Skin. A frickin’ dumb children’s book, huh?

Unfortunately, there was no system attached. So, after considering some options, we concluded it will be the easiest to write our own. Basically, what we needed was a fast paced game that would make it possible for us to use the characters from Crow Fortunes, gather them together in one place and check out what happens. Preferably, one in which cool powers are not just pure color.

So, I designed such a game and posted it here. (It's only few pages long.)

Chances are we play it this Thursday, as its a good day for loose one-shots. Chances are, however, that we'll not play it more than a single time.

So, since there won't be any proper playtesting, I need some general feedback. It plays rather well in my head, but obviously, I won't know until we try the thing out. And since I'm the author, if there's something wrong and I don't see it now, chances are someone else will manage to notice it.

Some things I'm especially wondering about:

*Does it seem like Bets might trigger the Czege Principle?

*Does it seem like there might be an unavoidable death spiral (there shouldn't be), or any other obvious flaw in the economy?

*As you might notice, the dice mechanic was stolen directly from PTA. It was the thing I decided about last, and although I don't like PTA's conflict rules all that much, it seemed to fit nicely. However, the dice pools might potentially grow quite big, so things might get bothersome. Any suggestions for alternatives that would do the same?

However, any general feedback is appreciated. Session T -3 days