I just uploaded a new beta document to TechnoirRPG.com. It’s still the same game, mostly, but with a lot of work to clarify it and communicate it better. Thank you to everyone who has been submitting playtest reports. They are helping me tremendously to see what’s working and focus what can be made better.
Technoir Beta – 533KB
There is a lot of great forward momentum for Technoir right now. I’m in the process of an intense revision of the text before I hand it off to the editor—who I am happy to let you know is Will Hindmarch. New Transmissions are in the works by people who are not me! I had the pleasure of playtesting a new one last night that I’m super excited about. More details on that soon. I’ve also been brainstorming with my conspirators to nail down the look of Technoir when it is published—we’re talking art, graphical elements, and layout—and I can’t wait to see it realized. Finally, everyone who is playtesting so far is doing amazing work. I’m still looking for feedback, so if you get a chance to play the beta—all the files are available at TechnoirRPG.com—please email me with your comments and you and your group will get a free PDF copy of the game and credit in the book.
To help fund this process going forward, I’m launching a Kickstarter for Technoir. This gives us a chance to gauge your interest in the game, generate some excitement, and, yeah, generate some cash too. I want to make Technoir an amazing product to hold in your hands. I want a full-color book with a crisp layout, informative illustrations, and evocative images. And I want it to be reasonably priced. The Kickstarter can make that happen.
I’m happy to report that our third session of Apocalypse World is the best one yet. At least in terms of rules cohesion and smooth flow of play. I am internalizing the MC moves much better at this point—to the point that I can usually identify what move I make when I make it, but I don’t have to look at the MC trifold to prompt it. As such, snowballing went much better this session as well.
Here’s what went down:
Read more »
I have had the privilege of playing Mythender twice. Once at my friend Josh‘s epic birthday party known as JoshCon. And once at GenCon. They were both crazy legendary experiences. The problem is that the game is all sitting inside Ryan Macklin‘s head. If I want to learn more, there’s no book to open up…one has to open Ryan himself. And there’s only so many times he’ll let you do that before he returns to his little cabin on The Internet.
Until now.
Last week, Ryan posted the character creation rules for Mythender. You can download them and at least take this portion of the game for a spin. Oh, and you can give Ryan your feedback. So let’s do just that. Read more »
We have a new Transmission for up for download at TechnoirRPG.com. This one centers on the glitzy capital of Immatrix entertainment and gang violence that is Los Angeles.
Transmission: Los Angeles – 463KB
Beta playtesting phase means I’m getting feedback on my game. While it’s a really cool process, I have this tendency to respond to the critical feedback. To defend my vision of the game. So I have to remind myself every now and then that I asked for this. Remind myself to just shut up and listen.
Awkward segue into the greater hobby community. There have been some really awesome discussions going on about feminism, inclusiveness, and safety both in regards to the gaming table and published materials. The Walking Eye podcast recently ran a roundtable on the topic. Nora Last’s blog and Filamena Hill’s tumblr are amazing, well-written resources. And Lyndsay (of Gamer Chow Dice Bags) recently posted an article that’s been getting the latest bout of attention on the subject.
Read more »
Last night, the second session of our Apocalypse World campaign. Things got incrementally more interesting—which is, I think, what I was going for. I came to the session armed with two fronts, each with plenty of threats. Maybe not enough custom moves, but I wasn’t really sure how the player characters were going to interact with them yet. I’ll probably be tweaking the custom moves I have and writing new ones as I get more comfortable with that process.
Read more »
So we’re one week into the beta phase of Technoir and already I’m getting some great feedback. You can see some of it on Eldritch Fire Press and the Saint Louis Sprawl blogs. There’s also been a great buzz on twitter of people reading the beta and planning play sessions.
There’s also a review up already on Roleplaying News Russian. As the name implies, it’s a Russian-language blog. If you scroll down to the bottom of the post, you’ll see that the authors were gracious enough to provide an English translation of the review. The review is largely critical, but that’s exactly what I’m looking for right now: constructive criticism I can use to make Technoir better.
Read more »
A little late to the party, I know. But I just finally ran Apocalypse World for the first time. It’s an amazing game. I recommend it.
I realized last night that this is the first game I GM’d that wasn’t my own in way too long of time. I’ve brought games like Fiasco, A Penny for My Thoughts, and How We Came to Live Here to tables, and been the guy who taught the rules, but none of them require a GM really. And of course I’ve been running play tests of Technoir and Noblesse Oblige, but it really felt like I was working muscles I hadn’t for a while.
I printed out all the standard trifold playbooks and had them sitting on the table for players to look through. They chose a savvyhead, a skinner, an angel, and a driver. We’re talking three veteran players and one new player, so you know. All of us new to AW.
Read more »
I need your help! Technoir needs to be play tested by people who aren’t me. To make this process easy, I’m just posting the current draft of the rules publicly on the website for anyone to download—anyone to try.
If you can help out with this process, all you need to do is: play one or more sessions with your group, take notes of what was fun and what wasn’t, and email me with your feedback. Read more »
Jeremy is the author of Chronica Feudalis, a game of imagined adventure in medieval Europe, and Technoir, a high-tech hard-boiled roleplaying game.
Cellar Games, LLC participates in Bits and Mortar. When you purchase one of our games from a participating retailer, you can get a free copy of the PDF right in the store!
Recent Comments