Quick Play titles - I'm really enjoying these
Feb 7, 2023 3:12:23 GMT
claudiasboris, soypunk, and 1 more like this
Post by davidlhsl on Feb 7, 2023 3:12:23 GMT
I went in on the Quick Play Kickstarter, and I've been enjoying these titles a lot more than I expected. I have almost all the regular titles, so I imagined I would mostly use the counters for the full game and perhaps find a rule or two that I can incorporate in one of the full titles.
Because these rules have a lot of new twists on the THW mechanics, I didn't skim through the rules as I normally do. These require reading cover-to-cover. Some major differences:
(1) A lot of rules you're used to aren't included. There is no Extraordinary Effort, Sweet Talking, Duck Back as a status effect, Damage tables (these are folded into the Shooting/Melee tables in a creative manner.
(2) The battle board turn sequence has changed in the fact that you match opposing sides against each other, then the winner of the Action table conducts their actions, which can trigger the other side to react. Once this is completed, you conduct the Will to Fight test for sides taking casualties, then you return directly to the Action table rather than have the non-Winning side taking their active turn.
(3) You have to pay particular attention to the tables and the rules governing their use, even within different Quick Play titles. For example, Pulp PI has some highly thematic ways to mitigate a neutral or failed interaction roll.
(4) Expect the probabilities to be slightly different than you're used to.
Each of the rulebooks is very trim at 20-36 pages. Because of this, it speeds up the cross-referencing you have to do when setting up and playing your Encounters. I believe this is the area where you get the most time savings in addition to the expected time savings from the streamlined tables.
Despite cutting out several mechanics, there is a shocking amount of content included in these Quick Play rules. Pulp PI still provides several Encounter types, and adds a boxing and horse racing game into the mix. Nuts Quick Play feels like a full and complete WW2 title. 5150 New Beginnings still allows you to explore most of New Hope City. Warrior Heroes still gives you the feeling of adventuring in a wide area, you get the carousing and dungeon delving, and you have numerous creature types. I haven't explored Star Army Quick Play yet. In other words, I don't get the feeling I'm missing anything in playing these titles even though I already know the additional possibilities in the full rules.
Another thing that hasn't changed: the games can be unforgiving at times, and the world can crash around you in a flash. This is an aspect of THW that I've always found addicting.
When it comes to the full titles, I mostly game in the RPG side: Six Gun Sound, All Things Zombie, 5150: New Beginnings. I've never gotten around to playing the full Nuts! system. Having Nuts! Quick Play has nudged me into playing due to the shortened rulebook. I think this can be an unforeseen benefit to those of you who've considered trying one of these genres before, but you haven't because it's outside the genre you love. It provides a great way of dipping your toes into the water pretty quickly.
Because these rules have a lot of new twists on the THW mechanics, I didn't skim through the rules as I normally do. These require reading cover-to-cover. Some major differences:
(1) A lot of rules you're used to aren't included. There is no Extraordinary Effort, Sweet Talking, Duck Back as a status effect, Damage tables (these are folded into the Shooting/Melee tables in a creative manner.
(2) The battle board turn sequence has changed in the fact that you match opposing sides against each other, then the winner of the Action table conducts their actions, which can trigger the other side to react. Once this is completed, you conduct the Will to Fight test for sides taking casualties, then you return directly to the Action table rather than have the non-Winning side taking their active turn.
(3) You have to pay particular attention to the tables and the rules governing their use, even within different Quick Play titles. For example, Pulp PI has some highly thematic ways to mitigate a neutral or failed interaction roll.
(4) Expect the probabilities to be slightly different than you're used to.
Each of the rulebooks is very trim at 20-36 pages. Because of this, it speeds up the cross-referencing you have to do when setting up and playing your Encounters. I believe this is the area where you get the most time savings in addition to the expected time savings from the streamlined tables.
Despite cutting out several mechanics, there is a shocking amount of content included in these Quick Play rules. Pulp PI still provides several Encounter types, and adds a boxing and horse racing game into the mix. Nuts Quick Play feels like a full and complete WW2 title. 5150 New Beginnings still allows you to explore most of New Hope City. Warrior Heroes still gives you the feeling of adventuring in a wide area, you get the carousing and dungeon delving, and you have numerous creature types. I haven't explored Star Army Quick Play yet. In other words, I don't get the feeling I'm missing anything in playing these titles even though I already know the additional possibilities in the full rules.
Another thing that hasn't changed: the games can be unforgiving at times, and the world can crash around you in a flash. This is an aspect of THW that I've always found addicting.
When it comes to the full titles, I mostly game in the RPG side: Six Gun Sound, All Things Zombie, 5150: New Beginnings. I've never gotten around to playing the full Nuts! system. Having Nuts! Quick Play has nudged me into playing due to the shortened rulebook. I think this can be an unforeseen benefit to those of you who've considered trying one of these genres before, but you haven't because it's outside the genre you love. It provides a great way of dipping your toes into the water pretty quickly.
