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Post by Gone Fishing on Jan 16, 2020 0:15:58 GMT
Hi All,
I just received Working Grave and have spent several enjoyable days flipping through it. I'm impressed by what I see (it's fun to see how rules tweaks are added as these games progress - there are several subtle changes even since Back Alleys). Anyway, a question has come up: I'm rather confused by the "soft armour" rules in WG - it seems that everyone except on duty police and Grath add +1 to damage when hit, which obviously will make ODs and OOFs a lot more common. What about unarmoured characters (surely the majority in any city)? Would they add +2 or more? All this makes soft armour seem a little, well, underwhelming.
Wouldn't it be easier to give armoured police and Grath types a bonus, as THEY are the exceptions, rather than have to remember additional damage for all other hits? Say, maybe a -1 on their damage rolls, though keeping the OD of a natural 6. Am I misunderstanding the rule? It just feels a little counter intuitive.
Thanks for any help!
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Post by atomicfloozy on Jan 16, 2020 2:00:26 GMT
In Working Grave, Soft Body Armor is the same as regular clothing - the same as no armor at all.
This is different from Back Alleys Bright Lights which uses a Defensive Value based on race and profession, the defensive vale is a combination of armor and the ability to avoid getting hit.
In Back Alleys Bright Lights, the Defensive Value is added to the character's Rep to produce a Target Value used on the shooting damage table - in this game the higher the value, the more likely there will be no damage from shooting.
Working Grave is the opposite. Being a "soft body" or soft body armor adds a +1 that there will more likely be damage. In this game soft body armor could be a leather jacket, a thick hoodie, or a Victoria's Secret lace teddy.
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Post by Gone Fishing on Jan 16, 2020 15:28:52 GMT
AF, thanks so much for the detailed reply - that helps a lot. Must say I really enjoy your blog AARs as well. They've helped inspire planning for some of my own games! I don't know if you'd ever want to take the time, and I'm sure it's not as satisfying as writing narrative, but one thing that would help a newbie like myself would be if you could share the tables used and actual rolls behind some of the events in your stories, just to show how the rules work "in action." At any rate, keep up the excellent work! Any chance we might see a Working Grave AAR one of these days?
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Post by atomicfloozy on Jan 16, 2020 15:46:10 GMT
You must be reading my mind. I'll be doing a Working Grave game soon. I'm working on tables for Little Hisha and the Star Port areas. My rookie's beat is in a part of Little Hisha known as "Hootchville" or "Container Town" because most of the buildings are constructed from old shipping containers.
Since you asked, I'll write this one showing the dice rolls and tables used to play the game. I'll also be incorporating the table top miniatures rules since I have a lot of paper models of Sci-Fi shipping containers turned into dwellings and businesses. I'm going for a stacked look like the trailer houses in the movie "Ready Player One".
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Post by Gone Fishing on Jan 16, 2020 18:58:48 GMT
That is very exciting news!!! Hope it didn't sound like a criticism, but seeing more of the nuts and bolts to the game, of how it all comes together, would really help a chap like myself (and hopefully others also). I'll be sure to check round. Again, your games have been hugely inspirational, so keep up the great work!
GF
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Post by Gone Fishing on Jan 16, 2020 19:59:58 GMT
Just to add: I haven't seen (or heard of!) the film Ready Player One, but stacked containers could be very atmospheric - an interesting scene for crimes and general skullduggery. I'll look forward to seeing how those paper containers turn out. Your games always look great.
If it's of any interest, my take on Working Grave will be set in the world of Mega City One and Judge Dredd. In 54mm! I play with the big toys, you see. While I don't intend to play Dredd himself (he'd probably be about a rep 10 or so), I do look forward to following the adventures of my own judge, a lowly rep 5, once I get the hang of the rules. Being another setting, all the 5150 alien races will go, and instead most interactions and perps will be human, though with mutants, criminal apes and the occasional rogue robot thrown in for good measure. To represent my beginning judge I will make him rep 5 - definitely a rookie - as I said, and will probably pick resilient and crack shot as his skills. I know you're supposed to roll one, but judges should be pretty tough, tougher than your average cop. I've also thought about making judges harder to kill - either by always treating them in cover, or by adjusting damage rolls down, but that might throw things too far off, I don't know. To balance this I'm thinking of adding a ganger or two to confrontation encounters, just to make things a challenge. Anyway, all ideas just now - we'll see where things go.
Forgive me. All this is likely more than you wanted to know, but I always enjoy sharing projects. Looking forward to seeing how yours progresses!
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Post by atomicfloozy on Jan 16, 2020 20:16:19 GMT
Be sure to double check the attributes for your characters. Even though attributes may share a common name across rule sets, they perform a little differently in the newer rules which incorporate an action table.
I would play the game a time or two with the rules as written - the use of Star Power dice and Extraordinary Effort may be enough to make your judge harder to kill without adjusting damage rolls. If your judge is accompanied by another judge in an encounter, you could treat the other judge as a co-star and give that character a single star power die.
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Post by atomicfloozy on Jan 16, 2020 20:40:08 GMT
Trailer Park from Ready Player One:
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Post by Gone Fishing on Jan 16, 2020 21:50:06 GMT
Points well taken. Thank you.
And that's a hugely atmospheric shot of the trailer park. Could be Mega City One. Do you recommend the film?
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Post by atomicfloozy on Jan 16, 2020 21:56:39 GMT
I enjoyed the film - Spielberg directed it.
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Post by crinklechips on Jan 16, 2020 23:45:45 GMT
This is cool. I bought Working Grave when it came out but have only just gotten around to having the PDF printed. It should be with me on Saturday. My idea from the get-go was to use it to tell a Judge Dredd, Mega City 1 story.
I’m glad someone else has the same idea. Keep us posted on your game! My only issue is finding Judge Dredd paper minis. My preferred medium...
Ready Player One the film was great. The book is even better!
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Post by shoshen on Jan 17, 2020 21:18:47 GMT
This is cool. I bought Working Grave when it came out but have only just gotten around to having the PDF printed. It should be with me on Saturday. My idea from the get-go was to use it to tell a Judge Dredd, Mega City 1 story. I’m glad someone else has the same idea. Keep us posted on your game! My only issue is finding Judge Dredd paper minis. My preferred medium... Ready Player One the film was great. The book is even better! I always thought these guys are a bit on the Judge Dredd side www.drivethrurpg.com/product/105335/Sci-Fi-Cops-Future-Lawmen
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Post by Gone Fishing on Jan 18, 2020 16:44:01 GMT
That's a good recommendation, Shoshen!
Crinklechips, I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on Working Grave after you've had a good peruse. There are some great ideas, there, as always. I especially like the Extraordinary Effort and Sweet Talk tweaks, though in my head I'll be calling the latter "I Am the Law!", because a Judge doesn't sweet talk anybody. This morning I've spent several enjoyable hours flipping through my various THW rules sets, thinking how I might get the proper vibe of Mega City One. For now I think I'll use most of the combat rules from Working Grave (received fire and charging tables always confused me a little), though I will add the In Sight test, as I'd think it will add a little granularity to the proceedings. For the story itself I'm thinking of using either Future Tales or New Hope City PI, or a blend of the two, because they give a good story arc that my fledgling judges might follow.
For those of you familiar with Judge Dredd I'll add the following (going into full nerd-speed here): Judges will generally be rep 5's or higher, with combatty abilities largely take from Future Tales. Psy Judges like Judge Anderson should be well served by the Psy rules in Back Alleys. For Dark Judges like Judge Death I'd think the vampire rules from Working Grave will be just the ticket - and of course Dark Judges can't die, they only lose their bodies - so they might pop up later in the campaign...
For Kleggs (monstrous mercenaries with a taste for raw meat) I've been thinking of giving them all the resilient ability (first OOF = carry on) and possibly rage (+1d6 in melee), though I might make their reps only 3 or 4 - I don't picture them as being very accurate marksmen. Anyway, just a few initial thoughts. If you ever go on to try it yourself, I'd be most interested to hear what you come up with, Crinkle...
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Post by Ed the Two Hour Wargames Guy on Jan 18, 2020 17:44:02 GMT
Just a heads up, you can have each Character take the Action Test individually and it should work like the In Sight, which is what the Action Table is based on.
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Post by crinklechips on Jan 18, 2020 18:18:54 GMT
This is cool. I bought Working Grave when it came out but have only just gotten around to having the PDF printed. It should be with me on Saturday. My idea from the get-go was to use it to tell a Judge Dredd, Mega City 1 story. I’m glad someone else has the same idea. Keep us posted on your game! My only issue is finding Judge Dredd paper minis. My preferred medium... Ready Player One the film was great. The book is even better! I always thought these guys are a bit on the Judge Dredd side www.drivethrurpg.com/product/105335/Sci-Fi-Cops-Future-LawmenThey are! Cheers buddy!
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