Some live Terrinoth action on now
So they said they are going to be doing these about once a month for the next few months, so that is some encouraging news that they are planning to put continued effort trying to get people interested in the Terrinoth setting/IP, which may spill over from the Realms of Terrinoth + Genesys into other games.
9 hours ago, kris40k said:So they said they are going to be doing these about once a month for the next few months, so that is some encouraging news that they are planning to put continued effort trying to get people interested in the Terrinoth setting/IP, which may spill over from the Realms of Terrinoth + Genesys into other games.
If it was me I'd be bringing out some showcase painted minis from Descent/RWM etc and map tiles even maybe for three reasons:
1. even though the minis available may change in future it echoes the tabletop approach to RP that has made other systems so popular and shows how Genesys can bring Terrinoth to life
2. all it would need is a clarification that you don't have to play with such 'props'- it's totally flexible to how you want to bring your game to life
Wouldn't have to be all the time but I like this idea of bringing out something a bit movie style - 'this is what you see', although there's nothing wrong with 'theatre of the mind' RPG and doing most of such a livestream this way it does link to point 3
3. It can be less fun to watch an RPG than to play one, so maybe something other than dice to look at would add some life to things, we did have a few of the characters on screen though.
You can use such props in a fluid way without them setting rigid constraints such as map tiles just giving a flavour of locations, trickier to do but could be interesting, they'd have to keep things fairly simple for such a livestream.
It seems like Genesys tries to steer you away from battle maps, though (heavy emphasis on Narrative rather than mechanics and battle). I feel like Genesys in the Terrinoth setting with battle maps is just.....Descent 2e more or less (and better story telling probably LOL).
It would be a good way of showcasing other Terrinoth-related products to break out the mini's, unfortunately the narrative style of system that Genesys uses doesn't really accommodate tactical mini usage like other table-top RPGs do (compared to say, Iron Kingdoms RPG which is practically a role-play extension of the tabletop Warmachine/Hordes wargames).
I've only played Star Wars: Edge of the Empire using the system so far, but in my experience breaking out my X-Wing TMG collection didn't really help with the gameplay, other than being able to visualize some of the ships. The combat system doesn't accommodate for precise positioning, it uses broad range bands, and such.
Basically, they are pretty to look at, and approximate positions, but the rules don't support them. It could encourage more sales though to bring them into the Flights of Fantasy series. I wouldn't be against it.
Edited by kris40kMore from my own take on this than for the videos :
I'm thinking more thematically in terms of mini/scenery use, the way I'm looking to experiment with things is having a few such elements that sketch out an outline of the current situation but then allowing the narrative to develop out of that, a bit like a mystery bag of chef's ingredients- with a bit of thought I think this can still work with the narrative system, still juggling ideas a bit but something along the lines of not saying you must use these ingredients in this way with these measurements, more using them to give the players the context of the situation they're in then they can take it where they wish.
It does pose quite a few challenges design-wise but I'd like to see if it works.
My intent is to also design this within a situation that still has the flexibility to allow the narrative system to flow. Including that as the minis/props approach is mostly for things I'd like to try when I'm running the adventures, designing them so that the adventure exists without them (which is probably a good test of if things still have the freedom they need), it also then means of course that if any of these extras don't really work it's no big problem.
I don't think it's impossible to make something like this work well though- although I've had fun with purely spoken 'theatre of the mind' RPG adventures it just feels that bit more alive with something visual versus looking at dice all session, plus an adventure has some constraints even in a narrative system (such as 'you're on a ship' - 'you're in the woods', it's stormy, , the other characters there are...) and this doesn't have to prevent players changing things up, or mean you have to measure distances or bother with other precise non-Genesys minutiae, so it's just a case of being less constrained than would be the case in some other RPG systems - there's also the points made in the section on designing adventures, they can be as loose or as defined as you like, the only obvious thing to bear in mind being the fact the more you do define the more you're focusing the adventure and the more of the picture of the setting/situation you're painting for the players, so for good RPG adventure design, especially with the narrative system of Genesys, you want to leave your players plenty of freedoms- you can define quite a lot without limiting things too much, so maybe one thing to help with such an approach is you're aiming for giving players a starting point more than you're giving them a destination.
I don't think it should be forbidden to give them a certain framework, for an adventure series you'd have to in some way, even with a narrative system things and situations will exist outside of the player characters' bubbles, the big challenge (which is where ultimately the playtesting and tweaking of such freedoms/limitations (sometimes ripping up the railroads) will play its part) is creating the setting and the bare bones of the story without taking it away from the players.
As for maps I think there's times they could be helpful and plenty of times you wouldn't need them at all, so I think some of it comes down to what you're creating for a session and what best suits the combination of the narrative game system and the situation/setting the players are in along with the freedoms and limitations they might have in that setting/situation.
Of course with the Genesys narrative system there's nothing stopping you playing as a PC or running a session as GM with next to no adventure outline- just some player characters ready to adventure with and a pool of potential adversaries on standby where pretty much anything and anywhere could happen. You could even let the players start their story from a fairly blank canvas which could be fun (where are you? who else is there? do you already know each other?...) Encounters could even be made up on the fly for an adversary suggested by events. I think this is Genesys' biggest strength- as long as you can make your sweet spot work you can make it as free or as focused as you like, even fusing the narrative system with some of the elements of less fluid systems if that suits the adventure you're playing and how you and your group want to play (there seem to be people trying out these kinds of weird and wonderful system hybrids)- the keywords / key questions are always 'playtesting- how does it play out?' and 'enjoyment- did the players have fun?' This will possibly of course vary for different groups of players as different people like different styles of game. Will be interesting to find out how my projects turn out!