[TTRPG Dev] [Alliance]

So, I’ve been working on a new game recently under the working title of Alliance: Fellowships Forged in the Apocalypse

The subtitle will almost certainly remain cause it’s a cute nod to Fellowship, Forged in the Dark, and Played by the Ass, which are all inspirations the game seeks to hybridize.

I have NO IDEA how the fuck I’m going to monetize it. Even releasing it for free would be iffy.

I’m 100% going to have to DM Vel (the creator of Fellowship) and some point and ask for her opinion/blessing, cause as far as the actual RULES TEXT goes, a good 80% of it is likely going to be lifted directly from Fellowship.

Ultimately what I am working to create is Fellowship (the best game I’ve ever played tbh, that near perfectly matches my GM/play style, and what I seek out of RPGs) with many quality of life features from FitD, and a few other PbtA games.

Rip out the stat system whole, and add in the States from The Veil. That system makes it so players stats are based on whatever emotion they are currently feeling, which does a FANTASTIC job of fleshing out a new character very quickly, and encouraging diverse personalities in the group. But using the same emotion too many times in a row burns you out.

The biggest change will probably be the actual campaign structure. It will be heavily inspired by the Horizon framework from Fellowship, but with the mission structure of FitD games. Very episodic. An ‘episode’ may be multiple sessions long, but each one is fairly self contained.

GM will have their own character who is part of the party, playing the role of ‘guy in the chair’. Someone directing the action from afar, giving updates to the party of what’s going on.

They get rewards as if they were part of the party as well, because they ARE, even if their influence is limited.

Once the episode is complete, the GM role is up for grabs

The overall campaign structure will draw some inspiration from the West Marches campaign concept, though trying to do it from a “Go out and learn about the these cultures and provide aid where possible” side, instead of the “go do a colonialism” side.

Still can see it having a ‘white savior’ trope issue. Still working on how to address that.

Any time a foe raises to the level of being a persistent threat, the group collectively decides which kind they are: Rival or Adversary. Rivals follow the same rule as Rivals from Beam Saber. Any GM can draw them in to cause extra conflict as a recurring thorn in the players side. Team Rocket type bullshit. Multiple players can have the same rival.

Adversaries, on the other hand, is when the villain of the week stops being a villain of the week and becomes a serious threat. They use a hack of the Overlord rules from Fellowship. They become a character only controlled by the person who labels them an Adversary, whenever that player is GM.

They have a ticking clock of plans making them a growing threat.

Another thing I’m doing is stealing the gauges from Voidheart Symphony. Basically, a set of 3 or 4 health bars with 6 pips each, one of them on each bar permanently marked. They can be marked from damage (or as fuel for abilities), either temporarily or permanently.

Some checks will use these gauges instead of your emotional states.

Roll 2d6, add nothing. If both dice are over the number of marks you have, it’s a success. If only 1 is, it’s a mixed success. The more injured/stressed/unstable/whatever you become, the harder it is to succeed at these checks. These will typically be “saving throw” type things.

I’m not sure what each gauge will be yet. Not even sure if I want 3 or 4.

Was toying with the idea of having the three of them be “Blood. Sweat, and Tears” to show like “Yeah these are mostly interchangeable and represent the physical tole this adventure is taking on you.”

But I’m gonna be honest, I’m like... 70% sure that phrase has started becoming a fascist dogwhistle lately and I DONT THINK I WANT TO EVEN RISK THAT!

Especially when combined with the above mentioned potential issue of colonialism/white savior rhetoric. Just... not something I want in my game! So I might go with less thematic bars for the gauges and have them be more generic HP, Stamina, Etc type stuff.

good luck on the game chimera