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Messages - Elliott Belser

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Okay, first a disclaimer. Now that I'm reading through the document for the purpose of finding "offenses", I may be overly critical. I'm pointing out anything that draws my attention.

Except for a few strong examples, a lot of it might also be that I'm a brony myself. So I recognize some of the shoutouts. Stuff like "The story you tell is explicitly a fantasy or faerie tale (you can call it a pony tale if you’d like, but your friends will probably throw things at you)", which seems like a reference to MLP punning. And the name of the Charity move "The Pony Everybody Should Know" is just gratuitous :).

That's a useful disclaimer. 

Especially because I'm keeping the horse puns.  That's an MLP thing, but it's an all-ages MLP thing.

The Charity move name is indeed gratuitously referential, although I'm surprised you haven't also taken issue with Redemption's blurb for the same reason.  Mind, I also need to make Charity a lot less 'this is how you play as Rarity' and a lot more of it's own thing, like I've arguably succeeded with with most of the other playbooks...

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The strong examples are mostly stuff that ties to closely to the Apocalypse Engine. This stuff seems either target at adults, or inappropriate for minors.

- You might want to find another name for the GM than Master of Ceremonies. Or at least drop the MC moniker.
- The entire section "This game is Powered by the Apocalypse!" You mention a long list of games, and then say "but these are for adults".

Yeah, no, I kind of need to do that.  Part of this is me working out my own amazement that a very simple and flexible engine has so few kids games attached to it; out it goes. 

That chapter was a VERY early pass to begin with.

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Stuff with overt brony feel

- I might just be overly critical, now that I'm reading stuff with this in mind, but the title "All The Pretty Little Horses" seems a bit like the faux-cutesy-girlyness that a brony might take on, to show he isn't afraid of girly stuff. At least, the title doesn't make me think of ponies going on adventures, defending the world against evil.

I'm on the fence about it, and have been slapping an '...Adventures' at the end of the title.  Frankly, I chose that name partly from growing up with the lullabye, and partially because I'm beyond astounded no one else has used that for a line bootleg pony toys yet.

It has been a problem, but I don't have a better name for it.

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- This is echoed in the line "You should play this game because all the pretty little horses are awesome, simple as that." in the "But why should we play?" section
- The paragraph about the Handsome Haunchmark kinda have the "boys who don't like girly things are stupid" smell as well.

Agreed on the last part.  I was editorializing that day.

I AM trying to make another pass at this in time for BABSCon, so I can have it at the kid's tent.

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Something else I noticed, not related to the target audience thing:

Instead of explaining how the ponies look in the "On The Humble Race of Ponies" section, you might want to simply let your pictures talk. I'm not sure if it adds anything to explain in words that unicorns have "split hooves like a goat’s, and a thin tail ending with a tuft of soft, mane-like hair". I don't think everyone will be imagining the ponies correctly from being read the description. But if all the pictures show of the ponies, then you can see what they look like.

That will await my actually having better art, but it's a good idea.  I should probably do something more like like the henge introductions in Golden Sky Stories, from the point of view of a typical unicorn, pegasus, and earthtamer (which also means that I can introduce goats and deer and things as well, something I eventually want to do).

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First off, I'm not sure who your audience is. At some point the text seems directed towards little girls, at other times towards adults (sometimes specifically towards bronies). The styles don't really fit well together, IMO. It kinda gives the feel that the document pretends to be aimed at the little girl, but really is written for bronies.

I'm much more interested in this being a kid's game than a game for bronies - bronies already have Ponyfinder and too many other fanprojects to count - so I would very much appreciate any specific examples you can give me so I can fix it.  Part of the problem is, like it or not, I'm an adult fan of the show that got immersed in the fandom - probably have habits that are hard to break.

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Rules-wise:
Make Someone’s Day: The 7-9 result seems weird and a bit bland in the context of the move. Weird because "she’ll ask you what you want her to do." when the move is not "Asking Her For A Favor", and bland because gaining experience seems very neutral, when you are cheering someone up. I'm thinking advantage  or bond would be a better pick.

Advantage or bond would be a better pick, you're right.  You're also not the only person to mention that.

Part of the problem here is that I started out by adapting the Maturity moves from Monsterhearts as basic moves, in this case Make Someone Feel Beautiful - and Monsterhearts is a much more adversarial game, even when the characters grow up.  Call Out A Cruelty is likewise a renamed Call Bullshit, and Valor's In Deepest Confidence is a reskinned Share Pain.

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Bonds: I'm thinking you might want to flip the order in which you tell about the function of bonds. So first explain how you Aid a Friend, and then that you get xp at three bonds. So rather than being boiled down to, "bonds turn into xp, and you can also use it to Aid a Friend" it becomes "Bonds are for helping friends, and if you get too many, one of them becomes xp."

This is much more in line with the function of Bonds, yes.  They're primarily for the fantastically good 1d bonus to aid.

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Our beautiful world is under threat.

Monsters and mayhem and discord abound all around us. Outside of the confines of our own Saddle Valley, there are a million and one things that are burned by the touch of light and beauty and that seek to destroy it. Apocalypse looms, waiting to crash over the Palace of Dreams and blanket the world in eternal night.

We of the Equine Queendoms won't let that happen.

Our world is too beautiful, with too much potential for goodness and music and light and love, for us to let that happen.

To that end, we send our champions, our avatars of virtue. We send them to make those virtues real in the world, to drive back the swirling chaos outside Saddle Valley and to make it a place fit for life and love.

We are strong because we must be. We bring beauty because we choose to.

We are all the pretty little horses.

And we stand against the apocalypse, not because we must, but because we can.

~~~~


All The Pretty Little Horses Adventures
?
...is a tabletop roleplaying game inspired by My Little Pony (both Gen 1 and Friendship is Magic), as well as by classic children's fantasy novels like the Narnia series, The Hobbit, and Harry Potter. Naturally, it uses the Apocalypse Engine.

I am it's creator, and the game is ready for playtesting.

My design goal with this sucker is to make a family roleplaying game with this - one suitable for a parent to run for their kids, particularly their young girls. 

My current publishing goal is to have an awesome playtest kit ready in time for an April convention, BABSCon, that caters to child and adult fans of MLP, and any suggestions on where I can find graphic designers to that end would be very welcome.  I can pay a little.

All of the illustrations for the playbooks are by [img=http://lillayfran.tumblr.com/]http://Lillayfran,[/img] commissioned for this purpose.

My playtest documents, very much a work in progress, are through this gDrive link.

I am currently setting up playtest groups.

So:

  • Do the rules make sense so far?
  • What odd omissions am I making?
  • What strikes you as very cool?
  • Would you like to playtest, and if so, how?

Thank you all in advance.

I made a previous thread, but it's been dormant for so long and I've done so much substantial work that I felt opening a new one was warranted.

4
Stats:

Warm. Kind, patient, beautiful, charming, empathetic.  Used to Persuade or Manipulate and to Make Someone Feel Beautiful.

Cool. Self-assured, willful, graceful, careful, steady, courageous.  Used to Keep Cool Under Pressure and to Call Out Bad Behavior.

Tough. Strong, valiant, hardy, powerful, healthy.  Used to Fight For Something and to Stand In Defense.

Sharp. Clever, intelligent, logical, observant, curious.  Used to Get The Measure Of Someone and to Stop And Think About The Situation.

Magical. Fey, intuitive, musical, insightful, just plain humming with energy.  Used to Open Your Heart to the Song of Magic.

Basic Moves:

When you persuade or manipulate a NPC with either a reasonable alternative or by exerting leverage, roll+Warm.
On a 10+, they do as you suggest, with only a verbal reassurance needed.
On a 7-9, they need some concrete reassurance of your intentions, right now, before they'll take your advice.
On a 6-, they don't take your advice. They might even get suspicious, asking themselves why you'd ask that and drawing their own, worst, conclusions.
 
It has to be a reasonable alternative if you persuade.  That is, you can't suggest that someone with a family to feed just up and quit a tyrant of a boss; what would they do from there?  If you've got a job offer for them, well then, that becomes a reasonable alternative!

Likewise, if you manipulate, you need to have leverage - something hanging over the other party's head.  A fire-breathing dragon is going to laugh at you if you just tell them to leave, now; you're a pretty little horse, it could flash-fry you and gobble you up as a snack absent some leverage.  You need to get its attention with a carrot or stick, first.  Well, dragon; a huge gemstone or a scale-slicing sword would work better.
 
When you make someone feel beautiful, roll +Warm.
On a +10, choose any two:
·         They carry +1 forward, or gain Advantage if they're an NPC.
·         They can remove a condition.
·         They mark experience.
On a 7-9, you may offer them an experience point, or a Bond if they are an NPC, if they do what you want.
 
Interpret 'beautiful' as broadly as you like, but however you define it you have to be sincere.  Otherwise, you're just persuading or manipulating, as above.
 
When you stay cool under pressure, roll +Cool.
On a +10, you don't even break a sweat.  You do it and you do it well.  Choose one: Take +1 forward this scene, remove a Condition, or put a condition on the scene or anyone opposing you.
On a 7-9, choose: either you barely keep your cool, or you pick one of the above options and you also get a condition of the MC's choice.
On a 6-, you can't keep your cool.  You melt under the pressure.
 
Stay cool is basically a catch-all for anything requiring focus, time, or courage to deal with.  The MC will say what the pressure is, in those words: “Keep cool under pressure of opening the door before the Ice Trolls reach you,” or “keep cool under the pressure of this nitwit insulting you.”

Usually the conditions you pick up will be Angry, Hungry, Terrified, or Exhausted.  Sometimes something else is more appropriate.
 
When you call out bad behavior, roll+Cool.
On a 10+, choose two.  On a 7-9, choose one.
·         They act at -2, at Disadvantage, or fail outright at the villainy they tried to wreak.
·         You lay a condition on them.
·         They must keep cool to retaliate.
·         You can offer them an experience point to do what you want.
 
A call-out doesn't need to be made in a spirit of outrage, but it needs to directly address what you think was wrong behavior: “Thunderclap, you apologize to him right now!” is calling out, but so is “I’m just a bit disappointed that you didn’t tell me this sooner.”
 
When you fight over something, roll +Tough.
On a 10+, choose to deal harm or lay a condition and also choose two:
·         They need to Keep Cool to retaliate this scene,
·         However much harm you'd deal, deal one more harm;
·         You can remove a condition from a friend,
·         You can take hold of what you're fighting over.
On a 7-9, you deal harm but also choose one:
·         They lay a condition on you;
·         They can deal harm to you.
 
This is a physical fight, slashing hooves or spears or swords, ugly bruises and cuts.  It's never pretty when one of the pretty little horses needs to fight.  On the other hoof, what you're fighting over can be a thing, or a place, or a person, or even something abstract like 'the initiative.'
 
When you stand in defense over a friend, thing or place, roll +Tough.
On a 10+, get 3 hold.  On a 7-9, get 1 hold.  Spend your hold, 1 for 1, to do any of the following:
- Redirect the attack from its target to you.
- Halve the damage of the attack.
- Open up the attacker to a counter-attack from a friend, who takes +1 Forward to attack them.
- Lay a condition on the attacker.
 
Again, this needs to defend against actual violence.  Someone can stand in defense over you if you fight over something and an opponent tries to deal harm to you.
 
When you get the measure of someone, roll +Sharp.
On a 10+, get 3 hold over that being.  On a 7-9, get 1 hold on that being.  On a -6, get one hold on them, but they get one hold on you.  Spend hold, 1 for 1, to ask any one of these questions in the course of your conversation:
·         Are you telling me the truth?
·         How are you really feeling?
·         What do you want to do?
·         What do you wish I’d do?
·         How could I get you to do (something)?
·         What do you consider beautiful and good?
 
When you stop and think about the situation, roll +Sharp.
On a 10+, ask any three.  On a 7-9, ask any one.  On a -6, the MC gets to ask you any of these questions and you must answer honestly, and may make as hard and direct a move as they want.
·         What happened here recently?
·         What should I be on the look-out for?
·         What here is beautiful and good?
·         What here is not as it seems to be?
·         What is my best route of escape?
·         What’s about to happen?
 
These two moves are very similar.  To get the measure of a being, you must engage it in conversation, and you must ask your questions as they come up; but you don’t have to ask directly.  You can always go, like, “Oh come now, we’re all unicorns here (I’m trying to get her to say how she REALLY feels)” and that’s well and good.  When you stop and think about a situation, likewise, you're analyzing your surroundings and the events that led up to this moment.
 
MC, you must answer honestly.  If this means the answer is ‘Nothing here is beautiful and good, this place is screamingly wrong, get out of here now” then that’s the truth.  Likewise, “Everything is as it seems.  What you see is what you get” is also fine.
 
But honestly?  This is All The Pretty Little Horses.  There’s probably something beautiful and good there, even if it’s bent or broken or wounded.
 
When you open your heart to the song of magic, roll +Magical.
On a 10+, the magic of the world sings to you.  You get a clear sign, a clear answer to your problems, in the call and response of the chorus and the rhythm of the world’s heartbeat.
On a 7-9, it's not as clear.  The magic of the world sings, but fainter.  It leaves you with questions - the right questions, mind - but no answers.  Alternatively, you could get the answers you seek, but gain the condition Exhausted from dancing to the beat of the song of magic.
On a 6-, the discord of the world rushes in while your heart is open and vulnerable, and the song it sings is horrifying indeed.
 
If the answer can be expressed in music, in both song and dance, it should be.  That said, any sign or portent works, so long as it's bright and beautiful.  And yes, the musical metaphor is an excuse for the musical numbers so beloved of my source material.

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As you might have guessed from the name, this is a My Little Pony hack.  It's closer to Gen 1 (My Little Pony and Friends, the one with Megan the Human in it) than it is to the most recent series, Friendship is Magic, but it borrows from both.  And I do feel that having 'a game POWERED BY THE APOCALYPSE' in the title helps one get in the right mindset... that this game is going to be f'in metal, heartwarming, and pastel-pink girly - all at the same time.

Hopefully it's a game that teenage girls who don't game (yet) can enjoy, but I admit this might not be the right place for advice on that.

My intention is to make a game about finding friends/allies in a hostile wilderness, so you can protect a hometown you're heavily invested in and expanding outward - creating areas of relative peace, beauty and comfort in the violent, ugly and dark chaos of the Outside.  (Meanwhile, the villains grouse about missing the bad old days before all the pretty little horses came along and made life a living Heaven.)

The work in progress is through this link.  I'm not done with the playbooks; that's a work in progress.  I DID do the basic moves.  I think I know what I'm doing with Bonds, but don't know where to go.

I appreciate any help you all can give on this!

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