1) At pg 15 you state “In the case of Strain or Covenants, you do not gain a Bloom or Scourge mark if you choose the results of that bonus die, regardless of that die's outcome. Describe how you are helped based on the die you chose.“ Does this means that I should use different coloured dice and that, in normal conditions, I gain Bloom or Scourge respectively when I choose to Strain or take a Covenant in normal checks?
I ask before I’m probably missing that part xD
2) How many spells are you supposed to know at Mancer’s creation? I ask before it seems you know them all, but you have the ability to learn one through advancement so… Sorry again if I’m missing the point!
3) Any advice for duet games? With bonds being really important, I thought it would have been fine to run a full fledged GM-Mancer, so I can let the player add some stuff for free downtime for me as well. On the other hand I thought about adding a non Mancer assistant or a companion of sort, regularly developing a bond through role play, basically acting as a bonus die reserve to compensate the absence of other players, but still being relevant in RP terms (imagine a squire, or a friendly scholar actually helping in the background, so to speak). :)
Still, this game has a strong classic feel and I can really see it working in an open table styled campaign!
1) Yeah, you can definitely use a differently coloured die. I think in that specific case (Resistance rolls), you are only looking at the best result rolled, i.e. just one die. If you use the result of the Strain or Covenant-given die, you would not gain Bloom or Scourge if you use the result of that die. But take note that this may mean you'll be choosing a worse dice result than you normally would like.
2) I think I might have actually not mentioned it lol, so that's on me. Yes, you choose one Mystery (magic discipline) at Mancer creation, and after that you choose one spell from that Mystery that you know already. If it feels too little, knowing two spells works too, but they must be from the same Mystery.
3) By duet games I'm assuming you're playing with yourself + one other player? I don't see why not - if making other characters being controlled by the same person, you would simply make a sheet for them as you would a normal character. For ease of use, the main things to focus on are what spells they know + their Bond points + their Action scores. Their Mancer abilities can be focused on less if you're aiming to streamline remembering & controlling multiple characters at once.
Hope it helps, and don't hesitate to send your stories about your game experience! I'd love to hear them.
Another tricky question (sorry again): the rules seem to point at the fact that a Mancet can use “magic” to describe any kind of action, turning the check to a spell check.
so, I.e., I can use magic to hide or pickpocket, as well as to blast someone.
Regarding magic applying to any action, I'd say you can simply treat it as a normal action roll and "flavour" it like you're using magic, but you don't gain any additional benefits, and your impact/control with it is limited. For example, you can use magic to hide yourself, but you cannot become fully invisible or undetectable. You can use magic to push someone back, but you cannot push away a whole crowd of enemies or accurately control where they go.
Regarding Change, maybe there's a lapse in the wording there. Basically it means there is added Risk, so the number of successes required from is increased.
Hey, provided relationships are a crucial part of the game, but since they can involve external elements as well, would you deem OSIS playable with 1 player / 1 GM? I generally feel FitD games one2one friendly but I wanted to hear your opinion!
Mechanically I wouldn't be sure, but I don't see why not if you can make it work! Your Bonds would simply be made with GM-controlled characters instead.
Usually I judge if a TTRPG is good by how hard I'm daydreaming about making a campaign with it, and this one has given me lots of ideas.
A nice and light system, with an intriguing setting and full of inspiration to draw from, and a mythology and lore interesting while leaving enough room for you to introduce whatever you want into it.
An awesome light, but still deep, implementation of the FitD engine! Lovely theme, nice sandbox approach and exciting ruleset! Gonna play this soon! Kudos!!!
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Hey, a couple of questions if I may!
1) At pg 15 you state “In the case of Strain or Covenants, you do not gain a Bloom or Scourge mark if you choose the results of that bonus die, regardless of that die's outcome. Describe how you are helped based on the die you chose.“ Does this means that I should use different coloured dice and that, in normal conditions, I gain Bloom or Scourge respectively when I choose to Strain or take a Covenant in normal checks?
I ask before I’m probably missing that part xD
2) How many spells are you supposed to know at Mancer’s creation? I ask before it seems you know them all, but you have the ability to learn one through advancement so… Sorry again if I’m missing the point!
3) Any advice for duet games? With bonds being really important, I thought it would have been fine to run a full fledged GM-Mancer, so I can let the player add some stuff for free downtime for me as well. On the other hand I thought about adding a non Mancer assistant or a companion of sort, regularly developing a bond through role play, basically acting as a bonus die reserve to compensate the absence of other players, but still being relevant in RP terms (imagine a squire, or a friendly scholar actually helping in the background, so to speak). :)
Still, this game has a strong classic feel and I can really see it working in an open table styled campaign!
Hi, thanks for playing! ^^
1) Yeah, you can definitely use a differently coloured die. I think in that specific case (Resistance rolls), you are only looking at the best result rolled, i.e. just one die. If you use the result of the Strain or Covenant-given die, you would not gain Bloom or Scourge if you use the result of that die. But take note that this may mean you'll be choosing a worse dice result than you normally would like.
2) I think I might have actually not mentioned it lol, so that's on me. Yes, you choose one Mystery (magic discipline) at Mancer creation, and after that you choose one spell from that Mystery that you know already. If it feels too little, knowing two spells works too, but they must be from the same Mystery.
3) By duet games I'm assuming you're playing with yourself + one other player? I don't see why not - if making other characters being controlled by the same person, you would simply make a sheet for them as you would a normal character. For ease of use, the main things to focus on are what spells they know + their Bond points + their Action scores. Their Mancer abilities can be focused on less if you're aiming to streamline remembering & controlling multiple characters at once.
Hope it helps, and don't hesitate to send your stories about your game experience! I'd love to hear them.
Hey, thank you!!
Another tricky question (sorry again): the rules seem to point at the fact that a Mancet can use “magic” to describe any kind of action, turning the check to a spell check.
so, I.e., I can use magic to hide or pickpocket, as well as to blast someone.
But what about actual “spells” then?
oh, and one more!
I don’t understand the “change dice”. It feels like it’s adding +2 on Risk, but you talk about rolling +2d as disadvantages. What does it mean?
Thanks!
Let's see...
Regarding magic applying to any action, I'd say you can simply treat it as a normal action roll and "flavour" it like you're using magic, but you don't gain any additional benefits, and your impact/control with it is limited. For example, you can use magic to hide yourself, but you cannot become fully invisible or undetectable. You can use magic to push someone back, but you cannot push away a whole crowd of enemies or accurately control where they go.
Regarding Change, maybe there's a lapse in the wording there. Basically it means there is added Risk, so the number of successes required from is increased.
Hey, provided relationships are a crucial part of the game, but since they can involve external elements as well, would you deem OSIS playable with 1 player / 1 GM? I generally feel FitD games one2one friendly but I wanted to hear your opinion!
Mechanically I wouldn't be sure, but I don't see why not if you can make it work! Your Bonds would simply be made with GM-controlled characters instead.
Usually I judge if a TTRPG is good by how hard I'm daydreaming about making a campaign with it, and this one has given me lots of ideas.
A nice and light system, with an intriguing setting and full of inspiration to draw from, and a mythology and lore interesting while leaving enough room for you to introduce whatever you want into it.
That sounds awesome to hear! Thanks so much. I was worried I wasn't giving enough material to build off of, lol.
An awesome light, but still deep, implementation of the FitD engine! Lovely theme, nice sandbox approach and exciting ruleset! Gonna play this soon! Kudos!!!
Awesome! Thanks so much for the kind feedback :D
Do feel free let me know what else stands out to you so I know what mechanics are gold and what to polish for future games.
I tried to pick this up today and I got an error saying: PayPal failed to create payment, not sure what's going on there.
Hi! Check back in a few business days (about 3 days to be safe) and it should be settled.
Okay sounds good thank you!
This is a really great game! Cool premise, Switchback Worlds team!
Thanks! ^^ Feel free to join the Discord server to discuss the system or setting with me or other players!
Amazing!
Thank you! ^^