Converting FAL to Adventure Perilous

Howdy all.

So, I feel like Adventure Perilous is by far the best set of rules I have written (for me personally). I feel like all of my rules writing up to this point has been to get to this place of simplicity and elegance. While the existing rules for FAL are rules-lite after having spent years with them I am looking for something even lighter, something that anyone can pick up and play in just a few minutes. This is why I am converting FAL to Adventure Perilous. 

In playtests with Adventure Perilous, even people who had never played a game prior were able to quickly learn the rules and get to playing in a very short period of time. And honestly, at this point in life, that's what I am interested, playing a game, having a good time, and not giving much of a care about the rules. Rules are boring (although I do love reading rules), stories are not. 

I wanted a set of rules that provided guidelines and let the action unfold without worry about the minutiae. 

Make it as you go. 

Sandbox. 

As long as the fictional universe has a set of physics and that set of physics makes sense and adheres to itself, I'm good with it. And I get it, this may not be for everyone but whatever. I'm making FAL for me. It's a lifelong project and I'm tired of rules and mechanics. I want to build a massive universe full of monsters and worlds and stories. And, after about 8 years working on the project, that's where it is. 

Everything up to now has been getting a feel for the beast that I want FAL to be. So, I'm going to convert it to simple rules and make a huge book and build a bunch of cool stuff. I'm writing stories and a podcast and making art and languages. 

That's what's up.

Adventure Perilous Kickstarter Launch (and funded!)

 

Big news! The Adventure Perilous Kickstarter launched this morning (August 1st) and funded in just a couple of hours. Super excited to see where the project goes from here. Thank you to everyone who has already backed the project. I've kept prices low and added lots of goodies that are included with most backer levels (all goodies relate directly to playability of the game - no extraneous rewards). I hope you can check out the project! 

Adventure Perilous RPG on Kickstarter

Adventure Perilous RPG Print Book First Look

 So, to my amazement, I received the prof copies of Adventure Perilous today and thought I would do a quick post with some lousy photos showing off the book. Remember, the Kickstarter launches August 1st and you can signup for the prelaunch here. 

Let's begin! 

Here is the cover of the paperback version of Adventure Perilous. In fact, all of these images are from the paperback version. However, the book is available in hardcover as well.

Looking at the sections on Advancement and Legacy.

Couple pages from the monster's section. 

Quick look at the dungeon's section of the book.

And here is the back cover with a lovely glare. 

So, I'm happy with the way the book looks although I will need to spend some time with it. I had concerns that perhaps their might be too much ink on a page (as I am used to laying things out with minimal background. However, it feels and looks pretty good. If you are familiar with DTRPG's print-on-demand books then you have a good idea of what the quality is. I do think, because it is a smaller book (page count wise), it makes it a bit less awkward (as I have printed 350+ page books in 5.5x8.5 and it gets a bit awkward using the book). 

Ill be posting a video walkthrough of the entire book in the next couple of days!

- Dirk

 

 

 

Adventure Perilous RPG Quick Start Rules

As the Adventure Perilous RPG Kickstarter launch date of August 1st approaches (be sure to sign up notifications via the prelaunch page) I wanted to out together a bit of a teaser to give folks a feel for Adventure Perilous, So, I have worked up a small brochure-style version of the Adventure Perilous RPG. Now you can download the Quick Start Rules and take a look at how Adventure Perilous feels and plays. While these rules are super condensed, they are playable and provide the basics of the game. In the Quick Start Rules you will find...

• Basic Mechanics of Play
• Character Creation (along with three Heritages)
• Gear
• Magic
• Monsters
• Treasure
• Combat

Two versions are available for free below.

Adventure Perilous Quick Start Rules (full-color version)

Adventure Perilous Quick Start Rules (print friendly version)

A Consolidation of Sorts

 Greetings!

So, you may notice that the blog has undergone some massive changes. For the last several years I have been running (or attempting to manage) multiple blogs for various games I have made. That has proved to be unwieldy, unfun, and unproductive. So, that has come to an end and everything has been simplified and condensed into a single blog for all of Simian Circle Games products. And that is what the new blog is all about. No more separate blogs. Now you can find Far Away Land, Mere Anarchy and the upcoming Adventure Perilous all under one roof! 

More changes are coming, more content is being added. 

(I should've done this a long time ago.)

Dirk

Adventure Perilous Kickstarter Prelaunch!

 

Kickstarter Prelaunch Page

Adventure Perilous is a rules-lite tabletop role-playing game with an 8-bit aesthetic. The game is built on the Mere Anarchy Engine (available to download for free here) with some slight adjustments and modifications.  Adventure Perilous has an easy to learn set of rules and uses only d6s. The system is streamlined and elegant and welcoming to those who are new to role-playing games while also offer unique modular mechanics and systems that veteran gamers will find interesting. For example...

• Combat uses a simple mechanic composed of 2d6 vs a target number based on Difficulty. These target numbers remain constant at all times so players know if a situation is Easy they will need to roll a 6 or better while a situation that is Hard will require a 10 or better.

• Magic in Adventure Perilous is freeform with spells using single word descriptors and effects to create the base definition of the spell. Spells are later fleshed out with specific stats like duration and range and can change depending on situations.

• Classes use single word descriptors, skills, and heritages to create a mass of opportunities for players to make nearly any type of character they want with only a handful of words describing the class. The Class bonus derived from the description allows player characters to be unique and interesting.

In addition to the core of the game, Adventure Perilous also uses unique modular systems for things such as oracles, treasure, building dungeons, legacy characters, between adventures, and NPC and monster generation. Players and GMs can use these modular systems as they see fit, taking or leaving as needed. Essentially, many of these modular systems act as mini games which can be woven into play.

Character creation in Adventure Perilous allows players to use the Class system as described above to build interesting characters that do not require huge lists of skills and stats to define them. Character creation is fast and flexible and provides a simple system to quickly and easily build characters even if you aren't familiar with role-playing games.

The artwork in the game, as you can see in the images above, is all done in an old school 8-bit style. The book is colorful and fun with elements of humor. In the tradition of pixel art, much of the artwork is iconic and meant to help players get an idea for the content while allowing their imaginations to fill in the blanks (those missing pixels).

Sign up to be notified when the project launches! Kickstarter Prelaunch Page

Mere Anarchy Adventure Awesome!

So, Mere Anarchy, at least the core of what I wanted to put out, is mostly done in its raw (I say raw here because the formatting and design is minimal - although it is not truly raw) but accessible form. The game is available for free here and at this point is available in multiple languages, at least the core rules (however, all of the Mere Anarchy books have been translated to Portuguese). 

Over the last few days I have been thinking about the aesthetic of the game, the black and white simplified layout and art, the do it yourself feel, and while I think it works fine (and that was the intial goal, to get the work out and get it into hands), I am wanting to go in a new direction that I feel is a bit more fitting for the game. What I have decided on is a retro gaming look, sort of like the old Nintendo Power Magazines from the '80s and '90s, or the manuals that came with NES games. 

While I didn't have a subscription to Nintendo Power as a kid, it was on my radar and somehow I was able to read and keep up with what was going on. I know I had friends who brought their magazines to school and somehow I had issues (usually random) laying around. Looking in those pages was this sense of awe, discovering how to beat a boss or looking at a map from The Legend of Zelda or Metroid and seeing that world from a bird's eye view was just awesome. Seeing all of the hidden areas and secrets in those ultra colorful pages was inspiration to my young mind and sent it running in so many directions. Reading one of those magazines was like gaining entry into this secret and exclusive world of kids in the know. And seeing pixel art and pixel maps and characters and sprite sheets still creates this sense of joy and inspiration in me today. There is an elegance in pixel art, where everything is as it should be. There is also this sense in leaving so much up to the viewer's imagination that I really love. Let the viewer fill in the empty pixels. So, with that inspiration and all of that nostalgia being said. I am putting together an 8-bit inspired version of Mere Anarchy.

I wanted to post a teaser as a sort of proof of concept of what the finished thing would look like. The idea is to effectively emote that retro (at this point is it even retro?) 8-bit sense which feels incredibly fitting for Mere Anarchy. All of the artwork, characters, monsters, weapons, maps, dungeons, etc. will be pixel art. In future posts I will take a look at some of the tools I am using to make this process a bit easier and more effective as pixel art can be an incredibly tedious and timely affair. For now there is this page to give a sense of what the game will ultimately look like.

This is a project I am ridiculously excited about as it is pulling so many different things I love together. More coming soon!