#system overview

Cybercore-Revelation, by Xelsius @ Forward Lightning, & A Night of Possibilities, by Vinicius de Souza.

The Results Table.

The actual SRD document for Caltrop Core is rather concise, and that's because pretty much everything in the game revolves around the Result Table.

When you describe an action by beginning with the words "I want to…", you roll 1 or more d4's. Your result is determined by the highest roll, and each level of the result is different.

Absolute Failure - You don't get what you want; things get worse.

Partial Failure - You don't get what you want (but possibly gain a benefit).

Partial Success - You get what you want, but with a complication.

Absolute Success - You get what you want, and more.

This is the centre concept for Caltrop Core: once you know this, you can iterate on this as much or as little as you want! I think this is why Caltrop Core can be such a great option for a first time game-maker: you can add some flavor to the core roll, use some basic modifiers built into character creation, and you're good to go.

That being said, there's more layers that can exist in a Caltrop Core game if you want there to be. One way is how you get to the results listed in the table above, and the resolution tools available have some interesting options.

Let's take a look at some of the examples available in the deep deep pool of Caltrop Core games!

Full Moon Investigations, by Patchster0730, Party Animals, by Dani Belonia, & Ceremony in Shadow, by tlando.

Stat Pools.

The most common resolution method uses dice pools pulled from your PC stats. These stats often are built out of an array, and then modified by a character class or background, such as in Full Moon Investigators: in this game, you have Bark, Bite, Brains & Bullets. You assign a 1, 2, 3 and 4 to each, and then gain modifiers to certain stats in certain stages of the game, depending on the background that you take.

Alternatively, you can create your character from a number of different pieces, like the options available in Cybercore Revolution. Since this game has 12 Skills instead of just 3 or 4, you have an opportunity to build a more highly specialized character. Instead of choosing a single character class, you can build a character out of Traits, Vocations, & Specializations, allowing you to hone in on just a few abilities, or allow yourself a generalized advantage in as many as you can.

In Dead Armour, your character has a stat array, but they don't have any backgrounds to improve their skills. Instead, this game introduces an additional mechanic: Tokens.

Dead Armour, by tim zee, I'll Be Taking That, by porchlightdusk, & Ghost-Fi, by aghostofeli.

Tokens

Tokens are a form of player currency that can be spent in a number of different ways in Caltrop Core. In Dead Armour, tokens are currency earned through role-play in Downtime between scenes, that can then be spent to avert disaster or find some crucial resources.

Similarly, in Hexfall, tokens are used to adjust the outcome of a roll, provide a narrative boost, or activate character actions assigned to your character class.

In The Stars Will Not Go Out and Party Animals, players gain and spend tokens through various prompts, which then fuel their dice pools. These prompts are often tied to character backgrounds, allowing your character abilities to remain unique and specialized.

There's also a fun twist you can add to Caltrop Core games by adding another form of resolution or randomness: Cards.

Or4cle, by 1eona, Hexfall, by titanomachyrpg, & The Stars Will Not Go Out, by RJKGames.

Cards

In the SRD, Lex mentions that Caltrop Core can also accommodate other toys in its game design, such as playing cards or tarot cards. Cards are often a great way to add randomness into a game that allows the group to play without a GM, or to provide results that don't map onto a success/failure matrix. Here's a few examples of how designers have decided to include cards into their Caltrop Core creations.

Or4cle, by 1eona, is a game that combines the d4 rolls with tarot cards, which are used for character & story generation, and might allow the game to become GM-less in the process. The Major Arcana are used to determine the hook of a story: such as investigating someone's lover if you draw The Lovers card, or a world-ending threat if you draw The World. The Wands are used for plot twists, Cups for a patron, Swords for Antagonists, and Pentacles for rewards. When it comes to character generation, each of these decks are also used to give you details about your character, allowing randomness and interpretation to both have a role in the game.

Meanwhile, Ghost-Fi pairs a pack of playing cards with the dice to determine details that connect ghosts to the world around them. The suits are categories of Tethers: things that keep the ghost connected. The symbols on the cards can occasionally offer up unique encounters, such as increasing Spite - a corrupting currency that could affect your ghost's ability to cross over to the afterlife. Since Ghost-Fi can be played solo, these cards allow for unexpected obstacles to face your character, even if you don't have a GM to come up with NPCs and enemies to stand in your way.

Rat Guardian by FiloHazard, & Space Taxi, by gothHoblin.

The Playground.

All of the examples I've talked about so far are just a small taste of what you can do with Caltrop Core. The basic mechanic is very simple, which means that you as a designer can take a lot of ideas from other games that you like and weave them into the basic rules to create an incredibly unique and inventive game.

For example in I'll Be Taking That, you wager items from your goblin hoard (read: inventory) to increase the number of dice you roll. This replaces the stats, although it doesn't have a token economy like Party Animals.

In Hexfall, stats are not even included in character creation; you simply roll 3d4 for every interaction, but the rules change depending on the kind of encounter you face.

In Rat Guardian, players have to pair up: one Rat player for every Resident player. The game's pacing happens through a series of Beats, which involve goals that the guardian Rats need to work to help their fellow humans achieve. In order to achieve these beats, Rats and Residents can sometimes pool their dice in hope of increasing their odds.

Caltrop Core is an excellent option for folks who want a fairly easy-to-understand resolution system that can be modified to fit a broad number of genres. If you're a new designer who wants an easy system that will allow you to try your hand at this hobby, or if you're a designer who wants to play with a neat mechanic and watch it interplay with a basic system, you might want to check out Caltrop Core.

Let's take a look at a few more Caltrop Core games that might interest you!

FishBlade on a Bright Reef, by PlaceHead Here, is a game about FishBlades helping human souls escape a Reef and move on to the afterlife.

NIGHTHAWKS is a game about lonely people in a Diner, who have to make a choice between risking rejection or succumbing to isolation.

Magic Moth Island, by LeightonConnor, is a game about animals defending their magical island from human invaders.

Duat, by Deep Light Games, is a game about recently deceased souls overcoming trials in the afterlife.

OK See You, by Bebop Tabletop, is a game about immigrant families and convenience stores, inspired by shows like Kim's Convenience.

Wardens of the Sundered Realms, by Groovy Dad Games, is a game about beast hunters in the service of the High King.

Final Notes...

You can check out my folder of Caltrop Core games on Itch, if you want to see what I've found so far.

Powered by the Apocalypse is often described by its progenitor as a game philosophy more than a game system. If you want to learn about the ins and outs of Vincent Baker’s thoughts on this game philosophy, I recommend looking at his series of blog posts about the system, starting here.

There are a lot of things that can be housed within the family of PbtA games, but a game that advertises itself as Powered by the Apocalypse is probably going to have the following elements.

Moves

To do anything, PbtA games have a list of moves available to the whole party, and then certain moves specific to any given players. When you do something that fits the description of the move, you follow the move’s instructions.

Generally, this involves rolling 2d6 and adding a relevant modifier, somewhere between -1 and +3. The most common source of these modifiers comes from player stats, 3-5 player traits assigned to you during character creation that represent your strengths and weaknesses. These traits might be Cool, Sharp, and Hot, like in Apocalypse World, or Spirit, Wit and Heart, like in Thirsty Sword Lesbians, etc.

Other games use different sources of modifiers. In Apocalypse Keys, you’ll spend Tokens gained by roleplaying according to certain prompts, such as feeling lonely or forgotten. In Patchwork World, your modifiers depend on the moves your character takes. Can you become cats? When you burst into 1d6 cats, roll -CATS. Do you have Bee Resonance? You’ll roll +Stress marked.

Some moves might not even require you to roll dice - maybe you just have to use up a resource, or answer a question before that action happens.

Staggered Successes

PbtA games are not the only games to use this kind of metric, but they’re certainly the most well-known. When you roll dice in these kinds of games, there are generally three different kinds of results you can get: 7-9, 10 and higher, or 6 and below. Usually a 10 or higher allows something spectacular to happen, with a greater amount of narrative control given to the player. A 7-9 is partially successful: the player and GM will likely share narrative control. On a 6 or less, a significant amount of narrative control is given to the GM. 6 or less is usually seen as a turn for the worse, but what that turn looks like is dependant on the game and the genre.

What I like about these results is that regardless of the outcome, the results are meant to be narratively engaging, and push the story forward. Failing to sway the bartender doesn’t stop your plan in its tracks - it leads to the bartender calling forward security, or maybe calling you out on your shit. In a game like Last Fleet, these outcomes push the characters closer and closer to a meltdown. In Urban Shadows 1e, they encourage the characters to deal more intimately with favours and debt. Each outcome should propel you into another fraught situation.

Social Currency.

Having some kind of personal connection to other characters becomes a useful resource in many PbtA games. At the beginning of the game, you’ll answer leading questions that tie you to other characters, in both positive and negative ways. What exactly that personal connection is depends on the game.

In MASKS, your teenage superheroes have Influence over each-other. This Influence is either present, or it isn’t, but when it’s present, it can be spent to encourage other characters to follow your lead or your orders. In Blood Feud, you can look up to or down upon your fellow players, which will change the nature of how you interact with each-other. In Interstitial, you can spend Heart Links to improve your chances of success, adding modifiers to your roll.

I love these mechanics because they encourage the players to engage with each-other - and their interactions don’t have to always be positive either! Monster-Hearts expects your players to be at each-other’s necks just as often as they might be making out, for example.

Character Playbooks

Most, though not all, PbtA games have character playbooks - which may not feel like a novel thing, but it’s a big change for folks who are used to putting their character together from a list of options provided in a rulebook. Character playbooks usually provide all of the options for your specific character type on one page. You don’t choose from a big list: you choose a concept, and then select options from that concept.

Often concepts fill out tropes, such as the Git in Pigsmoke, or the Monstrous in Monster of the Week. These may come with pre-assigned stats, or ask you to assign certain stat values as you like. You’ll also choose playbook-specific moves, describe your character, and take note of special advances or forms of harm that may be incurred as you play. This harm might be physical, but it could just as easily be an emotional state, such as in Voidheart Symphony, where your character could become Angry, Callous or Scared.

What I like about this is that it can streamline character creation. If you’re a first-timer to PbtA you might need some guidance, but you can probably still knock out a character in under an hour. If you’re a veteran, you might be able to put a character together in a few minutes.

Collaborative World-building.

Any given PbtA game is usually inspired by a short list of media or some kind of genre. Brindlewood Bay is inspired by elderly lady detective fiction and eldritch horror. Sunset Kills is inspired by Buffy the Vampire Slayer and similar supernatural-teenager media. However, the specifics of what your group is doing still has to be determined by the group. This means that you’ll have to decide how you met, how you got here, and what the world around you is like.

For some games, like Legacy: Life Among the Ruins, the character choices you’ve made will determine facts about the end-of-the-world you live in. Did you pick titan-slayers? That means there’s titans walking around. Similarly in Comrades, if you pick the Propagandist, you have a newspaper or radio station as part of your rebellion.

I like about this because it affirms one of the core claims of PbtA: the game is a conversation. You begin your Session 0 sharing ideas as a group, with players having just as much say in the creation of the world as the GM. If you want to speed up the game, the GM may propose a setting to make things more specific. I’ve done this in the past with Wolf Hounds, which I wanted to make fit into my Monster Squad campaign last year.

However, even if the GM makes some decisions about the world, the choices the individual players will affect what parts of that world we’ll focus on. I feel like this experience gives a lot more agency to the players, so if you want to run a game but you don’t want to be responsible for everything that lands on the table, you might want to consider something Powered by the Apocalypse.

There are some elements of PbtA that can provide quite a bit of whiplash for new players. The game is very reactive, which means that it can be difficult for a traditional GM to figure out what to plan. Some games, like The Between, come with modules or adventures that can make it easier to ease into a GM-ing role. I’d also recommend checking out PbtA games that play in genres that both the GM and the group are very familiar with. If you like teenage superheroes, MASKS will probably be fairly easy to pick up. If you're familiar with found-footage horror, you might be more interested in Public Access.

I’ve talked about a number of PbtA games in the past. Let’s take a look at a few that I haven’t mentioned much.

City of Mist is a game by Son of Oak about ordinary people caught up in supernatural investigations as they grow to embody myths and legends.

Trespassers, by BoughandWave is a game about monsters in a wood - but you are not the scariest things in this forest.

Fight Item Run, by Whimsy Machine, is a game meant to replicate beloved video games about dungeons and magic.

A Monster's Tail, by Five Points Games, is an homage to monster catcher media, such as Pokemon, Digimon, and Jade Cocoon.

Agon by John Harper (mythic greek heroes) / Surge Protectors, by Sean Nittner (Transformers-inspired Earth defenders) / Chamber, by John Harper (super-secret agency dealing with an alien paranormal phenomenon)

Character Creation & Traits.

The names change depending on the setting, but each character has elements of themselves that are translated to different-sided die. In AGON, a character’s Epithet describes something about them that sets them apart from other heroes. In Surge Protectors, the Epithet is replaced by your Vehicle Form.

Characters also have Domains which represent areas of talent or expertise; these are broad categories that delineate different approaches the protagonist might take to solve a problem. In Endeavour, a sci-fi play-set inspired by Star Trek, these Domains are: Leadership & Negotiation, Science & Medicine, Operations & Engineering, and Strategy & Tactics. In CHAMBER, a play-set about sci-fi intrigue, these Domains are Advanced Systems, Applied Dynamics, Human Factors and Noetic Vectors. When choosing these domains, one Domain will be favoured, and the size of the die will increase from a d6 to a d8.

What changes the most might be the category called Divine Favour in AGON. I’d describe this category as the special genre-appropriate ways that your characters may be differentiated by each-other. In AGON Divine Favor reflects the blessings of various gods for your characters. But this could also represent different personal strengths, alliances with various civilizations, special weapons or subsystems, and so much more. The number of options here also varies, depending on what’s thematically appropriate - in AGON, since there are many Greek Gods, you can choose from the most commonly listed, or choose to gain Divine Favour with a minor god, as long as you can determine what special strengths that god can give you.

You’ll also create bonds between each player, a relationship that can be used during times of conflict and can represent the connections between the members of the party. If you use a Bond with another character, you can add a copy of their Name dice to your dice pool.

All of these pieces of your character, from their Name, Title, Domain, to their special mechanic, provide an extra dice to roll. Depending on the nature of the trait, the dice size will be larger or smaller, and you can increase the size of the die as your character gains a legacy, a reputation, or an increase in skill. From there, we move on to the Trial.

Believe It! by Evan Bucholz (apprentice mages) / Deathmatch Island, by Tim Renee ( deadly game show ) / Rising Tide by Dan Brown ( eco-justice rebellion)

Trials.

Any given conflict in a PARAGON game results in something called a trial - a single-roll dice mechanic that determines the actions and outcomes for everyone involved. This trial can be combative, but it doesn’t have to be - all participants may be competing against each-other, or some participants may facing against others.

When a trial is announced, the table has a conversation about what they want to accomplish, and how they want to approach the problem. The Strife Player, who has a role close to a GM role in PARAGON, will determine which of the four Domains matches the group’s approach. All participants must use the same Domain. The Domain chosen will determine which dice each player will roll.

For most trials, the Strife Player will embody an opposing force, often (but not always) an antagonist. To begin the trial, they will roll the dice associated with the antagonists’ dice pool, often a number of dice associated to Names, and descriptive traits, such as Monstrous, Deceptive, etc. Antagonists can often have higher dice than PC’s, or special abilities that grant them extra dice to roll.

The Strife Player rolls the antagonizing dice pool before any of the players, and locate the single highest dice. They will add a modifier based on Strife, which represents the current conflict, and use the result to define the target number for the contest. Players will then pick up their Domain dice. They will also have the opportunity to add to their dice by using thematically appropriate elements of their character sheet. This might be an alliance that is useful to you, a reputation you have, a relationship, or using a special resource to add a second Domain of yours to your dice pool.

If you don’t think your character would participate, or if you’d rather contribute in another way, your character can choose to sit out and provide support to another player. Your Domain die is added to your ally’s dice pool, and you earn a Bond with that player.

Once everyone has assembled their dice pools, the party all rolls. Each player adds the two highest dice, not counting d4’s, and then add the results of any d4s that were rolled. This is their player’s highest result.

If your character’s highest result is equal to or greater than the target number, you succeed. The highest total of the group is the best, and gains an extra reward. If a character’s total is less that the target number, they suffer, and potentially fail to contribute to victory. At least one character has to succeed for the group to clear the trial.

After - and only after - all of the rolls have been made and documented, the group can narrate how the conflict played out.

The Good, The Bad, & The Glory, by V2S Games (wild west vigilantes looking for revenge) / Storm Furies, by John Harper (stormcraft fighter pilots patrolling the solar system)

The Narration.

After the rolls, each player takes a turn narrating the actions and consequences that affect their character during the trial. The results of the roll determine whether or not your character fails or succeeds, but how they fail or succeed is still up to you. Depending on what you use in building your dice pool, you may have some clues as to what your scene looks like - if your character is known to be quick-witted, you might include a detail that shows how they use their wits to react, or if they have a relationship that they lean on, you might describe how they depend on a memory of an intimate moment to give them strength.

The player who does the best will likely get to describe what they do to deal the final blow, or clear the obstacle fully. A player who fails may describe what they attempt to do, and also how they fall short. Finally, a player who chooses to provide support instead of roll can describe what they do to boost a teammate.

Ares Ascendant, by cosmicbeagle (Martian colonists building a community) / Endeavour by Armiger Games (Star-Trek inspired voyages among the stars) / Ronin, by Hendrik ten Napel (rejected samurai trying to regain their honour)

The Extras

There’s a few extra pieces that fill out a session of a PARAGON game. This includes mechanics called Glory, Pathos, Fate and Boons.

Glory is meant to represent your reputation, or legend - what you’ll be remembered for. In Ares Ascendant, this is your Renown, which determines how much weight your character’s political views will have in the Martian colony that you are attempting to establish.

Pathos is a resource that can be spent to give you an advantage, but pushes you closer to Agony, which is meant to represent an ending for your character, and probably an unhappy one. Whenever you enter Agony, you mark a point of Fate; your track that determines how long your character’s story lasts. In Ronin, which is a play-set which is about shamed samurai attempting to regain their honour, Pathos & Agony are relabelled into Perseverance and Suffering, while Fate is called Karma.

Boons are another measure of character improvement, gained when you reach specific marks on your Fate track, as well as whenever your crew reaches specific milestones applicable to your play-set. These boons usually involve increasing the size of one your dice, or adding another resource from which to pull dice. Advanced boons may give you benefits when you act in a supportive role, or allow you to roll extra dice on special rolls. In Rising Tide, the play-set of global eco-justice, the Fate track is replaced by Dedication, and Boons are simply called advances.

Vatborn to Kill, by Adam Schwaninger (sci-fi military in an unending war) / Sea Kings, by Luke Edgemon (magical pirates)

Final Thoughts

One of the strengths I think the PARAGON system carries is the way it flips the pattern of play, allowing players to roll the dice before they describe what they do. This can be immensely useful for folks who are newer to role-play, as it allows them to play strategically and then build up a story based off of the pieces they choose to engage with.

If you decide that your character is sturdy, crafty, and good with tools, you’ll probably choose a lot of traits and abilities to describe that. Then, when you enter a contest, you can pull from those abilities, and decide how they come into play after you roll. This means that creativity isn’t required in order to play effectively; instead it can be learned, and filled in after you know whether or not you achieved success.

Now for a few final recommendations!

Aria of Extinction, by Greg Soper, is a game about mech pilots fighting post-apocalyptic monsters.

Starbones, also by Greg Soper, is a game about mystical pirates looking for treasure.

Ruins of Doom, by Matteo Sciutteri, is reminiscent of OSR fantasy dungeon crawlers, meant to be low-magic and full of brutality.

Baka Mitai, by ¡Hipólita!, is a city-pop, Yakuza-inspired playset about trying to survive in the entertainment district of Tokyo.

Odyssey Aquatica, by Old Dog Games, is a 1960's oceanographic playset about conducting research and rescue operations out on the open sea.

You can see my full PARAGON collection on Itch.io here!

I don’t think it’s a secret that I’m a big fan of Forged in the Dark games. I’ve sung the praises of games like Brinkwood, Slugblaster and The Wildsea time and time again, and I’m even designing my own FitD hack! So let’s talk about what makes this system tick.

The Action Roll

The core mechanic of Forged in the Dark games is the Action Roll. To do most things in these games, the player will have to assemble a small pool of d6s. These dice may come from skills, special abilities, inventory - it depends on the game, but you’ll usually have somewhere between 0 and 4d6 to roll.

When you roll, you look for the single highest dice (or multiple highest, if you manage to get two 6s). If your best result is a 1-3, you’re not going to get what you want. If your best result is a 4/5, you’ll probably get a success with a cost - whether that be harm, only part of what you want, or more trouble down the road. If you get a single 6, you do it - and if you get multiple 6s, you do it well!

What I like about this is that it’s easy to tell at a glance how well you do, and that the dice used for this system are the most accessible dice on the market. Not only that, the possibilities of a 4/5 are quite broad - you could have a consequence that is physical harm to the character, but you could also embarrass them, break their stuff, or just hint at bad things to come!

But Mint, how do you roll 0d6? Well, in particularly difficult scenarios, the player will roll 2d6 and take the lowest number instead. This originates from the progenitor of Forged in the Dark games, Blades in the Dark, which is meant to be particularly difficult and punishing.

Position & Effect

Another core mechanic of FitD games is Position & Effect. These are narrative tools that help the GM communicate to the players how dangerous the proposed plan of action is, as well as how likely the characters are to succeed.

Position is going to be Controlled, Risky or Desperate, indicating how much danger the characters are in, but also the stakes of failure. Failing a Controlled roll means you’re probably going to get out of there with minimal harm, or possibly a chance to try again. Failing a Desperate roll means that shit is going to hit the fan, and you’re going to be caught up in all of it. Risky rolls are somewhere in the middle, and considered the "standard" difficulty.

Effect is a metric for how successful your character is going to be. Picking a lock might not be dangerous, but if your character isn’t a thief and doesn’t have any lock-picks, they might not be very effective! Players can alter the effectiveness of their actions by changing how they go about solving a problem, using the gear they have on hand, or agreeing to approach the problem from a more desperate Position.

What I like about this is that Position & Effect encourage conversation and agency between the GM and the players. The players have final say over what they do, but the GM is able to communicate why they feel certain approaches may be more or less effective. The story is generative, and the way the rolls are adjudicated allow all of the parties to contribute to what happens next.

The Resistance Roll

Related to this conversation about agency is the Resistance Roll. If a player doesn’t like the consequence that the GM hands out, they can choose to Resist the consequences. They usually do this by rolling a certain number of resistance dice, and spending a player resource called Stress. (Other games use other names.) Depending on the consequence, the player might resist it outright or reduce the severity, but spend too much stress and you run into different kinds of consequences - whether that be Trauma (Blades), Trouble at Home (Slugblaster) or something unlucky (Antiquarian Adventures). Stress can be managed during a phase typically called Downtime, through various activities dependant on the setting.

I like this mechanic not just because it gives players agency, but also because of the Stress track tied to it. This is a player resource but it can also be a track pointing a change in the character, a chance to build in narrative themes, or a reason to role-play certain narrative effects. Many different FitD games use Stress in a number of unique ways, and I think tweaking this element can do a lot to determine the tone of the game.

Crew Sheets

This leads to the next bit of Forged in the Dark games that I really like - Crew Sheets. Similar to a number of other narrative games, FitD has character playbooks (which are kind of like character classes in D&D, but also are a carryover from PbtA games - I’ll talk about them more in the PbtA post), but Forged in the Dark games also have a uniting theme that gives your players a reason to work together.

In Neon Black, this is your local community, which both takes care of you and asks you for favours. In Moth-Light, this is your Pact, which determines not just your group’s goal, but also the tone and themes of your story. In Brinkwood, this is your Rebellion and the Faerie patron who is taking care of you - but it’s also the Mask playbooks that all of the players share, with special magical powers that help you fight Vampires.

Modular Systems

There are bits and pieces that also exist in FitD games that help define the experience. Clocks, for example, are abstract representations of looming consequences or player goals, and allow you to work towards a big pay-off over time. Factions can represent a changing social landscape, with friends and foes that you can turn to for help or strike out against in order to gain ground. Harm can alter how many dice you roll, or how effective you are when acting. These are interlocking pieces, but they’re not necessarily required.

Most of what I’ve covered in this post is not strictly necessary for a Forged in the Dark game. The Wildsea doesn’t use Stress or pre-set playbooks. Protect the Child doesn’t use Trauma. Scum & Villainy adds a Gambit mechanic that gives you extra ways to earn dice. Slugblaster changes how you Resist consequences, and External Containment Bureau moves the Clock mechanic to the front and centre, while doing away with Factions pretty much altogether. All of these games have enough pieces to be considered Forged in the Dark, but the play experience is very different, and each mod included, altered or dropped are usually choices that support the genre or tone of the game.

I’ve talked about a number of Forged in the Dark games in the past, but here’s a few more that I’ve got my eyes on.

Dusk Academy, by Skullery Maids, is a game about a private school for teaching magic to girls.

CRASH/CART, by Galen Pejeau, is a game about paramedics in a near-future California.

a|state, by Handiwork Games, is a game set in a strange and Dickensian city.

Girl By Moonlight, by Evil Hat, is a game about magical girls, mech pilots, and other larger-than-life characters.

There is a good list of Forged in the Dark games on the Blades website, and I've also got a Forged in the Dark collection on Itch.io!

If you are looking to make your own game, John Harper has released the Game SRD on the BitD website. These rules are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) license, which means that you can create your own games using this system as long as you give appropriate credit to Harper.

LUMEN is a game system originating from Spencer Campbell of GilaRPGs, for use in his game LIGHT. It has gained popularity over the past few years due to its ability to replicate fast, powerful combat, and a simple set of rules.

As a disclaimer, I haven’t played any LUMEN games yet (although I really really want to give NOVA a go). What I have seen is a consistent amount of high-quality, exciting games being released over the past few years using the LUMEN system. The SRD is only 13 pages long, and the pieces are simple enough to pick up, re-mix, and turn into something engaging, which makes LUMEN a great option for new game designers - especially since the designer really wants to see what people are making with this toolkit.

So, let’s talk about some of the pieces that make up this game.

Attributes as Approaches

LUMEN gives your characters 3 stats that define how they approach an obstacle, rather than defining a specific skill. You’ll have something for raw power, one for quickness and speed, and one for precision and details. Your characters are expected to be professionals, the best of the best. Of course they know how to fight - this a power fantasy, after all. By focusing on an approach rather than a list of skills, these stats are also flexible: if you are using your raw power, you could open a door, swing a sword, or pull someone back from a ledge.

Depending on the game you’re using, the names for your approaches may differ. In Hedge, your approaches include Might, Sleight and Bright. In LOOM, these are re-tooled into Passion, Fleetness and Serenity.

This way of building a character is very good for players who may not want to juggle a number of different values in their head, and keeps the table focused on what the battle looks like more than anything else. It also makes a statement on what kinds of actions your characters don’t need to bother rolling for. No perception checks, minimal social obstacles, and don’t bother doing a memory check in this system. In LUMEN, you’re here to kick ass.

Dice Pools & Staggered Success

The number attached to your selected approach determines how many dice you roll to do an action. The highest number rolled is the only result you need to focus on.

Similar to Blades in the Dark and Powered by the Apocalypse, LUMEN uses a series of staggered successes. However, unlike the previous two games, success is a little more likely - 2/3 of the time, you’ll succeed. On a 1-2, the action failed with a consequence. On a 3-4, the action succeeds with a complication. On a 5-6, the action succeeds, no problems in sight. The difference in probability compared to Blades is one decision that indicates how powerful your characters are; they’re less likely to fail on any given roll.

To add a layer of complexity, you can include specific scenarios that determine how many dice you roll. For example, in Apocalypse Frame, there is a difference between rolling while inside or outside of your mech. When outside of your mech, a character subtracts 1 dice from their dice pool, and when attacking with your mech, you use a number attached to your Armament, rather than your Attributes. There are also character class abilities that may give you extra dice, such as the Ancient Technique ability attached to the Ancient class in Deathless. These abilities will only give you extra dice in very specific situations.

Character Classes

One thing is common among all three of the systems that I’ve talked about this week and that’s pre-packaged character abilities. LUMEN doesn’t use playbooks though, possibly because the characters are so lightweight that they wouldn’t take up that much space on a piece of paper.

Your class will come with special moves, abilities or gear that sets you apart, and will likely also define your play style. In Black Hole Era, for example, you are spaceships with system arrays and weapon bays. A Warlord ship has powerful long-range particle beams, while an Inquisitor ship has the ability to teleport or turn invisible.

That being said, you don’t have to use character classes with this system. In Wild Duelist, the game presents the character options as either a static stat build, from which you choose a few different options, or a character life path, in which you roll randomly to determine your heritage, weapons, approach scores and special powers.

Your character powers will usually come with a few important pieces of information: how they affect the field of play, what their range is, and how much it will cost you to use them. You do not roll to use your powers: you are powerful characters, and when you choose to do something cool, it works. In some games, your powers can be get more powerful as your character advances, or have tags added to increase range or damage dealt. Because LUMEN is meant to replicate combat-heavy video games, it also is designed to replicate the ability to customize your character to match the combat style that you prefer.

Room to Add Complexity

The LUMEN system is quick and only has a few core pieces, but there’s plenty of room to add more complexity in order to incorporate factions, long campaigns, and special details.

In Emblems of Their Dying Breaths, characters dig into dungeons that are procedurally-generated using a deck of playing cards. .brawl centres its combat on a map, using miniatures to help your players strategize as they fight in a cyberpunk arena. Clean-Up Crew diversifies the resources needed to pay for special powers, making enemy drops more interesting - and more necessary, if you’re going to find the specific resource you need.

The original designer is also updating and re-designing LUMEN, with the plans to release a LUMEN 2.0 SRD that does away with dice, health, and a few other pieces. You can check out some of his design thoughts on his YouTube channel, and take a peek at how this new version of LUMEN will play out in his game DUSK.

Meanwhile, let’s talk about some more games in the LUMEN series that I have yet to highlight on this blog.

Brawl City is a Street-Fighter game, still in development.

Dust is a game about surviving in a post-apocalyptic world, inspired by works such as The Book of Eli, and 9.

Photon is a two-player game about fighting a Singularity trying to consume the world.

paktbound is inspired by Dishonored and shackles your characters to a Stranger who sends them on heists in a rotten world.

If you want to check out more LUMEN games, there's a compiled list of games kept by Spencer Campbell, as well as a LUMEN collection that I'm adding games to as I find them.