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I had a discussion with a friend and game designer about a new mechanic for Constellation Cards, which replaces the vague and nebulous “challenge” concept. It’s intended to be a very simple framing for how to handle success vs. failure in any RPG, but the discussion brought up other topics I want to hash out as well.
For the Queen is a collaborative card-driven game about the retinue of a certain Queen, and how they feel about her, each other, and themselves. The gist of the game is that while the Queen can be kind, she is also capable of some pretty awful acts, and it’s about your relationship with a person with power over you.
Sounds like Doctor Who to me! So what did I do with it?
Over the weekend, I got to playtest Constellation Cards at a small local gaming event. The results were pretty good! I think the biggest problems actually came from my own failure to use my prep.
But I upheld one promise. “This game will be unlike anything you play here.”
I made a lot of progress on the game recently. This includes finishing up work on an optional deck: City construction. A new addition as of tonight is a set of Personality cards.
The idea is that you deal a set of Neighborhood cards to represent different parts of the city, then Dynamic cards to connect them. The goal is to create a city that will serve as a good basis for drama.
I’ve been working on Constellation Cards (formerly “flip-a-card”, my branding is crap) for the better part of 6 years. Recently, some positive encouragement motivated me to bring it back to life and try to get it ship-shape.
You can try the Tabletop Simulator version of the game by subscribing to Constellation Cards on Steam.
I want to talk about the technical aspects of how I created the cards in their current form, and what my next steps are for the game.
The Quantum Ogre is a concept in TTRPG encounter design. The basic idea is that the game facilitator has decided the PCs will encounter an ogre, and regardless of what choices they make or which paths they take, they will encounter an ogre.
There are debates about whether this is good or not, and I’ll leave those to other people. Instead I want to look at how to put this power in player hands, because players can be excited about things happening, only for them not to happen because of how the facilitator has structured things. What if we could reward player excitement, and take some of the weight of encounter design off the shoulders of one player?
Most classes and jobs are associated with specific weapons or armor, listed below. Defense stats are a combined total based on armor and typical weapon(s).
Casters use implements instead, described elsewhere. Casters typically wear heavy robes (defense 1, soak 0).
Second-tier talents for experienced characters.
Here’s a sample character: Ardbert, a young Marauder on a mission. He is a natural, compulsive hero, and can’t stop helping people, even when it puts him in danger.
These are the magical implements (Genesys p. 218) used by different classes and jobs in the game.
Codex or Grimoire: used in conjunction with the arcanist’s tradition. When Conjuring a companion from aether, you automatically receive the Summon Ally effect at no extra difficulty. The creature stays summoned until you dismiss it, and you need not use the concentrate maneuver to sustain it. Encumbrance 1, Price 750, Rarity 5.
Rod: used in conjunction with black magic. When using a rod to cast offensive magic, ignore the penalties imposed by the first Range modifier, and boost base damage by 4. Encumbrance 2, Price 400, Rarity 3.
Wand or Cane: used in conjunction with white magic. When using a wand or cane, Divine Only effects are one less difficulty than normal. Healing spells also restore two more wounds than normal. Encumbrance 2, Price 400, Rarity 5.
This is an early draft of how soul crystals and jobs might work. This material is probably subject to change.
Soul crystals are small, aetherically-charged crystals carried by character in a way that harmonizes body and soul, and brings the wisdom and power of past wielders of the crystal. When someone with the Soul Crystal Attunement talent holds a soul crystal for a Job they’ve unlocked (e.g. Paladin), they gain the benefits of the talent.
First-tier talents for new characters.
A list of racial archetypes for the typical Eorzean races - Elezen, Hyur, Lalafell, Miqo’te, and Roegadyn.
I’m building the racial archetypes for the game, starting with the five playable races: Elezen, Hyur, Lalafell, Miqo’te, and Roegadyn. I also started with the 2.x classes (including Rogue). I haven’t started on talents or magic yet, but I know where I want to go, at least. And I know about jobs. So what does all this look like, and what do I think is coming next?
More on the way soon!
These are the careers available for starting characters. These are not the final “jobs” (e.g. Paladin, Black Mage, Scholar) - those will be introduced in a separate post.
What skills are we able to use? What skills are we changing?
The following magical skills exist, and use the optional rules for magic from the Genesys core book (p. 210). All skills can use the “Attack” and “Utility” magical actions.
The next post will build these skills into careers, and talk about soul crystals.
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I love the world of Final Fantasy XIV. I’ve been playing it for years, and for all that time, the story has continued to be interesting, with twists and turns and shocks and surprises, but always rooted in an essential humanity and goodness. Even the latest expansion, “Shadowbringers”, casts you as the Warrior of Darkness - but Dark is not Evil.
How best to bring this to the gaming table? I’ve talked about the Genesys system before, and I feel like its mixture of mechanical and narrative systems is a good mix for FFXIV. I don’t want something tied to the Dungeons & Dragons universe, and I don’t want to create something too far gone or too unique for gamers.
So I’m going to start writing “Quarto Decimo Novum”, an adaption of the FFXIV universe for Genesys. This is a fan-produced project only, and will not be sold or marketed in any way. I think both Fantasy Flight Games and Square Enix have produced great products, and if you feel the need to spend money, spend it with them.