Atomic Robo Playtest?
- Thread starter Umbran
- Start date
Your friendly neighborhood lurker here.
I was lucky enough to get into the first round of play testing, and have been sticking with it ever since. While I am limited in what I can say about it I would be happy to answer questions to the best of my ability. First, the short version: the Atomic Robo RPG is being built on the yet unreleased Fate Core system. The primary designer is Mike Olson who was hand picked by the Atomic Robo people due to their interest in his work on the FATE edition of Kerberos Club.
Based on my experience thus far the game is coming together pretty solidly. The underlying Fate system has been streamlined, and smoothed out. Much of the design work has been focused on providing players with the tools to make the game elements with a few examples of each component. It is by far the lightest Fate iteration I have worked with, though I am not clear on how much it will grow before going to print. The system builds on the Fate by adding in a few thematic wrinkles to support the Atomic Robo feel. My favorite such wrinkle is the "Brainstorm" which allows players to compete to create a hypothesis about scientist nature of "the big bad" which can strongly influence play.
Another feature I like about the game is the "E-Z No Math Character Creation" which is a mode of play that allows players to basically start with a concept, a few skill sets (called modes) and start playing. Throughout play you actual develop the character as you learn more about them. This works great for the non-linear nature of Atomic Robo, because it allows you to say, "hey Jim isn't here tonight, so lets jump back thirty years and do an adventure where we learn the origin of Villain X. Who has some character ideas? Etc..."
I've collected a quick series of links that readers may find useful getting a gist for the game below:
Press Release
http://www.deadlyfredly.com/2012/01/atomic-robo-wears-the-evil-hat/
Interview on Critical Hits
http://critical-hits.com/2012/01/23/interview-atomic-robo-the-roleplaying-game/
Podcast Interview on BAMF
http://mikelaff.podbean.com/2012/01/24/atomic-robo-rpg/
Podcast Interview on Bear Swarm
http://www.bearswarm.com/episode-213-a-conversation-with-mike-olsen
Author's Website
http://spiritoftheblank.blogspot.com/
Publisher's Website
http://www.evilhat.com/
Edit: Fixed spelling of Mike's name, and fixed Bear Swarm Link
I was lucky enough to get into the first round of play testing, and have been sticking with it ever since. While I am limited in what I can say about it I would be happy to answer questions to the best of my ability. First, the short version: the Atomic Robo RPG is being built on the yet unreleased Fate Core system. The primary designer is Mike Olson who was hand picked by the Atomic Robo people due to their interest in his work on the FATE edition of Kerberos Club.
Based on my experience thus far the game is coming together pretty solidly. The underlying Fate system has been streamlined, and smoothed out. Much of the design work has been focused on providing players with the tools to make the game elements with a few examples of each component. It is by far the lightest Fate iteration I have worked with, though I am not clear on how much it will grow before going to print. The system builds on the Fate by adding in a few thematic wrinkles to support the Atomic Robo feel. My favorite such wrinkle is the "Brainstorm" which allows players to compete to create a hypothesis about scientist nature of "the big bad" which can strongly influence play.
Another feature I like about the game is the "E-Z No Math Character Creation" which is a mode of play that allows players to basically start with a concept, a few skill sets (called modes) and start playing. Throughout play you actual develop the character as you learn more about them. This works great for the non-linear nature of Atomic Robo, because it allows you to say, "hey Jim isn't here tonight, so lets jump back thirty years and do an adventure where we learn the origin of Villain X. Who has some character ideas? Etc..."
I've collected a quick series of links that readers may find useful getting a gist for the game below:
Press Release
http://www.deadlyfredly.com/2012/01/atomic-robo-wears-the-evil-hat/
Interview on Critical Hits
http://critical-hits.com/2012/01/23/interview-atomic-robo-the-roleplaying-game/
Podcast Interview on BAMF
http://mikelaff.podbean.com/2012/01/24/atomic-robo-rpg/
Podcast Interview on Bear Swarm
http://www.bearswarm.com/episode-213-a-conversation-with-mike-olsen
Author's Website
http://spiritoftheblank.blogspot.com/
Publisher's Website
http://www.evilhat.com/
Edit: Fixed spelling of Mike's name, and fixed Bear Swarm Link
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darjr
I crit!
http://www.evilhat.com/home/atomic-robo/
I just read my first AR comic yesterday and loved it, this sounds awesome
I just read my first AR comic yesterday and loved it, this sounds awesome
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If anyone has any questions about... anything, I'm happy to answer to the best of my ability.
Right now, I'm reformatting the playtest docs to get them ready for the editing process, plus plugging some gaps (large and small) in the manuscript. There's a very quick system for inventing/creating/building science-type stuff (technical term) that puts the emphasis on using that inventing/creating/building process for story fodder instead of a series of rolls and resource expenditures. I'm pretty pleased with it. The Modes, Skills, and Stunts chapter is getting some more stuff to make the default on-the-fly chargen easier and more user-friendly.
What else? Brian Clevinger is writing a whole whack of background content about the Robo-verse (I think he hates it when I call it that, but them's the breaks), and we're both contributing to a chapter focused on GM advice. I'm guessing we'll do the same with the chapter on multi-era play -- skipping back and forth from one era to another to play through the events of a decades-spanning story. There's going to be a random plot generator using the Fate Triangle. There will be a ton of canon character write-ups. And a lot of great Robo art from Scott Wegener.
Release date is going to be after the (totally bonkers) volume 8 but before volume 10, so Q1 2013. The physical book will be the same dimensions of a Robo TPB, so you can have them all hang out together on your shelf without it looking weird.
Right now, I'm reformatting the playtest docs to get them ready for the editing process, plus plugging some gaps (large and small) in the manuscript. There's a very quick system for inventing/creating/building science-type stuff (technical term) that puts the emphasis on using that inventing/creating/building process for story fodder instead of a series of rolls and resource expenditures. I'm pretty pleased with it. The Modes, Skills, and Stunts chapter is getting some more stuff to make the default on-the-fly chargen easier and more user-friendly.
What else? Brian Clevinger is writing a whole whack of background content about the Robo-verse (I think he hates it when I call it that, but them's the breaks), and we're both contributing to a chapter focused on GM advice. I'm guessing we'll do the same with the chapter on multi-era play -- skipping back and forth from one era to another to play through the events of a decades-spanning story. There's going to be a random plot generator using the Fate Triangle. There will be a ton of canon character write-ups. And a lot of great Robo art from Scott Wegener.
Release date is going to be after the (totally bonkers) volume 8 but before volume 10, so Q1 2013. The physical book will be the same dimensions of a Robo TPB, so you can have them all hang out together on your shelf without it looking weird.
If any of you guys are interested on how this game plays, My group played the playtest and posted it on our podcast. Give it a listen of you are interested.
Fandible Atomic Robo Actual Play
Fandible Atomic Robo Actual Play
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