Gaming Monk Review

#ttRPG, #Tabletop, #Monastery, #TTJRPG, #FabulaUltima, #RoosterEma, #ConsoleRPG, #FinalFantasy, #NeedGames
The premiere meeting of TTRPG and "JRPG" (according to pundits) arrives in my temple. Will I gush about it? or will I venture off the beaten path?
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[@MildraTheMonk671]

For anyone who is tempted to say that "there's plenty of examples" with the narrative blank checks, that is a deflection. A list of examples does little to help newcomers become seasoned, something that I consistently champion.

[@DarkKnightCuron]

Leaving a comment for the algorithm, but also to say that Im also reading through this book, and Ill probably have more to say when I finish reading it this weekend. At first glance, I agree: I like whats here, but I need more of it. I definitely want to try this game out at some point.

[@quickanddirtyroleplaying]

While I find the group initiative check to be the clunkiest way of determining which side goes first, I do like the popcorn initiative approach when mixed in with alternating turns between one PC go, then the NPC enemy, then another PC, and so on. That way, actions feel more simultaneous than simply having one side go before the other. Since the next turn goes to the opposing side, tactics are more focused on what is immediately happening and how many resources remain before the end of the round (the resources being the PCs that haven't acted yet). This also incentivizes the players to pay more attention to things going on when it's not their turn in combat, because any player who hasn't acted yet can go next on the PC turn in order to save the day. I definitely dig that more than having a static turn order throughout the entire fight. Another thing I kind of feel let down on is that armor isn't damage reduction. For a game attempting to emulate JRPG tropes, that seems to run counter to that and it feels very D&D-like in that respect (with Armor Class). Furthermore, since a big part of damage involves the high roll, when attacks do land on high-defense targets, they're always heavy hits! I think a possible alternative to armor as is for armor to provide two separate pool of hit points that a character can divert damage to: one for physical damage and one for magic damage. In that respect, armored characters can take more hits against a particular damage type instead of simply being able to avoid hits simply because they're wearing higher armor. Heavier armor can also make someone easier to hit, but those would provide substantially more bonus physical hit points than, say, magically-endowed robes meant to stave off more magic damage while also not hindering the wearer's capacity to avoid getting hit.

[@MildraTheMonk671]

As romanticized as popcorn initiative is, it's harder to do in VTT. Some may not have that issue, but that is not an assumption I can make. As for providing an "Armor HP", I don't think that's a good idea when you're already having players manage Hit Points, Magic Points, Initiative Points, and Fabula Points already.

[@CitanulsPumpkin]

The setting complaint is mitigated by the fact that the game places equal emphasis on group character creation and group world building. Each player is supposed to make their PC's home town. Each player is supposed to say something about the evil expansionist anti magic pro tech empire that's trying to conquer the world. Each player is supposed to come up with the species of mount their PC rides. The DM is supposed to take all these elements and blend them while also laying down basic ground rules. Is the setting High, Tech, or Nature Fantasy? Are there beast drawn carts, Mad Max death races, or is the ground gone and the entire campaign takes place on floating islands and sky cities? Do we start with the group Airship, or do we get it at level 20 or so? Do wagons have wheels, or are the tiny airships that float 2 feet off the ground like in FFXIV? Are we doing a Studio Ghibli/Ni No Kuni story about children getting lost in the woods or spirit realm while never actually suffering harm, or are we doing a Final Fantasy Tactics style retelling of War of the Roses where one PC gets framed for the murder of the king and goes to prison for twelve years in their prologue while another PC's prologue is just the gruesome death of their sibling? Do slimes look like blue turds with smiley faves or like globs of oooze? Basically if you played more than 3 JRPGs released between the release of Final Fantasy 1 and the rebirth of Final Fantasy 14 you have enough points of inspiration to throw out a few good world building elements that your group will like. The great thing about Fabula Ultima is that if you want to use it to play a hard core Shakespearean tragedy set in Ivalice you can. If you want to fight Rufus Trump, president of the Shinra Electric company of Midgar you can. If you want to play the destined Warriors of Light collecting the 4 elemental mcguffins that will seal away the evil god you can. If you want to explore a world that ended centuries ago and where people now live in the clouds or on the terraformed moon you can. If you want to use time travel like Chrono Cross/Trigger or instead like Loki seaaon 1 you can. Wanna take the Ronso from FFX, the witch popes from Forspoken, and the evil expansionist tech empire and habe them caught up in a three way glodal war. You can.

[@bexplosion]

Have you checked the free official scenario: Press Start ?

[@MildraTheMonk671]

I have. It's a quickstart scenario. Not much else to say about it.

[@alexandercorsbie1986]

I like the approach to setting. It is taking the dungeon world approach of draw maps, leave blanks. Which helps lean into the player driven world creation during play using Fabula points. No matter what world a GM creates, players will always feel more connected and motivated into the parts of the world they personally made. I found it works to great effect at the table. Collaboration is this system's strength. I think the whole JRPG aspect isn't actually as important.

[@MildraTheMonk671]

If it wasn't important, it wouldn't be on the cover. Further, my issue with the setting approach is you can't have it both ways. Doubly so when you're essentially putting extra work on the GM's plate.

[@alexandercorsbie1986]

@GamingMonkMildra I didn't say it wasn't important. I said it wasn't as important. The JRPG vibe is important but I think the notion that the game puts more work on the GM is false. The game is designed for collaborative world building. GM and players work together so it's actually less work on the GM. The game trusts people to be creative and work together. I think it is a refreshing take to world building rather than some lore dump which makes my eyes glaze over and toss out anyways. It encourages a different style of play to traditional RPGs and that's ok.

[@MildraTheMonk671]

If it's for collaborative world-building, it could've at least given an example in the form of a sample gazetteer (the world equivalent to a pregen character). The sample bullet points throughout don't go a good enough representation of putting it all together in a potential way for a table. Despite its inspirations doing exactly that (esp. Ryuutama). Just because it wants to pull the "make your own fun" card doesn't mean i'm giving it a pass. I didn't for FATE, and this is no exception.

[@alexandercorsbie1986]

@GamingMonkMildra I found the sample bullet points were more than enough for my group. The same way many OSR books don't need to flesh out their setting is because alot of people just get the vibe of dungeon crawlers, with FU I think players get the JRPG vibe enough to understand what the game is going for and to make the world accordingly. The notion that GMs need to have a fully fleshed out world with lots of tools to do so is erroneous. Work with the players, get their input on the fantasy and watch it grow organically. People play these games to be creative, so it's OK to get out of the way and let them. World building is not some daunting task which the GM needs to spend lots of time on, something which I think puts alot of people off from GMing and stifles the hobby.

[@Puzzles-Pins]

​@GamingMonkMildra honestly this sounds like a you problem. Which is fine, it's not your thing. But my group just went through session 0 world building, and it went way smoother than I'd expected. I don't get how you feel like it puts more work on the gm when most of the broad strokes were filled in by the players as we designed the world together. GM said they usually feel drained after running a game, but were actually energized and excited to flesh out the details after this one in preparation for the first session and dive into the ideas we came up with. Just sounds like you're more into DnD style games, where there's a list of pre-made content for the DM to plan adventures around for whatever characters are brought to the table.

[@MemphiStig]

This looks like a good system to base a setting on, but one that I'd definitely be home-brewing a lot for. I do like a lot of what I've seen of it, and it looks like fun as is, but to use it for a campaign would require a lot of tweaking, I think.

[@MildraTheMonk671]

That's why I graded it the way I did. Homebrewing is inevitable, but it can be made easier.

[@peaceribbon8322]

I definitely like the game more than you, but I agree with a lot of these criticisms. It feels like the game simultaneously wants to leave the specifics up to the group, but also seems to get really jealous if you suggest pushing past its own idea of what the fantasy of JPRGs are. As you said there’s a certain broadness to the video game genre as a whole, which leaves FU’s iteration on that genre as a YMMV kind of situation.

[@MildraTheMonk671]

The issue is slightly alleviated with the Atlas books, but the problem is still there. Especially since assuming everyone's played a bunch of console RPGs beforehand is a bad idea.

[@Xanatrix]

Alternatives to "Giving me enough to give me nothing" can also include: "they're telling me just enough to piss me off" or "it tells me just enough to tell me nothing at all." It would absolutely benefit the game to choose a setting as an example, and then give the tools to build other settings of your own making. The worldbuilding engine it has is a good start, but as you point out, a bit undercooked.