A TTRPG Game Jam & A Special Walking Simulator
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Deep forests, giant mountains & weird dungeons. I speak about TTRPGs, video games, music and what I like.
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Summary
🧟Breathless: An Out Of Breath System & A Game Jam Devlog
🚶Death Stranding: Kojima’s Hiking Game
🧙🏼♂️What I’m Up To
🧟Breathless: An Out Of Breath System & A Game Jam Devlog
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| Breathless Jam 2 cover page by Fari RPGs |
Wednesday evening, I stumbled upon the Breathless Jam 2 by René-Pier Deshaies - Fari RPGs. I wasn’t familiar with the Breathless system even though I already knew some awesome games by Fari RPGs, like Songs & Sagas.
Out of curiosity, I checked the system and I immediately loved it!
To sum it up, you have 6 skills whose values are a precise die (d12, d10, d8, d6 and d4) and you roll a die to resolve actions. Each time you resolve something, even if you succeed, you deplete the die by one level. So if you were on a d10 skill, the skill is now a d8.
It’s simple yet very effective for what is the core mood of Breathless: well, to be breathless. 😮💨
The game is set during a zombie outbreak where you have to survive.The whole game revolves around stress, catching your breath, and stunt moments where every rule is made to make both player and character feel out of breath.
For the jam, you can either make a whole new game with the Breathless system or, and that is suggested this time, create an adventure module for Breathless.
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| @Hazelight Studios - A Way Out |
Last Saturday, I played a video game called A Way Out. It’s a co-op game where you have to get out of a prison. The game was really fun and made me think about the whole “Escape from a prison” vibe, that can easily be translated into a Roguelike video game or a TTRPG.
And I immediately thought of it when I read the Breathless system.
Imagine that you are in a prison (as a prisoner, or as a guard) during the first hours of a zombie outbreak. One guard started his day in the penitentiary after being bitten on his way home, without really understanding what was happening. And the mayhem started. The guard bites a prisoner, who bites another prisoner and everyone starts to freak out, in a place where tension and violence are already a daily thing.
So I started working on that idea, inspired by all the TTRPG modules I’ve played, and I hope I can manage to finish the whole project before the deadline (13th of june).
I have thought of a lot of cool elements to include in this kind of adventure: a whole prison map, different exits, “why are you here”/starting item/loot/encounters/etc. tables and anything that can be useful for the GM.
As I’m a solo player, I would love to make it solo-friendly but I don’t know if I can manage to make it that way in such a short time. A procedural prison would be a cool idea to do but can be quite long to make and to test before release.
In the next newsletter, I'll keep you updated about this project in the “What I’m Up To” section 😉
You can find Fari RPGs’ Breathless here and the Game Jam page here.
🚶Death Stranding: Kojima’s Hiking Game
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| @Kojima Production - Death Stranding |
Sunday was the very last day of my two-week vacation. I wanted to play a video game and I was hesitating between Oblivion Remastered, Stalker 2 and Death Stranding.
I chose the last one, because I wanted something exotic and I already played a lot of Oblivion, and Stalker 2 is very stressful.
Death Stranding is a video game made by the genius Game Designer Hideo Kojima, the mastermind behind the whole Metal Gear series.
This kind of post-apocalyptic game takes place in a ravaged USA where the world of the dead is now interconnected with the world of the living. A very special world that makes people explode like a nuclear bomb when they die and dissolve (what an idea!).
But don’t think it looks like your typical apocalyptic game. Death Stranding is America but with Iceland’s beautiful landscape. And that makes it visually very unique and gorgeous.
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| Death Stranding screenshot by Atmoph Store |
In this world, people live in cities underground, and you play as Sam Porter, a delivery man.
The whole country relies on delivery people and you’re one of the best-known. Your work is very simple, as you are the “Fedex” guy, doing stuff for each city and also trying to connect them in a big network to rebuild the USA.
And that makes the whole gameplay special. You must wear a lot of big packages on your back, and walk (or sometimes drive) this organic and eroded world, with mountains, rivers, stones and snow.
Each rock, rise, and descent is an obstacle in your course, and with that, you can add the rain.
In this world, the rain makes everything age way faster. So, your skin can age instantly, so can your packages. That’s why you need to be fast under the rain.
You think that’s all ?
Well, when it rains, strange creatures called “Beached Things” or BTs start to emerge from the world of the dead and can kill you. Worst of all, you can’t really see them. Only your scanner does. And that makes the whole Fedex quest very intense.
There's also “Mule”, who are kinds of bandits who try to steal your stuff.
Each of those design choices makes the game very immersive.
So as you can see Death Stranding world is quite something. It’s deadly, yet beautiful and inspiring. Added to that, the gorgeous music of the Icelandic band Low Roar follows you while you walk in that amazing landscape. It gives a very Sigur Rós post-rock vibe with a more electronica and pop sound.
Yet, the game is a bit too talkative for my taste. I would’ve preferred a less narrative aspect, especially with that constant feeling of everyone repeating themselves.
I wish the game was more open and free, with fewer back-and-forth trips and less forced interaction with people. That “hand-holding” approach is, in my opinion, the game’s biggest flaw, even though it doesn’t take away from the overall enjoyment.
Death Stranding is available on PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox Series, macOS, iOS, and Microsoft Windows.
🧙🏼♂️What I’m Up To
As you read above, I’m working on a Breathless adventure. It hasn’t stopped me from my Gévaudan setting, but I must admit that I’m the kind of person who starts a lot of projects at the same time 😬
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| Art by Mark Schultz - The Tower Of The Elephant |
Every evening, I continue my Conan reading and I really enjoy it!
Here are all the stories I’ve read so far:
The Phoenix on the Sword
The Frost-Giant's Daughter
The God in the Bowl
And I’m currently reading The Tower Of The Elephant.
I love the whole vibe of this book!
It makes me inspired to write some game adventures for my player, as the story is well made with all the stuff you can like in a one-shot TTRPG’s story.
That’s it for this week!
Let me know if you enjoyed this article, if you played/read/watch any of the stuff I mentioned this week 😀
See you next Friday!
Cheers !
Sleepdrifter
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