I’ve been thinking about running a pulpy, gonzo, freakshow of a game with action scientists, cyborg apes, and otherworldly madness set during World War Two. I’ll be drawing from the pulps and various pulp games along with Atomic Robo, Hellboy, and various WW2 games, including Spirit of the Century and Achtung! Cthulhu.

I’d be running this with Fate Core as it appears in the Atomic Robo RPG. Magic will be limited, if allowed at all.

So would anyone be interested in some over-the-top, pulpy, gonzo goodness?

yes

hmm, sounds interesting, but I don't have the Fate stuff.

FATE is free acually PCO

I’m interested though

Fate Core is pay-what-you want and the SRD is online here: https://fate-srd.com/

There’s only a few bits that are different between Fate Core and Atomic Robo.

Sounds like it could be interesting. I'm always a little wary of set-ups that let the characters all come to the table with entirely different intentions and moving in entirely different directions. Not to say that's what you have here necessarily, but if you do take it to a game I'd love to see some seed to give cohesion to the group, whether it's a premise or a mission or a common background or... etc. That might even be based on player input, but just a way to make sure players create a group rather than a bunch of unrelated individuals, since those individuals could be REALLY different with a big, wild setting like this.

A question, just for curiosity and clarity: When you say magic will be very limited, do you mean spell-casting PCs, or do you want to limit magical background elements? To use the obvious reference, would a demon-origin background (in whole or in part) be on-point for PCs, or does that fall under "limited magic"? Would a magic sword be the kind of thing you want to limit, or are you thinking more like active casting of magic?

For those without the book, there is a very good SRD for Fate Core that includes Atomic Robo mechanics. It's not as good as the book (less examples, etc.) but it lets you access all the mechanical bits you'd need. Of course, it's entirely up to liblarva to choose a preferred level of familiarity with the rules and book itself.


EDIT: ahh, yeah that SRD mentioned above... That's what happens when you stop for tea half way through a post.
This message was last edited by the user at 15:46, Fri 12 Apr 2019.

In reply to spectator (msg # 6):

D&D style spellcasters are not a thing. Ritualized magic that takes hours or days to cast, yes. Using the reskinned Invention rules, same as Dresden Files Accelerated. Magical backgrounds are fine and magic-based stuff is fine, but should mostly be handled through stunts and modes. A specific type of magic, like fire magic, is fine as a weird skill inside a weird Occult mode. Arcana/Lore/Whatever as a magic analog to Science is available and Occult Brainstorming is a thing.
This message was last edited by the user at 16:29, Sat 13 Apr 2019.

Sounds interesting, I have the fate core book, but haven't really played it.

*throws proverbial hat into proverbial ring*

I second the need for cohesion of the team, maybe have players develop characters together? Or maybe just belong to the same overarching organization? That way even if you have your own goals, the mission comes first.

I was thinking either a joint project by Telsadyne & BPRD or making up a department that all the PCs would be working for. But doing it in a way that give cohesion to the team re: working together, but doesn't require similar backgrounds or sources of weirdness.

I'm super-excited about this idea! Granted, I really don't know the rules-set all that well, but I hear FATE is pretty good for newbies!

In reply to liblarva (msg # 9):

That sounds quite workable.
This message was last edited by a moderator, as it was against the forum rules, at 06:33, Mon 22 Apr 2019.