Thread 96705796

My game is receiving its final updates in terms of fixes and polish, and I've decided to make one last threat on here regarding the book since it's free and there are funny animal appreciators on here.

What is Primrose?
>d10 success based dice system
>classless sandbox RPG with plenty of tables to generate random locations and encounters
>Heavily inspired by Redwall, Mouse Guard and NIHM
>Very low magic, instead, the closest facsimile is using instruments to influence other characters in varying ways based on the instrument of choice.

One of the major themes and designs that set this game apart from a lot of TTRPGs is that it focuses on passing the torch onto your apprentices and laying the groundwork for things that'll never be completed within your character's lifetime. A lot of focus was placed on the animal aspects of the species within the game, which included some species, such as mice, that may only live for a few years, making time itself an important resource.

Another aspect is villains within the game have a sanity stat. At first, they're insanely overpowered and near unkillable, but as players continually fuck with them, they slowly lose their minds. As they become more erratic and irrational, they lose stats but also become more obsessed with the players.

Since the game is classless, every character has access to all skills within the game. However, your background, species and other factors influence how much experience it costs to level up skills, creating a sort of soft class system while retaining the freedom to pick whatever you want.

I'm happy to answer questions and take on critique. I'm currently on my 4th campaign of Primrose, so I have plenty of stories, and hopefully, there aren't any glaring flaws within the system.

Here's the drive for the game:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/173frlBt2GJ0DAS5VXm7I5CAIOrpcQBCI

>>I've decided to make one last threat
But-but I might not want to buy your book. Please don't hurt me!

>>96706053
God dammit.
This is why I have three people helping me edit the book, I'm dumb as shit.

>>96706058
:D
Happens to all of us. I'll go over the drive and get back with any thoughts I may have tomorrow, if possible.

>>96705796 (OP)
Cool concept. I'm phoneposting atm but how's the depth/complexity of the system? I like a tactical style of play where someone who thinks carefully about their actions will have a significant advantage over someone who just charges in - does this system support that?

>>96705796 (OP)

Primrose time!

I really like the whole dropping dice mechanic, I think it fixes one of my dice pool + extra successes peeves, which is either your dice pool is too small to matter or so large that you're basically guaranteed to get bonuses. I appreciate how it is a conscious choice with potential consequences when trying for a greater degree of success.

>>96706685
>but how's the depth/complexity of the system?
Character creation is relatively complicated, but I provided a ton of shortcuts in the book that'll help you pump out a character quickly. But if you are after granularity and fiddly numbers, it's there.

In terms of the dice system, Skill+modifiers for your dice pool (Any past 10 are treated as an automatic success) and every dice result underneath the associated attribute is counted as a success. However, before rolling, you are given the option to 'Drop dice' on a variety of tests, where each dice you willingly remove from your pool, you gain a bonus if you succeed.
The best example is something like using harvesting to acquire rations. A regular test will provide a single ration, but if you were to drop dice five times (removing 5 dice from your pool), the result would provide six rations instead. A variety of different skills have different outcomes, so it's hard to provide a full comprehensive list given the word limit.

>I like a tactical style of play
With how the initiative system works, you are allotted a number of actions based on your attributes (the Lower of your Agility or Courage). When you roll for initiative, you roll dice equal to your Initiative, and each result represents when that action takes place. Everyone is given information about who is acting when in which order, so it gives a lot of tactical information for everyone involved, and it gives people time to plan about which sequence of actions would be most optimal.

However, you can break this rhythm by holding your dice; this allows you to reserve an action as more of a reactive tool. Allowing you to spend it before someone else's action before they complete their action in hopes of denying them or mitigating their action.

I often find the game is only as complex as the group is willing to take it.

>>96706937
Cheers big ears.
Yeah the dropping dice mechanic largely was inspired from 7th Sea 1e with their 'calling raises' on tests. I just kinda cranked it up to eleven and tried to involve it in as many mechanics as possible. I think there's a certain charm about being given the option to full on gamble core in hopes of a fat payout. I've seen quite a lot of egg on peoples faces running Prim over the last few years, and everyone seems to take it with a stiff upper lip since they brought it on themselves.

>>96705796 (OP)
>no playable foxes, possums, raccoons, otters or hedgehogs
Youre not getting any furries to play your game at this rate desu

>>96710535
So it's a fucking win then.

>>96711895
I mean realistically who's this game even for then

>>96713186
OP said it was for funny animal appreciators and that'd be people like me. Even without resorting to the stereotype of them fucking in fursuits, what little I know of furrydom says they have interests I don't share at intensity levels I can only dream of. I don't mind comics like TMNT and Usagi Yojimbo, I wonder how that would work if it wasn't set in an anthro animal universe because most Usagi stories don't rely on any of the characters being beast-like in any way, or cartoons like Bugs Bunny and Donald Duck, or fables and folktales with talking animals, or Narnia, but I don't obsess over them and hanging out with people who obsess over them isn't necessary for me to have a sense of community.

Most furries are probably pretty normal people but fringe cultures have the trait of being inhabited by people who exhibit more extreme attitudes and behaviours than mainstream society and what little I know says I wouldn't enjoy these. If the game filters them out then it means people like me, who don't see a world inhabited by anthro animals as being all that different to one with demihumans, can have fun in a new setting without being inundated by people who have a more "distinct" way of looking at the world.

Seems interesting,

What happens in your system if I roll a heckin natty 20 do I get to fuck the dragon xd

>>96713607
The game has no critical successes but does contain critical failures. The conditions to meet a critical failure mind you involves scoring incredibly low on an already hard test, so they're quite far and few between in terms of game play.
Generally the game is pretty consistent with the idea that if you cannot conceivably do something with your current skill set, there should be no way you can achieve it. But the inverse applies - if your character is a master within something, the odds of them failing something simple should be within the less than one percent chance.

>>96705796 (OP)
Been following this one for a while, very good to hear. One day hopefully I'll convince my group to give it a shot

>>96718360
Thanks mane, I am still trying to finish up the adventure in the back of the book but after that I'll probably remake the premade characters. They're a bit out of date in terms of rules and I want to probably come up with more interesting character concepts.

>>96705796 (OP)
So is this a one off thing? Im curious about the management and logistical side of things work. Specifically how you have faction rules and sort of city builder aspects. Theyre not retardedly extensive unlike something like GURPs domains but without playing Im unsure how far these rules go. They don't look contrived but also arent exactly the most in-depth, are you going to come back to them or are you just sticking with something simple?

>>96713602
The problem is that theres a small subsection of people that both like anthro and are completely normal about it. Its one of those extremes like trains or Hearts of Iron IV.
If OP wants to sell the game, unironically they need to also make the game more inviting to groups outside of that sliver of people. However, because even slightly furshit adjacent stuff is marred by furries, theres no group other than furries to appeal to, so he might as well try to get their attention. Unironically, if the game was more Armello and less Redwall he'd have a better chance at getting people to play.

>>96719666
I do remember some time ago there being talk of otters as another playable species. Is that still in the works?

>>96721869

Idk anon, I think the Redwall aesthetic is like, the one near-furry thing you can get non-furries involved in without needing to be like "okay so I promise it is not a sex thing." But then again, maybe I'm just old and out of touch and Redwall is just micefuckers now.

>>96722475

I do remember from a different thread that is planned on being a different book, I think. This thread seems to be more of a corebook release celebration?

Small update, I got the final version of my cover for the book, I'll be organizing some test prints in a few weeks.

>>96721842
In my current game I have someone getting a bit more involved with those rules so I may make some changes or additions before the print release. I am trying to keep the rules as quick as possible to resolve, so I am treading a thin line trying to make them interesting while trying to respect peoples time at the table.

>>96722475
>>96722533
The rules for otters do exist, same with hedgehogs. I plan on giving every species their own short (15-30 page) supplementary book which involves advanced rules, sub-species and special weapons. There's a pretty chunky master file now with most of it done, I am just trying to make sure the core book is as polished as possible before I start throwing supplementary stuff into the wild.

>>96705796 (OP)
I'll never manage to play it and it seems to go courageously against the contemporary (indepth system, no AI art) but I'll add it to the eternal pile to the systems I've read and never used. It's fun sometimes to delve into another man's universe for a stroll.

>>96721869
You have some good points. I occasionally mention some games with anthro animals in them as being worth a look. It took me a while to get to that position because not only did I have to get over that perception of furries but after that I was faced with it being an uphill battle convincing anyone else that you don't have to be a furry to play and that it isn't a gateway to becoming a furry.

>>96722533
>maybe I'm just old and out of touch
Old enough to grown up with Minerva Mink and Lola Bunny? Sexualised anthro animals and furrydom were already established before those cartoons came out but kids weren't normally exposed to it. By rubbing their faces in it I wonder how many boys came to want rub their faces in it.

>>96727934

I meant specifically Redwall, not furry culture in general, which has always been some degree of degenerate. There were sexualized anthro animals like Lola Bunny around in my youth, but it didn't feel like the default assumption that it was a sex thing when there was an anthro character, if that makes sense.

>>96728506
Yeah, you make perfect sense.

>>96721869
OP here, I think one of the really important features that NIHM and Mouse Guard have is the scale of the world really does effect the perception of otherwise mundane things. Redwall and Mossflower do it too to a much lesser degree, and everything after Jaques just completely forgot about how proportional each species is to one another.

I think the novelty of having to organise or adjust your actions when interacting with something of either massive or small can really open up some interesting scenarios. Like, last session of Primrose I ran the person playing a badger found out there was a large contingent of mice in his broom closet that basically set up a black market of stuff they snagged from his house.

I think thats why anthro characters with a heavy bias in favour of animals really does make a difference in terms of gameplay, and I dont think you could have any other setting like it to justify these kinds of interactions.