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The Kickstarter Report: School Daze, Legend, & FTL

 

School Daze  LegendWith the success of projects such as Double Fine and The Order of the Stick Reprint Drive, Kickstarter has been getting a lot of attention lately, and even though these drives are about to be over, there are other great independent projects worthy of funding to be found.  Here are three examples: two independent tabletop RPGs, and the third, an innovative new video game.

School Daze

High school, the RPG, might sound like a dull premise, but stop and think about all the great movies and TV shows that featured high school and its associated drama.  Saved by the Bell, Glee, 10 Things I Hate About You, The Breakfast Club, Veronica Mars, even Buffy the Vampire SlayerSchool Daze is capable of supporting all these examples and more with a relatively simple system that makes it just as good for a convention or pick-up game as for a campaign.  School Daze relies on a single six-sided die (d6) for conflict resolution, and characters only possess a few pertinent stats: a favorite subject, such as Chemistry or English and a Rank, something that stands out about them, such as Prank for the class clown or Tank for the not-too-bright but large linebacker.  A roll of 5 or 6 is a success and a character’s favorite subject adds a +2 to the role, if it comes into play while the character’s Rank can add a +1 or -1 depending on the circumstances; an example being Lank, a tall character who uses their height gets a +1 but they’re also somewhat clumsy and could get a -1 in other situations.  Typically the GM throws out a scenario, such as the Senior Prom or Zombie Apocalypse; players create a motivation for their character, something that gets them to get up out of bed and go to school, and the game starts from there.

If you’re interested in learning more about School Daze, you can visit the main website, www.sandandsteam.net/schooldaze, which contains the basic rules and an example scenario.  Their Kickstarter runs until March 25 and can be found at www.kickstarter.com/projects/170831994/school-daze, where a list of potential donation rewards, as well as mp3s of two example sessions of School Daze run by the creator, Tracy Barnett, can be found.  The first session covers the more mundane scenario of Prom Night, while the second introduces some supernatural elements in a Groundhog Day-like adventure.

Legend

If a group of geeks combined D&D 3.5, 4.0, and Pathfinder with a healthy dose of pop-culture, a desire for streamlined rules, and without a long-term desire to sell splat books, you have Legend.  Based off the d20 open game license system most roleplayers are familiar with, Legend seriously streamlines the game and manages to provide a different feel from all the other OGL games already out there.

One of my favorite changes is the introduction of tracks.  Each class possesses three sets of abilities: one offensive, one defensive, and one unique to the class.  Multiclassing is done by taking a track from a different class or one of the unique ones such as dragon-blooded or undead, and can be done at first level.  A second track may be swapped out using a feat, which gives an incredible ability to diversify a character and without as much math or planning involved.

While the basic rules are the same, many thing have been pared down.  The list of classes in Legend are reduced to the Barbarian, Monk, Paladin, Ranger, Rogue, Sage, Shaman, and Tactician.  The choice to remove three of the four base classes for D&D was a bold one and is likely to bother some grognards, but taking a look at them, the track system allows a lot of fine-tuning of these classes so the Fighter, Cleric, and Wizard can easily be represented if desired.

Legend can be found at www.ruleofcool.com, where you can download the rules for free, though, it is encouraged that you donate to Child’s Play, which is where all proceeds of this project have been going.  Legend’s Kickstarter campaign can be found at www.kickstarter.com/projects/dvr/illustrating-legend and runs until April 1st, and it’s purpose is to get the rules illustrated and to help increase the production value for some of their future supplements.

FTLFTL

FTL is a video game in the vein of Star Trek or Firefly, where you take control of a ship and crew and try to get by in a rather dangerous universe filled with aliens, space pirates, unnatural phenomenon, and every other danger from science fiction.  The gameplay of FTL is very similar to the board game/RPG Battle Stations, where you have a modular ship with rooms devoted to such things as power generation, weapons, shields, life support, and piloting the ship.  Crew members can be moved within the ship to assist in repairs, help put out fires, or man stations while the ship itself engages in combat or exploration.  Scrap can be collected and your ship upgraded, adding new weapons, rooms, such as drone control, more power systems, and crew upgrades.

The 30-minute demo for FTL can be found at www.onlive.com, which gives a good taste of the gameplay and the relative lethality of the game, which is challenging without being frustrating.  The actual FTL site can be found at www.ftlgame.com, and it’s Kickstarter, which runs until April 1st, can be found at www.kickstarter.com/projects/64409699/ftl-faster-than-light.

 

Kristine Chester, Fanbase Press Senior Contributor

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Favorite Comic Book SeriesAtomic Robo Favorite D&D Class:  Wizard Favorite Ice Cream Flavor:  Cookies N' Cream

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