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Defenders of the Wild Almanac? (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 months ago by naught101@lemmy.world to c/rpg@ttrpg.network

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https://www.allplay.com/board-games/the-defenders-almanac/

An extensive illustrated guidebook to the besieged lands of the Commonwood and a rules-light tabletop roleplaying game for collaboratively telling short stories of animal resistance to the machine invasion ~ from T.L. Simons, creator of Defenders of the Wild and Bloc by Bloc with fantasy author Margaret Killjoy, game designer Henry Audubon, illustrator Meg Lemieur, and writer Patricia Noonan

Anyone played it? Got any tips? I realise it's pretty recent, so maybe not..

I'm about to start a session with a new gaming group (of old friends). I'm new to DMing and TTRPGs in general (have played one session of pathfinder), two of my 4 players have a fair bit of experience playing and DMing.

I realise this is way more rules-light than pathfinder, though that's probably not saying much - it also seems a fair bit lighter even than some PbtA based games I've looked at..

General advice for DMing rulse-light RPGs also welcome :)

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[–] naught101@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

Things I'm finding so far:

The world/history is good, dense and well described, fairly convincing
The mech invasion is (intentionally) shrouded in confusion, which I guess is good in that you can choose how it came about as you go - this potentially makes for a 3-4 mission game (3-5 sessions per mission), where the final mission defeats the mechs (or not?)
The game is SUPER rules light. Very few mechanics, combat is very simple.
- Could probably do with an extra mechanic or two to foster player interaction, but maybe we're not using the support mechanic to it's fullest extent.
Some of the skills are not that obviously useful (e.g. Academics and Ecology), but perhaps I need more experience here.
Guidance on how to GM well, or how to build missions is super sparse. So perhaps a game better suited to a GM with lots of pre-existing story-focused TTRPG experience.

[–] flibbertygibbit@ttrpg.network 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I would just say have fun and embrace learning as you go. I have not played this game but hopefully the rules light aspect allows you to not worry about the mechanics of the game and focus on story and fun. I like the cozy animal games like this, and I expect it will be similar in vibe to Humblewood and Mausritter.

The problems you encounter will likely have to do with being a new DM and will happen no matter what system you run. There is a near endless supply of new DM advice on the internet which you could search through. I particularly like Sly Flourish and recommend reading his Top Tips for RPG Game Masters. If you take that advice to heart, it will help you avoid the common DM pitfalls.

[–] naught101@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago

Awesome, thank you!

[–] pteryx@dice.camp 0 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I have never played nor read this game, but the moment I heard about it I was struck with how it was clearly inspired by a specific cartoon from the early 90s which I'd hoped would eventually see inspired-by, serial-number-filed knockoffs: the ABC Saturday morning version of Sonic the Hedgehog. If you're not familiar with "the SatAM", looking into it might help you make some connections (it's obvious to me what an Ecology skill would be good for in a SatAM game, for instance).

[–] naught101@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

it’s obvious to me what an Ecology skill would be good for in a SatAM game

Interesting! I looked up the show, and I can see the thematic overlap, but not obviously how to make use of it. Are you thinking something like using wild animals to help in battles? Or something else? There are some abilities that are related (e.g. critter familiars, foraging for potion ingredients), so perhaps I just need to give players more opportunities to play with those.

The academics skill seems a bit less useful

[–] pteryx@dice.camp 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I'm thinking Ecology would likely be very useful for helping to restore areas damaged by the machine revolution -- the worse the damage, the harder the job. Maybe one easy roll to replant after a clearcut, a whole adventure to restore a mechanized town.

As for Academics... the use of that sort of skill in TTRPGs in general is often to enable exposition and determine how extensive that exposition is. (Basically look at how Sally's handheld computer Nicole is used.)

[–] naught101@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

Yeah, cool. Makes sense. I think I just need to play a bunch more in order to start being able to see how to use those in the context of a mission story arc