Firebreathing Kittens

There Can Be Only One (New Edo)

There Can Be Only One is an actual play podcast using the New Edo system. Legends and Godhood are born within Arby, and a Highlander style clash unfolds as Guvo faces his alternate self in New Niqamui. 

Trailer for There Can Be Only One

There Can Be Only One is an actual play podcast using the New Edo system. Legends and Godhood are born within Arby, and a Highlander style clash unfolds as Guvo faces his alternate self in New Niqamui. 

How To Play New Edo

How To Play New Edo, a tabletop roleplaying game. Transcript: Hello! I'm the GM for an upcoming episode of Firebreathing Kittens. I'll be running using the gameplay mechanics from a game called NewEdo, a Neon Samurai role-playing game. This is a rules discussion episode meant to help teach my players and any listeners the basic mechanics of NewEdo so it's easier to begin playing. I'll be going over two main topics. The first topic is character creation, where I'll discuss Paths, Lineages, and the Priority Buy System, that’s B-U-Y buy, with its five associated Priority Abilities. I’ll explain starting equipment and cash at the end of this topic. The second topic is gameplay mechanics. Since NewEdo is a 300 page rulebook, I won't have time to go over every single mechanic, but I will go over mechanics that pertain to some of the characters playing in my upcoming episode, as well as common mechanics used in most TRPGs. I'll also discuss Legend and Fate, two important mechanics that are exclusive to NewEdo.
 
With that said, I'll begin discussing character creation, starting with Paths and Lineages.
 
Paths
 
A Path is similar to a class, but instead of defining your character's archetype going forward, it sets up your character's purpose with some starting features and equipment, allowing you to build yourself however you want. You can decide which Path best suits you and what it provides starting on page 72.
 
Lineages
 
A Lineage is what would be considered a race in other TRPGs. With the exception of Hisanaka, you have unrestricted access to all Lineages, each with two Cultures to choose from, providing unique gameplay differences. Hisanaka is a special Lineage only available with a Priority A Ranking in Augmentations, and has no special Culture. Lineages are found starting on page 132.
 
The Priority Buy System
 
After deciding your Path and Lineage, you need to decide what order you prioritize your Priority Abilities. You have five Priority Abilities to consider:
 
● Backgrounds
 
● Magic
 
● Augmentations
 
● Skills
 
● and Core Traits
 
You must assign Ranks A through E (highest to lowest) between these five Priority Abilities in order to determine your character building resources. Refer to the Priority Buy Resource Allocation Table on page 58 to know what you get at each Rank.
 
Backgrounds
 
Backgrounds are associated with your character's backstory and grant certain benefits. There are five Backgrounds you can invest points into:
 
● Contacts
 
● Followers
 
● Soul
 
● Status
 
● and Wealth
 
You can study up on what each Background provides at each Rank starting on page 144. Refer to the Background Score to Rank table on the same page to know how many points are needed to increase your Rank. All Backgrounds begin with 1 point each, and no Background may be higher than 61 at character creation.
 
Magic
 
Depending on your Path, Lineage, and Priority Rank, you can gain access to Magic. If you’re looking for a Path with access to multiple spells, called Rotes in this system, choose Shugonshi. If you just need a single Rote, such as an attack or heal, look through TIer Zero through Three for an appropriate Rote, then choose D through A for a Magic Priority Rank that gives you access to the Rote you chose. Keep in mind the Casting Skill associated with each Rote, as you need to roll that Skill plus Shinpi Rank to cast.
 
When you gain access to Magic through methods mentioned earlier, you should receive a bonus amount of Shinpi. Shinpi is a special Core Trait that, unlike other Core Traits, begins at zero instead of ten. You’ll need to raise your Shinpi Rank through bonuses mentioned previously and Trait points received from Priority Buy in order to cast Magic effectively.
 
If you happen to choose the Shugonshi Path, Awakened Kitsune Lineage, or Priority A Magic, you gain access to a Mikata Kami. You can choose any Kami you have access to and gain the associated Mikata Kami bonus. A Mikata Kami is also a pet with its own character sheet. For more details, read pg. 268 through 274.
 
Augmentations
 
Each Augmentation, or Aug, has a Noise Rating and Biofeedback Percentage. The points from the Priority Buy System are spent on the combined Noise Ratings of each Aug you get. If you increase an Aug’s Rank, you multiply the Noise cost by the Aug’s Rank. You need to have enough Core Trait points to install any Augs. If the combined Noise of a single Trait from all Augs exceeds the associated Trait, you can’t install anymore with that Trait.
 
For any leftover points, you can spend four points for a permanent 1d4 bonus to any Skill. This doesn’t count as a Skill Rank; rather it’s an external bonus to those Skill rolls. Any other leftover points may be added to the Wealth Background one for one.
 
Biofeedback Percentage is added to the Fate Card for each Aug you gain. Keep in mind the percentage does not multiply with each Aug Rank. So if you install a Rank 5 Aug with 1% Biofeedback, it’s still 1%.
 
Skills
 
The list of Skills starts on pg. 191. You have a certain amount of dice to spend on Skills called Focus. You’re limited to three Focus per Skill at character creation. Each Focus you put into a Skill increases that Skill’s Rank, which may grant a bonus. Bonuses can be found under each Skill’s description.
 
Traits
 
There are seven Core Traits to choose from:
 
● Heart
 
● Power
 
● Reflex
 
● Presence
 
● Perception
 
● Savvy
 
● and Shinpi
 
Each of them, except Shinpi, begin with ten points. Shinpi begins with zero. For every ten points in a Trait, you gain a d10 to all associated checks. You can only invest up to 15 points in any Trait, though bonuses from things like Lineage and Backgrounds don’t count towards this limit. At the end of character creation, your highest Trait becomes your starting Legend Score. There are also four Derived Traits that are affected by the previously mentioned Core Traits:
 
● Resolve
 
● Move
 
● Initiative
 
● and Defence
 
Starting Equipment and Cash
 
You gain basic starting equipment from your Path. The Path descriptions each include a note on starting equipment, and all of them grant at least one weapon. That weapon, and any other items, will be described only by its Quality rating. You can look up item qualities on the tables in Chapter 13 starting on pg. 233. In addition, you start with cash equal to a Wealth roll, 1d10 per Rank in the Background, times 100.
 
That wraps up Character Creation. I’ll now begin going over various combat mechanics that my players and I will be using in our upcoming session. Again, this won’t be a list of every mechanic in the 300 page rulebook, but I’ll be going over some universal actions and their mechanics in NewEdo. I’ll end with an explanation of this system’s unique Legend and Fate mechanics.
 
Movement
 
One of the first things everyone needs to understand in any TRPG is movement. In NewEdo, your Move determines how many metres you can shift per turn. Move is equal to your Reflex and Heart Trait divided by your Size rounded up.
 
Moving takes up a Move Action, which is one of three types of actions a character can make on their turn. The three types of actions are:
 
● Move Action
 
● Quick Action
 
● and Full Action
 
You can make one of each of these actions per turn. As I mentioned earlier, moving uses up a Move Action, however there may be other actions that specify using a Move Action other than just moving, such as Taking Aim or driving a vehicle.
 
Attacking
 
Another common mechanic in any TRPG is attacking. An attack is usually a Full Action, but can also be a Quick Action in some cases. Two common types of attacks are Melee and Projectile. I’ll explain the mechanics of each.
 
● Melee Attacks are made by rolling Power plus the appropriate weapon Skill, and your
 
Target Number is your opponent’s Defence.
 
● Projectile Attacks are made by rolling Perception plus the appropriate weapon Skill, and
 
your Target Number is your opponent’s Size multiplied by your weapon’s Range Modifier.
 
○ You may call Raises before attacking to increase damage. Each Raise adds five
 
to your Target Number, but increases the weapon’s damage by 1d10. After hitting with an attack, you need to roll for damage. Here’s what you need to roll:
 
● For Melee, roll Power plus the weapon’s damage dice.
 
● For Projectile, roll the weapon’s damage dice. Remember to add any d10’s from Raises.
 
Taking Aim, Advantages, and Disadvantages
 
When setting up for a Projectile Attack, you can use your Move Action to Take Aim in order to gain an Advantage. An Advantage is simply an extra d10 added to a roll, one that can explode like a Trait dice. A Disadvantage is the opposite, removing a d10 from a roll. If there are no d10’s remaining, you remove the highest dice instead. Advantages and Disadvantages come up in many different scenarios, and can cancel each other out if both are present. Taking Aim is one of the most common ways to gain an advantage in combat.
 
Rolling Skill Checks
 
To determine what dice you roll during an attack or skill check, you need to check the appropriate Trait and Skill. For your Trait, the tens place of your Trait determines how many d10 you can roll for the check. Keep in mind that d10’s explode, meaning that if you roll a ten, you can re-roll that dice and add the next result to the total. After determining how many d10’s from your Trait, add the Focus Dice from the appropriate Skill. These dice can range from a d4 to d12, but they don’t explode on rolling max. The Target Number of non combat related skill checks is determined by the GM based on the difficulty. A Sample Contest Target Number table can be found on pg. 212.
 
Casting Magic
 
Similar to attacks and skill checks, casting magic also uses a Trait and Skill. All Rotes use Shinpi as its Trait, and with the exception of the four Common Rotes, all Rotes have an associated Skill that is rolled when casting. For example, the Soothe Rote uses the Meditation Skill, so if you plan on using Soothe, it's recommended you also have training in Meditation. You can find a list of all Rotes starting on pg. 158. Each Rote lists the following:
 
● Name
 
● Action
 
● Target Number
 
● Legend Cost
 
● Range
 
● Duration
 
● Casting Skill
 
● and a Description
 
Restoring Legend
 
If you find yourself casting a lot of magic and running out of Temporary Legend, you can use your Followers Background to restore some lost Legend Points. Rolling for Followers takes a Full Action, and you roll d10’s equal to your Followers Rank. You can roll Followers once per session.
 
Stealth
 
To make an attempt at Stealth, there must be some reasonable chance of you not being seen: darkness, fog, a distraction, someone or something blocking sight of you. You don’t necessarily need to know where your (potential) observers are to attempt Stealth, but if you’re able to scout out all observers (guards, cameras, etc.) prior to or during your Stealth attempt, you gain Advantage on subsequent Stealth rolls.
 
A Stealth roll is made as an Opposed Contest, where the character attempting Stealth rolls Reflex plus the Stealth Skill against any opponent’s passive or active Perception. Passive Perception is a Free Action, rolled using only Perception, and is for situations where no one’s actively watching. Active Perception is a Quick Action Interrupt, rolled using either Perception plus Survival or Perception plus Investigation.
 
While in Stealth, you may only move at half your Move speed and must end your turn obscured or hidden in some way, or you immediately lose Stealth. If you dash across an open space while in Stealth, you may become Exposed if any observers catch sight of you.
 
Cover
 
Cover can only protect you from Ranged attacks. There are three types of Cover:
 
● No Cover: Protects less than 30% of your body. Provides no bonuses.
 
● Half Cover: Protects between 30 to 95% of your body. Ranged Attacks against you have
 
Disadvantage.
 
● Full Cover: Only 5% of your body is exposed. You can’t be targeted by Ranged Attacks
 
barring a few exceptions.
 
With some of the basic mechanics out of the way, I’d like to focus on some specific Skills that certain players for my upcoming game have chosen. There are 37 different Skills to choose in NewEdo, so this is only a small fraction of what’s available.
 
Dodge
 
Dodge is a unique Skill that adds to a character’s Defence against Melee Attacks. An invaluable Skill for an up close and personal fighter. At Rank 3, you can start Dodging Projectile Attacks. Dodging is a Quick Action Interrupt, so it’s useful in conjunction with moving and acting while being attacked. Perfect for a martial fighter or ninja.
 
Banter
 
A fun social Skill that uses the Reflex Trait. Banter is used to steer a conversation with multiple people, helping or hindering others. At Ranks 2 and 3, you gain the Abilities Chime In and Burn, which allow you to make a Quick Action Interrupt to either add or subtract your Banter Roll from someone else’s Social Roll.
 
Athletics
 
Like in most TRPG’s, Athletics is your physical prowess in running, jumping, climbing, swimming, etc. In NewEdo, you unlock some special bonuses at later Ranks. At Rank 2, your Climb, Swim, and Lifting modifiers all increased. At Rank 3, you gain Tumble, an ability that allows you to reduce falling damage by the amount rolled from an Athletics Check.
 
Unarmed
 
Unarmed is your ability to fight without a weapon. It increases your ability to Grapple, and quickly increases damage to unarmed attack early on at Ranks 1 and 2. At Rank 3, you gain the ability to call Raises with unarmed attacks, a mechanic usually reserved to Projectile Attacks.
 
Tactics
 
Tactics checks are made right before the beginning of a fight. The leaders of both squads roll Savvy plus Tactics plus 1d10 for every active teammate to determine who’s superior. The losing team begins combat Demoralized, a status condition that reduces their Initiative and Resolve by 5 each, and they can no longer take Quick Action Interrupt Attacks against Exposed targets.
 
If you need to look up other Skills and what bonuses you get at each rank, begin on pg. 191. I’ll finish things up by going over two of NewEdo’s unique mechanics: Legend and Fate.
 
Legend
 
Legend is your character’s overall power level, and measures how “Legendary” you are in the world. At a certain Legend ranking, your Path is increased, giving you new abilities. In addition to acting as your power level, it also fuels a resource known as Temporary Legend. Your Temporary Legend is restored between sessions, and it’s used to cast Rotes and activate certain abilities, usually from Skill Ranks. It also acts as a last ditch HP Pool, known as Burning Legend. If you take damage past zero, you begin burning through Temporary Legend. Once all of your HP and Temporary Legend are depleted, you die for good.
 
Fate
 
Every character has a Fate Card, which acts as a personal random d100 roll chart. There are many things you can add to your Fate Card that come from character creation. You can roll for Fate once per turn, unless otherwise specified, to gamble for good fortune versus bad luck. When rolling for Fate, it’s important to remember you can only roll when there are stakes, and only before you roll for a normal check. If you roll a Critical Success, you automatically succeed. Rolling a Botch means you automatically fail.
 
And that concludes this episode of Rules Explanation for NewEdo! I hope that my players can use this to help prepare them for their upcoming game, but it should be noted that there’s much more to learn than what was mentioned here. I encourage my players and anyone else listening to read up on more of the rules, especially those that pertain to your character. This is a large game, so it’ll require a lot of trial and error, even for veterans like myself, however this system holds a lot of potential for detailed character development, tactical combat, and immersive storytelling. If you haven’t picked this game up yet, and it sounds interesting, please consider buying it from Salty dash Games dot com. That’s Salty, HYPHEN, Games dot com. If you still aren’t convinced, please listen to my upcoming episode, listen in on our game, and decide then! Thank you, and goodbye!

Dead Ringers (Dicing With Death)

Dead Ringers is an actual play podcast using the Dicing with Death TTRPG system. Join Arby, Bo, and Mary as they navigate through the Land of the Dead, meeting old faces and working to return home. 

Trailer for Dead Ringers

Dead Ringers is an actual play podcast using the Dicing with Death TTRPG system. Join Arby, Bo, and Mary as they navigate through the Land of the Dead, meeting old faces and working to return home. 

You Only Live Twice (Dicing With Death)

Join Maeve, Bartholomew and Armando as they punch parents, fight fish, and bribe boatmen to get back from the land of the dead before it's too late! You Only Live Twice is an actual play episode of Dicing With Death.

Trailer for You Only Live Twice

Join Maeve, Bartholomew and Armando as they punch parents, fight fish, and bribe boatmen to get back from the land of the dead before it's too late! You Only Live Twice is an actual play episode of Dicing With Death. 

Stab The Crab (Desperado Quickdraw)

Bartholomew, Guvo and Zidane, as new members of the guild, offer to go rescue the sheriff of Karmic Hills and uncover a problem affecting the tiny town. Stab the Crab is an actual play podcast of Desperado Quickdraw Edition. 

Trailer for Stab The Crab

Bartholomew, Guvo and Zidane, as new members of the guild, offer to go rescue the sheriff of Karmic Hills and uncover a problem affecting the tiny town. Stab the Crab is an actual play podcast of Desperado Quickdraw Edition. 

How to play Desperado Quickdraw

A GM’s thoughts on how to play Desperado Quickdraw.
 
Hi everyone, this is a special episode of Firebreathing Kittens. I’m the game master for an upcoming session using the rules for Desperado Quickdraw. In this episode, I’ll share my thoughts after reading the rule book. Hopefully this episode will be a handy guide for how to play for my players, will help me organize myself, and will be useful for you listeners, too, who are looking to play Desperado Quickdraw yourselves.
 
The sections I’ll talk about are character creation, how to move, how to attack, alternatives to character death,how to use skills, how to help your allies, and spellcasting.
 
Character creation: Desperado Quickdraw provides some handy dandy character creation randomizers using a deck of cards. Don’t know what character you’re going to play? Draw from a standard playing card deck to generate your character’s name, background, combat stats, feats, starting items, and ammo. For example if you draw a diamond your background is the gambler, who has 2 grit, 4 wit, a firearm aim of 2d12, and a melee aim of 2d12. Here in Firebreathing Kittens, for my players, because we are the same character all season, please feel free to pick from these random lists to build your character. You can also change the flavor; a ranged weapon can be called a bullet, arrow, fireball, etc.
 
How to move: You can move as many yards as your grit score at the start of your turn. If you move while attacking it makes you less accurate, decreasing your aim DC.
 
How to attack: Here’s an example melee weapon, the dagger. You can either pierce or cut with a dagger. If you’re piercing, it takes one action to draw the dagger from its sheath, and one action to attack. A dagger gets plus two steps to its accuracy and has a wound DC of 3. Here’s an example attack: You are standing within a yard of an enemy. Your dagger is drawn. You try to stab the enemy with the dagger, so, being a gambler, you roll your melee aim of two d12 dice. The dice result is 12 overall. You add plus two for the dagger’s accuracy, so that’s 14. The person’s right next to you, so your aim DC was zero, so you hit them. The wound DC is plus 14. The 3 wound DC of the dagger is increased to 17. That’s not twenty over, so you didn’t insta-kill your target. They are wounded and must make a fortitude check. They roll grit and compare it versus their total wounds received overall, which so far is just this one stab. Your GM announces they failed their roll, so they take one grit damage. Remember your gambler statted player characters has 2 grit, so taking one grit damage means this NPC probably is pretty badly injured.
Next, let’s talk about ranged attacks. Desperado Quickdraw requires you to draw your weapon, load it, chamber a new round, cock the weapon, fire, and eject the round. That’s about five rounds of preparation for one round of dealing damage, which is different than other tabletop roleplaying game systems you might be used to. Here’s an example weapon, the Baron Lawman single action revolving pistol. This is a short barrel weapon that can hold six shots. Its ammo is 0.44 magnum. It has a wound DC of 6. To fire this weapon, you’d need to first spend one action to draw it from the holster, three actions per cartridge being loaded (one to draw ammo, one to load, and one to rotate the cylinder), an action to fire it, and then three actions per shell expelled to open and eject and rotate the cylinder. Here’s an example of an attack with a single action revolving pistol made by the friend of the gambler. Friend of the gambler, fellow player, your target is ten yards away from the party, which is about thirty feet, so the Aim DC is 4. You make an aim check, which since you’re a gambler means you roll 2d12. The result is a 14. You beat the aim DC by 10, so your wound DC is increased by plus 10. The six wound DC of the pistol is increased to 16. The GM does the fortitude check for the enemy, and announces they’ve taken one grit damage. This is the second grit damage that NPC has taken, so they drop to zero grit. At zero grit, they fall unconscious.
 
Alternatives to character death: When you fall to zero grit, you’re unconscious but not necessarily dead. Desperado Quickdraw has a list of lasting wounds you can take such as injured arm, leg, eye, etc, which affect your stats. I like systems that have alternatives to permanent character death. It makes me less stressed out as a GM. I don’t have to worry as much about my player needing to make a new character unless they want to.
 
How to use skills: Desperado Quickdraw lets you hide, listen, spot, bluff, charm, use medicine, and make insight checks. Roll a size of dice based on your ability level, like d2, d4, d6, d8, etc. Then add either grit or wit as a modifier, depending on the skill.
 
How to help your allies: You can do a first aid check. That’s the medicine skill. If your check is higher than your friend’s wound DC, they can ignore that wound for now. Beware: later first aid checks don’t stack, so if you try to medicine check their next wound, you have to roll against your friend’s total wound DC including that first wound they had been ignoring.
 
Spellcasting: Desperado Quickdraw is only a portion of the rules that Desperado has to offer. If you’d like to learn about spellcasting, check out the full version of the rules. Based upon all the cool backgrounds and items in the Quickdraw rules, the spells in the full rulebook are probably really fun, too.
 
I’m looking forward to playing Desperado Quickdraw in an upcoming adventure. Hopefully this little rules chat helps my players build their characters and understand combat a bit. And for everyone listening, hopefully now you’re excited to find the Desperado Quickdraw rule book yourself, and play a game with friends.