• She/they

y'know like, m'yah? (moth nyah)


yuria
@yuria

I didn't say much on Twitter because plenty were already giving great reviews, but here is a bit different and I do like to rant about Fellowship!

The basics: Fellowship is a tabletop system designed around a band of heroes saving the world from one of three specific threats determined by the GM: A powerful Overlord disrupting the land, an oppressive Empire that has already gotten a powerful grip on the world, or the Horizon, a not-entirely antagonistic force that beckons for the world to be further explored and interacted with. Everyone at the table uses a playbook, including the GM, to represent a hero who is ready to take the world on. No fooling around in the tavern, the book even tells you to just kick the players out into a mission right away. Also, every level gives you something powerful. A stat-up is extremely powerful because it's based off the Powered by the Apocalypse system. You can get a piece of gear which will always renew itself at regular intervals. It's so carefully thought out and exemplifies a system made to run long enough to get a good story out without feeling drawn out (although there are mechanics for continuing far past a dozen sessions.)

More personal thoughts below the Read More


I'm sure a lot of people went into a tabletop like D&D thinking "I want to play this kind of hero" and came out disappointed that even with a fairly decent character creator it can feel extremely limited. Even with some neat features you're still "A" Fighter or "A" Ranger. Fellowship flips that around, now you're "The" Fighter, "The" Ranger, except it's more than that, because it's not just a class. You're The Orc, the baddest of warriors from a people that know how to turn ruins and scrap into a new weapon, or you're The Elf, one of the best at ranged combat with legendary grace and a fair bit of magic to boot. I sure wanted to be a hero, and that really reflected when I played To Winter's End, choosing the Squire as someone who wanted to be a hero and seeing just what it actually takes, and after so many episodes actually taking the Destiny playbook, literally named The Hero. Much as I wished it continued, my character hitting that Destiny leaves much less regrets.

Whatever you play, most likely you'll also come across companions, which serve as Extra Stats. You "spend" their abilities, and it's up to you to determine their outcome even though they act as gear: they get refreshed. Fortunately, this isn't too bad, and is a nice little tool if you want to roleplay more than just your character.

And, well, elephant in the room. Any 6FU listeners know that I ended up taking the name of Yuria, the name of my character in the To Winter's End campaign. Had I not already been out as trans at the time I'm sure that would have made me do so. That's the danger of these systems, sometimes you just discover yourself. It doesn't even stop at gender, I've seen instances of people exploring Therian and Plural as well. That's... really what makes the Roleplay in Tabletop Roleplaying Game shine.

This is... actually a small bit of my feelings on the system. It's so good. It encapsulates why I love tabletop. Things like also making the GM full front a part of the game world. Things like Inverse Fellowship being about a long endeavor in all the players creating a game world and the culmination of ultimately a tiny slice of the universe, living and breathing with each action. I GMed a fair bit of it recently, and god do I want to play again. I don't know if To Winter's End will eventually reach a proper end (I do have my character renamed in case it does happen to avoid confusion and goes with the plot). Look this is all just positive stuff, I don't want to dive into D&D and Wizards, choosing a tabletop system should be all about the positive and potential, and that's what makes Fellowship beautiful: You see the playbooks, the world potential, and it's up to the table to put in their ideas to create a large campaign.

And to think Vel has posted ideas about Third Edition, aaaaaaa.


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