Plasmodics Preview: Just a Weird Little Guy
Join Elliot Davis on The Wildsea
If you listened to this week’s episode of Talk of the Table then you know how much we love Will Jobst. Will is a prolific editor and game designer and they just launched their latest game on Kickstarter: Plasmodics. Plasmodics is the tabletop roleplaying game of post-apocalyptic, gonzo sci-fi, where (sorta) humans, (kinda) animals, (mostly) robots, and (definitely) aliens join hand-in-mutated-hand. Plasmodics is inspired by Into the Odd and is described as a de-make of the post-apocalyptic RPG Gamma World.
Let me tell you about some of my favorite parts of this game.
The Salty Runback
When a mechanic in your game is named The Salty Runback I simply MUST read on to find out what it is all about. The mechanic can be implemented if a player drops to 0 HP. When that happens you can choose to do a Salty Runback, which means you and the thing that dropped you both jump back to full HP and duel it out. No outside help allowed. Win, and you level up. Lose, and you’re dead.
Now THAT is a mechanic that gets me excited to drop to 0 HP! It encourages players to embrace the chaos and swings that can be caused by other mechanics like The Trouble Dice or the Mutations and Nuances of the other mutant freaks of this world. Any mechanic that actually makes me happy to watch my HP get lower and lower to an absolute winner in my book.
Mutations and Nuances
The thing that always gets me most excited about a new TTRPG is flipping through the character options and planning out my weird little guy. Plasmodics is no different. In this game, your character is brought to life by your Mutations and Nuances.
Mutations are the ways in which you’re weird in the body and mind. These could be physical mutations like regeneration or mental mutations like having second brain. They could even be meta mutations like my personal favorite called Second Location— “Whenever there’s a place, you can find a second, much worse place.”
If Mutations are about WHAT you are, Nuances are about WHO you are. These are abilities that describe your specific brand of weird-ness. Some of these come from your body (Heavyweight Champion, Walking Chum, Tag-Team Specialist), while others come from the mind (Machine Sense, Memoirist, Abacus) or from your background (4D, Bodysnatcher, Bug, Actually). Rolling up any random character from these lists is guaranteed create a WILD mutant freak that will be incredibly fun to play.
There’s so much more to explore in Plasmodics (I haven’t even told you about the bonus “Hopeless” powers you can get if you accidentally make a borderline unplayable character) and you can read all about it in the FREE PREVIEW EDITION of the game available on itch.io.
If you want to play as mutant freaks in the weird future, go back Plasmodics on Kickstarter.
— Brian
Sail the Wildsea
Join Elliot on StartPlaying!
Did you enjoy My First Dungeon presents: The Wildsea? Finished drying your eyes after that finale? Well, you can now set sail with me on StartPlaying for one of two campaigns of The Wildsea:
Biweekly on Wednesdays at 2p ET
I am so excited to finally get some games going on StartPlaying and couldn’t imagine a better game to start with than The Wildsea. This is another step in my journey to making games into a sustainable full-time job so if you’re interested in supporting me in that, this is a fun new way to do so!
We’ll be playing for about 6 sessions (though maybe more if everyone is feeling it!) as we create and explore our own version of the Wildsea where your characters influence the story. We might even sing a tree shanty or two.
The Lignin Tide awaits!
— Elliot
(P.S. If you’re a member of The Dice Pool, you get 20% off the listed rate.)
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🗞️ News Worthy
Geek & Sundry announces their return with a new actual play show called Goblin Mode.
Grab a $20 Bundle of games by Elliot Davis including Project ECCO, Rom Com Drama Bomb, and Abominations
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My First Dungeon new season announcement (Thursday, August 29)