Fria Ligans forum

Page 18:
"The social democratic government has good diplomatic connections with both the Soviet Union and the US. But even if the public stance is always to never pick a side, it is an open secret that the Swedish military only really sees one obvious enemy: Soviet Russia."
- Should read: "The Social Democratic government has good diplomatic relations with both the Soviet Union and the US. But even if the official stance always is to never pick a side, it is an open secret that the Swedish military, many politicians, and a large part of the population only really see one obvious enemy: the Soviet Union."

Page 19:
"The personal computer can be found in most homes, most often in the form of the Commodore 64."
- That depends on what year one talks about. There were over 3.6 million households in 1985, and some 100,000 C64s were sold in Sweden, making it the most common computer. Still a far cry from "most homes", even if other brands are taken into consideration.

"Going on all inclusive charter vacations becomes a national pastime."
- All inclusive destinations, while not unheard of back then, are a more recent development. Charter tourism had been a thing since at least the 1970's. Vacationing in the 1980's was still either staying in a summer house, going camping in a caravan in Sweden or abroad, or going to the Canary Islands, or Spain, Greece, and other destinations in the Mediterranian.

"VHS tapes of the latest American movies are copied and distributed among friends,"
- Movies appeared on VHS about a year after the theatrical release; the "latest" movies were hard to come by, unless one wanted to watch a poor-quality bootleg. Copying was rather common.

"All kids go to the grundskola (basic school) at the age of seven, and continue for nine years before they go on to two or three years in gymnasiet (college)."
- There was also a four-year course in gymnasiet (making you an engineer).

"The school system is relatively fair and progressive, but echoes of archaic methods from the ‘60s and ‘70s still remain."
- The school curriculum and methods saw a change 1970-71, when a new policy was introduced (Lgr 69), so I would scratch "70's".

Page 20:
"The 18-year-old age minimum for getting a driver’s license make cars a distant fantasy, but as you only need to be 15 to use a moped, this is often the vehicle of choice for cool, older Kids."
- The A-traktor ("EPA-traktor") was an alternative for 15 years olds. It's an old car, shortened and converted, making it able to take two passengers (+ driver), and not going faster than 30 kph (19 mph). More common in rural areas.

Page 22:
"Video stores are popular, but as most families won’t own a VHS player until the mid ‘80s, the rentable moviebox is the solution of choice. This is a VHS player in a sturdy metal box that is rented for a day."
- The moviebox was housed in a sturdy ABS plastic carrying case. Usually, it was activated for 24 hours, after which it had to be returned.

Page 28:
"The location was chosen because of the proximity to the capital, but also because the soil here was considered suitable for constructing an underground facility of this magnitude."
- Shouldn't it be "because the bedrock here"?

I have a question about aging the kids. It says in the book that when the kids turn a year older they gain skill points and when they turn 16, they're no longer playable, but there's nothing about how to age the kids. Is it based on gaining experience points or personal choice of the player or based on real time play? It's possible I overlooked the information.

The way I understand it, you pick a birthday for your Kid. The GM starts the campaign at a date, and any Kid getting a year older during the campaign will gain a point.

So, real time aging then?

I think the passage of time isn't fixed in stone. Seems like it would be negotiable, like anything. If the GM wants to suggest a setting where weird stuff happens on a daily basis, then time would pass slowly in terms of age affecting your characters. If the GM is picturing a slower, perhaps more "realistic", world, then as some of the text suggested, perhaps after one session the end of summer happens and the next session takes place the first half of the new school year (hence the reason that items, drive, and troubles change each time). We only get a finite amount of summer vacations, unfortunately. I'd probably run a campaign where weird events take place every few weeks or so (unless I come up with a larger countdown for an overall campaign, where things happen in the background while kids are not doing anything or are busy on a different adventure).

If the campaign is interesting enough for people, I think it will be cool to have legacies of prior kids (who have moved away or else aged out) leave an impact on the current player characters.

If the campaign is interesting enough for people, I think it will be cool to have legacies of prior kids (who have moved away or else aged out) leave an impact on the current player characters.

I really like the idea of legacies. That concept can even be carried into the expansion, I think. I'm also not opposed to tweaking things to allow for older kids to stick around, depending on the campaign. I would think the idea someone came up with for negative luck might work well for them. My one issue with things is even though 16 is kind of a cutoff age, it's not like these kids magically forget all the weird stuff they've seen and been a part of once they have a birthday, so chances are some would still stick around. It's a bit like in Monster Squad how the older kids (one of whom was 16) got pulled into the weird stuff around town because of association with the younger kids. The older kids (and adults, i guess) aren't just going to forget the monsters laying siege to their town. Same could be said of the older kids of Stranger Things. They're directly involved with the core group of kids and aren't likely to stop dealing with the strange things they've come into contact with. So, legacies and older player characters (in moderation) seems feasible.

Really great start. Can't wait to see it with more art and the filled in sections/ place holders.

For some of the premade adventure hooks would be nice to see a show down section in more detail, and possible suggestions on condition risks for the kids throughout.

On page 88 the NPC Per has attributes listed? This seems like its not needed as NPCs never roll its always the players / kids.

A one sheet overview of rules for rolling / skills would be good to include that could be a handout to players.

Would be nice to have more purpose to the favorite song to drive more player interest. Maybe some kind of in game effect whether it relates to rolls conditions or iconic item type effect. Otherwise it seems thrown in for no real purpose and likely will be forgotten after games start.

Overall game has a great feel to it. A little like apolyspe world in how its driven by questions for the players and conditions, as well as all player side rolling.

Pretty excited to try this out with some players.

After reading through the rules, the most obvious correction would be to remove the ability to push your roll, since luck already serves this purpose, you would give players three chances to succeed like with the "envis" talent but without them earning it. For this game, increasing the risk to fail would be a good thing in order to get players to seek out their anchors.

Page 103: "and make out in badly stretched tents." Badly pitched tents.

I'm not sure. ....but interesting all the same. 

On further consideration, I find it might be valuable with clarifications on how to handle adults in the game. As I see it, adults come in three fashions: ignorants, those who suspect something or know a little, and a few in-the-know. The general assumption (also from the principles) are to treat adults as ignorants. This is fine, but may be a bit awkward until the players buy into the premise. However, in the Mysteries, the Kids meet adults that suspect or find out that all is not what it seems. Generally, what happens to these people? I suspect from the setting and Stålenhag's books that they are considered misfits, excentrics, lunatics or paranoics, that tend to run away, disappear or be taken into custody when things get rough. Moreover, there are (or must be) those that touch on the true potential of the Loop, that consciously mislead the masses, to cover up an ongoing hidden catastrophe or use the power for their own percieved benefit. Who are these people, and under what rare circumstances, if any, would the Kids cross paths with them?

In the Mystery landscape, should the attributes of Per Äng be interpreted that the Kids need at least two successes in order to overcome any Trouble from him (two in all attributes) and two successes to overcome Trouble in any Body skill from his doubles? Both seem to be very broad applications of attributes, but I suppose it could be intended. Comparing to the Goshawk in Summer break and killer birds, it has 2 in the skill Force. Ranks in skills are also what is mentioned in the rules on page 54. For clarification, the rules could add "each connected to a skill or attribute" on page 54 instead of only "each connected to a skill".

If the campaign is interesting enough for people, I think it will be cool to have legacies of prior kids (who have moved away or else aged out) leave an impact on the current player characters.

I really like the idea of legacies. That concept can even be carried into the expansion, I think. I'm also not opposed to tweaking things to allow for older kids to stick around, depending on the campaign. I would think the idea someone came up with for negative luck might work well for them. My one issue with things is even though 16 is kind of a cutoff age, it's not like these kids magically forget all the weird stuff they've seen and been a part of once they have a birthday, so chances are some would still stick around. It's a bit like in Monster Squad how the older kids (one of whom was 16) got pulled into the weird stuff around town because of association with the younger kids. The older kids (and adults, i guess) aren't just going to forget the monsters laying siege to their town. Same could be said of the older kids of Stranger Things. They're directly involved with the core group of kids and aren't likely to stop dealing with the strange things they've come into contact with. So, legacies and older player characters (in moderation) seems feasible.

Agree on the age "limit". Again, if I ever get a long-term campaign going, I really could see doing a one-shot reunion special. Perhaps years down the line when the Loop facility completes a major project that the original kids saw hints of in the beginning sessions, the adults are drawn back home to try to fix something. (And maybe their own kids who are brought back to visit grandparents get into trouble simultaneously). Would be my homage to Stephen King's "It", where the adults who were mentally scarred as kids have to come back and deal with their worst nightmares, bringing along 20+ more years of additional baggage.
I think the rough age limit kind of makes sense, game-wise. Adults are going to pay attention to what older and bigger kids are doing, because they're more physically capable of doing damage. Security guards would most likely try to apprehend a 17 or 18 year old (basically an adult), rather than just chase them off. Also, those teens are going to have hormones really running rampant, so they're going to be more concerned with fitting in, looking cool, showing off like peacocks or peahens to get laid, and maybe getting into university or otherwise being able to move away from their parents. They're less likely to care enough about some big mystery/conspiracy. Although as you said, Stranger Things, and Goonies involved older kids trying to save their younger siblings and getting them involved too.

On further consideration, I find it might be valuable with clarifications on how to handle adults in the game. As I see it, adults come in three fashions: ignorants, those who suspect something or know a little, and a few in-the-know. The general assumption (also from the principles) are to treat adults as ignorants. This is fine, but may be a bit awkward until the players buy into the premise. However, in the Mysteries, the Kids meet adults that suspect or find out that all is not what it seems. Generally, what happens to these people? I suspect from the setting and Stålenhag's books that they are considered misfits, excentrics, lunatics or paranoics, that tend to  run away, disappear or be taken into custody when things get rough. Moreover, there are (or must be) those that touch on the true potential of the Loop, that consciously mislead the masses, to cover up an ongoing hidden catastrophe or use the power for their own percieved benefit. Who are these people, and under what rare circumstances, if any, would the Kids cross paths with them?

In the Mystery landscape, should the attributes of Per Äng be interpreted that the Kids need at least two successes in order to overcome any Trouble from him (two in all attributes) and two successes to overcome Trouble in any Body skill from his doubles? Both seem to be very broad applications of attributes, but I suppose it could be intended. Comparing to the Goshawk in Summer break and killer birds, it has 2 in the skill Force. Ranks in skills are also what is mentioned in the rules on page 54. For clarification, the rules could add "each connected to a skill or attribute" on page 54 instead of only "each connected to a skill".

I think the NPC on Page 92, Police Inspector Ing-Marie Blankang, is the example you're looking for about adults who know what's going on. She's thought of as crazy by her co-workers, who don't even want to work with her. And she'd be hampered by not only social constraints but also legal ones about breaking into places and snooping around, whereas kids at the most will be dealt with arguably more leniently by the juvenile court system. Stranger Things also highlighted what happens to those adults -- people think Joyce is insane, and the chief of police has to pretty much fall face-first into the other world, and then he starts questioning his own sanity, looking for wiretaps at home and not trusting his deputies. So they're not very reliable for player characters to trust, since the kind of kids who would constantly go on wild adventures like in this game would not be the kind to turn to adults right away.