User avatar
Ser Stevos
Posts: 47
Joined: Mon 09 Nov 2020, 03:36

Re: Anyone else is dissapointed with TWD RPG?

Fri 19 May 2023, 00:09

The lore of the Walking Dead is literally the real world except it all went to hell through a zombie outbreak. The zombies are very much George Romero-types, slow, destroy the head, etc. I don't think it's a crazy expectation by Free League to think that people who are buying the Walking Dead Roleplaying Game are mostly fans of the show. So why waste space and time in detailing the plot of the Walking Dead through some big "lore" dumps?

I'll concede that I do wish there were more Havens. I just don't want a Haven to be Woodbury or the Sanctuary; I would like more original places like we already got in the rulebook. Any GM worth their salt could easily put together Woodbury or the Sanctuary themselves. Again, why waste the time and space?
 
EldritchGremlin
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed 17 May 2023, 13:30

Re: Anyone else is dissapointed with TWD RPG?

Fri 19 May 2023, 02:16

Echoing the post above, the book is full of "LORE" which for the walking dead is really just the setting & set up, the book adds out parts with the "Dearly Departed", everything else about the walking dead is story beats, and not really what I'd consider lore.

With Havens the intention looks to be that come about out of play, your Players find a location they want to use to create a haven and the Challenges, Quests, Projects will build off of that, if you are just pulling examples from a book, you are telling the players what their haven is and not letting them create one.
 
Ardrikk
Posts: 20
Joined: Tue 16 May 2023, 20:22

Re: Anyone else is dissapointed with TWD RPG?

Fri 19 May 2023, 17:31

I think what people referring to as lore, is spelling out all the factions, locations and people of the series. Which is a lot. Personally I have zero interest to read all that. I want to create a little community in the middle of nowhere snd go along from there.
That's true. Also, when you think about it, 90% of the factions we've seen in the shows are tied to a specific location and wouldn't be much use for games set in other parts of the country or world. Additionally, they get dealt with by the characters on the show, to various extents. This gets into the issues with playing in existing settings with canon events: if your PC group encounters The Saviors, what outcomes are there? Either your group doesn't defeat them, because Rick and his crew eventually will, or your GM and player group decide to just ignore what happens in the shows and have things play out differently.
 
JRD
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu 18 May 2023, 20:45

Re: Anyone else is dissapointed with TWD RPG?

Fri 19 May 2023, 23:05

I am also a bit disappointed but mostly because of my expectations, and partly because of some concrete aspects of the game (in some parts it feels a bit raw). Frankly, I expected the game to be something between MYZ (sector exploration, items decaying with time, haven managing, encounters and ark threats,…) and Alien (stress system, narrative oriented and character driven game). For the drama part and characters centered stories I think it nails it, but I expected some more of the MYZ-like way the story, the characters and the events fit in together in the game (I mean: you roll for an Ark threat/encounter and you get a brief description and some short suggestions as to how fit it and escalate it, add some characters and the story almost magically unfolds by itself).
Most of the game I like a lot for one-shot scenarios but my main complaint would be that I can’t see anything solid enough to incentivate my players to run a campaign. In campaign play, players want to see development in their characters and their haven/group/ark. I would suggest that instead of just doubling the XP costs for upgrading the characters (relative to other FL games), maybe make the players have to spend XP to improve the Haven, or even having to spend XP in group talents that reflect the way their team deals with the entourage and tactics they use, adding coherence to the group of survivors.
Another concern for me is that the game is focused in a rules light system to emphasize in the story (which I like; that’s why I love the YZE), but when I got to the Brawls system I felt like it changes the Theater-of-the-Mind approach for (almost) like a tabletop game with maps and minies. I also would clarify some kind of initiative system (even if it’s the players who get to decide the acting order, like WH40k Wrath and Glory).
Some say there are too many tables, but I find they come quite handy when you need to improvise NPCs, places and stuff. I would even expand some of them. And they would be even more handy if they were easier to find (maybe an index of tables).
About the lore? Yes, some more of it would be appreciated. Be it from the series or original content. But I guess the lack of more game lore can be because it is a licensed franchise and every little detail or addition has to go through lots of supervision and approval by a third party, which can be painfully slow and energy consuming. I guess there’s a lot going on behind the scenes which we may never know.
Would I ask for a refund? Not at all, of course. But in the next kickstarter campaign it would be much appreciated a more detailed explanation of the game mechanics and contents of the book before bidding. In one of the first interviews (I think it was with Tom) they mentioned it hadn’t been playtested thoroughly (excuse my english, I am not native) with many groups.
I’ve got some concrete questions about the system but I think I’d better write them in the dedicated chapter’s posts.
Thanks a lot for you time and please, take this as a constructive criticism. Also thanks for the hundreds of hours of fun provided by your previous games.
 
fougerec
Posts: 61
Joined: Thu 09 Dec 2021, 00:21

Re: Anyone else is dissapointed with TWD RPG?

Sun 21 May 2023, 17:50

Walking Dead strikes me as a game that doesn't have a ton of lore, unless by lore folks mean an overview of the plots from the series and comics. The game gives me a rules light system to focus on the character drama that lets me tell stories in that setting.
Pretty much exactly what I was hoping for.
 
Oathforge
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri 25 Feb 2022, 14:21

Re: Anyone else is dissapointed with TWD RPG?

Sun 28 May 2023, 16:11

The Beta Wolves Scenario....disappointing. I really love the Walking Dead and TTRPGS, but this doesn't seem to be working so far. The beta seems bland and almost boring with not enough to really work with, especially as a starter scenario in the starter kit....for a brand new GM. I think they will be overwhelmed. There isn't enough fleshed out and enough motivation to keep the players going. Sure, there is the roll for scavenge chart, but is that really it? I don't know. I really wanted more from this game. Still crossing my fingers that future content will be better.
-Fortune Favors the Few-
_Oathforge_
 
Andre
Posts: 3
Joined: Fri 06 May 2022, 16:10

Re: Anyone else is dissapointed with TWD RPG?

Wed 31 May 2023, 19:37

I must say, I‘m really happy with TWD RPG. To be honest, I‘m one of those GMs, who have like tons of RPG material at home (playing for 30 years) and finally realised: I don’t need all that stuff to actually play.

Being said that, I like to have Core books, that are not 250+ pages melee weapons. I mean, I get why people might be disappointed. There are RPGs out there, that spell out like everything for the GM. But with TWD I honestly don’t want to play „the lore“. And I don’t want to read 100+ pages about things in the TV-Show. I want to do my own thing and that I can do very easily with what I got.
This summaries my point of view very well.
What is this lore some people here mention? As I understand, this game is not about playing near or in the middle of events, characters and factions from series or comics, it is about creating our own region full of Walking Dead - and for that, what we got is quite sufficient. I could use some more options for havens, it would be nice to have more detailed crafting system... but what I have is fine. Very simple and refreshing set of rules, perhaps not worth so much as other FL RPGs in terms of content provided, but definetely not unfinished. If there is a short scenario or even better, a couple of highly-detailed location maps included in the main rule book I would be completely satisfied.
 
Ash
Posts: 5
Joined: Fri 28 Jun 2019, 20:54

Re: Anyone else is dissapointed with TWD RPG?

Thu 01 Jun 2023, 12:21

I agree. The rules perfectly emulates the way things happen in the different shows, so where is the problem ? I get that some people prefer heavier systems but you can't blame FL for releasing a product that does exactly what it was designed for.

Same goes for the starter kit scenario. It was clearly said during the kickstarter campaign that survival scenarios are like episodes from the TV series. That's precisely what The Wolves Den is. Once again, I get that it might not be what some people want, but as far as I'm concerned, I got exactly what FL promised and what I paid for.

I'm not saying the game is perfect. None is. Sure I would have loved some more lore (some details on the CRM/Civil Republic and their allies, maybe a list of cities that were destroyed during Operation Cobalt or a quick summary of the events from the shows) or some kind of lifepath system (T2K4). But saying FL didn't deliver is unfair IMHO.
 
Sebastian
Posts: 246
Joined: Thu 01 Oct 2020, 04:58

Re: Anyone else is dissapointed with TWD RPG?

Thu 01 Jun 2023, 15:53

The Beta Wolves Scenario....disappointing. I really love the Walking Dead and TTRPGS, but this doesn't seem to be working so far. The beta seems bland and almost boring with not enough to really work with, especially as a starter scenario in the starter kit....for a brand new GM. I think they will be overwhelmed. There isn't enough fleshed out and enough motivation to keep the players going. Sure, there is the roll for scavenge chart, but is that really it? I don't know. I really wanted more from this game. Still crossing my fingers that future content will be better.
Well, the thing that should keep players going is the motivation of their characters. Not some encounters or crunchy rules. The scenario is about a group, who got seriously fu.... by two of their former members. Their medical equipment is gone, their two rifles are gone, their leader got screwed over by her former lover, who ran away with a newcomer in the group. If that's not motivating enough for player, I don't know what is.

I think, people just expected something else from TWD RPG, maybe more in line with Twilight 2000? But this is a game with a focus on story and character, with less rules and crunch. Understandable if you like more crunch, that you are disappointed, but don't blame the game.
 
User avatar
Undeaddomain
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed 17 May 2023, 00:50

Re: Anyone else is dissapointed with TWD RPG?

Fri 02 Jun 2023, 01:38

I see a lot of individuals thinking the expectation is for more Rules, Crunch or even Lore and I can't speak for everyone but for me, that's not the issue. The issue is the Tools for the Sandbox are lackluster. It's about having more choices, deeper tables, more varied story hooks, and more encounters. The book and scenario should have more options to use based on where players go in the sandbox. There should be a short list of encounters while in the nearby town, we really get 2. We get details about the Wolves' Haven but just a table on the individuals in the faction. In my opinion, a faction writeup should give me enough inspiration for a "half season" plot, at least. This is very one and done. I won't be overly critical again, since I already voiced my main grievances before but the point is, I don't want more rules and crunch, I want more MEAT. I want more options, I want more choices. The Sandbox is too light to be a proper open world and as a GM, I have to put Too Much elbow grease to make something deeper.

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 0 guests