How did you obtain a copy of Stonetop? Is the kickstarter done? I'm not sure how purchasing it works, and the stuff I found on his blogspot doesnt have a Would Be Hero playbook that I could find
You can pre-order the physical edition of Stonetop at BackerKit (https://stonetop.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders/322233) and once you do, the Stonetop team will reach out to you and give you a link to a set of playtest rules, which are regularly updated as the content is developed. I believe the current targeted release date is Q4 of this year, but the rules are totally playable and very fun at this very moment, so I recommend the pre-order heartily.
I came to the game through the Kickstarter so I’m less familiar with the blog. Best I can tell from a quick look, the preorder playkit has more playbooks, and it also includes an almanac with a ton of detail about the region and its points of interest and a bunch of extra useful one-sheets. I think the blog playtest rules are a very early iteration, as well — the stuff you get with the preorder is updated regularly as we get closer to release.
I just finished reading this, and I'm _super_ excited about it! The premise is great, the character compelling. It reminds me a bit of the "choice of games" (https://www.choiceofgames.com/) choose your own adventure novels where they tracked your stats, made background calls based on them, etc. The NPCs sound really compelling, and so are "questions" you're setting up. I had to stop reading and jot down an idea or two every few paragraphs 😅! hype!
Upon revisiting... i just noticed this snippet regarding Owain: "He pulls his weight hard for the village, tending the fields, drilling with the militia, and beating up malingerers."
So I wonder, if something that he addressed prior would now fall into other folks responsibility and cause some smaller troubles.
This is a phenomenal introduction and session zero - to someone new to fiction APs this explained everything perfectly - and is laid out exactly how I enivisaged it should be. I can't wait to read more of this story.
Mostly as a player -- i.e. the playbooks I most wanted to experience. I was less interested by the three religious playbooks -- Judge, Lightbringer and Blessed -- because I think one of the strengths of Stonetop is the regular people, and I wanted to weight the party heavily towards the more mundane playbooks.
I considered going with the Heavy for Padrig (using the same bloodstained past background) but one of the things that works about Padrig is that he *must* work with other people to survive and thrive -- something that the Heavy playbooks has no real need to do. I've also played a lot of fighter-types before, and I wanted something different, so making a fighter-type with +0 Strength, +1 Dexterity, and +2 Wisdom seemed like a fun challenge. I also wanted to explore a wide breadth of Stonetop's rules, so the Marshal and the Seeker seemed especially good picks, to work with both Followers and Arcana in the story and the mechanics.
Once the Marshal and the Seeker were locked in, the Would-Be Hero jumped out as the character who could fill the front-line fighter role in a non-traditional way. Anwen started out pretty weak, but with a lot of tools to get stronger quickly, which is a fun and exciting story to play out. It's one of the more complex playbooks, but the WBH is probably my personal favorite in the entire roster.
If I was to add a character to the party, I'd probably pick a Fox. The party struggles with sneakiness, and a Fox would bring a lot to the table. I briefly imagined Kirs joining the party in that role if things moved in that direction, but as you probably know by now, they did not. :)
I was thinking about making a solo group myself. Not to delve into long writing but to get a more practical feeling of how a group would work. Maybe making The session zero at least. I'm struggle finding a good working set. Here are my thoughts so far.
I thought about Ranger (Beast-Bound) as I like the Wilderness Archetype in general. An this would bring the Follower mechanic. I though about +1 Str, +1 Dex, +2 Wil, making the ranger the flexible fighter and observer.
Then, I too think having some arcana from the start would be nice thus the Seeker comes to mind. Witch Hunter is interesting but might overlap a little to much with the Ranger I have envisioned. The Patriot might be worth a try as he seems/could be entangled with the community with a touch of "End justifies the Means". +2 Int probably, we will see...
Now I'm not sure on the 3rd slot. Judge comes in mind, but might be to harsh conflict with the Seeker. The Fox maybe but I'm not sure. Could be more social than combat maybe.
I think thinking about them from a second dimension, in addition to Playbook, will help. I'm not sure if you caught the Q&A I did w/ Croaker's Corner (https://croakerrpgcorner.blogspot.com/2022/07/interview-with-sgh-excellent-author-of.html), but I talk a little bit about the 'classic foursome' in ensemble casts -- the dutiful one, the fiery one, the clever one, and the lover-of-life.
Obviously, these are not guides to creating rich, complex and nuanced characters, it's very paint-by-numbers. But to carve out broad narrative roles, it's very useful. In the case of Stonetop, Padrig is the Leader, Vahid is the Genius, and Anwen plays double duty as the Schemer and the Fool (in the context of these labels, 'schemer' is someone who is defies and struggles against the status quo).
The Playbooks lend themselves to natural labels, but subverting those labels is also fun. In your imagined party, who is who? The Witch Hunter or Patriot Seeker might be the Leader -- they might take their duty to the village very seriously and lead the party and the people of Stonetop against a terrible threat. Or, they might be the only ones who see the threat, and they are constantly scheming to find a way to persuade people to see it or to protect them despite their blindness.
The Ranger could be the Genius -- a brilliant man or woman of the wilds who is always ready to lead the party through the Great Woods. Or they could be the Fool, who ignore their responsibilities to spend time among the trees and the critters because that's what they love.
Defining their social niche within your party as well as their gameplay niche will probably help distinguish them and avoid overlap.
Yes, I read the interview and just a second ago remembered your ensemble note and reread it.
This is good input, thanks. I will digest it and think about some variants to see what might work. Or maybe I just pick a (3rd) book and see how this could come together.
I just read some of the Kickstarter page for Stonetop, and I was surprised to find it has a bit more combat-stuff than I'd imagined. A proper monster list and everything. Feels more ironsworn than I thought, too.
How did you obtain a copy of Stonetop? Is the kickstarter done? I'm not sure how purchasing it works, and the stuff I found on his blogspot doesnt have a Would Be Hero playbook that I could find
You can pre-order the physical edition of Stonetop at BackerKit (https://stonetop.backerkit.com/hosted_preorders/322233) and once you do, the Stonetop team will reach out to you and give you a link to a set of playtest rules, which are regularly updated as the content is developed. I believe the current targeted release date is Q4 of this year, but the rules are totally playable and very fun at this very moment, so I recommend the pre-order heartily.
Neat! How different are they from the playtest stuff he's got posted on his blog?
I came to the game through the Kickstarter so I’m less familiar with the blog. Best I can tell from a quick look, the preorder playkit has more playbooks, and it also includes an almanac with a ton of detail about the region and its points of interest and a bunch of extra useful one-sheets. I think the blog playtest rules are a very early iteration, as well — the stuff you get with the preorder is updated regularly as we get closer to release.
I just finished reading this, and I'm _super_ excited about it! The premise is great, the character compelling. It reminds me a bit of the "choice of games" (https://www.choiceofgames.com/) choose your own adventure novels where they tracked your stats, made background calls based on them, etc. The NPCs sound really compelling, and so are "questions" you're setting up. I had to stop reading and jot down an idea or two every few paragraphs 😅! hype!
Awesome! I am glad you're stoked. :) I'm excited to reply to all your comments.
Upon revisiting... i just noticed this snippet regarding Owain: "He pulls his weight hard for the village, tending the fields, drilling with the militia, and beating up malingerers."
So I wonder, if something that he addressed prior would now fall into other folks responsibility and cause some smaller troubles.
This is a phenomenal introduction and session zero - to someone new to fiction APs this explained everything perfectly - and is laid out exactly how I enivisaged it should be. I can't wait to read more of this story.
How do you decide on which playbooks to use for this campaign?
Mostly as a player -- i.e. the playbooks I most wanted to experience. I was less interested by the three religious playbooks -- Judge, Lightbringer and Blessed -- because I think one of the strengths of Stonetop is the regular people, and I wanted to weight the party heavily towards the more mundane playbooks.
I considered going with the Heavy for Padrig (using the same bloodstained past background) but one of the things that works about Padrig is that he *must* work with other people to survive and thrive -- something that the Heavy playbooks has no real need to do. I've also played a lot of fighter-types before, and I wanted something different, so making a fighter-type with +0 Strength, +1 Dexterity, and +2 Wisdom seemed like a fun challenge. I also wanted to explore a wide breadth of Stonetop's rules, so the Marshal and the Seeker seemed especially good picks, to work with both Followers and Arcana in the story and the mechanics.
Once the Marshal and the Seeker were locked in, the Would-Be Hero jumped out as the character who could fill the front-line fighter role in a non-traditional way. Anwen started out pretty weak, but with a lot of tools to get stronger quickly, which is a fun and exciting story to play out. It's one of the more complex playbooks, but the WBH is probably my personal favorite in the entire roster.
If I was to add a character to the party, I'd probably pick a Fox. The party struggles with sneakiness, and a Fox would bring a lot to the table. I briefly imagined Kirs joining the party in that role if things moved in that direction, but as you probably know by now, they did not. :)
I was thinking about making a solo group myself. Not to delve into long writing but to get a more practical feeling of how a group would work. Maybe making The session zero at least. I'm struggle finding a good working set. Here are my thoughts so far.
I thought about Ranger (Beast-Bound) as I like the Wilderness Archetype in general. An this would bring the Follower mechanic. I though about +1 Str, +1 Dex, +2 Wil, making the ranger the flexible fighter and observer.
Then, I too think having some arcana from the start would be nice thus the Seeker comes to mind. Witch Hunter is interesting but might overlap a little to much with the Ranger I have envisioned. The Patriot might be worth a try as he seems/could be entangled with the community with a touch of "End justifies the Means". +2 Int probably, we will see...
Now I'm not sure on the 3rd slot. Judge comes in mind, but might be to harsh conflict with the Seeker. The Fox maybe but I'm not sure. Could be more social than combat maybe.
Opinions?
I think thinking about them from a second dimension, in addition to Playbook, will help. I'm not sure if you caught the Q&A I did w/ Croaker's Corner (https://croakerrpgcorner.blogspot.com/2022/07/interview-with-sgh-excellent-author-of.html), but I talk a little bit about the 'classic foursome' in ensemble casts -- the dutiful one, the fiery one, the clever one, and the lover-of-life.
These are labeled in a lot of different ways -- here's a piece that labels them the Leader, the Schemer, the Genius and the Fool: https://steve-lovelace.com/ninja-turtles-hogwarts-archetypes/#:~:text=With%20four%20core%20characters%2C%20you,over%20and%20over%20throughout%20fiction.
Obviously, these are not guides to creating rich, complex and nuanced characters, it's very paint-by-numbers. But to carve out broad narrative roles, it's very useful. In the case of Stonetop, Padrig is the Leader, Vahid is the Genius, and Anwen plays double duty as the Schemer and the Fool (in the context of these labels, 'schemer' is someone who is defies and struggles against the status quo).
The Playbooks lend themselves to natural labels, but subverting those labels is also fun. In your imagined party, who is who? The Witch Hunter or Patriot Seeker might be the Leader -- they might take their duty to the village very seriously and lead the party and the people of Stonetop against a terrible threat. Or, they might be the only ones who see the threat, and they are constantly scheming to find a way to persuade people to see it or to protect them despite their blindness.
The Ranger could be the Genius -- a brilliant man or woman of the wilds who is always ready to lead the party through the Great Woods. Or they could be the Fool, who ignore their responsibilities to spend time among the trees and the critters because that's what they love.
Defining their social niche within your party as well as their gameplay niche will probably help distinguish them and avoid overlap.
Yes, I read the interview and just a second ago remembered your ensemble note and reread it.
This is good input, thanks. I will digest it and think about some variants to see what might work. Or maybe I just pick a (3rd) book and see how this could come together.
I just read some of the Kickstarter page for Stonetop, and I was surprised to find it has a bit more combat-stuff than I'd imagined. A proper monster list and everything. Feels more ironsworn than I thought, too.