T I D E S
A downloadable game
T I D E S is an adventure fantasy horror game with mechanics inspired by Nobilis 3e and F.I.S.T. It is a diceless system with a heavy focus on resource management with simple but deep charecter creation where you play as Wayfarers, occult dream sailors who traverse the surreal and horrifying lands where all dreams reside in search of arcane knowledge to fuel your own ambitions and probably dying the process.
The game is in an incredibly early stage, but it is playable, and I am eagerly awaiting feedback in the comments about how I should change or improve the game and what I can iterate on in the future.
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Hey! This game really interests me, and I have some questions about it:
1. Skills can be basically any sort of action, but don't inherently give you the ability to preform that action. You can give yourself "Persuasion" or "Swordplay" or "Cooking" and attempt to solve problems with it, though the Dreamer will probably impose an obstacle if the connection is a bit strained. You can also give yourself something like "Wind Control", but you will probably have a huge obstacle on actually doing anything useful with it unless you a Title that lets you control the wind. Highest number Wins in contests yeah, but long term it tends to be about Resource Management, managing your Will and other resources over a long period of time.
2. The basic idea of the Time Track is that both the Wayfarers and The Dreamer can Spend some Time to shape how the narrative is progressing and put special narrative focus on something. The Wayfarers each get 2 Time, and the Dreamer gets 1 Time for every Wayfarer. Whenever everyone has spent all of their time, you move onto the next chapter Instantly, giving everyone a new pool of Time to spend but shifting what Time actually does to be appropriate to the "Genre" of that time of day. DAY is for slice of life and more mundane charecter moments, DUSK is about supernatural mysteries, and DREAMING puts the focus on bizarre horror/fantasy adventures. Its supposed to act as a natural pacing mechanism that also allows Wayfarers to exert some presence on the story at times.
3. When I refer to "Levels" of Skills or Monstrosities I just mean "A Skill or Monstrosity" with that many points invested into it. So a "level 4 skill" is just a skill with that many points in it. The only difference between a skill and a Monstrosity is that unlike Skills, Monstrosities *do* self justify. So if you have a "Wind Control" Monstrosity it does actually let you Control the wind without needing a title or something.
4. alright so, to be completly honest, I have some notes for Charecter Sheets and and a time sheet and stuff but... I haven't actually figured out that part of "Creating a Game" yet. Its a completly different skill set from designing the game itself that I don't even know where to start with.
1. Got it, that makes sense!
2. Oh I see. So once all time has been spent by all parties, it moves to a new time of day?
3. Ah, ok! I think I get what you're saying.
4. I see, I see. Honestly, I'd encourage you to go for it, because we learn by doing. There are also TTRPG groups on Tumblr, Discord, etc that you can go to for help! I'm in the "Indy TRRPGs" community on Tumblr and everyone there is super helpful.
2. Yeeep!
4. I was thinking about giving this game a big update soon, and I want to figure out and include sheets like that in that big update. As well as a print version, more art, a bunch of example characters(Stock Humans, Wayfarers, Revelations and Leviathans), plus some balance changes and new content.
BTW it means a lot to me that you commented, it lets me know people care about the things I make.
4. Oh goodie, hooray!!!! :D That would be so awesome!
Np! I've had this game in my back pocket for a while and I really enjoy the concept! Please let me know when the update is out!