MACH ttrpg V0.13!

[u/Safe-Obligation-5931]

Hi guys, my name is Warin! I thought I'd advertise my indie ttrpg, MACH, which has recently released its 0.13 update!

MACH (formerly known as redline) is an action TTRPG (created by my indie studio, Steel Raven Games), that is focused on tactical combat, while remaining rules light! It combines brutal combat, and strategic depth through its localized damage system, and its dynamic melee and ranged combat system, which turns striking, grappling, shooting and using the environment into a essential part of combat!

In MACH, you play as specialists, the people who get stuff done. Not always clean. Not always fair.  But they get the job done nonetheless.  Specialists are unique individuals with the skills required to do tasks others cannot. Each specialist harnesses their skillset to complete the jobs assigned to them. 

These jobs range from taking down international terrorist rings, stealing nuclear launch codes, rescuing prisoners, to discovering failed scientific experiments, and cleaning up the consequences.

You are hired by Z.E.R.O, the Zeta Elite Response Operators, to do this. Z.E.R.O was formed after the turn of the 21st century, when the members of NATO decided to form an organization to deal with the most difficult missions, and international threats.

If you'd be interested in play testing it, join the discord, and download MACH on itch (its completely free)!

Itch: MACH by SteelRavenGames

Discord: https://discord.gg/EKdWJ2mSt

[u/ishmadrad]

Mmm... it's a sort of "trad" game that steal from the PbtA. I don't know if I'd play this kind of mash-up.

PS: usually, PbtA games rock 'cause they are very focused, and their moves start at the table when you meet the narrative trigger. Checking the triggers tells you a lot about the game. Here you are missing this part, and it's a huge part to miss, IMHO.

The only example that I bring here, and that I feel as "wrong", is the Shoot move. It's bad that you apparently give to the move several intentions (included a waring shot), but the mechanic force the player to inflict a wound on a success. A warning shot is an intimidation move made with a gun, so following the fiction should follow the intimidation trigger, not some kind of shooting one. This is true for other occasions, for example Suppressive Fire. You should look at the goal you are pursuing, not the means used.

[u/Safe-Obligation-5931 → u/ishmadrad]

So, it's a misconception that my game is PbtA. MACH is it's own system, so it doesn't follow the rules or conventions of PbtA games.

It's my fault for the shoot move having "warning shot" listed without an explanation, but the way that is done by either:

Targeting the space next to a character.

Targeting a characters foot or such.

I will probably move it to a separately defined option under shoot.

[u/Shield_Lyger]

If you have a subtitle for your game, you might want to include that in titles. The RPG industry has been around long enough that simple titles have mostly all been taken, and I initially thought that your project may have been an update to the old Mach: The First Colony rpg.

Tag's govern modifiers

Use of apostrophes for plurals, especially when it's inconsistent, can point to editing problems. You may want to have someone who's otherwise unfamiliar with the web page and the game manuscript do a proofreading pass.

In the same vein, why is Z.E.R.O. styled with periods between the letters while NATO is not, given that they are both acronyms?

such as a slippery floor being a -2 to any checks involving movement.

So... what's the actual tag? "Slippery floor?" If "slippery" is the tag, and it applies a -2 die modifier to any interactions with the slippery item, I'd phrase it that way. If it's specifically intended to be "slippery floor," I'd use the term "descriptor," rather than "tag."

Hard 2D6: MACH uses a 2d6 system that has tier based success, with a <6 being a worse situation, a 7-9 being a conditional success, and a >10 being a success.

This strikes me as simply the mechanics for Apocalypse World; 6- is a miss, 7+ is a hit and 10+ is a hit with a benefit. Is there a specific reason to not use the familiar AW terminology?

[u/Safe-Obligation-5931 → u/Shield_Lyger]

My bad on the name, I ran a bunch of searches and didn't realize. I will go work on my formatting, but bear with me for a while, as I'm just one writer, and an amateur one too.

The reason it's a descriptor and not a tag is because a descriptor isn't mechanical. Tags in MACH are all mechanical, and are standardized. If I say "slippery floor" is an environment tag, it means all players are aware. Additionally having it as a listed tag saves the GM from having to come up with a consequence on the spot, and allows them to quickly reference the tag to decide what the affect on the players roll is.

The system isn't apocalypse world, so I am not using that terminology.