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cyberrat · 1 month

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81st Batch Of Fics: 9th Fill

Husk/Angel – Part 2/2 – gentle dom/sub; dom!Husk; sub!Angel; learning to let go/get into subspace – Angel actually experiencing a first? That's fun :o

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Husk is eating him out. Again. And somehow it is even better than last time.

This time, Angel is on his back – something he is very familiar with – and doesn’t have to do anything other than let Husk play with his body. Something that is also not uncommon. But the way he does it… the way he just keeps licking him, slow and self-indulgent and humming while he is doing it like Angel is such a fucking treat-

It is driving him insane.

He keeps licking at him until he’s somehow had his fill and then he lifts up and just stares at Angel until Angel looks back down. He feels like his eyes are huge and wild in his skull. Like he must look absolutely insane. His upper hands are pressed against his mouth, trying to muffle any sounds that keep wanting to spill out of him.

Husk is smiling crookedly. The fur on his chin is soaked and glittering with pearlescent fluid. Angel stares at it, his hands slowly falling away without him noticing. His mouth his hanging open and his tongue is rolling out onto his own chin.

Maybe Husk sees it as the invitation that it is – or he just knows what Angel needs without having to be told. But he crawls up Angel’s body and plunges him in darkness as his wings blot out the light.

A moment later, they are kissing. Slow and indulgent. Angel’s arms curl around the tomcat, holding on to him like a vice. His tongue wants to do all kinds of acrobatics, but Husk gentles him down until it’s just the painfully slow drag of them rubbing against each other.

Angel’s whole body throbs. His knees are around Husk’s hips, unwittingly hindering himself from rubbing his thighs together.

He’s getting absolutely useless. He can feel his last brain cells and how they slowly stop working just because Husk is taking everything at a glacially slow pace.

Husk is kneeling above him, his paws on Angel’s ribcage between his first and second set of arms, and slowly sliding up. Over his armpits and the underside of Angel’s upper arms. The sensation is so eerily intimate, it makes Angel gasp into the kiss, head falling back while his tongue is still out, obediently offering it up to Husk.

They stare at each other as Husk gently pushes his upper arms up to above his head.

“Are you feeling good?” Husk asks him in that low rumble.

Angel nods slowly, his head swimming – but this time it seems to not be enough for Husk. “Use your words,” he orders, his voice so gentle that it takes all the sting that the command might have carried.

Angel feels… odd. Like the bed is slowly opening up beneath him and starting to swallow him up. He is feeling both lighter and heavier than he ever has. A voice answers is a hushed little “Like it” and it takes him a while to realize that it’s been his own.

“Good boy,” Husk’s voice says in the slowly encroaching darkness.

Angel’s eyes are open and he is seeing, but he is not registering anything. He is both inside his body and outside. Feeling Husk carding claws through his chest fluff and lightly tugging on it, and also thinking that that is something that is happening to someone else.

Everything is warm and prickly and good. He is calm. He’s calmer than he’s ever been. As a demon. A human. A good-for-nothing whore.

“That’s it… you’re being so good for me,” Husk’s voice whispers. His claws are carding through the fur on Angel’s belly, following the pink line down to his abdomen. “You’re perfect like this. Looking like a million bucks.”

Does he? Does he really? Angel is staring up at the ceiling, his upper arms obediently still above his head without any need to hold him down. Husk is… somewhere. Everywhere. He’s started purring and it is almost too much for Angel to handle. It thrums through his body and vibrates behind his eyeballs until he has to close them. He’s drooling and his whole body is throbbing with the need to come.

“Do you know what good boys get?” Husk’s voice answers. It’s so deep and silky and perfect. It wraps Angel up like a damn blanket. He can’t wrap his head around how that is even possible. He opens his mouth a bit wider but all that comes out is a pathetic little whimper.

He feels so shy all of a sudden; all the bluster has been stripped away in just a few short moments, leaving him open and raw like a nerve.

Husk doesn’t say any more, though. His movements have stopped as well, hands framing Angel’s hips and thumbs gently stretching his posterior hole open without touching his rim. He is waiting for an answer.

Angel somehow unclenches one of his lower arms from the bedding and puts his hand up against his mouth. He doesn’t know… he doesn’t… “I don’t know,” he whispers.

“Hmmmn… good boys get all they’ve been gagging for for days,” Husk explains patiently. His breath is tickling Angel’s little spider cock. “They get the orgasm they’ve been fiending for. They get taken care of, like they’ve been desperate for the whole time.”

That rough tongue is back against Angel’s dick, curling around it, bathing it in warm saliva before it is enveloped by the warmth of Husk’s mouth.

He’s so careful with his sharp teeth… he’s so slow and indulgent, sucking the pre-cum out of Angel and opening his mouth to let the copious amount of fluid run down to his posterior hole.

Angel feels like he is dying again… but it feels good. Two claw like fingers slide into his hole while he is getting sucked off, and everything… everything is just so good. So warm and tight and wet and good.

He arches his back, sucking on his own fingers for comfort, limbs moving restlessly… and the most heartfelt little exclamation he’s spoken in… decades, dripping from his mouth: “Oh, daddy- please-”

Husk’s voice is back; all crooning and deep. Calling him a good boy. To let daddy take care of him. That he’ll get everything he ever wanted if he just stays nice and real like he is now.

If he just lets Husk flay him open and look at everything he has to offer.

Angel muscles seize tight as he comes so hard that his ears are filled with static. He is vaguely aware of the warm pulsating feeling of cum shooting out of him and splattering against his belly before Husk can push his muzzle over it and drink it all up-

but it takes a backseat to the feeling of weightlessness. To the delicious pain of his aching, trembling muscles. To the curious emptiness of his head that feels so much more profound than the one he gets from his drugs.

He doesn’t immediately come down from the curious high he’s on, but that’s alright. Husk is there to take care of him. Making him feel nice and cozy and… safe.

He says something about ‘subspace’ later, but that doesn’t feel right. It doesn’t feel like something Angel could achieve.

But fuck this feeling had been everything.

And… once again he got to get off with Husk without getting that goddamn cock inside him.

It’s going to drive him insane.

#cyberratting writes stuff #husk/angel #huskerdust #hazbin hotel #subspace #dom!husk #sub!angel

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mallratsys · 9 months

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Forgot we installed mods for Merrill waaah She's so cuteys

Mods; x/x

#mallwrites #Posting this on our main cause it's unplanned but usually our game screenshots/vp will be on Cyberrats

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arcturusgeneral · 1 year

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Cheezbot has liked only my first post. Not helping their case right now.

#me in the corner staring at the opposite corner #there is a rat in the opposite corner #it is holding cheese #i am trying to figure out if it is a robot #and also fearing for my safety as I do not know the intentions of the cyberrat #or is the cheese in control? cybercheese may be more terrifying #help

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theresattrpgforthat · 17 days

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Any RPGs about being an unethical mad scientist or being a mad scientist's creation? Like creating an orangutan with buzzsaws for hands, a horribly mutated two-headed crocodile, grafting a rocket launcher onto a demon's back, giant biomechanical monstrosities, etc.

THEME: Mad Scientist’s Paradise

Hello, so I have a few games that seem specifically tied to mad science, but I also found some games about mutant animals that are a bit more focused on a post-apocalypse. I hope they are still close enough to what you are looking for!

Metamorphosis BX, by Tragos Games.

Metamorphosis BX is a post-apocalyptical MiniBX hack in which you'll roleplay a hybrid survivor in an ever-changing world in which a cataclysm fragmented time and space. It is light both in mechanics and tone, aiming to be fun above all.

This is one of the games where your strange mutations and abilities don’t necessarily come from mad science; but I think they could, if you wanted them to. This is a game that employs the use of roll-tables and gives your characters both benign and malign mutations, with different sized pools of different size dice for your hit dice. What is interesting is that you have a list of different dice pools on what is called your hit dice double-helix, aka HDDH - taking your highest dice from your dice pool every time you take a hit. This encourages your characters to end fights quickly, or avoid them when you can - and it also makes for a highly lethal game.

Mutants in the Now, by Julian Kay.

In the ‘80s and ‘90s, they ruled the streets, kick-flipping off of villainous faces and slipping into the shadows. Then, they vanished from the world of tabletop gaming.

But they’re back. And ready to KICK BUTT.

Mutants in the Now is a retromodern retake on the mutant animal role-playing games long past and left behind by licensing. Mutants fight to survive, thrive, and make the world better for themselves and humanity.

I’m not entirely sure what the origin of your mutation is in this game, and it seems that’s the point. The source of your mutations is meant to be a mystery, although big tech corporations, alien conspiracies, and psychic ninjas are all on the list of potential bad-guys. The game itself has a multitude of good reviews, with a lot of praise for the flexibility available to you at character creation, and a large amount of love for the random tables.

If this game sounds interesting but you want something a little less scienc-ey, you might also want to check out the Mutants in the Next supplement, which adds in cryptids, mythical beasts, and a post-apocalypse setting to throw at your characters.

CyberRats, by Alex Rinehart.

You are genetically engineered Operatives addicted to Biotech, a glowing gel that gives you superhuman powers.

The world is being invaded by extraterrestrials known as Interlopers. You have been employed by a megacorp to ensure that the aliens don't win, and that if they are stopped, it's you who does it, and not some rival corporation.

Winning won't be easy. But it also won't be enough. The right corp must get credit.

Can you stop the aliens? Will you sabotage the military to steal equipment and defense contracts from your competitors? How many Operatives will you lose before you taste victory?

Cyberrats, an illuminated RPG.

Here’s a game all about being lab rats - literally! Cyberrats is a fast-paced shoot-em-up about genetically engineered rats addicted to the substance that gives them super-human powers, up against a terrifying alien threat. Your characters can be altered biologically, but also cybernetically, so I have a feeling rocket launchers and exo-suits are on the table here!

If you want to hear what this game plays like, you can check out the Cyberrats Radio Hour, a 30-minute episode full of alien combat and explosions.

Bio-Drones & Cryo-Clones, by ChrisAir.

Bio-Drones & Cryo-Clones is a 48pg biopunk facility-crawl for Mothership RPG, inspired by the body horror of Cronenberg’s The Fly and a twisted take on Metroidvania “save stations.” This zine is the first installment of The Sleeper Crew Adventures zine series.

PCs wake up in the Mountain Forces R&D Facility, dropped smack center into the plans of a scientist gone mad in her love for the dead despot that once owned the world. Players must gather clues, navigate NPC motivations, evade monstrosities before they Become the Mutants.

This is less of a gonzo scenario and more built for fans of horror, putting the player characters in a hostile lab environment and threatening them with a number of mutations as they try to find a way to stop the mad scientist big-bad of the adventure.

This isn’t a standalone game, but rather a module for Mothership, which is a game set inspired by Alien and has many, many different kinds of modules that you can run in many different horror scenarios. This module looks rather extensively developed, with printable maps, a set of VTT tokens, and art for all of the listed NPCs and Creatures. If you want a game full of suspense and horror, you should check out Bio-Drones & Cryo-Clones!

The UPLIFT, by Kurt Potts.

The Uplift is a tabletop RPG about cybernetically uplifted animal heroes saving the galaxy with superpowers! Think Guardians of the Galaxy, but you're all playing Rocket.

You awaken to find you are both less and more, you are both old and new.

You play animals who've been cybernetically uplifted by some mysterious company or lab. Through your adventures you may get the chance to learn why this was done to you, but by then it may not matter anymore. You're a hero and the galaxy needs saving.

Describe yourself in four steps, and let the GM describe to you the situation the crew finds themselves in. You roll 2d6 for pretty much everything you try, with modifiers for advantages and disadvantages. Each character will have one super-power that allows you to add a third d6 to certain rolls, to increase your chance of beating the difficulty score. You can risk personal injury or busted implants on a failure, and then spend downtime later to fix yourself up.

I like that the designer of this game took the basic rules of WSCA games and combined them with tools like clocks and downtime, which are commonly seen from Forged in the Dark games. It allows the players to deal with bigger setbacks during play, because you know you’ll have a chance to fix them down the road. That being said, you can still choose to die a heroic death if you still want to!

Science & Sabotage, by Live Real Press.

You are a team of evil mad scientists, hell-bent on creating a doomsday device that can bring the world to its knees.

Unfortunately, there is competition for the honor. You must finish your device before they finish their device.

You don't have time to play fair.

This is a game where you actually get to play the mad scientists, rather than their creations. It’s built off of the famous Lasers & Feelings structure, so you just need a d6 or two to play. Race against a rival team of mad scientists to be the first one to destroy the world - or at least, to threaten the world with destruction. This is probably good for a single one-shot, or perhaps, if you want to combine it with one of the other games here, you might want to use this game as a set-up for the event that destroyed the world, or perhaps your scientists are instead racing to be the first to cause mutations on a global scale!

Blister Critters, by stillfleet.

Pick your favorite varmint, grab your dice, and roleplay as a cartoon animal on a radiation-blasted Saturday-morning show!

The humans are gone just like the ozone layer, and the world they left behind is overflowing with danger…

In this innovative and surreal game, you play as a small animal who can wield bizarre mutations called Blisters as well as physics-bending Nonsense powers. These strange abilities—artfully developed within the Grit System—will help you survive in a vast, cruel suburbia populated by fellow Critters and their feral counterparts, Beasts.

The sun will mutate you and give you special powers as you scavenge the piles and piles of loot that the humans have no more use for. The tone of this game is very much like a Saturday-morning cartoon, but you can also turn up the gritty dial and make it about the harshness of this new world if you want to. Blister Critters uses a number of different polyhedral dice, with larger dice assigned to traits you’re good at and smaller dice assigned to traits you’re… not so good at. Your character also has two pools that can diminish: Health and Grit, which represent your hit points and your energy respectively. Your Grit can be spent to power the special abilities given to you by your Blisters, so the course of gameplay will likely require balancing your resources as you work through various obstacles.

The Kickstarter has finished for this game, but you might want to keep an eye on it so you can see when the final product is published. In the meantime, you can also check out the Quickstart, as well as the entries to the Critter City Crawl Jam.

#tabletop games #indie ttrpgs #game recommendations #dnd #asks #indie ttrpg #mad science #mutations

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cgsf · 2 years

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Teen Wolf fanfiction recs — Chris/Peter

••••••

"Taste of Blood" (M) by Phoebe_Hunter | 3,890 | Still, some nights he lies awake, staring at the stars or the roof or the ceiling, and wonders whether he’s chasing one demon so he can run from another.

"Threadbare" (T) by GoddessofBirth | 1,029 | Chris Argent does not have a secret, sordid past with Peter Hale.

"The Hunter And The Hunted" (T) by oopsygaysy | 465 | "Just putting down a stray," he grumbles. Argent smiles, a small twist of lips that looks more threatening than friendly. "Funny," he says, his voice clear and smooth, not at all gruff like most men in his business. "I don't remember calling animal control."

"guns & drums and guns & drums and the enemy never slew you" (M) by postcardmystery | 592 | “I was under the impression that you were dead,” you say, and Peter Hale isn’t his nephew, doesn’t snarl, does not concede to show you his fangs so early, merely smirks, says, “Who here hasn’t died a few times, between friends?”

"Firing at the ones who run" (T) by Claire | 2,753 | In which Peter is injured and Chris follows him home.

"There Are Many Names In History (but none of them are ours)" (E) by GoddessofBirth | 172,930 WIP | Stiles is driving in his jeep when the horrible, no good, very bad thing happens. In which 17 year old Peter Hale and Chris Argent materialize in present day Beacon Hills and things become awkward very, very fast.

"By Proxy" (M) by GoddessofBirth | 2,748 | What Chris cannot do, Peter can. And Chris knows someone has to do it.

"It's Bad Enough We Get Along" 🔒 (E) by saintsideways | 13,028 | Peter knows that as he is now, he’ll be the one to take as much of the blood and carnage and pure, violent destruction on his shoulders as he can carry. His re-assembled parts revel in it, the chase, the hunger an ever-present itch in the back of his mind, stranger and more charming on the second visit. He can be the bloodied claws and dripping fangs now, having sacrificed extraneous morality for revenge.

"The Sword Swallower" (T) by GoddessofBirth | 1,866 | Beautiful, bright, stupidly good Chris, who keeps swallowing Peter's darkness again and again, never seemingly touched by it.

"Incandescent" (T) by Phoebe_Hunter | 2,190 | “I hope you don’t expect me to pine, Argent,” Peter says. “I’m much too good looking to pine.”

"These Violent Delights" (E) by Phoebe_Hunter | 2,245 | “Actually, Argent,” Peter said, straightening. “I came for this.”

"Maybe This Time" (E) by clarkoholic, skywardsmiles | 21,356 | What else do you think he’s capable of? the twisted, broken part of him whispers in his mind. Had he gone home, bloodied and bruised to his wife, and begged for forgiveness by promising to destroy Peter and his family? Or maybe he’d been playing Peter.

"Caught Out Caught You" (M) by alternativename | 5,044 | Chris gets away from his family and starts a new life far away from the world of wolfsbane, werewolves and hunting. He quickly learns that leaving such things behind is not as easy as he first thought.

"Playing Second Fiddle To The Beast" (E) by alternativename | 2,735 | Peter ropes them into playing a loving couple to get close to a supposed wiccan. Chris spends more time looking at him than the witch.

"Shut Me Up" (E) by MoMoMomma | 2,985 | “It’s his lips,” Chris complained into the phone, laying his head down on his chemistry book and groaning. “They’re so goddamn….they’re made for dick, you don’t understand.” “No,” Victoria’s laugh was sweet and clear through the line, amused and mocking all in the same sound. “I don’t understand, Chris. Mostly because I like my men to be able to drive before I fuck them.”

"It Would Be A Terrible Thing To Waste" (E) by Cyberrat | 2,918 | After his release from Eichen House, Peter's walls seem to have crumbled. An easy target for Chris.

"Our Other Lives" (M) by TriDom | 1,881 | Everyone is born with their soulmate's last words to them tattooed on their skin. It was the first sentence Chris learned to read, the first words he learned to write. He would never call himself a romantic, but through everything, those black letters kept him grounded and gave him hope.

"Your Scars are Mine" (M) by TriDom | 6,454 | When the youngest of a pair of soulmates turns 21, their scars appear on each other's bodies. When Peter turns 21, his previously flawless hide is suddenly covered in scars.

"Shattered" (E) by DiscontentedWinter | 5,220 | Chris Argent and Peter Hale could both use putting back together.

"Half of the flesh and blood (that makes me whole)" (T) by Claire | 803 | In which Chris is the one thing Peter holds on to.

"Only What Returns Love" (M) by Hexandecimal | 11,600 | When Chris goes to the woods, it is not to live deliberately or deep. He does not go to suck out all the marrow of life. When Chris goes to the woods, he goes to leave his old life behind him. All he wants to do is forget.

"A Little Sexy Strangulation Amongst Friends" (M) by eeyore9990 | 1,417 | There is nothing on earth more infuriating than Peter Hale. He makes Chris’ blood boil with fury and confusion… but mostly frustration.

"Third Gear, Hang On Tight" (E) by Claire | 2,253 | In which Chris owns a garage, and Peter is the uncle of one of his employees.

"In Silence I Wait For The Dawn" (G) by Claire | 1,770 | Peter gets shot and all Chris can do is talk to him.

"Patience is a Virtue (alternately: good things come to those who wait)" (M) by TheVoiceofWrath | 3,019 | When Peter is dreadfully bored, he decides to get a day job. It may turn out to be just what he needed. Oh and, also, Chris finally gives in to Peter's many charms.

"All Your Promises" (E) by TheVoiceofWrath | 8,865 | He's fifteen when he first lays eyes on Chris Argent.

"We Are A Battle" 🔒 (T) by saintsideways | 1,229 | “Before you shoot me, maybe you should ask yourself why I would come to you unarmed?” Chris keeps his weapon up, safety off. Peter Hale crosses his legs in the window seat of Chris’ bedroom, arms thrown wide over the windowsill. “Enlighten me,” he growls, trigger finger itching.

"La Bête du Argent" (E) by Whreflections | 38k+ WIP | When Chris is a boy, it becomes very clear that the prominent soulmate tattoo on his arm depicts an alpha werewolf. If he'd come from a pack, or even a family with no knowledge of the supernatural, it wouldn't have mattered, not really, but that wasn't his fate. He's an Argent, and a werewolf's mate, and those contradictions have no place in the same body, not in his father's opinion.

"Mint And Musk" (T) by asarcasticwitch | 415 | Being intimately familiar with werewolf traits and customs, he knows what this gesture means to Peter, and Chris can’t stop the smile that splits his face.

"So shut up shut up shut up, you said enough (I'm not enough for you)" (G) by GoddessofBirth | 827 | By all accounts everything was going exactly to plan. But all accounts had forgotten a night darkened closet the size of a postage stamp was way too small for two grown men and all the issues and history between them.

"Into The Fire" 🔒 (T) by Spikedluv | 13,563 | When Chris and Allison move to Beacon Hills for a fresh start, they both find more than they expected.

"Schrodinger's Wolf" (E) by Udunie | 2,302 | “You’re implying I can’t do it,” Peter said with a raised eyebrow. Chris very carefully did not look up from his book. “Hm… I didn’t say that. All I’m saying is that for all I know you might not be able to,” he replied, turning a page, despite having no memory of what he read. He - unlike Peter - wasn’t the sort to have backhanded plans, but this was… tricky territory. “That’s absurd.”

"Where the monster lies" (T) by TalesoftheEnchantedForest | 688 | "You want me," Peter's smirk told him from across the quad, and Chris knew right away that he had been lured into a trap.

"Not Another Training Exercise" (E) by eeyore9990 | 2,217 | Instead of Derek, it’s Chris who takes Kate’s bullet at the end of 3B, sacrificing himself since he has nothing left to lose.

"Chris's Wolf" (M) by TriDom | 1,014 | When people turn 18, their soulmate's hand print appears on their body. Chris was terrified, but resigned to the fact that his mate's mark would be a man. He wasn't prepared for any other possibility.

"Last Friday Night" (E) by Screaming_Towards_Apotheosis | 8,463 | Chris doesn’t turn to look at the man—wolf—who spoke, silently cursing himself for his lapse of attention. Letting anyone, let alone a werewolf as dangerous as Peter Hale, sneak up on him is unforgivable, drunk or not. Not that he’s drunk, yet—it takes a lot more than this to get him off his game.

••••••

"Gay chicken" (E) by Screaming_Towards_Apotheosis | 1,404 | Peter isn’t quite sure how it starts, but he knows there is something that sets Argent off - something about being called a straight boy that has the hunter chuckle, has him step forward with an eyebrow raised in challenge.

"Pointing Northward" (M) by Claire | 1,441 | In which Spin the Bottle is played and it's all Stilinski's fault.

"Stroke me like the rain" (T) by Claire | 1,281 | In which Chris applies eyeliner to teenagers and Peter watches his ass.

"Sometimes Faith Is An Open Road" (G) by Claire | 4,175 | In which Peter goes feral and Chris isn't prepared to let him go.

"Another One Inside You" (T) by Claire | 2,048 | In which Peter has amnesia and Chris lies to him about who he is.

"Wanted" (G) by Claire | 508 | Allison's friendship with Malia had never been an issue for Chris. Malia's father, on the other hand, was rapidly becoming more of an issue than Chris wanted.

"The Rocks That Surround" (E) by Claire | 974 | Peter reaches out, claws digging into Chris' arm, the scent of blood hitting the air. "You going to fuck me, Argent, or just talk about it?"

"There Inside Your Heart" (M) by Claire | 1,382 | "So, sex pollen; who knew that was actually a thing?" Stiles' voice is light, but Chris doesn't need to be a wolf to hear the edge of hysteria under the words.

More to be added.

#chris x peter #peter x chris #chris argent #christopher argent #peter hale #teen wolf fics #teen wolf fanfiction #teen wolf #fic recs #fan fiction #fanfiction #petopher

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ale10ander · 6 months

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XCOM and the perils of adaptations

Many video games have been adapted into board games: Slay the Spire, XCOM, and This War of Mine are three of the most prominent. But there's a challenge to making a good adaptation.

The Faithful

This War of Mine is extremely faithful; it feels exactly like one playthrough of the game. While the video game is single-player, the board game plays up to six, a concession for the medium. Even with six players, the players take turns reading emotional prompts, and act as one. The best way to play the game is with as few people as possible, in an intimate setting.

The Vibes

Compare that to the XCOM board game. This isn't an attempt to port the video game to tabletop space (that's been done with games like Level 7: Omega Protocol, which is an N-Vs-1 combat game in the same vein as the board games DOOM (2016), Imperial Assault, or Descent). Invariably, these games end up with a lot of dice rolling and complex line-of-sight rules, things often labeled as hallmarks of the "Ameritrash" genre of board games.

No, the XCOM board game takes a different approach. Instead of adapting the gameplay, it emulates the FEEL of an XCOM game: not having enough resources, having a time crunch to make difficult decisions, and choosing whether its better to lose one country over another. In some respects, it's not a very faithful adaptation, as it's a completely different experience to the video game. In other respects, it succeeds at its goal, and gives an experience of the stress and genre of the modern XCOM games.

What about RPGs?

Tabletop roleplaying games (a la Dungeons and Dragons) are an a similarly weird bind to XCOM. Some people play them as romance simulators, while others play them as combat simulators. There are those who argue that the 4th edition of D&D is the best version, because it lays bare what the game is "really" about (beating up monsters and taking their stuff) and makes that core loop fun. Others argue that it's the worst edition, because it only has rules for combat and eschews the "roleplaying" part of roleplaying games.

So what would an XCOM adaptation look like? Just like with board games, there are multiple possible approaches you could take. You could flesh out the combat system and have a slow-moving, tense game of tactics, where the chance to roll is determined entirely by swingy dice, or you could let the combat take a back seat and focus on the resource management side of things.

My take, or The part of this post that's closest to being an ad

Two years ago, I released an RPG called Cyberrats. Mechanically, it was inspired most heavily by the modern XCOM games, as well as Shadowrun (an RPG famous for being incredibly "crunchy"). Here's how I chose to handle various aspects of the adaptation. In my mind, the six most important aspects of an XCOM adaptation are:

Combat

Basebuilding

Resource Management

Specializations

Lethality

and a campaign.

I want to be clear: my goal was not to adapt XCOM, but to create a tabletop experience that feels similar to XCOM, while being its own thing. Here's how I tackled these elements.

Combat

I wanted combat to be tactical, but quick and fun. Many RPGs with heavy combat systems end up spending hours in a single encounter. I didn't want that. I used a modified version of the LUMEN system, which means that players get a number (usually 1-3) of six-sided dice (d6), roll them, and keep the highest. A 5-6 is a full success, a 3-4 is a success with consequences, and a 1-2 is a failure with consequences.

Additionally, enemies are simple (having attacks and non-combat 'moves', like inflicting status effects or activating their allies) and drop loot when defeated. Range bands are abstract (close, near, far), and missions have objectives (hack this computer, defuse a bomb, capture the VIP, and so on).

Basebuilding

My favorite part of XCOM is investing in the base to unlock new powers and abilities. In the base game of Cyberrats, there are 17 total rooms that can be built. These rooms improve healing (the clinic), offer new psychic powers or weapons (Auguary, Detonatorium, Engineering Lab), improve player characters ("Operatives") (Gym, Training Grounds), or otherwise affect gameplay. Players can choose which builds are important to them, and build them as a team in whatever order they'd like.

Excavation

The base is a 4x4 grid of rooms. The first two rooms are clear, the next tow cost 1 to clear. The second row costs 2 each to clear, and so on. In addition to clearing a space, rooms cost money to build.

Campaign and Resource Management

As fun as the missions in XCOM are, it's not a game I would play indefinitely. I play to win, with a strong probability of losing. Similarly, I know a lot of RPGs are designed to be played indefinitely, as a forever campaign. With Cyberrats, I wanted a short campaign, one that can be beat in ~10 sessions.

And I did that by tying it into resource management. The premise of Cyberrats is simple: the world is being invaded by aliens. You are interns at a megacorp, and a rival megacorp has the situation under control. Unacceptable!.

You have to sabotage the rival megacorp, fend off the alien invasion, and make sure your boss gets all the credit.

Mechanically, it looks like this: there are two "Victory Meters". One for the Interlopers (the aliens), one for Valdivian, your rival Megacorp. If either of those Victory meters reaches 10, you lose. In the first case, the aliens win. In the second case, someone else fended them off.

Players are presented with 3 missions. They choose one to fail, one to settle with dice rolls, and one to play out. Failing a mission targeting a specific faction increases that faction's victory meter. Succeeding against a faction lowers it.

There's also a third faction, the military. They don't have a victory meter, but do have some of the best loot in the game, making them a lucrative target.

In order to win the campaign, players must win a mission against each faction 3 times, and then go on a special story mission to fight the big boss form each faction. The final story mission is blowing up the mothership and saving the day.

Specializations

In XCOM, you start as raw recruits. After your first mission, you are assigned a specialization based on actions you took. After that, as you gain experience, you choose between two powerful abilities corresponding to your specialization.

In Cyberrats, you start as interns. You have very little health, and only one power. After your first mission, if you live, you choose a Career. As you gain experience, you choose between 3 abilities for specializations of that career. The careers are Vector (hacker), Trenchy (weapons specialist), Mindjob (psychic), and Ratter (mutated freak).

Lethality

In Cyberrats, you create two Operatives to send on missions. Partially, this is so you can send one on the backup mission (resolved with dice rolls based on the prowess of the assigned Operatives), and partially this is because there's a good chance your Operatives will get Injured.

Hit points are small (even the brawniest Career only starts with 9), and nothing is guaranteed. But, it's very hard to die in Cyberrats: it just becomes increasingly expensive to recover.

Conclusion

There's no wrong way to adapt a game to a new medium. I once read an article about 6 different ways to adapt a book into a movie, and these thoughts have been stewing in my mind ever since. I made some choices in bringing an XCOM-like experience to table, but I can easily imagine several other, equally valid approaches. It's all about what you want to emulate, baby.

#xcom #board games #tabletop games #tabletop gaming #roleplaying #ttrpg #rpg #ttrpg design #furry #cyberrats #roleplay #roleplaying games #adaptation #game design #ttrpg dev #kickstarter #game development

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das-boog · 6 months

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Heya folks! If you been enjoying the latest Cyberrats art, the new kickstarter is live!

Cyberrats is a rules light, tactics heavy LUMEN system game inspired by xcom, teenage mutant ninja turtles and shadowrun. Players are mutant rats and interns for one of three evil, world-spanning megacorporations when aliens invade the earth. Not so bad, on paper. A good disaster now and then is good for your bosses bottom line. The issue is that a rival megacorp, Valdivian, has the issue well in hand and refuses to share the alien-fighting market. An unacceptable scenario. Your job is to sabotage the "real" heroes, secure the contract, save the world, and clock out of your shift.

Cyberrats: Rise of the Briny Bastards expands on ideas introduced in the first game, expanding both tactical options AND downtime actions to flesh out who your mutagenic operative is, what their relationship is to their team and what they're really fighting for when their checks are cashed and the dust settles. We've also introduced a bunch of new mutators and classes, a toyetic submarine, and a new enemy faction in the form of an ocean that hates your player characters personally.

Cyberrats gameplay is designed to contrast risky, dangerous missions with the personal stakes of the characters. You'll watch your helpless intern slowly build out a 90s-action-figure's worth of extra weaponry, powers and relationships with other players and npcs that can synergize for more and more impressive combat strategies. The numbers are stacked in the enemies favor, and you're encouraged to find unique ways to break the game balance to survive!

If you're like me, and like the crunch of a game to add weight to its emotional stakes but ALSO don't want to have to memorize 4 different chapters on how to grapple someone, I highly recommend it! You can find the kickstarter at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2018387307/cyberrats-rise-of-the-briny-bastards

kickstarter

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