Tomorrow City - Danger and Dice Rolls

Our dieselpunk roleplaying game Tomorrow City is out next week in the UK! Read on for our second blog from the author, giving you a sneak peek at the game's system and mechanics...

Welcome back to the Tomorrow City design blog, where I explore the thrilling world of my dieselpunk roleplaying game. Last time, I delved into the setting and the inspirations that brought this game to life (you can read it here). Today, we'll take a dive into the game's mechanics.

Tomorrow City is built on the same game engine that powered my earlier Osprey Games RPG, Hard City, with some adjustments tailored to the unique dieselpunk setting. The "Action Tales" system uses dice pools to determine the success of actions, and descriptive Tags to shape the world in which the characters reside. Let’s dive in.

Fiction First

In Tomorrow City, storytelling takes the lead. As with any roleplaying game, the adventure begins with lively conversations: the Game Master (GM) paints vivid scenes and describes the intricacies of this dieselpunk metropolis while the players embody their characters and react to the unfolding narrative. It’s cyclical, with the GM describing situations, the players reacting, and the GM describing how things have changed. The conversation flows naturally until a character faces a perilous situation or attempts something where the outcome is uncertain. That's when the game's mechanisms come into play, driving the excitement forward.

At the heart of Tomorrow City's game engine lies the concept of Tags. These are descriptive words or phrases that bring the world and its inhabitants to life. When the Game Master mentions the smog-choked halls of the Great Factory or the burning penthouse, those are Tags. If a character has the Trademark Gadgeteer or the Edge Keeps an eye on the telescreens, those are also Tags. Tags may be recorded on character sheets, jotted down on sticky notes, or simply woven into the narrative as they emerge. In essence, any notable detail about a character, location, or piece of technology can serve as a Tag. They play a vital role in shaping the outcomes of your character's endeavours.

Taking Risks, Making Checks

When characters do things where the outcome is risky or unclear, the GM may call for a Check. To determine the success of a character's attempt, players assemble a pool of Action Dice and Danger Dice. These are standard six-sided dice in two distinct colours. Every pool starts with a single Action Die, and players can add more by leveraging their character's Tags. Each beneficial Tag, as well as any advantageous scene details, contributes bonus Action Dice. These factors can include gaining a tactical advantage, taking time to strategize, or exploiting an opponent's weakness. Conversely, players include Danger Dice for any obstacles that impede the action, such as facing a skilled adversary, dealing with multiple foes, or contending with injuries. The process of building dice pools is a dynamic and engaging aspect of the game, unfolding naturally as players and GM talk through the action:

Player: I begin with one Action Die and, as I am diving for cover, I will use my Quick Trademark and Duck and Weave Edge to avoid the Broken Doughboy’s attack. That’s three Action Dice.

GM: Add an extra Action Die because there are lots of big pieces of machinery between you and it. Also, the robot’s Danger Rating is 1, so add a Danger Dice for that, and another for your Badly Sprained Ankle.

Player: Okay, so that’s four Action Dice and two Danger Dice. I’ve got this…

Once the dice pool is set, players roll all the Action and Danger Dice together. Each Danger Die cancels out a single matching Action Die and the highest remaining Action Die determines the outcome. A roll of 6 represents a complete success, and if multiple 6s remain, the character achieves Boons, signifying critical successes with additional advantages. A result of 4 or 5 on the best remaining Action Die is a partial success, while a roll of 1, 2, or 3 denotes failure.

Pressure is a new rule introduced in Tomorrow City. After a Check is resolved, any remaining Danger Dice showing a 6 increase the pressure. When the pressure reaches a total of six, things escalate – more enemies arrive, a terrible revelation is made, or something blows up! The exact effect depends on what is happening in the scene and story. The pressure mechanic helps to add tension and means that even a successful Check can have unexpected consequences later in the story.

Making a Check is fast and easy and allows for lots of interesting outcomes. While players can stack the odds in their favour by utilising Tags effectively, success is never guaranteed. This adds an element of suspense and surprise to each dice roll. Characters often achieve partial successes, enabling them to accomplish their goals, albeit with some consequences. The overall effect is to introduce depth and tension to the narrative, making for memorable and thrilling moments in the dieselpunk world of Tomorrow City.

Harm

As the story unfolds, characters may face setbacks or suffer harm when their Checks fail or partially succeed. Such consequences can manifest as minor delays, additional challenges, or even physical, mental, or social drawbacks called Conditions or Injuries.

Conditions are Tags that represent physical or mental states such as Angry, Dazed, Shaken, or Poisoned. There are six described in the rules, but GMs are encouraged to make up their own. Suffering a Condition once will immediately apply the Tag to the character, affecting both the story and potentially any Checks they must make. In addition, it is possible to suffer the same Condition multiple times, indicating an increased intensity or severity. If a character suffers the same Condition three times, they are taken out of the scene.

Injuries are physical harm that result from falls, knife wounds, gunshots, and other damage sources. Every character has a Grit value that indicates how much damage they can “soak” up without consequence, but after that all damage is applied to Injuries, which are Tags. These could be anything, from sprained ankles or black eyes to deep wounds or broken bones, and players should write injuries based on the source of harm. This means that damage not only has a mechanical effect, but also a story one – how does your character handle their weapon when they have Three broken fingers, or what is the reaction of the hotel concierge when you walk in with a Broken and bloody nose?

Gadgets and Serums

The dieselpunk genre has a close association with strange devices, dangerous weaponry, and cool vehicles, and Tomorrow City dedicates a fair amount of space to equipment. Characters will “spend” their Cred, which represents both liquid assets and their ability to get things, to obtain weapons, tools, serums, and vehicles. Each item has one or more Tags that help define how it might be used, or what cool things it can do. There is a great variety of stuff, from the mundane (sawn-off shotgun, camera, jeep), to the wildly fanciful (pneumatic gloves, pattern blaster, spark grenade, autokey, cargo dirigible!). You can even purchase personal robots of all shapes and sizes! The gear chapter provides lots of guidance so players and GMs can create their own strange dieselpunk devices and put them into play with very little effort.

One interesting type of gear in Tomorrow City are serums. These are alchemical drugs that imbue a user with a temporary benefit. Some benefits are easily explained by science, such as removing Conditions or increasing your speed or strength. Others have more amazing effects, like granting your close combat attacks the Electric Tag, increasing your size, or even making you appear to be dead for a short period. Unfortunately, every serum also comes with a side effect, from making you feel tired, to giving you the shakes, or causing you to cough violently for hours. Using serums can grant a huge benefit to characters during their adventures, but there is always a cost.               

While there's much more to explore in Tomorrow City, including extended checks and guidelines for chases and interrogations, I've covered the core concepts and highlighted some of the cool elements you'll discover in the rules. I hope you've enjoyed this glimpse into the mechanics that power Tomorrow City and the amazing tales that await your characters in this imaginative and perilous world. Stay tuned for more exciting updates as I continue our design journey!

Tomorrow City is out next week in the UK and 27th February in the US.

Watch out for one last blog after the game releases, all about your player characters...

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