Fastlane claims to be the game of \"Everything, All the Time\", and follows the sordid tales of people who live fast, burn out, die hard, and leave a good-looking corpse. Plus: the key mechanic is a based on Roulette. Who can ignore a setup like that?
Post originally by Carl at 2005-01-21 06:31:22
Converted from Phorums BB System
And thank you also for the perfect "complementary review" to my review of Fastlane. I honestly think you did an even better job than I did in explaining how the mechanics work in Fastlane.
Here's hoping this game sets a trend and opens up different styles and avenues of roleplaying than the tired old "kill stuff and take their things" approach. Viva La Fastlane!
Post originally by DevP at 2005-01-21 07:11:14
Converted from Phorums BB System
I'm glad you like my reviews! Yours was excellent as well, and as I said, I tried not retread your ground.
Although, if I may quibble: I think I disagree in the whole "this will make new avenues thank kill stuff etc etc" thing, personally. Those new avenues have always been around, even in ye olde tymes of AD&D 2e; besides which, there really is nothing wrong "kill things / take stuff" mode of play. (Consider what IMHO is Fastlane's default tone of play: driven beautiful people kick ass and have colorful and destructive fun until they get their ass handed to them on the big wheel. It's certainly no *less* self-indulgent than a Dungeon Hack, and it's wicked fun.)
So, that's where I'm coming from. I'm not looking into to this for a trend-changing bellweather, but instead for just some good game crafstmanship, which I feel is there.
Post originally by Wolfen at 2005-01-21 14:51:36
Converted from Phorums BB System
Only thing I think you really missed out on is humbling. In my opinion, it's one of the cooler mechanics of the game.
For further exposition (as I'm assuming Dev is totally aware of what humbling is) humbling acts as Fastlane's concept for "damage". It can do one of two things; You can demand favors, or you can just out and out destroy your opponent.
The character being humbled has the option (as a PC, at least. Not sure about whether NPCs have the option) of refusing the favor, leaving the only choice to be humbling in the normal sense. Basically, your total margin of winnings not used to overcome the conflict can be taken out of their stat-values.
A couple examples. When I played, we were playing a futuristic setting on a resort/casino planet run by a corrupt military governor. I was a street rat kid with a real knack for trouble, and cobbling tech. Oh yeah, also a kick-ass hacker.
Anyhow, he ended up with a gun at one point, and got a little roughed up while trying to flee the governor's goons. So I, a little irritated by an earlier loss, used my winnings to kill them both. They were both "mooks", just 1-point thugs, so it didn't take much.
Later, I used one some of my winnings to discredit the military governor, as well as destroy the matrix access of his son, who was trying to counter-hack me.
Basically what I like about humbling.. The game will try to beat you down. It's the way it's designed. Humbling means that you can get your own back.
Post originally by Yamo at 2005-01-21 18:14:12
Converted from Phorums BB System
"Plus: the key mechanic is a based on Roulette. Who can ignore a setup like that?"
I can. Mo RPG needs a gimmicky random number generator which a given gamer probably doesn't ever own. Dice can give you the same results, and very few, if any, of us lack them.
Of course, the game has dice rules, so there's no crisis. I'm just answering your hypothetical re: using funky random number generators in your game just because you can. It's backwards, lame design.
Post originally by Eero Tuovinen at 2005-01-21 19:45:12
Converted from Phorums BB System
Nah, I think it's pretty posh, myself. Gives the game certain class. And if I had a wheel lying around, it'd be natural to think up some way to play rpgs with it. The same thing I have with my billiards table: can't help playing around with different rpg applications for it. Who knows, I might publish something, someday. The name of the game'd be Pool, of course
Think about it: Fastlane is, due to choosing this particular implement, the roleplaying game of choice for everyone who owns a wheel and wants to play with it. There's no other game fulfilling that need. I'm not saying that it's a big market, but then, it's not wrong to shoot for a small market, is it? It's no reason for us, the rest of the world not owning a wheel, to diminish the game just for being targeted towards other people.
It's surprising how important implements can be to certain games. I couldn't imagine Warhammer without the little plastic orcs, myself. I don't see why a rpg couldn't go for that kind of appeal in it's set-up. Fastlane, for example, is clearly built on nothing more than the inspiration of the wheel. The game's only theme /is/ the wheel. "Everything, all the time"
It's a great theme, I think, much more abstract and deep-rooted than most games. I can't wait to get to play around with it: will my character try to reject the high life, or embrace it? And what happens when the wheel threatens his Life? The terminology and focus of the game is all built around this rarely voiced philosophy, formed of risk-taking, favors, un-expected turns and willigness to give your all. The wheel is just a part of that.
Actually, I think that the game would play even better with additional paraphelia... white starked tablecloth, crystal glasses, champagne... players sitting in comfy chairs, rising to approach the roulette table when necessary... formal evening clothes... it'd be fun to make a party of it, blend the game somewhat visually and so.
Well, it seems I was inspired to spout... anyway, those are my thoughts on the wheel question. I'm gonna get one just to play Fastlane properly.
Post originally by Lxndr at 2005-01-22 05:35:30
Converted from Phorums BB System
Of course, Fastlane wasn't designed with a funky number generator "just because you can." It's not a gimmick, even though that's the natural first reaction to "uses a roulette wheel!" (and is probably one of the biggest obstacles in getting Fastlane face time, and getting it taken seriously in general).
Fastlane is an outgrowth of the Roulette game itself, and it doesn't just use the wheel as a gimmicked randomizer, it takes advantage of the entire game, bets and all. does play most properly with the whole wheel/chips/board setup, even though there is a handy (and quite elegant) 6-sider dice alternative...
Post originally by Dev at 2005-01-22 16:24:04
Converted from Phorums BB System
I hope the roulette wheel itself didn't turn you off from rest of the game (or the rest of my review). I was hoping my tagline would attract a "Roulette? WTF? I gotta check this out..." kinda response.
If the game was just a roulette wheel in place of a d37, I wouldn't have been so happy about it, but indeed its better described as layering an RPG into the mechanics and rhythms of the whole game of roulette (and therefore, the wheel really isn't the most important thing there is). I disagree that gimmicky things aren't fun to have for gaming or otherwise, but that's YMMV-territory; I think I gave the design itself a fair shake, and it's far from lame.
We just signed Twisted Confessions as our newest member. Fastlane is the type of RPG that I know might not be a blockbuster seller, but I want to carry at IPR because I think it is innovative and really should be out there in the hands of gamers.
Linear Mode
