Slugblaster: A first impressions review

Thanks to Quinn’s Quest review on YouTube, I bought the Slugblaster pdf. 

It isn’t something I’d normally be interested in, but I’ll get to that.

According to the rules, Slugblaster is “a tabletop roleplaying game about teenagehood, giant bugs, circuit-bent rayguns, hoverboard tricks, and trying to be cool.”

Forged in the Dark

Slugblaster is a Forged in the Dark (Fitd) game set sort of in the modern day, but with a wacky cartoon veneer as their home town has a crazy science lab in it that is warping reality. The PCs are bored teenage skateboarders, taking their boards into alternate universes for a “run”. That’s a “slugblast” (and the game’s core activity) - doing unnecessary things that are unnecessarily risky.

(I guess you could think of it as a four-colour, gonzo version of Tales from the Loop. )

So the players go on runs, then return home for downtime to deal with their dysfunctional families.

The rolls are as FitD, there are playbooks and gear (lots of crazy gear) and monsters and more. It’s all extremely charming, nicely laid out and fairly concisely written. (It’s a masterpiece of conciseness compared to the weighty tome that is Urban Shadows' second edition.)

I have a chequered history when it comes to running FitD games (see here and here). I don’t think the rules quite work for me. I’m not sure why – I think I’m missing something fundamental. I probably need to play more to see how it’s supposed to work.

Slugblaster's cycle of play

Anyway, Quinns made Slugblaster sound like a lot of fun, and I think I’d rather play it than run it. Although I’d quite like to run it. (And it needs more than my usual preference for a one-shot.)

And that’s because of beats.

What are beats?

Basiscally, beats are dramatic character development arcs. Slugblaster has loads – several common beats plus a unique beat for each playbook. Some examples:

The family arc:

1. Trouble at Home (2 trouble). Your family disapproves. How? Why? Do you care? +1 slam (distracted, worried, etc.) and pick a teammate who notices.
2. Final Warning (3 trouble). An argument, punishment, or ultimatum. What do they want? What do you? What don’t they understand? What don’t you? +1 doom.
3. Last Straw (4 trouble). Nuclear war, scorched-earth, and words you both regret. +1 slam (grounded, lost device, etc.) and +1 doom. What’s the crew think?
4. Redemption (4 style). Who makes the first move toward forgiveness? What’s changed? How will you treat each other differently now? −2 doom, +1 legacy or trait.

The angst arc:

1. Angst (2 trouble). You’ve got issues. Do we know why? How do they show? +1 slam (angry, jealous, depressed, etc.) and pick a teammate who notices.
2. Struggling (3 trouble). Your issues get worse. You act out, project, or try to solve the problem the wrong way. +1 doom.
3. Darkness (4 trouble). You are not okay. Your issues hurt your own crew. How? What did you say? What did you do? What did you not do? +1 fracture.
4. Catharsis (4 style). Who helps you? What do you understand now that you didn’t before? What will you change? −1 doom, −1 fracture, +1 legacy or trait.

During downtime, you can use beats to clear the trouble you have accrued during runs (when you are messing about in other dimensions). And you don’t want trouble to get too high…

Let’s say you start on the angst arc. It’s your turn, so you clear two trouble and start a scene where you describe your issues and how they are manifesting. You can bring in a teammate, and it’s up to you whether you roleplay this in full or just describe it. And when you’re done, you get +1 slam (“…lingering problems that directly affect your body, mind, spirit, or gear. Things like bruised, exhausted, freaking out, humiliated, glitching device…”).

So yes, to start with, all you get for clearing those two trouble is something bad (a slam). And the next two beats are worse – until, finally, you triumph and you are redeemed or overcome your troubles. The final beat gives you lots of nice bonuses, but frankly, I imagine the real bonus is all that angsty roleplaying.

Yes, you do have to accept the narrative leap that allows you to use the angst arc to clear the trouble you received from fleeing a salvage crab. As Quinns points out, Slugblaster is a resource management game – and trouble is just one resource. (And if you have players who struggle with that, then this probably isn’t the game for them.)

I imagine that when beats are working well, they will only encourage the players to take more crazy risks (to rack up the trouble), thus making the runs even more fun. That makes it a virtuous circle and is probably the main reason I want to play Slugblaster. With the right group.

I don’t think I’ve seen anything like beats in another game.

And the rest

The rest of Slugblaster is all the stuff we’ve seen before. Playbooks. Gear (lots of gear, much of it gonzo). Hillview, the PC’s home town, is described (along with some alternatives). There are crazy worlds (and a world-generator) for the PCs to go slugblasting in, and a bunch of crazy monsters (and a monster-generator) for them to meet. There are maps and NPCs and and factions and so on. I’ll be honest, I didn’t read this. I didn’t pick up Slugblaster for the background. If I decide to run it, I’ll read it then.

Slugblaster also contains rules for solo play, a chapter on changing the game, and examples of play. At the end, there are two boxes which explain the game in broad terms to D&D players and Blades in the Dark players.

So am I going to play Slugblaster?

I don’t know. I hope so, it looks like fun. But I’m not sure I want to run it.

You can pick up Slugblaster here.