Friday, January 3, 2014

Rock Opera '79 Update

In the year 1979, rock must fight to stay alive.

Rock music has been outlawed by the decadent Discocracy. As the glittering elite of Rocktopolis dance with abandon to a soul-numbing beat, the teeming masses call for heroes. That’s where you come in.

As a member of one of the last outlaw rock bands standing, you’ve got to fight your way back to the top of the charts, winning fans and battling the evil forces of The Man. Can you hit #1 and reclaim rock’s right to rule?

In a few days I'm going to put up an open playtest version of the Rock Opera '79 rules on this blog for anyone to download as a PDF and try out. I'll include 12 rock star PCs and a selection of bad guys to go up against. It's a fun playing-card based mechanic that combines cooperation and spotlight-stealing, with decent options for character building.

Hope you enjoy it. I've started a Pinterest board for the RO '79. Check it out here.

6 comments:

  1. 2112 ... Kilroy was Here ... Sonic Disruptors ...

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    1. Never heard of Sonic Disruptors until you mentioned it!

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  2. Reminds me of the old Star Child rpg from 15 years ago.

    Interesting.

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    1. I just looked up Starchild and after reading a review or two, I am depressed. Very similar concept, right down to using a playing-card-based mechanic. I remember seeing the game on the shelf at my FLGS ages ago, but never played it. Damn.

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    2. As I said when I linked to this post I like your quickie...if you read Starchild it had an 80s political axe to grind against Tipper Gore in particular and Reagan/conservatives in general (the fact that it conflates Tipper Gore and Reagan says a lot about a lot of things). I also remember it having a more punk feel (very DIY culture...this might be me reading my 90s experience onto the game though).

      I generally don't like specific politics in my game...fighting the Man is nothing like fight a Tipper Gore stand in for example. Also, as I said I get a much more arena rock/glam feel from your blurb and Pinterest.

      I have Starchild somewhere and never really got into playing it. I want to play test your game (and suspect my music geek girlfriend would be up to it too).

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    3. Yeah, I'm going to keep going forward on it. The pinterest page is huge now and gives you a good sense of the mood of the game world.

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