Enjoying reading this with some friends and hoping to play it some soon!
Plus, typo reports:
page 7, it says "and one small object per player a coin, a paperclip, a pewter figures—anything you have". It looks like there's supposed to be an em-dash before "a coin", and "figures" should be singular.
page 16, it says "we always pilot our ❧Orphan Vessel☙ to safely." should should say "safety".
I can’t speak for Austin, but typically for ashcan publishing this is not the case; you can think of it as purchasing the 1st edition & 2nd edition of a book (except the 1st edition is more like an early access copy).
Would it be possible to add bookmarks to the PDF for this or the final version? They make it much easier to find the section you need when you're using it at the table.
Already getting a Band together to play!! So excited to play and listen.
Can I get clarification on how Bonds get marked?
Page 37: "Bonds are marked and Realized in the same way as Class Sentences." - to me, this would imply they only get marked when they fail.
Page 53: "Mark Results: If a Sentence failed, mark it with a dot. If an Ephemera succeeded, cross off one of its uses. If a Bond was used at all, mark it with a dot." - which implies they get marked regardless of success or failure.
Just curious which rule should be followed! I'm guessing it's the one on page 53 but right now there isn't a clarification in the section about Bonds.
Thanks for the catch! Page 37 is correct. We'll fix this ASAP. The rule for Bonds used to be that they didn't Realize, they were only ever rewritten as new +0 bonds. Once I changed that, I also returned them to being marked only on failures, like regular Sentences. Hope that makes sense!
Not an official one at this point. Running and moderating a server well is a lot of work, and not one that I currently have the bandwidth for, especially since making TTRPGs is not my full time job.
I've started a modest subreddit for the game if you'd like to check it out, r/Realis_TTRPG, and there's a FaTT fan one-shots Discord that is organizing a few games
I’m loving the vibes of this game based on my read through. I’m excited to get it to the table sometime!
I would love some more GM direction and help for what the GM should be doing in the final release. That may stop me from actually getting it on the table in the meantime.
First, tonally, saying the word 'always' really has an impact in play. The initial draft of this game allowed for other phrasings, and it didn't really hit. 'I always do X' really shifts the sense of deploying a Sentence.
Second, mechanically, Class Sentences aren't only deployed in Conflicts, they're also used when facing uncertainty, which is only possible because of "always." If the Runner didn't always "find a way through or around," and they came to a locked door, how would we know that they could get past it? Well, in another game, where they had something like a skill like "lockpicking" or an aspect like "knows how to find a way through or around" we might ask "well, how well do they know that?" and to find out we'd maybe roll some dice. Here, we don't have to: They always find a way through or around.
The only thing powerful enough to stop that "always"--in the Wordwrights' vision of Realis--is another Sentence.
This is more of a typesetting thing than a typo, but it appears that the bottom 2 paragraphs of the left column are justified as opposed to left-aligned like the rest of the book. No idea if this seeming mistake appears elsewhere, just the first instance of justified text I've noticed while reading through.
I'll take a look! It's likely an oversight, but could also be a fix for fitting everything onto a single column or spread for layout purposes. Could you let me know what page you're seeing it on
Lol I can't believe I forgot to post the page number! It's page 39 and I also noticed it on page 46 as well (though that one looks more like it could be intentional than an oversight since it's the entire column).
This may be premature, but... have you thought about what the family of Realis hacks should be known as? Dreamed by Realis? Honed by Realis? Orbiting Realis?
I've started a modest subreddit for the game if you'd like to check it out, r/Realis_TTRPG, and there's a FaTT fan one-shots Discord that is organizing a few games
Given that all player sentences start at +0 and the fact that players will (generally) be the ones acting, are they expected to fail basically every conflict until they can get a few +1s? I know there's a few ways to get temporary boosts, but once those are leveraged, is a new character just hosed in any conflict with any sentence, since they'll never encounter anything they can natively beat as the actor? I understand that as a narrative game you shouldn't expect to "win" or whatever, but I also feel like as a player I'd be looking at my sheet, doing the math, and getting a little annoyed that I have literally no chance of success in any conflict (as the actor) against any sentence without using my Token. Am I missing something here?
edit: I forgot how honing works. I think between that and your Token you should have enough of a shot to not feel totally useless as an actor with a new character. I do think I need to wait for the full version of the game because even after reading the whole thing, I don't really understand what the player characters are supposed to do beyond "have adventures." I think a specific campaign frame or similar would be really helpful to guide new GMs and give us a more grounded way to pitch the game to our groups.
A GMing guide is on my list for the full release for sure! A lot of play testers have been able to get campaigns up and going with what’s here, so I’m confident it does work.
One important note: the PCs should NOT be the only ones doing things, or be the primary Actors. This game doesn’t work only on “what do you do,” it requires “Someone is trying to use [sentence X] with [Y intent], can anyone counter that?”
Thanks for the reply! In a similar way to how a D&D player might ask "how do you determine initiative," when trying a PbtA game, I think I'm so focused on prompting the players for action that the idea of having NPCs be the ones starting conflicts just didn't feel "right" to me. If there's supposed to be lots of give-and-take, and lots of countering from the players, the math feels a lot better.
Honestly I'm just thrilled people are reading the text this closely. You are correct, and I just pushed this and other light corrections live. Thanks! - Tyler
Very cool ideas here! I'm loving reading through it so far.
Typo report:
Page 11: "One such tool... are Foundation sentences" should be "is"
Page 13: "1 Tokens" should be "1 Token"
Page 13: "All Classes belong to one of seven Spheres" should be "nine Spheres"
Page 26: "I think I’m just about wrapped up my repairs" should be "I've just about" or "wrapped up with my repairs" (unless this is idiomatic in the speaker's dialect!)
Page 28: "Stick the conversation until Conflict occurs" should be "Stick to the conversation" (or maybe "Stick to conversation")
Page 28: "Finally, players and GMs should be 'always be thoughtful...'" should be "players and GMs should 'always be thoughtful...'"
Taking some time to think through all the potential here after skimming the pdf and listening to the play example that dropped on public FATT, but short story is I am seriously digging it!
Next time I try doing something Kill Six Billion Demons inspired, I feel like the whole "chiseling your identity into something narrow but profoundly effective" and lack of dicerolling filler will be very resonant.
Very much appreciate the callout that Realis prizes "passivity" at the beginning and the mention that there are ways besides Retiring that a character can die, that addresses the mechanical incentives I was most initially concerned about. I appreciate the mention that players might choose not to Realize their Primed Sentences at all.
Though I typically gravitate towards whatever the wizard is in a TRPG, my favorite initial brainstorm for +3 variants on a class sentence suite was turning the Peregrine into a necromancer with extremely Elden Ring vibes:
- When I face a living foe, I always brandish the Wraith Blade I used to slay my master.
- When I whisper to the corpse-ashes I carry, I can always demand a favor from my bound ghosts.
- If my bound ghosts have a grudge for me to settle, I always have the determination to fight for it.
- If I am certain my doom is near, I always flee atop a wispy conjured steed.
Why does Kasey get to mark their honed sentence? The honing allowed them to win the conflict so I'm wondering where the failure is that allowed them to mark their sentence.
Amazing game - can't wait for the finished release!
I’m traveling today, but sounds like a typo or holdover from when something else happened in that play example. I’ll take a look once I’m at a computer!! Thank you~
Oh this is absolutely true. This is what I get for trying to handle some of the edits from the passenger seat of a car. Tyler and I will adjust for clarity soon!
The setting, the mechanics, the writing of the book itself: So much of this is speaking to me at a deep level. There are so few ways this game could captured me more than it already has, and I have yet to actually play it. I cannot wait.
Not sure if this is the best place, but i think I may have found a typo in the second sentence of page 83 (it says "does" and should likely say "does not")
But I don't wanna leave it at that so I also wanna say that this is probably the coolest TTRPG mechanic I've ever read. It probably says more about me, but when reading a new TTRPG book, I usually gloss over the mechanics in favor of the lore and world, but Realis's systems had me in rapt attention.
Great catch! I just made the fix and reuploaded, so any future (re)downloads won't have the typo. A game this size & complexity is bound to have a few, so we appreciate your flagging them! Feel free to comment with any your find or you can always reach out to me directly via https://www.possibleworldsgames.com/contact - Tyler
"the first Velvet Underground record Austin Walker TTRPG sold only 30,000 copies in its first five years. Yet, that was an enormously important record game for so many people. I think everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band podcast/novel/screenplay/revolutionary insurrection."
Austin Walker, along with the crew over at Friends at the Table, have made some of the most profound and exciting stuff in the actual play space maybe ever. I wouldn't be surprised if Realis became a foundational text in the indie TTRPG space alongside games like Blades in the Dark and Dream Apart/Dream Askew
The game look exciting, but I saw that the core mechanics are language based. If my group usually runs sessions in English but it is not the primary language of most members, should I be mindful of any issues or limitations that could come up? Regarding for example need for broad vocab or creativity with language use?
Given the tenor of how it’s written, and the way Austin & friends talk about the game, I feel like they’d be really excited about the addition of translation to the language mechanics.
If you’d like a separate fictional work to consider how this might work, check out the novel Babel (Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution). It’s about drawing power from the differences in linguistic expression, which I suspect Austin would dig.
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Enjoying reading this with some friends and hoping to play it some soon!
Plus, typo reports:
Thanks so much! Corrections made, and glad you're enjoying it!
Quick question: Does anyone know what the little radish-looking symbols mean that appear in some class sentences (Berserker's 2nd for example)?
My guesses are that they're either unchangeable through Realization or that they remain relevant even after being counted.
Those are Hallmarks that you should take some extra time to describe. They're talked about on page 14
Thank you so much!
Will purchasers of the Ashcan edition have access to the full version upon its release?
I can’t speak for Austin, but typically for ashcan publishing this is not the case; you can think of it as purchasing the 1st edition & 2nd edition of a book (except the 1st edition is more like an early access copy).
Would it be possible to add bookmarks to the PDF for this or the final version? They make it much easier to find the section you need when you're using it at the table.
Already getting a Band together to play!! So excited to play and listen.
Can I get clarification on how Bonds get marked?
Page 37: "Bonds are marked and Realized in the same way as Class Sentences." - to me, this would imply they only get marked when they fail.
Page 53: "Mark Results: If a Sentence failed, mark it with a dot. If an Ephemera succeeded, cross off one of its uses. If a Bond was used at all, mark it with a dot." - which implies they get marked regardless of success or failure.
Just curious which rule should be followed! I'm guessing it's the one on page 53 but right now there isn't a clarification in the section about Bonds.
Thanks for the catch! Page 37 is correct. We'll fix this ASAP. The rule for Bonds used to be that they didn't Realize, they were only ever rewritten as new +0 bonds. Once I changed that, I also returned them to being marked only on failures, like regular Sentences. Hope that makes sense!
Thank you! Yes, that makes perfect sense.
Is there currently (or are there future plans for) a Realis discord server?
Not an official one at this point. Running and moderating a server well is a lot of work, and not one that I currently have the bandwidth for, especially since making TTRPGs is not my full time job.
Sure, that makes total sense. I appreciate the response!
I've started a modest subreddit for the game if you'd like to check it out, r/Realis_TTRPG, and there's a FaTT fan one-shots Discord that is organizing a few games
I’m loving the vibes of this game based on my read through. I’m excited to get it to the table sometime!
I would love some more GM direction and help for what the GM should be doing in the final release. That may stop me from actually getting it on the table in the meantime.
A GMing and/or Play Guidance section(s) is high on the list of new material for the full release!
does it change anything to drop “always” from all the sentences? Must… but I didn’t see it somehow.
Yes, absolutely, in two major ways.
First, tonally, saying the word 'always' really has an impact in play. The initial draft of this game allowed for other phrasings, and it didn't really hit. 'I always do X' really shifts the sense of deploying a Sentence.
Second, mechanically, Class Sentences aren't only deployed in Conflicts, they're also used when facing uncertainty, which is only possible because of "always." If the Runner didn't always "find a way through or around," and they came to a locked door, how would we know that they could get past it? Well, in another game, where they had something like a skill like "lockpicking" or an aspect like "knows how to find a way through or around" we might ask "well, how well do they know that?" and to find out we'd maybe roll some dice. Here, we don't have to: They always find a way through or around.
The only thing powerful enough to stop that "always"--in the Wordwrights' vision of Realis--is another Sentence.
This is more of a typesetting thing than a typo, but it appears that the bottom 2 paragraphs of the left column are justified as opposed to left-aligned like the rest of the book. No idea if this seeming mistake appears elsewhere, just the first instance of justified text I've noticed while reading through.
I'll take a look! It's likely an oversight, but could also be a fix for fitting everything onto a single column or spread for layout purposes. Could you let me know what page you're seeing it on
Lol I can't believe I forgot to post the page number! It's page 39 and I also noticed it on page 46 as well (though that one looks more like it could be intentional than an oversight since it's the entire column).
This may be premature, but... have you thought about what the family of Realis hacks should be known as? Dreamed by Realis? Honed by Realis? Orbiting Realis?
Realized With Realis?
Diagramed with Realis
I'm excited to learn what the "Gonnist" (and their Gonn!) class is. Maybe some kind of pet class?
Are there any good places to look for groups for this game? I want to try it out but am not sure where I'd even start trying to find folks to play
I've started a modest subreddit for the game if you'd like to check it out, r/Realis_TTRPG, and there's a FaTT fan one-shots Discord that is organizing a few games
Given that all player sentences start at +0 and the fact that players will (generally) be the ones acting, are they expected to fail basically every conflict until they can get a few +1s? I know there's a few ways to get temporary boosts, but once those are leveraged, is a new character just hosed in any conflict with any sentence, since they'll never encounter anything they can natively beat as the actor? I understand that as a narrative game you shouldn't expect to "win" or whatever, but I also feel like as a player I'd be looking at my sheet, doing the math, and getting a little annoyed that I have literally no chance of success in any conflict (as the actor) against any sentence without using my Token. Am I missing something here?
edit: I forgot how honing works. I think between that and your Token you should have enough of a shot to not feel totally useless as an actor with a new character. I do think I need to wait for the full version of the game because even after reading the whole thing, I don't really understand what the player characters are supposed to do beyond "have adventures." I think a specific campaign frame or similar would be really helpful to guide new GMs and give us a more grounded way to pitch the game to our groups.
A GMing guide is on my list for the full release for sure! A lot of play testers have been able to get campaigns up and going with what’s here, so I’m confident it does work.
One important note: the PCs should NOT be the only ones doing things, or be the primary Actors. This game doesn’t work only on “what do you do,” it requires “Someone is trying to use [sentence X] with [Y intent], can anyone counter that?”
Thanks for the reply! In a similar way to how a D&D player might ask "how do you determine initiative," when trying a PbtA game, I think I'm so focused on prompting the players for action that the idea of having NPCs be the ones starting conflicts just didn't feel "right" to me. If there's supposed to be lots of give-and-take, and lots of countering from the players, the math feels a lot better.
Page 64: "Moon Ephemera" -- should that be Moon Sentence?
Honestly I'm just thrilled people are reading the text this closely. You are correct, and I just pushed this and other light corrections live. Thanks! - Tyler
Very cool ideas here! I'm loving reading through it so far.
Typo report:
Page 11: "One such tool... are Foundation sentences" should be "is"
Page 13: "1 Tokens" should be "1 Token"
Page 13: "All Classes belong to one of seven Spheres" should be "nine Spheres"
Page 26: "I think I’m just about wrapped up my repairs" should be "I've just about" or "wrapped up with my repairs" (unless this is idiomatic in the speaker's dialect!)
Page 28: "Stick the conversation until Conflict occurs" should be "Stick to the conversation" (or maybe "Stick to conversation")
Page 28: "Finally, players and GMs should be 'always be thoughtful...'" should be "players and GMs should 'always be thoughtful...'"
Great catches! I just made those fixes on my end and will be pushing them live shortly. Much appreciated!
Taking some time to think through all the potential here after skimming the pdf and listening to the play example that dropped on public FATT, but short story is I am seriously digging it!
Next time I try doing something Kill Six Billion Demons inspired, I feel like the whole "chiseling your identity into something narrow but profoundly effective" and lack of dicerolling filler will be very resonant.
Very much appreciate the callout that Realis prizes "passivity" at the beginning and the mention that there are ways besides Retiring that a character can die, that addresses the mechanical incentives I was most initially concerned about. I appreciate the mention that players might choose not to Realize their Primed Sentences at all.
Though I typically gravitate towards whatever the wizard is in a TRPG, my favorite initial brainstorm for +3 variants on a class sentence suite was turning the Peregrine into a necromancer with extremely Elden Ring vibes:
- When I face a living foe, I always brandish the Wraith Blade I used to slay my master.
- When I whisper to the corpse-ashes I carry, I can always demand a favor from my bound ghosts.
- If my bound ghosts have a grudge for me to settle, I always have the determination to fight for it.
- If I am certain my doom is near, I always flee atop a wispy conjured steed.
Question about part of "Play Example #8":
Why does Kasey get to mark their honed sentence? The honing allowed them to win the conflict so I'm wondering where the failure is that allowed them to mark their sentence.
Amazing game - can't wait for the finished release!
I’m traveling today, but sounds like a typo or holdover from when something else happened in that play example. I’ll take a look once I’m at a computer!! Thank you~
edit: okay, fixed!!
doesn't page 35 say that you mark a sentence as if it failed when you hone it?
Oh this is absolutely true. This is what I get for trying to handle some of the edits from the passenger seat of a car. Tyler and I will adjust for clarity soon!
fuligin cloak mention!!!
Fixed! Those two are on me, and I appreciate your pointing them out! - Tyler
Reading this while listening to the Partizan soundtrack and I am living!!, What a great game y'all have put together.
I also, found a typo on page 13 " Characters who use a Sentence in pursuit of an Impulse immediately Recharge their Token immediately,"
Great catch! I made the fix and immediately re-uploaded the file immediately. Future (re)downloads will just have the second one. Thanks! - Tyler
The setting, the mechanics, the writing of the book itself: So much of this is speaking to me at a deep level. There are so few ways this game could captured me more than it already has, and I have yet to actually play it. I cannot wait.
Realis [REAL]!
Not sure if this is the best place, but i think I may have found a typo in the second sentence of page 83 (it says "does" and should likely say "does not")
But I don't wanna leave it at that so I also wanna say that this is probably the coolest TTRPG mechanic I've ever read. It probably says more about me, but when reading a new TTRPG book, I usually gloss over the mechanics in favor of the lore and world, but Realis's systems had me in rapt attention.
Great catch! I just made the fix and reuploaded, so any future (re)downloads won't have the typo. A game this size & complexity is bound to have a few, so we appreciate your flagging them! Feel free to comment with any your find or you can always reach out to me directly via https://www.possibleworldsgames.com/contact - Tyler
i am buying this and you should too
you should give this man money
"the first
Velvet Underground recordAustin Walker TTRPG sold only 30,000 copies in its first five years. Yet, that was an enormously importantrecordgame for so many people. I think everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started abandpodcast/novel/screenplay/revolutionary insurrection."- Future historians, probably.
Can’t wait to dig into this!
[bad yoda impression that gets the gimmick wrong] It real is
One of my favorite humans. Excited to see this.
I am ecstatic about this - cannot wait for the release!!
the cover is beautifull !
Oh I'm so excited!
Extremely hyped!
Most anticipated rpg since make believe.
Let's Go!!!!!
Austin Walker, along with the crew over at Friends at the Table, have made some of the most profound and exciting stuff in the actual play space maybe ever. I wouldn't be surprised if Realis became a foundational text in the indie TTRPG space alongside games like Blades in the Dark and Dream Apart/Dream Askew
Get in now so you can be insufferable later on when this gets inevitably popular.
The game look exciting, but I saw that the core mechanics are language based. If my group usually runs sessions in English but it is not the primary language of most members, should I be mindful of any issues or limitations that could come up? Regarding for example need for broad vocab or creativity with language use?
Given the tenor of how it’s written, and the way Austin & friends talk about the game, I feel like they’d be really excited about the addition of translation to the language mechanics.
If you’d like a separate fictional work to consider how this might work, check out the novel Babel (Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution). It’s about drawing power from the differences in linguistic expression, which I suspect Austin would dig.
Purchased sight unseen. Can't wait to get my hands on it.
Premise sounds nifty, but would love to see more of a preview of how the game actually runs mechanically!
Great news
Can't wait to dig in!
Im so excited for this! Cant wait to get my mits on it!