Allow me to sing the praises of the 100AC System (Dusk City Outlaws, Spectaculars, Neon City Outlaws)
I wrote this up over on RPG.net, and then remembered I'm starting a blog, so here we go.
I've been a huge fan and proponent of the Spectaculars RPG, viewing it as one of the best superhero RPGs ever produced. But as much as I really liked Spectaculars, I never really loved the system. I've enjoyed it, even more so when I played it in Dusk City Outlaws, but it's only in the last week, reading the play test[1] for Neon City Outlaws, that I've realized how much I actually love the udnerlying mechanics.
Thompson really optimized DCO and Spectaculars for ease of getting to the table. Indeed, I don't think there's another system that's easier to get in front of a bunch of system novices and get playing. These games are really state of the art in that area. But that ease of getting to the table came at the expense of getting in front of GMs; they're sold as big boxes (not books) with an MSRP of $75, and the digital forms are less ideal because they come with decks of cards, special pads of paper, books you're meant to write in, and custom dice.
But thanks to the Republican Tariffs, the new NCO has had to be retooled from a box to a book, which I lament, but also I acknowledge that a book has the chance to put the system in front of a wider audience. Add in the fact that the system has a permissive (if not open) license, and I think this might be the year of the 100AC System.
Please allow me to shout from the rooftops - here are 7 things I adore about the 100AC System (and 3 things I think it could do better), in no particular order.
1. 👍 The Mad Libs
Easy enough to start with what is arguably the best feature of Spectaculars (and the forthcoming NCO): the mad lib setting generation. For those not familiar, when you encounter a trope in the game (like the Government Supers Agency in Spectaculars or the Biomedical Megacorp in NCO, the group consults a series of choices to define that element.
High quality random generation can make a game (see, e.,g. Shadowdark or Kevin Crawford), but Rodney Thompson takes it a step further. By labeling that your campaign will have [thing], the adventures included in the box can reference [thing]. It's unique and it's your own, but the campaign can be structured with SE03 The Government Agency as a setting element the author knows exists.
The whole thing is really quite clever. Admittedly, it's not an inherent part of the system, but I wanted to start with the thing that the game is most famous for. (And if you're getting ready to run a superhero game in an unestablished universe and you don't have Spectaculars, you're missing out.)
2. 👍 The Core Mechanic
The core mechanic of the game has grown on me, especially once I started playing DCO and seeing the more robust campaign elements in the NCO play test.
When a character wants to do something, they roll d100. Rolling less than or equal to their rating in that thing is a success. Rolling over is a failure. That's it! Regardless of whether you're rolling Fire Powers 70% in Spectaculars or Case the Join 68% in NCO, a player always rolls against the same flat percentage. Keeps the game moving really fast.
Difficulty and extenuating circumstances are handled with Advantage and Challenge dice. Advantage dice are d8s with 4 faces showing a boon. Challenge dice are d10s with 6 faces showing a drawback symbol. Dice don't cancel out, symbols do. These dice are rolled alongside the d100 to add texture to the roll. Boons and drawbacks can be used to increase damage in an attack or to learn a deep secret of their target; drawbacks can add new minions to a scene or break an asset of the character.
In play, this means players can quickly understand their odds of success, know what they're going to roll, and immediately parse how they did, and yet you get some of that two-axis play that does so well in Genesys. It's unbelievably rich for a mechanic so simple.
3. 👎 The Emphasis on Combat
I never noticed[2] because Dusk City Outlaws is fantasy and Spectaculars is superheroes, two genres traditionally steeped in violence, but reading the NCO rules for cyberpunk, a heisting genre that should more readily accommodate non-combat, a lot of rules seem focused on violence (dozens of keywords for weapon, no such differentiation for gear, etc.). I'd be fascinated to see a 100AC subsystem enabling a greater focus on non-violence.
4. 👍 Chargen Speed
The three games released so far have chargen that belongs at home with the lightest of OSR games or Lasers & Feelings. For example, in Spectaculars, you're dealt 5 power cards and 3 background cards. You pick one of the campaign's archetypes from a literal pad of paper, choose 3 powers and 1 background, and you're done. It takes five minutes, ten if you fill in all the mad-libs questions for your archetype, and fifteen total if you're also explaining the rules of the game.
It's just as smooth and fun and fast on the GM side of the screen as well. Pick a villainous archetype, give them a power or three, and then all that's left is some mad libs and a name.
5. 👍 Troupe Play and Rotating Cast
Because chargen is so fast, the games all have a strong undercurrent of rotating characters in and out. In DCO, you can grab a different character from one of the cartels with each session. In Spectaculars, there are explicit upgrades that are only available when you're playing someone who has inherited a mantle from another PC. Two of my favorite RPGs of all time are Legacy: Life Among the Ruins _and _Star Trek: Adventures, so I'm always here for games that encourage rotating through characters.
NCO will take this even further, with faction turns, allowing players to emotionally identify with entire organizations, which, combined with the nature of "shells" (aka sleeves aka bodies you upload into for a specific task) means characters will switch and shift with every session.
_While still maintaining continuity. _Absolutely love it.
6. 👎 The License
The 100AC SRD is governed by a quite permissive license, but it's not an open license. I appreciate that Thompson isn't rent-seeking on the system the way Modiphius or Onyx Path do and allows people to go sell their TTRPG games using the 100AC System. But since Thompson can revoke the permissions of the license at any time, this definitely consigns the game to the "pay what you want on itch.io" tier and never on the "now crowdfunding" tier of fan games.
7. 👍 Spectaculars Roles
I find this one so delightful I think it deserves its own bullet: the Spectaculars roles. In Spectaculars, each superhero takes on a role on the team. This is a small ability (on par with a feat or talent or whatever in another game) from a list of about 10 (?). Roles like Tank and Defender and Controller and Leader and Artillery. Now, what makes these roles so fantastic is that they're not relative to the character but to the rest of the group. Since the group can shift with every session, while last week you were the Controller, ever since Doctor Whirlwind joined the team you're really filling more of the Artillery role. And on top of that, your vibe can shift from session to session. Maybe you learned a lesson about yourself last session and now you're less a Tank and more a Defender; and this mutability is strongly encouraged.
8. 👍 The Universality of the Roll
This one is weakly defined, but I've found it true. I appreciate when a core mechanic in a game isn't just used for skill/action checks but for all similar rolls. When a core mechanic is so universal that it applies to things beyond the PCs, it just makes things simpler and smoother (IMO). With 100AC, you've got factions take their turns with percentile + special dice. Factions making internal stability checks. Vehicles. Et cetera, et cetera.
It's a small thing, but I appreciate it.
9. 👎 The Simplicity
This is a lament of the ecosystem, not any of the specific games. Each of the three games using the 100AC System is designed to be simple, and each succeeds. But both Knave _and _Pathfinder 2 use a similar core mechanic, so its not the mechanic that defines the complexity of the game. I've become a huge fan of the core mechanic, and I'd relish the chance to read a game using the 100AC System with a little more meat on its bones.
10. 👍 High Octane
In a similar vein to John Harper's Deep Cuts, the core mechanic of the 100AC System really encourages wild, over-the-top action. When difficulty doesn't alter than chances of success, players are encouraged to take the biggest swings they can. Why roll thrice through small actions when one roll can fulfill your aims? This leads to really high octane play, something that I've found a lot of other systems can struggle with. Outgunned is the new hotness in action RPG, but while I really like that system, I think deep down it doesn't go half as far as 100AC at encourage players to just go ham.
Anyway, if you've never played Dusk City Outlaws or Spectaculars, I strongly, strongly recommend that you do. When Neon City Outlaws comes to Kickstarter later this year, I'd encourage taking a gander and seeing where you are and where the world is.
Thanks for coming to my TED Talk!
[1] The play test isn't public, but anybody can (could?) sign up, so I feel okay talking about it, even though a lot of people in this thread can't read the rules.
[2] This may be as much a comment on me as on the system.