Hey Evan, I am the creator of Custodians of the Galaxy so I can tell you about it, although you will obviously have reason to believe me to be prejudiced in its favor. First, thanks for your interest. I'm glad you are intrigued! Second, I think Custodians is fun as hell. It is literally my favorite system. I laugh my A** off every time I play. It took me several decades to create the system I always wanted to play. It is easy to run, flexible, encourages creativity and laughs, but still has a ton of hidden depth in the math. The system is a complete homebrew with the goal of allowing a free-writing game or a dice-heavy game or something in between. I always favored being able to loosen up and just "write" cool things in an RPG without being too bound to a set of moves and explicit rules. However, I have found that most players need some hard and fast numbers and moves to get them started. So the system has both. You can GM it anywhere in between. I will go on a lengthy rant below about specifics but I will tell you that I've run the game to completion a couple of times and it's been in development and play testing for 5 years. There were kinks along the way (of course) but I believe the result is very finely polished. The game positively encourages players to make the world and make the fun. At the same time, there is a definite story arc with major twists, well-defined characters and competing factions sure to challenge your players. I do not go easy on players. It is very possible to live through the campaign and not "win". Several very nasty tricks are in store. In short, I love this game and I think it runs extremely well. I hope you will love it as well. Begin Rant: Starting the game... Is designed to be EASY. Session 0 introduces the game without any prep You (the GM) play the Director, replacing the previous director of the TV show. You've got notes and a project team who help get you started. The fact that you don't know what's going on or what the "rules" are or what went wrong with the previous writer and director is part of the game. And yes, the Director is in a game as well and at the end you might feel that your Director "lost". On the writing side: You are supplied with a lot of materials (concept art for set pieces, props, notes on story, etc) and a lot of blanks. Players are encouraged to fill in the blanks. You can write for the whole scene, not just your character. So those moments when players are throwing around ideas about what would be funny to happen next become part of the screenplay. If It would be hilarious as hell to have the cops fall off a cliff... that's what happens. Except the more advantage you are creating for yourself the better the dice roll you need for it to succeed. So there are limits. Custodians have a Modus Operandi which is a statement about what makes sense for them. Its their "powers" and their personality. Heavily influenced by "Schtick" from Tales from the Floating Vagabond. If you're a spy you can always do spy stuff, If you're a Jedi you can always do Jedi stuff... Spell casters and Psychics make up their own spells and can attempt whatever they want. Difficulty is based on how much the spell helps. Casters have a limited amount of juice. On the crunchy side: If you want to run a map-driven combat-heavy game akin to warhammer 40K you could do that too. Maps, character tokens, rules, macros are all there. 9 different stats form the basis of all tests which are on D20. A GIANT amount of math went into figuring out how to minimize the need for modifiers and tables. Upgrading stats has an exponential curve. Simple for both player and GM but the underlying math is hugely complicated to produce complex results on a simple system. DARING DICE is a pool of dice you can use to augment your chances. You decide when to be awesome. The rest of the time you will suck hilariously. CANNED TROPES are limited use, clearly defined powers. Examples: BEHIND THE BLACK. Once per episode appear from "off camera" even though there is no way you could have been there. UNLIKELY CPR. revive a dead character. HELLO CLARICE. diagnose (create) a deep seated psychological flaw in the target. (Examples abbreviated. Full rules included) MACROS MACROS MACROS! Good grief I made a lot of macros. PCs have a macro for every test. They also have macros to add Daring Dice. NPCs have a macro for everything they ever need to do. There are also several insane macros that roll dice that could not exist in the real world like a D(Cunning x Coordination). Custodians has a WOUND system rather than HIT POINTS. Hit points have the disadvantage that you always have a good notion of how long until you go down. Not in my game. The Wound System makes it easy to be scared that you might die, because a Kill shot COULD happen. In practice, odds of getting killed are pretty low but odds of getting scared by a close call are extremely high. Weapon balance. Bigger weapons are slower to bring to bear. exploding dice, critical hits, blunders, clusters, etc XP is based on being useful, rolling critical hits, playing your character, making the players laugh The nine stats are: C Cunning- Understanding people and situations. Used to lie, seduce, charm etc. Also modifies initiative. U Quickness- Movement distance and tests of speed S Strength- Physical strength and athleticism. Used for bludgeoning melee combat T Toughness- Resistance to injury and death. Saving throws against poison, fire, etc. O Coordination- Dexterity, Agility and Grace. Used for sword and knife fighting. D Daring- Destiny, Luck or Willpower. Used for tests of Luck (Do the cops fall off the cliff?). Also provides DARING DICE I Intelligence- Understanding objects and information. Intelligence Tests. Also used by psychics and spell casters A Accuracy- Shooting stuff N Natural Defense- Points of natural armor and biological defenses. Thank you for reading this and for checking out Custodians. I will be happy to answer more questions. Happy gaming!
