AP recommendations

whodo

Ok so Actual Plays always take me a while to get through and because of that, I tend to only listen to follow one at a time. I am finally approaching the end of the Inukai Saga (2 episodes to go) and think I might start another but the question is which?

Sell me on the various games. Is there one that stands out amongst a field of excellence?

Fredrix

whodo like you I only listen to one or two. Currently, post Inukai, I am enjoying Exodus, the Traveller adventure. Though I did find the session Zero infuriating because of confusion over rules. Though new player Pooja had them down pat, the veterans were confusing the issue with half remembered contradictions

Azhrei_Vep

Inukai 3: Rise of team beatstick.

If you liked the first ones, you'll love that one almost as much.

whodo

Azhrei_Vep should have been clearer - by end of the Inukai Saga I meant the most recent campaign that has only recently ended

Ignatious

Session 0 of Wild Talents is pretty amazing. Great interaction between the crew and the hats were aight I guess.

EricfromNJ

Session one of Taveller Exodus is a horror game which was a lot of fun to listen to.
I was less bothered by episode 0 but that’s probably because it sounded a lot like my own gaming group.

Azhrei_Vep

Well, if you only do one at a time, have you done Mote of Sin yet? Because god damn, Mote of Sin. Gets a little weak and clusterfucky for a while near the end, but it does manage to pull itself together properly for a grand finale.

And it's just prime Sam content, too. Kimi's also good, but Sam is a show-stealer pretty much every episode.

whodo

Azhrei_Vep I tried Mote of Sin and enjoyed it until Tim left, after that there were a couple of elements that I just couldn't get past (primarily how little the PCs actually achieved and Stork's character) and I gave up on before they got anywhere near the finale.

BattleMatt

whodo Yep, same here. All the endless discussions back and forth just killed it for me. It was almost funny the way Stu was throwing stuff at them, and still they wouldn't do anything. 😅

EricfromNJ

Another one I would recommend @whodo would be Masks with JiB as the GM. That one was a lot of fun.

Azhrei_Vep

EricfromNJ Maks in particular was a fun one, but it got off to a reeeaaaal rough start for me, because I just utterly despised the character concepts, except for Zer0. They were just so unutterably dumb, it was hard to get past. One of the characters is literally the inheritor of the mantle of "Mr. Clean." The cartoon cleaning agent mascot.

... And he somehow overcomes ... that to become one of the best characters on the AP.

Vyrrk

EricfromNJ Yes! I have never been so invested in a AP as the Masks game.

I still believe Zero is Jason Mills best character he has ever played. (At least that I have seen on APs.)

hoobuk

Azhrei_Vep Oh yeah, I was furious at that character creation. I thought CaDave was ruining everything and was going to be awful. (This was my first HJRPG exposure, so I didn't know to trust him yet!) But yes, Mr. Clean became one of the best characters I'd seen. It was really something. It's a really good show, and the ending is quite endearing and comes to a great conclusion.

MasterVidar

Vyrrk Have you listened to the Tales From the Loop AP (Insert Coin) Jason did a fine job there as wall. That was a fun game to listen to.

Kairaku

I think Vault 818 is the best at the moment. Sheer mad brilliance

whodo

So, in summary, it sounds like the recommendation is all of them. Damn HJ crew, why do you seem to run consistently great games! 😛

Kimi

whodo #sorrynotsorry

It's hard to separate out the experience of being a player vs. being the audience for APs. Some of the ones I am the most connected to emotionally may not have been fan faves. It's so hard to tell!

I have a very fond place in my heart for our D&D campaigns. Both the Eldemy one where we played orcs and Desert of Despair that @itsprobablyfine ran. I had such an amazing time exploring and creating our own take on the usual D&D lore for both campaigns and they really stick with me.

I also really loved Revelations, the first real Demigods campaign. It got a little nuts sometimes but it was interesting to play a character that was so off type for me.

Fredrix

whodo OK, so I haven’t finished episode 2 of Exodus. So I am officially withdrawing that recommendation. Started well, but ep two fell into the common player trap of inaction, discussing possibilities rather that going out and getting clues.

So, instead why not try GENEX, the supers in London Cortex Prime game? I know you like Cortex...

AndreasDavour

There are some that I really have not liked, so I would not recommend them all. But, it's more fruitful to talk up the nice ones.

So far I think all the Vampire ones have been great. Yeah, Mote was a bit slow, but there are some moments of totally gold in almost all the sessions, even when they accomplish nothing.

Apart from that, all L5R are fantastic.

Among the newer, I think CADave's Star Trek one is really good. I feel it has much of the same vibe as the tv show. The episode that was one long session on a resort planet was kind of sluggish (drinking and partying is not very ST in feel, sorry), but when they are up in space those episodes are old school ST fun.

JoeGun

APs are always a hard thing to ask what is good or bad, because everyone has different tastes. Example: I LOVE the L5R APs, the Savage Rifts, all of the MOT games, as well as any game that has Casey in it.

Games like Vampire, Monsterhearts, ect while good games, i just don't enjoy because I don't like the idea of playing a monster. I tried really hard to listen to mote as I enjoyed the character interactions, but was constantly nagged in the back of my head that these were monsters. So in the end not for me, but it was still a GREAT AP. And I know one of the fan favorites. So I would say try them all ( but especially the L5R ones as they are amazing! )

ProbieTim

JoeGun I don't like the idea of playing a monster.

Honestly, that's not really my jam either. But every once in a while, it's fun to let the "monster flag" fly. For me, it works in Vampire (unless you're playing Sabbat... stupid Sabbat) because you're really trying not to be a monster, you're trying to hold on to your humanity and figure out how to survive in a monstrous society. I like dealing with that internal conflict.

Of course, I wound up playing a hateful, spiteful cuss of a monster in the AP. So... shrug.