What is Troika?
I've heard the system referenced a few times and it's on sale currently
So I'm wondering what it is exactly. I understand it's d6, low crunch, more or less Planescape
But I'd like to know a bit more. Anyone has played it and has some more verbose take?
16 replies
@INeedMana Blogged about it here some time ago.
https://delta-pavonis.blogspot.com/2020/10/first-impressions-troika-numinous.html
That was informative, thanks
Now I need to wrap my head around "science fantasy" 😆
Science Fantasy is usually a fantasy story in a setting typically associated with scifi. The classic example is Star Wars; it's it a world with spaceships and lasers, but it's about space wizards having swordfights.
I read that on TV tropes but it only makes me lost more. What I've skimmed so far, Troika sounds more like weird fantasy, where's the sci-fi part?
Unless...
It's in a world with spice-travel, stargates, spaceships and planets, only about "eldritch portal and non-euclidean labyrinth and golden-sailed barge between the uncountable crystal Spheres"?
@INeedMana There are some other posts about Troika keyworded from that post which may held. Acid Death Fantasy will probably be informative.
Thanks!
@INeedMana d6 system that is pretty easy to pick up on even a first read through. They do a great job of having short evocative descriptions, specifically to make it real weird fantasy but with a lot of room to flesh things out at the table. Core rules are free as a PDF if you sign up for their email list.
https://www.melsonia.com/collections/troika
Weird in any way or does it have some kind of flavour?
@INeedMana I think the setting is like if Fritz Leiber wrote Adventuretime. Giant expansive city, characters run the gamut from humans to robots to mythical creatures, and back again. Lots of factions. I have the Numinous Edition, and the artwork does heavy lifting too (this is their dragon). If you want to get a good feel for the setting, I would suggest grabbing the PDF, and checking out a handful of the character backgrounds. They're all just a few sentences a piece, and hit the vibe well.
Ok, so just weird-weird, got it :D
@INeedMana Absolutely, and that's not meant to be a deterrent! Opens a ton of player options and influence on the story. Great for a group that likes group story telling and has seen Adventuretime haha
@INeedMana Did you ever play the Fighting Fantasy choose-your-own-adventure series? It's a lot like that.
No, that one doesn't even ring a bell. "choose-your-own-adventure" means a lot of RNG tables?
@INeedMana Choose Your Own Adventure is a style of solo game book where you get prompted to make decisions where each choice tells you to go to a different numbered paragraph to find out the consequces.
The Fighting Fantasy series mixed things up with a very simple D&D-style character sheet and added combat and skill checks.
Troika’s system is built on those mechanics, but it is a GMed game by default.
Ah! We called them "paragraph books"
So it's more in *SR "boulder falls, you die" vein?
@INeedMana No. Troika uses the D&Desque dice rolling mechanics from FF, not the CYOA solo gamebook play.