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Why Play Open Legend and Legends of Today

There are reasons to choose Open Legend as a Role-Playing Game. For new players and new groups, there are so many choices of game to play! In the interest of that, here are some things to think about when you consider Open Legend. For more about Legends of Today, check out What Kind of Game is This? Open Legend benefits 1. It's free and open-source! This gives you a chance to try a game with little up-front cost. You can find all of the rules for the game on the website openlegend.com . There are already good online tools for Open Legend ( openlegend.heromuster.com ) so you can create characters and track things without paper. That means all you need is dice! There are online dice simulators readily available for free, so you could play this game at no expense. But dice are fun! 2. The game encourages you to make the characters you want. You can generate pretty much any character and simulate any genre. The rules are light and consistent. There are no spellbooks and few list...
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Scale in Open Legend

Working on a sci-fi game makes me think of scale. A starship is bigger than a person. A capital ship is bigger than a starship. I have 2 big influences in dealing with scale: Star Wars (esp. the Fantasy Flight Games version) and Blades in the Dark. The Star Wars games have always handled scale well. I've enjoyed the mechanics from both West End Games and Fantasy Flight Games versions. Blades in the Dark has a great system for understanding position and effect. As a system, it understands the difference between throwing a dagger at a person and at a brick wall, which is important and impressive for a system. This sounds like an unusual concept, but saying a system 'understands' scale is important to me. Some things like D&D have very abstract concepts of damage and resistance. Other games, like Fate, have a basic way of dealing with Armor or adding Aspects that reflect the toughness of a substance. The idea of a starship being disabled by a handheld weapon is really...
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Legends Remembered - new Sci-Fi

There are stories that told you this day would come. Over the ages, they mutated and changed, losing their original meaning. Now, you know the truth: this is the time of the second coming. Your distant relatives have come for you, because Earth has a part to play in saving the galaxy. Our species did not originate on our planet. Life as we know it was seeded and designed to reach its current shape. On many other worlds, similar processes took place with more or less oversight. Protectors, creators, stewards that once watched over humanity across the stars have retreated in the face of a looming challenge. Now, after all these ages, humanity is expected to save itself. It's time to learn how to pilot a starfighter. To explore unknown worlds. To unlock the secrets of the universe, hidden inside your DNA. To speak with ancient intelligences that can teach humanity to battle back entropy.
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Open Legend Character Creation Tips

Having run Open Legend with a few different groups, I have some opinions on how to get character creation going and have fun playing at level 1. To really maximize character creation: Make it an event! Schedule character creation with your group (commonly called a Session Zero), especially if this is the first time the group is playing Open Legend. This works best as a face-to-face session, whether that's in person or over video chat. I have done this through Messenger as well, but time delays and message threads make cohesive campaign prep harder. Explain some of the rules and how they work. My quick list would be: All Attributes, no Skills. Everything is a roll, no modifiers. All dice explode! Explain Banes and Boons. No spell lists, more than just Attacks. Explain the game campaign concept that you have. Hopefully your players know what they are showing up for and are interested, but now take that large concept and allow players to contribute and add to it. Make it i...
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No Spellbooks - No Limits!

A major benefit of Open Legend RPG over others is the way magical effects are constructed. There are no spellbooks! While I love reading RPG books, I dislike reading and comprehending spell listings. Open Legend gives easy tools to simplify this. The concept of a 'spell' in Open Legend can be one of a few things, generally referred to as 'Favored Actions' in the example Archetypes given in the rules. They can be damaging attacks, just like you would make with a sword or bow, Banes - which are harmful effects, generally placed on enemies, or Boons - helpful effects placed on oneself or an ally. These effects are also not limited by levels of power or slots, so you can use each of them as many times per day/game as you like! Most require a simple action to use, the same as an attack in combat. One of the most fun and creative things to do in Open Legend is take these general, mechanical game effects and transform them into unique actions that describe your character...
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Preparing, Running and Playing a first Open Legend game

You're going to play Open Legend. Awesome! Here is a list of steps I used to have an Open Legend game prepped and played quickly. If you are a Player: 1. Go to openlegendrpg.com and learn how the game plays. Focus on the Introduction and Character Creation. Go through the Archetypes and see what you like. 2. Read the rules in Chapters 2 and 7. Look for examples of Perks/Flaws, Feats, Banes and Boons that interest you! 3. Think about how you want to play the game. This might be finding dice at a local game store, googling dice simulators, watching streams or listening to podcasts. You'll probably ask the GM some questions. If you are the GM: 1. Go to openlegendrpg.com and learn how the game plays. Focus on the Introduction and Character Creation. Go through the Archetypes and get them printed or build them at openlegend.heromuster.com That should help you get used to how your players will interact with the game. 2. Read the rest of the rules. Skim the Perks/Flaws,...
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Archetype: Golden Body

The Golden Body is a martial artist with a focus on enhancing the physical body with extraordinary abilities. They are able to move faster, take more damage and deliver stronger strikes than a normal person. STRATEGY The Golden Body is focused on physical perfection, so in combat its range is immediate. There is nothing extraordinary that they can do beyond the length of their arm or leg. For best effect, the Golden Body engages directly with a foe or uses their exceptional abilities to affect the environment: knocking down a pillar to create a barrier, punching the ground so hard the floor breaks, kicking a car at an opponent to force them to move back. Attributes: Agility 4, Fortitude 3, Will 3, Energy 5, Movement 2 HP:22 Guard: 19 Toughness: 16 Resolve: 13 Speed: 30' Feats: Attribute Substitution (Energy -> Might) II, Lightning Reflexes II Favored Actions: Fist of Gold (damaging attack): Energy v. Guard Golden Stance (defense): Energy v. relevant defense Push...
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