Just a quick rules question: do characters begin with 1-2 Masques or do they have to acquire them by spending experience? There's no mention of picking them on the character creation page, but the language used around Masques always seems to imply characters already have one or more.
A Touch Of Glamour is a 30 page, mediumweight modern supernatural game inspired by Changeling and run on the PbtA engine.
And it *really* brings those World Of Darkness design energies to bear. If you've read any WoD, you'll know what to expect from the way the book is layed out and organized. It's lovely and easy to read, and it's forcefully storytelling-first.
There's also a lot of GM advice and preamble, some of which raised my eyebrow ("telling a player what their character feels is gaslighting",) although the intention seems to be to check bad GMing habits (intrusive storytelling, denying characters agency, unequally sharing the spotlight, etc) which would be especially destructive to the kind of game this is.
Mechanically, Touch Of Glamour is pretty similar to Catch The Devil, in that it's about accumulating harm on different tracks. Glamour accumulates harm on your stats, whereas Devil accumulated it on your Moves, but the function is the same. There's multiple ways you can take damage, all tied to a core aspect of you, and so how you approach situations starts to shift as your damage starts accumulating.
There are a few weird details (giving or rescinding power from mortals is a big deal, and there's exp costs for doing both), but overall the mechanics feel solid, and all possible situations a group could run into are mechanically covered.
I think my biggest critique here is that for a game that is so story-focused, there isn't much lore consolidated in the book. There's a lot of details seeded throughout, but then rather than lay out the world, the last three pages open with a statement that if the author provided a setting, they'd be inflicting their views on the audience. And, just...
If I have a book, it's because I want to know the author's views.
Perspective isn't a needle. Hearing someone say something from a different viewpoint isn't going to forcibly inject me with values I didn't have before. But it does give me a chance to be exposed to ideas I wouldn't have been exposed to otherwise, and that in turn gives me a chance to grow as a person.
Overall, I think this is a good pickup for groups that like Changeling but want simpler rules, quicker play, and more freedom to shape the setting before beginning a game.
Minor Issues:
-The Marking And Gaining Experience section isn't completely clear that you check for the bulleted stuff at the end of a session, rather than after every move.
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Just a quick rules question: do characters begin with 1-2 Masques or do they have to acquire them by spending experience? There's no mention of picking them on the character creation page, but the language used around Masques always seems to imply characters already have one or more.
They start with 2 Masques!
I shall edit to make it clearer. :)
Gotcha, thanks!
A Touch Of Glamour is a 30 page, mediumweight modern supernatural game inspired by Changeling and run on the PbtA engine.
And it *really* brings those World Of Darkness design energies to bear. If you've read any WoD, you'll know what to expect from the way the book is layed out and organized. It's lovely and easy to read, and it's forcefully storytelling-first.
There's also a lot of GM advice and preamble, some of which raised my eyebrow ("telling a player what their character feels is gaslighting",) although the intention seems to be to check bad GMing habits (intrusive storytelling, denying characters agency, unequally sharing the spotlight, etc) which would be especially destructive to the kind of game this is.
Mechanically, Touch Of Glamour is pretty similar to Catch The Devil, in that it's about accumulating harm on different tracks. Glamour accumulates harm on your stats, whereas Devil accumulated it on your Moves, but the function is the same. There's multiple ways you can take damage, all tied to a core aspect of you, and so how you approach situations starts to shift as your damage starts accumulating.
There are a few weird details (giving or rescinding power from mortals is a big deal, and there's exp costs for doing both), but overall the mechanics feel solid, and all possible situations a group could run into are mechanically covered.
I think my biggest critique here is that for a game that is so story-focused, there isn't much lore consolidated in the book. There's a lot of details seeded throughout, but then rather than lay out the world, the last three pages open with a statement that if the author provided a setting, they'd be inflicting their views on the audience. And, just...
If I have a book, it's because I want to know the author's views.
Perspective isn't a needle. Hearing someone say something from a different viewpoint isn't going to forcibly inject me with values I didn't have before. But it does give me a chance to be exposed to ideas I wouldn't have been exposed to otherwise, and that in turn gives me a chance to grow as a person.
Overall, I think this is a good pickup for groups that like Changeling but want simpler rules, quicker play, and more freedom to shape the setting before beginning a game.
Minor Issues:
-The Marking And Gaining Experience section isn't completely clear that you check for the bulleted stuff at the end of a session, rather than after every move.