Welcome back to the weekly Tabletop Games thread! This thread is where we can talk about all kinds of RPGs, card games, board games, etc. Whether you gather around a physical table in the real world, or use a virtual space to play with friends who may live far away from you, this is where you can discuss your favorites, ask for and/or receive recommendations, recap your recent adventures, or even find some people to play games with!

Discussion Prompt: Handsome Young Dugong returns to bring us another TTRPG overview!

Hey everybody, this week we’re looking at a game that will have you fighting orcs, solving mysteries, or flying through space, as long as you can roll under on a d100: The Comae Engine

What is it?

The Comae Engine is a genre agnostic or cross-setting RPG, meaning it doesn’t have it’s own setting or genre, but can fit a wide variety of stories as needed. It’s basically a more basic version of Basic Roleplaying. Basically.

What are the mechanics?

The core mechanic is to roll a d100 under either a related skill or a more specific focus number. This makes it pretty easy to see your odds on a roll, even for folks who don’t often play TTRPGs. An interesting addendum to the mechanic is choosing to extend a conflict, where instead of solving a problem with one roll, player and GM each roll for their side of the conflict, and deal “damage” to an appropriate pool of points. This damage doesn’t actually have to be physical, as a character has BODY, INT, POW, and CHR pools, which represent different kinds of conflicts. A player who engages in a CHR conflict by way of a rap battle might come out of the conflict looking foolish, for instance.

What does the gameplay look like?

Bret Bretford and the rest of the gang have followed the groundskeeper, old man McGreely, to the back of the mansion, where they see him don the costume of the ghost that has been terrorizing them all night. Bret takes a flying leap and tackles McGreely, immediately creating a cartoony dust cloud with fists and feet flying. The GM calls for an extended conflict, with Bret rolling a 42, well below his Unarmed score of 70. Brett rolls a 5 on his d6 damage die, and McGreely is tossed out of the dust cloud. He shakes his head and jumps back in, but rolls an 89 against his Combat of 30. Bret rolls a 7 for Unarmed, and then with a 3 damage roll, the dust clears and McGreely is tied up with stars and birds circling around his head.

Niche

The ease of play and adaptability make this a good choice for anyone who doesn’t want to memorize a whole bunch of new rules every time they want to play a different genre (or for everyone who doesn’t want to shell out a new $50 for each new rulebook).

Pluses

• The manual is surprisingly thorough, despite its relatively short length, with examples and detailed explanation
• A person can play pretty much off their character sheet alone, so you really only need one manual and some printouts.

Minuses

• The skills as written are pretty well tied to realistic human ability; this is not the game for high-powered heroics
• The illustrations are neat and all, but don’t add much to the comprehension of the text

Dugong’s advice

Feel free to add or subtract focuses and skills as needed. No tech in your swords-and-sorcery setting? Swap it out for “Arcana.” Need to add “shredding,” “grinding,” and “half-pipe” skills to your skateboarding post-apocalyptic teen drama? Go ahead, I won’t tell anyone.

Where can I find it?

Available in digital or print on DriveThruRPG.

Thanks again to Handsome Young Dugong for the write-up! If you would like to suggest a prompt or contribute a write-up or discussion topic of your own, let me know in the comments!