0.3. Why Play Kleptonomicon

There are many TTRPGs out there. Any veteran of these games can tell you it is better to pick the game that fits how you want to play than to try to force a game to be what it is not.

So what does The Kleptonomicon do best and what does it not do very well?

The Kleptonomicon is best for social intrigue, stealth, heist, and lighter combat focused campaigns. The Kleptonomicon gives each Player unique Social Skills and Social Abilities, allowing everyone to participate in and manipulate social situations. Every player will also have a unique set of Covert Skills and Abilities. Players will need to learn to embrace teamwork, much like in a heist movie, in order to uncover and navigate the magical and non-magical security systems of the worlds powerful and wealthy.

So, what The Kleptonomicon not do well? If you are looking for hyper-realism or a game that simulates how things would work more in real life, you may want to try games like 'Pathfinder' instead. The Kleptonomicon takes a narrative-first approach and assumes that players can use logic and good storytelling principles to fill in the gaps instead of making rules for more niche situations. That said, The Kleptonomicon is not as narrative-focused as some other games and has turn-based combat and rules for things like taking fall damage and grappling with your opponent. If you would like a game more narrative than what is provided in this book, check out 'Monster of the Week' or the other 'Powered by the Apocalypse' games.

A More Detailed Look

The Kleptonomicon is heavily inspired by both simulation TTRPGs (like Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition) and storytelling TTRPGs (like Dungeon World) and tries to strike a mid-point between the two styles. The game is more simulation light than the older editions of 'Dungeons and Dragons', introducing many ideologies from the more storytelling-style TTRPGs you know and love.

Below are some of the main differences found in The Kleptonomicon. You should weight these motivations to determine if the balance struck by The Kleptonomicon matches what you are looking for for your next game:

• There are three Social Stats, not one.
  • Many TTRPGs have a single social stat. The Kleptonomicon instead has three Social Stats that are distinct from the rest of your stats. The Social Stats will have little effect on your choice of Class and ensures that each character has some social strengths.
  • Why? TTRPGs with only one social stat often lead one or two players being given the role of the 'face' of the group. This can lead to whole scenes or episodes where some players feel they have to sit out, as joining in would likely only lead to failure. The unbalanced nature of a single social stat makes social intrigue campaigns difficult to balance. The Kleptonomicon seeks to fix this by making the social side of the game into a system all its own. This also means that players have more freedom as to which social roles they wish to fill. Depending on what Social Abilities they chooses, Players can even design the more passive, knowledge-heavy socials roles, if they prefer to do less role-playing.
• There are three Covert Skills spread out across the core stats.
  • Many games clump the Covert Skills under a single stat. The Kleptonomicon instead divides stealth into three skills, one for each Exploration Stat. This ensures that all players have different strengths when undergoing covert operations.
  • Why? The motivation here is similar to those for the three Social Stats. Games with only one stealth stat can lead to whole scenes played by just a few characters while all others are sidelined. The Kleptonomicon was designed for stealth to make it easier to balance a heist or stealth-heavy campaign. The three Covert Skills combined with simple stealth rules and a system of security-based spells means heist campaigns are easier to design, balance, and enjoy.
• All spell-casting uses a single 'Tuning' stat.
  • All spell-casting has been placed under a single stat called "Tuning". Tuning has more to do with your ability to resonate with magic and less to do with how you got there. There is no 'Intelligence' or 'Wisdom' stat.
  • Why? This helps simplify spell-casting character creation. Terms like 'Intelligence' and 'Wisdom' also no longer pigeonholes characters based on their Class. You can play as a dumb wizard or a brilliant barbarian without any stat there to hold you back or imply you're breaking rules. That said, there are still Knowledge Skills that you may need to roll to recall more specific areas of knowledge.
• There is little to no starting equipment.
  • Equipment in general has been drastically scaled back. Your character's basic equipment can be treated mostly as flavor, without needing to scour item lists and compare their contents. There are two weapons you may start with: a Melee Weapon or a Ranged Weapon. Later on, you can maybe add Item Tags to give those weapons added capabilities, but most of what your weapon is can be treated as flavor. There is also no starting armor items in the game. If you are playing a Fighter, you can gain Abilities that let you don tough armor and gain the benefits, but aside from those Abilities, armor is treated as just flavor.
  • Why? During playtesting, we slowly came to realize that basic weapons and armor were... well... not actually adding much to the game. Having lists of equipment to sort through just lead to a mess of balancing and min-maxing that didn't add to the fun of playing the game. We experimented with just providing everyone with a damage and armor value based on your Archetype choice, and it was a hit. No more homework to figure out what is allowed or what works best for your character. That homework is, essentially, done for you and worked into the leveling up process. The specifics about your exact loadout are left up to your imagination. Do you want to carry a giant broom to hit people with? Go right ahead! Simply grab the Melee Weapon item and give it the Item Tags that fit best. (Assuming you rolled well enough to get to add an Item Tag, but more on that in the next bullet point.)
• Wealth Stats replace Money. Players can improvise loot and shop on their own.
  • Each character is given a unique mix of Wealth Skills that represent a niche of financial acuity. Rogues, for example, are masters of Grey Wealth, meaning that they know how to find illicit goods and back-room products. Mages, on the other hand, have more Obscure Wealth, allowing them to find and buying strange ingredients, wands, crystal balls, and so on. No matter what your Wealth Skills are, you can use them to perform the Item Search Ability, looking through your wares for that specific item. Rolling well on the Ability will grant you a better version of that item. Rolling poorly may mean you don't get the item or get a flawed version of it.
  • Why? Math and bookkeeping is fun and all, but most players seem to shy away from it. Many GMs seem to lose interest in figuring out and handing out small rewards by the end of a game. Players sometimes have to beg for a "shopping episode" just to get their gear up to the spec. The Kleptonomicon provides a simplified system that allows players to shop on their own time while providing simple, generic rewards that the GM can hand out. Players can also improvise items at any time using their wealth. Need a hairbrush for the plan to work? Simply spend some of your wealth to retroactively imply that you picked one up in the last room! (But beware: If you want a strange or rare item, you may have to roll higher for it...)

If you are still here after all of that, then allow me to extend a warm welcome from The Kleptonomicon. Unless, of course, you are here to steal from The Kleptonomicon, then may you be torn limb-from-limb, your skin flayed and your bones boiled with the heat of in a thousand suns! Only The Kleptonomicon is allowed to steal! If you're just "borrowing" on the other hand... well then I would like to once again extend you a warm welcome from The Kleptonomicon (and ask you if I could join your campaign.)

Next Up: 0.4. Guidelines of Fun