Swords and Mechs and Magic
This may not shock you if you know me but Armour Astir: Advent is probably one of my favorite TTRPGs My physical copy from the Kickstarter finally arrived this week (after a hilariously long journey of USPS negligence and incredible support from the from the publisher that I'll tell at a later date) and I'm so stoked with having it on hand vs scanning through a pdf.
The pitch for the game is this: A framework for a fantasy world of knights and magic that you create where an authoritarian regime exists and is causing problems, and you are part of a small resistance cell fighting the fascists back.
With mechs. Powered by that magic.
The touchstones that the game's author Briar Sovereign gives are things like Zeta / ZZ Gundam, Visions of Escaflowne and Breath of the Wild but it's clear something like Tomino's OG Isekai Aura Battler Dunbine is definitely in the running. There's no pre-built setting or backstory in the book, you're just given very free reign on the "There is a fascist authority. You're a revolutionary cause. What they want and how you fight back is up to you, but your world has magic-powered mechs and you have a magic powered ship that transports them and you've gotta to your best" portion.
There are 16 character classes (Playbooks) that ship with this copy (the Encore expansion pack is included) that run the gamut of those who can pilot the mechs (Channelers) and those who do not (Support); this can lead to really interesting game compositions where one player is the Captain of your Argama / Zelana ship stand-in and uses moves that not only make use of crew NPCs but also the ship's systems, one player is a Paradigm (think Paladin-as-a-mech-pilot) saying their launch catch-phrase as they bound out the catapult in their mech to tackle a dragon in mid-air, and one player is an Impostor (think 'used ill means to get magic to be able to pilot a mech') with a creepy dark-magic mech-sized sniper crossbow that picks off the dragon's minions. You might also have a Diplomat on your team, using B-plot moves to politically arrange things on the side, or you may have a scout with the Giant Killer ability; specializing in fighting person-to-Mech. How you design your character (and even your mech should you have a class that pilots one) is really up to you.
(The book came with cute SD stickers of some mechs from the art
The system at its core is a modification of Powered by the Apocalypse; a TTRPG framework that's been in use in numerous games since 2010 that predominantly relies around rolls that use 2D6 with modifiers from skills, but where Armour Astir really system shines is how in true "mech fiction" fashion it's not uncommon to open up your cockpit and yell ideology at each other (or in the parlance of the system, make an 'Exchange blows' roll using the TALK skill instead of the CLASH skill). There's even bonus moves you can get later after leveling up that come pre-loaded with franchise stalwarts; "Red Comet" "White Devil" "Nightmare of Solomon" etc.
There are three major gameplay sections; the Sortie (your traditional mission, dungeon delve, etc) and the Downtime (Heal up between missions, spend time together on the ship to increase crew bonds) but in between those two there is a 'faction' turn layer which operates almost like a whole-ass second game which zooms WAY out and allows players to narrate larger picture events in the ongoing conflict; maybe there are multiple cells of your resistance group who have some infighting? Maybe there is a split faction in the enemy regime and if you can just push one of them enough they might topple giving the Cause access to technology they didn't have before? The possibilities are kinda endless.
Armour Astir is a really, REALLY fun system. If you want to hear some of it in action, I'd recommend the Friends at the Table episodes Road to Palisade: Armour Astir Parts 1 and 2. These are one-shots using the game to tell a sidestory in their setting that's pretty friendly to someone coming in blind.
(They later played Armour Astir for almost the entire season of Palisade, but since that's a sequel season to their show Partizan it's not recommended to skip straight ahead. That said if you've listened to Partizan and haven't checked out Palisade yet I don't know what to tell you lmao)
Anyway as soon as I was done taking photos of the book, Trout climbed up on the table for a photoshoot. Please enjoy.
