OLD DOGS
A downloadable zine
OLD DOGS is a supplement for FIST that aims to provide referees and players with options for characters that have become too strong for regular play.
“I’ seen things, son. Things I wish I hadn’t. Things no-one would believe if I told ‘em. See these scars? Any one of ‘em coulda put me in the dirt, but I was the unlucky bastard that survived. They're all I’ got left now you know? The memories and the scars. Still, this old dog’s still got some fight left in ‘im. Let’s see what ya got!”
Featuring narrative focused options for retirement, high level play and even fearsome hit squads, this supplement is intended to be used for characters that have reached a point where they feel too strong to include in regular games, or as a tool when running games with lower mortality rates where characters are living long enough to become overpowered.
Credits:
- Writing and design: Jareth Barker
- Concepts and proofing: Dr. Moo, Mark K, Lulu
- FIST by CLAYMORE https://claymorerpgs.itch.io/
- Cover Schematic: US Patent US8543134B2
- Licensed under CC BY SA 3.0
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OLD DOGS is a module that expands FIST's ability to handle high level play by allowing agents to age into a sort of veteran status in the organization.
OLD DOG's PDF is 2 pages, with a clean, well-organized layout that uses black and white contrast to make the text pop.
Contents-wise, there's a lot of meat here, and all of it's flavorful. A Milestones mechanic is added to player Roles, tracking their progress towards their personal goals. Veteran FIST agents have a variety of directions they can go in, from burning out to fading into the background as a supporting cast member. There are also options for higher level threats or more dangerous scenarios, allowing veteran agents to stay in the field and face escalating stakes and difficulty.
Overall, the feeling here is grizzled and heroic, and it's great. If you find yourself playing a fair bit of FIST, and if characters are starting to survive multiple missions, roll these mechanics out and let the players be OLD DOGS.
"Old Dogs" gives groups fun thematic options of dealing with agents that might have gotten too powerful to go on missions with their former peers.
The supplement gives you examples of how to determine when a character might be considered an "old dog" and even more options of what to do with them once they are. The options include a career change to a instructor of the next generation of agents or maybe sending the veterans into outerspace to fight to the death against aliens.
It offers a few mechanical tools in the form of high level enemies and a couple of different options to alter advancement methods, but the core of this zine is creative thinking. This zine jumpstarts the conversation about high level play and brings a lot of fun options to tables dealing with it for the first time. Definitely recommend reading.
Old Dogs gives ideas and enemies for FIST agents that have somehow survived a few too many times.
The layout is crisp, and fits the FIST aesthetic perfectly, complete with even more acronyms. The vibe of all the content is spot on, conjuring up images of grizzled veterens in action films. I'm such a sucker for a 'one last job' trope, and you can bet your cotton socks that this includes it.
This feels very useful as inspiration for referees to create their own, or adapt existing, missions for long-in-the-tooth player characters.