Tales from Trinity City
Dungeons & Dragons with Superheroes!
Menu: Fame System | D20 system | Creating a Character | Backgrounds | Powers and Skills | World Lore | Faction Lore | Early Access
I had one reason to create Tales from Trinity City. To be a gamer, who developed a game for other gamers to fall in love with. Because that passion to create something so amazing gamers love talking about it is seen in very few developers in the mainstream now.
In the marketing world, what I’m about to do is called framing. Like the old Apple vs PC commercials that most people my age remember.
If you haven’t read the “Dragon Age maestro says EA always spoke about a hypothetical 'nerd cave' full of diehard RPG fans who would ‘always show up,’ so you ‘didn't have to try and appeal to them’” article, maybe you should!
I’m linking it right here.
Electronic Arts, or Wizards of the Coast, have been acting so sus lately, gamers are starting to wake up to the absolute entitlement of big entertainment.
“Hey developers, there’s those weirdo grognards in their nerd caves - you only need to brand your product with these letters — RPG — and the nerdy grognards will come out of their caves and buy your game.”
Until we feel like we’re just expected to buy something!
I hate to say this, I could already tell by 2019 we were heading in that direction. Game developers who took us for granted and pushed their agendas using the RPG branding. Now we have the Guardians of the Galaxy Spell Jammer ripoffs, Colleges of Dance and Glam bards, and Wild Magic Sorcerous Dancing Queens flooding our games because you don’t need to market to us grognards, you should focus on the theatre kids instead!
That’s not what I’m about.
Games are great when they are not created for stockholders - but for gamers.
It’s about listening to gamers and their concerns. Like creating dark, authentic games about building your character’s legacy in a dark world. In September of 2019, I started to work hard on my game - and as I near the 6 year mark, Tales from Trinity City is almost ready to go commercial.
And the way I am creating the system for it, all based upon creating your character’s legacy, I came up with the perfect system for it. And it’s so perfect, I’ll be creating other game worlds with it, I’ll talk about them a little bit at the bottom.
I call it the Fame system.
What is the Fame system?
That’s a great question.
Instead of levels and experience (what level are you, btw?), I use fame and reputation as mechanics!
But what about level drain?
In this game, your alignment is all about your fame and reputation. If you’re a stalwart hero — but you’ve been framed, or maybe you had an accident, or even had to do something against your morals for the greater good — then expect your fame and reputation to plummet.
Maybe you are even capped!
Nobody will trust you ever again.
Or how about an Anti-Hero who won’t face a villain, or spares one? Or lets a minion go free without questioning them?
And what about a villain who is fast becoming a Mr. Nobody because they’re not going out to cause or exploit chaos!
That’s all about the Fame system!
And your fame and reputation is what determines your powers and skills.
And those powers and skills are essentially your stats.
Where you want your hero your way, that’s why I built the Fame system. No waiting to level 7 to cast improved invisibility - or 5 to case fireball. You get to choose your powers right away - so if you want to be extraordinarily reactive, like Spider-Man, you can do that right away - just choose Lightning Reflexes and you’re already have better than human speed and reflexes.
So, deciding what your character will be like is all up to you, all powered by the Fame system!
In fact, the only thing you need to do for the Fame system is -
Give your character a name.
Decide their background - this will determine how many powers and skills your character will have.
You decide your powers and skills.
And then you’re rolling a d20 to determine your legacy in Tales from Trinity City!
No long decisions - just know the powers and skills and create your character.
You should always been in complete control of your character - and that’s what I give in the Fame system!
Welcome to Tales from Trinity City!
Core books
Rule Book - Everything you need to read to create a character in less than a minute, and making your legacy in Trinity City.
Character Sheet - track your character’s legacy with this character sheet.
The Fighting Factions - learn all about the rival factions, competing for street supremacy
The Marvels of the City - learn all about the most advanced human city.
The Heroic Histories - the conflicts in Trinity City are both vast and have lasted for centuries, and you can learn about it here.
Daring Tales
Solo:
Walking Through the Neighbourhood - What starts as going to get your mom and you dinner ends up as your first adventure into the world of Trinity City. Create a character of your own, or use one of the 6 pre-generated characters.
Campaign:
TC1 - Welcome to the Projects - Your first day at work ends just about as you expected, dealing with the Gang on a riot.
TC2 - Tales of Terror - Just before you go to work, one of the player’s family is kidnapped by a madman out for blood.
TC3 - Nightmares from the Future - Gunter, your friend and mentor, tells you to meet him just outside a Rapture party with urgent news.
TC4 - Golden Goose Chase - After learning about Rapture, you’re on a mission to find out more about it, and you’re unravelling riddles in an underground crossroads!
TC5 - Dungeons and Designs - 67 invites you to solve his game in Mystamyra, if you can you get designs for the most powerful stealth armour in the city!
TC6 - Tyranny and Despair - with the Stealth suit, you can enter Ulrich’s territory without notice. It’s just your agenda against his agenda, or is it?
TC7 - The Gates of Nelk - With Ulrich dealt with, what now — the plans are in motion and how can you stop them, 67 sends you on another journey, deep into the enemy’s territory.
TC8 - A Desperate Act - With the location of the Stone of Iwa known, now starts the very dangerous journey to go to Suburb 1. An invitation only Suburb, will the party be able to escape notice long enough to find safe harbour?
Books
Witness the origin of the Shadow Walker!
Zuo’s deep hatred and pain of himself and his parents wakens soul-shattering powers as an Astral Warrior!
His father sees a path to glory, but Zuo has different plans!
Only 28 pages of existential dread as Zuo makes darks pacts with evil forces for vengeance!
Timeline
Phase 1 - end of 2026 -
Publishing:
Version 1 Rulebook (done).
The Marvels of the City sourcebook (done).
The Fighting Factions sourcebook (done).
The Historic Histories sourcebook (done).
The Walking Through the Neighbourhood introductory Daring Tale (done).
The Welcome to Trinity City campaign (currently working on)
Upcoming Fame System products -
Fables from Mystamyra - a fantasy world where Elves, Humans, and Dwarves have a fragile alliance, fighting off the invasion of the Dragon Hordes.
Logs from Deep Space - a sci-fi world where humanity has finally left home to explore the mysteries of the cosmos - with all the danger and beauty out there!
Thank you for Rolling with Amazing Gaming Productions!