I played Modern Prometheus with my sibling and we had a lot of fun! Our creation ended up adopting The Innocent (a street urchin) and through the mini games we ended up with an interesting story about abandonment, parenthood and breaking the cycle of generational trauma. Not all mini games fit the narrative we were creating as they were written, but left enough room for us to add our own questions.
So glad you had a great time! Your art is brilliant, and your story sounds fantastic! 🫀
Glad you felt confident making changes to the minigames on the fly! That's highly encouraged, and I think I need to add a bit more space for that in the game rules; you're not the first person to feel their story was too constrained by some of the assumptions in the game structure. 😊
Modern Prometheus is a beautifully laid out text, with evocative prompts and lovely minimalist artwork. I feel like it mostly uses the system well to create the specific experience it is trying to achieve, with only one of the games that felt like it was there more as 'classic firebrands game' rather than because it necessarily fit the narrative. The decision to make the characters have specific minigames associated with them is also a really interesting design choice i haven't seen before and enjoyed. If you are looking for a game that takes you through pretty precise story beats of the Frankenstein novel, this is definitely one to give a go.
Unfortunately based on the early intro text, we thought the game was more 'frankenstein inspired' with room to generate your own narrative on the themes, since a lot of firebrands games are more about the setting and vibes than a specific outcome; and consequently we deviated from the expected plot beats early on, found the games a struggle to fit with the characters we designed and had to retool several of them. I think if we had known the more specific expectations of the game experience upfront in the preamble before getting to the minigames (a la something like Our Travelling Home), I would have had a very different time with the game and if I were to play it again, I would definitely keep that in mind.
A Modern Prometheus is a tabletop roleplaying game that uses the firebrands system. The game is for two players and is divided into turns. Each character has their own minigames to choose from.
The pdf has a great layout and is about 40 pages. The game is set in a gothic horror genre and uses coins, dice and tokens as the game's components. There are optional rules for more players. I definitely recommend checking it out!
I cannot express enough how much my fiancé and I loved this game!! We are sooo obsessed with the characters we made and the story we got to collaborate on together with the help of the narrative-building tools provided here. I feel like there's a lot of replay value too, a chance to play a different dynamic with another person or attempt the 3+ player version! Can't wait to do it again, but we're still reminiscing on our first game, doodling our characters, making playlists, etc. haha. LOVE this one!
No, actually! :) This was our confidante, who I was fond of. Our scientists and creation are:Corvus Rally and his lost sister, Ayla Rally. He was on a mission to restore her and things got kinda funky....
Thank you again so much for such an awesome experience! It was a blast.
A Modern Prometheus by is a TTRPG inspired by the story of Frankenstein. It is a gothic horror game for two people, and you play to find out whether the creator or their creation is the real monster of the story.
I am always looking for GM-less two-player experiences, and this one perfectly fits the bill - If both players are in a creative enough headspace.
In your classic Party-based RPG, the GM has to do a lot of heavy lifting with creative interpretation of the source material - Here, both players have to take care of worldbuilding and dramatic tension together.
I loved that there were good incentives to create other NPCs, apart from Scientist and Creation, and in our playthrough those NPCs became 3-dimensional characters in their own right. This is accomplished with lots of questions that focus on the feelings and relationships of the characters.
The world itself is (intentionally) left vague - But there is some flavorful, minimalist artwork that does a great job at evoking all those tropes of gothic horror that are probably already in the heads of those who find the pitch of this RPG appealing.
The only caveat is, that I don't see a lot of replayability here - it was a great, cinematic experience that leaves me wanting for more of the same, but different :)
I'd love to see a toolkit for creating your own stories, or just a spiritual sequel in a completely different setting.
Thanks so much for this review! 😁 I'm so glad you enjoyed your game! For more games in the same style, you should check out Mobile Frame Zero: Firebrands, the OG game using this system—that may scratch the itch for more stories in different settings!
Promethean and this are some of the only media I'm aware of that are faithful to Mary Shelly's novel and don't dumb down the monster to a mindless zombie scared of fire. So props to you!
A Modern Prometheus is an intense two-player (or very optionally three player) character study where you play as Frankenstein and Frankenstein's Monster.
It's 42 pages, with strong, consistent, and atmospheric layout. It's also quite easy to read, and the pages don't pack in a lot of text, so don't be intimidated by it looking like it's a novella in length.
Mechanically, Prometheus uses the Firebrands (ha-ha) engine, so dice are secondary to choices, and the major element that's gamified is coins. You earn coins by engaging with different kinds of scenes, called minigames, which you each take turns framing.
The back and forth of power, justification, suspicion, and dread between creator and created is the living, beating core of the game, and the fun of play is in discovering who these two characters are.
One thing that I think is missing, and that might be worthwhile to add as a player, is a city creation toolkit. As written, Modern Prometheus assumes the general context and milieu of Frankenstein, but you can do a *lot* more with it than that. The game's format is just as effective if your story is about a companion AI and a 23rd century investor, or a recently awakened vampire and their one tether to the mortal world, so you may want to thresh out the city and setting before beginning play if you want to steer in that kind of a direction.
Overall, if you live for drama and you've got at least one person you can pull into a game, you should get this. It's moody and gothic and nuanced and you get back twice what you put into it. However, it's not competitive. It's not about overcoming challenges and using your numbers to win, so if you like that part of gothic roleplaying, it may be less of a good match.
Still, if you liked Frankenstein, if you like stories where two brooding characters' values are in conflict, and if you don't mind doing potentially a bit of world-building at the start, you should also pick this up.
Minor Issues:
-Auto-hyphenation seems to be on. It breaks up some words in ways that don't feel very natural, and it sticks out more in paragraphs such as on page 5.
A Modern Prometheus does an excellent job of exploring the question 'who is the real monster here?' and what a monster is. There are some really poignant questions here, making great use of the Firebrands system. And the layout is super slick! Definitely recommend!
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I played Modern Prometheus with my sibling and we had a lot of fun! Our creation ended up adopting The Innocent (a street urchin) and through the mini games we ended up with an interesting story about abandonment, parenthood and breaking the cycle of generational trauma. Not all mini games fit the narrative we were creating as they were written, but left enough room for us to add our own questions.
So glad you had a great time! Your art is brilliant, and your story sounds fantastic! 🫀
Glad you felt confident making changes to the minigames on the fly! That's highly encouraged, and I think I need to add a bit more space for that in the game rules; you're not the first person to feel their story was too constrained by some of the assumptions in the game structure. 😊
Modern Prometheus is a beautifully laid out text, with evocative prompts and lovely minimalist artwork. I feel like it mostly uses the system well to create the specific experience it is trying to achieve, with only one of the games that felt like it was there more as 'classic firebrands game' rather than because it necessarily fit the narrative. The decision to make the characters have specific minigames associated with them is also a really interesting design choice i haven't seen before and enjoyed. If you are looking for a game that takes you through pretty precise story beats of the Frankenstein novel, this is definitely one to give a go.
Unfortunately based on the early intro text, we thought the game was more 'frankenstein inspired' with room to generate your own narrative on the themes, since a lot of firebrands games are more about the setting and vibes than a specific outcome; and consequently we deviated from the expected plot beats early on, found the games a struggle to fit with the characters we designed and had to retool several of them. I think if we had known the more specific expectations of the game experience upfront in the preamble before getting to the minigames (a la something like Our Travelling Home), I would have had a very different time with the game and if I were to play it again, I would definitely keep that in mind.
A Modern Prometheus is a tabletop roleplaying game that uses the firebrands system. The game is for two players and is divided into turns. Each character has their own minigames to choose from.
The pdf has a great layout and is about 40 pages. The game is set in a gothic horror genre and uses coins, dice and tokens as the game's components. There are optional rules for more players. I definitely recommend checking it out!
🫀🫀🫀 Thanks so much for your review!
You betcha… Great work!
I cannot express enough how much my fiancé and I loved this game!! We are sooo obsessed with the characters we made and the story we got to collaborate on together with the help of the narrative-building tools provided here. I feel like there's a lot of replay value too, a chance to play a different dynamic with another person or attempt the 3+ player version! Can't wait to do it again, but we're still reminiscing on our first game, doodling our characters, making playlists, etc. haha. LOVE this one!
🫀🫀🫀 thank you so much! I love your Scientist (I'm assuming...)! Any art of your Creation?
No, actually! :) This was our confidante, who I was fond of. Our scientists and creation are:
Corvus Rally and his lost sister, Ayla Rally. He was on a mission to restore her and things got kinda funky....
Thank you again so much for such an awesome experience! It was a blast.
I love them! And I love so much the motivation of bringing someone back, that's a brilliant twist on the formula!
Would it be okay for me to share your drawings o on my Twitter? I'd link to your Insta. 😊
Yeah!! It was a fun, emotional twist! And of course! :) TY for the game!! 🙏
A Modern Prometheus by is a TTRPG inspired by the story of Frankenstein. It is a gothic horror game for two people, and you play to find out whether the creator or their creation is the real monster of the story.
I am always looking for GM-less two-player experiences, and this one perfectly fits the bill - If both players are in a creative enough headspace.
In your classic Party-based RPG, the GM has to do a lot of heavy lifting with creative interpretation of the source material - Here, both players have to take care of worldbuilding and dramatic tension together.
I loved that there were good incentives to create other NPCs, apart from Scientist and Creation, and in our playthrough those NPCs became 3-dimensional characters in their own right. This is accomplished with lots of questions that focus on the feelings and relationships of the characters.
The world itself is (intentionally) left vague - But there is some flavorful, minimalist artwork that does a great job at evoking all those tropes of gothic horror that are probably already in the heads of those who find the pitch of this RPG appealing.
The only caveat is, that I don't see a lot of replayability here - it was a great, cinematic experience that leaves me wanting for more of the same, but different :)
I'd love to see a toolkit for creating your own stories, or just a spiritual sequel in a completely different setting.
Thanks so much for this review! 😁 I'm so glad you enjoyed your game! For more games in the same style, you should check out Mobile Frame Zero: Firebrands, the OG game using this system—that may scratch the itch for more stories in different settings!
Have you guys ever heard of Promethean: The Created?
No, hadn't heard of it until today. 😁 Sounds like a cool different take!
Promethean and this are some of the only media I'm aware of that are faithful to Mary Shelly's novel and don't dumb down the monster to a mindless zombie scared of fire. So props to you!
Thank you! 😊🫀🫀🫀
A Modern Prometheus is an intense two-player (or very optionally three player) character study where you play as Frankenstein and Frankenstein's Monster.
It's 42 pages, with strong, consistent, and atmospheric layout. It's also quite easy to read, and the pages don't pack in a lot of text, so don't be intimidated by it looking like it's a novella in length.
Mechanically, Prometheus uses the Firebrands (ha-ha) engine, so dice are secondary to choices, and the major element that's gamified is coins. You earn coins by engaging with different kinds of scenes, called minigames, which you each take turns framing.
The back and forth of power, justification, suspicion, and dread between creator and created is the living, beating core of the game, and the fun of play is in discovering who these two characters are.
One thing that I think is missing, and that might be worthwhile to add as a player, is a city creation toolkit. As written, Modern Prometheus assumes the general context and milieu of Frankenstein, but you can do a *lot* more with it than that. The game's format is just as effective if your story is about a companion AI and a 23rd century investor, or a recently awakened vampire and their one tether to the mortal world, so you may want to thresh out the city and setting before beginning play if you want to steer in that kind of a direction.
Overall, if you live for drama and you've got at least one person you can pull into a game, you should get this. It's moody and gothic and nuanced and you get back twice what you put into it. However, it's not competitive. It's not about overcoming challenges and using your numbers to win, so if you like that part of gothic roleplaying, it may be less of a good match.
Still, if you liked Frankenstein, if you like stories where two brooding characters' values are in conflict, and if you don't mind doing potentially a bit of world-building at the start, you should also pick this up.
Minor Issues:
-Auto-hyphenation seems to be on. It breaks up some words in ways that don't feel very natural, and it sticks out more in paragraphs such as on page 5.
A Modern Prometheus does an excellent job of exploring the question 'who is the real monster here?' and what a monster is. There are some really poignant questions here, making great use of the Firebrands system. And the layout is super slick! Definitely recommend!