History TabletopGame / FlyingCircus

''Flying Circus'' is a fantasy aviation TabletopRPG game by Erika Chappell. It draws inspiration from the work of Creator/{{Hayao Miyazaki}} and is inspired by the UsefulNotes/{{Powered by the Apocalypse}} engine.

* ApocalypseHow: At least a Class 0, if not a Class 1. The uncrossable oceans on both sides of Himmilgard prevents its inhabitants from knowing what’s beyond them, so nobody knows what happened to the rest of the world, and the only indication the rulebook gives about the larger world is that there ''is'' something beyond the sea, but that it's beyond the setting's scope. If the War’s fallout managed to cross the oceans and ravaged those lands, that would make the end of the world a Class 1: Planetary Scale, Societal Disruption. Otherwise, it’s only a Class 0: Apocalypse, Regional Scale, Societal Disruption. What prevents the apocalypse from tipping into Societal Collapse is that societies have held on in the form of small towns and advanced technology remains in the world, even without the unification of nation-states nor scale of industrial production.
* TheApunkalypse: Suitably for a game inspired by TabletopGame/ApocalypseWorld, ''Flying Circus'' takes place twenty years "after the end of the world" and features many of the elements of punked-up apocalyptica, such as ravaged cities, warlords dominating the remains of civilization, and battle-hardened mercenaries riding scalvaged machines. The twist is that instead of being AfterTheEnd of our world, it's after the end of a late 19th century/early 20th century fantasy counterpart to Germany.

* BellyScrapingFlight: Typically, flying at Altitude 0 is a bad idea. Ground effects reduces Stall Speed, the plane hits the ground if it goes any lower, and pulling up from this altitude counts as an attempt to Evade Danger. However, the Dogfighter Mastery move Belly Scrape makes near-ground flight less dangerous.

* ComingOfAgeStory: Most of the playbooks are build around the coming-of-age narrative, stories of young ace pilots hoisted into adulthood. The Worker is the one playbook that avoids this narrative by default, as it's for the pilots who are the TeamDad.

* GhibliHills: Being inspired by Creator/StudioGhibli, the game involves many idyllic yet dangerous landscapes, especially The Wilds. To drive home the land's beauty, pilots can trigger the Discover Beauty move when they "witness beauty in the world," which reduces Stress.
* GlobalCurrency: ZigZagged. In the fiction, each town has their own form of currency, which is abstracted away as "scrip." Meanwhile, trading companies handle larger costs through gold coins called "taler." So narratively, currency is a mishmash of local scrip and global taler, but the former especially gets abstracted on a mechanical level to reduce the complexity of reconciling one town's form of money with their neighbor's town completely different form of money.
* GreatOffscreenWar: The entire setting lives in the shadow of the Great War, where Himmilgard's political powers bombarded each other out of existence, tainted the landscape, and traumatized the survivors. This war takes place twenty years before the game setting's start. That's enough time where campaigns won't take place in the Great War, while keeping it enough of a presence that most characters rather want to forget.

** Taken up to eleven with ''Horror in the Heights'', with dedicated rules for simulating the limits of where WWI biplanes can fly with the right modifications, plus some GiantFlyer creatures to provide new and interesting opponents, alongside some strange flying machines that aren't great war remnants but instead seeming evidence of {{Precursors}}.
* HighUpIceUp: The ruleset can simulate the freezing dangers of high heights. The core rulebook notes the rate that temperature drops as altitude increases, and the advanced rules describe how batteries hold half their charge in extreme cold, on top of increased flight stress.
* HitPoints:

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: In ''Flying Circus'', dragons aren't not just creatures, or even mere magical beings. They are [[TheAgeless eons-old beings]] which existed long before humans and are waiting for the humans to die off so they can reclaim their land. On top of their Energy Beam and devilous cunning, they possess Physic Control which they can use [[MindManipulation to indoctrinate humans]]. Even the dragons' eggs use indoctrination powers, implying that even unhatched dragons possess saptience. To quote the Dragon's stat block: "If the GM has to use this profile, you've made a mistake." They also look like jet fighters.

* RestingRecovery: During Finances, outside the Mission phase, pilots can heal Injuries by paying taler and waiting a certain amount of time per Injury treated. The more typical form of Resting Recovery is through Slow Healing, where one Injury is healed every three days. Alternatively, the process can be sped up to healing one Injury every three hours through Fast Healing—but that requires weird, grotesque treatments and taking on Stress.
* RolePlayingEndgame: Player Characters who don't prematurely die can exit the game in one of two ways. They can take on a Destiny after fulfilling exceptional requirements, such as becoming a Nature Spirit after saving the Wild from destruction and becoming a part of it. A pilot can also opt for Retirement by spending a maximum of 15 thaler, a cost reduced by several factors, like overcoming an Addiction or adjusting to the world after losing a comrade.
* RomanceSidequest: If a pilot wants to maintain a meaningful long-term relationship, they can use the Get Real move to make another character (PC or NPC) A Confidant. A Confidant allows a pilot to use the Quality Time move relieve Stress without any mechanical drawbacks, and retiring with a Confidant makes retirement cheaper. However, the pilot then has to keep putting work in the relationship, fulfilling the Confidant's demands (such as not sleeping with other people) and making sure the Confidant doesn't get hurt. A pilot can only have multiple Confidants, but can only use the Quality Time move once per routine.
* ScienceFantasy: ''Flying Circus'' features many of the technological marvels common in the SteamPunk genre and its cousins, especially with the planes, while mixing it in with HighFantasy magic and beings.

* StrikeEpisode: If players mistreat the employees of their Flying Circus too much and fills up the Labour Clock, then the employees go on strike and take the planes hostage until their demands are made, which can take up much of the play session.
* SubSystemDamage: Planes can be hit in specific locations, such as with a [[CriticalHit Crit]], causing specific penalties. For example, destroying the landing gear means that the pilot must make [[ComingInHot the Go Down move]] when they land.
* TeethClenchedTeamwork: Gameplay makes it easy for teammates to break Trust with each other, while many of the Playbooks begin with not trusting most of their coworkers. Nevertheless, the pilots partake in missions for the sake of the company, even if they would be at each other's throat if they make it back to the ground.
* ThoseMagnificentFlyingMachines: While many of the flyable planes abide by the laws of physics, the setting's fantastical and magical nature means that much of the aircraft in ''Flying Circus'' is unrealistically magnificent.
** Most notably are the Leviathan machines, magical autonomous war machines in the vein of the title-granting machines of ''Anime/HowlsMovingCastle'' or ''Anime/CastleInTheSky''.

** Taken UpToEleven with ''Horror in the Heights'', with dedicated rules for simulating the limits of where WWI biplanes can fly with the right modifications, plus some GiantFlyer creatures to provide new and interesting opponents, alongside some strange flying machines that aren't great war remnants but instead seeming evidence of {{Precursors}}.

* OurDragonsAreDifferent: In ''Flying Circus'', dragons aren't not just creatures, or even mere magical beings. They are [[TheAgeless eons-old beings]] which existed long before humans and are waiting for the humans to die off so they can reclaim their land. On top of their Energy Beam and devilous cunning, they possess Physic Control which they can use [[MindManipulation to indoctrinate humans]]. Even the dragons' eggs use indoctrination powers, implying that even unhatched dragons possess saptience. To quote the Dragon's stat block: "If the GM has to use this profile, you've made a mistake."

* {{Transgender}}: The author, Erika Chappell, is openly and proudly trans. The book includes a passage on how the player character can be transgender and can choose to medically transition, whether through old-world technology or [[SupernaturallyValidatedTransPerson magical options]]. In addition, The Survivor playbook is an allegory for trans people escaping from a toxic home situation, if the toxicity is both metaphorical [[DeadlyGas and literal]].

* NonLethalKO: As brutal as the game's consequences can be, a Player Character cannot die unless their player agrees. In even the deadliest of situations, a Player Character can end up passing out. However, allied [=NPCs=] [[FinalDeath do not receive this luxury]].

* BellyScrapingFlight: Typically, [[RealityEnsues flying at Altitude 0 is a bad idea]]. Ground effects reduces Stall Speed, the plane hits the ground if it goes any lower, and pulling up from this altitude counts as an attempt to Evade Danger. However, the Dogfighter Mastery move Belly Scrape makes near-ground flight less dangerous.

* CriticalMiss: Moves that involve a Critical Hit often have an equivalent penalty on a natural 1.

* WronskiFeint: The Wronski Feint by name is unlockable through the Slipstream Mastery, allowing a pilot to escape a pursuer by diving to the ground. On a full success, the pursuers crashes.

* GlobalCurrency: ZigZagged. In the fiction, each town has their own form of currency, which is abstracted away as "scrip." Meanwhile, trading companies handle larger costs through gold coins called "taler." So narratively, currency is a mishmash of local scrip and global taler, but the former especially gets abstracted on a mechanical level to reduce the complexity of reconciling one town's form of money with their neighbor's town's completely different form of money.

* BattleCouple: If two Player Characters become mutual Confidants, they can be lovely dovely on the ground while shooting up enemies together in the sky. The "couple" can even be three or more of the pilots.
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: On a partial hit, one complication of Parlay with the Strange is that what the supernatural gives "you isn't quite what you asked for."

''Flying Circus'' was funded through [[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/310174564/flying-circus-a-roleplaying-game-of-high-flying-ad a Kickstarter campaign]] that ran from March to April 2018, raising more than CA$ 37,000. Several expansions are planned as stretch goals, including historical playbook sets and alternative settings, including a {{Steampunk}} adventure game {{IN SPACE}}.