GenCon Player Feedback + Live AMA | The Ghost in the Shell Tabletop RPG
23 days ago
– Thu, Aug 06, 2026 at 07:59:35 AM
Welcome back, Agents!
Now Live! Join game designer Alessio, plus Dylan, mission writer and player in our Actual Play series!
We'll be live on Thursday, 6th August, 4pm BST/GMT+1 (8am PST / 12pm EST). I'll see you there!
Live Chat & AMA | The Ghost in the Shell Tabletop RPG | Available on BackerKit until August 13th.
Now Live! Join game designer Alessio, plus Dylan, mission writer and player in our Actual Play series!
We'll be live on Thursday, 6th August, 4pm BST/GMT+1 (8am PST / 12pm EST). I'll see you there!
Live Chat & AMA | The Ghost in the Shell Tabletop RPG | Available on BackerKit until August 13th.
GenCon Feedback
At GenCon we ran a handful of tables of the new Ghost in the Shell Roleplaying game. Within the first 15 minutes the players locked in and quickly picked up the rules. Below are their Remarks and Testimonials at the halfway ‘commercial’ break, and after the ‘end credits’. Huge thanks to Michael Frusti for running the game:
"The way the game felt like watching an anime with its edits. Cutting away to different areas of the building to cut to different parts of the action. Running the game with an opening teaser scene and ending with a 'post-credits scene' teasing the next episode. Cutting ahead and letting players split up for an investigation. Yeah, this was an episode of an anime we just played. And I loved it."
"The way we felt like a real team. Not just a group of people doing our own things. Our skill specializations and equipment we took really synergized off of each other. We were able to play off one another and cover for each other. Like a proper team!"
"The Aspects of our character from our Synthesis Conflict the Setbacks are really fun and an interesting way to help define who our character is and gave me a lot to roleplay with. I was not just a lady with a sniper rifle. I felt like a real person with their own struggles and life outside of the mission. And It was really cool having that baked into the game system with rules to use them in the game and reward using them. It felt important, and not like some afterthought."
"It feels like all these rules in this game all work together to help drive a narratively focused game that we have control over and can drive the narrative and investigation in our own direction. It feels like a game where our choices matter, and we have the tools to impact and shape the narrative as players. Especially with those Ghost Whispers!"
"It was really cool how quickly we were able to resolve that action scene. It made us feel like professional operatives, and rewarded us for our careful planning and setup during our investigation. I felt like a character in a movie or anime"
"In most games you start as a total nobody, barely able to fight off a few wolves. I was not expecting to see how capable our starting character felt right from the start of the game. It really made me feel like we were members of an elite team."
"I really like how quick and lethal the game feels! People did not feel like bullet sponges that we had to spend several turns shooting. When I finally got a chance and took a shot at [Redacted Spoiler] I loved that he just died right there before he could escape."
"On one hand, I was really worried about losing my arm (pun intended). But on the other hand, I really loved getting to replace it with a new armored cyber arm. It helped to tell a story about how I got my character's first cyberware. In a full campaign I could see changing my Synthesis conflict around the need to upgrade myself for my mission, and needing to try to hold onto the past and what really makes me human."
"I liked having the hit points tied into the hit location chart. It made hitting my target feel impactful knowing that he couldn't fire his 2 handed gun anymore. I liked getting to roleplay having a broken leg during that gunfight. It was just awesome and I wish other RPGs did this!"
"I love how this game encourages us to split the party. In a lot of games the players are expected to march in formation and go everywhere together. But during the opening scene we all were able to describe our position and how we wanted to enter the hostage situation. We had the sniper across the street. A pair that came down from the roof on the stairs. The fake negotiator taking care of the main lobby, and me repelling down into the window after the distraction in the main hallway. It made us all feed very capable on our own. And It was really cool having those downtime and investigation scenes where we all got to go off and do our own things. Cutting away to each agent leading their own piece of the investigation before regrouping for the next mission we have prepared for. It felt like watching a movie!"
"I liked body damage locations, and how everyone has low hp. It makes combat and injury very impactful, and it keeps combat scenes fast and furious."
"The exploding dice was easily my favorite part of the game! When it clicked that EVERY dice exploded, wow. Attack rolls, damage rolls. That moment when I managed to explode my D6 from my pistol to a D8 to a D10 to a D12, then ended up with a 18 on a D20 and absolutely destroyed that guy. It all started to make sense. It made every roll exciting!"
Thanks for all your Support
"The way the game felt like watching an anime with its edits. Cutting away to different areas of the building to cut to different parts of the action. Running the game with an opening teaser scene and ending with a 'post-credits scene' teasing the next episode. Cutting ahead and letting players split up for an investigation. Yeah, this was an episode of an anime we just played. And I loved it."
"The way we felt like a real team. Not just a group of people doing our own things. Our skill specializations and equipment we took really synergized off of each other. We were able to play off one another and cover for each other. Like a proper team!"
"The Aspects of our character from our Synthesis Conflict the Setbacks are really fun and an interesting way to help define who our character is and gave me a lot to roleplay with. I was not just a lady with a sniper rifle. I felt like a real person with their own struggles and life outside of the mission. And It was really cool having that baked into the game system with rules to use them in the game and reward using them. It felt important, and not like some afterthought."
"It feels like all these rules in this game all work together to help drive a narratively focused game that we have control over and can drive the narrative and investigation in our own direction. It feels like a game where our choices matter, and we have the tools to impact and shape the narrative as players. Especially with those Ghost Whispers!"
"It was really cool how quickly we were able to resolve that action scene. It made us feel like professional operatives, and rewarded us for our careful planning and setup during our investigation. I felt like a character in a movie or anime"
"In most games you start as a total nobody, barely able to fight off a few wolves. I was not expecting to see how capable our starting character felt right from the start of the game. It really made me feel like we were members of an elite team."
"I really like how quick and lethal the game feels! People did not feel like bullet sponges that we had to spend several turns shooting. When I finally got a chance and took a shot at [Redacted Spoiler] I loved that he just died right there before he could escape."
"On one hand, I was really worried about losing my arm (pun intended). But on the other hand, I really loved getting to replace it with a new armored cyber arm. It helped to tell a story about how I got my character's first cyberware. In a full campaign I could see changing my Synthesis conflict around the need to upgrade myself for my mission, and needing to try to hold onto the past and what really makes me human."
"I liked having the hit points tied into the hit location chart. It made hitting my target feel impactful knowing that he couldn't fire his 2 handed gun anymore. I liked getting to roleplay having a broken leg during that gunfight. It was just awesome and I wish other RPGs did this!"
"I love how this game encourages us to split the party. In a lot of games the players are expected to march in formation and go everywhere together. But during the opening scene we all were able to describe our position and how we wanted to enter the hostage situation. We had the sniper across the street. A pair that came down from the roof on the stairs. The fake negotiator taking care of the main lobby, and me repelling down into the window after the distraction in the main hallway. It made us all feed very capable on our own. And It was really cool having those downtime and investigation scenes where we all got to go off and do our own things. Cutting away to each agent leading their own piece of the investigation before regrouping for the next mission we have prepared for. It felt like watching a movie!"
"I liked body damage locations, and how everyone has low hp. It makes combat and injury very impactful, and it keeps combat scenes fast and furious."
"The exploding dice was easily my favorite part of the game! When it clicked that EVERY dice exploded, wow. Attack rolls, damage rolls. That moment when I managed to explode my D6 from my pistol to a D8 to a D10 to a D12, then ended up with a 18 on a D20 and absolutely destroyed that guy. It all started to make sense. It made every roll exciting!"
Thanks for all your Support
Once again, thanks for all the support since launch. Until tomorrow, thank you for joining us on this great adventure.
- Ross and Team Mantic
- Ross and Team Mantic
