Durance. Oh, Durance…

Durance. Oh, Durance…

We played Durance last year and it was kind of a flop at that time. Convinced it was because one of the players last year was not playing in the spirit of the game, we gave it another shot yesterday for Story Game Sunday. The verdict? It was a lot better, but still had some issues. 

The biggest problem with the game is player ownership of characters. This creates a lot of weird situations. For example, if I am the Guide of the scene, I have to ask a question that does not implicate one of my two characters, because I’m not supposed to be roleplaying in that scene. This is hard to do and still keep the story interesting. Much better would be making a big pool of characters and saying they are all up for grabs (as in The Final Girl). 

Another issue is all the planetary survey information and colony details. The mechanics, which revolve around the breaking of solemn Oaths, do not encourage exploring these details in the story, but rather keep the action focused on interpersonal connections and political gamesmanship. There are also just too many of these details to manage. Much better would be picking 2-3 things and focusing exclusively on those. 

All that said, there is a lot to love here. The premise (outer space penal colony) is tantalizing, and the process by which you set-up your game is engaging. The book is gorgeous and evocative. We even enjoyed the conflict resolution system this time (which was a big hang-up last time we played). Rob is going to give this one another go in an upcoming Wednesday One-Shots, utilizing some of the changes discussed here. 

Thanks to Rob Ferguson Ferrell Riley and Russell Benner !