The Ward: Acute Care Edition, looks great. As a big fan of Scrubs, I’m compelled by the medical drama PbtA game that was in the Magpie Bundle of Holding that ended yesterday. I’m pretty sure I would love exploring hard-worked, imperfect characters thrown together amid life, death, and relationships, and I think this game could appeal to some non-gamer friends in ways other rpgs do not. I especially like the tiny yet powerfully character defining details of “Next of Kin” and “Emergency Contact.”
After loving what I see from the design, moves, and playbooks, I’m curious why the system wouldn’t also work almost straight out of the box for police/forensics/court procedurals, or any drama stories set in stressfully high-stakes professional hierarchies like academia, experimental sciences, space exploration/engineering, archaeology/occult studies, Capitol Hill, various federal agencies like DOC, ICE, DEA, CDC, ACF, or various emergency response sectors (fire rescue, coast guard, disaster relief, humanitarian aid organizations, paranormal response, etc.). Professional stakes can be high and stressful even if they’re not life-or-death in an operating room.
While I’ve only given it a quick read-through and didn’t go in-depth into the MC section, as far as I can see, all you’d need are different specialties and a few renamed/flavored playbook moves. What do you think?
I also bought the bundle; but haven’t really had a chance to read any of the books I got. Maybe that will be the next one I read.
I also bought the bundle; but haven’t really had a chance to read any of the books I got. Maybe that will be the next one I read.
While enjoying GLOW season 2 yesterday I couldn’t stop thinking about how the story might as well have been played out with The Ward: main characters juggling the stresses of alternating success and failure in the three theaters (personal, social, and TV/wrestling), displaying expertise, feigning competence, showing compassion and contempt, putting a hand in, asserting authority, blowing off steam, and overall trying to act professionally, all while building (or losing) reputation and connections, suffering conditions, and trying to hold it all together.
To use the Ward’s playbooks without any adjustment, Ruth is likely a genius ‘intern’, Debbie is an arrogant ‘resident’, Sam is either an arrogant ‘specialist’ or cynical ‘nurse’, Bash seems like a young resident (less of an NPC than in season 1). The other wrestlers are either NPCs or mostly new/young interns (Carmen is definitely optimistic).
While enjoying GLOW season 2 yesterday I couldn’t stop thinking about how the story might as well have been played out with The Ward: main characters juggling the stresses of alternating success and failure in the three theaters (personal, social, and TV/wrestling), displaying expertise, feigning competence, showing compassion and contempt, putting a hand in, asserting authority, blowing off steam, and overall trying to act professionally, all while building (or losing) reputation and connections, suffering conditions, and trying to hold it all together.
To use the Ward’s playbooks without any adjustment, Ruth is likely a genius ‘intern’, Debbie is an arrogant ‘resident’, Sam is either an arrogant ‘specialist’ or cynical ‘nurse’, Bash seems like a young resident (less of an NPC than in season 1). The other wrestlers are either NPCs or mostly new/young interns (Carmen is definitely optimistic).
any drama stories set in stressfully high-stakes professional hierarchies like… seems to describe a lot of serial TV. Now I really have to read the Ward…
any drama stories set in stressfully high-stakes professional hierarchies like… seems to describe a lot of serial TV. Now I really have to read the Ward…
Chris Shorb Right, that’s what’s sort of blowing my mind (and why the list of possibilities got so absurd in my first post).
Chris Shorb Right, that’s what’s sort of blowing my mind (and why the list of possibilities got so absurd in my first post).