So, my wife and I are talking the other day and she says, “I feel like I want to be someone else.” I say okay, and…
So, my wife and I are talking the other day and she says, “I feel like I want to be someone else.” I say okay, and let it slide, because that’s kind of weird, but later she comes to me and says she’s figured out what that means. She wants to play an RPG. She’s played with me before, so that’s not unusual, and she hasn’t gotten to play since we moved eight months ago. She then goes spiraling out of control and, in collusion with one of her friends, decides that I’m going to be running this game. That’s fine, I’ve GMed for her and our friends before.
So, now I’ve got a few players who want to play unconventional D&D type characters (a Gnome medical student and a half-orc/half-ogre to start, I’m not sure what the third player is going to want to do) and a setting that popped into my head involving industrial steam-age technology (trains, dirigibles, radio) as well as magic. My question for you good people is what system do I run this in?
I’m comfortable running in D&D, Fate, DW, other PBTA games, and will try pretty much anything. I know that my wife prefers system-lite systems. Any thoughts?
Just a quick note that running games for kids is every bit as fun as Richard Rogers and Tor Droplets make it seem to…
Just a quick note that running games for kids is every bit as fun as Richard Rogers and Tor Droplets make it seem to be. I ran Andrew Medeiros’s The Woodlands for my little sister this past week and it was amazing.
Have any Gauntleteers played any of the games out of the Seven Wonders anthology?
Have any Gauntleteers played any of the games out of the Seven Wonders anthology? I ran across it at my FLGS today, and it looks interesting, but I can’t find much in the way of actual play or reviews online. Being hardcover, it was a bit out of my impulse buy price range, and I didn’t have time to give it much of a skim.
We played Sorcerers and Sellswords this past Monday. It went well, and it went gonzo pretty quickly.
We played Sorcerers and Sellswords this past Monday. It went well, and it went gonzo pretty quickly.
The game took place in alternate Hawaii. A society of coral-dwelling merfolk were holding a banquet in the party’s honor, because they’d rid the island of an invasive lizard people. Before too long, the shapeshifter discovered the princess of the clown anemone merfolk was missing from her anemone throne. The only clue was a pendant of the lizard folk. The lizard folks’ pendants could only be given willingly–otherwise it’d reduce to ash. This only further mystified the party, and angered the clown anemone king.
Long story short, the pyromancer set off the volcano to force the cross-species lovers out of hiding. The shapeshifter had to rescue the lovers from lava and boiling water. The fighter accidentally invented surfing to escape the lava. The rest of the party found a high spot to wait out the lava.
Once they brought the princess back, we held a round of epilogues. The lovers eventually brokered a peace between the two societies. The party set up the islands as their vacation spot, and started inviting humanoids from the continents. The influx of tourists doomed the delicate environment both societies needed for their survival. (Hey, the party picked doomed as their flaw, so that was my interpretation).
I’ve said it before: the indie/storygamer/post-Forge and the old school/DIY/OSR ‘communities’ have a lot in common. Maybe not in their design philosophy (though we see new hybrid games all the time), but in the way they create, share, and build upon each other’s work. I’m convinced everyone would gain something by looking at what is being made and discussed on the other side of the minefield.
So I’m going to recommend my two favourite games of the last few years.
Story gamers, have you read Into the Odd?
It’s a short book about survivors, explorers and entrepreneurs in a 19th century gone mad. Cthulhu-is-back-and-the-aliens-have-been-here-all-along mad. The smog makes you sick, three wars have been declared since you left the pub, and the street urchins have eaten your dog. But you believe you can make it. If you could just find a relic from another world that doesn’t turn you into sentient pudding like it happened to poor Whelma.
That’s my Odd World. Yours will emerge from your choices, your referee’s tastes, and a bunch of random tables. The game is a traditional, GM+players affair, but it manages to distill the old school angle that makes the genre so appealing to me. You may not create a complete story in three hours, but you’ll get to flex those problem solving muscles and work as a team to (maybe) beat overwhelming odds.
Free and commercial versions in the sidebar of Chris McDowall’s blog: http://soogagames.blogspot.ie/ Also peruse the site, as Chris tends to develop his version of Bastionland with ideas no human mind should be allowed to have.
Old school crowd, you’re into the sword & sorcery of Leiber and Howard, right?
Try Swords Without Master. It’ll take you places no other S&S RPG can. It builds on everyone’s ideas to create a tale of magic and mayhem that has the feel of the short stories we love. Now it’s a different type of game that what you may be used to, but trust me, it’s worth it. You’ll get to play larger than life rogues who laugh in the face of their enemies and topple kingdoms with steel and wizardry.
Also, Epidiah Ravachol has started a tradition of playing most Sunday mornings (or afternoons, if you’re in Europe) for a couple of hours. Dead easy way to learn the game.
So there you are, my recommendations to get out of your comfort zone and learn about elf games. Come on, I dare ya.
(Hopefully this’ll count as my #awesomegamerday contribution, cause I have a 5E game to go to 😉
EDIT Afterthought: why don’t you share your favourite indie and old school games in the comments?
