Perverse Access Memory: WISH 84: Five Games
What five games would you love to run/play if you had a willing group and a weekly time slot?
Well, this shouldn’t be hard.
…
Actually, limiting it to just five will be hard.
HeroQuest — the more I read it, the more I really like the “extended” task resolution — a great amalgam of a diced mechanic and (to my mind) one of the more fun things about the vanilla ADRPG that was woefully unused in the game itself — the bidding war. Ideally, I can see using the system for a number of game settings — the traditional fantasy, Buffy, Dragaera, Oriental drama, perhaps even Supers — a great game mechanic with a wide-open skill system. I think it’s particularly interesting that, in order to use HeroQuest in different settings, you have to convert the setting, not character classes or whatnot.
My Life with Master (which I really need to do a summary/review of soon today) — this is something I really want a chance to do — great storytelling potential and a fun setting: with the right group of people it could be a magically horrible experience. Probably only 2 to 5 sessions, though, which would be kinda nice… most of my games take a leisurely 25+ sessions to wrap up.
Firefly, using Unknown Armies — a great system for mental stress, a very wide-open skill system (you make up whatever works for you), and a lot of stories I’d like to tell. This would probably be a long campaign.
Inspectres — saying this is sort of cheating, since I happen to know I’m going to be running this tonight, since Jackie didn’t have time to prep Necropolis. This game, downloadable for ten bucks (just Google for it and head for Momento Mori) looks to be a tremendous amount of fun — we’ll find out if that’s the case tonight, I guess. You can read what I said about it a few days ago, search for reviews, or just go buy the dang thing. Good as a pick-up game or to run concurrently, since there’s negligible GM prep.
Also, I hope to record tonight’s game as an example of Actual Play and post it up here.
Dead Inside: I know finding a group will be tough for this one, but I’d like to try out Dead Inside with a real small group. I like the mechanics, I like the setting, but most importantly I like the message — honestly, it’s a game I’d be interested in running for Justin — I guess that’s a parental rather than GM selection, but there it is. Not to imply too much cause and effect, but after three years of having him play the backstabbing, troublemaking rogue in the DnD group (and getting praised for it), I think a few months of playing a game where the point is to be nice might be… well, not a bad thing. Probably a short game… the example scenario outline in the back of the book carries that at least one participant escapes being Dead Inside within one session (though that doesn’t mean you couldn’t keep playing as a sensitive, certainly).
There’s other stuff: I haven’t mentioned Trollbabe (summary forthcoming RSN), Unbidden, Sorceror, Witchcraft, Ghost Stories, or 5 or 6 of the 1PG games from Deep7… and in all that I’m sure there’s something ELSE I haven’t remembered to mention.
HeroQuest — The mechanic definitely sounds interesting. I’d like to see it in action.
My Life with Master (which I really need to do a summary/review of soon today). Yes, you do. Probably only 2 to 5 sessions, though. Yeah, I’ve heard that one before.
Firefly, using Unknown Armies — Interested in the system, definitely interested in the setting. Though — we talking Players as The Crew, or Players as Others in the ‘Verse. Either has promise.
Inspectres — Yeah!
Dead Inside — Okay, this is sounding more interesting (if the players start off as ignorant of the setting, then one of my initial concerns is answered). And the mechanic of success through niceness has a rather refreshing quality to it.