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Why am I writing this? Who am I? Are those cyborg beavers damming up my brain?
Just a small example of the freedom and just outright joy that 5B's bakes for both the writer who likes to play with dice. Or is it the roleplayer that likes to write?
I get those two confused.
5B's is a wonderful romp through surreal and post-modern (post-structure) writing and roleplaying. In it, the player is set loose on a wide and open pasture of possibilities.
Thanks to this 17 page manifesto I felt the same joy when I got an electric typewriter for Xmas. Anything and everything was (and now is!) possible.
But this time I have dice too!
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I almost did away with solo rping all together with the adventure crafter, it is easily the closest thing I have ever ever seen to write with dice- a divine fusion of writing and role-playing. It is a glorious glorious thing, especially for the writer and plotter at heart.
So why did it lose a star? I think this deck should have been LARGER! So much information is packed into these teeny tiny cards, that my OSR eyes can barely make out what it says!
Other than that, it is genius given to us for mere baubles!
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Creator Reply: |
Wow, thank you for the kind words! I understand about the small type, I had quite the time fitting all of that information onto playing cards. I had wanted to go full tarot size, but that about doubled the cost so I decided against it. Still, perhaps a tarot size option wouldn't be such a bad idea. |
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Not for the traditional, accounting bean counting rpg types. This is a inspiring romp of transcendental rpg. Pefect for solo, able to write your adventure in a bullet journal on the bus. It is wonderful for play by post, for the thing that kills that medium is the attempt to simulate tabletop combst on a blasted forum.
This is different, this has many many spaces for story and character development. Here are spaces to fill with dialogue of henchmen and their masters, of rapscallions with those possessed by magic in the party. There are spaces to put your own rpg, your favorite mechanisms, and items that the arcanas have unearthed.
Go for it.
Like all Better Games, if you want a higher, more imaginative level of role-playing game, one that allows you actually tell a story (where everyone is a player), explore your favorite crawling bastard character, without getting bogged in math and crunch- then grab this dungeony nirvana.
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Wow one hell of a system. This is more writing with dice than a solo-rpg system. What I truly got out of this wonderfully simple system is that it is not the characters that deserve your attention, your work, your stats, even your preservation- it is the story.
The story is what is truly important in this system, and if you have to go through twenty or thirty characters to get a good story that is all that matters.
So sprinkle a good handful of SAALT on your gaming, and watch it turn into a story!
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I got every damn book one of these books, all of them. Every single issue. The Free-style system breaks every Gygaxian rule of role-play. It turns a tabletop adventure into a collaborative fiction event.
Going from Cutlass to Barony to Chronicle of the Outlands; Free-play has enjoyed a constant evolution. But unlike most RPG's, you don't have to buy each incarnation to get the benefits of any of them.
Chronicles of the Outlands is a Chinese puzzle of Rp imagination. Not only is it its own game, but you can stick parts of the game into just about any other rules system. You can import a single table into your game or immerse yourself in quick and dirty rules that envelope the participants in a story, not a game.
The author, who demonstrates his games passionately on YouTube, has completely thrown out numbers and dice connected to numbers. Supplies are assumed. Numbered Stats don't exist. Instead there are traits and their adjoining skills. Swagger could be seen as Feats but the difference is you can try just about any swagger. If successful, the character gains that swagger.
By far the best thing about the system is plot/game evolution decided not only by task resolution and dice- but mostly by the Tarot. A tarot card can decide the way a story goes, present a difficulty and reveal consequences for both success and failure. Thus the system is excellent for solo-play. For the cards hold the surprises not the Referee.
Whether for play, sheer reading pleasure, solo or writing, I am loving Free-Style library!
So go buy yourself these Chronicles, there are like nothing I have ever known, let alone seen!
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Last night I tried out Rocket Dungeon and it was incredible. The forging of a quick romp through a dungeon with no preparation. At first I thought it would be primitive, even simplistic, but it held its own. Every battle was nerve-ending. I mean with a HP of one, how can it not be? I was at the edge in every room/scene. I believed that the magic roll in every room would be tedious, but not in the least. I actually liked it. You don't know if the wizard is going to be an asset or a liability.
However the author wrote a simple solo rpg system before Rocket Dungeon here. I found that article to be more clear and useful than rocket dungeon. Primarily because RD uses "descending armor class"- you have ro roll under a certain number to succeed (or in this case, stay alive).
Since d20 came around, everything is reversed into simple low-bad high-good. Thus I prefer to use rolling higher to succeed more. This is the way it is in the article and should be the same in rocket dungeon.
But I loved it. Being a full-time tired daddy at home makes it difficult to dive into a labyrinth unless I take my trusty 5 year old hobbit along as a sneaky side-kick. Yet Rocket Dungeon let's out the romp with a minimal amount of work. True to its name, Lunchbox RPG created a game that I would classify as Earl of Sandwich. You can eat your lunch in one hand and delve with the other.
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I am what they call in RPG circles, a "soloist". I relish in not only playing RPGs alone but using that structure to map out my stories, and occasionally even my novels.
Thus, I have seen a lot of solo/GM-less engines, from Mythic, FU to Bivius. While they are great, it is Motif Solo Engine that achieves are near- perfect One-Roll-Engine. In my opinion, that is the holy grail of gaming- one roll that resolves it all.
With only three six-sided dice, simple tables and numerous hacks (which the author calls patches) a solo-player can have a complete GM experience with twists and turns in story and plot.
All I ask, if I must ask anything really, is that there be a way to push the results depending on the characters abilities. In essence, how can the character influence the rolls?
In conclusion, this is the best GM oracle I have ever come across. It is a wealth of both imagination and suspense. Highly recommended for anyone that finds themselves playing alone.
And these days, most of us do!
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Some games comfort you in wonderful fancies of nostalgia, others stick with you after you have played, a rare few dare to keep you up at night whispering to you when will you play again.
I can say with complete certainty, that for me, Ironsworn covers all three of these categories.
It is a hauntful company of game-moves similar to PbtA or Dungeon World, but Ironsworn moves are much more personal, its resolution much more temperamental.
After all, you are the Ironsworn, a solemn hero pledging your sword and life for one purpose, in a inhospitable world after a massive medieval apocalypse. No surprise that the elements, the horrors, the dice test your mettle and your iron vow.
Shawn Tomkin has created an alternate reality and a game-system that completely beckons and transports you. With its solo, coop and group play options, short and extended play, Ironsworn can grab you out of your life from just about anywhere.
Don't be late for work!
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Quill White Box
I think the word "Box" preceded by a color (white, red, blue or black) should be used in the role-playing world in the same way a dark mischievous and omnipotent demi-god's name should be used within his realm. That two-word combination, dangerously weighed down with hundreds of nostalgia coins, instantly transports us old-school gamers somewhere between the late 70's and the early 80's.
In short if you name your game "White,Red,Blue, Black Box" you better be ready and willing to back it up- like pulling a sword from a stone.
While many many old school systems fall far from this responsibility, "Quill White Box" by Scott Malthouse has not. While Quill took first person writing to the realm of medieval courtesy and etiquette, "Quill White box" supplements these rules for full fantasy gaming. In Quill you earn points for using words from a list called the ink pot, hopefully scoring points at the end of each paragraph.
In Quill, various medieval scenarios are given as well as characters (like the monk and the courtesan) with class points in penmanship (how well your letter is perceived), language (how the character uses the words) and heart (the emotion the writer has placed in the letter). Going over the rules I couldn't wait to start writing a letter. I started by writing a letter to a grieving father about their son's body being found on or about my recedences and barely scored seven points, a neutral reception to my letter. Since then I have not dared try out the scenario where one writes to the King.
Quill White Box takes these basic rules and trebuchets them into the realm of old-school fantasy. For those that have written under the hand of Quill rules, White Box is a true blessing, introducing gold rewards with marketplaces to spend your gold. Items in the marketplace such as King's Parchment, magic ingredients and holy water propel your letters to gracious reception by its fictional recipients.
The key to Quill and its White Box is immersion. Almost like LARPing, the letter writing takes you as far as you take it. Being a die-hard dungeon crawler, I confess I crave a way of having a good old-fashioned dungeon-romp. But, since Quill and Quill White Box are heavily supported by its community on Google+, with members posting created scenarios, it's just a matter of time before someone creates a dungeon-crawl scenario to "play-write". When that happens, no doubt I will either post them here, or retreat into my cloisters, a reclusive monk writing letters to the imaginary characters. I can't say right now which one I would prefer.
Conclusion: "Quill White Box" is an old school supplement to the very successful solo writing rpg "Quill". With it, writer/players will take their letters from humble medieval beginnings to the darkest lands of sorcery, swords and magical items. Its simplicity relies on its rules while its depth relies on the player- thus it deserves the title of 'White Box'.
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I hope I can change this review, I just wanted to come back here after my first run and simply say this game is solo-player's dream- everything you could ask for. Progressive dungeon, simple combat, wonderful details throughout. If you are solo-player this is a must have!
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