Maybe just an intensifier? I can see these getting described as "focused" or "narrow" role-playing games.
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What's the term for these type of RPGs?
- Thread starter Faolyn
- Start date
pawsplay
Hero
Whereas I use "story games" that involve narrating action, but you don't necessarily have a character. Eg. Once Upon a Time.
aramis erak
Legend
I'd label many, if not most, as "experimental Indie Games"...
Many of them also/alternatively as story games.
Many of them also/alternatively as story games.
Thondor
I run Compose Dream Games RPG Marketplace
I spent a chunk of today chatting with a boardgame cafe owner at OtonaCon in Peterborough about RPGs, storygames, and the border between boardgames and these.
They are often pretty blurry. Once a game is GMless it can be more so.
To me the main difference is two-fold --
a) a boardgame packages all the components while a RPG expects you to bring your own
b) a RPG/boardgame has some kind of openess/creativity requirement (or expectation) that a boardgame lacks.
As for a category . . .
They are often pretty blurry. Once a game is GMless it can be more so.
To me the main difference is two-fold --
a) a boardgame packages all the components while a RPG expects you to bring your own
b) a RPG/boardgame has some kind of openess/creativity requirement (or expectation) that a boardgame lacks.
As for a category . . .
Thondor
I run Compose Dream Games RPG Marketplace
Alright, this has been percolating for a bit. I think I would go with: Scenario Games.
Think of it as an Adventure+System. They are written to facilitate a relatively narrow story -- much like a scenario or adventure for a larger system -- but include all the necessary mechanics and context to facilitate the game, a custom system.
Often they are structured so one person just needs to browse the book beforehand and serve as a continual in game reference much like an adventure module might. They might have a lighter GM role or be GMless.
Of some games that I think may fit this category that we carry:
Big Dog, Big Volcano -- a one-shot GMless game. One player is an oblivious hiker, one is a volcano and one is a good dog. Each player has a play sheet with slowly escalating stakes/questions/situations that they ask each other. (You just roll a die that accumulates each round, the higher your overall total, the more serious things get.)
Palanquin -- one-shot, facilitated by the player who plays the princess (closest role to GM). Story of how you saved the princess from a palace coup and whether she trusts you at the end. The other players grab up to 5 of the 6 other character archetypes and introduced threats on the journey largely based on their archetypes. The scenario part comes in with the 6 locations+themes you journey through.
Once More Into the Void -- one-shot to 6 shot. Facilitated by the captain character. A few default scenes-- character recruitment and final confrontation -- and a series of optional mini-game scenes that the players get to select. You are the crew of a starship who have saved the galaxy once before and a new threat to the galaxy has emerged. Can you put your differences aside and work together once more?
One-shot GMless games like The Quiet Year and my own God-Killer Prophecy almost fit here, but I think the difference is mostly in how narrow a story/scenario the mechanics can support.
@Faolyn do you think this fits some of what you are looking for?
Think of it as an Adventure+System. They are written to facilitate a relatively narrow story -- much like a scenario or adventure for a larger system -- but include all the necessary mechanics and context to facilitate the game, a custom system.
Often they are structured so one person just needs to browse the book beforehand and serve as a continual in game reference much like an adventure module might. They might have a lighter GM role or be GMless.
Of some games that I think may fit this category that we carry:
Big Dog, Big Volcano -- a one-shot GMless game. One player is an oblivious hiker, one is a volcano and one is a good dog. Each player has a play sheet with slowly escalating stakes/questions/situations that they ask each other. (You just roll a die that accumulates each round, the higher your overall total, the more serious things get.)
Palanquin -- one-shot, facilitated by the player who plays the princess (closest role to GM). Story of how you saved the princess from a palace coup and whether she trusts you at the end. The other players grab up to 5 of the 6 other character archetypes and introduced threats on the journey largely based on their archetypes. The scenario part comes in with the 6 locations+themes you journey through.
Once More Into the Void -- one-shot to 6 shot. Facilitated by the captain character. A few default scenes-- character recruitment and final confrontation -- and a series of optional mini-game scenes that the players get to select. You are the crew of a starship who have saved the galaxy once before and a new threat to the galaxy has emerged. Can you put your differences aside and work together once more?
One-shot GMless games like The Quiet Year and my own God-Killer Prophecy almost fit here, but I think the difference is mostly in how narrow a story/scenario the mechanics can support.
@Faolyn do you think this fits some of what you are looking for?
Wofano Wotanto
Hero
Well, that does leave the early "bring your own pawns/dice/faux money/etc." stuff from Cheapass Games in an awkward spot, but they were kind of the exception that proves the rule, I guess?
Thondor
I run Compose Dream Games RPG Marketplace
Exactly, there are always borderline cases. Lots of starter sets for RPGs or similar might come with maps, dice, figures etc too, but that isn't the expected norm.Well, that does leave the early "bring your own pawns/dice/faux money/etc." stuff from Cheapass Games in an awkward spot, but they were kind of the exception that proves the rule, I guess?
It's very common for 18xx games not to come with money (and/or to fully expect the terrible paper money they come with to be replaced with poker chips and a spreadsheet), and they are about as board game as it's possible to be.Well, that does leave the early "bring your own pawns/dice/faux money/etc." stuff from Cheapass Games in an awkward spot, but they were kind of the exception that proves the rule, I guess?
Wofano Wotanto
Hero
I've owned a couple of those over the years and they all came with faux money. It was terrible, but it was there.
