An RPG for Boardgamers
I have recently been listening to Have Games Will Travel, a podcast about RPGs and boardgames. I asked Paul a question I have been wondering about for years, but did not know who to ask:
I am a hardcore board gamer now, but I got into gaming through RPGs. I used to love RPGs as a teenager, but have not played one for almost 20 years. Please could you do a show for someone in my position? I am sure you would get plenty of interest. What I am after is suggestions for a game I might be interested in.
Basically, as a father and working man I have found that I just do not have enough time for RPGs these days, at least in the old style. I want an RPG that takes the work out of it. Something generic like GURPS would be good, but something that does not require 3 hours of work just to generate a character. Additionally, it would be good to have an RPG that has lots of highly detailed published adventures with pregenerated characters, so we can get going with the minimum of fuss. At the same time, a combat system, where you can use miniatures would be fun. Combat as detailed as GURPS is out of the question and something as unbalanced as D&D would offend the board gamer in me. I would also like to avoid the fantasy stereotypes, unless it’s pure Lord of the Rings, but on the other hand, some of the subjects mentioned on your weblog sound a bit too way-out for me. Cannibals in concentration camps? No thanks.
In a nutshell, I suppose what I am after is something very accessible, rather like Ticket to Ride is to boardgames.
Almost immediately, he responded in his podcast. (It is strange to get a reply to an email through your headphones.) He recommended Savage Worlds, although he said the modern incarnations of D&D or GURPS have evolved into something I might still enjoy.
Inspired by this, I read the Test Drive rules. I am pretty impressed. It is almost everything I want. The system is simple, but looks elegant. The game settings are interesting and varied. The introductory module has pregenerated characters, little cardboard hero miniatures and maps to fight on. The module looks like it could easily be finished in an evening, which is very important. You could almost say it’s a Germanisation of RPGs.
I will try to persuade my group to give it a go.
September 9th, 2005 at 14:25
Eero Tuovinen, a Finnish indie RPG evangelist has been shouting about Dust Devils (http://www.chimera.info/dustdevils/) – well, of course he’s shouting, as he’s done the Finnish edition, but anyway – which sounds quite charming.
Setting is dark and gritty Old West. The game uses poker chips and playing cards as a mechanism – suits the theme well. The main issue of the game is the question of using violence to solve your problems. Player characters are driven by their devils.
The mechanisms are interesting. Players play poker hands to resolve the situations. You either succeed or not, but this is interesting: the player who played the highest card narrates the scene.
This of course takes a lot of power away from the GM, which I think is good: no more time spent preparing adventures! I’ve tried that once, and while the story wasn’t that superb in the end, we created it together and it was fun. That’s good enough for me.
It gets even better: the publisher sells it as a PDF, which costs seven dollars.
Read the RPGnet review: http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_7364.html
Even though I’ve officially given up roleplaying, Dust Devils has me tempted to plunge back in. If I buy, I’ll skip the PDF and shell out 15 euros for Finnish edition, as the fact that somebody has the guts to publish a freak niche RPG like this in Finnish is something I must support. Besides, Eero is a pretty nice guy and the chairman of the Finnish Boardgame Society…
I’m rambling, but I think Dust Devils is something bloody cool. And if the Western isn’t your thing, there’s always Deadwish, which is James Bond version of the same.
September 10th, 2005 at 12:03
Thanks for the post. I had not heard of this podcast, and think I still have a few podcast free minutes in my life to squeeze this one in. I will have to do as you did with Savage Worlds, read the test drive rules. I have been playing some RPG, even though I am mostly a board gamer now. The d20 system, for all of its complexity, does simplify down pretty well. And with the right grop of platers, in the right setting, is quite enjoyable. I am playing in Privateer Press’s Iron Kingdoms setting. This is the same setting they use for their Warmachine Miniatures game.
September 10th, 2005 at 18:07
Yes, my podcast minutes are getting pretty full these days too! I am using my MP3 player continuously. Good job I have rechargeables.
Thanks for your advice. I’ll think about upgrading to d20 if Savage Worlds is a huge success and I’ll check out Iron Kingdoms.
September 15th, 2005 at 10:51
Indie role-playing games
Iain wrote about role-playing games for boardgamers, looking for a role-playing game that would satisfy the needs of a modern…
October 25th, 2009 at 18:09
[...] the game Iain found did look interesting. But I’ve manfully held off on Arcana Evolved, which still sounds better [...]