3 ms·

Great, thanks for the references! There is a whole genre of tabletop RPGs that I had no idea existed out there. Dread seems like it might be a good fit. The sto

Great, thanks for the references! There is a whole genre of tabletop RPGs that I had no idea existed out there. Dread seems like it might be a good fit. The story is still taking shape, but it's basically about a hard-case who finds redemption by helping a young family find safety in a collapsing world. Maybe similar in feel to "The Road" but with a more positive outcome.

Jtsummers 10y ago
Take a look at a system called Fiasco. It's a gm-less system designed around chaotic stories (not what you've got, but go with me). The concept is that you have playsets (objects, locations, types of relationships). You play out a game in the style of a movie like Fargo, where everything goes wrong. Players work together to generate the story. Each taking turns to setup or resolve scenes. Very character interaction and relationship focused. Now, I haven't done this yet, but I want to take Fiasco and create less hostile games. The format is good for this. In your case, you could give people the characters from your story, give them a location and known relationships. Give them a goal (escape the cannibals, reach the town within a week before running out of food, etc.). Then let them play with the scenario. Your players would then be bringing the characters to life. Perhaps not directly mimicking the story that you had intended, because it's more freeform and player driven, but you can maybe get an idea for how your characters actually are as people. Fiasco = Improv RPG. That's my way of describing it, at least. The rules as written are around tragic, horrible things happening to flawed people (literally, at the end of the game you roll your dice to determine your fate: worse than death, dead, in prison or similar, etc.; then you create a story to explain that fate, maybe you died in the game, maybe you died after when someone else came after you for revenge). But I have a strong feeling that this could be converted into something less tragedy focused, if you can get player buy-in.
rpgmaker 10y ago
I absolutely love "The Road", it's one of my favorite post-apocalyptic movies (I haven't read the book yet).
- jacobheric 10y ago
  I love that book. It's the reason I got back into writing as an adult. My wife gave it to me and I read it almost straight through and I couldn't believe that such interesting stuff was "Oprah" popular and marketable. I was heartened and started writing again. If you like it, Blood Meridian is even more harrowing.
  - rpgmaker 10y ago
    Thanks for the recommendation. I'll check it out!
  - douche 10y ago
    Blood Meridian is terrific and terrifying. Now there's some source material for a gritty Western...
e12e 10y ago
Also, be sure to check out Microscope: it's terrific fun and great for building settings (for books, rpgs or other games): http://www.lamemage.com/microscope/ http://www.lamemage.com/microscope/ (we built a crazy setting somewhat reminiscent of "The Expanse" (independently) which we used for a bit of swashbuckling sci-fi - sort of "Firefly" meets "The Martian" meets "Ex Machina").

Jtsummers 10y ago

Take a look at a system called Fiasco. It's a gm-less system designed around chaotic stories (not what you've got, but go with me). The concept is that you have playsets (objects, locations, types of relationships). You play out a game in the style of a movie like Fargo, where everything goes wrong. Players work together to generate the story. Each taking turns to setup or resolve scenes. Very character interaction and relationship focused. Now, I haven't done this yet, but I want to take Fiasco and create less hostile games. The format is good for this. In your case, you could give people the characters from your story, give them a location and known relationships. Give them a goal (escape the cannibals, reach the town within a week before running out of food, etc.). Then let them play with the scenario. Your players would then be bringing the characters to life. Perhaps not directly mimicking the story that you had intended, because it's more freeform and player driven, but you can maybe get an idea for how your characters actually are as people. Fiasco = Improv RPG. That's my way of describing it, at least. The rules as written are around tragic, horrible things happening to flawed people (literally, at the end of the game you roll your dice to determine your fate: worse than death, dead, in prison or similar, etc.; then you create a story to explain that fate, maybe you died in the game, maybe you died after when someone else came after you for revenge). But I have a strong feeling that this could be converted into something less tragedy focused, if you can get player buy-in.

rpgmaker 10y ago

I absolutely love "The Road", it's one of my favorite post-apocalyptic movies (I haven't read the book yet).

jacobheric 10y ago
I love that book. It's the reason I got back into writing as an adult. My wife gave it to me and I read it almost straight through and I couldn't believe that such interesting stuff was "Oprah" popular and marketable. I was heartened and started writing again. If you like it, Blood Meridian is even more harrowing.
- rpgmaker 10y ago
  Thanks for the recommendation. I'll check it out!
- douche 10y ago
  Blood Meridian is terrific and terrifying. Now there's some source material for a gritty Western...

e12e 10y ago

Also, be sure to check out Microscope: it's terrific fun and great for building settings (for books, rpgs or other games): http://www.lamemage.com/microscope/ http://www.lamemage.com/microscope/ (we built a crazy setting somewhat reminiscent of "The Expanse" (independently) which we used for a bit of swashbuckling sci-fi - sort of "Firefly" meets "The Martian" meets "Ex Machina").