Scrolls & Swords! (Roleplaying Game)
Oct. 9th, 2020 10:05 pmThis is another “minimalist” rpg, this one a hack of Lasers & Feelings designed to do fantasy medieval adventures. It’s silly, it makes for goofy adventures, and if you’re good at improvising, it works reasonably well.
Like last week’s World of Dungeons, it has no combat system to speak of. In this case though, it doesn’t present itself as a game that needs one—you’re not buying extensive equipment, there are no stats or money or even hit points. It’s a collective entertaining storytelling game where the fights are minor events, just like getting stuck in a tree. One of my players appreciated the fact that you can succeed at most things you try (even if you succeed with complications), so it’s not a “botching your way to hilarity” game.
Also, I used another One Page Dungeon for the second half of the game (the first half was tracking down Lord Byron’s lovers to figure out which one had turned to witchcraft and demon summoning), and though the combats were quick and dirty, the general flow worked just fine and I was able to slot the plot we’d created into it easily.
Like last week’s World of Dungeons, it has no combat system to speak of. In this case though, it doesn’t present itself as a game that needs one—you’re not buying extensive equipment, there are no stats or money or even hit points. It’s a collective entertaining storytelling game where the fights are minor events, just like getting stuck in a tree. One of my players appreciated the fact that you can succeed at most things you try (even if you succeed with complications), so it’s not a “botching your way to hilarity” game.
Also, I used another One Page Dungeon for the second half of the game (the first half was tracking down Lord Byron’s lovers to figure out which one had turned to witchcraft and demon summoning), and though the combats were quick and dirty, the general flow worked just fine and I was able to slot the plot we’d created into it easily.