Greetings,
Been scouring PbtA stuff for my needs and I’m oh so close… but not quite there. Basically looking for hopeful, adult high fantasy stuff akin to Tolkien, Dragonlance, Shaintar, etc. The closest I’ve found using PbtA is “Fellowship,” but it’s waaaay too stylized for my needs. When there are abilities called “Team Rocket” and cartoony marshmallow men on my playbook, I tend to shut off.
Sure, I could hack my own (asking nicely for the Fellowship raws would be a good start I guess), but that wouldn’t invest me in a supported game and it means (yet again) I’m having to dump effort into prep. There has to be something pre-existing out there that isn’t overly dark, gritty, and/or stylized for jokes, puns, snarkyness, and kids. I’d like a clean, professional, high fantasy product.
Any ideas?
edit: errr maybe just going for another ed. of Fellowship is the way to go. I guess it wouldn’t take much work to strip the stylized bits out. For a game that wants to be somewhat LotR, I don’t quite understand the art and grammar choices (I would have gone all Worlds Without Master in ‘tone’ twer it my game). But great game nonetheless.
Isn’t this essentially what Dungeon World is?
No, DW isn’t specified enough (it’s more of a toolbox) and it tends to concentrate on crawls? Also felt more GM-preppy to me, but maybe I should dig back into it.
I do enjoy a good hand-holding if it’s there and DW just did not feel that way. Left me feeling like there was work left to be done.
Heh, I consider that a DW strength since my gaming group is stuffed to the brim with world builders (we also rotate GM duties and gaming systems.) Go forth and tweak the tropes and all that jazz. 🙂
Yah, I foresee some trope tweakage. But the need for what I speak is still there, as a standalone and supported hack.
Yeah. The goofiness of Fellowship turned me off.
I gotta stick with Dungeon World for your needs or even Freebooters on the Frontier and then why not just use an established Fantasy setting such as Shaintar, Forgotten Realms, Middle Earth, Dragonlance… what have you.
The base ‘classes’ are there and in the case of Dungeon World there are a plethora of home brewed playbooks.
It’s even easier if you’re playing in a world you’re already familiar with. The to keep things interesting you’re asking the players for what their characters know about this world they live in which in turn kind of colors everything in a new light for you.
I’d even go so far as to use an established setting but don’t tell the players so that that doesn’t influence any answer they might give on spout lore and all of that. After all a character in a world doesn’t know all there is to know about the world they live in… I guess unless you’re an Elminster or Raistlin…
I’m going to mention Fourth World, my drift of the Dungeon World rules for play in the high(er) fantasy world of Earthdawn, even though I suspect it isn’t quite what you are after.
divnull.com – Fourth World | DivNull Productions
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I don’t think it fits perfectly what you are looking for, but you may want to have a look at Apocalypse World 2ed: Fallen Empires
The closest thing I’ve found is this: ironswornrpg.com – Ironsworn – Tabletop RPG
It might be a touch too gritty for your tastes, but damn does it look slick.
Also, I’m excited about the new Forbidden Lands RPG from the folks that make Mutant Year Zero and Tales from the Loop. It might be a little closer to the vibe you’re looking for, and while not being a PbtA game, it looks to be incorporating some of it’s tech.
Also, there’s Burning Wheel!