Thoughts on railroad and narrative gaming

From: Rob <robert_m_davis_at_...>
Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2005 02:24:34 -0000

Hi all

I think that there should be a healthy balance to the types of game you run. Vary them. I would not want to play in *adventures* every week. Nor would I want to play *soap opera* every week. Its like you can't have blockbuster every week either. You need a bit of rising tension. Thats what the wife says anyway! :^)

The things I need in a game are;

1. That I am not playing *completely* in the realms of the narrator making stuff up on the fly. If he is and I don't know, thats fine!!
2. That there is a possibility that my characters can fail and that the narrator will not insulate me from my bad choices.
3. That my fellow players don't plot against other players.
4. That we are involved in the grand scheme of things. I don't get turned on by mounds of Gold (well, maybe a real one in my front room, but thats different!)

As a complete newbie to Heroquest I found the scenarios in the rule book mana from heaven. They teach you bit of the game and gently introduced the new Heortling culture to me. High Pressure front is also a great game for introducing new players to the game. Bearing in mind I hadn't played or GM'd for a good few years before I picked up the rules.

I found thunder rebels a little bit wearisome at first. High Pressure Front and Chasing Kites got me wanting to know more and I am now a big fan of TR.

As an old Runequester, I enjoyed the examples of play. Especially the Origami chic and the surf dude, and I will tell you why. Runequest and Glorantha have a bit of a reputation as being ultra serious. The Origami chic teaches you that you really can give the players what they want. The surf dude proves that a player who some might call dysfunctional can put his fun thing on his otherwise *normal* character and it doesn't really affect the game.

The wide variety of characters also show the many different cultures possible. And anyway, I have played and play in games that are pretty irreverent and also quite serious games. Like I say, I like to mix it up a bit.

The other thing about the examples is that they shout from the rooftops YGWV and MGF, which are two enormously powerfull aspects of Heroquest.

I think that the Heroquest rulebook is the best rules I have read, and I have read a few (meaning a few, not a lot!). The only critisism I could level at Heroquest is that it takes a few goes to really get into the mind set of the system. But that is more a function of the type of games that i used to play (AD&D, Vampire and the Hero System).

Regards
Rob