Continuing to read HeroQuest this week, I have become very enamoured of the idea of playing it. As a narrative RPG it seems very flexible and adaptable, fitting for any setting imaginable.
What is of particular interest, however, is how much the lack of complex detail in the rules spurs the mind towards creativity.
The very lack of a specific way of doing magick, for example, drives the creative juices to want to fill the void. With no set spells and powers to distract I have found myself intrigued to design my own way of doing things. And even then, it's only a few keywords and a framework to write up.
Even though I am actively running the Rolemaster playtest campaign with my regular group, and that is a very positive experience right now, this foray into the completely opposite style of play is intriguing.
What am I doing with it? In short, just what I suggested I would last week.
The Future Revisited
Corporations, space travel, magickal cults and the birth of a new order for humanity all beckon from the last few weeks of musing about SF. As you know (Bob) I have been mindmapping and noting ideas for the creation of a new setting. HeroQuest has got me fired up to get it into play, probably with new players and online.
To begin, today it's about creating some archetypal hero types with which to present potential players. In HeroQuest this is done through the creation of Keywords, which are a kind of short hand description of said archetype.
SF has many archetypal heroic roles, such as the Reckless Pilot or the Rebellious Corporate. All I need to do is list some cool ideas from my setting notes so far and describe what each means. From there, players can use the archetypes to create their own specific character ideas.
Descriptive Definition
Whereas most games require the GM to define anything new in numerical terms, HeroQuest asks me to define things the old-fashioned way: with description.
This is strangely liberating, as I don't have to worry about specific numbers but rather just about the dramatic flavour and purpose of each archetype and ability. Playing with descriptions is a lot more fun that playing with numbers, at least for me.
Not sure yet where it'll take me but I'll be sure to share my progress with you as I step out onto this new path. As far as I can tell, even if it fails to work for me, the worst that I will have done is written up some useful generic descriptions for a new setting... and familiar numbers can always be added later.
I rather suspect, however, that this will be fun.
Game on!Labels: HeroQuest, musings, SF
