Swords & Wizardry Light - Forum

Monday, April 8, 2013

Putting the Kickstarter Spotlight on One of Our Own - Short Order Heroes



+Jesse Butler is one of the fellows I follow on G+ and he's the man behind the Kickstart of Short Order Heroes. The fact that he's a fellow RPG'er has almost everything to do with the idea that I'm supporting this. Well, that and it's an interesting concept for quickly generating personality traits for NPCs. I'm not interested in it as much as a rules light RPG, as I do all of my gaming via Hangouts, and a unique deck of cards won't convert to that very easily.

I do believe we can use the last of the Tavern's Wayward Kickstarters Tip Jar to cover most of the $25 we're "kicking in". See Jesse, it's not just me but ALL of the fine patrons of the Tavern that will be following the progress of Short Order Heroes ;)

From the Kickstarter site:

Short Order Heroes is a rules light game designed for easy role-playing. It is a deck of 54 cards that can also be used for spontaneous NPC generation in any RPG.


How it Works 

In a word: fast. Each card has a picture, an adjective, and a number.

To create a new character, draw some cards from the deck, depending on how fleshed-out you want the character to be -- we recommend 3 for PCs, down to 1 for throw-away NPCs. The adjectives describe what makes your character unusual. Fill in the details and off you go.

To resolve a conflict, first set a target number or draw one randomly from the deck -- higher is harder. Then draw a card. The number on the card tells you whether the action succeeded, the adjective gives some color to how, and the picture provides added inspiration.

To enhance other games, the cards can quickly add personality to otherwise bland encounters -- "Thug #2" is now "The unnerving thug", the barmaid is complicated, and more. Great for tavern trawling or adding a bit of local color.

With Short Order Heroes, you spend less time fiddling with the rules and more time telling the story. Character creation and conflict resolution take seconds, and instantly fill your game world with color and flair. Short Order Heroes is an entire role-playing game in a pack of cards. It's perfect for one-shot adventures where you don't want to spend all night making characters and miss playing the game.

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