Quietly, almost under the radar, Frank Mentzer announced a new game he his working on. I'm not going to copy Frank's posts whole cloth, just the relevant pieces (read the full Facebook posting of Frank's from today at this link and last week's posting)
Human nature produces competition everywhere. (Road rage, Food arguments, Sneaker theft, et alii). But whenever you Win, somebody else Loses.
Can we transcend that and still find happiness?
In any role game you start with a character. But --
If you have stats, that produces competition for better stats.
If you have equipment, you compete for better stuff.
If you have combat to the death, that's the ultimate competition.
Can you leave all those out and still have fun?
> Can a successful form of group entertainment focus on group cooperation and actively deemphasize competition?
In FTG*, play the role of a character in a medieval world with magic and monsters.
Use the unique game mechanics to resolve events.and from last week's posting:
But spend less time on details and more on people. They're more fun.
Fairy Tale Games* Debut tour, this year at the cons.
Fairy Tale Games (FTG)*
I created a new game system.
It's about storytelling, not combat.
It's for cooperation, not competition.
(Apologies to gamers who maximize your PCs and love the long, intricate combats. This isn't for you.)
Your character is normal, not a superhero or wizard.
But you have special talents.
Your actions will develop new talents.
You can change the adventure to use your new abilities.
Compare and combine all your talents to get the best results for the whole group.
* More to come this year at FairyTale.games and FairyTaleGames.net (currently under construction)
*Fairy Tale Games and FTG are trade marks of Loxley inc. Copyright 2017 Loxley inc. All Rights Reserved.Not quite sure what to make of all this myself, but interesting none the less.
I'm intrigued, and hope he'll have something at Garycon.
ReplyDeleteKinda sounds like Burning Wheel, or several other storytelling-based indie RPGs. Yeah, it's intriguing, but he's a bit late to the *ahem* game.
ReplyDeleteSounds like an exercise in cooperation, humility, and respect. Should sell really well outside of the Western world.
ReplyDeletewhat the heck happened to empyrea?
ReplyDeleteThe autumn Empyrea project was destroyed by several factors. I have other new endeavors. :)
DeleteI've encountered this more often than not in games where you have no choice over the skills that you character can develop.https://unblockedgames500th.weebly.com
ReplyDeleteI agree with Suil Dubh - there's lots of co-operation-heavy, non-zero-sum games out there. It's an interesting concept and I wouldn't say the market is glutted - but these press releases read like all too many blurbs I've seen for games which claim to be totally revolutionary when in fact they're just moving away from D&D assumptions in a modest and not necessarily original way. Would need to see some of the actual game mechanics before I could really get my interest piqued.
ReplyDeleteI also have to say that it's a tad troubling that this is popping up so quickly after the Empyrea project went down. Feels like Loxley Inc. is pinballing about from idea to idea at high speed.
Frank "Red Box" Mentzer is working on a story-game? WTF?!? Seriously, what's the world coming to? Next, cats and dogs will be living together!
ReplyDeleteThe way this is presented, it feels as though it largely robs the game not just of "competition" but of "conflict" in general. Obviously, you need to see the final product to judge it properly but it's definitely VERY weird to see Frank Mentzer going into storygaming territory. Hopefully, this is not in response to the mud-slinging campaign certain overzealous community members tried to conduct against Frank sometime last year.
ReplyDelete