Collaborative storytelling RPG, is it a thing?

malcolypse

First Post

• Aug 14, 2015

• #11

One of the playsets, which I haven't had a chance to play yet but seems to have great potential, is called Dragon Slayers. One of my favorite aspects of the game is that there are piles of playsets and advice to make your own, but you can replay one and get a totally different game out of it every time. Also that it requires no preparation other than remembering to bring pen and paper, dice, and the book.

Also, I dig all the other suggestions offered by the other enworlders, and hope to try some of them out.

 

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Anselyn

Explorer

• Aug 14, 2015

• #12

CanadienneBacon said:

Is there a collaborative storytelling type of RPG that uses almost no die rolling? If so, have you played it and what's your take on its viability?

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Hillfolk

http://www.pelgranepress.com/?cat=222

 

Balesir

Adventurer

• Aug 14, 2015

• #13

Anselyn said:

Hillfolk

http://www.pelgranepress.com/?cat=222

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I'm about to play my first live session of Hillfolk, tomorrow, and I am thoroughly looking forward to it. I would say that it has a very specific agenda, though, of dramatic (in the dramatic criticism sense) play among the PCs. Action adventure stories really aren't it's thing. If you come to it looking for drama, however, I imagine it will deliver.

 

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Mishihari Lord

First Post

• Aug 15, 2015

• #14

The one I'm most familiar with is Amber, based on Roger Zelazny's books.

These are frequently called "storytelling games" to distinguish them from traditional RPGs, so that might be useful for you as a search term. Be aware thought that it's a touchy term in conversations: there are folks that go ballistic when they hear it 'cause they think you're saying their game "isn't a real roleplaying game."

 

Last edited: Aug 15, 2015

TarionzCousin

Second Most Angelic Devil Ever

• Aug 15, 2015

• #15

Mishihari Lord said:

The one I'm most familiar with is Amber, based on Roger Zelazny's books.
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The Amber Diceless RPG game has very few rules and doesn't use any dice or other random mechanics. However, it's not collaborative. In fact, the game is designed to be somewhat PvP competitive from the initial auction at character creation.

 

Balesir

Adventurer

• Aug 17, 2015

• #16

Balesir said:

I'm about to play my first live session of Hillfolk, tomorrow, and I am thoroughly looking forward to it.

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Having played Hillfolk for a one-off session, I can now comment a bit more knowledgeably on it.

I would say that Hillfolk (aka "Drama System") and Fiasco are interesting extremes on a "collaborative storytelling" continuum. Fiasco is all about action-adventure and would be difficult to envisage as anything but a one-off. Hillfolk, on the other hand, is much more collaborative/pvp soap-opera and would, I imagine, thrive as a long term campaign. It was fun to play after a little getting used to the outlook, and left everyone wanting a sequel. The "procedural scene" system (i.e. the system for any sort of conflict with the world outside the PCs) makes external successes hard to gain and its structure serves the Dramatic system first and foremost (and does so well). The Drama point economy takes a while to 'take off', but once it does it drives interesting play.

 

aramis erak

Legend

• Aug 20, 2015

• #17

A warning about Torchbearer and Mouseguard: while low on dice rolls — about 5-30 total per 2-3 hour session total for a group of 4 in Mouseguard — the dice rolls are a major part of the game, and much of the game pacing is due to the roll mechanics. They are VERY mechanically crunchy. Play-wise, Mouse Guard is GM-driven for half the session, player driven based upon how much they nerfed themselves during the Gm's half. Torchbearer is more GM driven.

Likewise, John Wick's Houses of the Blooded and Blood and Honor are quite dice heavy in feel - even tho the total number of dice rolls in a 4-5 hour session runs 20-40 total rolls - but 3-5 people rolling at a time. It can take quite a while to resolve one set of rolls. So, a major conflict in story may be only 3 sets of rolls total - and totally change the direction of the entire campaign... They're actually more storytelling than either Mouse Guard or Torchbearer.

 

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pemerton

Legend

• Aug 21, 2015

• #18

Burning Wheel was mentioned upthread by [MENTION=27160]Balesir[/MENTION] - it's very collaborative/player driven, but not mechanically "lite" at all (it's a cousin of Torchbearer and Mouseguard that [MENTION=6779310]aramis erak[/MENTION] describes in the post above this one).

A mechanically fairly light system that is still fairly traditional in its basic set-up (players build PCs with attributes, and confront GM-authored challenges with DCs) is HeroQuest Revised.

EDIT: This website seems to have the Story Engine in PDF - a free descriptor, player-driven system that can be seen as a type of precursor to HeroWars/Quest. Story Bones is the introductory version, and seems to be free here.

 

Last edited: Aug 21, 2015

aramis erak

Legend

• Aug 21, 2015

• #19

pemerton said:

Burning Wheel was mentioned upthread by [MENTION=27160]Balesir[/MENTION] - it's very collaborative/player driven, but not mechanically "lite" at all (it's a cousin of Torchbearer and Mouseguard that [MENTION=6779310]aramis erak[/MENTION] describes in the post above this one).

A mechanically fairly light system that is still fairly traditional in its basic set-up (players build PCs with attributes, and confront GM-authored challenges with DCs) is HeroQuest Revised.

EDIT: This website seems to have the Story Engine in PDF - a free descriptor, player-driven system that can be seen as a type of precursor to HeroWars/Quest. Story Bones is the introductory version, and seems to be free here.

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Burning Wheel as cousin is a great comparison, [MENTION=42582]pemerton[/MENTION] .... BW can easily be run as a trad game with some storygame influence, or as a very crunchy storygame... It rewards mechanical mastery by providing interesting mechanical subsystems, but has many many more rolls per session than Mouse Guard. The core concepts are related closely with MG, the skill levels are about comparable, but large swathes of the game are way more complex and quite different from MG. Definitely not within the description of what is desired. Excellent, but not easy, nor rules light, nor light on dice. (I've seen 10d and larger pools, and a single DOW that ran 10 turns, with 40 total dicerolls {opposed roll actions by each side}, and was only an hour of play.)