Has anyone played "The Shab-al-Hiri Roach" RPG?

[Plane Sailing]

I was reading this about a play of the game and was intrigued

Another game of the Roach last night. In case you were wondering, there was a wonderful conflict over who, among the 100% Roach-infested PCs, got to sacrifice Regina Sutton to the Dark Gods. Would it be the off-kilter football coach and his death squad of mind-controlled tight ends? The horribly burned Hindi mathematician? The orientalist aesthete with the co-ed cultists? She ended up ritually murdered, but that didn't stop her from finishing up the semester as some kind of undead priestess on the honor roll.

Then it got a little weird.

It is by Bully Pulpit Games The Shab-al-Hiri Roach

Has anyone played this, and would like to share experiences? It sounds great for a convention one-shot.

Cheers

 

[Greatwyrm]

I haven't myself, but Actual People Actual Play did an episode on it.

Actual People, Actual Play

They don't do full AP recordings. It's more of a recap and an analysis about how it went. Still, you might find it interesting.

 

[Aberzanzorax]

Haven't played it, but I own it and have read it.

It certainly seems like a fun one shot. I'd categorize it as humor horror like Evil Dead 2 (not Evil dead 1 which was straight horror, or Army of Darkness which was adventure humor).

There's some fun sillyness undercut by mild chulhu flavored chills.


As a storytelling game (and as any horror game) you need the right group to understand and participate in the "feel" of it.


But it's short enough that if you brought it along with one or two other one shots, you could try it and move on after.

The one thing I'd say, having read it, but not played it, is that I wonder about its replay value with the same group. Fiasco seems broader...with multiple capers being undertaken in several sessions by different characters. I'm not sure how often the same group would want to play professors vying for tenure. But for the cost, replayability doesn't much matter in my opinion. It's certainly cheaper than many adventure supplements which most groups certainly only play once.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Thanks for the input guys.

 

[Nytmare]

I've played it twice, and would agree with the "you need the right group" sentiment. It's up there with Dread, Fiasco (also Bully Pulpit), and Mouseguard for me: favorites that my normal crew of gamers don't quite grok.

 

[Wycen]

I have a friend who has played it a few times, though I think he likes Fiasco better, at least to run. I think he's run a game of Roach, but it is the crazy stuff he's described from his plays that sticks with me.

In one game he was part of a cult, but didn't know it, and the cult leader wanted him to marry a woman, but he was already married, but that didn't matter because she had him dig his own grave and then he was killed.

In another game they were teachers and one of the other players described showing a home video of him having sex with one of his female students. He was showing it to his class of students, in order to prove he wasn't gay.

Hearing these I suspect it is a game I'll try once, if ever.

 

[Nytmare]

Hearing these I suspect it is a game I'll try once, if ever.

Both of these stories are entirely indicative of the people playing the game, and have nothing to do with the game itself.

 

[jmstar]

The Shab Al-Hiri Roach is a GMless game with an absurd premise and it tends toward gonzo play. Sex, violence and stupidity emerge like flowers after the rain. While it is totally capable of producing a creepy Lovecraftian wainscot game, few people play it this way.

If you don't like roach-infested Dobermans getting cast in bronze to rule the campus for all eternity it is probably not the game for you. Try Fiasco instead! It is equally fun but much easier to play down-to-Earth if that's your desire.