Lately I’ve been getting back into pen-and-paper RPGs (role-playing games), or at least, I’ve been paying attention to what is being done in the RPG space, exploring what studios like Pelgrane Press, Bully Pulpit and others are doing. I’m fascinated with the systems that they are bringing to the table, moving away from the usual skill-based system into systems that help the players get into character and support the story/mood. I’m also very interested in the new push into “narrative games”, or the one-shot games that are not quite RPGs, but also not quite board games, but rather collaborative storytelling game, like one of my old favorites, Once Upon a Time (Atlas Games) by Richard Lambert, Andrew Rilstone and James Wallis.
So when I found Ribbon Drive and The Quiet Year (both published by Buried Without Ceremony) by Joe Mcdaldno, I had to get them.