AUGUST 5, 2024
by Keaira
<aside> đ This is my contribution to Autocratikâs event happening during the month of August aimed to talk more about the hobby of table top roleplaying games.
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What is the criteria for an RPG with great writing? Todayâs prompt had me scrolling through the PDFs lost in decision paralysis. I usually read the RPG books when travelling and then I devour them in high numbers in a brief period of time forgetting the details shortly afterwards. Unless I am preparing to run one of them and basically living inside those pages for weeks, my brain stubbornly refuses to save data.
So what IS the criteria? Witty meta-absurdity of The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen by James Wallis, the poetic beauty of Nobilis by Jenna Katerin Moran, nuanced tips tailored for the theme of play in Monsterhearts 2e by Avery Alder or pages full of the helpful side notes in Swords of the Serpentine by Kevin Kulp and Emily Dresner or Cthulhu Confidentialâs (by Robin D. Laws, Chris Spivey, Ruth Tillman) dive into history?
Finally, I decided. My pick for todayâs prompt will be a circle back to one of the older Storybrewersâ games - Alas for the Awful Sea by Hayley Gordon and Vee Hendro.
Alas for the Awful Sea is a Powered by the Apocalypse game of myth, mystery and crime set in the 19th century remote Scottish islands. Time of great change and great suffering - the setting is anything but light-hearted - there was poverty and desperation and the superstitions and traditions were holding strongly. As the authors say, while featuring seafaring (players are part of a shipâs crew) and supernatural, the game was created to tell grim stories about the complexities of the human heart.
âThat night, I dreamed myself aboard that ship. The ship was engulfed in fire, and I was screaming out as it burned upon the water. As I myself was turned to ash I suddenly realised it was I who had started the fire, and architectured my own fate.â
The book includes full set of rules with (in the classic PbtA fashion) theme specific moves and character âplaybooksâ as a combination of character roles from the Captain through the Cook all the way to the Stowaway and Descriptors like the Believer or the Creature. Helpful tips how to handle them in game are included together with everything that a GM needs to start a session 0 and continue from there.
âHave you ever seen a whirlpool, so big, so strong, and so mighty, that even a two masted sloop couldnât sail her way out of it? Of course not. Few there are, that have seen such a thing and survived. But I have. Let me tell you.â
Historical setting with its conflicts of power and poverty, the new and the old, the crime flourishing as a way to survive - everything is explained in detail, often using first person account. As is the chapter dedicated to folklore and myths - stories about tragic love, cursed ships, mysterious islands and the creatures - Banshees and Selkies and Faeries and many more. The supernatural might be on a lower side in this game, but it oozes from all the places where it is allowed to. The featured multi-faceted adventure is filled with interesting NPCs and town that is alive and struggling with its problems - with a tragic personal story in the center.
Recently, after years of talking about it, I finally had the pleasure to run one of the Kickstarter exclusive adventures The Tides of a Man (written by Alex Robinson), which was designed for new GMs with lot of guidance through the more action focused search for a retired whaler. Despite multiple hiccups (scheduling problems and mistakes coming from lack of GM experience), the game brought some memorable moments: the longing for home in the stowawayâs song as he was calling for his people, the blue men of the Minch, or the struggling followed by strong resolve of a religious captain confronted with nasty rumors about a local lady.
The grim nature of the setting might not be everyoneâs cup of smuggled whiskey, but those who enjoy the tragedy and the hope in human relations, the magic of the folk stories and the sad yet interesting history of Scotland of the first half of 19th century, which is less represented in media, give the book a read.