Playing in the Fellowship (Not the LotR)

When it comes to Questing, I’m usually on the GM side, sitting behind the screen. That’s been my lot because I’m either too much of a control freak or it’s much easier to schedule something for me and let others join in than the other way around. But my friend, Torn, has got my back and graciously kept an eye out for opportunities to get me back to the table and it finally worked out!

I joined in an ICRPG one-shot, set in his own homebrew world of Bervinia, which is like a world of all the classic fairy tales but twisted. There’s the Big Bad Wolf and the giant beanstalk, but also the Owl-Eyed Boy, which is based on Peter Pan. Stuff like that.

Anyway, it was great game. All the players were amazing and even though only one character survived in the end, we still had fun.

Beyond the fun though I noticed a couple things.

You’ve got to be a player sometimes

I understand what it’s like to be a Forever GM. In most cases, I prefer to be the GM. But getting back to the table after a gaming drought, it’s just abundantly clear that you’ve got to be a player sometimes.

The biggest reason is to just participate in the hobby. Doing the thing we all think about so much. The magic of these games happen at the table and so we’ve got to get to the table whenever we can and I’ve got to remember that.

Secondly, being a player exposes you to how others do things. We used some pre-generated characters called the Fellowship. Torn has set up these characters to go with his upcoming setting supplement and they’re different than standard ICRPG, but they still work and they’re awesome.

I got to see how he built synergies into these characters, how he made rulings, how he introduced elements to his game, and how he ran monsters. All stuff that I wouldn’t think of on my own, but have now given me ideas for the future.

There are so many ways to do things and being a player brings those things to light.

Phases are so clean

A specific thing that Torn does in his games is use “Phases” from Crown and Skull. I’ve only gotten to play Crown and Skull once so far, but seeing Phases used in an ICRPG, and just in general, is such a clean way of handling initiative.

With any Initiative method, we all know it’s really just a list. You go, then you, then them, and so on. But with Phases, you get something that I’ve missed at times with other methods, including the round the table method in standard ICRPG.

You get limitations and interruptions.

Having a set order with the enemy actions interjected throughout, is a fun part of the puzzle for me. It also makes the time between turns fresh because it’s not just one big chunk of player actions and one big chunk of GM actions.

Definitely something worth pulling into more games.

Tasty World Building

The last thing is how tasty world building can be, even when pulling from an unexpected source. Torn was referencing things that have been ingrained in my mind since I was little. Those classic fairytales like Jack and the Beanstalk, and Peter Pan. Just look at the description for the character I played, Candle.

Candle: A rogue who sold his shadow to the godlike Owl-Eyed Boy, Candle has gained control over shadows and uses this magic to fight against the Glass Legion.

Peter Pan? Godlike? That sounds interesting! And he sold his shadow to the Owl-Eyed Boy? What kind of deal was that? Why? So many questions!

I’ve never been very good at world building, but getting to see how such little details lead to so many tasty ideas and questions makes me want to world build more. And it’s awesome how Torn has pulled from something so familiar, but has made it so intriguing. Goes to show that we don’t always have to pull from the likes of Lord of the Rings to put together an exciting world for our games.

Note: I’m still going to pull from the Lord of the Rings because I can’t help myself.