Luke Crane

This compilation has "8 Original, Complete, Short-Form Roleplaying Games". The book is compiled by Luke Crane, the creator of the Burning Wheel rpg.

All the short games have been created in the Forge community, so they are all very experimental in nature. Some feel like you could never think about actually playing them, whereas some wet your imagination right away.

I have only played one of the games, Cell Gamma by Mike Holmes. First a public notice: If you ever plan to be a player in this show more game, DO NOT READ IT! :) Ok, now that that's out of the way, I'll give a few thoughts: The game was very refreshingly different. It requires very much improvisational skill by the GM, but the inherent system in the game should make improvisation easy. My group were really fascinated by the idea of the game, and were very satisfied with our single gaming session of the game. I would recommend Cell Gamma highly to any group who are willing to make a small experiment into the way they are playing.

My rating comes mostly from my experience with Cell Gamma, as I have not played the other games. show less

I was expecting this system, labeled as "experimental" in all the reviews I'd read, to be rules-light and rely heavily on abstract storytelling consensus between players. The second part is certainly true, but I'm surprised at the degree of healthy complexity to the rules. I do honestly like it, but it requires a lot of thought from everyone involved in playing; certainly not a beginner's game.

Another 'retro' game; similar to classic Dungeons and Dragons, but based on the Burning Wheel system. There are more rules for role-playing and NPC interactions in Torchbearer (which isn't hard, since there were no such rules in D & D), and the combat system is much simpler. Not a bad game, but terribly limited in character selection; it's relying heavily on nostalgia, I think.