Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Crone: Tabletop Roleplaying Game

For me, life is all about adventure. I look for it everywhere. Weird food? I’ll eat that. Goofy hat? I’ll wear that. Butcher my own food? Bring it on! It is probably this same spirit of adventure that drives my love for all things make-believe. And sure, video games, board games, they sorta scratch that escapism itch, but I don’t get to be too creative. On the other hand, table top roleplaying games let you be anyone.

This past weekend, I got to try out a new roleplaying game being developed called Crone. In this game, you play the role of an old witch. Here's the whole game (it's about 2.5 hours long):


I  had a lot of fun and would recommend Crone to everyone for several reasons:

  • Rules Light
When you aren't in combat this game is very loosey-goosey. Some people call it “hippy” gaming. You narrate what your character does and there is no roll. For instance, when I wanted to be an elk, I didn’t have to check my sheet to see if I had any Wild Shape transformations left (like D&D). I just was an elk. I narrated what it looked like, and if I wanted candles in my antlers, I got it. DONE. If something had a chance to fail that would affect the game, a 3d6+modifier roll was made. It was easy to figure out which ability and skill to pick for the modifier because my character sheet fit on the front of a 3x5 card. That’s right, not two sheets, a single 3x5 card.
  • Fast Combat
You have a hand of cards that represent what you can do. You can play as many per combat round as add up to your initiative. Super simple and everyone decides at once after talking it through. So a combat round is this: 1. GM plays their cards face down. 2. Players discuss and then play their cards face down. Everyone flips everything over. The round is talked through based on what you see on the table. Everything happens at once. Sounds like chaos, but it wasn’t. Check out the video in the last hour for examples.
  • 'Dems Old Ladies!
Ok, I’m bias. I live in Florida and get to see all kinds of old lady troupes. It was so fun to act out a crotchety old shapeshifter who has a good heart. And because the witches are old ladies, the game wants you to assume you’re ultra powerful. If you want to shapeshift into a dragon, you can do that. You don’t have to start out being a mouse and work up to awesome. This makes the game great for one shot adventures (like a convention game). The Crone team has also posted Actual Plays for a campaign on Youtube that I can't wait to see.
  • Great for new players
Sometimes it's hard to explain to people what roleplaying is without them getting caught up in all the rules. Because this game doesn't have as many rules, or tables, or lots to read, or weird dice, it's a lot more accessible to people.

Check out the video, then once you see how bitchin’ the game is, go to Kickstarter and throw your money at them. I especially like that I can contribute just $25 and get access to Print On Demand all the cards later at cost.

Got questions about my experience with the game? Think that being an invisible wolf covered in raining blood isn't metal? Feel free to share all that below.


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the great review! Glad you enjoyed the game so much and that you found it to be such a great adventure. :)