Friday, May 22, 2015

Discussion: If You Could Only Play One Game...

We have lots of questions about "if you could only take one thing" somewhere and people answer them all the time. Today I want to put a different spin on it. Think back over your history of gaming. Think of all the games you've played. All the campaigns you've been in. All the worlds you have visited. Which was your favorite? Which was your least favorite? Which added the most enrichment to your life?

Alright, now, if an all powerful being of some sort was going to retro-actively change your life so that your entire history of playing table top RPGs had all been focused around one singular game, which game would you want it to be? Which game would you want to have introduced you to the hobby and been used as the vehicle  for all the games you've played since then? Which game would you be still finding enjoyment in al these years later, and looking forward to more years of gaming?

For me it is a tough choice, but I think I would settle with Legend of the Five Rings. For one thing, I love east asian culture, the samurai, and L5R delivers that in a digestable way better than most other games I've seen. For another though, L5R is probably one of the most open systems I've seen for how the world, and the system, let you play the game. You can do so many different types of games in L5R. You can do single clan games. You can do mixed clan games.You can do ronin games. You can do political games. Your PCs can be nobodies out on adventure. Your PCs can be clan champions and the big movers and shakers of the world.

There are other games that offer similar depth and breadth. FATE and GURPS have infinite possibilities for games. Something about L5R though just grabs me.

How about you?

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