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Entering the home stretch of our #ZineQuest campaign for Back Again from the Broken Land, our game of small adventurers sharing stories on the long walk back from an epic war. Time for a thread about how the game came to be. (Thread.) https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/clovenpinegames/back-again-from-the-broken-landzinequest
. @LeahLibresco and I designed the game to evoke the more meditative stretches of Tolkien's work: companions telling stories, shouldering burdens, sharing meals... And we specifically de-emphasized combat. In the face of peril, you can run or hide, but you can't fight. Why?
It began, funnily enough, with a meme. There was a game design challenge on Twitter for folks to create #pbta moves for characters suggested by their followers. @Gulix asked me to do one for Samwise Gamgee. Obviously, I was excited for that move. https://twitter.com/ClovenPineGames/status/1253680430223687687
Here you can see the full set of moves. I had fun with the others, but it was the Sam move that got some gears turning. Why did this move, for a beloved character from the biggest fantasy story of all time, feel so different from most fantasy RPGs? https://twitter.com/ClovenPineGames/status/1255594237468557313
The #ttrpg scene owes so much to Tolkien. But it feels sometimes like only the surface of his work shows up in major fantasy rpgs—Elves, Dwarves, magic swords, yes, but what about the terrible cost of facing despair, the small acts of mercy that keep hope alive?
We started talking about the Samwise Gamgee move, and what sort of game it implied. Clearly, it's about the physical and emotional Burdens that the PCs carry, and dealing with these Burdens is as important as any outward conflict. What if it's about the aftermath of an epic war?
Tolkien's Eagles are divisive: some dismiss them as a deus ex machina, some embrace them as an example of "eucatastrophe"—the sudden turn toward hope that promises darkness does not have the final word. What would the journey home be like without the Eagles?
So, the great war is over, and a fellowship of small adventurers are making the long walk home, grappling with their Burdens along the way. How do characters deal with Burdens? And what about perils of the journey? We found inspiration another #ZineQuest RPG to guide us here:
Escape from the Dino Island, by @stung_art and @Samnite, was a #pbta game from the first ZineQuest. In it, characters try to survive on an island overrun by dinosaurs. There are safety moves for times of relative quiet, and peril moves for dino danger! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/334088927/escape-from-dino-island-a-zine-quest-game
This is a very cool structure. The safety moves invite PCs to tell stories from specified lists, fleshing out their background. We adopted a similar approach, with stories of the journey and stories of home to fill in the character's pasts and help name their Burdens.
Dino Island has seven peril moves. We stuck with a very few. Run, Hide, and Make a Desperate Stand. The PCs are very small people in a very big world. Your options are limited when danger appears, in the form of the fallen Doomslord's vengeful Hunters!
Lastly, once you've named Burdens, how do you clear them? By sharing a meal, of course! It wouldn't be a very Hobbit-y game without meals. (We did eventually have to nerf the meal move, because it was *too* powerful on a full hit. But never fear, cathartic meals are still key.)
In line with "The Scouring of the Shire," we want the chance for a complicated homecoming. So the tone of each character's epilogue depends on how many Burdens they've named and cleared. Leah generated evocative prompts for stories of growth, amends, or isolation.
With all these elements in place, we were ready to playtest the game. It went great! Our playtesters, including @inarvan, leaned hard into the drama of the game in exactly the way we'd hoped. https://twitter.com/ClovenPineGames/status/1294259047315759104
A first version of the game was published in @CodexRPG magazine, with art by @annabelle_lee. We got excited play reports from people who tried it out. It seemed we'd captured a type of emotional storytelling that resonated with players.
We're very glad to be expanding the game into a full zine for ZineQuest, with revisions based on further playtesting and additions like more GM support. The response from backers has been wonderful. We've shattered so many stretch goals and are close to %1000 funded—10x our goal!
If you haven't yet, you have about 48 hours to back this game of small adventurers and heartfelt stories, all inspired by a love for the quieter moments of Tolkien. Will you join us for this adventure? https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/clovenpinegames/back-again-from-the-broken-landzinequest
