With the Fastaval sign up open, I better get the last part of this out there:

I won’t write much on what the game is about, just my thoughts, you can read about the games themselves on the webpage, I’ll link to each game.

When we sign up for Fastaval, we have to give the games we want to play a priority from one (I really, really, really wanna play this game) to four (if there’s nothing else, I want to play this game) or just nothing.

In this write up I’ll give each game a “Do I want to play this?” priority from 1 (a lot) to 5 (ah properly not, not that it’s a bad game, it’s just not for me.)

Stories from the Sanatorium

The genre pretty much sums it up: Escalating horror with a focus on epic damnation. And the text supports this the whole way thru, a good example of a game that knows what it is and sells it as such.

It’s yet another GM’less scenario, quite a few of those this year, and by Tim who even being new have made some very different and award winning things.

It sounds really cool but I’m not sure I’m in the mood for a self destructive story, but that might change.

Do I want to play this?: 3
But it could easily move up as we get closer

The girl beneath the hen house (Canceled) 

This is the text in its entirety:
“When the family honor must be preserved, sometime killing is the only thing solution left. Even if you have to kill your own flesh and blood.”

Brave, and both the title and text are strong and creepy, and you get some idea of what this could be about. But this is not a preview text, this is a teaser.

I kinda get what Julie wants to do, she wants us to know very little, and I also know that she likes the create horry games, so this is properly that.

But in the end I thinks this style exercise is not worth what we lose in understanding. This could both be a tragedy about murder in the family or a supernatural horror story or even something about honor murders in immigrant families, I just dont know, and therefore I won’t be playing it.

I hope this short text will work for others, but for me it’s a brave gamble but it fails, sorry.

Do I want to play this?: 4
I don’t know, so I won’t try, to much else I know I want to try.

The Long Orbit

It kinda sounds a bit like Sargasso: The Daughters of Clio but it says that it’s a hack of Monsterhearts and I know that Oliver and other people love that game.

But again it sounds like the kind of tense thriller intrigue game that’s not really my taste. But I like the idea that following your heart will lead to downfall and that love is an central part of a sci-fi thriller, it’s an interesting twist.

It also sounds like one of those “playing to win and therefore you lose” games, that sounds really cool, but again not my cup of tea.

Do I want to play this?: 5
Not really but I think some people will have a blast with it.

Things that happen to other people

So this is the game that sounded most like my idea, and when the man behind have made “I say a little prayer” and been part of the group the made “Just a little lovin” (which “I say a little prayer” was the Fastaval version of) You know that you don’t stand a chance.

I also think it’s a very interesting format, people caught in a war zone telling stories about other people in similar situations.

I like it, story telling is a now thing I’m into, and this sounds like something I would like. I also like how the GM is there to help the players tell the stories, and if that element is done half as well as it was in “I say a little prayer” then it will be good.

Do I want to play this?: 1
Yes oh my yes!

This Miracle

So I’m a bit of a Lizzy fan, I love her work, both with introducing nordic larp to the USA scene and also her work with gender issues, for a very privileged person like me, she has been good at describing the other side in a way, that I can understand. But I have never played one of her games, and I’m still sad that I didn’t have the guts to try out her touching game about breast cancer. And Nick whom I don’t know just sounds awesome.

I also like games where you as the player start out by creating the framework you are going to be playing in, and finely I’m also interested in rituals and how they can be used in storytelling.

So all in all I think this is a must for me.

Do I want to play this?: 1
Looking forward to it

Where are all the dreams we dreamt?

I got the feeling that we’ve seen this story before (not that thats a bad thing, or a reason not to tell it) but it just feels like whenever we tell a story about a collective in the sixties it’s about it’s downfall.

Of course that is a great narrative and the collective is just a good setting for it, because it starts out so idealistic and ends up breaking down.

But there’s a few twists here that makes it more interesting:
first of all it’s about a collective in the late seventies not sixties
Also the game is not just about rise and fall but also returns to the story many years later to see what have happened
And finally the writer have a background in a collective of the same kind, which can add more deapth to the story.

Do I want to play this?: 4
It sounds good but not my kind of thing

Du drømmer (Your dreaming) (not in english)

Another trend this year seems to be two player games about love but that kind of does make sense, love is often a two player game (ba-dum-thsssss).

This one sounds beautiful and is based on a danish singer songwriter. It’s only on the danish page, so it looks like this is a game only in danish, which is always sad.

It sounds like you play through a love story and that pretty much it, and thats good, a good concentrated story, oh and it’s feel good I see now, so this could be more about the experience than about the story.

But all two player games especially those about love share the same problem: it’s very much dependent on the two players being even a little bit attracted to each other, but thats for another post to speculate about.

Do I want to play this?: 4
I’ve kinda done this, been there done that, having both designed a similar game and run a similar game last year.