Since Gamicon Bromine 2026 and the new-to-me RPGs I played, I’ve been thinking about Swords Beyond and what I’m trying achieve.
I want fantasy but…
- …with lighter rules and faster more cinematic fights
- …with character drama
- …every character is magical
- …spells are more flexible and improvisational without burdening/paralyzing players
OSR I’ve seen is too survival and dungeon-crawl and tracking torches for me. Too old-school? Maybe Dungeon World 2 will hit a sweet spot. I borrowed a lot from its alpha releases for Swords Beyond but haven’t played its final alpha yet.
At the con, while playing Xenolanguage, I remembered A Land Once Magic and wondered if I should make system-neutral character archetype and relationship cards. We could use them for 13th Age character creation and session zero. This would get at #2 at least.
Then again, maybe we’re not a character drama group. Urban Shadows is all about character drama but the group is sticking together like an adventuring party. I don’t think these are polar opposite play styles, maybe there’s a continuum from more character drama to more party solidarity? I want some in between.
In Xenolanguage, for example, the characters are absolutely working as a team and working out their shit at the same time. Maybe it’s something that’s easier to do in a game designed for one-shot play, like Xenolanguage, rather than months-long campaigns? Or it’s not the length actually, but the story card deck. Xenolanguage’s story deck stirs up the character drama that the archetype and relationship cards simply set up.
Archetype and relationship cards would not be enough. What would stir it up in, for example, 13th Age? story deck? But what would trigger a draw? Would characters and GM lean into it at the right times without a story deck? What would support this apart from a deck?