#RPGaDAY2024 - DAY FIVE: An RPG with Great WRITING

 

Day Five of #RPGaDAY2024 and this one is a sort of companion piece to yesterday's prompt about 'great art', today asking about an RPG with great writing. I'm an old gamer, so my first RPGs definitely read like stereo instructions. Going back to some of those rulebooks, I wonder how I ever worked out how to play them.

One that really stood out for me writing-wise was Ghostbusters, the classic West End Games RPG. It was the first one I really had fun reading. It was funny, easy to read, and was the game that inspired me to get into writing tabletop games. I remember that 'if it's that much fun to read, someone must have had a blast writing it' and I knew I wanted to do that. 

Later, one of the games that really stood out as having great writing was Eden Studios' Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG, written mostly by CJ Carella. CJ had taken the same sort of approach as the Ghostbusters game, kept it pretty simple, but made it fun (and funny) to read. An easily accessible style that made rules fun, and got you excited to play in the Buffyverse. 

Again, it really got me keen to write to RPGs, and I was lucky enough to be involved in playtesting, and contributed (both in writing and editing) the supplements, The Slayer's Handbook and Monster Smackdown. 

I miss Buffy...

It's been a while since I read an RPG and really had that 'I wish I had written something like this' moment. Tales From The Loop stands out recently, mostly because the game system is so simple and compact that I was blown away that it could accomplish so much with so little, basically. 

However, most recently, it was Kieron Gillen's DIE RPG, published by Rowan, Rook and Deckard, that had me squirming in that 'Damn this is so well written, I wish I could write like that' way... 

There's just something about the conversational tone of voice, and the masses upon masses of GM advice that really provides players with tonnes of options and opportunities for some seriously cool games. 

Of course, it doesn't hurt that the book is flippin' gorgeous, with some stunning layout and amazing production values as well.