Pure Narrativist Game: Otherkind Dice

Otherkind Dice

I recently ran into a link to this, which I was very happy about. First, it explained things like GHOST/ECHO, which while very pretty I just did not understand. Once the basis for the rules were explained it all made sense.

Second, I finally found a story style or purely Narrativist game. Even Shadows, the simplest RPG I had seen isn't pure Narrativist. It still has a Gamist element, which is about how to spend the tokens (when and to whom to get the maximum benefit back to yourself). Otherkind Dice is different. I'm not sure if it's meant to be, but it's a complete RPG (assuming you know how to play RPGs in general). First, I love it because it's stakes but with non-binary outcome that doesn't depend on weird degree of success baloney. Second, there's meaningful choice to be made after you roll. You're almost bound to have something you don't want to happen. What are you going to live with? But, the choice can't be gamed in any real sense of the world. You have no mechanical resources, no avenues to gain an advantage. When you want to do something with a question as to the outcome, you roll dice and use them to help decide what happens. I kind of want to play this to see how it goes, but I'm not sure where it lies on my play priority list. Ooo, I should actually make an ordered list.

But I'm really excited for this blog that I found this, because it's a role playing system without being a game. There's really no game part of it. It helps me formulate the spectrum I'm talking about. The opposite end, pure game, is D&D. There's really no mechanical support to attention paid to story. It's basically a board game that you can role play on top of. I've actually been involved in instances of play of the Heroquest board game with more role playing than a lot of D&D.