I strongly felt the importance of flavour text defining the play space in my experience with FIST. When I read FIST prior to the Ultra Edition update, I was quite taken with the game and its premise of a super over the top metal gear solid parody, but didn't quite feel inspired to bring it to the table. I just couldn't picture what kind of story the game wanted me to tell, and the game's main offering was in the 100 traits that were very evocative and conducive to crazy overly-dramatic moments and fun mini-mechanics for players to play around. It took the release of the Ultra Edition, the main difference being 80 plus pages of flavour text and the mechanically arranged version - random tables - to help me form the play space in my mind, to be inspired to create my own scenario with its obstacles and setups for the kind of stories the implied setting wants to bring players towards. It was only after reading all this flavour text that I felt motivated enough to bring FIST to the table and it was an absolute blast.
I’ve played a one-shot run by Daniel Kwan! Everything you said here is reflected in his narrative style in-game, so you’ve totally hit the mark. We played Night Witches, and were catapulted into a super intricate and engaging war story, with only a little rules support from PbA. It was probably the single best session I’ve ever had. I’m so happy to see Ross Rifles content, instant subscription from me!
Interesting to compare the FKR playstyle with the post-forge/storygame/g+ game design ethos in light of your essay. The former has developed out of the OSR scene with the maxim of "playing worlds, not rules", and aims to put fluff, shared setting understanding and high table trust in a GM making rulings and using rules as a personal toolkit as central to the play experience. The latter, as you state, looks to make that fluff central flesh through which the skeleton of game mechanics can be wrought. I'm seeing some fascinating games forming out of these similarities and contradictions. The Named Toolkit and Wraithlands in particular both look like they are going to be worth watching over the next year.
"All aspects of a game are just skeletons for what play could be." That's going to sit with me for a long time to come. Thank you for making such an insightful video!
Loved the video! The subject, ideas shared, and your cadence made for an awesome short vid. Glad the algorithm got me here can't wait for more to come.
I am sorry I missed this video when it first came out. I unfortunately neglect fluff myself in favor of trying to keep my games slim. Something I should reconsider.
Awesome stuff! Hmu, I'd love to have you on our creator disc with Legal Kimchi, Blaine Simple, and a bunch of others! Would've reached out to you on bluesky but I forgot you can't message people there :,(
I strongly felt the importance of flavour text defining the play space in my experience with FIST. When I read FIST prior to the Ultra Edition update, I was quite taken with the game and its premise of a super over the top metal gear solid parody, but didn't quite feel inspired to bring it to the table. I just couldn't picture what kind of story the game wanted me to tell, and the game's main offering was in the 100 traits that were very evocative and conducive to crazy overly-dramatic moments and fun mini-mechanics for players to play around. It took the release of the Ultra Edition, the main difference being 80 plus pages of flavour text and the mechanically arranged version - random tables - to help me form the play space in my mind, to be inspired to create my own scenario with its obstacles and setups for the kind of stories the implied setting wants to bring players towards. It was only after reading all this flavour text that I felt motivated enough to bring FIST to the table and it was an absolute blast.
I’ve played a one-shot run by Daniel Kwan! Everything you said here is reflected in his narrative style in-game, so you’ve totally hit the mark. We played Night Witches, and were catapulted into a super intricate and engaging war story, with only a little rules support from PbA. It was probably the single best session I’ve ever had.
I’m so happy to see Ross Rifles content, instant subscription from me!
Interesting to compare the FKR playstyle with the post-forge/storygame/g+ game design ethos in light of your essay. The former has developed out of the OSR scene with the maxim of "playing worlds, not rules", and aims to put fluff, shared setting understanding and high table trust in a GM making rulings and using rules as a personal toolkit as central to the play experience. The latter, as you state, looks to make that fluff central flesh through which the skeleton of game mechanics can be wrought. I'm seeing some fascinating games forming out of these similarities and contradictions. The Named Toolkit and Wraithlands in particular both look like they are going to be worth watching over the next year.
"All aspects of a game are just skeletons for what play could be." That's going to sit with me for a long time to come. Thank you for making such an insightful video!
Jay Dragon is such a sharp designer, I try to read all of Jay’s thoughts. Thanks for watching Kaiya!
This is a great video! Loved it.
Thanks LegalKimchi! I loved your videos on Bioessentialism and Revolution!
Loved the video! The subject, ideas shared, and your cadence made for an awesome short vid. Glad the algorithm got me here can't wait for more to come.
interesting! congrats (early) on 1k!
Great short video!
hell yes! playground theory!!!! great video
thanks Coffee!!
The next step is to talk about *how* different types of "fluff" offer you a usable skeleton for dreams.
I am sorry I missed this video when it first came out. I unfortunately neglect fluff myself in favor of trying to keep my games slim. Something I should reconsider.
Yeah, not that mechanics-focused games are bad or anything, but it is nice to use fluff to add another dimension of play to a text!
bruh what how tf do you have so little popularity?
Haha beats me! Tell your friends how great I am!
Awesome stuff! Hmu, I'd love to have you on our creator disc with Legal Kimchi, Blaine Simple, and a bunch of others! Would've reached out to you on bluesky but I forgot you can't message people there :,(