Playtesting: DrawRPG
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| Unofficial character sheet I designed for my solo sessions |
I always liked the idea of using a standard deck of cards in RPG games. Diceless projects are a fertile soil for cards and DrawRPG hit the jackpot when it used them as a metha-prop of it's own scenario, a low fantasy 16th century. So just to adjust expectations let's see some highlights of the 16th century:
- Gunpowder Islamic empire
- Protestant Reformation
- Copernicus theory about the universe
- Invention of Camara Obscura
- Mona Lisa
We already can see this is not Middle Ages, but late-Renassaince. Not your tipical fantasy scenario and I like it. In my campaign I'll try to play it as alternate history, with some people (NPCs) that really existed in the XVI Spain. But first, let's head into my impressions of it.
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| Pretty cool, right? |
Art Direction
As you can see the zine trinity has a homemade punk feel to it. The format is something like an A6 8-page zine. Very easy to print and make them look really cool. It fits in my wallet (literally) and for me this is something good, cause I can carry it everywhere. The author himself is the illustrator of the whole project and the limited color palette (two colors only) really makes the details shine over you. The only issue I have, though, is that the chiaroscuro style of the illustrations points the game more to the Baroque movement of the 17th century than the 16th renaissance. The use of light in Renassaince art was a product of it's philosophy and zeitgeist. The way it is now, it looks very cool, but anachronical.
Layout
I don't think it is fair to judge a layout in such a small space as an A6 page. It is the kind of format that all you can do is try to make it fit and make it understandable. There is no space for minimalism or whatever. With that in mind, I think Perplexing Ruins did okay. I wouldn't choose A6 format for so much content, tho. Probably there's too much (valuable) information for this format and I would definetely think about changing it to an A5/half-letter format.
Tables
I missed more tables. Another good reason to change it to a A5 booklet zine. I mean, the scenario is not a typical fantasy so you only have two options: add a ton of lore (which I hate) OR add really flavourful random tables (which I love). When I was playing the first session all the time I was like "what is the difference between middle age and Renaissance architecture? How do people dress like? What melodies are played by poets? What do I see in this room I've just entered?". All this questions can be answered by random tables and I believe the author is already working on it.
The System
DrawRPG is clearly a quest-based combat game. At the same time the action system is so simple it shines bright. You basically have two HP bars, Harm and Spirit, or what you could understand as Body and Soul. You flip a card, add the modifiers, if the result is bigger than 8, it is a success. There are some case of critical hit, but the only damages you cause are 1 or two in the Harm of the oponent. Curiously, it is really fun, cause the fiction comes before the math. So you can say your character will do something really dramatic (like jumping from the second floor on the back of a runaway horse) and it is just a matter of deciding what would happen if you fail. There's no necessity of fragmenting the action if you don't want it.
Solo Potential
DrawRPG is not made specifically for solo gaming, but it is perfeclty adaptable for it once it has it's own GM-emulator. At the same time, it really needs more content suport for the solo gamer. Again, more random tables should solve this problem.
The Ability issue
Each path has it's own ability, but most of them are discarded if you draw a low card for Spirit in the character creation phase. I don't know if this is a real problem, but it can frustrate players right at the character creation and I think this could (and maybe should?) be avoided. The way abilities works would need some changes, but nothing substantial, I guess. If the ability modifier mirrored the Spirit value without spending it, this could solve everything. If the spirit goes down, the modifiers from the ability also goes down. That way you would be able to have the ability in a somehow balanced way for your limited character. Maybe this rule could be an exception: if your character has less than 4 Spirit, then...
The First Session
So you can see the kind of adventures are created with DrawRPG, I wrote the first session synopsis below. Check it out.
After travelling through the mist I've found an old mill to wait the heavy rain to pass. There was an empolyee of a near farm already at the place and as soon the night came, he got a strange fever. I was worried he would die like a dog. From the dark a familiar voice came. It gave a quest that would take a 4 day travel: get the frantic silver comb from the lair of the cruel spirit of the Phillip the first. My reward would be an heretic manuscript called the witch loop. The voice told me the empolyee was already dead when I came to the mill. That he was just a demon vessel. Suddenly the damned arised and attacked me. He was totally out of himself and he tried hard to throw me at a pillar but he missed the spot and this helped me to runaway. I ran to the upper level while whistleblowing for my horse. Jumping from the window I got on it's back and went to my mission, under the heavy rain.
Alt Character sheet
As you saw at the post header, I've designed a quick mini-character sheet for DrawRPG and you can download it for free below. Just right click the image and save it to your computer. In case you're wondering, the little box by the portrait is to paint your alignment (black or red).
Final review
Is it worth it? I believe so! It is a really fun game, with a very accessible price and all the changes it needs are not structural, but more aesthetical (in a broad sense). Beside, it is a very beautiful peace of gaming to have in your wallet for some solo fun. More than that, I'm totally an enthusiast of diferent fantasy scenarios. A century with gunpowder, Inquisition and battles against demons can bring to your table adventures you never thought living.
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