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The Rules are all against you...
Dec. 8th, 2018 03:00 pm I started reading different tabletop RP games for a variety of reasons. Partly because of the recent news that the Nebula awards are adding a game writing category. Partly because my MMO guild started incorporating roll 20 into some RP events and it was driving me a little nuts and I wanted to see if there were other systems that would work better.
Now I'm FASCINATED. There are games that look like nothing I expected tabletop RPGs to look like. In particular I've gotten myself obsessed and hyperfixated on Bluebeard's Bride. It's a horror game based on the Bluebeard's Bride fairy tale, and all the players, instead of playing separate individuals, are all playing one character, the Bride, with each player acting as one aspect of the bride's personality.
The writing is... it's hard to explain this, and I've been mulling over how to articulate it properly, because what the game does is very strange and kind of amazing.
A lot of games, and other media, are accidentally misogynist. They make unconscious assumptions about what women are, what they can and can't do.
This is a FEMINIST horror game that is misogynist ON PURPOSE because it is a game about the horrors of misogyny.
The rules, the descriptions, the playable character types, the way they are written all deliberately echoes sexist messages society sends about the role of women. You cannot simply leave your husband's manor house because the Bride "knows that a wife's place is in the home." The Animus player character has an ability she can use that is literally victim blaming: she can tell another player that the bad things that happened to her are her own fault, and if the other player agrees and accepts the blame that player will be healed, but if she does not then the Animus will take damage because she blames herself for not setting a good enough example. Trying to fight back physically is called "Dirtying Yourself with Violence," and such unladylike activities always come with a cost.
And ultimately? You can't WIN Bluebeard's Bride. You can't BEAT the game. It's not about that. This is a horror game about being trapped and helpless. The players are, ultimately, ALSO trapped and helpless. The Bride will be punished no matter what she tries to do. The game is about exploring the story and finding out WHICH bad ending you're going to get.
I imagine this could potentially be an intensely frustrating experience for some players who are used to trying to win, to fight, to beat the dragon and get loot and rewards. The Bride is never going to get gold or a cool sword. She's either going to be a good wife to a bad man or a bad wife to a bad man and both options come with terrible consequences and it sucks.
I would LOVE to DM this dangit but I don't know nearly enough people who actually play games period, let alone creepy indie horror games with no victory conditions.
Anybody know any other cool weird games I should be reading up on?
Now I'm FASCINATED. There are games that look like nothing I expected tabletop RPGs to look like. In particular I've gotten myself obsessed and hyperfixated on Bluebeard's Bride. It's a horror game based on the Bluebeard's Bride fairy tale, and all the players, instead of playing separate individuals, are all playing one character, the Bride, with each player acting as one aspect of the bride's personality.
The writing is... it's hard to explain this, and I've been mulling over how to articulate it properly, because what the game does is very strange and kind of amazing.
A lot of games, and other media, are accidentally misogynist. They make unconscious assumptions about what women are, what they can and can't do.
This is a FEMINIST horror game that is misogynist ON PURPOSE because it is a game about the horrors of misogyny.
The rules, the descriptions, the playable character types, the way they are written all deliberately echoes sexist messages society sends about the role of women. You cannot simply leave your husband's manor house because the Bride "knows that a wife's place is in the home." The Animus player character has an ability she can use that is literally victim blaming: she can tell another player that the bad things that happened to her are her own fault, and if the other player agrees and accepts the blame that player will be healed, but if she does not then the Animus will take damage because she blames herself for not setting a good enough example. Trying to fight back physically is called "Dirtying Yourself with Violence," and such unladylike activities always come with a cost.
And ultimately? You can't WIN Bluebeard's Bride. You can't BEAT the game. It's not about that. This is a horror game about being trapped and helpless. The players are, ultimately, ALSO trapped and helpless. The Bride will be punished no matter what she tries to do. The game is about exploring the story and finding out WHICH bad ending you're going to get.
I imagine this could potentially be an intensely frustrating experience for some players who are used to trying to win, to fight, to beat the dragon and get loot and rewards. The Bride is never going to get gold or a cool sword. She's either going to be a good wife to a bad man or a bad wife to a bad man and both options come with terrible consequences and it sucks.
I would LOVE to DM this dangit but I don't know nearly enough people who actually play games period, let alone creepy indie horror games with no victory conditions.
Anybody know any other cool weird games I should be reading up on?
