RPGs for the Mundane GF (including Jane Austen RPG Blerg)

[kent_allard_jr]

My GF is a mundane, but an open minded one. I never hid my hobbies from her -- I devote an entire room of my apartment to RPGs, so that would have been impossible -- and she's shown some interest in learning about them. So on Sunday night I decided to introduce her to the hobby the conventional way: Having her roll-up a character.

First, I asked "what kind of character would you like to play?" and she said "an otter." So I pulled 4th edition Gamma World off the shelf and we created a mutant otter with a carapace, air sails, a "poor dual brain" and "density control (others)." (Man, I love that crazy game...) She was amused at first, but was turned off by all the number crunching that followed.

So I turned next to Everway. She came up with a fairly original concept from the Vision Cards, a woman who read minds, was surrounded by darkness and had children without male contact. We assigned our 20 points and did the whole thing with the Fortune Deck, which she thought was kind of goofy. (Admittedly, so did I.)

Afterward she asked "is there a Jane Austen roleplaying game?" I assured her that there had to be one, possibly several. The idea was so obvious! Oddly enough, though, a quick Google search didn't reveal any. Sure, there's a "choose your own adventure" Austen pastiche on Amazon (with poor reviews); there was a group-storytelling effort at Yahoo! in the early aughts; a couple of discussions of playing Austen with existing rule systems. (Yeah, I'm sure the GF would love GURPS Age of Napoleon for that sort of thing...) Naturally there's some talk of RPGs for the "Jane Austen with Monsters" sub-genre, but to me that's cheating. Rules for called shots to the head don't belong in an Austen game! Anyone who knows better examples can point them out to me.

Honestly, I suspect the best way to approach the problem would be to create a semi-RPG like En Garde in reverse, then add opportunities for roleplaying as they come up in game. Everyone plays an aristocratic lady looking for a good match, each defined with a set of simple non-numeric traits, along with variable factors like wealth and reputation. I would have to read a Jane Austen novel before I could go further -- and I don't think they're my kind of books -- but I'd be happy to hear from those who have.

Comments

[hslayer.livejournal.com]

After initially saying, "DON'T do it," to an Austen RPG and me pointing out that it sounded like she was looking for more "pure role-playing" type of thing, Michelle suggested she just join Milliways (or something similar), which already has some Austen characters running around.

[avram]

Damn, I'm pretty sure there was some discussion of a Jane Austen RPG in A&E some time back. I think I might have even linked to it. But I can't find it now.

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

There's also the real-life sort of role playing of going to costume events and making up your own Jane Austin style character based on the environment.

There's a lot of regency reenactment, and there are mailing lists for this sort of thing.

I think there are probably some regency LARPs out there too. Ask Josh and Lisa?

[mrs-dm.livejournal.com]

I think a Jane Austen RPG would be pretty cool. There are actually a lot of things that could be incorporated into it. Basically, all the Austen books are a variation on the following theme/ideas;

1. Characters are torn between the prospect of marrying for love or marrying for wealth/status.
2. Strong female characters want both.
3. Much "checking out" of prospective mates ensues.
4. Elaborate social rituals ensue.
5. A villainous cad usually pops up at some point.
6. Despite the seemingly straight-laced settings, illicit sex and/or illegitimate children figure into the plot.
7. Novel always ends in a wedding (combining love and wealth/status)

I'm sure an RPG can be developed. I could get our friend, Pieter to work on it.

[mrs-dm.livejournal.com]

I can also relate to your GF's suspicion of role-playing. Being an (almost) gaming widow myself, and a sort of mundane (although I was a bit of a Trekker even before Brian), I know what it's like.

My advice to her is; if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Try getting her involved in some "gateway" board games like Carcasonne and Settlers. Everybody loves those. I even tried to play a character in Warhammer, but soon got bored. Soon to start up with a Star Trek RPG though, which I'm looking forward to.

Too bad we don't live nearby. I'd love to play a Jane Austen RPG.

[bigscary.livejournal.com]

Read an austen or two. Q hates them, but they're not all that bad.
Memory (and a poke at google) tells me that you might find some of the shoujo rpgs or semi-systems to be useful (Heartquest (fudgebased) is the one that seems most polished, but I really can't speak to any of them). You'll have to rename some things, but a system built for shoujo rpg (assuming it doesn't assume mahou shoujo) should be able to simulate regency romance with no systemic changes at all.

[doc-mystery.livejournal.com]

1) Have the two of you attend a Furry Con; after she gets over that, this will firmly establish yourself in her eyes on the more mundane end of the Geek continuum.

2) Check out www.boardgamegeek.com for the GF friendly board-games (things like Lost Cities, Ticket to Ride, etc.). Suggest having a board-game night with some of your friends or her friends (or some of each).

3) Look forlornly at your RPG collection; I rather doubt you'll get her to play any of it unless you suggest you two pick up and play something both light and fan-friendly, like a media spin-off franchise (i.e. Doctor Who, Buffy, Ghostbusters) using pre-generated characters with some of your casual gamer friends.

::B::

P.S. 4) There's a good reason there's no straight Jane Austin RPG (nor a Shakespearean RPG, nor a Romance-Thriller RPG); gamers wouldn't play it because the topic is too mundane, and mundanes won't play it because its one of those weird RPG thingys. Now, if you want to strive for a unholy homebrewed hybrid of the two worlds (say an RPG scenario based on Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, that's another story).

[womzilla.livejournal.com]

I read Pride and Prejudice recently (2008? how time does fly!), and even though it is almost completely unlike the things I normally read, I enjoyed it tremendously. One of the things that people forget to mention about Austen is that she's sharply funny. If you're not allergic to the prose, they're definitely worth the time.

[moonlightalice.livejournal.com]

Oh man an Austen RPG! Can you imagine the elaborate social rules?? I <3 Austen.

I'd try starting her on, say, Settlers of Catan or something first. I'm always up for a game of that.

[stormsweeper.livejournal.com]

http://www.blackgreengames.com/bti.html

Ravenloft

[tmlforsyth.livejournal.com]

You could make a Ravenloft realm with a regency air to the domain. Mordent could work, though the idea is based on the Pride, Prejudice, and Zombies title:)

It is more about story telling than game mechanics.

[jlc.livejournal.com]

I know you don't like them, but I wonder if some of the more narrativist indie systems would be well suited to Austenesque roleplay? I could see something like The Mountain Witch working very well, with dark fates recast as secrets or social minuses (poor estate etc) and the trust points working well to capture the incredibly dense social relations. Probably not a good intro to RPGs, though.