Blue Rose

Last night I ran the Blue Rose Fast Play for Dave and his wife Heather and Kathleen (who I know better as RPGnetter coeli) and her husband Josh. It turns out that Josh was not the guy I was expecting. I think I mistook their housemate (Doug?) for Josh at the last Winter War. Either way I think everyone had a good time last night. As far as I can tell no one ended the night thinking that we absolutely must play more Blue Rose, but the general consensus was that we should all play together some more. In fact, Josh extended an invitation to anyone who wanted to join in his upcoming GURPS 4E campaign featuring outcast mutants in Bohemia circa 996 AD. I'm not so sure if it's my bag, since he described it as a dark and serious game, but it's always nice to be asked and I haven't outright rejected the notion of playing. I mentioned in passing that one of the few "dark and serious" games I've long wanted to run is GURPS the Prisoner, which drew some encouraging "oo's" from Josh and Kathleen. One of my great concerns regarding that game (other than the work it would require and the usual "but what system?" issues) is that I would need a group of players mature enough to be able to deal with the kind of psychological ploys that Number Two would inflict upon the PCs. The folks at the table last night might be the right kind of players.

I must say that I found the Blue Rose version of d20 lite to be a nifty little system. The setting of Aldis doesn't do too much for me though. And the magic system ("arcana") as presented in the Fast Play is just a little too light and fluffy. I think something existing in the space between the standard D&D system and Blue Rose would better suit me. Either way, I certainly don't need another fantasy RPG. The conviction mechanics are worth stealing, but otherwise I've got a zillion iterations of sword and spell games.