I created this RPG a long time ago , basically to fulfil a need as I went from teenage years, when time was plentiful to play things like Dungeons & Dragons, Traveller, Car Wars, Top Secret and Paranoia with friends, to when time became increasingly scarce and I wanted a combat and resolution system that was both fast, but also relatively realistic. So now you have the basic rule set here. and I will be trying to get one version of a specific genre out every month or so. The list is long, so if you want a specific one first, leave comments. But below I explain why pen and paper RPG are actually important for very practical reasons.
There is a surprising amount of positive effects that come from playing a game of imagination, rules and problem-solving, with a group of friends in the physical meat-space that requires you to all sit around a table to do it.
First of all it exercises your imagination and actual problem solving skills, secondly it teaches you to interact in a free-flowing, and usually funny way with other humans, which forces you to get out of your shell, be more comfortable saying or doing stupid things in an environment that is relatively safe and funny. But it also teaches you life skills in unexpected ways.
I know a guy that has introduce the concept of roleplaying in his teaching to improve his student’s second language learning skills.
I know people that became history buff, or learnt about medicinal plants from playing an RPG like Maelstrom. Honestly, once you set your imagination free and get together with a group of people to PLAY, you actually LEARN so many more things than you expect. I and my friends could basically fall asleep or build other characters or just do our homework instead when we were in highschool physics classes, because everything they were teaching there was something we already knew everything there was to know about. Including what vectors were and how to do a gravity assisted slingshot calculation, because we had figured this out playing the SF RPG called Traveller. And during history and geography classes we at times had uncommonly detailed knowledge of various things the other kids in the class had no clue. But whatever your age, you can benefit from exercising a digital equipment free bit of entertainment that. requires you to interact directly with other humans, whether you are friends, a parent teaching your kids, or a group of strangers all a bit shy and embarrassed to play “make-believe”.
Anyway, here is a list of the various Genres that will be specific to various milieus, but of course, you can make up your own versions just with the core rules.
A – Androids & Angels – Bladerunner SF setting
B – Bandits & Badlands – Mad Max setting
C – Catholics & Crusaders – Crusades setting against an evil world (?)
D – Dust & Damnation – Wild West Setting
E – Elites & Enslaved – Epstein Class vs Commoners Dystopia
F – Feuds & Fantasy – Dungeons & Dragons style setting
G – Gumshoes & G-Men – Noir/Cold War/PI/ Top-Secret Setting Different eras
H – Horrors & Humans – Call of Cthulhu setting
I – Illusion & Imprisonment – Aldus Huxley’s Brave New World setting
J – Judges & Jackboots – Judge Dredd style dystopia
K – Karate & Kung-Fu – Martial Arts B-Movie setting (?)
L – Lizards & Lava – Dinosaurs/Caveman times
M – Mercenaries & Maelstroms – Medieval Setting with some Magick
N – Neuromancers & Netizens – Cyberpunk setting
O – Olympians & Odysseys – Ancient Sparta/Rome setting with Gods
P – Powers & Psionics – Superheroes and Supervillains setting
Q – QORG Special Edition – Overlords of Mars setting
R – Rats & Radiation – Post-Apocalyptic Paranoia/Gamma World style setting
S – Stars & Steel – Far Future spaceships and aliens setting
T – Timewarps & Timelines – Agents set to keep the timelines straight
U – UFOs & Uniforms – 1940s to 1980s style UFO settings
V – Vespers & Voids – Forgotten Suns type setting
W – War and Wonder – WWI and WW2 setting
X – Xenophobia & Xenomorphs – Alien setting SF/Horror (?)
Y – Yetis & Yerens – 1940s style cryptozoology/archaeology setting
Z – Zest & Zeppelins – Steampunk setting
The ones in red are a bit more involved and may require more work.
Now, the idea is to spark an actual resurgence of pen and paper RPG games. I KNOW that it sounds like an insane and absurd idea and that all the GenZ people have NO IDEA of how to even interact with this stuff. I know, I tried, and the very concept of IMAGINING a setting is hard work for them. All the more reason to do so by the way. If you can’t imagine what the correct response is to a fictional scenario, how on Earth will you ever act properly in a real-life one that surprises you?
If you have a preference of which genres you would like to see first, leave a comment. And if you buy a copy of the rules linked to above, your vote will have more weight too. Not because you are giving me a buck or so (my cut), but because I know you’re actually somewhat invested, and I want you to enjoy the actual experience of playing the game.
This post was originally published on my Substack. Link here
