This is the twentieth in a series of posts dedicated to works of playful literature and theaterβnot just games that are literary or theatrical, but rather novels, plays, television series, graphic novels, museum installations, poems, immersive theater, and movies that represent in some fashion or another games, game players, and game culture.
The games in the bundle vary widely in terms of narrative genre, game mechanics, and professional polish. But all of them are interesting, fun, and heartfelt! I suspect that the bundle provides a useful perspective on the current state of the indie TTRPG scene. This is a game by a queer-identified designer for queer-identified players. This is a game whose empathy structures are oriented not towards outsiders i. In that respect, Feathers is a game that affirms the significance and precarity of queer play and the need to empathize with each other.
The ludonarrative is, as is usually the case with micro-RPGs, simple in terms of structure, mechanics, and drama. Similar to The Great British Bake Off , there are three challenges, each more challenging than the last, each assessed by a panel of judges. The GM, in the guise of the judges, sets the overall theme for each of the three rounds, each round requiring a Sniffer, Tastebuds, and Timing check, with Forage and Cutes when attempting to charm or win sympathy with those big Disneyfied eyes sprinkled in to spice up the proceedings.
Everything is determined by the role of two six-sided die, low roles resulting in a disadvantage, high roles the opposite. The other source of dramatic fun is the openness of the ludonarrative, another one of the characteristics of the micro-RPG genre. Generality of description promotes creative improvisation in terms of both storytelling and interpretation of die roles.
Add that to the dramatic tropes of the reality-television show and the reliance on ritualized judgment, one sees how Candied Violets promotes all kinds of friendly banter, both in-character and out. A reviewer on itch. The two players are advised to sit at a table across from each other, each taking a turn to write. The Writer starts a page by writing a chapter title, then writing one to six lines of text.
