Polaris enters Playtest

[Ben Lehman]

Polaris, my RPG of fairy-tale tragedy, has entered playtest stage.  Anyone interested in playtesting should PM me with their e-mail, and I will send them a PDF file which is ugly but legible.

Ad Copy follows

Polaris:

   Beneath the Guardian, the smoking Mistake festers like a forgotten apology, giving witness of the might and arrogance of your ancestors, just as its demons give witness to the doom of your people.

   You are one of the the Knights of the Order of the Stars, also known as the Knights Stellar or simply Knights, an ancient and solemn order, each one sworn to drive back the forces that have shattered your homeland and will eventually consume your people entirely, leaving behind no trace of history, no trace of culture, no trace of the greatest civilization that the world will ever know.

   This is the struggle given to you: Take up your starlight sword, purify your heart until it shines like the Guardian, wear only a breathsuit as proof against the cold, and go forth to combat the demonic hordes of the Mistaken. You are alone in the world -- all but abandoned by your family and your people -- but you are guided by the stars and still you struggle on for their sakes.

   The struggle will claim your life, if it does not claim your soul. Your fight is as hopeless as a baby crying against the coming of the summertime.

   But you will fight it, and in the darkest abyss of doom, you will find humanity, nobility, and even hope.

   The stories of these knights, these people, and these monsters are in your hands. They are now your stories, to tell and to treasure.

   Shall we begin?


Polaris is a role-playing / story-telling game for 4 players.  It uses some remarkably "experimental" techniques with regard to player authority and responsibility -- "GM tasks" are not concentrated with one player, but neither is the authority mushy or unambiguous.  Combined with these are some more tried-and-true narrative techniques drawn from games such as Trollbabe, Pendragon, and Dogs in the Vineyard.  The setting is painted in broad strokes, and contains themes of shattered beauty, grim determination, and moral decisions in the face of absolute oblivion.

Hope some of you are interested!

yrs--
--Ben