Pointers to specifc RPGs

[mister.ribbit]

Hi,

I, like many people, started RPing long ago when I was very young, and naturally fell into what seems to be Gamist play.  Now that I've suddenly become interested in RP theory, I'm looking back and trying to see if I've ever really played any of the other styles.  I think I touched on Simulationist play in a some recent campaigns, but Narrativist play is something that's new to me.

Just a week ago now, I received my copy of Dogs in the Vineyard and it seems ripe for Narrativist play.  However, having never experienced Narrativist play I'm looking for other games that I can buy and read to get a better feel before jumping in and totally botching everything.  I have a very large preference for games with print editions.

Also, a list of other games that lend themselves well to the other two game styles would be handy for comparison purposes.

(I hope this forum was an OK place to post this since it's not really about the model itself...)

Thanks!

[Bankuei]

Hi Ryan,

Dogs has to be one of the best games to simply "jump into" for Narrativism.  I don't think you'd really botch it up.  Most of the other Narrativist games generally require more work to get right, but you might want to check out Dust Devils or PrimeTime Adventures for some other simple Nar loaded options.  

As far as Sim play, most of the games out right now support it, but honestly if you lean towards Gamist or Narrativist play, it can be one of the hardest to "get", simply because the focus is the Exploration itself, which often can feel unfulfilling if you're looking for one of the other two sorts of play.

Chris

[Simon Kamber]

I'd say the best way to do it well is to play dogs as written, without houserules, and don't worry about Narrativism. Worrying about CA tends to get it all theoretical, and a GM controlling the game in hopes of making it more "narrativistic" has lead to many a disaster.