About the Game
Ultrablamtacular! is the first game from Ultrablamtacular!, an independent game company. It is a traditional tabletop roleplaying game with mellow coffee notes and citrus overtones…
Wait, no it isn’t. It’s a traditional tabletop roleplaying game…wait, no, it isn’t.
It’s a tabletop roleplaying game. That much I can say for sure.
Philosophy
Verisimilitude
It’s a tabletop roleplaying game that’s about verisimilitude. Allow me to explain.
In college, I had a literature professor with whom I was discussing Hemmingway. He asked me what I thought of Hemmingway’s style. I said I liked the realism. “Really?” He challenged. “What about it is realistic? Who talks like that?” I admitted that nobody talked like characters in Hemmingway talk, and decided that I was stupid and that this conversation had been some sort of trap. “But everyone thinks Hemmingway is realistic,” he said, “so there must be something about it that evokes realism, something that seems real. That’s verisimilitude, and that’s what Hemmingway was good at. Realism is awful – people don’t say dramatic and interesting things, they don’t speak with the economy necessary for fiction. Verisimilitude is fake, but it feels real. It’s better than realism by far.” That’s what this game is about. It’s not about modeling reality. It’s about modeling the dynamics of fiction. It’s about playing in the verisimilar world of books, movies, television, or drama.
Choices and Risks
This game is about choices and risks. It’s designed to force characters to put more of themselves on the line for what they believe in. And it’s designed to make players decide what’s worth taking those risks for.
Features
One set of rules supports all genres
Since Ultrablam! is interested in emulating literary reality in all its forms, it has to be flexible enough to play any sort of game you might want. You only need a single set of rules to play anything from fantasy to science fiction, from thrilling adventure to subtle intrigues.
Fast, easy character generation without needing to refer to the book for lists of skills, powers, etc.
You can make characters for a whole group with only one copy of the rules. Ultrablam!’s freeform elements mean that you decide how to describe your character – no lists, no selections, no need to decide whether your performance-artist-turned-treasure-hunter has a higher rating in “performance” or “art”.
Almost no math
First of all, counting is not math. With that out of the way, let me make it clear that I’m not against math. But I find that the more math there is in a game, whether it’s in the preparations or in actual play, the more players it has a chance of alienating.
I love roleplaying games. I love introducing new players to the hobby. And this game is an extension of that. So I don’t want to alienate anyone, especially people who would enjoy RPGs if they weren’t driven away from them by some factor. And since for some people, that factor is math, I tried to minimize the barrier it presents.
The game requires counting, looking items up in a table, and rolling dice and checking the results of those rolls.
Fast-paced play structure means it’s almost always your turn
One of my design goals with Ultrablamtacular! was to minimize downtime – to keep players from waiting to be involved in the game. If I’ve achieved my goal, then players will spend their downtime looking for ways to get and keep their characters involved and important.
Trust and teamwork
Think about any buddy movie you’ve ever seen. Think about any episode of Buffy. Learning to get along, to rely on companions, and to believe in each other is central to the plots of almost any ensemble fiction. Ultrablam! rewards these behaviors in the game system.
Character development
Almost every RPG out there provides some way for characters to grow and change. And Ultrablamtacular! is no different. But in books, movies, and television, audiences learn more about characters’ history, what makes them tick, and how they came to be how they are.
Most games put the burden of developing a backstory on the player as he or she is creating the character. But I find that I learn more about characters as I play them. So the system is built to reveal character history as play proceeds.
I think this reads well and tells a lot about the game without giving it away.
PS–Which teacher?
@Jona Kottler
Thanks on both counts! As for which teacher…man…I’m so embarrassed that I can’t remember his name now…You’ll remember it. I only had him one semester. We did “The Emperor of Ice Cream” in his class and I pretty much flipped over William Carlos Williams…A great teacher, one of my favorites. I’d have taken more classes with him but I think he left shortly after our first one.
Guess I drove him away.
This seems like a good foundation for a game. I like the idea of simple math for an RPG. There have been some games on TV consoles that I’ve played that did almost the same thing with an RPG. Kept the math simple but the gameplay was addictive. In fact, I’m talking about a game called Paper Mario. Don’t know if you have played it, but the story was entertaining. Again, this is a good idea of including a wider audience of minimal math.
Speedy and full of teamwork? I’d like to see how you’ll make this work. Honestly, I think you can pull it off and it will make the game even better!
Overall, I like how you’re keep this to as simple as possible so you can suit a bigger audience. With that, I also believe if you can make this happen it can be a very popular game!