I briefly mentioned a heart-warming RPG fusion on Day 7 Couple. Part of how I fused Ryuutama, Golden Sky Stories and the Changeling games was to apply a comfort filter, dramatically downplaying the many dark aspects in Changeling. A Studio Ghibli like version of the Dreaming allows for the Ryuujin role from Ryuutama to fit nicely, in this case being a helpful Fae/Chimera. I love the Discworld, another guiding idea is: do the opposite of what the Lords and Ladies would do. 😉
Fusing games can result in a confusing mess, a familiar comfort blanket ruined, so to speak. Thankfully, so far this fusion has gone well. I think partly because I’ve played lots of Changeling tabletop, so I am familiar with the darkness of the game. Additionally, the wife and I spent many years immersed in Fae plot at Lorien Trust LARP, which massively ‘borrowed’ from Changeling.
This Tuesday, we will have another session walking along the cliffs and gaming; not like a LARP, but a pleasant walk and talk. I am planning a picnic. I look forward to the next adventure of our comfort blanket.
Street Fighter RPG
I‘ve briefly pondered running Honobono (heart-warming) style SFRPG sessions. Chibi versions of the World Warriors are of course Super Kawaii. My wife is not interested in learning the SFRPG combat mechanics, planning a fighting career, etc., but she did like how cute the fun tile-matching game Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo is. 🙂
Another game direction I’ve considered is the Respite Realm I mentioned for Day 13. Maybe a game borrowing heavily from Spirited Away, besides spirits, fighters come to rest and learn. Does a warrior trick the young girl in to lending them one of Yubaba’s trinkets, resulting in a Bison like threat to the Mortal Realm?! Hmm, almost something here. 😉
"Hmm, actually I'm not sure if this 'pillow' is comfy enough. I'd have to sleep on it." "No way! Besides you've done this joke before." "Aw come on! You know how hard it is to leave my comfort zone… heh."#RPGaDay2020#ttrpg#dnd#pathfinderpic.twitter.com/16HhVqwvHz
> More often than not it's the latter, because in RPGs we are both the cast and the audience – and as good audience members, we naturally don't want to interrupt, we politely wait for a scene break or other stopping point! #RPGaDay2020
#RPGaDay2020 Day 16: Comfort. The Mother of Light comforts those who follow and worship her. But what about those who don't? Who is going to comfort them?
#rpgaday2020 Day 17: Comfort. Playing #dnd and other #ttrpgs with friends online, and having freelance game design work to do has been a massive comfort during this difficult period 😀 pic.twitter.com/syMaIXdlv6
Safety tools are a cool new(-ish) dimension of play, and safer mechanics/safety built into a game is imo a cool specific form of this! More than just asking "what's unsafe in this game?" you can ask "how can I bake safer play in from the start?"
— Speak the Sky✨#trophytrifolds (@SpeaktheSky) August 18, 2020
This is a non-exhaustive list; I still have many posts to read today, so I might be adding more links. I’d recommend searching the hashtag and judge those great answers for yourself: #RPGaDay2020, some people use #RPGaDay.
I think that the Rest prompt has resulted in many outstanding responses, plus @Runeslinger’s interesting answer whilst following his own path. Definitely check out at least some of the links below, most are quick reads, and whilst Complex Games Apologist provides a long video, it has the normal high standards for that channel.
Respite Realm
Whilst the following was designed with Street Fighter in mind, it could be an interesting addition to any fantasy/mystical setting; divine spell, magical item, blessing (curse?), etc. I partly drew inspiration for this idea from the film Spirited Away, but gave it a martial arts focus for my SFRPG game. For the Ryuutama-Changeling game with my wife, I am planning a visit to this type of realm that will probably be more like the bath house in Spirited Away. I have continued to experiment with this idea for my Flow Fighters game, as the idea changed after I studied more psychology and worked in social services, but I kept the SFRPG version simple, but that is for another day.
Adventurers typically take a lot of chances, push themselves to extremes. For anyone pushing themselves so intensely it is important to listen to our bodies, to know when to rest, to heal; something that has been a struggle in my own life. Most fantasy settings allow rapid healing, Street Fighter is no different, but typically there are no rules regarding training, so there is no guidance about respite. For my chronicle inspired by Mortal Kombat: Conquest, characters ran the risk of training too hard, plus aggravated damage was a more common occurrence, so I added several Spirit Respite Realms. Tokens blessed by a God of Healing, allowed a party to visit one. There are health deities all over the world, different spirit traditions, so this can be a way to add a variety of diverse cultures from anyway, in to one convenient location; a chance to be creative.
For my game some Respite Tokens are gifts that are linked to a particular realm, whilst some tokens were universal, allowing a user to visit a random Respite Realm. Characters could learn about particular realms that suit different specialist needs, but that is beyond the scope of this article. 😉
By using a Respite Token, the party needs to meditate and then they can cross over in to the Respite Spirit Realm; this takes between a few minutes to an hour; intentionally slow to prevent this being used as easy get away method. 😉 I made a Respite Token party sized for the convenience of game play, maybe in your game you’d prefer each PC to use a token each.
Whilst visiting a Respite Realm, a character could heal aggravated at quadruple the normal rate! Time passes in the Respite Realm at the same rate as the physical world; so this is not much use for quick tournaments. Additionally, if they stay long enough to be fully healed, then the characters well feel rejuvenated and regain all lost Chi & WP.
Visiting a Respite Realm can help with psychological healing, soul damage, or other esoteric problems, but I’d advise against any quick fixes for something as complex as the mind or soul. The spirits in this realm can provide assistance, guidance, etc., but their answers might be cryptic at first, or they recommend something extreme. I think this is an area best discussed between the player and the GM/group; certainly not a way to take a character trait/arc/story away from a player.
Being of the spirit world these locations might provide a chance to learn more esoteric matters, or a character may: offer their services, make a request, bargain, and so on. Spirits should not be taken lightly by mortals, so whilst asking the spirit to open a portal to somewhere else in the physical world to travel about faster is possible, a spirit might be offended being treated as a fast travel hub.
Other Peoples’ Answers
Day 13 #RPGaDay2020 – Rest Powerful stories include a lull between action moments. It's the calm before the storm, a time for heroes to recover, plan, share stories and maybe grieve friends lost. Use this downtime wisely because come dusk all hell will break loose. pic.twitter.com/ec0RqMWEXK
— Leojenicek #BlackLivesMatter (@D_and_DHaiku) August 13, 2020
#RPGADAY2020 – 13 – REST – “Shall we take a short comfort break there?” Important words at a con. More important is to finish your Saturday night games by midnight if you’re committed to playing a game Sunday morning. Playing on into the wee small hours doesn’t make you clever. pic.twitter.com/4vh24C27UN
#rpgaday2020 13 Rest Sleep rituals are interesting to me. Not, like, magical rituals but the habits we go through nightly. What does your character wear to bed? Do they sleep in their clothes? What kind of bedding to they NEED? Bath before sleeping? pic.twitter.com/1hVbPGDe4C
"We should go back to work…" "Nawww, I just started my nap." "Hey, this is supposed to be just a short rest!" "Aw, come on! Didn't you read the book? A short rest is one hour long." "Unko, I don't even feel my legs anymore."#RPGaDay2020#ttrpg#dnd#pathfinderpic.twitter.com/bwIOdga1t0
Taking part in #RPGaDay2020. I will be releasing a daily series of adventure hook cards in August. Cards will be themed to the challenge topic checklist for each day. Here are cards #11-14. Four-card sets will be posted every 4 days to keep from spamming. pic.twitter.com/QI4r4hch3e
I really liked the idea of a 'campaign loss' from 13th Age. You could rest X times per adventure, but if you took any more rests than that? The bad guys moved on without you.
#RPGaDay2020 Rest: many cultures in the #Veitstanz setting have their myth about those returning from the dead, not remaining at rest but walk again. The revenants might be ghouls as returned orcs, or draugr for the dvergr, and so on. #ttrpgpic.twitter.com/MsLHg7ozaJ
Roleplaying is fun, but not exactly restful! Before the quarantimes, we used to end each recording session with a pub dinner. Recharging all together helps stave off the mood slump so many of us feel after an intense game.#RPGaDay2020
Wayfinding: On lonely roads, a traveler may chance on a wayfinding — a small cottage of weathered wood. The host is gracious, so long as no mention is made of silvery hooves.
In the morning the wayfinding is gone, and a moon-mark remains on the flesh.#RPGaDay2020
This is a non-exhaustive list; I still have many posts to read today, so I might be adding more links. I’d recommend searching the hashtag and judge those great answers for yourself: #RPGaDay2020, some people use #RPGaDay.
Batjutsu 