What It Is: Beyond the Wall is a one-shot system designed to emulate coming of age tales in fantasy novels. There is no prep work required or desired. Everyone just sits down, grabs a booklet and starts rolling dice. The story should be over, in one session. I mean, it doesn't have to be, but the scope of the game is definitely not supposed to go beyond a single session.
What Makes It Awesome: It does exactly what it says it does, on the tin. So many games make vain promises about what they are and what they accomplish, all for nothing. Not this game. It is fast to set up, fast to play, and has some really freaking amazing tables. I normally don't jazz about tables and all that, but these tables are, to almost the last one, ridiculously awesome. By the time you're done everyone will have characters, a town will be constructed, and the GM will have a dastardly plot linked into the PCs.
Problems: I do not mind games where there isn't a universal resolution mechanic. I don't play them, but that has more to do with the fact that the games I do play normally just happen to. But here? I take issue with it. BtW's lack of a universal resolution mechanic is the one huge sticking point I keep running into whenever I play this game with folks, particularly newbies. It's not huge, it's not a deal-breaker, but it is a pain. And it does get in the way while playing. It's a minute little piece of dirt in the ointment, but it is there.
Why I Haven't Been Playing It: Honestly? I don't know. Maybe I'm still chasing that huge epic campaign that will define everything, for all time. Mechanically the actual play isn't my cup of tea, despite how fun it is, but given how good the stories are that come out I can forgive that pretty quickly. I guess I'm just not at a point where I want a constantly revolving series of towns and characters and situations?
Yes, I know there's a campaign supplement, Further Afield.
Yup, I own it.
Too large of a scope for the base game, to be blunt.
I see absolutely no point in running this game as a campaign, not when things like Burning Wheel exist. So no, that part just loses out.
What Makes It Awesome: It does exactly what it says it does, on the tin. So many games make vain promises about what they are and what they accomplish, all for nothing. Not this game. It is fast to set up, fast to play, and has some really freaking amazing tables. I normally don't jazz about tables and all that, but these tables are, to almost the last one, ridiculously awesome. By the time you're done everyone will have characters, a town will be constructed, and the GM will have a dastardly plot linked into the PCs.
Problems: I do not mind games where there isn't a universal resolution mechanic. I don't play them, but that has more to do with the fact that the games I do play normally just happen to. But here? I take issue with it. BtW's lack of a universal resolution mechanic is the one huge sticking point I keep running into whenever I play this game with folks, particularly newbies. It's not huge, it's not a deal-breaker, but it is a pain. And it does get in the way while playing. It's a minute little piece of dirt in the ointment, but it is there.
Why I Haven't Been Playing It: Honestly? I don't know. Maybe I'm still chasing that huge epic campaign that will define everything, for all time. Mechanically the actual play isn't my cup of tea, despite how fun it is, but given how good the stories are that come out I can forgive that pretty quickly. I guess I'm just not at a point where I want a constantly revolving series of towns and characters and situations?
Yes, I know there's a campaign supplement, Further Afield.
Yup, I own it.
Too large of a scope for the base game, to be blunt.
I see absolutely no point in running this game as a campaign, not when things like Burning Wheel exist. So no, that part just loses out.
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