The True-Gold Forge: Review

So this is not the sorta thing I would normally want to use. Generally I view myself as pretty good at allowing for RP, and so I'd have skipped a mechanic like this. RP happens pretty regularly and it's generally pretty high caliber.

Yeah, I know that's bragging. Deal with it.

I mean, the sessions aren't perfect, particularly when trying to figure things out with Torchbearer. And honestly I found that a bit with the lighter Trophy Gold as well; doing deep and intensive role-playing is not something that most systems are designed to do, at least inherently. Others may disagree, but I find that Burning Wheel has spoiled me.

There's something to be said for just talking. y'know?

And that's what True-Gold Forge is. Talking.

During natural rest periods of the session everyone rolls two dice: a light and a dark. The GM has a table of topics, which he then references. Each player then has a prompt to expound upon.

And that's it.

Yeah, it's that simple. And it works! Players have to get a bit creative, but I've found that the prompts lead to any range of RP moments, with all sorts of tones. The openness of the system allows creative players to really shine. Players who may need some more meat may suffer for it, but I've found that a good strong helping GM hand can make the difference in setting up who goes when.

This was a very pleasant surprise. I'll definitely be open to more stuff like this in the future.

You can get True-Gold Forge in the Codex Gold magazine, which is part of the Codex Magazine, published by the ever-fine folks at the Gauntlet.