200 Word RPG 2017

2017 had a huge number of entries, even reading through them is a massive effort.

My choice

This year my favourite game was Fair Verona Burns: A tragedy in three acts. It is a game of feuding factions whose rivalry lead to their downfall.

It isn’t a perfect game but is a great example of how a very small amount of setup can lead to a big expanding game world.

You create the two factions by creating characters with a cleverly constructed sentence.

The three acts of the game title structure the game through different rules in each Act.

Judge’s choices

These are the entries that I’ve played that were either winners or on the shortlist.

Route Clearance

Route Clearance has a strong mechanic that is married to its theme in an effective way. You lay playing cards down in a line to represent a route between Kabal and Kandahar in Afghanistan that needs to be cleared of IEDs.

Each turn a player turns over the next card on the route and narrates a scene based on the suggestion provided by the card.

The rest of the games

I’ve written up some reviews and some read-throughs of the rest of the entries in the competition.