Been a busy few days. Had really hoped to get to five characters by the 15th; I might still make it.
The Game: Secrets of the Vibrant Isle
The Publisher: Nerdburger Games
Degree of Familiarity: None. That's the whole point!
Books Required: Just the one
Secrets of the Vibrant Isle is a solo game, which is something I don't normally have a lot of use for. It's not that I think they're bad or anything, they just don't generally scratch the itch I want scratched from games.
But with that said...while I was reading this game I did kind of want to experience it. I think I might journal a playthrough at some point; it might not scratch a roleplaying itch, but maybe it'll scratch a writing itch, since that's not an itch I get scratched much anymore. And now I've typed "itch" so much it's losing meaning.
Anyway, the idea here is that my character has arrived on the titular isle and has 28 days to basically convince the isle that he should stay. There are critters and native inhabitants and all kinds of encounters, but I haven't read them because this is basically a Choose Your Own Adventure with dice and I'd like to actually experience it.
My first step in chargen is to name and describe the character. I think my character's name is Canniver (I don't know, just kinda sounds cool). Canniver was tossed overboard his ship in a storm, and after barely keeping himself above water for a day and a night he washed up on this lovely island.
You know, my usual conception of "shipwrecked mariner" is a younger person, so let's make Canniver someone closer to my own age. Or, hell, even older - let's say he's an old man, someone with grandkids, and when he fell overboard he figured "whelp, this is it." But then he discovered reserves of strength he didn't know he had and managed to swim to the island. So Canniver is a older fella, gray and stooped, mostly bald. He lost his glasses in the swim but fortunately his eyes are pretty good. He's had to fashion a walking stick out of driftwood.
Traits! I get 8 points to divide amongst the four traits, minimum 1, max 4. So really I have 4 points, and I'm starting to wish that point-buy RPGs would just set the traits at minimum and give you the difference, but whatever.
Our four traits are Discover, Learn, Interact, and Survive. I'm gonna leave Survive at 1 because Canniver is an old salt and his body ain't what it once was. I'll put Discover at 2 - it's about seeing and hearing and so on, and Canniver isn't bad at that but he is missing his glasses.
That leaves 5 points between Interact and Learn; let's do 2 and 3, respectively.
Tracks! There are 3, Wonder, Worry, and Willpower. You spend points to overcome fears, succumb to the wonder of the isle, or power through adversity. I only get three points, so I'll put two into Willpower and one into Worry. Canniver isn't much for Wonder anymore (hopefully there's a way to open up those tracks, though, because I can see that being part of his story).
And that's actually it! Everything else is stuff that would happen in play.
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