Weird little game, this, but I dig it.
The Game: Fight Item Run
The Publisher: Whimsy Machine
Degree of Familiarity: None with this particular game, but it's PbtA
Books Required: Just the one, beep boop
Fight Item Run is a PbtA game inspired by 90s platformer and video RPGs, which is weird. Like, using PbtA as a nostalgia vector, OK, but I never really thought of pixelated or 8-bit games as something that lend themselves especially well to an actual RPG (video games are not RPGs. Now that I'm not in the industry anymore I don't have to be coy about that. Fight me). I skimmed the game once and felt kind of "meh" about it, but then yesterday I sat down and actually read it carefully, and I have to say, I really like it.
First of all, it knows what it is and doesn't try to be anything else, and man I appreciate that. Second of all, it has a specific length that it shoots for. It wants about 30 hours, mas o menos, meaning about 5-6 sessions. That said, having read it, you can make it a one-shot (which I might well do this week).
And since it's PbtA, chargen is simple and quick like a bunny, so hippity-hop, motherfuckers.
So, the first thing we do here is come up with a name and a general sense of personality and aesthetic. Well, I think I shall go against my usual instincts and make someone vibrant, bright, colorful, and energetic! Their name is Vivid! They always use exclamation points! Their personal soundtrack is by AJR!
(No slot on the sheet for personality or appearance notes, or pronouns, which I only bring up because the chargen section makes a point of mentioning them.)
Stats! We've got four, and I get 0, 0, 1, 1. Let's see. I want Vivid to be a magic-y sort of person, so I'll put the 1s in SP and DMG. That leaves the 0s in ACC and DEF.
Now we pick a Class. Well, I think the best option here is Elementalist. That bumps my SP up by 1, and gives me the Magictwist move, and my ComboPlus is that I can use SP instead of DMG when using a combo. My Secret is that I know of a bizarre phenomenon that only happens inside the dungeon, but I'd suss that out mostly in play. I think that a "wellspring of energy" would figure in somehow, though.
Gear! Every character has six pieces of Gear, and you find better shit in the dungeon. When everyone gets a new set of Gear, you level up and move to the next, erm, level. Starting Gear is purely cosmetic, but it still helps to determine aesthetic and so on. So!
Head: Vivid has colorful paint on their face and hair.
Body: Bright red and yellow robes.
Legs: Blue silk boots.
Arms: Green gloves, fingertips exposed.
Handheld: Chroma-buckler (a small shield woven together from dew and rainbows)
Accessory: Short staff adorned with colored ribbons
Items! I get ACC+3 (or 3, in my case) items, rolled randomly. OK, I get Poison (hmm, little off brand for Vivid, maybe it's a hallucinogenic or something), Battle Horn (much better!), and a Smokescreen. Awesome!
The last step would be Schools of Magic, but that's not necessarily something you'd start with and honestly I'm not 100% sure I'd pick one up for Vivid anyway, so I'ma leave that one.
And that's basically it! Vivid is dressed like a rainbow and paints their face with any colors they can't fit elsewhere. "Stealth" is something that other people do, Vivid is large & in charge, delving deep into this dungeon to find a fabled wellspring of energy! Woo-ha!
