Time to make the donuts character!
The Game: Threadbare
The Publisher: Stephanie Bryant
Degree of Familiarity: Some. I ran a session and I'm familiar with the underlying mechanics.
Books Required: Just the one.
Threadbare is a PbtA game where you're playing toys in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. It's got a lot of knobs to fiddle with; you can play a pretty dark and angsty game, or you can do what we did and have a plush llama named Jamie who has a little tiny book about Peru around his neck and recites facts from it whenever possible. Either's good.
Making a character requires I choose my basic type: I can be a Mekka (I have plastic or metal parts), Softie (I'm a stuffed toy) or a Sock (I'm a...sock. This is more fun to play than you'd think). Then there are some sub-types, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.
Well, since I made Snake-Man when I did a character for Toypocalypse back here, I can't do that one. I kinda feel like making a Softie, actually. Let's do that. Softies are Bossy (basically give them a command move), but I need to pick a form.
Side note: One of the options here is "I'm Real", which is a pretty obvious Velveteen Rabbit reference, and means that the softie was loved so hard by a human that they awakened before the Collapsed. That means that this character carries the memories of the person that loved them and might very well know what happened to the world. That's a lot to carry, and is angsty as fuck, so of course that's what my daughter decided to play when I ran this. I just appreciate games that stab you in the heart a bit, so thanks for that, game author.
Anyway, for my softie, I think I'll make the Hippo of Refuge.
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| Ecce hippo. |
I'm not sure where I got the Hippo, but I've had him for a while. He's kind of leathery and missing an eye, but he's comfy, and we pass him around at my gaming table when someone needs something to cuddle (hey, it happens).
So the Hippo of Refuge (pronouns are him/he/his, it's on the sheet) needs a form. Hmm. Well, the only real options are "Built Like a Bear" and "I'm Real", and I don't think I'm quite in the mood for the wistful sadness of the latter, so we'll go with the former. What that means is that when I gain Hold (which happens when I roll a miss), I can spend it to learn the history of an object or person. Seems pretty in keeping with the Hippo.
I need to assign my abilities. Threadbare only has three: Scrounge, Smile, and Strongarm. I get a -1, a +1, and a +2. I'm gonna put the -1 in Scrounge (the Hippo doesn't have thumbs, after all). I'll put +2 in Smile and the +1 in Strongarm; the Hippo is good with others. He's patient, understanding, and authoritative when necessary.
And then I just need to assign Parts. I get up to 8, and I can assign as many of them as I want now. So let's say: bead eyes, tuft ears, thick body, stumpy legs, floppy tail, stitched mouth, leathery hide, and heavy tread (he thumps when he walks). These things will get damaged in play, and as I replaced them the Hippo can change until he's as much a melange as anything else in this world. So it goes.
And that's the lot, actually. This game is a lot of fun, check it out. Also back my Kickstarter!
