Reflections on Polaris
So I played in the Polaris game that jhkimrpg ran last weekend at AmberCon Northwest. Damn, it was fun. We had an awesome group of players, if I do say so myself.
It was the end-of-the-con Sunday slot -- usually when all the players' attention spans are at their lowest. Certainly this game was a bit over-the-top, but not all that much.
The odd thing about the game is that it never really felt like we were engaging with the mechanics. The basic mechanic of the game is that each PC has a player ("heart") and an opposition ("mistaken"). The Heart is supposed to further the cause of the character; the Mistaken to thwart the character's progress. This isn't really how it played out in our game. In many cases, the Heart acted the thwart the character just as much as the Mistaken did (you say I have to cut my arm to defeat the demon -- no, I cut my arm off). It never really felt like the Heart and the Mistaken were in any real sort of opposition.
So what did we take from the game book that made this game any different than "d20 Doomed Frostknights"? I think it mostly boils down to the vision of play.
It was the end-of-the-con Sunday slot -- usually when all the players' attention spans are at their lowest. Certainly this game was a bit over-the-top, but not all that much.
The odd thing about the game is that it never really felt like we were engaging with the mechanics. The basic mechanic of the game is that each PC has a player ("heart") and an opposition ("mistaken"). The Heart is supposed to further the cause of the character; the Mistaken to thwart the character's progress. This isn't really how it played out in our game. In many cases, the Heart acted the thwart the character just as much as the Mistaken did (you say I have to cut my arm to defeat the demon -- no, I cut my arm off). It never really felt like the Heart and the Mistaken were in any real sort of opposition.
So what did we take from the game book that made this game any different than "d20 Doomed Frostknights"? I think it mostly boils down to the vision of play.