Games of Amity

A lot of us come to roleplaying games to pick up swords and shields and spells and fight monsters and evil-doers. All it takes is a quick glance through the lifepaths to discover that Burning Wheel supports a much wider playing experience, but still we tend to reach for the Sword Singers and Dwarven Axe Bearers.

So tell me about the games you’ve played that weren’t about wars and warriors, that weren’t about violence and victors. Tell me about the most mundane games you’ve played and how you made them fun.

I’ve played a few non-warrior characters (a favorite being a barkeep!), but the campaigns all included violence, as that’s what our group finds fun.

Now, I’ve read a few threads about the kind of campaigns you are talking about, such as a 1-on-1/husband-wife game where the female PC was trying to get back her son, or somesuch. That sounded great.

… I’m currently playing sort of bookworm-priest who want to create a schism in the official church by writing theological (heretical!) essays. So it’s kind of an indirect political game. And it’s quite fun!

On of our games revolved around an Imperial Lord and his Knight trying to recruit, raise, and train an army to rid the surrounding hills of the Forsworn threat that was gathering there. (We based the world on Skyrim) Very political, DoW to raise army ended in a compromise that gave a time complication. The Knight and Lord players had the foresight to purchase Instruction skill for their characters, so that was put into practice. The time constraint/compromise stated that these men must be here for planting and the harvest, which kept us all tied up for three seasons (seasonal resource maintenance cycle) which pushed the lords estate management skills a bit. I was playing a mage in this one who had just learned a new spell and was trying it out as the soldiers went by, spell went off wrong and I
ended up raising up some unsanctified dead warriors looking for a fight! (The first of many failed castings that day).
It was fun, (even if the wheel of magic did get a bit of a workout that day), we learned a lot about the non-fighting aspects of the game too.