A while back my fifteen-year-old nephew asked me to run an RPG for him. He wants it to be set in a Renaissance-ish Italy, a young prince whose father’s throne has been usurped and he has to regain the city. After talking to him about what he wants in the game I decided to run it using BW (as opposed to FATE/Spirit of the Century).
And then I bought Mouse Guard.
I’m thinking that maybe I should run it with Mouse Guard. This might be because the lighter rules of MG appeals to me. It might also be because MG is new and I want to run it and I don’t think he’d be into changing the idea to anything involving mice with swords.
I also think that even without the structure of an NPC giving missions that the basic adventure structure would suit us better. I don’t get the sense that he’s into belief-driven play quite yet, that he wants a more reactive role.
So, I want to hack this for a one-on-one set in something like Renaissance Italy.
Gwendolyn as a scheming matriarch? It still works. And not an uncommon occurrence. The player is going to be looking for someone just like that, you might as well give it to him.
You might change the duties and the obstacles for the seasons? This doesn’t strike me a man versus nature story.
The Nature can be replaced with the Power, used in all of it’s forms. That is what politics is all about really.
I have been thinking of running a hack myself and I have been struggling about how far I am going to take it before I start having to reinvent the wheel. Sorry for the pun.
Power appeals to me better as a stat. Raise it too high you become overwhelmed by your own scheming, too low and you’re broken. That’s nice and neat. It might even be a good starting point to hang the rest of the schemes around…