If a Persona's Despair ever reaches (or rises above) 75 , he suffers from a sudden fit of angst...

October 2, 2003 6:33 AM

Byronic Roleplaying?

Lord Vincent Smallpees (R51 D58 O21) wants to seduce Lady Margaret Whateley (R45 D55 O23), the wife of his best friend Alfred Thompson. He choses to tell her he's been loving her for such a long time, that his heart will shatter if she ever refuses to be kind, or something like that. His Actor choses to roll below Vincent's Despair ; he rolls: it's a 11, which is a Success. Cowabunga!

Welcome to Wuthering Heights: The Roleplaying Game. (More here.)
posted by grabbingsand (12 comments total)

I've played some steampunk rpgs, and the appeal is always the society, never the magik/techno trappings. I think this would be a hoot, and find myself strangely tempted...
posted by jearbear at 8:52 AM on October 2, 2003

As someone who loved the idea of RPGs, but never was very interested in the whole "wizards and monsters" aesthetic of the D&D world, I've always been a little surprised and disappointed that there were not more thematic variations like this.
posted by briank at 9:37 AM on October 2, 2003

For those who are interested, I understand that a more in depth (commercial PDF) version of the game is in preparation.
posted by MattM at 10:26 AM on October 2, 2003

The Problems Table is a laugh riot.

I'm particularly amused at how being Irish is somehow in between being mute and fat.
posted by thanotopsis at 10:35 AM on October 2, 2003

< pendantic>
Bronte-esqe maybe...but never Byronic.
< /pendantic>
posted by dejah420 at 10:38 AM on October 2, 2003

Briank! Check out Nicotine Girls, Bedlam, Shadows, Everyone is John, Dead Meat (gotta hit that zombies meme), Wriaths, Criminal Element (worth the .zip hassle), and (humbly, my own) Matchmaker.

Lots of us want to break roleplaying out of its little ghetto. That means changing not only the subject matter, but also the way the games work, structurally and socially. Conventional RPGs aren't inviting, they set a bar.

(Those are all free games, for good and bad. Here are some games you can buy, and well worth it: My Life with Master, Soap, Dust Devils, InSpectres, and Universalis.)
posted by lumpley at 10:41 AM on October 2, 2003 [1 favorite]

Lumpley? Dude!
posted by Hogshead at 12:23 PM on October 2, 2003

Oops, I guess I forgot to mention the Adventures of Baron Munchausen and De Profundis.

Hey Hogshead!
posted by lumpley at 12:31 PM on October 2, 2003

Cheers for the Bedlam plug, Lumpley!
posted by MattM at 1:57 PM on October 2, 2003

REPOST
posted by crazy finger at 2:09 PM on October 2, 2003

If they added a decent Psionics system, this game would have some potential.
posted by Hildago at 6:14 PM on October 2, 2003

Somebody needs to mention Lumpley's kill puppies for satan. Okay, it's not exactly Wuthering Heights, but it's a damn good game.
posted by maurice at 6:24 AM on October 3, 2003