Yes! The Saffords Files are back and what better way to ring in the new year than an article which blantantly pimps our newest product? But hey, Instant Game (or IG for those in the know) is truly a product worth pimping. What other game determines the genre, setting and style at the beginning of the game, and you get to develop your characters on-the-fly in the middle of the session? None- and that's why IG kicks ass.
The idea for IG was hatched only a few months ago. The original concept was a Halloween game which was completely randomly determined. Caz handwrote a few charts, we agreed to use a simplified Stories System for the rules, and we were off. The players that first night were myself, Flameblade and Tahlvin. Caz, in all his glorious genius, was the SM. We got together on IRC over at Dumpshock and let the dice fly:
Genre: Straight Up Horror
Time Period: Wild West
Population: Small Hamlet
Starting Location: On the Road
The results were, to say the least, wicked awesome. We made up our characters on the spot. I was a gambling, saloon piano player. Tahlvin was an uber-tough outdoorsman. Flame was a plainspoken farmer. I won't give it all away, but you should know that there were zombies involved and not everyone survived. But don't take my word for it, read the transcript:
In a word: holyshit. None of us could believe how cool this was. We got on the boards and started ranting and raving about this super wicked idea we were on to. Our excitement was infectious, and interest quickly grew on the message boards. Not one, not two, but three threads developed to discuss IG.
We quickly began to organize another game, and began to create unique tables for different settings and play factors. These rules eventually evolved into a free Instant Games Bare Bones edition that we circulated for new players. This contained an abbreviated version of the random tables and character creation rules for playtesting.
So for our second session, we had me, Thorn, Threadbare, Tahlvin and Flameblade. This time Mike was the SM. Again we played on IRC over at dumpshock and rolled the dice:
Contemporary
Camp
Genetic Engineering
Epic Heroes
This time, I played a clone of Ben Franklin trained in the style of drunken monkey fighting. Thorn was the beautiful Helen of Troy. Flame was the crazy Doctor Brown from Back to the Future. Threadbare was Spartacus, and Tahlvin was Jeckyll/Hyde. We found ourselves trying to battle an army of Bruce Lees... okay I can't really do this justice by trying to explain it-- just read the transcript:
For the third session we had me, Mike, Reika and Flame. Caz was the SM. The relevant rolls:
Pre-European Invasion America
Fantasy
Horror
Undead
Wow. I was an Aztec priest-in-training. No one saw this coming. And somehow, it still turned out awesome. We played a truly epic life-and-death struggle in ancient Aztec culture. Again we were all blown away:
I suppose that's enough for now. We've played three or four games since the Aztec struggle, and they've all been awesome (although there are still players bitter with me for my deadly sabotage in a near-future, elf war). I encourage everyone to check out the boards for the next game because we're always looking for new players to help tweak the system. As we say-- Instant Game: Just Add Players.
