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TTRPG Tuesday: Experiencing the Riders

Welcome back! To TTRPG Tuesday! We’re going to pick up exactly where we left off, with an experience first approach for the Riders RPG.  I’m already yawning for my bed so let’s crack on!

  • It should be like the first time I encountered tokusatsu - what is this? Is this power rangers? What does this word mean? Oh my God it’s Power Rangers.  Wait Power Rangers isn’t a straight translation? The original series is its own thing? Its own decades-long franchise? And Masked Rider has its own franchise? But they’re related and cross-over? (Shit… I should make Rangers as a companion version)
  • The players are toku fans who go No fucking way, I can’t believe this is an RPG (even though there are other toku-inspired RPGs) or weeby Western superhero fans looking for that capes and cowls feel but with a parallel aesthetic.
  • The players sit down, they see the character sheet, they go okay, this is familiar enough but has things to set it apart.  I like the bars for tracking stats.  They build the world together and introduce their characters, as well as their characters’ Ridersonas.  This shared informing of the world sets the stage for sharing narrative responsibility.
  • They start playing, and it definitely has boardgame bones.  The tables advertise that there’s structure and constraints to the storytelling - but the first Narrator has to set the tone for how much of the basic card text is open to interpretation/embellishment/expansion.
  • First time players start off hewing close to the strict mechanics and the letter of the laws.  But as each encounter involves 2+ players acting out and roleplaying, it gets easier.  The players are drawn into the world, as much into one another’s heroic journeys as their own.
  • The players find a decent amount of challenge, and fail some encounters, but the sacrifice mechanic lets them barter their future selves’ ease for quick hits of gratification.  As they acquire Advantages and gain new forms, they feel that character growth rush and get invested.  They find the tone they want this story to go.
  • They reach the climax of the story, jostling elbows with one another, enemies to friends, rivals to the end, and they have enough stories of thrilling combat and improv scene joy and heartbreak that the game enters regular rotation.  Whenever the group is into something a little more indie, that strikes a tight balance between spotlighting one player at a time and ongoing inactive-player-participation, they’ll reach for the weird cardgame based on Japanese superheroes, for a bonkers but balanced evening of fun.

Alright that’s enough of that for the time being.  It’s hardly comprehensive but I’m tired.  Good night!

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