First off, I’m not actually planning a real heist… I’ve made some progress on a Table Top RPG I’ve been writing. The games working title is High Crimes and Misdemeanors. I doubt that will remain the total but rather than putting congestive bandwidth on such things, I’ll wait to the end and figure that out later. Because of the political climate and timing of this post, I didn’t want to put that in the title but I will probably use HCaM in the title if I post more about it later. 

I love Tabletop Role Playing games. I’ve been them playing since 1994. They were a major part of my life at various points in time, and unfortunately absent from others. Some of my best childhood memories are of my characters. Just last week I was taking with Justin about characters we had in game it was literally no different than talking about old friends. RP has a deep personal connection for me, that I am happy to share with others. 

Because the way life works out I don’t get to RP as much as my group, my son or I want too. The time required to prep for the game and the dedicated 3-5 hours to play a session in our current weekly cycle of work, school, family events and other peoples similar proves to be difficult. My travel schedule always seems to get in the way of it as well. I’m not unique and a work gaming chat room (we use Google Chat at work where anyone can create a group, we have a Role Playing one) has many of us that talk about the same problem. This gave me an idea… 

In the early naughts (2000s) there was an Indie RPG scene that focused on smaller compact RPGs. They were exploring different genres and play styles that were different from other games at the time; D&D, World of Darkness, GURPS, Travelers and so on. Games like Prime Time Adventures, Dogs in the Vineyard, and Dread were pioneering different experiences in different ways. 

With that stirring in my head, I have been fascinated with a creating what I think of as one-shot games. My definition thought on this is that creating characters, learning the rules and playing the game all happen in one sitting, ideally 3 – 4 hours. This isn’t much different than many German-style board games, nor is it unreasonable amount of time to RP. Each group an session will be a different length of time, but that’s the goal. Additional, the games should be replayable, meaning that you can play it multiple times and feel like you are getting a different experience. 

I will see how this goes and I have a lot more to do and a lot more to learn. However, I am excited by the premise. I am nearly ready to start playtesting. If you are interested let me know.