Another old random unfinished draft polished up for the Man of TIN Blogvent Calendar.
Escape from Kraznir
This role playing scenario was published in the late 1980s or early 1990s in an English textbook as an attempt to encourage literacy and group work through fantasy, especially amongst boys. Hence all the writing exercises mentioned. I don’t have and can’t find this old English text book but found examples on Miss Ransom’s teaching website:
https://missransom.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/escape-from-kraznir-writing1.docx
Thanks, Miss Ransom! As web materials vanish, I have taken some screenshots for future reference:
Many cheap to expensive plastic and metal fantasy ‘minis’ (miniature figures) based on these fantasy archetype characters are available in many places, some pictured on my sister blog : https://poundstoreplasticwarriors.wordpress.com/2019/02/24/fantasy-plastic-warriors/
Pupil creative writing version by a young man called James https://rapturerise.wordpress.com/2010/06/14/escape-from-kraznir/
Hopefully this may be of use for scenario writing in the future.
Links with RPG and fantasy gaming?
Jennifer or Jen Burdoo, a gaming librarian in the USA, has been working on simple Dungeons and Dragons (D & D) type RPG Scenarios and rules to use in the ‘community outreach’ setting of a public library, alongside simple Featherstone Rules for historical figure gaming.
She recently posted on my Angria ImagiNations related Blogvent post some links to simple RPG rules and games mechanic sites using very few figures:
Jennifer has been using material from the RPG Tinker blog, a great web name, proof that it’s not just Historical figure gamers or wargamers who cannot resist taking rules apart and tweaking and tinkering with them:
http://rpg-tinker.blogspot.com/2019/05/play-world.html
For those of us who play mostly solo games without opponent, umpire or dungeon master, Jennifer recommends an interesting RPG Tinker page or post:
Some ideas for RPG Solo play
http://rpg-tinker.blogspot.com/2014/12/roll-and-read-method-for-solo-rpg-play.html
For those who cannot pick up Google docs here is a summary doc by Jennifer Burdoo of RPG Tinker’s Playing the World character generator. (Screenshot)
Kraznir as it was used in schools was probably inspired by Games Workshop and the popular Fighting Fantasy type books still in print and in Apps by Tin Man Games (no relation to this my Man of TIN blog) https://fightingfantasyapps.com/books/the-warlock-of-firetop-mountain/
RPGs and historical wargaming?
I can see several rules tinkering uses for this RPG character elements in the forthcoming gaming year 2020
Oh no, it’s the roaring Twenties all over again! There will probably in gaming and wider culture be a nod to 20s style Flappers, Bugsy Malone, Prohibition, Pulp, but hopefully not a rerun of mass unemployment, world recession, the rise of fascism and dictators …
Possible RPG or character driven ‘grit’ could be given to the kind of small scale skirmish games you can find on Man of TIN blog and its Bronte and Scouting sister blogs such as:
Small scale Commando Raids including Operation Hardtack and Greek Sacred Squadron
Scouting Wide Games scouting patrols
Home Guard related Operation Sealion Games
French Indian War SYW Featherstone Close Wars type of games
Angrian and Bronte based ImagiNation skirmishes
There is nothing new under the gaming sun as Donald Featherstone was doing this in his 1960s and 70s Skirmish Wargaming book and chapters on “Personalised Wargaming” in Solo Wargaming and Advanced Wargaming. All these Featherstone titles are still available in reprint or digital via John Curry’s History of Wargaming project
Playing at the World?
Play the World – Not to be confused with Jon Petersons’s book and RPG blog http://playingattheworld.blogspot.com
Blog posted by Mark Man of TIN 23 December 2019
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