Wednesday 14 March 2012

Everything is Dolphins

Two links for your amusement and edification. The first is Everything is Dolphins, a homebrew RPG in which, well, everything is dolphins. It is best described by its "discoverer":

Everything is Dolphins occupies a curious place. While it is clearly the work of someone new to the design of role-playing games, it also displays the some of the sophisticated sensibilites one would expect from an old hand. Rather than the excess of complexity that clutters most freshman efforts, Everything is Dolphins offers concision and simplicity. The author gives few examples to illustrate how to use the system and no sample adventure, leaving much to the player’s imagination (and effort). With its bare bones, lacunae, and undeniable beauty, Everything is Dolphins is the role-playing game analogue of outsider art.

That discoverer is the owner of PlaGMaDA, the Player Generated Map and Document Archive, whose "mission is to preserve, present, and interpret play generated cultural artifacts, namely manuscripts and drawings created to communicate a shared imaginative space":

The Archive will solicit, collect, describe, and publicly display these documents so as to demonstrate their relevance, presenting them as both a historical record of a revolutionary period of experimental play and as aesthetic objects in their own right.  By fostering discussion and educating the public, it is hoped that the folkways which generate these documents can be encouraged and preserved for future generations.

A laudable goal. Take a look at the Archive. You'll not be disappointed.

6 comments:

  1. I play tested Everything Is Dolphins and have a signed, pre-release copy (#6 of 10 if I recall correctly).

    It's a fun little game.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Holy fuck, that's my pal Sean who drew that dolphin.

    WORLDS COLLIDE!!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ZOMG! Which dolphin? The header one?

      Delete
    2. The warty one with a battleaxe in its mouth.

      Delete
  3. That is very cool. I never would have thought...

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for the Everything is Dolphins mention, every time a gamer talks about the game and doesn't punch me in the face I'm pretty happy.

    ReplyDelete