March Madness OGBC: Day 19

"What is the fluffiest RPG you have played? Was it enjoyable?"

And here we are, right back at Maid RPG. As explained before, Meido, while not exactly super light on mechanics, is easily explained and played by anyone with a pair of hands, dice, and a general understanding of the words "harem anime."

And, well, it wasn't that great. The intro scenario, "Birthday Party," is kind of the exact wrong thing you want your first time players going through. It's 90% directionless, relying on players to generate plot, objectives, drama, antagonists, protagonists...

It's a sandbox, basically. But a sandbox where your players are roleplaying Japanese Anime Maids. That already rules out 90% of any target demographic, but when you compound this hurdle with a game that is, to put things amicably, essentially aimless, you have a bunch of people sitting around a table wondering why they even give a shit.

There's a million ways to make the intro scenario more interesting, so in lieu of writing any more about players dropping out of that intro game mentally, then waiting about an hour before thanking god we needed to leave before the weather hated us, I'm going to create a simple random die roll generator to make it better.

So, without further ado, here we have:

Maid RPG Intro. It's Master's Birthday, But (roll 1d6)...

1: Master Wants to Go to the Circus But is Terrified of Clowns
2: Aliens Abduct the Birthday Cake
3: A Zombie Bit the Master
4: Master is Missing (Or Did He Ever Exist to Begin With?)
5: All the Master's Guests are Assassins Hired to Kill Him
6: The Rival Master Next Door Ordered All the Jolly Jumps In Town

Welp, that looks fixed.

*drops mic*

March Madness OGBC: Day 12

"What humorous RPG have you enjoyed most? Give details."

My experience with humorous RPGs is in a similar category with spies and superheroes, but I have had the pleasure of engaging in one game I would consider to have been exceptionally humorous, and that game is Maid RPG.

What is Maid RPG? Well, It's a celebration of the harem anime culture, where a group of attractive girls (occasionally dudes) coalesces around a main character and showers him (sometimes her) with their love and affection, hoping that today will be the day he chooses one between them all, usually to be his bride.

Such is the affectation behind Maid RPG, except that players constitute the group of love-struck girls, in the form of maids. The GM is called the Master, and it's up to him to create the setting for all the drama to take place in the game. Players attempt to complete tasks and raise his affection levels for them, while occasionally sabotaging their fellow maids and trying to raise their stress levels (essentially hp), in order to take them out of the game for a few scenes.

Maid RPG is the type of game that caters to a certain sect of gamers. Non-anime fans will have very little to enjoy in the setting, in my experience, as a lot of the game relies on a player's ability to act out the various tropes seen in harem anime. My only real criticism for the ruleset is that the introductiory scenario, "Birthday Party," is a bit too open ended and without any real drama to engage the players who need a bit more plot to buy in to the setting.

That said, I'd definitely like to take a crack at running an actual 12 "episode" game of Maid RPG. Perhaps it could get enough steam to get a second season.