This game was Tobias' entry in the Game Designers' Challenge for Ropecon 2006. The theme for the challenge was "bad omens", and the organiser of the event Satu Heliö. Tobias is going off on a tangent, and is not ashamed to admit that. As I read it, bad omens is about foreshadowings and foreshadowings is about fate. The game is really a fantasy game, which is very unusual for Tobias.
A small boy is standing at a metaphorical crossroads joining four roads, each road representing his fate would he venture down it. The boy's fate would he venture down a certain road is played for each road, and the boy is then given his choice. There are many degrees of freedom, even though the different fates are outlined in the game.
The game takes place in a skewed version of Sweden in the 70s. Any fairy tale elements or oddities in the game are to be treated as perfectly natural by the characters. Many of the events, places and persons in the game are disguised metaphors. Thus, contrasts will be sharp, things taken to extremes and many things loaded with symbolic values. This is valuable input to your imagination to be used however you like.
- 4 players, 1 game master
- 2-4 evenings
- Bad omens, fantasy, main player pattern, allegoric play, weird.
- Ropecon, 2006
Things
This is the first game of Tobias written in English from the start. The writing of the game was a bit rushed, which has most likely lead to speling errors and whatnot. If you find such things, please tell Tobias.
The game currently lacks character descriptions for the extras, but is perfectly playable nonetheless. Actually, we're not sure the game would be better with character descriptions added.
Some of the images in Four Fates were taken from morguefile.