For the past few months, I've been running a once-a-month 2-hour Cha'alt game for my one kid who currently likes roleplaying games.
Certain players from our regular Cha'alt campaign generously participate so that it's not a GM and solo-player situation (which is fine, but far from ideal). I'm grateful for their participation.
Yeah, it's geared-down to a PG-13 level, which basically means you get seven-eighths of the Cha'alt experience... just leaving out the sleaze. Not a problem since there's still plenty of eldritch, gonzo, science-fantasy, post-apocalypse, humor, pop-culture, and grindhouse exploitation for everyone.
In the regular Cha'alt campaign (about to enter our 4th year this Saturday), I occasionally ask the players to tell me what they're characters are doing in the cantina, or what they got up to last night at that party or what kind of hat an NPC is wearing, stuff like that.
In our last once-a-month game, over the weekend, I had the players roll a d6 on this random table to determine a prior experience their character had with the Crimson Rock of Sacrifice. And before rolling, I told them that if they could elaborate on the result with an extra detail or two, I would reward them with a point of Divine Favor.
Essentially, this is an easy and immediate way for players to add to their background, creating bits and pieces of the campaign setting without turning it into a wholesale storygame. In each case, for all 5 players, there was a nice little sentence or two that expanded something about their characters and/or the world at large. In some cases, revealing much more about their character than any pre-written backstory or standard decision-point, like which way to go, right or left?
I'm a firm believer that moments of storygame-adjacent gaming (I wouldn't really call asking players for a creative contribution "mechanics") improve the overall RPG experience because it gives players an opportunity to creatively express themselves, impacting, as I've said, their character and the campaign setting simultaneously... without the world feeling arbitrary and subjective.
While I won't be detailing what happened in that session, I can say that due to a Federation-assisted water shortage, the adventures from A'agrybah journeyed to an oasis to quench their thirst and perhaps make some money. By the end, they found a way below the sand and were able to open one of seven colorful keys to whatever awaits them on the other side.
While the once-a-month campaign is distinct from our long-running Cha'alt campaign, involving the Crimson Bastards, certain details will carry-over. For example, the color-keyed locked wall and the Federation data-center blown up by rebels.
I encourage you, gentle reader, to do similarly. Next time you have the PCs roll on a random table, ask them to embellish whatever you're about to read - and give them a reward to incentivize good behavior. If you don't use anything like Divine Favor of inspiration, give them a d6 they can use at any point in the session to boost one of their rolls.
Please, come back and comment with any storygame-adjacent stuff you come up with, and say if it was successful or not, and what happened. ;)
Thanks,
VS
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