Richard Kelly says D&D is like salt; it’s about keeping bad things away, such as damage, curses, tragedy and evil lords.
In contrast, Kelly’s What If We Kissed… is sugar; it’s about finding the sweet things and getting closer to them.
The 12-page PDF is a Pay What You Want and Creative Commons; Richard even offers help on designing your own scenarios and expansions. Despite the name, you can hack the system, appropriately repurposed, for horror.
The download begins with a safety and kindness section recommending the x-card.
The set-up has the games’ players controlling their Main Characters, switching back and forth into the GM role to provide other details. At the start of the game, the GM (of which there can be more than one) finds out what sort of setting and game people want.
Next, the download takes you through Goal-Orientated Storytelling. That means short stretches of time per scene, a Main Character per scene, and the goal of having the thing that the player wanted to have to happen to the Character happen to the Character.
What If We Kissed… uses Honey as a mechanic. Honey is a thing players give to GM in reward for facilitating a moment that they especially liked. It’s not really Honey, it doesn’t do anything, but it’s nice.
The game ends with help and tips on how to hack the system and how to make it suitable for the story you and others want to tell.
I paid a few quid more than What If We Kissed… asked for and don’t regret it. It’s high quality.
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