I find myself oscillating oddly (with alliteration, no less!) between indie games and more traditional ones. I am a sucker for a long, sweeping campaign (life, unfortunately, favors one shots!) with lots of ins and outs and a cast of thousands. I love a lot of indie games dearly but am worried about them having the mechanical meat to carry a game for a longer period of time. I am also being tempted by the FFG Star Wars games (Picked up Fate & Destiny and accidentally bought Age of Rebellion for myself too!). Have only read F&D so far but the Talent trees with the Force power trees scratches that itch of advancement in a way that a lot of indie games don’t.

I’ve always been curious how much distance I could get with an Apocalypse World powered game. For some reason it feels that Call of Cthulhu will get me farther. Currently playing a game of Dresden Files which has a lot of what I love about indie games (more sharing of narrative control) with a LOT of other widgets that make it feel more traditional. It also strongly emphasizes campaign play.

Conversely, I have found I have LESS inclination to read the pretty trad game books and tend more to beeline toward mechanics to see if it’s something that will allow me to tell the story that I want. Haven’t figured out whether F&D will let me play Jedi that FEEL like what I think they should feel like.

Either way, I hope you find a way out of the tangles of the Burnt Out Forest. Got way too many games I want to play with you, Paul Beakley!