I didn't know about Jeepform. No monsters. Not necessarily. No violence. Not necessarily. No dungeon. Games about relationships. About love. About trauma. About connecting. About exploring possibilities.Sounds vague? It sure did to me! It's a whole different approach to roleplaying than D&D, Traveller, Savage Worlds, Supers, or even World of Warcraft. It's more like a crossbreed between immersive chamber theater, theater sports, and psychological exploration.
Yes, you can tell many sorts of stories in Jeepform, another name for Freeform of the Jeeper group. It says the name derives from "they go by Jeep", which might mean that I could join with my own '92 Jeep Cherokee if I can get it running again, but maybe that's besides the point. Freeform games are focussed on having a story-role-playing experience, without many rules or dice in the usual way, but with one or more game masters that you trust. Games can be live action, or semi-live action, with players moving around several rooms while imagining the scenery, characters and events.
One game focusses on four Elvis impersonators going on a journey, with flashbacks and all. Another is a strange dream journey through Agnes' divorce and her memories, somewhat remniscent of Lars von Trier's Dogville. A game could be about anything. Some Jeepers also made games you can actually buy, like Under my Skin or Breaking the Ice, with somewhat adult relationship themes. But with a very different approach to telling the story.
It's different. It confuses me. And I'm mightily intrigued.
It was things like Jeepform and Norwegian style that brought me back to gaming. It opened my mind to allow all the possibilities to come into play.
ReplyDeleteThe Nihilistic style also had a big impact. Games like Normality and Pervo are so far off the radar most won't even admit they are a game, let alone an RPG.
If you really want to blow a head pipe try these:
http://www.1km1kt.net/rpg/normality
(get both files-scroll through the Normality first, then read the second file - I'm certain Hugh would love knowing I turned another onto Normality :)
http://www.fabula.no/pervoEng.html
(linkage at the bottom of the page)
Welcome to the darq side :)
@ADD Grognard:
ReplyDeleteChecked Pervo and Normality out... they're weird... Pervo seems to be too much a (rightful, I'm afraid) critisism of our real world to be a fun game. About Normality, I find it hard to grasp, but it is intriguing, even if dark :-)
cheers