After weeks of umming and erring, I finally bought the Nobilis and Chuubo Bundle on Bundle of Holding, featuring the games Nobilis and Chuubo’s Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine by Jenna Katerin Moran.
It’s not that I wasn’t sure of the games’ worth. On the contrary, it’s because I well understand the quality and beauty and ingenuity of these games that I considered buying the bundle, despite already owning both of the games. Chuubo’s Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine, the one that I’ve played before, is unlike any other roleplaying game I’ve ever tried, and the scope of the ideas it can add to a game designer’s toolbox is immense.
I bought the bundle because I hope the Chuubo supplements will help me sort through a few issues that are holding me back from running another Chuubo’s campaign. I really want to, but some relatively minor things are in the way, like the need to provide and use large amounts of stationery props (the Quest and Issue cards). I got some advice on this on Google+, so I might have eventually got round to doing it again regardless, but this Bundle is a prompt to dive back into this (occasionally mindblowing) game and see if I can sort through it.
Even without playing, there are so many great game mechanics in these games that can be lifted out and used in other places. That’s what I did recently with the emoting rules in my blog post on Revealed Emotionality in roleplaying games, but there is so much more gold to mine in these pages.
To make a long story short, there are only two days left on the Bundle of Holding. If you don’t have these games already, this is an excellent opportunity to get them at a bargain price. If you own them, maybe it’s time to give them another look. I’m planning to do just that.
There’s beauty here. Share it.