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By MICHAEL ERB
Staff Writer
The Parkersburg News
www.newsandsentinel.com
PARKERSBURG - Despite our petty differences and jealous rivalries, we're still a group of best friends. And thatás why I hate them all.
"Best Friends," a roleplaying game about friendship and hatred, written by Gregor Hutton and published by Box Ninja, puts players in the role of a group of girls or women who are friends ä best friends, actually ä despite the fact they all hate each other.
At its heart "Best Friends" is a storytelling game where players compete to control the narration and to satisfy their charactersá desires and motivations. The character creation is almost a game in itself, as players determine their hatreds for one another, which in turn determines the abilities of each character.
Each character has five stats - Pretty, Smart, Cool, Tough, Rich - each based upon the number of characters who hate you. If everyone at the table hates you because you are Pretty, then you are the prettiest girl at the table. But remember, there is always someone you hate for being prettier than you, so at least one other character will have some points in Pretty.
Each character is given a catch-phrase, a sentence that sums up their attitude and motivation, usually based upon their stats. For example, a girl with a high Rich stat might have the phrase "Anything money canát buy isnát worth having." A character with a high Smart stat might have the phrase "Science explains everything ... except love." Either description gives you a pretty good idea of what that character is about, and half the fun is seeing how different motivations conflict with one another and drive the characters to do the things they do.
Hatreds are used to determine the winners in conflicts. If two characters, for example, are trying to win the same guy, they would compare Pretty scores, and the one with the highest Pretty would win. If the two are equally Pretty, neither would get what they want. The idea is to use what you are best at to get your way, so there is little sense in the Smart girl trying to out-pretty the Pretty one, but she can use her high Smart instead to try mentaly out-manuever her friend. Each player describes how they wish to use their ability, then compares totals to see which player gets to narrate the outcome.
The main mechanic in the game is pushing. To push means to temporarily increase one of your stats in order to win an argument or to keep someone else from winning. When you push, you slide a token ä lovingly called a Friend-Chip ä across the table to the person you hate, so if you push your Pretty in order to win a boyfriend from a rival, you give a token the person you believe is prettier than you (which could be your rival). This give-and-take mechanic continues until everyone has pushed once or if someone concedes defeat. You can only push once per conflict, but you can push on behalf of someone else to help them win.
The key to the game is conflicts, and players have to actively seek out problems and arguments with one another in order to move the story along. During one playtest we ran into the problem of not enough conflict. Players were expecting more of a story to react to, instead of creating their own stories and fighting over the outcomes.
But at the same time, with this player-controlled narration and competion, some incredibly fun and entertaining stories can come about. When you have a full group of players waging war over the color of prom decorations or who stole the cell phone which contained the cute boyás number, the laughter will flow as quickly as the barbs and backstabs.
The entire book is written in a funny, conversational style, and the stick-figure drawings of warring women are hilarious. Everything is done in pink and black with a feminine style of font, but the game works equally well for men or women gamers. In fact, some of the funniest, pettiest and most back-stabbing sessions I've run were with nothing but male players.
One other thing: Even though the game is about conflict and hatred, it lends itself easily to a humorous, tongue-in-cheek tone. You will rarely encounter any player-versus-player moments in the middle of the character-versus-character gameplay, and ultimately the more fun and over-the-top of a story that is told, the more everyone wins.
And isn't that what being best friends is all about?
For more information on "Best Friends" visit http://boxninja.com, and for some scenario suggestions for the game and discussion of other roleplaying, board and card games, visit my blog at http://merb101.livejournal.com. Contact Michael at merb101@gmail.com.
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