The role-playing game Passion of the Passions has arrived on Kickstarter and is having great success. But what does this PBTA talk about romantic soap operas?
We Seekers are known to often speak of kickstarter Italian, because we want to see the beautiful local projects that have the success they deserve. We talked, for example, about the amazing success it has made Lex Arcana in 2018, the quickstart for the launch of Vulcania, of the first crowdfunding of Kisart, the kickstarter of History, of the project of Not the End and the campaign of Dura-Lande (Thu e Thu).
Today, however, we are talking about crowdfunding on Kickstarter by a non-Italian project, but very worthy and that we already know interest in many people. In fact, this role-playing game is relatively known in Italy, thanks also to the fact that it was brought to some GdR in the dark in its quickstart format.
We are obviously talking about * dramatic shot * Passion of the Passions!
Passion of the Passions: a role playing game on the *GASP in spanish* soap operas
There is little to be serious about this game, but in its deep hilarity Passion of the Passions it is very serious in its intent: play a Latin soap opera, with all the drama that follows!
Passion of the Passions is a role playing game that uses the video game system PBTA extension (Powered By The Apocalypse, we talked about it Thu!) to tell the story of the protagonists of a soap opera. Everything in this title is designed to evoke the feeling of a romantic but also very dramatic and absolutely over the top television series. The intent, of course, is a tribute / parody of Latin American fiction, whose tropes are the backbone of the game.
This is already noticeable in quickstart di Passion of the Passions (which you can download for free Thu!), where the mechanics of the game are briefly explained.
First, before starting to play, the people at the table have to decide what kind of television series they want to play, what its plot is, what secrets have been revealed and who is still in the dark. But not only! We will also have to decide how long the series has been going on and how the public reacted to it.
The Libretti of the characters of Passion of the Passions
At this point, you can pick up the characters, each of them equipped with Libretto, as in most PBTAs, and in some other games as well Undying. The Libretti represent the archetypal protagonists of the soap operas and are widely aimed at squeezing every drop of drama and passion.
Our Customers The beauty, beautiful and unattainable, ready to make dramatic entrances and confess her love to a person, only to leave her saying “but our love is impossible”. Obviously follows its counterpart, The Knight, the beautiful tormented by the stormy past, but who is now ready to defend someone and to declare their love animatedly and passionately.
You can't miss it either La Doñawise, with a plan and aware of terrible secrets, ready to remind others that she was once beautiful too. Not to be underestimated either The Empleadapure in heart, but too intelligent, and therefore dragged into the amorous intrigues of the people she works with.
You can't have a soap opera without it El Gemelo, the one who has a twin and who uses this similarity to his advantage, especially to say "it wasn't me!". Finally, we have The boss, the dangerous but charming underworld boss who uses his power to get what he wants, or * dramatic music * whoever he wants.
Libretti are archetypes, not imposed genres
I would also like to point out that, although Libretti have names that would suggest a default genre of characters, in reality the description of Libretti leaves much more freedom. For example, La Belleza can also be a man, or a non-binary person. Likewise, El Caballero can be a woman or a non-binary person.
In short, Libretti are archetypes and ways of interpreting a certain character, but they do not limit players in any way. There are no rules that say, for example, that La Belleza and El Caballero cannot be two men in love. Indeed, this idea reminds me of the plot of quite a lot of fanfiction soap operas, and fun to play!
Feature: secret purposes, suitors and thugs
Some of the booklets of Passion of the Passions they have Feature, that is, of the unique characteristics of the character. These features serve as additional story hooks to keep the story going, give the characters additional purposes and, of course, create drama.
La Doña, for example, will have gods Piani to carry on. Keeping two lovers apart, pairing two more, getting a home, protecting a loved one or taking revenge are all viable options. The Empleada, however, will have two pretenders, among which he will choose from episode to episode who will be his love. Finally, El Jefe will be able to maneuver its own thugs to go and beat people.
Basic moves, conditions and meltdown
All Booklets have a series of personal moves, but all characters share a set of basic moves. These moves are always useful for advancing the drama, for example with "express your love passionately" or with "accuse someone of lying".
Interestingly, these moves are not rolled by adding feature bonuses. Indeed, Passion of the Passions it has no characteristic scores, unlike other PBTAs like Masks, Monster hearts o Dungeon World. In Passion of the Passions the die roll is dry until conditions are scored due to some moves.
These Conditions can be Angry, Lustful, Defensive, Hopeless, Introspective, Obsessed, Concerned et similia. Each booklet has its own set of conditions, each of which gives bonuses to certain throws and malus to others. Each condition, in this sense, means that the character is experiencing a certain emotion and therefore acts accordingly.
When a character has marked all of the four conditions and should score a fifth, he goes into Meltdown. El Gemelo in Meltdown will claim what belongs to his brother. La Belleza will throw herself on the person for whom she feels most affection, confessing her love or making her understand what she has lost by leaving her. La Doña will assert her power by throwing someone on the street.
In short: DRAMA!
Agenda, Principles and Moves of the master of Passion of the Passions
Even the person in the role of master will have to feel the soap opera spirit that animates Passion of the Passions.
THECalendar of the master, or its ultimate goals, are simple: make the soap opera romantic, keep the characters' lives unstable and play to find out what will happen. Nothing is written in stone and twists and turns are always around the corner!
Indeed, i Principi of the master consist in describing the soap opera-style scenes, counting the social status of people and tempting the characters, for example. So, the Mosse they will consist of revealing a terrible secret, bringing two rivals face to face or inflicting one Condition, among others.
The Rosa Querida: the Playset of Passion of the Passions
Designed to set an example setting for Passion of the Passions, The Rosa Querida introduces a soap opera set in a rich hotel, La Rosa Querida, in fact. Here, the people who count meet to socialize, do business and, of course, to indulge in lewd pleasures.
The beautiful Elena Teresita Galindo has just returned to the scene, after having disappeared from the show for thirty episodes and having become, in this period of time, an international star. He will have to attend the wedding of the century, which will be held in the Rose. But someone, with white gloves and a knife in his hand, wants to kill her.
The Kickstarter of Passion of the Passions
After months of waiting, the author of Passion of the Passions, Brandon Leon-Gambetta, has finally started the game's crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter.
The campaign (which you can find Thu!) has already met its $ 4.600 target e it is starting to unlock several Stretch Goals. Currently, the first three have been reached: two new Playsets, Corazones Desboscados e The Casa del Átomo (practically X-Men theme!), a new Libretto, El Vividor, Little is missing for the last goal: the new Libretto de La Pirata.
I pledge they're pretty classic, but personally I really liked that one $50, with paper manual (soft cover) and in PDF, deck of PNG cards and the beautiful ones Dados de Passion. It should be noted, in fact, that the backers of this pledge and the $ 70 one (identical, but with hardcover manual!), Are among the most numerous.
Pledges of $ 100 and up are not particularly well thought in my opinion. In fact, having only multiple copies of the same manual and the same gadgets does not convince many people. That this choice was not the best is also due to the fact that the $ 150 and $ 250 pledges have no supporters. But in fact, who would like five copies of the printed manual, five pdfs, five sets of dice and five decks of cards? It would have been better to offer something like a poster, particular character cards or other collectibles.
Some conclusions
In short, if you want to play an extremely narrative game, full of drama, twists and turns passion, Passion of the Passions is definitely for you.
It must be taken into account that, although it imitates a potentially infinite type of narrative such as the soap opera, Passion of the Passions therefore remains a PBTA not particularly suitable for long campaigns.
However, the librettos, the moves of the characters and the master and, in general, the setting of the manual help a lot to create the passionate soap opera atmosphere. In fact, from what I know, practically anyone who has played at Passion of the Passions, even if only for a one-shot, he had a lot of fun.
Trackbacks / Pingbacks