CTGttW Question 11: Gaming

NeilNjae

How could you use this book for gaming? Would you concentrate on the relationshps among the people in the train? The effects of the Wastelands on the train, or on the world?

Apocryphal

Yes, sure - probably all of these. Since the train is metaphorical it would easily be swapped out for any enclosed environment which is keeping out an outside environment. A sailing ship or a space ship would do. Putting it in that light, think of the parallels to Alien, Voyage of the Space Beagle, or Solaris.

Flip the script to humans invading a foreign realm and you have Roadside Picnic or Heart of Darkness (or Silverberg’s Downward to the Earth to give an SF equivalent).

Having interesting characters to interact with and a mystery to solve are must-haves in RPing, so yes - have those too.

BarnerCobblewood

Good question. I guess I see the relationships among the PCs and NPCs as being the responsibility of the whole table, so for that I only need to do my part by making the N/PCs I play functional within their roles. I think my ideas about the Wastelands (monstrosity) as incomprehensible might be of use, but the Wastelands as they were revealed through the book aren't of much use for the kind of game I would like to play. I'm not interested in playing at saving the world / girl, nor in finding the MacGuffin. So I would make it a lot more dangerous.

clash_bowley

I couldn't see how I would use the train. I'm not an 'on the rails' sort of GM. The descriptions of parts of the wasteland were evocative enough to help describe parts of some Fae or other wild magic land. I liked the name Weiwei. After that? I got nothin'.