Tabletop RPG Flames of Freedom mixes Hamilton with Stranger Things

Flames of Freedom Grim and Dangerous RPG, the latest from Andrews McMeel Publishing, begins with a bold claim. Instruct players, firmly and directly, to discard the conventionally taught history of the American Revolution in favor of a new set of rules. Players must absolutely dump all colonialist and exploitative violence into an age-appropriate trash can and set it on fire. What’s left is exactly what it says on the tin: a grim and dangerous world filled with mystery, horror, and adventure, and a chance to rewrite the American Revolution.

Flames of freedom it’s a supernatural setting that feels like a mix of Hamilton and Strange things. As your neighbors march to fight the Red Coats, you will be lurking in the shadows battling arcane powers that have existed on the continent for thousands of years. In this tabletop role-playing game, the process of play becomes instead a story of creation, an open and engrossing alternate story of the troubled founding of our troubled nation where everyone, and I mean everyone, has a hand in it. ball.

On the way to Trenton, Archibald’s group had met a new traveling companion. He said his name was Livingston Hobb and claimed to be a Quaker. His dog, Biffer, was as calm and polite as his owner. Together, they must have made a curious sight for people heading in the opposite direction.

Leading the way was Gideon, the knurled hilt of his carabiner held loosely in his Black hand, one slice of birdseed sticking out of the other. Beauregard followed him almost every day, the smug young dilettante smearing his pale forehead with a silk handkerchief. Nanye-hi was walking beside Archibald. She kept up a pleasant chatter, telling stories about the Cherokee nation’s birthing practices. Then came Mercedes, a devout Spanish woman whose violet birthmarks contrasted with her long, dark hair. Red Bonny, her green eyes always fixed on the shadows beyond the roadside trees, held the rear. Sweat glistened from the dark sleeves of the tattoos on his forearms.

They would have to work quickly to find the rogue spy, their contact in the city. Snow crunched under his boots. I wish it wasn’t too late to save them.

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The Revolutionary War is in full swing, with armies on the march and Boston under siege. Also, magic is real, incredibly rare, and difficult to use. Players face supernatural beings, such as vampires and werewolves. You’ll also find demons that are unique to America, like Skin-Walker, a mysterious shapeshifting creature born from the oral traditions of the Navajos.

Players will have to defend themselves with vintage weapons like the Brown Bess musket that sends its massive .75 caliber projectiles out into the world behind a blinding cloud of smoke. The action is fast-paced and brutal, with matchups lasting only a few terrifying rounds.

History is written by the victors, and in Flames of freedom the goal is victory at all costs. The problem is that the enemy is not always who you expect him to be. But the book itself succeeds early and often in making this perilous scenario attractive to a variety of players, through its framing and the developer’s thoughtful research. This is clear from the introduction, called the Preamble, which sets the expectations for the Historian (aka master of the game):

Flames of freedom It is not a tabletop RPG where you will discriminate against women, practice slavery and indentured servitude, slaughter innocent people, or ‘tame the wild nature’ of indigenous nations. It’s a game where people come together to defend themselves against a secret war that took root long before the American War of Independence. […] It is up to the group of players to decide how strictly they will stick to the story. Everyone should be a part of this decision, and it should be unanimous.

The game fills the room with energy from the start thanks to its character creation system. On Flames of freedom, players are encouraged to create random characters. A roll of the dice assigns your “culture” – be it black, British, colonial, French, indigenous, multicultural, or Spanish. The authors admit that it is a general term, but ultimately, it is up to the players to define what it means for their character.

“We are not trying to imply that culture is monolithic in feeling,” add the developers, “since people are individuals.” They then proceed to inform players what life was like at the time, leaving them daydreaming about where their character might fit in. The 660-page book presents concise but detailed information on everything from marriage and the economy, to education, crime, and punishment. . Chapter 11 is by far the most extensive of this type of background material, with nearly 40 pages detailing 16 different indigenous nations in and around the Colonies at the time.

To create this myriad of world-building details, Flames of freedom the developers worked with numerous accessibility, culture and security consultants. The content warnings are clear and well placed. The credits read like a who’s who of modern game design. In fact, developer Daniel D. Fox tells Polygon that his team only included indigenous nations in the book if a member of one of those modern nations examined their work.

This type of guidance is ubiquitous and consistent from start to finish. As a result, everyone at the table feels well armed with a shared set of values ​​and a deep-seated desire to slay every monster that plagues the fighting colonies.

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Inside the hut, the creature shed its human form like a nightgown. Beneath it was a tangle of wet flesh bristling with long bones. Red Bonny’s breath caught in her throat, the oil pot hanging limply in her hand. Mercedes burst through the door behind her, a small pistol pointed at her chest. She fired.

The bullet struck the monster in the face and demolished its lower jaw. A foam of thick black ichor bubbled from his ruined face. The door behind her locked, the thing unfolded six limbs and twisted back. With a whirlwind of bare knees and damp elbows, she forced herself up the narrow staircase, crawling like a rat through a ship’s bilge.

If the spy was still alive, she was also upstairs. Nanye-hi and Gideon charged after him.

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Mechanically, Flames of freedom runs on the Zweihänder system. Published in 2017 after a successful Kickstarter campaign, the original Zweihänder Grim and Dangerous RPG won a Ennie Award for Best Game Next year. It is a d100-based design that is simple enough to use. Unlike Dungeons & Dragons, it allows for both critical successes and critical failures. But I enjoy how power is exchanged between the players and the Historian.

Flames of freedom It includes a kind of narrative coin, which is represented by a small group of coins shared by everyone at the table. At the beginning of a session, players have the majority of those coins. By pushing one across the table toward the Historian, they can edit the scene in interesting ways; reroll the dice, improve combat damage, or add something to your inventory. It’s a clever way to give players agency over the story, but the historian can also use those coins against the players.

Another quirk comes with the game’s classes, which are represented by over 90 different historical professions. Players can be brewers or bosses, healers or filibusters, vagabonds, weavers or whalers. Professions offer stunts, powerful game-bending abilities that are thematically based on a character’s lived experience. As a character levels up, he will take on new professions. In gameplay terms, that means you won’t have to roll up a new character to have a new experience at the table, unlike other TRPGs where characters don’t evolve as much but instead trade for more powerful versions of themselves.

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What was left of the spy hung like wet leather from the monster’s shoulders as he huddled in the bedroom. Archibald and the others hadn’t caught up with her in time. Cornered and unmasked, the creature knew there would be no escape. He began the song with broken teeth, his snaking tongue struggling to form the ancient syllables.

The old magistrate ran forward, his stiff dark robe casting a fluid, flickering shadow across the wall. He buried the burning torch inside what was left of the creature’s mouth. Gideon and then Nanye-hi fired and her pierced body fell back into the sink.

As it sank, what was left of the other missing inhabitants floated to the surface.

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Perched at the top of the character sheet is a conflict tracker. On the left side is your character’s flaw, and on the right is his core belief. Players can stick to their beliefs or rely on that flaw. Then, at the end of each session, everyone at the table participates in a kind of debriefing, reconstructing how their characters are responding to the inherent conflicts between their ideals and their flaws. Ultimately, the historian acts as the final arbiter. The result is a slow but inevitable progression from a normal, god-fearing resident of the original 13 colonies to a hardened warrior slaying monsters with a dark and deadly past. That’s the real magic that will propel your group to the next session and beyond.

Flames of Freedom Grim and Dangerous RPG It’s one of the best new TRPGs released this year, but it’s not for the faint of heart. You can try with a free Quickstartup version, which includes a little adventure and a selection of pregenerated characters. But, even if he never throws a die in anger, it is nonetheless a treasure trove of well-thought-out historical information. The book will officially go on sale on October 12. Expect a community-made campaign to be available online at around the same time.

Flames of Freedom Grim and Dangerous RPG it was revised with a final commercial version provided by Andrews McMeel Publishing. Thanks to our experts who helped bring this game to life: Patrick Gill, Cicero Holmes, Ash parrish, Tasha Robinson, and Tricia schneider. Our historian was Daniel D. Fox. Vox Media has affiliate associations. These do not influence editorial content, although Vox Media may earn commissions for products purchased through affiliate links. You can find Additional information on Polygon’s ethics policy here.

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