A Short Cut to Broccoli Sushi

Last time I wrote, I gave myself a lot of homework and ended up somewhere I didn't completely like. After some playing and some thinking, I understand why.

I just wanted my players to tell me they'll have broccoli sushi with a side of barbecue nachos if that's where their mind is at, without looking at a fucking menu. Instead, I went about designing the aforementioned fucking menu. That was pretty stupid of me.

So like I said, I did some more thinking and there came a realisation: I wanted my players to play someone like Bilbo. If you think about it, at the start of his journey, Bilbo is not super good at anything. Yes, he knows his elf lore and is capable at riddles, but a thief he is not (even though he is naturally stealthy, being a hobbit, he's not formally trained in it).

I then wrote up some words-not-rules to tell players: please describe a character who's just like Bilbo was, who has some goals and would play this game with me. That's it. How I mechanize this behind the screen (in a blackbox fkr game) is my problem. After that, it was time to conjure a list of "foods people have eaten at my place but you can totally have something else if you wish as long as it mildly fits the given parameters and everyone is cool with that".

And so we get to Just Play Bilbo. Yes, it's a stupid name. Also, I haven't put it to the test if players will be able to make something out of it.