HAPPY SMURFSGIVING WEEKEND EVERYONE!
To celebrate my favorite holiday1, I am smurfing up a four course meal of deliciously smurfy goodness. I am positively smurfing to smurf the Smurfs Roleplaying Game again, as I have had so much fun with it so far. It's to the point where I have a rather crazy2 thought but I'll smurf that for the end of the post.
First, why do I love this game so much? Seriously, what is wrong with me? lol Well, there are a number of factors actually:
- The obsurdity of it. Someone made an official Smurfs RPG!
- The rules system. I really like the mechanics a lot!
- It's a comedic cartoon game AND a Fantasy/Fairytale game!
- It's fast and easy to run and play!
- Tools! So many tools for creating Houses, Magic Items, Characters, and more!
So what am I thinking about today...
Expanded Magic
The rules for casting Magic Spells, crafting Magic Items, and making Potions found in the Smurf are just so flavorful and fun that you'll probably have a least one player who wants to create a magic-using Smurf3.
At the same time, it is explained in the rules that 'instant spells', the outright casting of a magical incantation out of the blue (the blue! get it?) is very rare in the default Smurfs setting. Following the traditions of French and Belgian folklore, most magic manifests in the form of creatures, objects, and elixirs.
That said, not only do we sometimes see 'Ritual Magic' and traditional spells being used by characters such as Papa Smurf and Gargamel but this is your campaign and there is nothing preventing you from creating a Smurf with a talent for prestidigitation.
To add even more of a Fairytale/Folklore mystique to your Smurf sorcery, any Player Character with the ability to cast Magic Spells should have a limitation/quirk/requirement that accompanies the act. The concept is common throughout the myths and legends of numerous countries across Europe [and beyond].
This is an opportunity for the players and the Storyteller to lean into both the comedy and 'Dark Ages'/Early Middle Ages feel of the Smurfs' world [as I run it]. PC Smurfs might require a wand waved in a specific way [without which they can't use magic], spell out the name of their hexes before casting, or they might forget a recent memory after their rote has been used.
I would apply this to Spellcasting only, as Magic Items and Potions already have perimeters and difficulties built into them. Additionally, I would say that no such limiations should apply to Papa Smurf, Gargamel, and other major league Magicans, Witches, and magical beings such as Fairies (beyond something story based).
Expanded Base-Building
One of the things I like most about the Smurfs game is of course the Base-Building element. The fact that the designers made the Mushroom Cottages a functional part of the game continues to impress me. The Smurf Houses serve to give the PCs a Safety Roll, which allows an unconscious and/or badly injured PC to wake-up in the comfort of their own home. Additionally, PCs begin with a single Room inside their house that gives them a bonus of +1 thanks to its particular design or a piece of equipment found within it
This got me thinking about various 'strategies' (for lack of a better term) for constructing one's personal abode. Imagine for example that my character Smurfcornflower, who started her first adventure with a Potions Room, essentially an indoor firepit with a cauldron mounted above it and some space to store her Ingredients. The Potion Room gives her a +1 (originally a +2) when making Potions in that room.
What if the next time I add a room, it's an Ingredients Pantry? If Cornflower needs to make a Potion with X, she can attempt a roll under her Mind Attribute +1 to see if she has any on hand. Next, maybe add a Recipe Library containing scrolls and books on hope to make a wide variety of Potions. You get what I am going for here.
Alternatively, a Smurf might want to diversify their portfolio, if you smurf my meaning. A Music Room for a Heart bonus, a Workout Area to benefit Brawn, etc.
In a past post I discussed the idea of multiple Smurfs contributing Rooms to a single House. Since then I have come up with a host of other thoughts regarding the creation of non-standard Smurf homes. What if instead of a Mushroom Cottage your 'House' was an Inn, a Lighthouse, or even a Seagoing Ship4. An Inn would have rooms many Smurfs could use. A Lighthouse might give a bonus to sailing Smurfs so they could find they way safely home. A Ship gives you many advantages, from rooms on board to transportation to far off lands and maybe a canon for fighting off pirates! Such locations would serve a purpose beyond just being the home of a Smurf and may require, or simply benefit, from having additional rules added to the Base-Building mechanics. Maybe. I need to contemplate on this a bit further.
Expanded Folklore
I've mentioned before (many times - my apologies) that I didn't grow up reading or watching the type of Fantasy that inspired Dungeons & Dragons. I was a little too young and my preference was for Science Fiction and Superheroes. Television shows, movies, and comic books were my source material and few of those were of the Sword and Sorcery Fantasy type in 1977 (when I started gaming). I was far more well versed in things like Folklore, Mythology, and the works of L. Frank Baum and Lewis Carroll.
When I run the Smurfs RPG, I lean heavily on the Legends and Fairy Tales of Western Europe, specially those from France, Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands. Strong influences sneak in from England, Scandinavia, and elsewhere (to a lesser extent). How far beyond this can I expand? Obviously I can do anything I want in my games. How far beyond this do I want to go? That's a different story and one I've been thinking about quite a lot.
I don't want to stray too far from Pseudo-Historical Medieval Legend Themed Fantasy Franco-Belgian Setting. The Smurfs themselves go beyond this from time to time, inventing the printing press, dreaming about being an astronaut, and even meeting an alien visitor and a Sci-Fi robot. There are tons of anachronisms in the stories that take place in their default fairytale forest milieu.
For me, I like to keep these instances to a minimum5. Perhaps 'a minimum' isn't quite the right phrase but please bare with me as I explain what I am going for. I think I get the most out of the Smurfs RPG by treating the setting as a Fantasy game, somewhere between Ars Magica and D&D2. Now that's one wide margin to be sure but having run and played Smurfs a number of times now, it really feels like our adventures have all have a very classic Fantasy feel with a humorous twist. A the same time, there is this vaguely dark, fairy folklore feel to them. By keeping the vibes of the original Peyo Comic Strip 'Johan and Peewit' and the legends of France and Belgium in mind, I believe I create a setting with a distinct character that stands out from other Fantasy games.
Smurfing Solo
My exploration of Solo Roleplaying was rather interesting.
I had fun, I truly did, though I don't know that I ever shook the feeling that it was less a game and more an improvisational writing exercise. I still feel that way for the most part but again, it was fun. The biggest issue was, as always, time. With only so many hours in the day to devote to my hobbies, I couldn't/can't let a game no one will enjoy other than me eat into the time better used generating material for my friends and I to enjoy together.
That said, I have been feeling like getting back into it lately. It's not like I have more free time (I have less in fact!) but right now two of the three campaigns I run are on hold. Others are doing the GMing and that does avail me some room to try some more experiments in Solo gaming. One idea I've been very interested in is 'Solo Smurfs'. The tricky part though is that much like Ghostbusters (which was my previous Solo experience), Smurfs isn't a setting that focuses on the adventures of a single character. Friendship and a group of companions is what the Smurfs is all about. So would I be playing an entire village of 101 characters? Smurf me! It's 201 if you count Smurfy Grove's Smurf Girls (which I absolutely would 'cause they're really neat).
Hmmm. OK...smurf this...
I would create a single Smurf who would serve as my Solo character and each adventure they would accompany a constantly changing group of NPC friends. Picture this: Solo Smurf goes on an adventure to find a rare medicinal plant. They are joined by Smurfstorm, Brainy, and Smurfcornflower. In the next scenario, Gargamel has smurfnapped Smurfette and Solo Smurf teams up with Hefty, Smurflily, and Champion Smurf to free her. Maybe I would roll randomly to determine who's in Solo Smurf's party and/or how many Smurfs will be involved.
Anyway, these are just some of my many thoughts on the Smurf RPG. I can't stop coming up with stuff for it! Help! lol Kidding. I'm having a blast. I am really looking forward to my next outing into the Cursed Lands and sharing it with all of you.
Ta-ta for now! I hope you, your family, and your friends had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Smurf you soon,
AD
Barking Alien
1. I love Thanksgiving for the holiday it is to me and my family. A chance to get together, be happy we are here, healthy, and happy to be in each others presence. I understand some people don't view Thanksgiving that way but it means a lot to me.
2. I've been thinking about running a Fantasy RPG lately and I wrestle with finding a game that does what I want it to when it comes to making this genre work. Why, when I actually have a fantastic Fantasy game that I really like. Why not run a long term Smurfs game? Can I? I may just try...
3. At least one but likely many if the option is available. I would limit it to one in a party unless one is a Spellcaster and the other is a Potion Maker. I could totally see my buddy Ray's Spelly Smurf teaming up with my PC Smurfcornflower. That would be really awesome!
4. My friend Will's first Smurfs character, Lookout Smurf, has a Sailing Ship of the 'pirate ship' variety and it appeared in my very first short Smurf RPG adventure. That's when I first came up with the idea of a ship as Smurf House. We played it pretty fast and loose and it worked quite well but I continue to ponder refining the concept.
5. My very first original Smurfs character was Spacey Smurf, a Smurf obsessed with 'Outer Space', which in his mind meant the night sky, the stars, and the Moon. He wears a faux 'Space Suit' built for him by Hefty Smurf from notes in a book Brainy has and the imagination of both Dreamy Smurf and himself. He's funny, he's fun, and I love him. He is also the exception and not the rule. He is a rare instance of me choosing to put such a character in my games. There aren't, so far, other characters like him.
