Just read about it in Ken Hite's LiveJournal. Turns out they have a bitchin' website.

The elevator pitch is "Weird War II by way of P. G. Wodehouse", with eccentric upper-class Brits fighting Nazi occult horrors. While the latter has been already done to death, the humorous part might just work.

Now this is the sort of comedic game I'd play. Hell, my Day After Ragnarok game is halfway there.

I've got to hand it to them, though. The production values are awesome. Character creation is a boardgame (I shit you not). There's even a Flash-based plot generator (available for iPhone).

I'm not sure what the rest of the system is like, but the quote below is encouraging:

Quote from: Operation: Fallen Reich Main Rulebook, p. 17MANAGING MULTIPLE CHARACTERS

Another distinguishing feature of this game is that each
player creates two or three characters and chooses one
of them to use before each scenario. Note, however,
that a player never plays more than one character at a
time. There are several reasons why players have several
characters in OPERATION: FALLEN REICH:

• We recommend a rather high mortality
rate among the characters. The Game
Master should not try to kill characters,
but if a character dies once in a while due to
bad rolls or poor decisions, the players tend
to stay sharp. When a character dies (or
gets seriously wounded), another of that
player's characters will show up and he can
still participate. A wounded character may
take several weeks to return to the mission,
given the level and quality of medical care
during the Second World War.

• Characters with eccentric personalities
could get tiresome to play repeatedly. The
character creation system tends to give
rather colourful personalities, and that
gives the game a lot of edge. However,
while playing a Lazy Ass, Loud Mouth,
and Transvestite Big Game Hunter is fun
the first few sessions, it could be nice to
take a break in the next scenario.

• The character creation system itself is
fun to play and use, so it leads to a lot of
character generation.

I know, it's got "RPGnet darling" written all over it, i.e. it reads like something that would be fun to play for a short time, but not the stuff of long-term campaigns. And the books and bits are pretty, but probably expensive as all hell (I bhave no idea how much money "SEK 649" is). Nonetheless, my curiosity is piqued.

Roughly 6 SEK (Swedish Krona) to 1 USD

Sounds fun!

Fucking Hipster Game Full of stupid faux-cool memes is fucking stupid.

Its like they're trying their very best to be as hip as possible with utter contempt for anything that makes actual sense.

RPGPundit

Quote from: RPGPundit;453753Fucking Hipster Game Full of stupid faux-cool memes is fucking stupid.

Its like they're trying their very best to be as hip as possible with utter contempt for anything that makes actual sense.

RPGPundit

Care to be more specific?

It just sounds corny and one-note to me.

"Well, I say, an eldritch horror, how beastly, what will the vicar think?!"

It might be funny as a five minute flashback scene in a Venture Brothers episode but I feel like it would get very tired over the course of even one gaming session. And you are not going to get razor-sharp understated drawing-room wit out of your group of players, improvised on a the moment's notice of the unfolding scenario. Maybe you'll get a good turn of phrase once in a while but without a script and rehearsal time I expect more along the lines of awkward timing and "I've um...[dead silence]...got a moustache...old bean."

Quote from: The Butcher;453619The elevator pitch is "Weird War II by way of P. G. Wodehouse", with eccentric upper-class Brits fighting Nazi occult horrors.

That's a high concept, not an elevator pitch.  

Anytime I see a comedic RPG with this much attention to detail and production value, especially with someone like Ken Hite involved, I can't help but think about what kind of rpg they could have made instead had they played it straight.

Still, playing an hour-long board game to create my character?  With randomness and strategy?  That's an awesome concept.

As far as the self-referential, trope and meme aware comedy goes, Pundit might be right, it might be too clever by half, but Cthulhu 101 was enjoyable.

Quote from: Cole;453769It just sounds corny and one-note to me.

"Well, I say, an eldritch horror, how beastly, what will the vicar think?!"

It might be funny as a five minute flashback scene in a Venture Brothers episode but I feel like it would get very tired over the course of even one gaming session. And you are not going to get razor-sharp understated drawing-room wit out of your group of players, improvised on a the moment's notice of the unfolding scenario. Maybe you'll get a good turn of phrase once in a while but without a script and rehearsal time I expect more along the lines of awkward timing and "I've um...[dead silence]...got a moustache...old bean."

I would pay good money to see a series of British actors playing this game.  Season 1 - Monty Python, Season 2 - The Blackadder cast.  You could have cameos from other comedians, like bring Robin Williams in for one episode.  

Quote from: CRKrueger;453771with this much attention to detail and production value, especially with someone like Ken Hite involved, I can't help but think about what kind of rpg they could have made instead had they played it straight.

I think we're on the same page there.

Quote from: CRKrueger;453771Still, playing an hour-long board game to create my character?  With randomness and strategy?  That's an awesome concept.

I could see that, having the premise applied to other game setups.

A while back I was thinking about the idea of playing out fiasco, the storygame, as a "how the characters know each other" setup generator as a way to fill out a character creation session before starting a campaign of a regular RPG.

if it weren't so crazily out of my price range, I'd buy it in a heartbeat.

Quote from: Roog;453636Roughly 6 SEK (Swedish Krona) to 1 USD

I am no longer interested. Bah, it probably sucks anyway.

Quote from: RPGPundit;453753Fucking Hipster Game Full of stupid faux-cool memes is fucking stupid.

Its like they're trying their very best to be as hip as possible with utter contempt for anything that makes actual sense.

Is this the sound of you being butthurt that no one gives a shit about the gnome game? Because it sounds a lot like your FtA/OSR butthurt.

What The Butcher gave a lot of attention was the "multiple characters" aspect, which does not appear to have been the standout bit to others.

It's old, old common practice in my experience, going back to D&D and T&T.

A really long character generation process doesn't strike me as a good fit for what I would consider high mortality, though. I think the bar has been lowered with the proliferation of games in which character survival is basically taken for granted.

Quote from: Phillip;453831A really long character generation process doesn't strike me as a good fit for what I would consider high mortality, though. I think the bar has been lowered with the proliferation of games in which character survival is basically taken for granted.

I agree. This is in fact what turned me off on GURPS; involved chargen and high mortality are poor fits. The marriage of simplicity and lethality does wonders for D&D and CoC.

" To continue our metaphor, Operation: Fallen Reich is Spike Milligan covering Weird War II."

Just this morning I was thinking, it's been a while since I listened to The Goon Show!

So now I've got Roderick Spode + Nazi Aunts vs. Dad's Army & Eccles + a few Drones for redshirts. Spiffing!

While the presentation looks great, I'd likely just use the existing free Drones RPG.
http://www.granta.demon.co.uk/drones/


Hipster? That's another fucking faux-cool meme.

Notice that no where do they explain how you would actually play this Train Wreck of a Flashy Concept.

Its like hipsters on parade: you get all these characters, with funny hats, beards, thick glasses, odd pants, ridiculous names or titles, and not one of them fucking works; and you're left asking what the fuck is the point!?

RPGPundit