Magicians of the Depression (Mortal Coil)

Tonight we embarked on a short period of trying out one-shots of various games that I have not yet managed to play. First up was Mortal Coil.

Our setup was that we were in a small town in the dustbowl. The characters were some magicians who were all miners (although the mine had shut down). It seemed that they spent their days at the union hall, fighting the mayor and presumably any other people who threatened the status quo. Interestingly, they resisted things that might have directly helped them (i.e. a railroad line to the town).

Setup and character generation was fun, and provided a good basis for the world. However, it felt pushed to do it quickly enough to fit some play into the same session. An entire evening building the world with play the next time would have worked better.

The conflict system works, although there's a lot to keep track of. Possibly more than I can manage as a GM (especially when multiple NPCs get involved). The total lack of randomizers is also kind of odd... just mentally different and subtly odd.

Everyone really enjoyed the ability to define magic as we went. That part was great fun.

Good game, but looks like it really needs continued play to get to the game's strengths.