Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen
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The Baron was a real-life German aristocrat¸ soldier and adventurer in the eighteenth century¸ whose after-dinner tales of his extraordinary exploits were immortalised in a book by Rudolph Raspe¸ and turned into several films - notably and most recently by Terry Gilliam. What sort of adventures? Journeying to the Moon and the Sun¸ riding on a flying cannonball¸ lifting the siege of Gibraltar single-handed¸ finding a floating island made entirely of cheese¸ escaping from bandits on half a horse¸ falling through the centre of the Earth¸ seducing the Empress of Russia¸ meeting Vulcan and Venus¸ being swallowed by a giant fish. That sort of thing. It"s a role-playing game devised by Baron Munchausen¸ allowing ordinary people to recreate the stories of his extraordinary adventures¸ or even to create new ones. As you might expect of the Baron¸ it"s not your average RPG. For a start¸ it only takes an hour to play¸ and there"s an actual winner. You can start playing three minutes after starting to read it¸ it"s so easy to learn. Instead of dice or cards¸ its system of mechanics uses money and fine wines. And you don"t need a GM. It has character generation¸ a combat system (actually two combat systems: "Duelling" and "Duelling for Cowards") and all of that stuff¸ but - basically¸ no¸ this is something completely new. Or completely old¸ depending on how you look at it. You have to be a nobleman to play Baron Munchausen"s game. The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen is designed to be a pick-up-and-play RPG: the short game you play while you"re waiting for the rest of your gaming group to turn up. It"s fast to play¸ cheap to buy and a great way of introducing new players to the idea of RPGs without having to plough through a 200-page rulebook first. It"s been praised by games-industry figures such as Allen Varney¸ Phil Masters and Steffan O"Sullivan¸ and was nominated for the 1998 Origins Award in the "Best RPG" category.