Has there ever been an RPG based upon musicals? Is it even practical?
It has been said that martial arts films are like musicals in that the plot is basically there so you can have martial arts sequences. It seems like it would be possible to approach doing a musical (think "Singing In The Rain" or "Step Up") where instead of elaborate action martial arts sequences, we have elaborate singing and dancing sequences.
Maybe you would be trying for entertainment points with your song and dance features, with special rules for solo song and dance, small groups, and lavish production numbers. Instead of whittling down monster hit points you are trying to amass entertainment points to move the plot along in the direction you desire. Don't want the old rec center torn down to make way for a new supermarket by the evil developer? Put on a show!
Mechanics-wise it seems like it could be done, but of course the whole point of a musical is to be entertained by the song and dance. Replacing them with dice rolls or card flips seems like it might be a pale imitation. On the other hand, martial arts action sequences work quite well in RPG gaming and similarly don't exactly have people kicking each other in the face for us to watch. Perhaps if rules included that you had to locate appropriate music on YouTube or where ever to fuel your scene?
Posted Apr 15, 2016, 1:30 AM UTC