Welcome to the ’Finder Archives: A bit of a look into the worlds of the Pathfinder and Starfinder universes, along with whatever else catches my fancy.
However, a re-introduction is in order, and in light of today’s topic, I’m going to suggest you read this out loud to yourself, in the voice of Paul Heyman. (For those of you who are into wrestling, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about, for the rest of you, go HERE
Ladies and Gentlemen. My name is Kim Frandsen, and I am the advocate for the World Wide Wrestling Roleplaying Game!
Sorry, I can’t do that voice for long without ruining myself laughing. Heyman is a genius on the microphone. As for me, a little reiteration is in order. I’ve been running the Lore Check – Finding the Path series for a long time, and when Scott stepped down from his GM Awakens, Wayne contacted me to see if I’d be interested in stepping up to the plate, and I was. A caveat of that was that he’d like to see more different types of articles, and I’m more than happy to oblige. That said, for those who loved the Clerical Domination mini-series, it’ll continue; that part just won’t be every week.
However, as mentioned, I should reiterate a bit on who I am. My name is Kim Frandsen, I’m a 37 (way too soon 38) year old Dane, who’s been gaming since he was 10 if the Fighting Fantasy books count (those are something I hope to return to address in a future article), but if we count only “actual” roleplaying games, then it started at the age of 13, in a basement underneath the local library, where some of the Blood Bowl players (where I originally got started) asked if I’d be interested in joining an AD&D game. I had no idea what the game was, but I said “yes,” and I was hooked. Since then I’ve been gaming. And for the past couple of years, I’ve been writing books as a freelancer for Pathfinder, Starjammer, Starfinder, and Dungeon Crawl Classics (with 5e soon to be added to that list). These days I even have an editing gig, all of which keeps me busy when I’m not doing my day job or spending time with family.
Right, enough of establishing my credentials. Today we’re here to talk about something that’s near and dear to my heart: Wrestling. Yep, the sport of pre-determined (not fake, the danger is still real, even if they do their best to protect each other) combat.
So why am I addressing that here? Well, because there’s an RPG for it, and it’s a really good one too. But it’s an unknown gem that I think deserves more attention.
The reason for this is that just like the sport, it’s a communal effort to make a good game out of it. The GM (in this case the General Manager) is responsible for setting up a series of matches and telling a story, thereby raising ratings and increasing the fame of his wrestlers. The wrestlers (or players) are then responsible for putting these matches together, as well as cutting promos for the various things. – The interesting thing is that for the matches if another player gets bored, they can actually run interference and take impromptu part in the match (the matches are put together on the fly, so you still roll to see if you succeed on the various parts that put together a match). Equally importantly, the SAME PERSON doesn’t need to be the GM each time, due to the nature of wrestling and the game.
Mechanically, the game reminds me of the Powered by the Apocalypse engine. It’s not the same engine, as far as I can tell, but it does bring it to mind whenever I open up the book. There are of course rules for creating all kinds of wrestlers. You want Stone Cold Steve Austin? You make an Anti-Hero. You want the Undertaker? You make a Monster. You want Rey Mysterio, you make a High Flyer. You want to make Gillberg? You make a Jobber. It’s all there, though some Gimmicks are a little tougher to play than others.
On top of that, you also get to choose some signature moves and something on your entrance theme/feel. So, you can have the ultra-simple entrances (literally a Vladimir Kozlov, with no music, just a single spotlight), to the Triple H full-on tank entrances. Though, to begin with, your promotion is likely quite small (as it’s easier to book for the GM).
This is also where you set up the preliminary rivalries with other players, as each character has a Gimmick with a number of questions that the other players are supposed to answer, which sets up the beginning feuds (at least potentially) and the amount of Heat each character has with each other (this need not go both ways, which is quite essential). Finally, of course, there’s the choice of Role, i.e. Heel/Babyface.
During the game itself, your players narrate the matches (and other players can get involved if they wish, but that might tick off the “in-game” GM. So be careful with that), hopefully going to the finish that was dictated by the GM when booking the game.
Of course, this can all tie into a larger storyline, and wrestling fans will know how long these can go on.
My final note for this game is a bit of a shoutout: If you find the game interesting, I think you should go all out on it, and get a few props. As an example, for my own game, I ended up getting hold of a toy microphone, repainting it and branding it with the Promotion’s logo. I’m also planning on getting hold of a Toy Championship Belt, though that one is turning out to be more difficult than I expected, as wrestling merch isn’t sold where I live.
I hope you’ve all enjoy this look at the World Wide Wrestling RPG.
And in the immortal words of Stone Cold Steve Austin: Gimme a Hell Yeah!
Kim Frandsen
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