Quill is a letter writing roleplaying game where the pen is mightier than the sword. Instead of a traditional hack and slash rpg you are tasked with writing a five paragraph letter in hopes of achieving a favorable response. You are presented with a scenario that requires a written response in which you choose from a list of words (“ink pot”) to include in each paragraph. How favorably the recipient of your letter responds is determined by multiple factors:
- Character (class) – who choose to write as (monk, knight, poet, courtier) – each have their own strengths and weaknesses
- Attributes – Penmanship, Language, Heart – which are poor, average or good and determined by the character you choose. They also determine how many dice you get to roll at different stages of the letter writing process. Poor = 1, Average = 2 and Good = 3
- Skill – After choosing your character you get to select a single skill that can be used once per scenario. The skills are Inspiration, Illumination and Augmentation which allow you to add +1 die to Language, Penmanship or Heart, respectively.
- Flourishes – descriptive words used to enhance the words you select from the ink pot. Whether or not you can use a flourish is determined by a dice roll.
- Dice Rolls – How well you roll is the biggest determining factor. 5 or 6 are considered successes. Dice are rolled after each paragraph, when you select words from the “ink pot” and when you want to use Flourishes. The more dice you have for a particular attribute obviously the better. Some characters are better suited for certain scenarios simply on the fact that they get to roll more dice.
Quill Pros:
- Great non-traditional rpg
- Thought provoking creative writing exercise
- Low cost – Pay what you want
Quill Cons:
- No matter how well you wield a pen – similar to traditional rpgs, the dice ultimately determine your fate
- Limited scenarios, however, it’s easy enough to create your own.
Quill is a very thought provoking game. Though I haven’t completed all the scenarios, I am already thinking of ways to modify it slightly to fit into a traditional rpg campaign. This game could work either as a one time scenario to mix things up a bit or even as a regular component to a longer campaign where a series of letters might be necessary. It would be interesting to have a list of topics or words that if used in a letter would either add or subtract points. This only works if the list is not looked at until after the letter is completed.
As of this writing, there are two supplements available for Quill. The first is Love Letters also by Trollish Delver Games and the second is Coal & Parchment by Shoreless Skies Publishing. Here are a couple homebrew scenarios as well as a review of Quill from Rended Press
If you’re looking for something a little different and have some time to kill I recommend checking out Quill. If you’d like to see Quill in action, the Quill Roleplaying Society is a G+ Quill community where many have posted letters they have written as well as their own scenarios.