(originally written for a Facebook group)
TODAY I PLAYED "Daddy Issues", a game by Nikola Petrov made for Zine Month 2022. Ever wonder what happened to your dad when he said he was just going out for a pack of smokes and he'd be right back? Maybe he left with the best of intentions but then had to fight a werewolf???
It's a roll and write where you procedurally generate the map of your neighborhood as you spend time looking for a store that sells cigarettes. There are event tables to roll on, people to meet, and monsters to fight. They're all d6 tables, so you're not going to see a ton of stuff, but it's fun enough for a couple playthroughs.
My first playthrough was anticlimactic. I saw all those tables full of thugs and zombies and feral cats and thought I was going to be in the shit before long. As luck would have it, I walked around the corner, found the shop right away, and bought my cigarettes. I even ran into a friend who owed me $12, so it's like I didn't even spend my own money.
After turning around to head back home, I rolled on the "Backtracking Table" to see if any events happened. Nothing happened at first, but then, right as I was about to reach my house and consider the game won, I rolled that I met someone on the street. Shit, here we go. I knew that seemed too easy.
But no, it was another friend who owed me $5.
It plays fast enough that I'm not disappointed by the fact that I just sat down, ready for a no-doubt fantastical adventure, but walked away from the game with only a story about leaving to buy some smokes and returning richer than when I left. All that only took five minutes or so. I'm actually going to head back in and see if I can get abducted by some aliens or something.