Durance

by Jason Morningstar

Durance is a fast-paced, low-prep, highly collaborative game in the tradition of Fiasco. Players in Durance assume the dual roles of convicts and guards trying to survive on an outrageously hostile planet. The thin veneer that separates the two classes tends to erode during play, raising questions about corruption, justice and mercy.

Genres: Role Playing Games, Science Fiction, Dystopia

136 pages, Paperback

First published November 7, 2012

Reviews

[Ray Rich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliantly presented gamemasterless roleplaying game. Can't wait to try it out at the gaming table, but even if I never actually play it, the book is an engaging read with a striking presentation. Full of bite-sized dystopian science fiction ideas and images.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I may be a bit biased since I was a playetester, but I am really looking forward to getting in another play of this game now that I've had the chance to read the final version.

If you like Jason Morningstar's Fiasco, then you should give this game a try. It is more structured than Fiasco in that it has a single setup with a lot of variables, instead of being wide open like Fiasco, but has a similar "feel" in that it rewards and encourages telling a good story in an improv-like style.

That set-up is that you are on a penal colony far away from civilization. Things there are not as good as was promised based on the initial surveys, and both the Authority and the Convicts they supervise have to struggle to survive. Players create a character on both sides of the Authority/Convict divide. Play consists largely of giving an oath to each character, something that they have sworn to themselves that they will never do, and then putting them into situations where they may have to break that oath.

If the whole "penal colony far from civilization" thing sounds familiar, it's because the game is basically about the early colonization of Australia with a science fiction veneer. There's even a few pages in the back of the book with suggestions on running the game in that historical setting if you want to.

[Charlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read through the book probably for the 3rd time last night in preparation for playing Durance for the first time. The book is well organized and explains things well, though we had a hard time translating it into play (I was the only one of the 4 who had read it). I'm not sure if this is a failure of the mechanic of setting up scenes with questions or a failure of the players to understand our communal goals of telling a story. I think with a few more games and more people having read the book this could be less frustrating.

Other than the problems we had, the game is interesting, has great setting and character generation, and sparks endless stories in my mind.

[Oliver · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like Fiasco more, but here it also depends on the playset you use. In Durance the playset is fixed: you are in a prison colony on a distant planet. Only the parameters that define the colony and the planet change.

So you could say that I like the concept, but the playset is not the right one for me.

[Robbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Darker and perhaps a little more rigid than Fiasco, Jason Morningstar's prior game. This one zooms in inherently on power struggles and imbalances between characters, and has people juggling and shifting roles more than in Fiasco.

[Zita H. K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love it, and my gaming group really enjoy it :)!