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Good Society: A Jane Austen RPG
Good Society is a collaborative tabletop roleplaying game that seeks to capture the heart, and the countenance, of Jane Austen's work.
It is a game of balls, estates, sly glances, and turns about the garden. At least on the surface. Underneath this, just as in Austen's own novels, it is a game of social ambition, family obligation and breathtaking, heart-stopping longing.
In this game you play the type of characters that captured your imagination in Austen's books - from a wealthy heir who falls in love with the aloof new arrival, to a charming socialite bent on ruining the reputation of their rivals. Exploit your reputation, connections, and family influence to achieve your secret desire 0 all while jealously guarding your good name.
It is a game of balls, estates, sly glances, and turns about the garden. At least on the surface. Underneath this, just as in Austen's own novels, it is a game of social ambition, family obligation and breathtaking, heart-stopping longing.
In this game you play the type of characters that captured your imagination in Austen's books - from a wealthy heir who falls in love with the aloof new arrival, to a charming socialite bent on ruining the reputation of their rivals. Exploit your reputation, connections, and family influence to achieve your secret desire 0 all while jealously guarding your good name.
261 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2018
11 people are currently reading
55 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
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March 11, 2023I won't rate until I've gotten a chance to play but I AM SO EXCITED!!
If you know me in person, prepare to be forced to play at some point in the near future.
If you know me in person, prepare to be forced to play at some point in the near future.
July 24, 2019
This is the PERFECT idea and this book is an extremely comprehensive and accessible guide on how to play the game. Giving you plenty of ready-made options and detailing how to customize the game to fit the desires of your group.
I'm a huge Jane Austen fan and this rpg captures the atmosphere, the themes and the feeling of an Austen novel and I'm so, so into it.
On top of that it's extremely inclusive in the way it tackles things like gender and race. It doesn't go into the subject of sexuality, but it's implied that this can be dealt with however the group chooses. The same goes for things such as disability. The character creation process certainly makes it clear that whatever you want the game to contain it can.
Plus there are some dope expansions with MAGIC and SWORDS, which is what we've all been dreaming of (of I have).
Time to star in my own Jane Austen novel!! Well, when I've persuaded all my friends to play it with me.
I'm a huge Jane Austen fan and this rpg captures the atmosphere, the themes and the feeling of an Austen novel and I'm so, so into it.
On top of that it's extremely inclusive in the way it tackles things like gender and race. It doesn't go into the subject of sexuality, but it's implied that this can be dealt with however the group chooses. The same goes for things such as disability. The character creation process certainly makes it clear that whatever you want the game to contain it can.
Plus there are some dope expansions with MAGIC and SWORDS, which is what we've all been dreaming of (of I have).
Time to star in my own Jane Austen novel!! Well, when I've persuaded all my friends to play it with me.
September 9, 2019
Good Society is an RPG by The Storybrewers, also known as Hayley Gordon and Vee Hendro, the amazing Australian duo who also brought us Alas for the Awful Sea and a number of awesome shorter RPG texts. I really enjoy the games they create and their presentation.
Good Society comes in a beautiful, high-quality hardbound book with full color, beautiful illustrations, and thick-bond paper. If you judge a book by the quality of its construction, you’ll love this text.
The game itself is meant to guide the conversation of play to create a narrative that resembles a Jane Austen novel, hence the subtitle of the game: “A Jane Austen RPG.” The game is designed as a GMless/GMful game, for 3-5 players, with one player acting as a facilitator if need be, even as they play one of the major PCs in the story too. Each player actually plays two characters, a major PC and a minor NPC who is connected to the various PCs at the table. If you find yourself in any scene with both your PC and NPC as active participants, you hand your NPC off momentarily, but otherwise you play whichever character is in a given scene. The overall structure of play, once characters and situations are established, is determined by what the authors call a “cycle of play.” A one-shot game will consist of a single cycle while an extended game over several sessions is designed for three cycles.
A single cycle consists of the following: a novel chapter (which is the meat of play, where the characters try to bring their desires to life and overcome misfortune), a reputation round (in which characters see if their reputations have altered due to the events of the novel chapter—this is a round entirely of meta-play), a rumour and scandal round (in which players create and circulate rumors that will put pressure on the characters in the next novel chapter, another round of meta-play), an epistolary round (in which the players have one of their characters write a letter to another character by speaking it aloud), another novel chapter, another reputation round, a final epistolary round, and an upkeep phase to take care of the various things on the character sheets.
Because all drama within the game is created through play—there are no pre-built scenarios or meta-plots—the phases of the game are designed to create constant material for the players to work with. The various phases that intercede between novel chapters allow old pressures that no longer apply to be put to rest and new pressures to be adopted. It’s a clever design that allows the story to evolve and grow and to constantly be surprising the players.
While there are no pre-built scenarios, there are what the authors call “playsets.” Playsets are groupings of character playbooks with particular focuses that are engineered to create the kinds of tones or stories that you might want to play with. For examples, there are tonal playsets that will give you a farce, a romantic comedy, or a drama. There are also thematic playsets for players who want to focus on “Romance & Love,” “Rivalry & Revenge,” or “Family Matters,” to name just a few.
Character creation for a three session game is a lengthy process because it involves setting up all the initial conflicts and relationships at the same time. Good Society makes use of playbooks for character types in Austen’s novels, such as the heir, the meddler, the dowager, and the socialite. Each character has a beginning desire as well, which not only gives the character an immediate goal (say, recovering your lost inheritance), but a relationship (say, with your parent who disinherited you), and public knowledge about your situation. In addition to the relationship your desire gives you, you have a starting relationship with another PC. Then, you get your family background, which says whether you are a member of the peerage, of humble origins, from new money, and the like. Finally, you create an inner conflict that complicates what you want. With all this information, you get a character that is in motion, tied to the other characters, part of the social landscape of the setting, and ready to get into trouble.
Play itself is diceless. Players have resolve tokens for each of their characters, and they can use those tokens to influence the story in a way that impacts the other characters as well as their own. If you ever want to introduce a complication into the scene that affects one of your own characters alone, you can simply do it. If you want to introduce a complication that affects another character, then you can offer them the resolve token and tell them what you want to introduce. They can then take your token and allow you to introduce the complication, or they can enter into a conversation with you to determine how to satisfy your desires while still satisfying their own. Ideally you play with friends who will embrace the difficulties and challenges of their characters.
There are a lot of little moving parts to the game, but I think the emphasis is on all the right things to create an Austen story. The main marks on your character sheet that move are your reputation and your inner conflict (and occasionally your desire, in the case that you find yourself with either an achieved desire or one that is no longer relevant). In play, then, you try to improve your reputation and settle the question of your inner conflict (by answering the question through your actions: what do you care more about), all in pursuit of your desire, be it love or money.
The text itself is well-laid out and presented in a logical fashion. The writing is clean and straight-forward, functional rather than delightful.
When I first caught wind of the game, I was eager to see what Gordon and Hendro created. Now, while I’m impressed by the design, I find myself not at all excited to play it, not by any fault of the creators, but because there seems something entirely uninviting about playing rich people obsessed with status, not working, and securing as much money for a comfortable future as possible. In this particular political environment, I can’t see myself taking any joy in that play. Still, the game is well worth the read, even if you are not planning on playing, to consider the design.
Good Society comes in a beautiful, high-quality hardbound book with full color, beautiful illustrations, and thick-bond paper. If you judge a book by the quality of its construction, you’ll love this text.
The game itself is meant to guide the conversation of play to create a narrative that resembles a Jane Austen novel, hence the subtitle of the game: “A Jane Austen RPG.” The game is designed as a GMless/GMful game, for 3-5 players, with one player acting as a facilitator if need be, even as they play one of the major PCs in the story too. Each player actually plays two characters, a major PC and a minor NPC who is connected to the various PCs at the table. If you find yourself in any scene with both your PC and NPC as active participants, you hand your NPC off momentarily, but otherwise you play whichever character is in a given scene. The overall structure of play, once characters and situations are established, is determined by what the authors call a “cycle of play.” A one-shot game will consist of a single cycle while an extended game over several sessions is designed for three cycles.
A single cycle consists of the following: a novel chapter (which is the meat of play, where the characters try to bring their desires to life and overcome misfortune), a reputation round (in which characters see if their reputations have altered due to the events of the novel chapter—this is a round entirely of meta-play), a rumour and scandal round (in which players create and circulate rumors that will put pressure on the characters in the next novel chapter, another round of meta-play), an epistolary round (in which the players have one of their characters write a letter to another character by speaking it aloud), another novel chapter, another reputation round, a final epistolary round, and an upkeep phase to take care of the various things on the character sheets.
Because all drama within the game is created through play—there are no pre-built scenarios or meta-plots—the phases of the game are designed to create constant material for the players to work with. The various phases that intercede between novel chapters allow old pressures that no longer apply to be put to rest and new pressures to be adopted. It’s a clever design that allows the story to evolve and grow and to constantly be surprising the players.
While there are no pre-built scenarios, there are what the authors call “playsets.” Playsets are groupings of character playbooks with particular focuses that are engineered to create the kinds of tones or stories that you might want to play with. For examples, there are tonal playsets that will give you a farce, a romantic comedy, or a drama. There are also thematic playsets for players who want to focus on “Romance & Love,” “Rivalry & Revenge,” or “Family Matters,” to name just a few.
Character creation for a three session game is a lengthy process because it involves setting up all the initial conflicts and relationships at the same time. Good Society makes use of playbooks for character types in Austen’s novels, such as the heir, the meddler, the dowager, and the socialite. Each character has a beginning desire as well, which not only gives the character an immediate goal (say, recovering your lost inheritance), but a relationship (say, with your parent who disinherited you), and public knowledge about your situation. In addition to the relationship your desire gives you, you have a starting relationship with another PC. Then, you get your family background, which says whether you are a member of the peerage, of humble origins, from new money, and the like. Finally, you create an inner conflict that complicates what you want. With all this information, you get a character that is in motion, tied to the other characters, part of the social landscape of the setting, and ready to get into trouble.
Play itself is diceless. Players have resolve tokens for each of their characters, and they can use those tokens to influence the story in a way that impacts the other characters as well as their own. If you ever want to introduce a complication into the scene that affects one of your own characters alone, you can simply do it. If you want to introduce a complication that affects another character, then you can offer them the resolve token and tell them what you want to introduce. They can then take your token and allow you to introduce the complication, or they can enter into a conversation with you to determine how to satisfy your desires while still satisfying their own. Ideally you play with friends who will embrace the difficulties and challenges of their characters.
There are a lot of little moving parts to the game, but I think the emphasis is on all the right things to create an Austen story. The main marks on your character sheet that move are your reputation and your inner conflict (and occasionally your desire, in the case that you find yourself with either an achieved desire or one that is no longer relevant). In play, then, you try to improve your reputation and settle the question of your inner conflict (by answering the question through your actions: what do you care more about), all in pursuit of your desire, be it love or money.
The text itself is well-laid out and presented in a logical fashion. The writing is clean and straight-forward, functional rather than delightful.
When I first caught wind of the game, I was eager to see what Gordon and Hendro created. Now, while I’m impressed by the design, I find myself not at all excited to play it, not by any fault of the creators, but because there seems something entirely uninviting about playing rich people obsessed with status, not working, and securing as much money for a comfortable future as possible. In this particular political environment, I can’t see myself taking any joy in that play. Still, the game is well worth the read, even if you are not planning on playing, to consider the design.
January 5, 2025
Really fun RPG that is super flexible so you can literally write your own story. It's also a beautifully-designed book with some great art.
I just wish I could play the game more often! :p
I just wish I could play the game more often! :p
January 18, 2019
Very comprehensive explanation of how to play the game in an absolutely beautiful hardback book. Lots of information about the period too. Extremely high quality. Can’t wait to get some games going.
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March 31, 2025How? Gonna be playing this game with my gaming group.
What? A diceless Jane Austen story emulation engine.
Yeah, so? So, I read this 280 pp book and all through I thought, "this shouldn't be that long or confusing" and some of it seems odd. Like, Jane Austen certainly has letters, so it makes sense that there's an epistolary phase -- and yet, why do that in an RPG? There's also a monologue mechanism and that's kind of... antithetical to the free indirect discourse style that really sets the feeling of Austen-ism. And yet I understand why they have a monologue mechanism in an RPG. (How could you ever do free indirect discourse with a first person game with no narratorial voice?)
All that aside (too long, not totally clear, a few mechanical issues I have issue with), I think there's something solid here, and I'm watching a video to help me figure it out and the rest I'll learn by playing.
What? A diceless Jane Austen story emulation engine.
Yeah, so? So, I read this 280 pp book and all through I thought, "this shouldn't be that long or confusing" and some of it seems odd. Like, Jane Austen certainly has letters, so it makes sense that there's an epistolary phase -- and yet, why do that in an RPG? There's also a monologue mechanism and that's kind of... antithetical to the free indirect discourse style that really sets the feeling of Austen-ism. And yet I understand why they have a monologue mechanism in an RPG. (How could you ever do free indirect discourse with a first person game with no narratorial voice?)
All that aside (too long, not totally clear, a few mechanical issues I have issue with), I think there's something solid here, and I'm watching a video to help me figure it out and the rest I'll learn by playing.
October 31, 2020
A very comprehensive guide of making a Jane Austen style story through collaborative role playing. I found some of the rules a bit complicated to understand, how to use internal conflict among others but I watched the videos provided by story brewers and it got clearer. I like that it's a game where all of the players carry equal influence of the story and places less emphasis on a game master who pulls the strings. I'm looking forward to playing it!
February 2, 2024
Some parts are a bit dense and technical and require a lot of focus, but that's no fault of the writing, there's just kind of a steep learning curve and lots of game-specific concepts to learn. Having watched/listened to some Good Society Actual Plays beforehand helped.
But overall this is a gorgeous book, clear, comprehensive, easy to read, and well laid out.
But overall this is a gorgeous book, clear, comprehensive, easy to read, and well laid out.
December 29, 2018
Going to enjoy running this one!
September 5, 2020
Can’t wait to play!
February 18, 2023
Got a little confusing but it's mostly very clear. Been running a game with this system and people love it. Being the facilitator is not as hard and time-consuming as being a dm.
January 7, 2025
Decent book that explains the game.
September 19, 2025
An incredible cozy alternative to your typical roleplaying game. Good society invites its players to step back from the intense all-reality challenging struggles of your D&D game to collaborate on a sweet and compelling Jane Austen inspired story.
The longer I play roleplaying games, the more I appreciate the ones that can get the spirit of the game across as succinctly as possible. What is appealing to me about Good Society is that your players are mechanically compelled to act in a way that is dramatically interesting. You start off by collaboratively picking a playset that contains every major characters' desires and relationships. These desires are grouped together to suit a theme that the players wish to explore in their game (Wealth, Status, Romance, for example). These contain character goals such as marrying your secret fiancé or getting your parents to accept you. Once each player picks a desire, they get a relationship card that is also driven by the playset, and all they players trade relationships cards to create connections with each other. This subtle solution to character building inherently creates an atmosphere of teamwork and collaboration. There's no encouragement to break off on your own and create a character that serves only your expectations; you are naturally pushed to write your characters together. I think that serves the elegant wisdom of this system.
Every player then has a character archetype that is inspired by Austen characters, and they each specifically state the benefits of playing into the tropes surrounding each character. The Meddler, perhaps my favorite character archetype in the game, gains benefits when inserting themselves into other people's business and even creating sacrifices to further their influence over others.
On top of character building, the actual gameplay involves tokens that lets each player influence the story, tokens to que other players into orating an internal monologue, a designated phase for writing letters, mechanics for spreading rumors, mechanics for manipulating your social status, and mechanics for entertaining your internal struggle between two ideals. Any complications inserted from one player to another has the spirit of an opportunity to overcome an obstacle and not a sabotage to the fun. And the best part? There is NO preparation by the game master, or facilitator, only improvisation. This further drives home that the power to change the story is equally on all player's shoulders.
I love it that the mood and stakes are inherently driven by the rules to play like a Jane Austen setting. Once in the thick of it, no one is necessarily compelled by the rules to be selfish or destructive to the game. It sets up the players to have a fulfilling and intellectual roleplay experience.
I would recommend this book to anyone who watches or reads Bridgerton.
The longer I play roleplaying games, the more I appreciate the ones that can get the spirit of the game across as succinctly as possible. What is appealing to me about Good Society is that your players are mechanically compelled to act in a way that is dramatically interesting. You start off by collaboratively picking a playset that contains every major characters' desires and relationships. These desires are grouped together to suit a theme that the players wish to explore in their game (Wealth, Status, Romance, for example). These contain character goals such as marrying your secret fiancé or getting your parents to accept you. Once each player picks a desire, they get a relationship card that is also driven by the playset, and all they players trade relationships cards to create connections with each other. This subtle solution to character building inherently creates an atmosphere of teamwork and collaboration. There's no encouragement to break off on your own and create a character that serves only your expectations; you are naturally pushed to write your characters together. I think that serves the elegant wisdom of this system.
Every player then has a character archetype that is inspired by Austen characters, and they each specifically state the benefits of playing into the tropes surrounding each character. The Meddler, perhaps my favorite character archetype in the game, gains benefits when inserting themselves into other people's business and even creating sacrifices to further their influence over others.
On top of character building, the actual gameplay involves tokens that lets each player influence the story, tokens to que other players into orating an internal monologue, a designated phase for writing letters, mechanics for spreading rumors, mechanics for manipulating your social status, and mechanics for entertaining your internal struggle between two ideals. Any complications inserted from one player to another has the spirit of an opportunity to overcome an obstacle and not a sabotage to the fun. And the best part? There is NO preparation by the game master, or facilitator, only improvisation. This further drives home that the power to change the story is equally on all player's shoulders.
I love it that the mood and stakes are inherently driven by the rules to play like a Jane Austen setting. Once in the thick of it, no one is necessarily compelled by the rules to be selfish or destructive to the game. It sets up the players to have a fulfilling and intellectual roleplay experience.
I would recommend this book to anyone who watches or reads Bridgerton.
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