‘Monty Python’s Cocurricular Mediaeval Reenactment Programme’ is Definitely *Not* The Official Monty Python RPG
This new book might look like an official Monty Python RPG and feature rules for playing a Monty Python RPG, but its cover says otherwise.
You know what they say, you should always judge a book by its cover. And the cover of the newly unveiled Monty Python’s Cocurricular Mediaeval Reenactment Programme might give you the impression that it’s the official Monty Python RPG, but as you can plainly see on its cover, it isn’t.
This is despite the fact that the book is full of rules for running a Monty Python RPG, and has character classes and rules for playing roles in Monty Python-type situations. Whether or not you believe this to be the official Monty Python RPG or not, Monty Python’s Cocurricular Mediaeval Reenactment promises levity and adventure around your tabletop.
The Monty Python RPG Cocurricular Mediaeval Reenactment Programme – Coming To Kickstarter Soon
Originally unveiled by Dicebreaker, the Monty Python RPG takes aim at the full catalog of Monty Python sketches, characters, and moments. While Holy Grail might rule the cover and inform the Mediaeval Reenactment part of the programme, the designers told Dicebreaker that it’s more than just Monty Python and the Holy Grail the RPG.
“What we were adamant [about] is it can’t just be replication of scenes from the movies and TV shows. Everybody knows the Black Knight scene by heart. So you don’t just roll up and recreate that scene. It’s not very interesting, and I don’t think people would have much fun with that.
It’s more a matter of providing a toolbox of stuff that people can create stories that feel very Monty Python without recreating scenes. That’s kind of a tricky thing, because it involves trying to figure out what makes Python stuff work and what makes it Python. […] It’s a bit of a balancing act to try and find just the right amount of Pythonesque dissections versus just giving people a world, letting them see how it’s built and letting them go from there.”
To that end, the book will feature “situations” that give you the sort of character you are. You might play an oppressed peasant, a knight, a nobheadle. And they blend with different traits like glibness, sorcery, musicianship, the ways of science, chastity, and so on. All of this will have a unique system of dice, it looks to use the whole polyhedral lot from the d4 to the d20.
But what seems like the trickiest needle to thread is finding the toolbox that people can use to create stories that feel like Python. After all, they broke the mold with their absurdity. One-off jokes spin out into nested scenes. Meta commentary becomes another vehicle for punchlines.
All of which to say, if they can pull it off, this will be incredible. So, keep an eye out for October, when the Kickstarter launches.
Check out what is definitely NOT the Monty Python RPG on Kickstarter
