Pyramid Review
Soap: The Game of Soap Opera Mayhem
Published by Wingnut Games
Written by Ferry Bazelmans
Illustrated by Tristan Bronkhorst
24-page saddle stitched book; $7.95
After encouraging you to bring out your inner grunt with their caveman RPG, The Land of Og and letting you conduct combat with cows in Battle Cattle, the latest release from Wingnut Games lets you rise to the shallow end of the roleplaying pool and also revisits a genre that has not been tackled in over two decades . . . and that was with the very first licensed RPG, Dallas, published by SPI in 1980. Soap: The Game of Soap Opera Mayhem follows the life of soap opera stars as they get shot, discover that their paramour is their long lost sibling, get swindled out of their inheritance, undergo a life-threatening operation, engage in illicit affairs with all and sundry, find themselves blackmailed for a crime they certainly did commit and undergo a personality change from good guy to bad bitch -- or vice versa. All of which takes place across five daily episodes of half an hour each -- with a compilation on Sunday -- or a once a week, exceedingly glossy hour length episode in which shoulder pads are de rigueur. Storylines go on and on and on and on -- until somebody pulls the plug or wakes up in the shower and discovers that it was all a dream . . .
Describing itself as "more or less a roleplaying game," Soap: The Game of Soap Opera Mayhem is more of a storytelling game that owes a nod or two to the late Hogshead Publishing's . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: March 28, 2003
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