Hometown Holiday

This is a role-playing game that – hilariously – provides rules around a “televised holiday romance.” A Hallmark Christmas movie, essentially.

I’m sure this is a parody…pretty sure, anyway.

The rules are kinda hilarious. Characters have only three attributes: Sweaters, Cocoa, and Cheer. There are several character classes like “Married to my Job” and “Heart of Main Street.”

Gameplay is simple. There are three “acts” – the introduction, the problem, and the resolution. The players are supposed to be presented with situations and role-play their way out of them. There’s a simply scoring mechanism, but a lot of the game is up to “The Director” who is guiding the players.

(Honestly, some of the rules didn’t make sense. There are references to “Secret Objectives” that seem to go nowhere. I just don’t know how well thought-out the system is, which also leads me to believe this is a parody.)

Does anyone ever play this? I have no idea. I bought it because I can’t think of anything more ridiculous than trying to put rules around a Hallmark movie. For entertainment value, it absolutely delivered.

Book Info

Here are some notes I took on the acquisition of this book:

I got this at The Science Fiction Bookstore in Old Town Stockholm.