By Laura Elnairab
While playing some TTRPG in preparation for making our own, one of the game we came across was The Cafe Shop. This game reminded me of a game, Coffee Talk, it was clearly a similar setting however this time, the players created the story. Since I enjoyed Coffee Talk I was excited to try this out as one of my first TTRPGs.
I have never played a TTRPG, but after playing this one I finally understood the satisfying experience of creating a story in collaboration with creative minds alike. I also like however that The Cafe Shop could also be a solo game! I played it with my teammate Rachel though and we had a blast.
The first part was the random naming generator. This is one of my favorite parts and I really liked that we incorporated this mechanic into our game as well. I also like how in Cafe Shop however the setting may alter your experience changing the environment, since it is the name of the shop. Versus in our game GOOP! In a suit it was simply a naming convention, not truly altering the games outputs.
Our experience was very chaotic. Rachel and I played as a young man with a laptop. Though appearing normal at first, we made the man be a stalker. I love how TTRPGs give you a variety of prompts and it is the players choice to make it as chaotic or non chaotic as possible.
For our next step we receive our mood as in love. Romance is one of my favorite subjects so this was perfect! We made it so that our character would fall in love with the barista.
We added some comedy when we ordered something hot to drink. We jokingly flirted with the barista and said she was as hot as our drink! It was crazy how after rolling the mood of in love, we then received a dice roll of a marriage proposal. We then got on one knee to ask for marriage to the barista.
Our ending was that the barista denied our proposal, but wait then another woman came into the picture. After getting on one knee for the barista and getting declined, another woman stood up. She was our close friend who was madly in love with our character since childhood. She stood up and confessed her love to us. My character then accepted and got married with our best friend since childhood!
I thought it was so fun how this RPG seems simple, but is so flexible and balanced to create stories and experiences one can laugh at and remember. I also love the replayability aspect where a variety of stories and scenarios can be created. The game also feels cozy yet chaotic at the same time. Also, I love that this game can be solo or with a partner.
I loved how the ending was very open ending, so the player got to explore different possibilities. I love the flexibility of TTRPGs as a new found player, I think TTRPGS will start to become one of my favorite genre of games since I love a good story.
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