We don’t spend an awful lot of time talking about RPGs on Ding & Dent but they’re something we both enjoy. Unfortunately, many of them can require significant dedication of time. Between the rules to learn, characters to create, and worlds to inhabit, it’s rare to find one you can casually play in under an hour. That’s what makes The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen so appealing. The rules are extremely simple and you can play anywhere. I have literally played at a bar, replacing tokens with tater tots.

As he lays out in the pages of his book, Baron Munchausen is a well-traveled and accomplished fellow. He’s friends with Queens and Kings, he’s climbed mountains and plumbed the depths of the ocean. He’s slain dragons, tamed mermaids, and even been to the moon. I know that sounds crazy, but they’re all true. He promises. These are all stories he’d be happy to tell you, but at the behest of his publisher he’s written down the rules for a parlor game of telling stories. They may sound boastful, but again: they’re true.

This is the game you’ll find in the thin 3rd edition from Fantasy Flight Games. It’s a storytelling RPG of boasting and grandiose tales. Remember that scene in Pirates of the Caribbean where the camera cuts to Jack saying “…and then they made me their chief.”? This is your chance to tell the rest of those stories, aided by a simple ruleset designed to challenge and help each other in a communal game of improvised hilarity.

Like many RPGs, the first step is creating your character. In the Baron’s game, it couldn’t be simpler: give yourself a noble title and a regal last name. Grab a handful of tokens (or tots) and it’s time to begin. In turn each player will be prompted to tell the table an elaborate and totally true story of adventure. These stories are prompted by another player. “Tell me, dear Countessa, of the time you and the Queen of England escaped the Hussar army in a hot air balloon” or “I hear, my good Lord Weasleton, that you once convinced a herd of zebras to reverse their stripes”. With such a prompt, you’re off.

The storyteller begins spinning a tale to entertain the table, hopefully telling the story voted best at the end of the game. These don’t have to be elaborate - 3-5 minutes is long enough - but some of the funniest moments I’ve had in gaming have come from a game of Baron Munchausen. Humans have been telling stories since we developed language, and there’s a reason for that. They connect people and have a way of transporting us away from our normal realities in exciting moments of escapism.

Baron Munchausen delivers that. Whether you’re fighting samurai or riding cannonballs to the moon, there’s a simply joy in sitting around a table and entertaining your friends. The fact that they can join in makes it even better. At any point during a story a player can slide a token across the table and interrupt, challenging some aspect of the story or “reminding” the storyteller of a complication. The storyteller can accept the coin, weaving this interruption into the fabric of their tale or counter the assertion with a coin of their own. “Surely you must be mistaken, my dear friend”. This bidding can go back and forth until one player backs down or someone calls someone else a liar. At which point, only a duel of Stone-Parchment-Knife can settle such an attack on one’s honor.

This communal aspect is great for a couple reasons. For one, it can take the pressure off of the person telling the story and give someone else an opportunity to step in and get the creative juices flowing. It also comes back around at the end in a wonderful way. Players who adeptly weave complications into their tale will end up with a pile of coins in front of them. Ostensibly this means they’re the “best” storyteller but the rules of Baron say that each player votes on their favorite story by giving away all their coins to the person who entertained them the most.

In this way, the game forces players to celebrate each other, not bask in glory. There’s a vulnerability you have to expose yourself to when you play any sort of improvisational game. It’s such a simple thing, but I absolutely appreciate the way “victory” condition alleviates that pressure.

Packaged in this 3rd edition are a number of excellent variants. An Arabian Nights themed version shifts the structure to one of a single communal story with players bidding coins to take control and push their characters to the heroic forefront. Others position the players as Bond Villains, boastful children, or even Leninist comrades telling equally good tales of equally heroic deeds with the final vote simply used to determine which story is most-equal.

I love my games of plastic and cardboard, but I also love taking the occasional break to revel in the fantasy worlds of RPGs. If you’ve never played one, The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen are an excellent first-step. For experienced players, it can provide an engaging evening of narrative duels.