Flying Circus, High-Flying adventures!
No not the Monty Python variety
Touchstones: Porco Rosso, WW1 media, Ghibli Movies (add a quarter to the jar)
Genre: Aviation game, Fantasy (kinda)
What is this game?: Flying Circus is a game of high octane plane action, where you play as messy mercenary pilots in a WW1 inspired post apocalyptic setting
How's the gameplay?: Flying Circus' narrative side runs on the standard PBTA 2d6 resolution and playbooks rules, but the main difference comes when the cast is on air, wherein the game takes a much more realistic approach to its design. Planes are complex beasts, and the game approaches this by having many mini systems that must be kept track of at all times, it's very overwhelming on paper, but in practice it's honestly quite bearable. The game also has a fairly simple economy to upkeep your planes, a simple relationship system, and a vice system similar to Blades in the Dark
What's the setting (If any) like?: Flying Circus' setting is honestly its strongest point, a post-apocalyptic society who just left a WW1 style war, with many fantasy elements such as witches, dragons with nuclear breath, friendly fishy cultists, and ancient wandering machines of war. It's one of the more "In-Depth" settings I've seen, helped along by having a few novels and stories by the developer set in the same universe.
What's the tone?: Hopeful and Gritty, the world's healing, the people are fighting against their past oppression, and things are getting better, but stuff's muddy and scummy for now. Another thing is that this game is pretty damn horny, nothing egregious but probably not a "read on the subway" Type deal
Session length: 3+ hours should be plenty of time
Number of Players: 3-5 is ideal
Malleability: Flying Circus' actual mechanics can usually be used for any plane heavy setting, though frankly the default setting is part of the reason why you'd be playing flying circus, in my opinion at least
Resources: Flying Circus has multiple expansions, adding new mechanics, new planes, and even a complete spin off in Chariots of Steel, focused more on tank battle
Flying Circus is a game that is incredibly impressive and clearly a labour of love, do yourself a favor and check this one out, even if its on the pricier side Resources:
Closing Thoughts