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So my problem with the POWER 19 is that it's a great template for formulating your ideas on your game when seeking structure, feedback or help. However, it sucks (IMO) in getting folks interested in your game idea in general. That is, I see a lot of people, my big dumb self included, use the Power 19 to talk about our game in a way to, y'know, raise a flag, boast proudly, show off to friends the fact that you've got this Cool Idea and you want to Share!
So for over a year now (closer to 2?) I've had this idea to "turn it around", to basically make a template that lets you proudly boast about the cool new idea you have, in a way that gets the reader interested in it from a potential release point of view, and even gets the reader participating in your idea (if they make it through your writing).
Now, mind, the thing is long. So in actuality, you probably won't hold people's attention any more than the Power 19. But my goal was to turn the questions on their ear, to focus on a potential player audience, and this is what I came up with. Finally.
In a day or two I'll post my own NSI 20 on stuff I'm working on, in this thread, to show how I imagine it working:
===BEGIN===
Andy's Narcissist Self-Interview 20
PART I
1) Here is the name of the game, and how I came up with the name.
2) Here would the "back cover blurb" for the game. Imagine it being read by the "Movie Commercial Guy" ("In a World...")
3) This is a brief example of what play might look like. This is a Replay (screenplay) involving three players: Siva, Elise, and Tobias, and no more than 10 "lines" of text.
4) This is my target audience.
5) These are other games, media, etc am I blatantly stealing from (or, what I am inspired by)
6) Here is one single sentence which describes 1-2 things about my game idea that other games don't currently offer (to my knowledge).
7) Here, in no more than three sentences, is what the game is about in general.
8) Here are one to two vignettes about the game's setting.
9) This is a description of one to two typical characters in this game.
10) Here is a brief glimpse at what making characters is like.
11) This is how characters might change over playing the game.
12) This is what part of the game's resolution mechanic might look like.
13) This is a link to a piece of art or two, the likes of which you might find in a copy of the game (or, I might quickly describe a picture or painting that you might see in my game).
14) Here is how I want players to interact in the game (GM, players, etc), and I will include an example or two if I have a way, in game (rules, setting, theme, mood, etc), to help that interaction take place.
15) For my target audience, here is what they should find cool or exciting about my game:
16) If someone doesn't like my game, this is what they probably will hate about it.
17) Here are my unique design goals, if any. I will also briefly describe any of the struggles I am currently having with each.
18) Here are my unique publishing goals, if any. I will also briefly describe any challenges I foresee with each.
19) This is where I am currently talking about this game, or how to get a hold of me if you want to know more.
PART II
Now, this is what I want YOU to do!
>>(come up with 1-3 fun activities to play along, based on the above, that would take no more than 2 minutes or so each. This will totally depend on your game. Here are some examples based on Generic Fantasy Game)<<
(ex) 1) After looking at the above, think of a character that you would make for this kind of game. Please give her a name, describe what she looks like (and what weapons she wields), and where she would normally be seen.
(ex) 2) You are in front of your lord, the King of Fotzbrow. He asks you to do something that your character finds hard to believe. What does he command you to do?
===END===
Took about an hour to come up with and think the questions through. I think question 11 might be weak for now, but we'll see how it goes. If you're inspired, feel free to use it as a template to talk about your game idea, in this thread. If you have "Reader Activities" (an integral part of the process, IMO) as listed above in "Part II", I'll participate!
(Not really interested in editing/fixing the questions above (or taking suggestions) until I see a few of these in action.)
-Andy -
I love these. Andy, you are my hero. I'll do some for my totally not going to publish game shortly.
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I'm digging it.
In some other forum discussion I found an interesting related fact.
The Power 19 are for designers from designers. They are intended as a tool to clarify and define the game and why it is worth developing. It can help other designers understand the context, the style and the way it is supposed to be. They are not a tool intended for the "untrained" eye, and boasting around is very hard to come...
So I could totally see the value of your NSI 20. Cool, interesting subjects intended to "sell" the game. I really don't like the name, thou... -
What the hell. I'm going to go for it!
...................................................................
1) Here is the name of the game, and how I came up with the name.
The name of the game is Scorn. I was going to call it Scornography, but it wouldn't fit on the cover, so I shortened it to Scorn.
2) Here would the "back cover blurb" for the game. Imagine it being read by the "Movie Commercial Guy" ("In a World...")
The Day of Judgment has arrived. Demons walk the Earth, feasting on human flesh, and even the heroic efforts of a covert resistance movement cannot turn the tide of battle. The people of the world pray for mercy, hoping that the presence of demons also signifies the existence of angels. Finally, the forces of Heaven respond. They begin by obliterating most of the planet's major cities. Then things get really ugly. You are a Zealot, one of the few who survived the carnage. The exposure to Divinity gave you superhuman abilities, but it also marked you. Now, you must fight to protect humanity from horrors above and horrors below, while trying to keep your skin attached to your own body.
3) This is a brief example of what play might look like.
Still working on this, but it's probably going to involve tentacles somehow. And/or intestines.
4) This is my target audience.
Anyone interested in a rules-light spandex-free modern supers game with horror elements in a post-apocalyptic environment.
5) These are other games, media, etc am I blatantly stealing from (or, what I am inspired by)
This is basically Dread: The First Book of Pandemonium with the safety off. On steroids. And PCP. With Bolt Thrower, Vader, and/or Behemoth playing in the background. While watching Godzilla: Final Wars.
6) Here is one single run-on sentence which describes 1-2 things about my game idea that other games don't currently offer (to my knowledge).
I don't know of any other game that offers stunts with names like "Organ Grinder" and "Bloody Sanchez"; also, the angels in Scorn are pretty out there (pics below); and the magic in Scorn is flat-out batshit insane; it makes the Dread spells look charming and fun by comparison.
7) Here, in no more than three sentences, is what the game is about in general.
Demons are bad, but angels are much worse. In the rubble of decimated cities, heroes known as Zealots battle against enemies Infernal and Divine. Using bizarre magic and superhuman strength, these champions try to protect humanity from being crushed between the forces of Heaven and Hell.
8) Here are one to two vignettes about the game's setting.
Still working on that.
9) This is a description of one to two typical characters in this game.
Helen Damnation: Her left arm is a massive tentacle ending in a sucking maw like a lamprey. She's got a shortsword made from an angel's femur in her right hand. There's a sniper rifle strapped to her back. Her face is painted with demon blood. She's wearing camo fatigues and a Napalm Death t-shirt.
10) Here is a brief glimpse at what making characters is like.
Still working on that. But it should take about ten minutes.
11) This is how characters might change over playing the game.
Advancement is kind of vanilla; you get more spells, skills, and abilities as you play through adventures.
12) This is what part of the game's resolution mechanic might look like.
It uses the same system as Dread: The First Book of Pandemonium. You roll a pool of d12s for every attempted action, then compare with a target difficulty, or with the GM's roll. High roll wins, and damage inflicted is equal to the difference between the two numbers.
13) This is a link to a piece of art or two, the likes of which you might find in a copy of the game.
Specifically, these are angels from Heaven.
14) Here is how I want players to interact in the game (GM, players, etc), and I will include an example or two if I have a way, in game (rules, setting, theme, mood, etc), to help that interaction take place.
I'm not sure about this one.
15) For my target audience, here is what they should find cool or exciting about my game:
Disgusting demons and psychotic angels, crazy stunts, repulsive spells, larger-than-life megaviolence in a post-apocalyptic setting. Actually, it's not post-apocalyptic, because the Apocalypse is ongoing while you're playing. And most of the planet is still kind of in one piece. But you get the idea.
16) If someone doesn't like my game, this is what they probably will hate about it.
It's gory, profane, and violent. It includes such attempts at humor as "Bloody Sanchez". Also, it uses nothing but d12s. That's kind of a red flag for some people.
17) Here are my unique design goals, if any. I will also briefly describe any of the struggles I am currently having with each.
I'm looking to upgrade the Dread combat system to accomodate gigantic monsters. I'd also like to work in some mook rules. Haven't been playtesting these ideas as much as I want to, but I'll get around to it one of these days.
18) Here are my unique publishing goals, if any. I will also briefly describe any challenges I foresee with each.
I want this game to look hotter than a thirty-year-old grandma. Not sure how I'm going to pull that off.
19) This is where I am currently talking about this game, or how to get a hold of me if you want to know more.
http://www.dread-rpg.com/scorn.html
Here's what you can do:
a. Tell me what city you want nuked. Now that it's been destroyed, what kind of shit is going down in the ruins? Giant vine monsters curled around the crumbling skyscrapers of New York City? Tentacled horrors smashing through the wasteland that was once Berlin? An army of intelligent thirty-foot tapeworms sucking humans dry in the rubble of Durham? Actually, scratch that last one, no one would know the difference.
b. After looking at the above, think of a character that you would make for this kind of game. How large is her gun? How big is her sword? How many arms does she have? What clever/offensive slogan is printed on her t-shirt? -
Yes! It works! It works!
I might need to study it with care to see if there is anything that could be polished, but I do like what I'm seeing. -
- CommentAuthorZach Welhouse
- CommentTimeFeb 26th 2008 edited
I'll hop on this bad boy. Sounds like fun. I'll reply to any Part II's posted as well, after a few accumulate.
PART I
1) Here is the name of the game.
Cerebos, the Crystal City. Each game is about the characters' journey to Cerebos. It is everyone's eventual goal, even if ends up being different than anyone imagined. The title also reminds me of Utopian short stories and the issues with which they play.
2) Here would the "back cover blurb" for the game.
An officer's boots. A charred coffin. A gun containing a single bullet. These are solidified memories -- fleeting ephemera trapped within a shard of eternity. People try to escape their memories, but they are frozen by them. Can we pity the confidant stranger, chained by a gardenia's delicate scent? What of the youth bound with an heirloom's promise? We can do nothing except watch as they separate from human contact, from the present, and ultimately, their own futures. Sealed within the past, they travel in the only direction they're able: across the great desert and toward Cerebos, the Crystal City.
3) This is a brief example of what play might look like.
Siva: I take the key from around my neck and show it to the Ramshackle Man. "Do you know what this is for? I remember the scent of almonds, but nothing more."
Tobias: I turn it over several times, noting the unique metalwork. "It looks like it was made by a master craftsman. Does that ring true?"
Siva: "Yes! That's right! I remember a cafe in the City by the Sea, and a young locksmith's cologne..." Let's start my flashback right there.
Tobias: I get to add one thing to this scene, right? The locksmith is there. He looks guilty, but earnest.
Elise: I sure wish my other players would have shown up. Let's see... The locksmith is offering three keys -- one to wealth, one to power, and one to wisdom. "Truly, any one of those would be worth your love!"
Siva: "You think so little of me? What I want cannot be opened so easily!"
Elise: (Glances at the nametag card in from of Siva that she cannot see.) "So it's true. Your heart truly does belong to another. Very well!" He grabs one of the keys and throws it in your face before bolting into the night.
Siva: What? The heart of another? But who? "Yes! He will take me away from this, to Cerebos! We will live in unblemished towers and drink the sweetest of wines!" Of course, I'm not entirely sure of this. I can't even remember his name. I pocket the key for insurance.
Elise: "Ladies and gentlemen, the City of Doors will be coming into view in five minutes! We will continue on toward Cerebos tomorrow at 9:15." OK, everybody. What two traits do you think the Lady in White gained from her flashback?
4) This is my target audience.
Narrative hippies. People who're enchanted with Spanish-inspired magical realism or sparse desertscapes. Story-tellers, in the non-White Wolf sense.
5) Good artists borrow; great artists steal.
Kino's Journey (Kino no Tabi), Calvino's Invisible Cities, the Book of Flying, magical realism, the Wizard of Oz, Galaxy Express 999, Night on the Galactic Railroad, and a touch of spaghetti Western The Mountain Witch for the idea that each game has the same frame story. 1001 Nights for the flashback/storytelling aspect. The art of Jacek Yerka.
6) Here is one single sentence which describes 1-2 things about my game idea that other games don't currently offer (to my knowledge).
Cerebos offers a one-way ticket on a surreal train ride through the memories of passengers who are defined entirely by their possessions.
7) Here, in no more than three sentences, is what the game is about in general.
Our heroes reconstruct their fractured pasts in order to confront them. Between stories they explore isolated towns with eerily familiar quirks and problems.
8) Here are one to two vignettes about the game's setting.
Cut for length.
9) This is a description of two typical characters in this game.
The Ramshackle Man: A tattered felt hat, mismatched military clothing, a bronze telescope
Laura Key: An unknown key, an empty notebook, and a small dog.
10) Here is a brief glimpse at what making characters is like.
Select three items that survived the desert's burn. Write on another player's nametag so that he has a reason for leaving the City by the Sea.
11) This is how characters might change over playing the game.
First they'll blossom into a personality bound by three objects. Then they'll piece together why they left the City by the Sea. By the time that the train arrives at Cerebos, everyone will have encountered many new things. Knowing what they do now, do our heroes still hold with their original reason for leaving?
12) This is what part of the game's resolution mechanic might look like.
Roll 2d6 for all checks. 5s and 6s are successes. If a trait is relevant, add its number to the dice rolled. (This is the weakest part of the game. I won't move further until I find a more evocative mechanic.)
Objects may be given away or sacrificed for a bonus, but each item sacrificed in this way influences the endgame.
13) In a perfect world, here's the art.
Jerka #1
Jerka #2
14) Here is how I want players to interact in the game?
The GM is primarily as a facilitator for getting the characters to open up. This becomes more traditional at each stop, but in the sense of a SotC or Mountain Witch GM.
Other thematic elements float around memories defining us and how the physical realm blends so easily into mental, spiritual, and emotional spheres.
15) For my target audience, here is what they should find cool or exciting about my game:
Creating nuanced characters in strange situations by selecting any three objects. Tweaking in on other peoples' flashbacks without disrupting them or ruining the flow. It can be used as is, with space trains and, or in a more traditional Weird Western vein with sandworms and cyborg gunslingers without serial numbers.
16) If someone doesn't like my game, this is what they probably will hate about it.
It's not very crunchy, and is very much in line with the "single-situation, thin book" line of storygames. Campaign play isn't really possible.
17) Here are my unique design goals, if any. I will also briefly describe any of the struggles I am currently having with each.
I'm hoping to make a game that doesn't depend on manic energy to function, but without being boring.
18) Here are my unique publishing goals, if any. I will also briefly describe any challenges I foresee with each.
I don't want the drive to publish to push this game. I want it to grow on its own, with every section deliberately tested. Deadlines aren't something I want to think about, even if it means missing a Gencon.
19) This is where I am currently talking about this game, or how to get a hold of me if you want to know more.
My livejournal.
PART II
(ex) 1) Think of a character that you would make for this kind of game. Select three objects that are connected to her past in some way. They are her memory anchors. Everything else has been taken by the desert.
(ex) 2) You are on the train with a mass-murderer who's hoping to find salvation in religion and a mountebank whose patent medicine ruined your greatest ambition. You all expect to find answers in Cerebos, the Crystal City. What do you do upon discovering that it is a smoking crater? -
SUCK!!! I filled out the whole damn thing, went to post it and I'd been logged out. When I went back a page, no reply box no saved data, lost the entire thing.
I must go cry now. -
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CommentAuthorJason Morningstar
- CommentTimeFeb 27th 2008
Posted By: RafaelAn army of intelligent thirty-foot tapeworms sucking humans dry in the rubble of Durham? Actually, scratch that last one, no one would know the difference.
Durham, rise up! Haters from down the road can't handle the tapeworms. -
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Yeah, I'm only half done mine.
Also, we need a different meaning of NSI, the original is too self-deprecating. What about "Not So Intense" ? -
Andy, I love your points, but how about adding one along the lines of "What's required to play my game?" This should include details on the number of players the game is designed to accomodate, whether a GM is used or not, what kind and amount of dice/cards/tokens are needed, optimal play time and campaign length.
~Yoki -
Hmmm the others are still in development, so I don't know if a game that is about to come out is appropriate, but assuming it is, here goes.
PART I
1) Here is the name of the game, and how I came up with the name.
My game is called Solipsist and it is all about people who think only of themselves, i.e. Solipsists. The name came out of a hat in a 24 minute RPG design contest.
2) Here would the "back cover blurb" for the game. Imagine it being read by the "Movie Commercial Guy" ("In a World...")
There are people who think so strongly and individually, that they can literally change reality, teasing out the fabric of the consensus and changing it. They are called Solipsists.
In this game you and your friends play a group of balanced Solipsists, struggling to fulfill your grandiose dreams, retain your desperate grip on reality, and fight the un-making of the Shadows before they can end the world for good.
A role-playing game about bending reality.
3) This is a brief example of what play might look like. This is a Replay (screenplay) involving three players: Siva, Elise, and Tobias, and no more than 10 "lines" of text.
Siva : "I enter the room and ransack the filing cabinets, looking for the missing sheets of music."
Elise : "You find no music, but you do find a letter that suggests that the composer hid the music somewhere in his house before his death."
Siva : "I'm happy with that"
Elise : "Then, as you are reading the letter the door opens and the security guard from before storms in. 'Ah-ha! I knew you'd be here! You're coming with me!". He grabs you and drags you out into the office.
Sive : "No, I don't like that! I change reality so that I am the manager of the company, and instead of ushering me out he appologises for the mistake. Then I get him to find me the address of the composer's house"
4) This is my target audience.
People interested in exploring the dilemmas and powers of characters who can change anything at will.
5) These are other games, media, etc am I blatantly stealing from (or, what I am inspired by)
Heretic, by cumberland games, and Mage, the first edition
6) Here is one single sentence which describes 1-2 things about my game idea that other games don't currently offer (to my knowledge).
The ability to play characters (as opposed to players) with what ammounts to scene-framing and world building abilities.
7) Here, in no more than three sentences, is what the game is about in general.
Self-obsessed loners with the ability to change all reality with a thought who have passed up the chance to live in their own fantasy world and now must balance their goals with the constant desire to ascend into their personal heaven.
8) Here are one to two vignettes about the game's setting.
It doesn't really have a setting
9) This is a description of one to two typical characters in this game.
Toria : Dreams of being a mermaid princess in an underwater kingdom that covers the whole of the flooded earth, but cannot bear to lose her family and loved ones in the process.
Dr Martin Wessex : Dreams of being superman and making a perfect city where everyone has a purpose, but can't tear himself away from the countryside and the lure of having no responsibilities over others.
10) Here is a brief glimpse at what making characters is like.
You choose a Vision which defines what your perfect world is like. Then pick five Obsessions that are dragging you there and five Limitations that are holding you back.
11) This is how characters might change over playing the game.
Your traits get more extreme as time goes on. More importantly the world you live in becomes more and more like the aggregate of all the character's obsessions.
12) This is what part of the game's resolution mechanic might look like.
You start with a difficulty to change reality, add your limitation scores, subtract your obsession scores, spend in game currency and succeed based on the result. Different people get to narrate on different results, but since the system is currency based you usually get to choose the narrator.
13) This is a link to a piece of art or two, the likes of which you might find in a copy of the game (or, I might quickly describe a picture or painting that you might see in my game).
The front cover
internal art
14) Here is how I want players to interact in the game (GM, players, etc), and I will include an example or two if I have a way, in game (rules, setting, theme, mood, etc), to help that interaction take place.
15) For my target audience, here is what they should find cool or exciting about my game:
A story game which is focussed on narrative, and characters who can do what story game players usually do.
16) If someone doesn't like my game, this is what they probably will hate about it.
The lack of any random element in the resolution system. The fact that players have to use their character's powers to frame scenes.
19) This is where I am currently talking about this game, or how to get a hold of me if you want to know more.
http://www.solipsist-rpg.com/ -
Posted By: Jason MorningstarDurham, rise up! Haters from down the road can't handle the tapeworms.
Take your shirt off!
Twist it 'round your head!
Spin it like a helicopter! -
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CommentAuthorThunder_God
- CommentTimeFeb 27th 2008
I feel compelled to point out something Andy, even if you're not looking for criticism.
This is directed for RPGs, where you create story through the agency of characters (or play characters without creating story), it doesn't address Story Games where there are no characters for people to own and/or portray. -
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- CommentAuthorRon Hammack
- CommentTimeFeb 27th 2008
Huh. "Story game" has an Official Definition now? I must have missed the memo. -
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CommentAuthorThunder_God
- CommentTimeFeb 27th 2008 edited
A game that generates a story? :)
I thought it was self evident, it's very loose.
Edit: My comment wasn't that those are the whole group consisting of Story Games, but that the group consists these games which are left out in the NSI 20. -
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This thing is pure, delicious sass. To me, a good name is the "Ego 19." I always felt like the Power 19 clarified my vision to me, whereas the Ego 19 presents that clarified vision to others. To me, it translates into, "Get ready to praise me, here I come!" And I love that.
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CommentAuthorMike Montesa
- CommentTimeFeb 27th 2008
I was just thinking about trying to formulate an idea and now, armed with Andy's NSI20...I'll be back! -
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CommentAuthorQuintin Stone
- CommentTimeFeb 27th 2008
Posted By: Thunder_GodI feel compelled to point out something Andy, even if you're not looking for criticism.
This is directed for RPGs, where you create story through the agency of characters (or play characters without creating story), it doesn't address Story Games where there are no characters for people to own and/or portray.
I don't think that the questions require/imply ownership over characters. Only 3 questions mention characters and none of them makes any assumptions as to how they are played (description, creation, changed). But I am curious as to which "story" games don't have any sort of characters at all. -
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Posted By: Thunder_GodThis is directed for RPGs, where you create story through the agency of characters (or play characters without creating story), it doesn't addressStory Gameswhere there are no characters for people to own and/or portray.
Actually, I was thinking about games like IAWA, Inuma and the like (not "I claim this character 4evar" games) when I wrote it. And as Quintin said, I can't think of any game where there are no characters. I haven't seen one. Even Universalis has you make characters and (presumably) roleplay them out. And even Universalis can fit into the NSI20* by describing character creation and ownership like in steps 3, 6, 7, 9, etc. In a Jeepform game, you could say "The Character is YOU!!!" or something.
The only one I was squinting at was the "setting" question (which I love overall) for games with no default setting. In that case, someone could say, "There's actually no default setting! But with the feel of the game, here might be one you could experience..." etc.Posted By: Ron HammackHuh. "Story game" has an Official Definition now? I must have missed the memo.
Yep. The memo is in the mail, along with your pin, signet ring, guide booklet and robes. :-)
-Andy
*(name pending) -
This is Exemplar. An Exemplar is someone who has pushed themselves beyond the limits of the human mind and body. They can cripple you with a touch and devour your mind with a glance.
The Navigators struggle to maintain their stranglehold on space travel and advanced technology. The Intersystem Government and Clergy sends the Marines Templar and Marines Justicar against a hundred simultaneous rebellions. The feudal houses of the IGAC fight amongst themselves for honor, for worlds, for the favor of the Guild and the support of the Curia. Civilization is at a tipping point. Your vendettas decide which way it falls.
Like this:
Siva: No way. The Circle is not impressed. Sekka demands an immediate cease fire in the Sha system, or Coven will advise House Geffen to secede from the IGAC.
Elise: Eris is equally unimpressed. She demands that Ora press the attack to the third moon of the gas giant, or the Guild will place sanctions.
Tobias: Queen Ai waffles. Throw a test. Both of you can take a stunt die. Siva, you can get a resources bonus by using up your favor with the Regent of Geffen. Elise, you’ve got two dice of flow from last scene.
Siva: I’ll use the favor, and spend Willpower. 3 successes.
Elise: Willpower here, too, and can I get an assistance die from Ai’s contracted navvie? Yah..? 5 successes.
Siva: Crap. No way. Not happening. Diplomacy time is over. Sekka uses Wheel of Ten Thousand Spokes to establish telepathic contact with the entire bloody province. 4 suxx.
Tobias: Nobody interesting manages to resist, as far as NPCs go. Ah... actually, that’s enough successes to black out pretty much everyone within 13 kilometers...? Don't wanna..?
Elise: 3 successes, but Elemental Encryption Maze keeps me mostly safe. Anyway, you’re dead. Totally dead. I know where this is going, and what you’re about to do counts as using a WMD in a populated area. The Navigators will rip you apart. Eris draws her sword and activates Geometer’s Mercury. Let’s roll.
Exemplar is for people who like space opera and big drama and psychic kung fu. It is for people who like Dune and The Culture and Kill Bill and Zatoichi and Crouching Tiger and wuxia serials and Ghost in the Shell. Bits of the system may remind you of The Shadow of Yesterday or The Burning Wheel or Sorcerer (old school yeah?). Exemplar has crunchy strategic combat and character-driven play. It’s got mechanisms to bring about big, climactic fight scenes, and to make those scenes kick ass.
Players in Exemplar portray the faces and forces behind noble houses, armies, cults, and organizations that span hundreds of worlds. They struggle for the supremacy of their in group and to achieve their own goals. Eventually, you’ll have to choose one over the other, or lose them both. Bloodily.
The world of Sha. From space, a golden marble flecked with colored glass. Mass drivers fire countless hulking cargo containers towards the system’s jump point, to be ferried by the Guild to more hungry worlds. On the surface, the population clusters in towering cities of colored glass spires, ruled by the Prince-Electors and Zen-Abramayan warrior priests. Mechanical behemoths crawl the endless seas of waving yellow wheat, harvesting and processing. Saturating everything, constant fear that the IGAC or Guild will change its mind about Sha’s independence.
Hitomi 12/401, Knight of the Order of Etena, front line warrior of the Guild. Short, vaguely middle eastern features. Tightly fitted grey clothing with silver trappings, and the long, flowing cape of the Navigators. Her serial number tattooed on the side of her neck, the Navigators’ black hexagon with the missing triangle centered on her forehead. Across her back, a six foot long blade of diamond and a centrifuge rifle.
You make a character by looking over lists of cool shit and saying “I want that,” then writing it all down. Then you total up the Nemesis cost of everything you picked. Players whose protagonists end up with less Nemesis get to frame more scenes. Then you pick three Relationships: someone who controls something you want, someone who wants something you control, and an ally with cause to betray you.
Characters get experience by conflicting with those three relationships. Experience can be used to buy even more cool shit.
Mechanics are a d6 dice pool counting successes to resolve stakes. There’s a big list of bonuses and penalties that can come from prior actions or result in complications later down the road. Characters can have a good shot at almost anything, if they’re willing to work hard enough for it.
There’s a traditional GM and players, but I’ve found that the GM doesn’t do very much. Mostly stat up NPCs and make rules decisions and give people suggestions. Players frame almost every scene, and when a player’s protagonist isn’t in a scene, they take control of another character.
If you like the game, you will like it because of the fast action, bloody drama, and high stakes. Exemplar takes the scale of the setting, and uses that as a tool to blow personal issues way out of proportion. If you don’t like the game, it’s probably because of all the fiddly bits, or because you don’t think psychic kung fu is cool, or maybe because you wish it was GMless.
Right now I’m looking to make some of the fiddly bits less fiddly, tweak some ratios, and provide some good guidelines for quickly and easily building a PC. I’ve no plans to formally publish. If you want to talk about Exemplar, post about it on SG or e-mail me. Jeph88 AT mindspring DOT com
For those following along, homework:
1) Think of someone who might be a mover and shaker in a fuedal space opera. Someone whose bad decisions could cause vast amounts of suffering and tragedy. Give her a name.
2) Give her psychic kung fu. How does she kill people with her mind?
3) Give her reasons to make bad decisions, in the form of three relationships. One person who controls something that she wants. Object of one sided love? Sole surviving master of a powerful martial art? One person who wants something that she controls. Political rival? Assassin after the price on her head? One ally with cause to betray her. Younger sibling seduced by the Guild’s promise of wealth? Advisor with a loved one being held by an enemy?
Go nuts.
Kick some ass. -
PART I
1) Here is the name of the game, and how I came up with the name.
The name of my game is Destroy all Evil. I came with the name by trying to distill what the characters goals are.
2) Here would the "back cover blurb" for the game. Imagine it being read by the "Movie Commercial Guy" ("In a World...")
Evil is everywhere. Your eyes have been ripped open by reality. There can be no peace until the visions stop. Find cursed items. Become an exorcist. Turn the supernatural on its head.
Destroy all Evil is a light to medium level horror game. The forces of darkness are everywhere but the players have to save their victims if they can. What is more important, saving souls or destroying the forces of evil?
3) This is a brief example of what play might look like. This is a Replay (screenplay) involving three players: Siva, Elise, and Tobias, and no more than 10 "lines" of text.
Siva: Put it down! It’s not worth it.
Cursed Item Owner: I’ll never grow old, I’ll never die!
Tobias: The Amulet of Methuselah damns the owner to Hell.
Elise: *starts prayer of protection*…
4) This is my target audience.
People who familiar with the 80s horror shows and other movies. For anyone who wants a light to medium amount of horror.
5) These are other games, media, etc am I blatantly stealing from (or, what I am inspired by)
I am stealing from shows like Friday the 13th the Series, Tales of the Crypt, Freddy’s Nightmare, and Frailty.
6) Here is one single sentence which describes 1-2 things about my game idea that other games don't currently offer (to my knowledge).
Emulation of TV shows/movies and different game mechanics.
7) Here, in no more than three sentences, is what the game is about in general.
In general, evil is everywhere, including the most innocent of objects and people. Players have to deal with darkness in all of its forms and they have to try to redeem the world. with their actions. Additionally, there are some creatures that go “bump in the night” as well.
8) Here are one to two vignettes about the game's setting.
Come back to that later.
9) This is a description of one to two typical characters in this game.
Jack Morrowitz: He is an older gentleman who has experience with antiques and the occult. He is nondescript in ability and appearance but his knowledge can disarm his foes.
Hank Aarington: An ox of an individual with a surprising level of animal cunning. He has a simplistic view of the world. Everything is black and white.
10) Here is a brief glimpse at what making characters is like.
Point distribution over a small amount of traits (attributes) and skills. Answering a series of questions to help develop backstory. Nothing real original in character creation
11) This is how characters might change over playing the game.
Mechanically, under certain die rolls, exp is earned and spent. The characters have to deal with temptation in terms of easy power. The world is black and white but moral quandaries can still haunt people.
12) This is what part of the game's resolution mechanic might look like.
Skills and traits number show how many d6s are rolled. However, so many of the dice are fiend dice, they are rolled and determine the difficulty number. The rest of the dice are rolled. If they succeed, the number of fiend dice rolled determines the number of successes.
13) This is a link to a piece of art or two, the likes of which you might find in a copy of the game (or, I might quickly describe a picture or painting that you might see in my game).
I need to find appropriate art. Pictures of cool-looking old antiques, typical horror (vampire, werewolves and the overdone but pictured in new ways.)
14) Here is how I want players to interact in the game (GM, players, etc), and I will include an example or two if I have a way, in game (rules, setting, theme, mood, etc), to help that interaction take place.
The players are always struggling against time and overwhelming odds. The task resolution system reminds them of it. Every time they deal with the darkness means they might be scarred. Therefore, they will pick their battles carefully, investigate fully and attack with zealous determination. (Hope I understood what the question was asking for)>
15) For my target audience, here is what they should find cool or exciting about my game:
They can use it as a plug and play system for their favorite shows. All of the situations and plots are covered. It has gore but it doesn’t revel in it. There are opportunities to avoid and redeem lost souls.
16) If someone doesn't like my game, this is what they probably will hate about it.
If you hated the shows in the 80s and other copied media, you’ll hate this game. If you want lots of magic and gore, it may not deliver enough for your tastes. Therefore, the game doesn’t cover some of the gorier shows.
17) Here are my unique design goals, if any. I will also briefly describe any of the struggles I am currently having with each.
I want make a specialized tool to emulate a certain kind of horror. Right now, I have lists of concepts and other things. I need to flesh them out and then find the right art and layout. Design wise, I need to playtest more before I go on about it.
18) Here are my unique publishing goals, if any. I will also briefly describe any challenges I foresee with each.
I want to make this a PDF which stands out from other horror games. There has to be enough uniqueness in order to make it a viable product.
19) This is where I am currently talking about this game, or how to get a hold of me if you want to know more.
Email me at agesgaming@yahoo.com
PART II
Now, this is what I want YOU to do!
>>(come up with 1-3 fun activities to play along, based on the above, that would take no more than 2 minutes or so each. This will totally depend on your game. Here are some examples based on Generic Fantasy Game)<<
1. Think about what you desire the most and far would you go to get it (it doesn’t have to be selfish). Now imagine someone can offer to make it come true. For instance, would you consign yourself to Hell in order to secure true world peace and harmony.
2. What kind of character would you like to have? Is there someone from any TV or movie you would like to become?
3. Think of some example of where you would be shocked to see evil emanating from it? What if you found out your child was spawned from darkness? A Loved one? Your favorite hobby? -
PART I: Details
1) It’s called “Raspberry Heaven.” The name comes from the title of the ending theme of Azumanga Daioh, and the imagery of the lyrics.
2) "back cover blurb"
ラズベリーヘーブンとは、あの甘くてちょっとだけすっぱい、青空の下に友達と会えるところ。あなたの分身、あなたの女子高生を作って、友達と一緒にこんなすてきな日々を楽しむ。
Raspberry heaven is that place that’s sweet and just a little bit tart, where you can meet with your good friends under a clear blue sky. Create your other self, your schoolgirl, and enjoy wonderful times with your friends.
3) This is a brief example of what play might look like.
Siva: [Turns over the card for this phase] Four of hearts.
Tobias: Four of Diamonds.
Elsie: I’m using “Adorable Little Girl” to play this 9 of Hearts as a wild card, which’ll be a Club.
Siva: That means someone’ll treat Yuki like a kid during the scene. Anyway, I’ve got nothing. Anyone else?
Elsie: Okay. This scene takes place on the roof during lunch time. All three of us are hanging out, and it’s a nice, warm day.
Tobias: “*yawn* Yuki, what’re you eating?”
Elsie: “My mom made me a bento with sandwiches.”
Siva: “And they’re just adorable.” I take a bite out of my yakisoba bread and pat her on the head.
Elsie: “Stop that.”
Siva: [Flips over the card for the next phase] Queen of Spades.
4) This is my target audience.
The target audience is basically anyone who likes Azumanga Daioh and similar titles, and is willing to give role-playing them a chance.
5) These are other games, media, etc am I blatantly stealing from (or, what I am in-spired by)
Azumanga Daioh is obviously the single most important influence, but it draws on slice of life high school anime and manga in general, I looked closely at Lucky Star, Hidamari Sketch, and Ichigo Mashimaro when designing the game. It probably wouldn’t have oc-curred to me that a game like this would even be possible had it not been for Yuuyake Koyake. The core gameplay is heavily inspired by, of all things, Uno.
6) Here is one single sentence which describes 1-2 things about my game idea that other games don't currently offer (to my knowledge).
Raspberry Heaven is a non-violent, light-hearted game that experienced players could play with no preparation in less than an hour.
7) Here, in no more than three sentences, is what the game is about in general.
This game is about the ordinary, heart-warming lives of ordinary Japanese schoolgirls.
8) Here are one to two vignettes about the game's setting.
Hopefully you’ll be able to make some friends at your new school. This place seems to have a nice atmosphere at least, and it has lots of activities throughout the school year. Although you’re probably not the type to get too involved, the school does have a good number of clubs. These cover sports, traditional and contemporary arts, and all sorts of hobbies, but they all require you to stay after school for club activities.
9) This is a description of one to two typical characters in this game.
Rika’s quirks are Boke (funny man), Nice, and Lazy. She’s a silly slacker girl who al-ways looks out for her friends. Natsumi’s quirks are Tsukkomi (straight man), Tsundere, and Complex: Height. She’s usually quirk to complain about Rika’s frivolity, and is more than a little sensitive about being so short, but underneath she treasures Rika’s friendship.
10) Here is a brief glimpse at what making characters is like.
To create a character, you basically pick out three Quirks, and note down the Special Move associated with each. How much color your add on top of that is up to you.
11) This is how characters might change over playing the game.
I still need to work out the details, but once per episode a character can acquire a “Memory” related to another character, and these can give them a small benefit whenever something similar comes up in the game.
12) This is what part of the game's resolution mechanic might look like.
The game is divided into scenes, which are in turn divided into four “phases” based on the Japanese-style four-act structure (Introduction, Development, Turning-Point, Climax). For each phase, players take turns playing cards (Uno-style) to see who gets narration rights for that part of the scene, then the players role-play it, and the process continues. The suit of the last card played (and certain ranks, especially face cards) provides certain guidelines for narrating.
13) This is a link to a piece of art or two, the likes of which you might find in a copy of the game (or, I might quickly describe a picture or painting that you might see in my game).
14) Here is how I want players to interact in the game (GM, players, etc).
Ideally, players would interact through a mixture of pure role-playing and simple gestures. When it’s time to play cards for the next phase, the tutor (the player who’s in charge of managing the cards for the current scene) turns over a card to signal the change.
15) For my target audience, here is what they should find cool or exciting about my game:
Aside from the simple fact that it’s an Azumanga-style RPG, the gameplay is based on using playing cards in a manner similar to Uno/Crazy Eights. That means there’s no such thing as a junk hand per se, and the Special Moves actually give you an obvious incentive to showcase your character’s faults.
16) If someone doesn't like my game, this is what they probably will hate about it.
It’s a role-playing game that has very little tension or conflict, something some would no doubt be skeptical could work at all. And, of course, if you’re not into the genre, a game about it isn’t going to do much for you.
17) Here are my unique design goals, if any. I will also briefly describe any of the struggles I am currently having with each.
I want to create a compelling gameplay experience from relatively mundane subject mat-ter, and create a game about quirky friends having fun together. Changing the game from “roll dice to see if you succeed” to “play Uno to see who gets to narrate” vastly improved the game all around, but I think I need to (1) make it easier to develop more fleshed-out characters quickly, and (2) find ways to emphasize the themes of friendship more.
18) Here are my unique publishing goals, if any. I will also briefly describe any challenges I foresee with each.
I’ve wound up developing this game in parallel with a weirder one called “Dandelion Complex,” and I want to publish both of them in one book, especially since each one has some material that the other can benefit from. I also want to have original 4-panel comics to illustrate different aspects of the game, which means writing comic scripts and then commissioning an artist to do them.
19) This is where I am currently talking about this game, or how to get a hold of me if you want to know more.
Yaruki Zero Games
PART II: Fun Activities
1) Imagine you were going to get some of your friends together to play this game as the characters from Azumanga Daioh. Who do you think would want to play who?
2) Go and play Uno (or any Crazy Eights variant) in some form, electronic or analog. Enjoy! -
Posted By: RafaelWhat the hell. I'm going to go for it!
a. Tell me what city you want nuked. Now that it's been destroyed, what kind of shit is going down in the ruins? Giant vine monsters curled around the crumbling skyscrapers of New York City? Tentacled horrors smashing through the wasteland that was once Berlin? An army of intelligent thirty-foot tapeworms sucking humans dry in the rubble of Durham? Actually, scratch that last one, no one would know the difference.
b. After looking at the above, think of a character that you would make for this kind of game. How large is her gun? How big is her sword? How many arms does she have? What clever/offensive slogan is printed on her t-shirt?
Play Example PLZ!!
a: Moscow. The Kremlin still stands, as if nothing happened. Within a half-mile radius, it looks like everything was turned into a sheet of red glass. The rest of Moscow is looks like it has been fucked through by juicy, pulsating talons from the earth, in from every angle (impaling and left in buildings, etc). No creatures approach the Kremlin.
b: Porshyen ("Piston"), where her eyes were is now one greenish eye-band , a horizontal slit from left to right. Her coat's lining is made up of hundreds and hundreds of throwing knives, and she wields two kukri. Her shirt reads "FUCK WEST GUNFUCK!"Posted By: Zach WelhousePART II
(ex) 1) Think of a character that you would make for this kind of game. Select three objects that are connected to her past in some way. They are her memory anchors. Everything else has been taken by the desert.
(ex) 2) You are on the train with a mass-murderer who's hoping to find salvation in religion and a mountebank whose patent medicine ruined your greatest ambition. You all expect to find answers in Cerebos, the Crystal City. What do you do upon discovering that it is a smoking crater?
1) Jason Manacle : A set of manacles. A silver watch, stuck at the time 4:45. A strange bronze coin, about the size of the palm of his hand.
2) Separate from them, telling them, "We will go our separate ways now. If I see either of you again, one of us will die."Posted By: Hituro
Needs activities, man! A reason for the reader to get to the end, and then look back and pay more attention to your post!Posted By: Jeph
1) Think of someone who might be a mover and shaker in a fuedal space opera. Someone whose bad decisions could cause vast amounts of suffering and tragedy. Give her a name.
2) Give her psychic kung fu. How does she kill people with her mind?
3) Give her reasons to make bad decisions, in the form of three relationships. One person who controls something that she wants. Object of one sided love? Sole surviving master of a powerful martial art? One person who wants something that she controls. Political rival? Assassin after the price on her head? One ally with cause to betray her. Younger sibling seduced by the Guild’s promise of wealth? Advisor with a loved one being held by an enemy?
1) Handmaiden Valtessa
2) She jumps into their minds, steering them crazily into ramming into walls, throwing themselves off objects, of grabbing things nearby to stab themselves with. There's no subtlety, it's very violent, and the victim knows what's happening but can not stop it.
3) The Quartermaster is the only one who can write her a writ to travel to where she knows her love is waiting for her. Lord Juyta is deeply in love with another Handmaiden under Valtessa's care, and V has to "sign off" on her getting married, even to a Lord. Mast Thrulput is making a name for himself as a fixer, and while he is friendly with V, he has information that could bring her down, and refuses to destroy it.Posted By: sean20991. Think about what you desire the most and far would you go to get it (it doesn’t have to be selfish). Now imagine someone can offer to make it come true. For instance, would you consign yourself to Hell in order to secure true world peace and harmony.
2. What kind of character would you like to have? Is there someone from any TV or movie you would like to become?
3. Think of some example of where you would be shocked to see evil emanating from it? What if you found out your child was spawned from darkness? A Loved one? Your favorite hobby?
1) To ensure the safety of my loved ones.
2) A more introverted and philosophical Wesley Snipes' Blade.
3) Scrapbooking emanates evil, but I can not bring myself to believe it.Posted By: Neko Ewen
1) Imagine you were going to get some of your friends together to play this game as the characters from Azumanga Daioh. Who do you think would want to play who?
2) Go and play Uno (or any Crazy Eights variant) in some form, electronic or analog. Enjoy!
1) I would play Kagura, and would make Mark Causey be Chiyo-chan.
2) . . . ok! (might want to make it more game-related, tho!) -
Also, I at one point had 20 questions, but now there are only 19, lol. So even the number in "NSI20" is off.
Whoever has a more convincing term for this type of enthusiastic promulgation, drop it!
Right now, I'm thinking "The Ardor 19".
-Andy -
PART I
1) Here is the name of the game, and how I came up with the name.
The game is a murder of crows. I've always been fascinated by that phrase, and wanted to use it as a title. It was actually this title that served as inspiration for the game. A "murder of crows" is the proper term for a flock of crows. the game is about a group of killers known as the Crows. They travel in small groups, or murders. And they kill people. It all ties together neatly, don't you think?
2) Here would the "back cover blurb" for the game. Imagine it being read by the "Movie Commercial Guy" ("In a World...")A Great And Secret War
For two hundred years a hidden society of scientists and academics have waged a secret war against the reality-warping elder spawn, and the warlocks who would trade with them. For generations the best and the brightest have faced off with the maddening unreality of the aberrations of the elder spawn and been lost to inevitable madness. That is until 1972, when an Arkham psychologist made a startling discovery: sociopaths were immune to the insanity inducing influence of the elder spawn.Mankind Has A Weapon
They are the Crows. Sociopaths, maddogs, killers. Identified in their youth, stolen from their homes, and raised by a team of psychologists, ex-law enforcement, and special forces veterans in a secret mountain camp. They have been trained to be the ultimate hunters, the ultimate criminals, the ultimate killers. They are the new frontline in the secret war against the supernatural.A Weapon That Can't Be Trusted
The same madness that allows a Crow to stare unblinking into the abyss is the same madness that that makes a Crow impossible to truly control. The same madness fuels his rage, and ultimately that rage is a Crow's only true master. How long can a killer walk a noble path? What happens when he strays?a murder of crows a game of all-too-human horror
3) This is a brief example of what play might look like. This is a Replay (screenplay) involving three players: Siva, Elise, and Tobias, and no more than 10 "lines" of text.GM: Okay, so we know that the victim, Brad Spetz, was found with his bones removed. That's your fact. The crime occurred in Cleveland, so that's where you're at, and the victim had a sister, Vicki. The body is at the morgue.
Siva: Okay, I'm going to go talk to the sister, see if I can get some useful biographical information.
Elise: I'm heading to the scene where the body was found, where I'll check for evidence.
Tobias: So I guess I get to break into the morgue and check the body. Why do I always have to break into places?
Elise: Just be glad they haven't buried it yet. I hate grave robbing. It's too much like real work.
GM: Okay, Siva and Elise, give me a skill test.
Tobias: Dammit.
Siva: I'm testing Feign Sincerity, and I roll a ...4. I earn Vicki's confidence, but she has nothing useful. She's too distraught.
Elise: I'm testing Police and using my Expert Tracker Trait, and get...a 8! Brad was killed on a jogging path down by the Cuyahoga river. Searching the area, I find a trail leading from the water towards the path, and I'm not surprised the police overlooked it. The creature that slithered out of that river is unlike anything else on this planet, and it track would be unremarkable to most observers. It's a fact, we're dealing with a slithering amphibious creature.
GM: A slithering amphibious creature that removes people's bones. Cool. Tobias, you successfully break into the morgue. You're in the cold storage room, pulling out Brad's slab. The lights flicker to life, and you see a woman in a labcoat standing at the door with a surprised look on her face. What do you do?
Tobias: I'm not breaking into the morgue next time.
4) This is my target audience.
Fans of shows like Supernatural and The X-Files who want a player driven investigation model, fans of modern supernatural horror, mythos fans, and GMs who want easy-to-run investigation game that doesn't rely on the "trail of breadcrumbs" approach. And anyone who laughs at horror movies.
5) These are other games, media, etc am I blatantly stealing from (or, what I am inspired by)
Th TV shows Supernatural and Dexter are both major influences, along with the vast mythos lore created by Lovecraft and others. The mechanics are rooted in Steffan Sullivan's Fudge, and the game uses Fudge dice. The combat system uses ideas inspired by the range chart from Traveler (remember Traveler?), and the Complications option borrows ideas from the Static mechanism in Lacuna Part 1. It also owes certain structural and design ideas to Dogs in the Vineyard, and to a whole range of indie games using player content contribution mechanics.
6) Here is one single sentence which describes 1-2 things about my game idea that other games don't currently offer (to my knowledge).
a murder of crows features the first parkour-inspired chase mechanic, allowing for dynamic and exciting chase sequences such as those seen in District B-13 and Casino Royale.
7) Here, in no more than three sentences, is what the game is about in general.
a murder of crows is about running a secret and illegal war against the supernatural, while living on the fringes of society and being hounded by the police.
8) Here are one to two vignettes about the game's setting.David sits in the car, a plum crazy '68 'Cuda that purrs like a kitten, while Paul runs into the Mailboxes Etc. to make the pick-up. He drums his fingers on the steering wheel while humming along to some classic metal, lost in the music, when Paul is back, hopping into the passenger seat. He tosses an envelope onto the bench seat between them and thick wads of cash slide out, but David is more interest in the content of the manila envelope Paul is looking at. "What's the case?" he asks.
"A series of mysterious deaths in upper Wisconsin."
"Mysterious my ass. It's only mysterious if you keep your eyes shut."
9) This is a description of one to two typical characters in this game.
Duane is a hard-eyed, dangerous looking loose cannon with an uncanny knack for seeing through people's lies. He's interested in Voodoo and folk magic, and a faint accent hints at a childhood in the deep south. His partner Charles is fastidious and well-groomed, the bookish sort. You'd never think, but Charles is the far more dangerous one.
10) Here is a brief glimpse at what making characters is like.
It's a straightforward process. Players select their attributes, derive skill bases from those attributes, assign a few skill points to represent areas of focused study, and then select a handful of unique traits to flesh out their character. Equipment and money aren't important, players are assumed to have ready access to a wide variety of weapons, transportation, ready cash and friendly academic support. -
11) This is how characters might change over playing the game.
Characters gain skills and traits as they progress and develop, but the real growth in the campaign is not in the characters -- Crows start out very Bad Ass, and they don't get much more Bad Ass -- it's in the campaign. The more effective the characters are, the faster the complications begin to pile up, and the more powerful the opposition facing them becomes. It's really about testing how far you can go.
12) This is what part of the game's resolution mechanic might look like.
Most tests consist of a skill plus the roll of four fudge dice, against a relatively low base difficulty with complicating factors pushing the difficulty up. During investigations, higher skill rolls allow a player to add facts about the monster to the investigation -- gather enough facts and you can define the monster.
13) This is a link to a piece of art or two, the likes of which you might find in a copy of the game (or, I might quickly describe a picture or painting that you might see in my game).
14) Here is how I want players to interact in the game (GM, players, etc), and I will include an example or two if I have a way, in game (rules, setting, theme, mood, etc), to help that interaction take place.
The players drive the story, but their situation puts certain pressures on them. Their ability to restock weapons, get spending cash and make evidence against them disappear is dependent on their utility to their masters, that means staying out of trouble, keeping in contact and killing lots of monsters. Their ability to stay in control is a matter of frustration and rage, when these attributes exceed the character's threshold things can get crazy fast. The players have narrative authority, requesting cases and developments from the GM at whatever pace they want. The GM has two primary means of influencing the story. The GM can require a player to trade "complication points" (of which players have an "infinite supply") to accomplish tasks that might otherwise require a roll, or to allow the introduction of advantageous elements to the setting OR the GM can spend these complication points to introduce problematic elements into the story, like the various levels of police, the FBI, and even agents of a conspiracy of sorcerers opposed to the Crows masters.
15) For my target audience, here is what they should find cool or exciting about my game:
The setting is full of new spins on tropes that are perennial favorites (did someone mention the Illuminati?), introduces a combat system that models real running gun battles and realistic criminal violence without tripping over cumbersome rules, and allows for dynamic and exciting chases. Players get to collaboratively create truly original and alien monstrosities, so every case is unique and different -- players with huge stores of monster trivia cluttering up their heads will find the monster creation rules particularly rewarding.
16) If someone doesn't like my game, this is what they probably will hate about it.
Some people might find the themes of the game offensive, or the antagonistic role of the GM difficult to play. Others may find that the tone of the game is simply too dark for their tastes. Some may find the character creation system doesn't allow for enough variety, and the systems tend to break down when too many players are involved. A GM and two or three players is best.
17) Here are my unique design goals, if any. I will also briefly describe any of the struggles I am currently having with each.
My goal in designing a murder of crows was to create a player-driven investigation game, after years of being frustrated by using the "follow the bread crumbs" method. I also wanted to create a system that modeled chases, particularly foot chases, in a dynamic and exciting way that reward imaginative narrative play. As I've started working on it and plunged into the world of indie games, I've been inspired by so many different games to try different thing, the temptation to fight feature bloat is probably the greatest design struggle!
18) Here are my unique publishing goals, if any. I will also briefly describe any challenges I foresee with each.
I'd like to publish 250 copies of the book, just a 150 page 8.5" x 5.5". If it sells and people keep wanting it, I'll probably try to keep it in print, but I'll have to see how it goes.
19) This is where I am currently talking about this game, or how to get a hold of me if you want to know more.
Story Games, The Forge, eventually my livejournal (game_or_die, nothing there currently). I can be reached at "madness 237 @ hot mail . com" (remove all spaces).
PART II
Now, this is what I want YOU to do!
1) After looking at the above, write a list of your five favorite monsters. Write down one fact that you associate with that monster (for "werewolf" you might write "comes out under the full moon" or "mauls its victims like a wild beast"). Now take the five facts you have assemble. They all describe one monster. Describe the monster these five facts relate to. See what you did there? You just created an entirely original monster. That's pretty much how monster creation works in a murder of crows.
2) Imagine you're a Crow. Are you a dirty, grungy killer who embraces his low-life status? Are you a slick charmer who fools his way pass other's defenses? Whichever it is, how would you go about killing the monster you just created? What are it's weaknesses? How can you exploit them? Now you're playing the game. -
It's an interesting idea but, in practice, I'm finding all the NSI 20 answers, above, as unreadable as I find Power 19s. They're all whacking great blocks of text. I automatically scroll past.
Graham -
What Graham says.
What if the actual tasks you'd like the reader to do would come right after the game's name? Then I could decide whether I want to accept the challenge (and read the full text in order to get the information needed for the task). -
Posted By: Andy
Posted By: Hituro
Needs activities, man! A reason for the reader to get to the end, and then look back and pay more attention to your post!
Curse you! I was hoping no one would notice that I couldn't think of any! Okay
PART II
Now, this is what I want YOU to do!
1) Think of your favorite dream, the thing you wish most was true about you and your life but isn't. Think of how the world could be changed to make that dream real for you (it doesn't have to be real for anyone else in the changed world, it's all about you). Tell me, in somewhere between a sentence and a paragraph, what that changed would would be like and what your place in it would be.
2) Imagine you had the power to step through a doorway into your perfect dream world, where everything was the way you wanted it, but where everything and everyone wasn't real, just a really good copy produced by your imagination. Would you step through the door, even if it meant you could never EVER come back? If not tell me one thing that would make you hesitate about going, a thing, person, task, belief, self-doubt or whatever that would hold you back. -
- CommentAuthorZach Welhouse
- CommentTimeFeb 28th 2008 edited
Posted By: Rafael
a. Tell me what city you want nuked.
b. After looking at the above, think of a character that you would make for this kind of game.
a. Rio has been nuked, flooded, and then nuked again. Most of the city is below water, a maze of crumbling buildings and the new coral structures introduced by mutant crab people. Rope bridges connect building tops, and great ladders climb up their sides. People still live in the upper floors of the buildings, and are always trying to drain the lower levels for salvage. Since the nuke hit around carnival, everyone supplements their survivor goggles and leather with gaudy feathers and sparkling crystal.
b. Maul Flanders crawled from the pit that was Neo-London with nothing but a cinderblock sledgehammer and a Walther EMX gauss cannon. Neither have disappointed her, even when the Sludge that Ate Bristol mutated her left arm into a swarm of spasming tongues. Unable to take their ceaseless chatter, Flanders removed her own arm and replaced it with the gauss cannon, megabuster style. When she's not wearing an assortment of belts over her clockpunk 16-piece, her tank top's slogan can be read: MONARCHY NOW.Posted By: Jeph
1) Think of someone who might be a mover and shaker in a fuedal space opera.
2) Give her psychic kung fu. How does she kill people with her mind?
3) Give her reasons to make bad decisions, in the form of three relationships.
1. She is a man: Lem Grovsner, the Yellow Harlequin. He masquerades as his sister, the true Yellow Harlequin of a powerful feudal house while she recovers from a rival's poisoning attempt.
2. He starts with minor hallucinations that cause his rivals' dangerous actions to appear much safer. When there's no time for that kind of planning, he goes straight for the pleasure center of the brain with roundhouse kicks of pure love.
3. He's currently occupying a female-only position until his sister recovers; the heads of the family do not know. The Yellow Harlequins are hunted by a secret Church order who have discovered that heretical martial arts rest behind their entertaining buffoonery. The Guild recognizes Lem's talents at deepspace navigation, and want to hire him away from his current position in order to challenge the Navigators. They don't care about his sister or other obligations.Posted By: sean2099
1. Think about what you desire the most and far would you go to get it (it doesn’t have to be selfish).
2. What kind of character would you like to have? Is there someone from any TV or movie you would like to become?
3. Think of some example of where you would be shocked to see evil emanating from it? What if you found out your child was spawned from darkness? A Loved one? Your favorite hobby?
1. I'd do something pretty drastic on a local level to solve world hunger. Blood, explosives, all that.
2. H.P. Lovecraft from Cast a Deadly Spell. A private detective who isn't cool as nails, but gets by anyway despite his mistrust of even the most benign magic.
3. A tasty cake. It is not the most imposing thing, but if it were evil? It would blow my mind.Posted By: Neko Ewen
1) Imagine you were going to get some of your friends together to play this game as the characters from Azumanga Daioh. Who do you think would want to play who?
2) Go and play Uno (or any Crazy Eights variant) in some form, electronic or analog. Enjoy!
1. There would be a big fight over who got to be Osaka. If I couldn't finagle her, I'd go for Kaorin and hope that one of my partners in scene-chewing would pick Sakaki-san. Paul would be Tomo, and everyone else's second choice would be Yomi. Because she's mean.
2. I am reminiscing about Uno games that would never end, and how much better they would be with Raging Tomo-Chan.Posted By: MKAdams
1) After looking at the above, write a list of your five favorite monsters.
2) Imagine you're a Crow.
1. Krampus: sticks children in a sack and beats them. Frankenstein's Monster: strong and clunky. Blackula: sucks blood. Swamp Thing: made of plants. Mummies: created by ancient magic.
Skuzzlebeard: Ol' Man Ryans never liked children in his orchard. Not when he was a grizzled war vet, not when he went insane from the talisman he took off a vendor while overseas, and not when he transformed into a colony of blood-sucking moss. These days the young'uns who're foolish enough to enter the expertly fertilized orchard surrounding his ancestral home, don't get very far. Skuzzlebeard grows quickly, encasing them in endless layers of hungry green. After the first few layers of plant surround the interloper, its cracks and whorls begin to resemble throbbing veins and straining muscles. Before the night is over, all that remains is a dried, twisted, crushed husk. Skuzzlebeard can animate these shattered bodies with his ancient magic. The most common use of these puppets are as warnings or lures, depending on his cantankerous mood.
2. I don't make a big deal about being a Crow. Everyone else does enough of that for me. I stay inside where it's safe, just like the Oracle helping out Batman. She has nicer toys, but I've still got my legs. They were pretty useful when my first monster came around. It lived between the blinking of L.E.Ds, whispering with the wind of my cooling fan. Ghost in the Machine? I wish. More like an Illuminati super-virus that could manifest semi-physically and spit powerful magnetic pulses. Before the family could find out, I burned down the house. Turns out later, all I had to do was swap out the motherboard. Oops.Posted By: Hituro
1) Think of your favorite dream, the thing you wish most was true about you and your life but isn't. Think of how the world could be changed to make that dream real for you (it doesn't have to be real for anyone else in the changed world, it's all about you).
2) Imagine you had the power to step through a doorway into your perfect dream world, where everything was the way you wanted it, but where everything and everyone wasn't real, just a really good copy produced by your imagination. Would you step through the door?
1. My place is no longer in the world, but above it. Spy satellites give me a wide berth, but not even they can hide. Everything down there exists as it was, but in forms that can be endlessly analyzed and recombined. The fashions in Paris and Tokyo, all me. That new cathedral in Antarctica? Oh yeah. Absolute cultural power, and the endlessly swappable artificial bodies with which to enjoy it.
2. Let's go with no for the purpose of getting to the second part of the question. Knowing that everything was a self-created delusion would stick in my craw, along with the image of my physical body twitching in a hospital bed and being fed through a tube. Such thoughts would trigger the question of whether that's already happening, and the resultant existential spiral would paralyze me. -
NO HOTLINKING FOR YOU!
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