Aside from the lack of interesting graphics or even much of a background, the game I have been working on, Kathanaksaya, is complete. Right now, I think there is little else I think I can do with it. The game needs fresh eyes to seek and ask questions. For those who are not familiar, here is a basic idea of what the game is all about:
Premise: The players portray inhabitants of Kathanaksaya, a realm where human stories are made real.
Designer's Notes:- Story Points represent the power characters have over the course of their own stories.
- The number of Story Points characters begin with is determined by the nature of details players provide for the characters at character creation.
- With experience and development, however, this can be modified.
- Players bid Story Points to determine the outcome of events.
- The amount of Story Points players bid can be modified by Specialties, which are the states of mind, dreams, desires, fears, and aspirations that make characters who they are.
- Each bid must be accompanied by a narration of what the bid represents. In other words, players tell how things work in their favor.
- The Story Point mechanic can be used in conjunction with other game systems, but they work best when used for playing Kathanaksaya[/list:u]
Inspirational Sources
The Neverending Story by Michael Ende
Changeling: the Dreaming(both editions) by White Wolf Games
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carol
The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling (for the character of Dibby in the examples)
Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars by David Bowie (for the character of Ziggy 1847 in the examples)
If you are interested in it, please go here (http://www.geocities.com/kathanaksaya/) for more information.
I am totally surprised that no one has responded to your posts. This is a very lovely narrative storytelling game, very simple and it evokes the feelings that you were aiming for - I got that impression even before I read the example of play. I don't have anyone to playtest it with, but I will give it a more detailed look and try to give you some feedback.
One thing you might consider allowing the increase of the SP total for particularly good narration of a bid for free. SPs should be handed out at the end of the session based on overall performance; the +1 or whatever SP would work for specific instances / scenes.
I really like the character creation - the impetus to provide more detail is built-in to your character's performance in the actual game through extra SP. I also like the bit of having 1 SP for skills/abilities/etc no matter how many you have - it will help curb people loading up on skills, and puts the focus more on character development.
This is the kind of RPG that will get people everywhere into the hobby, not games like Marvel Universe.
BTW, nice going registering it in the Resource Library. That's where I found it - would have passed it by otherwise. What does the name mean, anyway?
I played a (very) short game of Kathanaksaya. I liked it a lot, and would not mind playing it again. I asked questions of the designer at the time, and haven't come up with anything new, so I haven't said anything.
Let me put in a "yea" for "I liked this game" though. :)
Wow, I got responses. To answer your question, Kathanaksaya is my hacked Sanskrit term meaning "Story Realm." I'm sure I got the grammar wrong, but I like the evocative name, and the English alternatives were rather bland.
As for gaining SP for particularly good narrations, I would count particularly good narrations as contributing to everyone's enjoyment of the game, which can yield more SP.