The Forge Archives

So I was looking at some of the stranger dice available on the market, and I found these: Double Dice (http://dicepool.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=112_150&osCsid=22f1ee3e11d26515e590342126f82633).  They're translucent, hollow dice with a smaller opaque die inside, so when you roll the one die you get two different results, an exterior result and an interior result.

That's pretty awesome.  There are plenty of ways to use these dice in existing games, but the inherent metaphor of the dice is so cool that I'd like to see a game designed to make use of them.  But I'm busy.

So I was thinking that instead I'd offer a bounty of a full set (d6, d10, d12, d20 in blue, green and red, a $10.50 value!) of these Double Dice to whoever writes the most awesome one(ish, fits in a comment) page rpg that 1) makes use of the metaphor of the dice and 2) makes me ::throws devil horns:: at least once.

I'll open the contest RIGHT NOW and I'll close it on March 3rd at 12:01 AM, so that's like 12 whole days.

Where do we send said RPGs?  Just post them here?

Yep.  That's the idea.

Here's my submission.  When I heard about this contest, I was so excited that I bashed it out pretty quickly.

Of course, now I must finish polishing and developing it....

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Wuxia Melodrama

For two players

Uses Double Dice.  I'll use a "dd" notation for the dice.  Example  1dd6 is a double d6

Concept:  Two wuxia fighters fight.  We see both their duel and, through flashbacks, discover what brought them to this point.  Eventually, the flashbacks will bring us to the present, as the combat comes to a close.

Character creation:  Each player should name and describe his character, as well as his character's weapon.    In particular, describe the clothes that the characters are wearing and the weapon that he is using.This is all about appearance, not character background, since the characters' backgrounds are developed during play.

Dicerules:  The outer die is for the duel, while the inner die is for flashbacks.  High rolls are good for the duel arena, while low rolls are good for the flashback arena.  In the case of a tie in a given arena, whoever lost the other arena wins the tie.  If both arenas are tied, then reroll.

Scene framing and Actions:  Both players roll 1dd20.  Whoever wins the external roll gets to frame the current scene of the duel, while whoever wins the internal roll frames the next flashback scene.

First frame the dueling scene.  This should generally be dedicated to addressing the overall movement of the duel into different environments, such as moving onto a balcony from a room or dancing across a pond while fighting.  After framing the scene, the scene framer announces his action in the duel.  Then the other player announces his response to the framer's action.

Then, frame the flashback scene.  The flashbacks should eventually form the story that explains why the two characters are fighting, so the framer should attempt to choose a scene that moves the story along.  He should establish the location of the scene, the presence of the two characters, and their general reason for being in that place.  After framing the scene, the scene framer announces his goal in the flashback.  Then the other player announces his response to the framer's action.

Conflict Resolution:  Both players secretly select a die for this round (dd4, dd6, dd8, dd10,dd12) and reveal their choice simultaneously.  Roll and determine the winner in each arena.

Each player tracks how many times he has won the flashback roll.  Additionally, track the relative margin between the players' victories in the duel.  So, for example, if Player A has won twice in the duel and Player B has won once, then Player A is at +1 in the duel.

If one player has reached +3 in the dueling arena, then the game is over.  This player then narrates the conclusion of the duel, which must include the death or disabling of one of the characters.  Then, whoever earned more victories in the flashbacks narrates a final flashback, connecting that story to the beginning of the duel.

Otherwise, the loser of each arena narrates the outcome of that arena.  The flashback should be narrated first, then the duel.  The winner's character must accomplish his goal for the scene, while the loser may accomplish his goal only if it does not contradict the winner's success.

Inspired by the Knife Fight knife fight RPG, co-designed by Seth Ben-Ezra and Emily Care Boss.

Man, why couldn't you have finished that two days ago so we could have tried it at GPP?

GreatWolf?

I am SO throwing the devils horns.  Great entry.

I hope there's some more (::hint! hint!::) because a contest without competition Does Not Rock.

Be patient, now. I won't promise anything, but do wait until the deadline; I might have something if time allows...

Quote from: Nev the Deranged on February 25, 2008, 07:25:47 PM
Man, why couldn't you have finished that two days ago so we could have tried it at GPP?

I did, actually, but I forgot that I had it.  A pity, too.

quote author=MKAdams link=topic=25794.msg248522#msg248522 date=1203987231]
GreatWolf?

I am SO throwing the devils horns.  Great entry.

I hope there's some more (::hint! hint!::) because a contest without competition Does Not Rock.
[/quote]

Heh.  Well, given that Ralph Mazza gave me the heads-up on this one, I'm thinking that you'll have at least one more entrant.

At first, I thought, "Um... it's just 2dX; nothing unique at all." Then I read:

Quote from: MKAdams on February 20, 2008, 07:46:31 PM1) makes use of the metaphor of the dice

...and then saw the "internal" die as past and "external" die as present in the first offering, and I thought, "OK, I get it; let's watch."

I won't slam together a game, but the most literal "metaphor" I can think of with these dice is for something along the lines of social interraction resolution mechanics. For instance, suppose they are literally "internal" and "external" reaction dice, to be rolled based on the rules (good or poor) of some kind of social challenge. The die4 size could drive "success level," while the outer die result shows what sort of face the loser puts forward; while the inner die dictates what he or she REALLY thinks afterwards. For instance, a brow-beated bureaucrat might throw a 1dd12 to adjust some kind of "favorability" metric: the inner die is a 2, the outer is a 9: the bureaucrat will seem to be very favorable, while secretly intending to sabotage the works the first safe chance that presents itself (misfiled form, I'd guess, from my experience with them!).

Oooh, another notion: the outer die is a counter-keeping die; and every time the mechanics force the possessor to change the die value, and change in the interior die takes effect. Sort of like "jenga dice" in that the player's dexterity plays a part in changing the die value, with mechanical rewards and penalties for inner-die results.

Anyhow, just spitballing... and marking the thread for future reading! ;)

All right, here's my entry. This is post #1 of 2.

INSTAR DYNAMITE

Concept

Each player-character works for the same corporation. It's a big bland corporation with many sub-groups and a vague function, some sort of consultancy + partnership + planning or whatever. The characters are in their mid-twenties, unmarried, with no children. Their positions may vary depending on what they were hired for, but they have not moved up significantly in their positions since then; basically, they're not very successful people although not in danger of being fired. Each has agreed to a program offered by some subcommittee from Human Resources, to become a New You.

The New You will be competent, successful, exciting, and fulfilling. The character even got to choose what it will be like. They achieve their dreams and the corporation gets a personnel-asset - what could be wrong with that?

The trouble is, now things begin to go right for each character after all, and the way the New You works is a bit different from advertised. The character has been implanted with an instar, the larval form of a mysterious creature that will literally develop into a new version of its host from the inside, taking over his or her life entirely.

An instar is the term for each stage of arthropod larval development. Technically, the creature in the character is a parasitoid, i.e., it develops within a host and consumes the host to mature. To be clear, in this game, the character is not killed and the creature does not emerge from his or her body. Instead, if the process is completed, the instar (or rather adult) will now be this body's only volitional force and abilities; the original character will only exist as a helpless "rider" from that point on.

Character creation

The character is expressed in game terms by a list of trivial skills. Make up twenty of them, with the only constraints being that they serve no immediately-obvious professional or status-based purpose. However, they should indeed be real things to accomplish, not nose-picking or something like that. Given that there are twenty skills to make, treat these parameters a bit kindly and don't get hung up on perfecting every skill within them.

The character is presumed to be only marginally competent at absolutely any other imaginable skill. He or she can get by at the job or socially, but often does so by avoiding conflicts and ignoring opportunities.

Add content and refine these two statements, which at the beginning of play have become strong elements of the character's self-image. (1) "That kind of stuff that never happens to me," and (2) "I'll never get to do that."

Use the Portrait Illustration Maker (http://illustmaker.abi-station.com/index_en.shtml) to illustrate your character. It is slightly biased toward Japanese and anime designs, so aim toward more naturalistic features which reflect the setting you and your group have chosen. If you prefer a different program, feel free to use it, but every player should use the same program, and it should be just a bit cartoony rather than wacky or completely clinical. Print out the character's portrait in color and stick it onto the character sheet.

The New You has four attributes, each of which is an immensely applicable quality. It has no specialized knowledge or true expertise in anything.

In his or her consultation with the New You specialist, the character has chosen four of the following, which represent his or her idealized notions of the person that cruel fate has denied them: Good-looking, Calm and Confident, Powerhouse, Athletic Whiz at (sport), Great Sense of Humor, Great Spin (everyone thinks what you said was innovative and insightful), Natural Leader, Insider (fake professional knowledge of anything), Sexual Dynamo, Endearingly Kooky, Impeccable Taste, Fearsome Physical Opponent, Touch of Menace, Quick Mind (e.g. math, memory), Artistic Knockout at (medium), Cutting Comeback (verbal version of Fearsome Opponent), Organized Time Manager

Distribute 6 points among the four attributes. A single point means it has a value of 6; two points means it has a value of 5-6, and so on. Each must receive at least one point, so the only two possible score profiles are: 6, 6, 5, 5, or 6, 6, 6, 4.

Setup and situations

There are two ideas at work in playing out situations in this game.

* Characters experience new, exciting opportunities, the very things they would have sworn "never happens to me."
* Instars are in serious conflict with one another, generating huge adversity during play.

The GM is actually the nice guy! The first idea is the primary GMing task. All he or she does is to keep providing and enriching opportunities. Typically, the GM will speak to all the players in sequence to do this, describing rough locations and situations for each one, and probably inventing some NPCs.

The second idea lies in the hands of the players, as each states how his or her instar, working through its host, will provide obstacles to other characters, whether purposefully or not.

Therefore each player operates a bit schizophrenically: (1) stating his or her character's actions as well as (2) posing opposition to other characters via the drives of his or her character's instar. This interference may be intentional or not on the part of the character/instar, and it may be direct or indirect. In the latter case, the player will probably invent an NPC or two as well.

This dialogue then kicks back to the GM, whose new task is to refine and finalize the new scenes, in many cases consolidating two or more characters into the same scenes, if it makes sense. Now each scene is played out primarily through the dialogue of people whose characters are in it, in typical role-playing fashion. The players simultaneously play their own characters as well as the NPCs they may have brought into the situation. The GM plays various NPCs and manages locations and characters' presence in them.

It's useful to think in terms of opportunities, goals, and conflicts. An opportunity is the biggest: it's a situation which corresponds to the character's daydreams and former aspirations. It is composed of a series of goals, or perhaps accomplishments that need to be completed. Attempting to reach these goals leads to conflicts to be faced. The expectation is that given all the input into the situations, the characters will certainly be hitting conflict after conflict in the context of a given goal, ranging from trying to get a date with the cute co-worker at the water cooler (opportunity), to dealing with sabotage of one's computer by an all-thumbs technician (interference).

Any scene may shift locales, include the passage of time, or give rise to an immediately-necessary new scene. Switch around at perceived break points. When every character has played through the resolution of the given positive opportunity, which should require quite a few conflicts per character (at least ten recommended), then it's time to step back to the first GMing task again. By "play through," I mean that the opportunity has been thoroughly resolved - the character has done well or poorly in facing it, and some aspect of that experience has become part of his or her history, but the basic opportunity is now over and done with.

Scope and constraints of play

The story takes place in the context of work and working life. Locations do not all have to be at work itself, but they shouldn't skip off to Tahiti either. Details of characters' work space, daily schedule, living situations, and general life-style are left to play itself, as the player essentially offers or vets any necessary information as it comes up.

Using skills by definition requires some finesse, as the character's skills typically aren't well-suited to the rigors of the situations afforded by a given opportunity. If the player wants the character to use a skill, though, he or she will have to use some imagination to see how one of the many skills might be tweaked or kitbashed into an action that actually applies after all. No one person has final authority over whether a skill's use is legitimate; instead, if one or more people shout "Oh come on!" as a snap reaction, that's probably enough indication to pick another skill.

The New You program specialist or any indication of the program's existence is never seen again after character creation. There are no New You NPCs or other instars in play. And as an important side point, characters cannot spot the presence of the instar in anyone else.

The instar never acts against company interests, nor does it ever violate its basic hierarchy (ousting and sabotaging competitors and immediate superiors isn't the same thing). Also, the instar intellectual and social abilities are ultimately not substantive. It cannot innovate, develop insight, or improve things; when it uses (for example) Great Sense of Humor, or Insider, the actual content turns out to be nil upon reflection. Successful instar ability use pretty much gives everyone the right impression, that's all. Its physical abilities are legitimate, but again, they tend to be stronger on visual style compared to actual long-term impact.

The instar-inhabited character cannot leave the company or act against its interests, period. Nor can he or she describe, explain, or really even mention the thing inside. Those optons are overridden at a very basic neural level by the instar.

(more coming)

Post #2 of two

Basic resolution

Double Dice are used for resolving conflicts in the game. The outer die is the character's skill roll, and the inner die is the instar's ability roll.

In all cases, higher is better. Resolution takes two things into account, with slightly different rules for any of the following three situations. Also, success values may change in different ways for each situation.

You do it!

The character is basically giving over the reins to the instar. However, he or she must bring some skill to bear in the situation, chosen by the player, as the instar cannot act without some kind of initiatory action on the host's part. Once begun, the instar will abandon that action and bring its considerable talents to bear using one of its abilities as chosen by the GM.

The ability's success range is actually not relevant in this case, because its action will in fact succeed. The roll is made for two reasons. First, the outcome is relevant to possible changes in the scores, explained in the next section. Second, if the ability is being opposed by another instar, the roll must beat the other instar ability roll to succeed. Even if an instar's action is blocked by opposition of this kind, the action is still observably competent and impressive.

A successful action of this kind is consensually co-narrated by the GM and player, with the latter being sure to provide some thoughts or reactions from the character. Note that the action succeeds at the general goal of the original action, in its own way without regard to the originally-chosen skill.

Help me out here!

The character would like to keep the reins of control, to use a skill of the player's choice, and to utilize some aspect of the instar as a boost in using a particular skill.

Use the higher of the two dice, comparing it with the skill's success range (typically 4-5). Success is narrated by the player; failure is narrated by the GM with input from the player.

If another player-character is involved in the conflict, then the high value must also beat the second character's roll if it is successful. The value of that roll is determined by whether the character is using Help Me Out (high die of the two), You Do It (instar roll), or I'll Do It Myself (skill roll).

I'll do it myself!

The character deliberately shuts out the influence of the instar, using a skill of his or her choice. The GM chooses an instar ability that it would like to bring to bear on the situation.

To succeed, the skill roll must fall within its success roll as well as beat the instar ability roll. If it does so, then the player narrates without GM input. If the skill roll is in its success range but does not beat the instar, then the GM narrates with player input. If the skill fails, but the instar roll is in its own success range, then the player narrates with GM input. If both fail, regardless of which is higher, the GM narrates without player input.

If another player-character is opposing this action, then the skill roll must tie or beat an opposing skill, or beat an opposing instar ability. Note that two successful skill uses may result in a mutually advantageous compromise, if that's how the players narrate it, which cannot happen when even one instar ability is involved.

Make sure to see how skills and abilities may change depending on which option is used and depending on what happens.

Character and instar development

As the instar grows and develops into the full New You, its span of success values increases, and its host's skills begin to disappear. The character may embrace this process or try to delay or stop it. The following three mechanics show how the game numbers change with ability and skill use.

You do it!: If the ability roll is equal to or higher than the skill roll, then the instar success range increases and the skill success range is diminished, e.g., it becomes 5-6 from 4-5-6, then 6 from 5-6. (Successful or unsuccessful usage, in the case of opposition, is irrelevant.)

Help me out here!: If the ability roll was higher than the skill roll, then the skill success range is diminished but the instar success range stays the same. If the skill roll was higher, then no values change. (Again, successful or unsuccessful usage is irrelevant.)

I'll do it myself!: Upon a successful roll, the skill success range increases and the instar ability stays the same. If the skill fails, both skill and ability values stay the same. However, see below in "Final outcomes" for what happens when this option is used repeatedly for a given skill. (Unlike the above two cases, the relative values of the two rolls are irrelevant; the key is success or failure of the skill.)

Story and character outcomes

A given character's story is composed of opportunities which arise and are resolved through a series of immediate and consequential goals, with many conflicts faced within them. By definition, they will result in many changes in the character's life as it proceeds. There's a "resolve and evolve" cycle for each character, and in many cases it intersects and interferes with the events in the other characters' stories.

There are two kinds of changes within this cycle: fictional consequences and mechanical consequences.

The fictional ones are basically an organic outcome of all the narrations, whether of scene setups, of character dialogue, or of dice rolls. A few conflicts down the road, the character may have changed positions in the company, be living in entirely different circumstances, and otherwise simply be seeing and doing stuff he or she wasn't before.

The mechanical ones all concern the relationship between character and instar. They include eliminating skills, adding new skills, or eliminating instar abilities.

A skill may be fully eliminated if its value is 6 and is then diminished once more. If this happens to ten skills, then the New You process is completed and the instar develops to maturity. Its abilities are now fixed at their current numerical values. The New You does not use Double Dice, but rather a traditional six-sided die, using abilities only. The character is, for all intents and purposes, gone. He or she is now merely an internal, nonvolitional witness to the life of the New You. The player continues to play, acting only in opposition to other characters. Specifically, he or she must act to oppose the actions of the character hosting the currently most-effective instar.

A character may add new skills. Define the new skill, which is not constrained in concept (i.e. it does not have to be trivial). Use Do It Myself. The skill will automatically fail, but if the skill roll beats the ability roll, then it may be entered onto the character sheet with a success range of 6.

The character may reduce the instar's abilities by using Do It Myself repeatedly with a given skill. Entering into this process requires a deliberate statement; once that is made, a given skill is checked each time it is used successfully with Do It Myself. After two consecutive successes, the instar gets nervous and tries to force Help Me Out Here resolution, with the GM naming the ability. The action will switch to that resolution mode unless the character explicitly refuses. If he or she does so, and if the skill is successful with Do It Myself, then the ability success range is diminished by 1. If an ability's value is 6 and this is accomplished, then the ability is gone.

If all four instar abilities are eliminated in this way, then the character continues, using a solid d8 for skill resolution only. The player no longer acts in opposition to other player-characters from this point onwards.

Unless the character tries to suppress and eliminate the instar, the eventual outcome will be the production of the New You.

Play ends when all player-characters have either become their New You or defeated their instar.

Best, Ron

Wait, one quick correction that didn't make it into the file: instead of ten skills, it's one-third (round down) of current skills gone = New You. That adds a little meat to learning new skills.

Best, Ron

Ron: Wow, that was a real headscratcher.  I'll admit, I'm not finding it easy to wrap my head around the game play there, and was having some trouble just grokking the basic concept.  Last night as I was walking my dog, I thought about the TV show Aeon Flux, and the weird skinny robot things that Trevor inserted in people to make them model citizens, and it *clicked*, and I found my way into your idea.  Which means I can now throw the devil horns.  Though I'll admit, this game is a bit "prog rock" for my tastes, and not really "metal" enough.  But I think you're going to win the "Required The Most Intense Reflection For Ken To Comprehend" award (which comes with no dice, sadly).

It's a shame there's no d4, or at least a d8 to allow a smooth progression of die size from d6 through to d12.

I'm trying to wrap my head around a couple of concepts at the moment, hopefully I'll have an entry in within the next couple of days.

V

Hey man, you chose the funky dice, and that guarantees that you get a funky game. You ::throw the devil horns::, and I'll ::embarassing funk dance move:: back atcha.

Best, Ron

On the Inside

(Thanks to Travis for suggesting that on a re-roll you don't actually re-roll, you just shake the die on the inside! That fits the game better!)

On the Inside concerns a convict living out their prison sentence, and trying to keep the world from passing them by.  At least one player plays the convict.  At least one player plays an exemplar family member.  And at least one person plays everyone else. 

The game lasts six episodes.  An episode is simply a point in the convict or family member's life.  Many episodes will take up one scene of play; some will need two. 

The first episode is always the same. This is the only time the convict and the family member are absolutely guaranteed to be together.  The scene is the sentencing hearing, and the judge has just handed down the sentence:  ten years in prison.  The convict is being led out of the court room by the bailiffs, and turns to look to the family member. 

Roll a double d6. 

If the inside die is greater than the outside, or if the dice tie, the family member reacts as a family member should react.  Maybe they cry, maybe they push toward the bailiff, maybe they mouth "I love you".  But the connection is there.   

If the outside die is greater than the inside, the family member has a negative reaction.  Maybe they meet the convict's gaze and just stare.  Maybe they turn away.  Maybe they're not even in the court room!  But the convict has one chance that things might go right.  What does the convict do or say?  If the convict does or says something, re-roll the die.  If the inside wins or tie, and that negative reaction from the family member is ameliorated.  How does that happen?  Do they burst into the court room at the last moment?  But if the convict loses again--or if the convict didn't re-roll--bump the die from a d6 to a d10 for later.

Re-rolling is always actually re-shaking!  The convict has little influence on the outside world, so just pick that die up and shake it, so the inside die rolls but the outside number stays the same.

From here there are five more episodes spaced throughout the prison sentence.  Episodes "on the inside" should follow, or be followed by, episodes "on the outside", but it doesn't have to be exactly one after the other.  From here on out, the player(s) of everyone else gets to frame the scenes of the episodes.

Outside episodes:  Set up a scene for the family member that will likely lead to some kind of challenge.   The first night going to bed without the convict?  A birthday party?  The tax man cometh?  The situation must play to the family member's weaknesses:  why would it be EASIER if the convict were here, right now?  Play things out until a piquant moment, then roll the die to see if the family member can successfully overcome the challenge facing them.  Because this is all about the convict's connection to the outside, always look to that inside die to beat or tie the outside.  If it beats or ties the outside, the family member triumphs, and not only that, but triumphs because of the strength of their bond to the convict.  (Ties probably aren't as cut-and-dried, but it's still a win.)

If the inside die is less than the outside, there's always a chance to pull through with a re-roll.  It's the convict's choice whether to re-roll.  The family member is defeated in the immediate situation.  But set a new scene, but this time the situation plays to the family member's strengths:  how would it be HARDER if the convict were here, right now?     Play through, and re-roll, only this time a tie is also a failure!  Bump the die size on a failure (d6 to d10, d10 to d12, d12 stays at d12).

Inside episodes: Set up a scene that will likely lead to some kind of challenge for the convict.  A cruel cell mate?  Smuggling contraband?  Paralyzing boredom?  Roll to see if the convict overcomes it, and not only that, but overcomes it because of the strength of their bond to the family member.  Again, ties probably aren't cut-and-dried.

If the roll is a failure, a re-roll is possible.  The family member chooses whether to re-roll.  Set a new scene where the convict gets to communicate with the family member!  Family time, conjugal visit, telephone call, a letter scribbled on a napkin.  But to get that re-roll, the convict has to ask the family member to do something they really shouldn't do!  Shouldn't, that is,  morally, ethically, legally, or whatever.  Succeed here--and remember, ties are a failure on the re-roll!--and the convict perseveres over the immediate situation.  Fail, and the die size is bumped.

Play out five of these episodes.  Then the sentence is over.  What's the die size?  d6?  Prison benefits the convict and family member in every way!  Not much chance of that, but it could happen.  d10?  Freedom is sweet, but things aren't all roses.  What's the fly in the ointment?  d12?  Everything's strained.  The pieces are going to be hard to pick up.  Why?  And would the die have ever gotten bigger than d12?  Then nothing's well; the connection is forever severed between ex-convict and family membered.

One more catch that applies to every roll (but not re-rolls)!  d6s are normal.  d10s?  No 9s or 10s on the inside are allowed, ever.  Give the die another shake until there are no more 9s or 10s.  d12s?  No 10s, 11s, or 12s on the inside.

And by "Solamasa", I mean me!

- Kit

Hey, Ken.  Thanks for doing this!  I've already taken my entry and modified it heavily, which is making it come together really well.  I think that it will be ready to playtest soon.  Thanks!

Solamasa:  "Prison Break" is one of my favorite shows, so as you might imagine, I'm giving that one the horns.  I like the bumping-the-die-up mechanic.  Very neat idea.

GreatWolf: You're welcome!  I was hoping that people would find the idea creatively inspiring, and it sure seems to be working out that.

Everyone Thinking About Entering:  I ordered the dice last night.  They're on their way to my place right now.  Nice shiny brand new dice.  You know you want them.

We do, we do!

The Tainted

(a promo teaser)

The War between Heaven and Hell rages on.
The forces of the Infernal spread their Taint across the Earth.
Every Angel sent to Earth becomes Tainted and can never return to Heaven, can never again enter the Divine Presence
Every Angel whose been Tainted eventually Falls.

You're an Angel fighting the Infernal on Earth
You've been Tainted.
How long till you Fall.

(coming soon).

  This is an interesting concept. It has me thinking that someone should make a series of contestes based on what kind of die are used and possibly even how they are used. For example, one of the competitions could be: "Make a game, at the most 10 pages long, using only two dice but the dice must be different sizes(e.g. d6 and d10) and both used in all rolls." That would be interesting.

Quote from: _haroharo_ on February 29, 2008, 05:43:47 PMThis is an interesting concept. It has me thinking that someone should make a series of contestes based on what kind of die are used and possibly even how they are used. For example, one of the competitions could be: "Make a game, at the most 10 pages long, using only two dice but the dice must be different sizes(e.g. d6 and d10) and both used in all rolls." That would be interesting.

I want to see a game that uses a d30.  Or uses weird dice (http://www.greathallgames.com/aacc/adice/adice.html) like the color dice, which have facings with red, green, purple, blue, yellow, and black (they have a 4-sided version as well).  Dice like that could be very interesting for scene setting mechanics.

I wonder if anybody has made in/OUT dice that use two different die sizes...

Five years ago, your character was a vague-ass loser with problems asserting themselves and less than perfect hygiene. Now, they're an unholy ass-kicker with smoking hot super-powers. But you have no idea what happened in those five years, and the only help you're given to figuring this trip out are about as likely to give helpful advice as make your brain explode.

------

Every player designs their hero, their hero's Angel and their hero's Devil.

The player to a player's right plays their Angel, and the player to their left their Devil. The game-world is narrated by a combination of the Hero, The Angel and The Devil. Each has their own agenda.

The Hero wants to both understand the world and to triumph over it. He also wants to show off how totally awesome he is.

The Angel wants to let the hero know that the hero is a terrible person, that other people are wonderful and have always tried to help him, but he is not lost and that it is his holy mandate to repent from his way of life.

The Devil wants the hero to know know that he is a rightuous ass kicker, that other people are monsters and have always plotted against him, and that he any morals or mercy he holds for these cretins will destroy him.

--------------------------------------

The game is narrarated by a combination of the Hero, the Angel and the Devil. Any of them can set the scene for the Hero.

The player of the Hero has authority over what the hero is doing now, and can narrarate events in the present to establish ideas about his hero.

The players of the Angel and the Devil have authority which is based on the "Die of conciousness". The Angel gets its narrative right from the the inner die, and the devil gets its narrative right from the outer die.

Only the Angel or Devil may introduce things that have happened in the past.

THE DIE OF CONCIOUSNESS

The die of conciousness is a double die d6 which sits in the middle of the table. It determines both special effects for "the camera" and the narraration power of the Angel and Devil.

Levels:
1-2: Narraration ability: Symbolic hints and messages in coincidental places like store names, music lyrics, graffiti or other types of vandalism. Special effect: Things look like they're shot 30fps. This produces that TV news look of looking "too real" and stale.

3-4: Narraration ability: Super-powered, surreal, symbolic content that is not always consistant or sensical. Nothing that happens here has to stick, or have long-range consequences. Special Effect: Stuff like this looks like bitchin' animation.

5: Narraration Ability: Real people, real feelings and real consequences. The supernatural is dialed lower. What happens here is expected to be respected, and consistant with the rest of the game's 'reality'. Special Effect: Everything looks mostly realistic, but colors are exceptionally vivid and the lighting is stark and dramatic. The lens also has a little bit of "fuzziness".

6 - Narration Ability: The player of the Angel or Devil can deliver the 'real deal' about the nature of the character's life or past, including unarguable facts which are both disturbing and highly consequential. Special Effect: The Screen becomes very staticy, and no supernatural elements or included in the scene.

------------------------

If the Hero does not like what is occuring, he can choose to alter his own conciousness to a more pleasurable state. The player than has the option of rolling the die of conciousness, to change the narraration ability of the devil and angel.

Remember that bit about brain exploding? If neither the angel die nor the devil die come up higher than the number of times the hero rolls to alter his conciousness in a scene, than his head explodes during this scene. Human brains wern't made for superman head fucks.

I'm sorry, but it seems that I can't get my game to cohere. Too busy. I was going to make a D&D-style adventure game, but there were too many steps to it. I have enjoyed the other games, though, especially Ron's; even if it's not metal at all, it seems like fun to play in the understated way Ron's recent games have offered...

Actually, now that I think of it, metal game? Isn't that, like, the simplest thing in the world? Yeah! So hold your horses, here's a quick, real metal game. I'm coming back to the contest exactly one paragraph after bowing out!

Missä miehet ratsastaa - the game
The game wherein the Finnish metal music group Teräsbetoni (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ter%C3%A4sbetoni) participates in the Eurovision Song Contest. Their song is called Missä miehet ratsastaa (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJE4uAd4qL4). The contest will know excitement, romance, sweat, will of iron, barbarian metal, Manowar parody and, above all, earnest agonistics of C-list artists shooting for the big time!

In the game the players play the Finnish metal music group Teräsbetoni. The name means "steel-reinforced concrete", while the music of the band is so much to the topside of power metal that it's commonly considered a parody of the same: the skinny, long-haired sissy boys of the band play without shirts and sing songs about heroic death, taking slaves, getting revenge and generally living the vida warrioca. Teräsbetoni has two albums (Metal Truth and We Demand Metal) with a third incoming; one of two has a gold record in Finland, while the other has sold platinum. The band managed to get elected for the song contest via the phone voting system, which tends to favour the favourites of young subcultures quite a bit (as young fans have no restraint in running up their phone bills, you know), meaning that Finland seems to get something like this every year. As a sample of the lyrics, I'm translating the titular song of the game right here:

Where Men Ride

Huh – hah – huh – hah
Huh – hah – huh – hah

Let there be storm and wind
and warm fire in the hearth.
Honor and manhood is
to discharge our duty.

The world is cold even
if warmth has a place.
Fields call for heroes,
and not cowards for sure!

Where men ride
no sheep may stride.
Where men ride
you may hear wolves howl.

Huh – hah – huh – hah

Let disaster await
and love be left behind.
A man has his duty
to remember valour.

Nobody may avoid pain and
just run with the current of life.
Fields call for heroes,
and not cowards for sure!

Where men ride
no sheep may stride.
Where men ride
you may hear wolves howl.

Where men, where men ride
Where men, where men ride

Where men ride
no sheep may stride.
Where men ride
you may hear wolves howl.

Where men ride
no sheep may stride.
Where men ride
you may hear wolves howl.

Where men hah – huh – hah
Where men hah – huh – hah

The art of Teräsbetoni

While all the players are free to find out more for themselves, a short explanation is in order. I'm going to quote the Finnish Wikipedia on this one, you wouldn't believe it from me:

Quote from: Finnish Wikipedia, translated by Eero
The activity of Teräsbetoni is based on a word, the concept of "Metal Truth" developed by the band. The vocalist of Teräsbetoni, Jarkko Ahola, has described Metal Truth as follows: "Metal Truth is an exploration of the very deepest core being of metallic music via music, lyrics and performance. Every warrior has to experience it for himself and touch the feelings of his own heart."

Metal Truth is a large part of Teräsbetoni, and it connects all songs of the band. Although some songs deal less with heroism, almost all pieces feature terms such as "Metal Truth", "Metal", "Steel", "Concrete". Most of the songs also include terminology with a medieval tone, such as "brotherhood", "warriors" and "swords".

Other slogans used by Teräsbetoni are, among others, "Brotherhood, honor, truth" and "Blood and horses".

Characters

The players play the members of the band, and there's also a GM. The band members are described below; if there's not enough players, use the artists in order. If there's too many, the excess becomes co-gamemasters; there's plenty of work to go around there. I'm also going to give you some character hooks to differentiate the band members a bit. In case you didn't already figure it out, this is a real band and they really are going to compete in ESC, so I'm not going to do anything like the real people here. Of course, anybody may add real stuff if they happen to follow the band closely. The following is completely imaginary, but appropriate for the game:

(You might also wish to use the producer of the band, Hiili Hiilesmaa, as a PC; we might paint him as a middle-aged man who's worked with the band on their last album and with dozens of other bands before that, with great success in his vocation; he believes not in the Metal Truth. His number is 5.)

Jarkko Ahola - Lead vocals, bass guitar. The leader of the group and a most learned metal musician, familiar with several styles and history of the form. A member of several other band projects. Writes the songs for the band and just might believe in the Metal Truth in a bit too literal manner. His number is 1.
Arto Järvinen - Guitar, vocals. A silent follower type, talented singer. Wants the band to succeed and become a source of long-term satisfaction, and will therefore work to make it work. Lukewarm about metal as an attitude. His number is 2.
Viljo Rantanen - Guitar. Technically talented guitarist, but little sense for creativity in music. Does his best work at live gigs with his "barbarian on". Old friends with Jarkko and Arto. His number is 3.
Jari Kuokkanen - Drums. A latecomer to the band, has just floated in after working as a "temp" drummer for a long while. Hard worker, hardier party-animal. Connections in the scene, and oldest of the bunch. His number is 4.
They're all skinny, white, long-haired young Finnish males from Tampere. The hair's going to be brown, unless you take some color to it in the first scene.

Scenes

The GM will proceed through the following scenes during the game. The band might have an opportunity for adding additional scenes, but barring that, the following will be played in order, after which the game ends and we'll see whether Teräsbetoni comes home from Belgrad a winner or loser.

In Finland
2.3. - Post-victory party at hotel Kruunu in Helsinki, right after Teräsbetoni wins the Finnish finals. Deals are struck and plans are made.
8.3. - The first training day for the contest. Plans are made and chemistry established; for the first time, the band realizes that they're really going to Belgrad.
12.3. - The band meets with their producer, Hiili Hiilesmaa, to discuss priorities between the imminent album release and the ESC.
17.3 - The running order for ESC is revealed, which brings an opportunity for the characters to establish rivalries with other participants.
19.3. - The release party for Myrskyntuoja (Stormbringer), the third album of the band, which also includes Where Men Ride.
19.4. - A home-moving party for a mutual friend of the band's. The band plays, too.
31.4. - A big in-depth interview with the Ilta-Sanomat (a Finnish tabloid paper) reporter Katri Utula.
10.5. - The last training day for the contest before boarding the plane to Belgrad.
In Belgrad
14.5. - First semifinal rehearsal for our band; press conference after the rehearsal.
16.5. - Second semifinal rehearsal for our band; press conference after the rehearsal.
18.5 - Mayor's Reception, a big party for the whole ESC machine.
19.5 - Dress rehearsals for the Semi-Finals.
20.5 - First Semi-Final, with a morning rehearsal; this is the one our boys are in. Lost here? Move directly to the epilogue!
22.5 - Second Semi-Final. A disgruntled Serbian nationalist will disrupt this with an explosive device to protest the independence of Kosovo. Died here? Move directly the to epilogue!
23.5 - Dress rehearsals for the Finals.
24.5 - The Finals! Move directly to the epilogue afterwards!

A word on ESC

The Eurovision Song Contest (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurovision_Song_Contest) is a huge media event that happens this year in Belgrad, Serbia. (The last year's winner determines the next year's country.) There's going to be participants in the song contest from over 40 European countries stretching from Ireland to those small countries behind Russia. Even Israel is going to be presented, even if they'll make a joke out of it and aren't really in Europe anyway. Italy and some such countries are not participating surprisingly enough, because they're humorless jerks and got miffed in your grandfather's time about something do with with musical critique and taste. Whatever, that's not what ESC is about; Teräsbetoni and its ridiculous show will be right at home here!

For the purposes of the game we're going to go with a high-rolling, exciting world of pop stars, sudden romances with exotic foreign singer-songwriters, the mob trying to make the Polish band (which is always excellent, and always loses) take a fall in the competition, and so on. There's going to be a lot of interviews, press conferences, parties with people from all over the world, and of course the contest itself, in which all countries spend a tedious amount of time giving scores in a byzantine system that really favours countries and artists able to swing block votes: the Scandinavian block used to be strong in these politics, but recently the Eastern European countries with funny names have ruled the roost. Finland tried traditionally to be a part of the Scandic block, but those uptight jerks wouldn't have us, so after Lordi won in -06 we're going for the international metal-head vote: metal is strong in Middle-Europe and the east and really all over, so even if the prissy Frenchmen won't vote for anybody without stockings and a lisp, the rest of Europe will ride Teräsbetoni to victory. That's the theory, anyway.

More about all that can be found in other sources, including explanations for all the events I mentioned above, so let's move on:

What's that bit about a bomb?!?

The rest of the scenes I described above are rather self-explanatory, but this one might require some little explanation:

There's going to be a bombing on 22nd of May at the second semi-finals. The bomber is an embittered ex-soldier from the war of Kosovo. People are going to die unless Teräsbetoni, the heroes of power metal, saves the day. Should any of the band members go see the second semifinals (they don't have to; they're not participating in that part), they will have an opportunity to stop the bomber and gain the gratitude of Belgrad and all fans of ESC. However, they also risk death, so it's not such a great deal, perhaps.

All this plot stuff is hardly secret from the players. If nobody remarks about it before, the GM should bring the bombing thing to the attention of the players (not the characters) when the second part of the game at Belgrad begins. After that the players may, at their discretion, frame scenes in which their characters find out about the planned bombing, the conspiracy behind it and perhaps meddle in it if they have time before the contest. Alternatively, they might decide that their characters do not care, in which case they still may go see the contest out of pure musical interest. They will wear their swords; that's their shtick, after all!

Should the characters explore the backgrounds of the bombing, they will find out the reasons and people behind it (coldly calculated and politically realistic, note), but will not be able to find the bomber and his bomb before the day of the contest itself. Should the bombing happen as planned (perhaps because all the characters decide to do something else that day and aren't there to stop it), the ESC leaders will make a cold, calculated decision and go on with the competition regardless; they will lose their jobs afterwards, but the momentum of the competition is too strong to stop for this.

<CONTINUES IN THE NEXT POST>

<CONTINUED FROM THE LAST POST>

Scene resolution

Now for some rules; you're going to need a double d6 or two, a double d8, a bunch of normal d6, pens and paper for this.

In each scene there is going to be just one conflict, just like in Shab-al-Hiri Roach (which, I realize just now, this game is starting to resemble quite a bit now that I'm writing it). The scene is played freeform until a conflict comes up, at which point the GM will drop the dd6 on the table and call for conflict, stating what it's roughly about. The first player to grab the die has the initiative and his character acts first to resolve the situation. (Don't make a reaction game of it by dangling the die and grabbing at it; the player who takes the die should be ready to describe what his character is going to do about the situation the GM called.)

(I should mention here that all band members are assumed to be in each scene, at least at the beginning. All players are also justified in bringing their characters back, should they leave the scene.)

The player proceeds to describe how his character acts in the situation, after which he rolls the die. The external result of the roll is his Metal roll, determining how well he resolves the situation. The internal result is his Truth roll, determining how he feels about it. Expanding on that, the Truth roll determines whether the character is happy with the way he acted, or whether he went over some personal boundaries in pushing for success; examples include lying at a press conference to preserve imago, slacking off in training, going into a fistfight over a minor disagreement, going with the producer's suggestions of sexying up the band's musical style and so on. In the grander scale, the Truth rolls determine over the long run whether Teräsbetoni manages to preserve it's Metal Truth and artistic integrity, or if it will sell out and forget the joy of music. Similarly, the Metal rolls determine over the longer term whether the band triumphs in the ESC and in big-world music industry in general!

If both Metal and Truth rolls equal each other, the scene has Metal Truth in it! The conflict immediately ends with whatever results the roll causes and Teräsbetoni powers up: the band resolves the situation with true barbaric heroism, breaking social norms in their earnest effort at resolution; if they have instruments at hand, a song is far from inappropriate, while other situations might just necessiate grabbing the girl and heading for the nearest window. Note that while Metal Truth does not actually affect the outcome of the resolution (that's determined below), it does come with additional benefits: the band gains the dd8 die and uses it from now on until they lose a Metal or Truth roll with it, at which point the power-up disappears. The band also gets to frame the next scene, but more about that later.

(I feel that the above might be misunderstood, so let me elucidate: Metal Truth might end up causing a classical music video explosion of heroic action with a soundtrack in the background, or it might prove to be grossly inappropriate socially, inefficient in action and quite embarrasing for the characters who participate; this all depends on whether the Metal Truth roll result actually wins the conflict against the GM's roll. However, as the Metal and Truth values are equal in this case, it's always a given that in Metal Truth a character never has to feel sorry for a successful action.)

Each time a conflict is called for by the GM, he will roll a bunch of normal d6 in opposition to Teräsbetoni: he's always rolling at least one die, but the players may allow him more dice by having their characters try to resolve the situation in a notably unlikely manner (like, they're charging a score of policemen with just their plastic prop swords or something). While the GM may suggest that a given resolution method is deserving of these penalty dice, it's up to the players; they should be able to describe a more realistic way of resolving their predicament if they don't want to give the dice, anyway. The GM also gains cumulative extra dice for each reroll a single character opts to take in a single conflict (more on that below).

Now, the procedure for actually rolling the dice:

• First, the player who grabbed the initiative tells what his character is going to do and rolls the die.
• Next, the players see if they like the result. If not, any player may grab the die and roll it again, telling how his character steps in. Each player makes the call independently.
• The above continues as long as necessary, but the GM will gain an extra die every time a new "round" of rerolls is started; in other words, he gets an extra die when a character takes a second roll for the first time (but not when a second character does so), another die when a character takes his third roll and so on.
• The above procedure is immediately interrupted if Metal Truth is rolled! In that case, proceed to the next step.
• When the players are happy with the dicing result, the GM rolls his accumulated dice. (One die for free, any number gifted by the players and any bonus dice from the rerolls.) The highest result in the dice is the value of the resistance.

Now, after the resistance has been determined, we compare Metal and Truth rolls with it: managing to equal or top the resistance means success in the area in question. Narrate appropriately and mark things down on the Tab, of which more below. Narration rights are primarily on the band if they won Truth, and on the GM if they lost it; the GM is encouraged to think up something stupid and shortsighted for the band to regret later on.

The Tab and the Number

The Tab is a piece of paper with three columns, one for Metal, one for Truth and one for the GM. It is used in the "extended conflicts" in the latter part of the game, for which the players will want to fill the Tab in the former part. This happens like so: each time a conflict is resolved, mark down the Metal and Truth dice results the players rolled in their appropriate columns, but only if they won that category. You might want to put each different value on separate lines and just use checkmarks ("three sixes" and so on), as we'll be mostly interested in pairs and triples and such later on.

Meanwhile, the GM has also rolled his dice. Mark all of those dice in the GM column. The players get to mark those results as well! The player whose roll was used in the conflict gets to spread the GM dice results in the Metal and Truth columns whichever way he wants.

The definition of Tab conflict is that any conflict that might end the game and make the band fail is a Tab conflict. I don't particularly expect or recommend provoking things towards Tab conflicts, as I've provided more than enough in that department, but the fiction might go that way and who am I to gainsay your story. Anyway: There are three Tab conflicts built into the game:

• On the 20th of May the semifinals in Belgrad feature Teräsbetoni. Either the characters show up and play and get to the finals (five participants will get in, I understand), or the game moves to epilogues. The characters are allowed a normal conflict during the scene, but after that they have to play, and play well. Should they lose, they're going home; nobody really expected them to win.
• On the 22nd of May the second semifinals feature the bomber. As described above, the characters might avoid this Tab conflict. If they do take it, they are likewise allowed a normal conflict if one presents itself before the bomber gets busy. Should the characters lose some of them get injured or might even die; they're not going to play in the finals!
• On the 24th of May the ESC Finals happen! Like before, the characters have to be there to play and to win, or forfeit. A normal conflict before playing might concern almost anything, assuming that the characters have been busy trying to lay the French chansonette or something like that. If the characters lose, they go home. Hopefully they did well, at least! If they win, the game is over anyway, as it has to stop somewhere...

Essentially, each Tab conflict is like a music video shoot of the band's performance, whether they're playing on stage or making a terrorist eat his own bomb. The players spend their Tab marks to proceed in the conflict, while the GM spends his to throw in some resistance. The terrorist case is obvious enough, but when it comes to performance we're looking for stuff like uncertainties, character faults, stage fear or such. The GM might have to drag some weird shit out of the characters's childhood here, but that's how it goes in this kind of fiction.

Now, while the characters are otherwise mechanically identical to each other, they all have a different Number. The Number is used in the Tab conflict; each band member has a special affinity with one kind of Tab mark, determined by their number. When they are spending that kind of Tab marks, they get to count one mark more! This way even a lonely Tab of the correct type becomes a pair, for example.

Here's the Tab conflict procedure:

• At the beginning of each round, the GM rolls out a series of his tab marks, circling them on the Tab. This is how many dice he will be rolling, and it's always all of his tab marks of a type; no pulling punches!
• The GM chooses which of the players is going to answer his challenge and from which category; he narrates a difficulty that specifically concerns that character more than the others, and either attacks his values (Truth) or presents a practical conundrum (Metal).
• The concerned player then gets to spend a series of tab marks from the chosen category, remembering the extra he gets if he spends from his own Number. The player doesn't need to spend all the marks at one go like the GM does, though, if he doesn't want to. The number of spent marks determines how many characters will be supporting each other in the challenge; extra marks in the category may be spent for rerolls later. The challenged player gets to pick which of his friends help him out, if there's not enough marks for all.
• When the GM has his dice and the players have figured out which characters are participating, the players roll the dd6 (or dd8 if they have Metal Truth) and go into a series of rerolls, the same as in a normal conflict. The players can't buy more rerolls by giving the GM more dice, but they can spend extra tab marks from the number chosen by the challenged player; the challenged player rolls the die when he spends the marks.
• When the players are satisfied with the roll or can't reroll more, the GM rolls his dice. Tab marks are generated normally, narration is determined normally and results are determined normally; however, if the result is a tie (players don't win those here) or player loss in either category, the players have to immediately choose: will they continue the conflict with another round, or be satisfied with the loss?
• If the band loses in Metal, the game moves immediately to epilogues, with the winner of Truth narrating the failure of the characters in the overall conflict, it's causes and consequences.
• If the band loses in Truth but wins in Metal and decides to end the conflict, the game continues according to the scene list, with the GM narrating how the characters win the Tab conflict by cheating. However, the Tab is emptied on both sides.
• If the players choose to continue, the results of the first conflict round are narrated with a scope that does not resolve the overall conflict, and then the procedure is repeated. However, the winner of Truth gets to describe the challenge, pick the challenged player and determine whether it's a Metal or Truth challenge. This can go on until one side runs out of tab marks, which then spells victory for the opposition. That would however spell doom for the characters, so players would be wise to not go that far.
• Players can gain extra scenes in between Tab conflict rounds normally, just like described in the next bit, below. Those are most likely flashbacks, unless the conflict has some kind of a break.

Scene framing

As indicated above, the GM has a specific scene sequence he's following. He might throw in some stuff about the consequences of the last scene if he wants, but basically he's going to follow the list; should some situation make the list impossible, it's a Tab conflict! So run the Tab conflict and proceed to epilogues if the characters fail. This would be the case if the characters decided to withdraw from the ESC as well, by the way; the last Tab conflict is required regardless.

Assuming no such drastic turns in the fiction, however, the GM is always pushing for that next scene in the sequence. The only way for him to be foiled is for the players to earn extra scenes; these are freely framed scenes that concern personal needs and concerns of the characters more than the ESC schedule, so they might be anything from character development to spying on Serbian extremists, whatever the framer finds interesting. They are a great vehicle for exploring the ESC festivals and band life in general, anyway. As can be seen from the schedule, there's lots of free time and not many practice sessions in Finland, so perhaps the band wants to run some more of those...

The following conditions concern running an extra scene:

• If the band rolls Metal Truth, they can have an extra scene right after this one, focusing on the individual concerns of the character who rolled the Metal Truth. This might mean that not all characters are present in the scene.
• If the band loses their Truth roll but win their Metal roll, they may request an extra scene, but the GM will frame it to highlight the consequences of their actions in the last scene.
• If the band loses their Metal roll but win their Truth roll, they may frame a scene with some constructive, hopeful content. Like that romance with the exotic drummer of that Russian punk band, I like that idea for plot content in this game.
• See those dates on the scheduled scenes? If there's no time for the extra scene before the next mandatory scene, then the band is out of luck! You might want to use a calendar or something to keep track of when and where the band is, so you can see whether they even get to their appointments in time.

Extra scenes may also lead to extra scenes, or not. In any case it is not mandatory to request them. At some point it actually becomes counterproductive to winning the Tab conflicts, too.

Oh, also: the GM's main job in this game is to be the bass-playing dynamo, Sorcerer style. Thrown out some bangs and make sure the players get to feel the ESC!

Epilogues

At the end of the game the players get to distribute any left-over Tabs. This is important! I fully admit that at this time of night I can't be bothered to hone the Tab conflict Truth loss condition to be psychologically more amicable, so just remember that deciding to continue without any Tab marks means rather horrid consequences at the end of the game, if the characters fail at gathering some at some point.

So, when the time for epilogues comes, the players get to split the Tabs between themselves any way they want. Specifically, the GM again drops the die and lets any player pick it to claim initiative; this player then narrates something positive about the future of one of the characters and marks down one number on one Tab for that character; the whole series is then counted for him. The series at the Number of a character cannot be marked for other characters than him, though, and that's also the only series that a player can mark for his own character; all the others have to be marked for other players's characters. Generally speaking, narrations concerning worldly concerns mark down Metal series, while moral and spiritual values concern Truth.

After the first player has marked down a series, each player clockwise gets an opportunity to do so as well, until all the Tab has been divided this way. Now all characters have some marks in both Metal and Truth, so the player gets to tell the final epilogue for his character, working with the following table:

Value	Metal	Truth
0	The character dies or is crippled soon after ESC.	The character's memory is reviled by people who knew him.
1	The character will be poor, on the bottom rungs of society, never amounting to much.	He will be known as a shithead to most.
3	Music becomes a solid livelyhood for the character.	While never inspired, the character's music is honest.
5+	The character will become rich and famous with his music, living the life of a rock star.	The character grows into a true artist, able to touch the hearts and minds of his fellow men.

Also, figure out what happens to the band: each player gets to declare whether his character is continuing in the band. Then, sum the Metal and Truth values of the characters who stay with the band and find out the future of Teräsbetoni:

Value	Metal	Truth
0	The band is scrapped soon after ESC.	Finns grow tired of the one-trick pony that is Teräsbetoni.
5	The band toils on as the members have little else, but it never breaks out of Finland.	The band is mentioned in Wikipedia under "Power metal".
10	Teräsbetoni is picked up by a big record label!	Other musicians emulate the band during the next generation.

Character vs. character?

One more rule: usually the band goes everywhere together, especially in Belgrad, and they tend to stick together. However, it is possible that the characters get crosswise with each other, in which case the conflict works a bit differently: both players get to roll a die for themselves at the same time, and they compare their scores in the categories with each other. They get rerolls if other characters decide to help them out, but if either opts to take more rerolls, the GM actually gains dice for the conflict; the argument has grown so large that NPCs get involved in it. When both sides of the conflict are finally content, the overall winner is the one who gets Tab marks in each category.

A bonus subgame

If you want to see something f***ing stupid, check this out (http://www.terasbetoni.com/). It's the official band website, and if you click in the middle of the flash window, it takes you to a flash game about... well, see for yourself. Obviously they're taking their ESC candidacy quite seriously.

(Huh... I can't believe I wrote all that in one sitting a couple of hours before bedtime. I knew that I'm fast to design when I get it on, but this is just ridiculous.)

Okay, 93 minutes left.  Time to start typing.  I'm all ready to brag if this is good, and make excuses if it's crap!

---

DEMONIC POWERS

You are a regular person who somehow found a way to empower yourself with magical abilities.  Maybe a ritual, involving the sacrifice of some precious pesonal item.  Whatever.  You now have the ability to attempt almost anything you want via magic.  All you need to do is form an intention and will it so!

The catch, though, is that when you use your magic, something scary happens.  You feel momentarily distant and out of control, and those who watch you see your facial expressions distort and faint light emit from your facial orifices.

Magic rules:

You can alter objects -- pick an adjective to increase or decrease.
You can warp objects, stretching or smushing them into desired shapes (you can increase density, but not mass).
You can move objects, but accelerating them is harder than other magic.

No mind control.
No creating matter out of nothing.

Set-up:

The player and GM come up with something difficult that the PC wants to accomplish.  Something he can't magic into occurrence, something like a relationship.  The goal shouldn't be purely hateful (revenge), purely helpful (heal the sick), or greedy in a way that is inherently bad for others (theft).  They then brainstorm the rough obstacles in the PC's path, and create some NPCs.

The GM takes a sheet of paper and writes down:

Helpful (this means altruistic)
Hateful (this means deliberately causing emotional or physical pain for reasons other than no-other-choice self-defense)
Greedy (this means selfish behavior that negatively affects others)
Demon

Play:

Collaborative scene framing, based mostly on player's decision of how to pursue his mission.

GM plays NPCs and other obstacles.  The GM's goal is to create obstacles that will provide opportunities for Greed, Altruism, and Hate.  These obstacles should also be things that cannot be overcome without magic.

Resolution:

Every time the PC uses magic, he rolls 1dd6.  The inner d6 is the spell's Power, the outer d6 is the spell's Precision.  Look up on the table to see how much Power is required for various degrees of effect, and how much Precision is necessary to do what you wanted.  Insufficient Precision means the magic did a slightly different effect than you wanted, and is experienced by the PC as incomplete control -- "I'm still learning to use this tool; oops, how awkward of me,"  Variations in Power, on the other hand, are complete surprises to the PC -- "whoa, that was random!"

Every time the Power # exceeds the Precision #, the GM makes a check mark under "Demon".

Every time the PC casts a spell, the GM judges the motivation for that spell, and writes a check mark under either "Greedy", "Hateful", "Helpful", or nothing if none apply.  Doing something that helps the PC but in no way inconveniences anyone else doesn't count as Greedy!

How play evolves:

The more check marks there are under "Demon", the more the GM describes the PC feeling some sort of other presence surge within him when he uses magic.

When there are ten check marks under "Demon", the demon inside the PC manifests.  Demonic manifestation consists of a voice inside the PC's head, an ability to provide or deny the PC access to magic, and an ability to in fact possess the PC and control them entirely if desired.

A demon's sole motivation is to use magic in furtherance of its Aspect.

A demon's Aspect is either Helpful, Hateful, or Greedy -- the category with the most check marks in it at the time the demon manifests.  This means that if the PC has been using his magic mostly for hateful reasons, he will manifest a hateful demon.

A PC with a hateful demon manifested inside him can now only use magic for hateful purposes.  If the PC is cool with this, the demon will not cut off his access to magic, nor will it possess him.  If, on the other hand, the PC tries to use magic in a non-hateful way, it won't work, and the demon will issue a warning -- "That was strike one.  Three strikes, and I take over."

As for portrayal, the GM should portray a demon's personality as befiting its Aspect.

Endgame:

Having a demon fully manifested inside him, the PC must now endeavor to complete his objective for the game, knowing that he can only use magic in ways corresponding to his demon's Aspect.  The GM should make this as difficult as possible, trying to get the PC right up to the verge of Strike Three.

Do you get killed by the obstacles to your desire?  Do you get possessed?  Or do you get what you want, and reveal your true character in the process?

---

Okay, probably not playable as is, but that's all I got for now.  45 minutes to spare too!  I await Ken's verdict with fingers crossed.  Those dice sound fun.

Ps,
-David

David must be on the East Coast, because there is still three hours to go!  It's 8:56 PM by my clock.

Feel the power of Metal!

I might just play Eeros game with some of my metallurgist friends.

Shoot, saw the thread too late to get in on it.  I was thinking of a game I would call Convergence.  Didn't have a concrete setting or theme yet, but the basic twist is that there are two (or more?) games going on simultaneously.  A gm runs a single player through a perspective, and when a die roll comes up with both numbers showing the same value, the players' perspectives "converge," for a scene, after which the players switch gms.

Wish i'da had time to get more.  New to the forums and all.

That sounds like an interesting game! I thought up four different concepts for this, all told, but not once did I figure that you could run two games side-by-side with the double dice. Nice idea!

Hey contestants!

I'll have the results up tomorrow, today was just too hectic for me to sit down and read through the last few entries in full.  I have to say though, there all so cool I may just roll a die to pick the winner.

Well, sure, but remember to use double dice! Put us on a grid or something.

Okay, so I spent all last night thinking about this, and I've decided on a winner.

First of all, I want to thank everyone who entered.  I loved all your entries, and think they all have cool things about them.  That said, I had to pick a winner, and I did it by process of elimination.  I did not do it by a fair process of elimination, but rather

David's Demonic Powers was a neat idea, but referred to a table that he forgot to include in the game.  Tsk tsk.  That's an elimination.

sirogit's Angels and Demons was eliminated because it's about Angels and Demons, a theme I'm so bored of I can barely express my indifference. Sorry sirogit, but some friends of mine who were too into the Prophecy movies in the late 90's really just wore the idea out for me.  I did really like the whole "and then your head explodes!" bit though, that was a fun surprise at the end.  I really can't express how much I think more RPGs should include this possibility.

Reading Ron Edward's Instar Dynamite makes me think that if I play it enough, I would really learn meaningful things about myself.  Tools of self-discovery aren't very metal, so that's an elimination.  Also, it seems like it would take awhile to play this, and could be a quite involved process.

Eero's Missä miehet ratsastaa - the game is about as metal as one can get, and has a high potential to finally get my black metal fan friend Chris to play a role-playing game...but I can't pronounce the name, so it's out.    it's that last word in particular.  "ratsastaa."  Yeah, that's a tongue twister.  Also, and more importantly, like Ron's game this looks like it would take awhile to play, and the rules are more than I can easily memorize and recall.

Solomasa's On The Inside came really, really close to winning, mostly because prison drama is a genre I think is strangely neglected in RPG design (especially in this post-OZ, post-Prisonbreak world), and it's quick to play, easy to remember. In the end it was too relationshippy, and didn't give the option for an exciting escape attempt, or shanking people, which is just criminal in a game about prison (hah!  see what I did there?).

So, here we are, at the very last, our winner: GreatWolf's Wuxia Melodrama. 

First of all, wuxia melodramas rule.  Second, I can play this anywhere, with anyone (if they're unfamiliar with Wuxia, just change it to a genre they understand, like westerns), and the rules are short enough I can memorize them.  Third, a game could be played in a few minutes.  You could keep a pocketful of dice with you (who doesn't do that already? right?), and bust out this game while waiting for your server to bring you your food.  That's awesome.

So, thanks again to everyone who entered.  GreatWolf, if you could send me your mailing address in a private message, I will send your prize out ASAP (got it sitting here already, waiting to go).

Dude, if you look at what I wrote, and called it 'angels and demons', and not 'the head exploding game because you can't deal with reality', than well, I must ::point devil fingers down::.

Congratulations to all. This has been a great thread to follow.

"You love me!  You really love me!"

Ahem....

Thanks.  I'm working on developing Wuxia Melodrama, which includes making it genre-neutral, like our esteemed judge mentioned.  I have one playtest so far, and it seems to be working out fairly well.  I'll post about it in Playtesting as it goes forward.

This was really fun! Totally what the Endeavor forum was created for, too.

Best, Ron

B-b-b-but, where are my horns, then?

Oh my god!  I'm so sorry!

::throws Eero the horns!::

Fascinating thread! Great work everybody, and great initiative Ken!

So have you guys thought about contacting the makers of the in-OUT dice?  Saying, "Dude, you should publish this little booklet for your dice, it'll get people all fired up!?!?!!!111!"

-G.

Who thought about making a 'battle of the bands' game but didn't get off his lazy ass, and who couldn't have competed with the glory of ratsastaa (pronounced "rat's ass, ta"?) anyhow.

Quote from: GregStolze on March 12, 2008, 08:55:24 AMWho thought about making a 'battle of the bands' game but didn't get off his lazy ass, and who couldn't have competed with the glory of ratsastaa (pronounced "rat's ass, ta"?) anyhow.

So like, you roll the outer die (which represents the talent of the band), and that determines how well your band did, but if the inner die (which represents he ego of the lead singer) is greater than the outer die, then the lead singer horribly upstages the band and makes an ass out of himself?

My thought with the dice was how to wring the most data out of them with the least handling.  (I know, I sound like a broken record.)  But really, they've got a number of yields.

-The inner result
-The outer result
-Inner + outer
-Inner - outer
-Outer - Inner  (I might look at just folding both minuses together into "biggest - smallest")

So choosing your die size influences all these.  Choose a big die and your chances of both inner and outer results being bigger are increased, as is the chance of their combination being bigger.  But the chances of the minuses going negative increase too.

Really, then, what you want is a situation where different choices are privileged.

*Big inner = good/bad
*Big outer = good/bad
*Big combo = good/bad
*Inner - outer = want it big/small
*Outer - Inner = want it big/small

My vague thought was that for some kinds of songs (heartbreaking ballads) you want the smallest possible Inner, while for Mëtal!! you'd want the biggest possible combination.  For power pop you want the highest outer, while for tricky, undeplayed songs that only other musicians really appreciate you want the numbers to be as close together as possible.

I was biffing around thoughts that you'd pick a character class... yeah, that's right, a character class!  You know you secretly love it...
such as 'blues musician' who can increase their inner result by 2, speed guitarist (increase your outer result by 2), classically trained (can raise or lower your outer by 1), painfully sincere singer (raise or lower inner by 1) and so on.  Of course, it wouldn't REALLY be a character class without restrictions, so the speed guitarist can't use the lowest die size, blah blah blah.

I dunno.  It feels one-dimensional at this point, because for every song type there's an obvious optimal choice and class.  I'm also toying with the idea that the rules automate (and partially randomize) the reactions of the three judges, but that as players get eliminated, they get to replace the judges and specifically pick challenges to bone the remaining contestants. 

Meh.  Right now it's a pile of ideas.  Though if you didn't need the inner/outer dice you could simply roll two dice.  Hm.

-G.

Eero,

I love the game you came up with for this.  The Metal Truth rules are absolutely beautiful.  And the cool thing about the whole thing is that you can take the skeleton and apply it to other things.  I'm not just talking about Terasbetoni doing other stuff, or applying it to other power-metal bands, but to all sorts of bands.  Seriously.  I mean, every counter-culture I can think of has ideals that don't jibe with the mainstream, and they ALL have music to go along with it.  Can you imagine Country & Western Truth, Techno Truth, Crunk Truth, Hardcore Truth, even Emo Truth in action?  I sure as hell can.

-Marshall

I did not ever in a million years expect to run across the phrase "Crunk Truth".  If I saw a game called that, or even a game with that featured somewhere on the cover, I would have to flip through it to see what the fuck was up.

I'm currently re-writing and honing the game for publication in the Finnish rpg magazine. I kinda doubt that we're going to run it, trademark laws and all, but it'd be nice to get it out in the next issue, before ESC is over. Perhaps I'll just ask the Teräsbetoni guys for permission.

I also got to playtest the game. The tab conflicts are just as flawed as they seem and there are empty scenes in the sequence, but most of the other stuff works just fine. The stunting rules are golden. Our playtest crew ended up dating T.A.T.U. and having a swordfighting duel in Belgrad. Very metal.