Pixies: The Gleaning (outline)

[Christoffer Lernö]

I think two games might be of interest because the "perspective" is kind of the same.

First one is Rodendom, which is probably the most interesting one. There was also a Rat D&D which Henry Fitch was working on.

I could see the pixies living in a similar "world", with rodents and such being their friends and stuff. In any case the POV is kinda the same.

[Kester Pelagius]

Our humble Moderator wrote :

5) Finally, it helps a lot to be explicit about the means by which you'd like to publish the game - simple website posting, all the way to book-published store-distribution, and whatever in between (e.g. PDF for sale). This will help everyone give you the best advice possible.


For Pixies, once finished of course, I was thinking of actual print publication.  Assuming I can interest anyone in the game.

I know, submit concept first, then design game.  But this one just came to me as a lightning strike of inspiration while reading threads way way way way back here.

Now will it be a RPG Board Game or a straight up FRPG Boxed Game?

This I do not know.

Still researching fairies and working out my side trekk with the interactive game mechanic.


Thank you.


Kester Pelagius

P.S.  Which brings me to what many here probably have guessed.  That is a handle.  Albeit one based on my actual name.  (The one that appears on my driver's license and birtch certificate.)  Should I publish under this name?  Or keep this only for anything released to the Web?

[Kester Pelagius]

I think two games might be of interest because the "perspective" is kind of the same.

First one is Rodendom, which is probably the most interesting one. There was also a Rat D&D which Henry Fitch was working on.

I could see the pixies living in a similar "world", with rodents and such being their friends and stuff. In any case the POV is kinda the same.

I've also been doing a bit of online research.

To date I have found only three games that are marginally similar.  Though they involve fairies trying to chase humans *out* of their house, so I think my idea might be good.  If not wholly original.

If anyone else out there knows of anything similar, or close, to what I am working on please let me know so I don't rehash old ground.


Thank you.

[Christoffer Lernö]

First, let me offer the suggestion to drop the other fairies altogether.

Theoretically having the pixies protecting their household from the influence from other "evil" fairy influences like the old bad Boggan under the bridge who wants to steal the youngest daughter in the family.

However, that seems to be distracting from the original idea. Sure you could put it in, but it doesn't seem necessary. It also detracts from the premise of playing creatures in a world that's really too big for them.

Granted these are my opinions only. However it seems like this would be more in line with your initial idea. When people start talking about "what you could do with it" one always gets tempted to include just a little more to "satisfy those people as well".

That's a dangerous thing. So, I think you should stick with narrowing down the scope and the places for adventure. You can always extend it later.

For the actual system... well I don't see this as a game where you should use pure sim mechanics. You want to be able to tell a nice story, it doesn't need to be a sim about how it is to be a pixie, right?
I think there are quite a few indie games here with mechanics which could serve as inspiration.

I might be wrong but I don't think a game where you describe your pixie's strength, dexterity and charisma is gonna go well with the concept. In fact you already got started with those funny names for their skills.
Maybe you don't need stats. All you need are a couple of skills that works with the mechanic to help the character do more extraordinary skills. The character with high pilfering should be able to pilfer extraordinary well compared to other pixies and so on. You could make the mechanics actually encourage funny and creative uses of skills and such.

I hope some other people could fill me in on rpgs Chris could look at? For an example of how far you could go from the standard style (if you already know about these games Chris, then I apologize for maybe coming on as being patronizing) look at Zak's Shadows.

[Kester Pelagius]

First, let me offer the suggestion to drop the other fairies altogether.

Theoretically having the pixies protecting their household from the influence from other "evil" fairy influences like the old bad Boggan under the bridge who wants to steal the youngest daughter in the family.

However, that seems to be distracting from the original idea. Sure you could put it in, but it doesn't seem necessary. It also detracts from the premise of playing creatures in a world that's really too big for them.

Point taken.

Actually I think I have (or potentially could) distill this idea into three actual games.  Currently I am thinking of just writing notes for two of them.

One large game.  One small game.

The small game I think would work best, when complete, as follows:

Players have simple templates defining their character's abilities.  Be it a Pixie or Flower Fairy.  Maybe somethng that could fit on index cards.

You have your fairies.  You have your house/farm/car port.  There is the cat.  There is a fox (when adventuring inthe country side).   And maybe the ability to ride a Mouse or Weasel as an mount?

Hmm.  You know that is something I could probably write up in a few hours spread out here and there.

(laughing)  Who was it that said someone shouldn't look at a lot of ideas as a burden but as a untapped gold mine?

Granted these are my opinions only. However it seems like this would be more in line with your initial idea. When people start talking about "what you could do with it" one always gets tempted to include just a little more to "satisfy those people as well".

Yep.

Then there are "brainstorms" which just sidetrek you down torrid jungle paths which seem like they are going to lead to a serene oasis.

For the actual system... well I don't see this as a game where you should use pure sim mechanics. You want to be able to tell a nice story, it doesn't need to be a sim about how it is to be a pixie, right?
I think there are quite a few indie games here with mechanics which could serve as inspiration.

Yes, simplicity is what I was (am) looking for.

I know it is possible because I have already taken that "miniFRPG" thingy I posted, gutted it, trimmed it down to bare bones, and am trying to use it to build a play testable game for that "brainstorm" mechanic I alluded to earlier.

So gutting what I have in my Pixies file shouldn't be too much of a problem.  I think all that I should need (?) is a simplified resolution mechanic.

But should I reduce the Pixies to base Skills?

I might be wrong but I don't think a game where you describe your pixie's strength, dexterity and charisma is gonna go well with the concept.

Agreed.  Nor does reducing them to "Body" or "Mind" or whatever.

In fact you already got started with those funny names for their skills.  Maybe you don't need stats. All you need are a couple of skills that works with the mechanic to help the character do more extraordinary skills. The character with high pilfering should be able to pilfer extraordinary well compared to other pixies and so on. You could make the mechanics actually encourage funny and creative uses of skills and such.

Also the one thing that I have been mulling over is whether or not to include a "magic" like mechanic.  Fairies are magical creatures, but the game (in my opinion) does not warrent a true magic mechanic.

Then again the "skills" system I have is pretty much a meta skill/magic/attribute sort of thing.  Or could be.

Yes.  That may work.

Ok, I think this may just put me back on track!


Kind Regards.

[Kester Pelagius]

I hope some other people could fill me in on rpgs Chris could look at? For an example of how far you could go from the standard style (if you already know about these games Chris, then I apologize for maybe coming on as being patronizing) look at Zak's Shadows.

I went to the site.  Looked it over.  Looked familiar.

Went to save the PDF to my directory with the RPG files I thought looked interesting and, yep, it was already in there!

Yeah, I go trolling around the interenet.  Then forget I DL things.



For those out there who are willing to make suggestions I only know of three games relatively similar.  (Though can only remember the names of two right now.)

1) Something called "Munchkins".  Of which there seem to be DOZENS of mini homebrew RPGs called this.  Mostly about spoofing power gamers.

2) Pixie.  (20 pages and printed in 1993 according to what they say here !)

All three shared the same premise.  Humans were nuisances the fairies wanted to get rid of so they could move into their homes/get their stuff.

I'm trying to capture that "happy happy" sort of "folklore fairy land" ideal with the merriment and dancing and... not so much the hurting.

[Christoffer Lernö]

With Shadow I wasn't thinking so much about influencing actual premise, but as an example of what magic tales you can tell with a very simple mechanic. More of an eye-opener than a template so to speak.

Edit: Forgot one thing... Borrowing stuff from Donjon might excellent for Pixies!. Look into how Donjon works. There were some cool stories in Actual Play recently too (game examples from Donjon) which could provide excellent clues on how to get the true Pixie feeling of magic and such. Incidentally I don't think you need a magic stat. Simply assume that all the Pixies skills and abilities are at least partly magic! And... you don't need templates, let people make up their own pixies. It [the premise] is fairly focused anyway, so there is little risk that they make something totally alien to the setup.

[Kester Pelagius]

With Shadow I wasn't thinking so much about influencing actual premise, but as an example of what magic tales you can tell with a very simple mechanic. More of an eye-opener than a template so to speak.

Ah.  Will keep that in mind.

Edit: Forgot one thing... Borrowing stuff from Donjon might excellent for Pixies!. Look into how Donjon works. There were some cool stories in Actual Play recently too (game examples from Donjon) which could provide excellent clues on how to get the true Pixie feeling of magic and such. Incidentally I don't think you need a magic stat. Simply assume that all the Pixies skills and abilities are at least partly magic! And... you don't need templates, let people make up their own pixies. It [the premise] is fairly focused anyway, so there is little risk that they make something totally alien to the setup.

Will give it a look see.


Thanks for suggestions.

[Jeremy Cole]

Kester,

I was just watching The City of Lost Children, for about the 84th time, and had a thought that might be good for Pixies.  There is a series of sequences in the film featuring very small events effecting moderate things, that in turn affect large things,  chain reactions of bigger and bigger consequences, delightfully improbable.  I was wondering if the concept of the Pixies being in a very small world could maybe feature this sort of thing.

I thought of a Pixie using a push stat or similar, rolling just a couple of dice to effect a very small thing, such as a making a broom fall over.  This would lead to another action, and another action etc.  As the chain of actions built more and more bonus dice are gained, until they are finally all used on one final action, such as slamming a door shut, locking the cat outside.

Perhaps the actions could go around the table, with each player making the next link in the chain.  

I have no idea if you would like this sort of idea, a couple of posts suggest you're more interested in combat sim mechanics, but I thought I would suggest it if you're interested.

Jeremy

[Kester Pelagius]

I thought of a Pixie using a push stat or similar, rolling just a couple of dice to effect a very small thing, such as a making a broom fall over.  This would lead to another action, and another action etc.  As the chain of actions built more and more bonus dice are gained, until they are finally all used on one final action, such as slamming a door shut, locking the cat outside.

Sounds interesting.

Care to expand on the premise a bit?

Perhaps the actions could go around the table, with each player making the next link in the chain.  

I have no idea if you would like this sort of idea, a couple of posts suggest you're more interested in combat sim mechanics, but I thought I would suggest it if you're interested.

Not "combat" per se but rather the "Resolution" aspect.

Presently the systems I am working on pretty much just equate Combat as a function of the overall Resolution system.  It is my *attempt* to create simplicity with one underlying mechanic, albeit applied in slightly different ways pending the circumstance.

For instance the GM or scenario would set a Difficulty Stadard.  Against this Rating would be the base Resolution roll.


Its the details of the actual mechanic applications which need fleshing out for application to the setting.  Meaning simply defining the standards for the setting/genre and then building the system up around them.

Hope that didn't confuse anyone?


Kind Regards.

[Kester Pelagius]

This is just a status update...

The mechanics progress on Pixies is currently in a holding pattern while I work out a mechanic [discussion to be found here and here] which, if found entertaining and fun in actual play, may be adapted for use in Pixies.

That said does anyone here think the mechanic, as outlined in the threads above, is suitable for Pixies one way or the other?

Once again thank you all for your input.


Kind Regards,

Kester Pelagius