Neverending Story RPG

[Green]

It may be a silly move, but I've been inspired by a book I finished reading recently called The Neverending Story byMichael Ende.  The themes, plot, and setting call to mind so many roleplaying elements and opportunities that I couldn't let it rest until I churned out something that could work in Fantastica.  I'll post the setting writeup and the rules after this message.  It is a first draft, so I know it isn't perfect.  I welcome playtesters to try it and see how it works.

I was inspired by what I've heard of Universalis's system, which takes a more collaborative approach to RPing.  This is something I wanted in my game, but I wanted to incorporate setting-specific elements that were simple and intuitive to implement.  I didn't want to go to the extent Universalis did and create a game that operates without a mediator of some sort, nor did I want specific genres and such to be a contending point with this game.  

For the most part, I think I am after a system that satisfies both my desire to create a coherent story yet still maintain control over the characters I create (within certain limits).  I wanted a system that rewards fully developed characters more than ones which are number-crunched.  Or, at least to force number-crunchers to think about their characters in a more holistic, organic fashion.

[Green]

Fantastica

Fantastica is a place where dreams are real.  Every part and every creature of it is a reflection of the hopes and dreams of mankind.  Anything you can dream or imagine is in Fantastica.  Some parts of it would remind you of standard fantasy fare: dragons, elves, swords, and heroes.  Other parts are things reminiscent of science fiction: aliens, psychics, androids, and spaceships.  Yet still other parts resemble our world, albeit more extreme: bigotry and tolerance, plagues and cures, and all manners of modern wonders and terrors.  Stories are the lifeblood of Fantastica.  It thrives on the stories people tell to themselves and other people.  As stories grow, Fantastica grows rich and diverse, full of possibilities as the stories weave into one another and beget more stories.  In The Neverending Story Roleplaying Game, you create the stories that make Fantastica what it is.  Yet, as you will find out, stories have a way of taking lives of their own.  So, why are you still sitting there?  Your story awaits you.

Now that you understand what Fantastica is, I am able to tell you how Fantastica works.  If you keep in mind that every piece of Fantastica is a story, you will be able to make sense of the seeming contradictions in the nature of this realm and its inhabitants.  

Fantastica's geography is not like anything you can point out on a map.  Unlike our world, Fantastica has no identifiable borders.  After all, what boundaries are there to imagination?  Since even its topography is a product of human imagination, it is constantly changing and shifting.  In Fantastica, it is entirely possible for a desert to lie next to snow-capped mountains and a tropical paradise.  The stories that nourish Fantastica determine where these places go.  Many times, those who trek across Fantastic find that their travels vary in the time it takes to complete them.  It can be maddening to find out that in times of peace, important journeys are brief, yet when lives are on the line, trips seem to take forever.  

The only constant in Fantastica is the Ivory Tower, the gleaming white edifice where the Childlike Empress makes her home.  The Ivory Tower is always in the center of Fantastica, regardless of how the rest of the world changes.

Even time flows differently in Fantastica.  While time does pass, the rate at which it passes depends on the story each particular element of Fantastica.  However, the general trend tends to be that where stories and dreams intersect, they share the same perception of time.  The Rip Van Winkle effect is by far not uncommon in Fantastica.

The inhabitants of Fantastica are so diverse and numerous it would be pointless to name them all.  Some are big and strong, like the rock-eaters.  Some are small and quick like will-o'-wisps.  Others resemble humans in form and nature, like the Greenskins.  There are sentient mountains, animate plants, beings composed of nothing but air and thought.  The list goes on and on.  If a human can imagine it, there is such a creature in Fantastica.  Yet, one trait that all Fantastica's residents share is this.  No matter how skillful or how powerful they are, no being in Fantastica can create stories.  Not even something as simple as, "Once upon a time there lived a girl.  She died."  For the craft of making and telling stories is the gift of humankind alone.  The most that any creature of Fantastica can do is to live out the stories humans create while they are forced to remain in their world.

The Childlike Empress

Just as the Ivory Tower is the heart of Fantastica's landscapes, so too is the Childlike Empress the heart of Fantastica's inhabitants.  She never commands, nor does she use power to bend others to her will.  Despite this, nobody dares attempt to harm her, for without the Empress, Fantastica and all that live within it would perish.  The Childlike Empress's nature is unknown, her motives inscrutable.  She has the body, wonder, and innocence of youth, yet she has an aura of agelessness that contradict her form.  She herself is beautiful and benevolent, yet she draws no distinctions between beauty and ugliness or good and evil.  She is eternal, but if she does not change her name from time to time, she would perish.  She is not human, that much is certain, nor is she a native of Fantastica.  Is she a goddess?  The truth may forever be a mystery.

The symbol of the Childlike Empress's presence and power is AURYN.  AURYN is an amulet consisting of two serpents— one black, the other white, each eating the other's tail— formed into an oval.  Inscribed on the back of it are the words, "Do What You Wish."  AURYN guides and protects the one who wears it.  The bearer of AURYN finds himself endowed with unusual luck and insight.  All the creatures of Fantastica, even those who would be described as evil, respect it as the emblem of the Empress and refuse to harm he who wears it.

Some whisper that the Childlike Empress is only one of several or many beings like her.  A few carry the notion that Fantastica is but one of several realms like it, each with its own being that acts as their center.  Whether they have the Childlike Empress's disposition is open for debate, but the possibility remains that Fantastica is far more vast than we can ever know.  

Humans

Once upon a time, humans were able to come to Fantastica, but they forgot the way, so now they do not come anymore.  In their ignorance, they no longer understand the power their dreams and wishes holds in Fantastica.  When they remember their dreams and let their imaginations run wild, Fantastica blossoms.  When they forget their dreams and deny the power of their imaginations, the creatures and places of Fantastica fade.  Humans, needless to say, are powerful beings in Fantastica.  Their dreams and wishes can alter, create, or destroy Fantastica as easily as a child with a lump of clay.  Paradoxically, humans are the banes and saviors of Fantastica.  Just as their ignorance of the power of their dreams destroys Fantastica, so to does a human always come who gives the Childlike Empress her new name.  

But there are dangers for humans who remain in Fantastica too long.  Human wishes define and shape Fantastica, but for each wish a human makes, more is forgotten about their lives as human beings.  At first they forget trivial things, or things they wish they could not remember.  Later, they forget more important memories, like how to make stories and who their parents are.  Finally, they forget themselves, casting aside all memory of history and humanity.  At this stage, most humans are trapped in Fantastica forever.

Playing The Neverending Story RPG

All you need are a sheet of paper, a pen or pencil, and your fertile imagination.  In The Neverending Story RPG, you assume the role of a character who inhabits the realm of Fantastica.  You are the embodiment of human dreams and hopes.  Then again, you could be the stuff of nightmares, bringing fear and malice wherever you go.  It is all up to the story.  

To work well, The Neverending Story RPG requires at least two participants: a Fantastican and a Human.  The Fantasticans represent the characters created by one or more humans.  They act and react to the world around them according to the natures their human creators endow them with.  While they cannot directly change the reality of Fantastica with their wishes as humans can, they are able to react to their experiences and take on a life of their own, thus creating a story.  Indeed, the focus of The Neverending Story RPG lies in the Fantasticans' trials, victories, and defeats as they live out the stories initiated by mankind.  Orchestrating the stories of the Fantasticans is a Human, whose power of storytelling creates and shapes the world around the Fantasticans.  He or she presents the player characters with the world of Fantastica, using the imagination which is humankind's birthright to give each story meaning through the events of the story of the Fantasticans.

[Green]

Since the inhabitants of Fantastica gain power through human imagination, it almost goes without saying that the more humans think about them and the more humans develop them, the more powerful they become.  Power in Fantastica is not measured by magic, politics, or skill at arms, but by the power each being has over the story that created them.  What matters is not that these traits are a part of them, but the hopes and dreams these traits fulfill.  Only through getting or staying in touch with humanity does a creature of Fantastica develop his story further.

Creating a Fantastican is a simple affair.  The Neverending Story RPG has only a single mechanic we shall call Dream Points.  Dream Points (or, DP) measures the potency of the dreams that make up Fantastica.  Not all dreams are equally powerful.  Some are as fleeting as a flash of lightning.  Others as enduring as the evergreen.  The power of the different places and creatures of Fantastica depend on many factors, but these are usually limited to three things: the power of the emotion driving the dream, the empathy a human feels for his or her creation, and the number of humans entertaining the same dream.  Even things which are not normally understood to be sentient have their stories to tell, and the power of the dreams which created these things dictates how its story unfolds.  Dream Points, in a sense, represents a Fantastican's influence over the events of its story.  Powerful Fantasticans are endowed with more volition, able to choose the path of their stories more easily than those without much power.  It is rumored that some dreams have become so potent that they no longer follow a story, but exist completely on their own will and choose to remain in Fantastica because it suits them.

To determine how many Dream Points a Fantastican begins with, the human creating it must answer some questions.  The more fully developed and detailed the character, the more powerful he becomes, and the more Dream Points it has.  For expediency, I will say that one paragraph for each element describing the Fantastican earns the Dream Point rating associated with it.  As you will see, who your character is is much more important that what your character can do.

Detailing one of these elements—quirks, skills, or abilities—gives you one Dream Point per element you detail.  Creating a Fantastican's name and appearance gives you two Dream Points.  These things offer a window through which the world can react to your character.  Most Fantasticans only resemble creatures of the human world, so detailing exactly how they are alike and how they differ makes it easier for the world to react to it.  A Fantastican's habitat, daily activities, and personality dictate how they react to the world around them and dictate, to some extent, how they will go about living their stories.  These garner three Dream Points for each element detailed.  Deciding on a Fantastican's life until the point the story begins does a great deal to make it more real.  Giving details about its major life events, its friends and allies and enemies, and its culture gives four Dream Points for each element details.  Finally, a Fantastican's goals, vulnerabilities, and flaws add the conflict that makes its story relevant and interesting.  The propel it to act and react to the world even when not personally inclined to do so.

If you create and detail all these things about your character, you can begin with up to 40 or more Dream Points, which allows your character to influence its story more than those who are not so well-defined.

Now, you may distribute the Dream Points amongst one or more specialties.  Specialties represent the particular desires, fears, and states of mind that create Fantastica.  Thus, they have great influence over how Fantastica's creatures look and how they act.  A creature born of fear and malice, such as Gmork, looks and acts entirely different from the luckdragon Falkor, a being of might, majesty, and joy.  Fantasticans may begin with as many Specialties as it has in Dream Points.  However, the norm is to distribute them amongst a few Specialties which are the defining characteristics of each character.  Below is a list of sample Specialties.  Humans are encouraged to add more, within reason, of course.

Beauty
Craft
Death
Desire
Despair
Fear
Freedom
Greed
Health
Hope
Hunger
Humor
Innocence
Joy
Love
Luck
Lust
Madness
Majesty
Malice
Mercy

[list=]Might
Pain
Peace
Reason
Sorrow
Ugliness
Wealth
Wisdom
Youth[/list:u]

[Green]

Using Dream Points

For the most part, the stories of the characters humans create for The Neverending Story RPG run smoothly.  They think, act, and react to the events of their stories.  However, in some cases, a conflict emerges between what the story demands of each character involved and what fate has in store.  In these cases, it is the characters' will, destiny, and power which decides the outcome.  

The Neverending Story RPG uses a bidding system with Dream Points.  The Human wishing to initiate a significant change in the story starts by bidding a number of Dream Points.  Those who oppose the change may opt to raise the bid by at least one or accept the bid.  Whichever Human wins the bid must pay the winning bid in Dream Points, and whatever change he or she initiated or opposed takes place.  It is possible for multiple Humans to collaborate in a bid, and the totals are cumulative for all parties involved.  The key, however, is to do this in a dramatically interesting way by incorporating actions in each bid.

NO
Human 1: I kill the werewolf.  I bid 3 points.
Human 2: Like hell. 4.

YES
Human 1: The werewolf swipes at your belly with its powerful claws, hoping to gut you like a fish.  3 points.
Human 2:  I leap back just in time, avoiding the blow.  4 points.
Human 1: The werewolf bites you on the arm.  7 points.
Human 2: Aaaargh!  I pry the werewolf's jaws from my arm.  10 points.
Human 1:  The werewolf leaps back and springs on you, pinning you down as it attempts to maul you.  11 points.
Human 3:  I toss Allin the silver dagger the gnome gave me.  5 points to add to his 10.
Human 2:  I grab the silver dagger and plunge it into the werewolf's side.
Human 1: The werewolf howls in agony and slumps down on you.  The blood is wet and sticky on your hand.  It doesn't move. [/list:u]

Specialties play an important part in bids when the a particular event involves them.  It is easier for a Fantastican to influence a story that resonates with the dreams that spawned it.  In this case, you add the score for the Specialty to the number of Dream Points you bid.  For instance, say that a giant with the specialty of Might rated at 4 and has 8 Dream Points wanted to push open a colossal stone gate.  The gate's Dream Point total is 12.  If the giant wished to force the gate open, he could spend one Dream Point and open the bid at 5 (one Dream Point + Might Specialty at 4 = 5).

When you run out of Dream Points, you no longer have any control over what happens to your character.  It is completely left to the vagaries of fate and has no means to resist whatever harm or change comes to him.

Gaining Dream Points

The only living through and inspiring stories make creatures of Fantastica more powerful.  This is solely done by fulfilling the dreams and wishes that create them in a manner that is interesting and relevant.  There is no easy way to determine how this comes about.  A simple way to do this is to examine how they face and deal with the trials that face them in the course of their stories.  The power they gain is determined by the scale of the challenge and the power of the dreams inspiring the character.  Equal or overwhelming odds against your character says more about its power than a series of small victories.  Gaining Specialties works along similar lines.

[Green]

The character I'm going to create is a simple creature.  He is a unicorn named Dobie.  He is gleaming white, and from a distance he resembles a horse with a long, riveted horn jutting from the center of his forehead.  On closer inspection, though, it is clear he is more goat-like.  His tail is long and tufted, and he has a silky mane and beard.  His eyes are blue.  Dobie lived in the secluded peaks of the Silver Mountains, high above the places most people of Fantastica were unwilling to go.  Day after day, he feasted on the dewy grass, leaves, and moss of his home.  From time to time, he'd venture into the woodlands of the valley for a change of scene.  However, when he heard the footsteps of people, he retreated into the lofty peaks.  For centuries, many came to hunt him, wanting the prize of his horn (which has great healing and purifying powers), but none were sure-footed or agile enough to conquer the jagged Silver Mountains.  Most fell to their doom, their screams echoing into the valley below.  Dobie distrusts most people, for he finds them greedy and disrespectful.  Yet, he is drawn to innocence.  He only allows himself to be seen by a maiden or a child, and he occasionally allows himself to be petted by them, as they do not seek to kill him for what they hope to gain from him.  Fortunately, most of them forget the incident and grow up into unusually healthy young men and women.  Only one, Sarah, remembers, and only she has not grown greedy and cold with the years.  She treats him as she would an old friend, sharing treats with him, and talking with him about her life.  Dobie relishes these moments, and little by little falls in love with her.  A part of him wishes to be a man so he may love her in the proper way, but he does not know how, so he only hopes.  Dobie only wants the peace of the forest, and the company of his beloved Sarah.

Dobie's appearance and name give him 2 points apiece, so that's 4 points.  Dobie's personality, habitat, and daily routine give 3 points a piece; that's nine point for that.  Altogether, Dobie has 13 Dream Points.  Dobie's horn, which has great healing powers, gives him 1 point.  Dobie only gets 4 points for his background, as only his relationship with Sarah is given any detail.  However, his distrust of people and his inability to resist innocence give him potent flaws, and he gets 5 Dream Points apiece for those.  This totals 24 Dream Points.  His fervent desire to become a man for Sarah is enough to give him 5 more Dream Points, bringing the total to 29.

I'm going to give Dobie the Specialties Health, Innocence, Majesty, Might, and Peace.  Might and Majesty are least important, so they only get a rating of 5.  The other three Specialties are equally important to this character, so they are all at a rating of 6.  Since Dobie's healing properties are so valuable, I'll add another point to Health, increasing the rating to 7.  Thus, when I want Dobie's Might or Majesty to influence how his story unfolds, I open a bid at 6 due to these Specialties.  If Innocence or Peace can influence the story, he starts the bid at 5.  Finally, if the power of Healing comes into play, he opens a bid at 8.  Given the time it took for me to make him (10 minutes), that's not bad.

[Shreyas Sampat]

Green, this a lot of information, dude.

Do you have some questions you would like the rest of us to answer?

I have to say that you've captured the setting well in your descriptions.  Does your version of Fantastica contain the Nothing of the movie?  I didn't get far enough in the book to see if it was there.  I feel like the Nothing was a big part of the feel of Fantasia as presented in the movie, and even if you don't necessarily make it canon of the game, it might be nice to include it.

On a side note, you might want to look at a few of the games that've been bouncing around here, that work with similar design goals, or at least fulfill your goals, as I interpret them, or alternatively explore similar setting ideas:
My own The Calligrapher's Sword (which is heavily inspired by Neverending Story) and Torchbearer (which is more general heroic fantasy, in its exotic way)
Jonathan Walton's Storypunk (Jonathan is just full of good ideas.  If you want to see a mindbogglingly huge concept, look around for Fingers on the Firmament.)
Christoffer Lernö's Yggdrasil (this is a hard one to find; I suggest doing a search for Chris's username, Pale Fire, in the Indie Game Design section.)
Mike Holmes' and J B Bell's Synthesis (this has a conflict resolution system that I think you might get something out of looking at; it's very clearly thought out and presented)

[Green]

Green, this a lot of information, dude.

Do you have some questions you would like the rest of us to answer?

I have to say that you've captured the setting well in your descriptions.  Does your version of Fantastica contain the Nothing of the movie?  I didn't get far enough in the book to see if it was there.  I feel like the Nothing was a big part of the feel of Fantasia as presented in the movie, and even if you don't necessarily make it canon of the game, it might be nice to include it.

Fantastica did have the Nothing, but it was defeated.  That actually is only the beginning of the story.  Since the movie was loosely based on the book, I was, needless to say, disappointed once I found some things in the book the movie didn't address.  The movie sequel was actually supposed to be the rest of the book, but it seems they changed things around for reasons I cannot fathom, and they have nothing to do with being more dramatically interesting or expedient.

In any case, I believe that the Nothing could be used as a setting element, but not as the huge ominous threat it is in the book and movie.  It'll be a more subtle force, such as Wraith's Oblivion.  There may be creatures out there who seek to increase its power or wish to lose themselves in it, but it in itself does nothing but wait.  Exactly how this happens I haven't yet figured out.

How do you like the mechanics?  Do you think they work?  What problems do you see coming up?  What sorts of players does this game need to be enjoyed?

Where do you think more detail is needed for the setting?  Should I include species templates of some of Fantastica's inhabitants (such as rock-eaters, night hobs, and luckdragons).

[Clinton R. Nixon]

Peoples,

I hate to do this, because this discussion is interesting, but as noted here, licensed properties are not for discussion in Indie Game Design.

Green - don't worry about it. You're new and that was kind of buried. Just a note for the future. All involved parties in this thread are more than welcome to take this as a jumping point to (a) discuss this game privately or (b) discuss a new game inspired by this material that does not use the licensed property.

[Shreyas Sampat]

Ack, my bad.  I had just assumed that the post meant that the property had somehow fallen to the public domain.  Gah.  I guess that's why mathematicians tell us not to assume things.  Thanks for reminding us, Clinton.