A Shot in the Dark

[Ben Lehman]

So, I'm planning on expanding on "Over the Bar --" the ultralite "bar game" that I laid out in this thread.  A more complete version is available via PM.

http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=8163

This supplement (The First) will most likely be called "A Shot in the Dark."  It will (hopefully) also be able to fit on a two-sided 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper.

There are two things I want to cover in this supplement -- if it gets too big, I will split it into two.  The first is narration and narration rights.  The second is a general method for other people to produce Over the Bar supplements, because I am laboring under the delusion that someone might want to do that.

As these are both areas in which I have little experience, I thought I would post for general comments.  Also, Over the Bar dearly loves all commentary which can be fodder for the "Critics praise (supplement name)" section.

Narrator:
 At any point during an "Over the Bar" game, one player will take on the role of a narrator (also called an arbiter, or game master) -- someone who rules on the difficulty of tasks, controls non player characters and the environment, judges opposed challenges, and is generally responsible for the welfare of the game.  It is highly recommended that participants resist the temptation this person the "Bartender," "Barkeep," or other cute name, as this may generate confusion in Over the Bar's preferred play area.

Initial Narrator:
 Whichever player is hosting or buying chooses the intial narrator.  If there is no such person to decide, the player with the highest alchohol capacity serves the role.  If there is some dispute over alchohol capacity, settle it via some random method (the author recommends a game of guessfingers).

Changing Narrators:
 If any player wishes to become the narrator, they need only declare their intention of doing so and take a drink.  No player can take over the position of narrator for at least one scene thereafter.  If multiple people announce this desire nearly simultaneously, the drink to take on the narrator's role is also an opposed challenge -- the faster drinker narrates.

Successful Action Results:
 If any character is successful in an action, that character's player may take an additional drink to gain narrative control for the purposes of explaining the nature and results of that action.  If the character's player declines to do this, any other player may take a drink to narrate the result of that action.  If no one does so, the present Narrator narrates the result.

Action Results Corollary:
 Any time the present Narrator's character takes an action, the Narrator must take an extra drink.  Some Narrators will take this as a reason to keep their characters out of the action -- some will take it as a reason to keep themselves center stage.  It all depends on your perspective.

BL>  The goal here is to rotate the GM position, which I consider less exciting that most, and allow some Pool-style "narrate your own results" style of play, whilst simulateously giving the GM more reasons to drink.  I was considering allowing a more "stable narrator" option for old-skoolers, but I don't know if it's entirely necessary, even.
 This also allows you to kick out Narrators who are doing things you don't like -- a very direct feedback method.
 Guessfingers is a Chinese drinking game which I will probably include the rules for on the back of the supplement.

At a call of "1, 2, 3" both players display a number of fingers from 0 to 5 and call out a number from 0 to 10.  If the number you called out matches the total number of fingers displayed, you win, and your opponent takes a drink.  If both players are correct or incorrect, throw again.

As for supplements, I'm thinking something like this:

1) All supplements must fit onto an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of white paper -- double or single sided.
2) Supplements should cover a specific topic -- incorporating some technique into Over the Bar (such as LARP or actor stance play), fitting it into some GNS mode, allowing for specialized forms of social contract (party play where participants move in and out of the game, humour gaming, whatever) or adapt it to a specific genre (superheroes, sci-fi, whatever.)  In particular, I am not looking for setting-specific stuff (how to play OtB Weyrth!) or arbitrary extensions of the rules (Advanced Combat for OtB!)
3) Drinks are the one currency of the game, and opposed challenges are the one randomizer (outside of establishing initial narrator, essentially an arbitrary position.)  No other resolution mechanics or currencies should be introduced.
4) Anyone may distribute Over the Bar or its supplements freely or for a charge.  The two limits are this -- all money charged, minus printing costs, must be donated to the Forge, RPG.net, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, or some other suitably geeky non-profit enterprise.  The only thing that can be charged, besides money, is drinks.
5) There will be an official color coding for supplements.  For example, OtB is printed on white paper, whilst A Shot in the Dark is printed on blue paper.  This will, hopefully, avoid confusion when a number of supplements are on the table at once.  You do not need to submit your supplement for color coding
6) All supplements must contain the URL (website forthcoming) and mention that the Original OtB is written by Ben Lehman and published by Tim Alexander.  All supplements should be sent to Ben Lehman via Private Message at www.indie-rpgs.com .


Thoughts?

yrs--
--Ben

[Mike Holmes]

Dangit, I'm a tee-toataler, and as such, wouldn't feel right in commenting. Somebody give the man some feedback.

What do you think needs work, Ben?

Mike

[Ben Lehman]

Dangit, I'm a tee-toataler, and as such, wouldn't feel right in commenting. Somebody give the man some feedback.

What do you think needs work, Ben?

Mike

BL>  I think that the limitation of passing narration to a "scene" is, essentially, a kludge to prevent a scene-conflict from becoming a "one person drinks the other under the table" scenario.  I would love to have a more graceful solution that allows the scene to be passed multiple times.
 I'm worried that the number of drinks might be escalating too high, especially for a group of lightweights (like my gaming/drinking buddies.)  The narration cost, in particular, is a bit too high, and I'm trying to figure out a better way to make it work within the currency.

yrs--
--Ben

P.S.  There are Teetoataler rules in the basic game.  Essentially, this game comes down to a finite-resource-based ultralite.  The drinking is color  :-)

[Tim Alexander]

Hey Ben,

You could bid the drinks before actually taking them:

Me: "I want scene control, I'll do a shot."
Ben: "I want it, I'll do two."
Me: "Three."
Ben: "Four."
Me: "Take it you lush."

I think the game could definately fall into rampant boozing contests, but I would guess that if played extensively that would quickly peter itself out. You also may want to quantify what a 'drink' is to some extent. Are you refering to shots? A full lager? A sip?

-Tim

[Tim Alexander]

Oooh.. and if someone then wants narration immediately after you have to match the previous winning bid before starting another:

Bob: "I want narration, here's my four...<glug> <glug> and I bid another."
Ben: "Hic... ok."

-Tim

[Valamir]

You could just play quarters.   First to sink the quarter wins the contest.  To differentiate skill levels you could require the inferior side to win more than once to win.

[failrate]

If you want a non-random skill determining system, see if the bar has an available dartboard.