Something in the air...

[bodhi]

Hi everyone. This is my first post to the Forge, so please, bear with me.  I have two potential games I'm playing with right now; after reading some of the wonderful discussions here, I've decided to stick my toe in the water and pipe up in the hopes of some help.  I'm going to post some notes and ideas up; these aren't totally organized.  Any feedback and suggestions is greatly appreciated.


The Father Shore (working title)
"The Game of Making Dreams Come True"

Concept:

"The Farther Shore" is a collaborative role-playing game in which the players take on the roles of ordinary people in the everyday world; except, these people have an intense connection to the world of dreams and aspirations and myths - to the otherworlds of their own imaginations, as well as to the otherworlds of those around them.  These mythic realms are portrayed using any game system(s) the players wish (based on previous knowledge, or based on the mood they wish their stories to take, for example.).  Play ranges back and forth between the Near Shore ("real world") and the Far Shore (The mythic realms).

Players are rewarded with "Wonderful Points" for: exploring the characters' personal aspirations (and the personal dreams of those around them), discovering "True Dreams" in the Mythic Realm, connecting their True Dreams with their personal aspirations, connecting their personal and True Dreams with those of others, and, of course, for making dreams come true.  All kinds of dreams: wonderful dreams, petty dreams, nightmarish dreams, dreams of consumption (better car!  bigger house!  louder entertainment!), and dreams of healing the world.  In The Farther Shore, a flower given, with the right intent and enough power, to a little girl can shake the dreams of a planet lost in sleep.

Wonderful Points are wonderful points: they represent the power to change the world and make dreams happen.  Players can use them to influence the narrative, increase the power of their Characters' Personas (the manifestation of the character on the Far Shores of Dream, Mythic Reality), and to bridge the Near and Far shores to make dreams happen.

Inspirations:

The game is inspired by my current experiences with clinical depression, and trying to keep the spark of Dream alive within myself.  I also wanted to create a game that rewarded tolerance and imaginative play - while The Farther Shore can be played competitively, while players can choose to explore terrifying dreams, or the desires of the selfish, the Farther Shore ultimately rewards Compassion - listening for the secret dreams in ourselves, listening for the secret dreams in those around us (the people, the animals, even the rocks, trees, gods and kobolds), working to find our common connections, and then creating something new, together.  Not a compromise, but a meeting on a different level entirely - that place where dreams really do come true.

Other inspirations include

Eight, by Memento Mori
Neverwinter Nights, by Black Isle Studio
Ergo
The works of Joseph Campbell


Character Creation:

Everything in the game is ultimately defined bys its dreams, both Personal and True.  Players create characters in the following way.

1.  Write about the character you'd like to play.  This person should be interesting to you, but not too off the wall (my character is a millionaire gun-smuggler!).  This is a game about the average becoming extrordinary, and besides, there's going to be plenty of room for wildness on the Far Shore later.  This description can be long or short, but should include at least some trace of physical characteristics, personality, history, relationships, quirks, etc.  

2.  Make a list of one to three of your character's Personal Dreams.  These personal dreams can be as varied as your imagination, but should fit into the character's "feel": buy a new car, fight off depression, feed the world, see a unicorn just once, get a college degree...

3.  Next to each Personal Dream, leave a space for a True Dream.  Your character will discover her True Dreams by adventuring on the Far Shore in the guise of her Persona, explained later.

4.  Make a list of positive and negative influences for each Personal Dream.  These are influences in the character's life that help or hinder her from making dreams come true.  Influences determine how tightly focused the game will be - for a tightly focused game, try three positive and three negative influences, for a moderately open storytelling experience try 5-10, and for a truly open romp through the worlds of dream, let each player decide for himself.


The Character is done.  Players should pass around their character sheets, so that everyone can get an idea for what stories might develop.  Each player can award one Wonderful Point to one other player, based on what character they think is particularly well done.  At this point, players should decide who will be the first Storyteller (gamemaster), and what game system that want to use to portray the Far Shore.  Every player can have a chance to be Storyteller, and any player can add to the game through plot lines (for themselves or others), npc's, etc.  Players that contribute to the game through creative acts are awarded Wonderful Points.  This can include an online journal for their character, poetry, stories, artwork - anything at all.


I have to wash the dishes right now, but I'll post about Storytellers, the Far Shore, the resolution system, and some philosophy later.  Oh, and I'll post about my other game, too.

Thanks for reading,

bodhi

[bodhi]

The Storyteller, The Far Shore, and Personas


After creating the characters, the players should decide how they wish to portray the Far Shore.  "The Farther Shore" has its own system for resolving conflicts (explained later), which can be used "as is" for both Near and Far Shore portions of the game.  This is appropriate for any players that want a very loose game, an "on the fly" sort of experience.  Using this system leaves the burden of structuring and detailing the setting of the World of Dreams to the players.

The system can also "fit over" other roleplaying systems and settings.  (hopefully.)  Choosing another system (with the system of The Farther Shore on top) adds not only structure, pregenerated ideas, and coherence, but also variety.  Making the Far Shore portions of the game definitavely different from the Near Shore portions can help to highlight the radical difference between our own inner and outer worlds.  As players rotate Storytelling positions from time to time, each Storyteller can use a different system or setting to portray the inner world of her character: one character dreams in science fiction, another in fantasy, a third in the terrifying possibilities of H.P. Lovecraft's visions.  Players must create a new persona for each setting, but the important things, True Dreams and Wonderful Points, translate freely back and forth.

When a system for portraying the Far Shore has been chosen, the players then create their Character's first Personas.


Personas


A Persona is a Character's representative on the Far Shore.  The Persona can be completely different from the player's Character - these are beings made partly of dream and myth, and partly out of the character's own unconscious.  The players will discover the connections between their Characters and their Personas as they play the game.

Personas are first created using the same system as Characters, with any limitations the Storteller feels appropriate (no star fighter pilots in a fantasy setting, for example).  All of these Personas should be "starting out" (Level 1 in D&D).  They all have personal dreams, empty slots for true dreams, and as many influences as the players' Characters have.

If no other system is being used to portray the Far Shore, then the Persona is finished.  If a different system or concise setting is being used to portray the Far Shore, Players then continue creating their Personas using the system that has been chosen to portray the Far Shore.    Staple the Character Sheet and Persona sheet together, and give copies of each to the Storyteller.

As a note, all players create characters and personas, including the first Storyteller.  


Notes on Creating a Story


When the Storyteller has collected all of the Character and Persona sheets, she can begin plotting.  Story and setting, for both Near and Far Shore portions of the game, should center on the Characters - especially their Personal Dreams, True Dreams (if they have any), and Influences.  Dreams provide the highlights for stories, and Influences provide narrative limitations for stories and settings.  Both provide the essential structure for storytelling.

Designing stories and conflicts, based on the Characters' attributes and descriptions, for play on the Near Shore of the game should be relatively straightforward.  Characters don't all have to be connected at first, as part of the fun of play is developing the connections between the Characters' various Dreams.

Creating plots and settings for the Far Shore portion of the game is more tricky.  The important thing is to translate the spirit of the Characters' Dreams and Influences to the Personas' world, and then mix that up a bit with the Persona's own dreams and influences.  The "spirit" of the Characters' Attributes provide the general structure to the Mythic Realm, while the Persona's Attributes provide the details.

When developing the Far Shore portion of the game, the Storyteller should concentrate on her own Character first.  Her Character is the source for major themes as well as general setting details.  

(For a simple example:

The Storyteller's character lives in the inner city.  She aspires to owning a small place in the country.  She has a steady, if modest, job that's paying the bills and putting a small amount in the bank, and she has the love of her family and friends behind her.  Unfortunetly, she feels trapped by her situation, trapped by the city, and she feels too much responsibility to her family to just up and leave.  The thought of being alone, in the unknown, also frightens her.

From this small amount of information, the Storyteller decides that the setting is mostly dark and intimidating; tribal connections play an important role.  So on and so forth.)

While the general scope of the stories and settings of the Far Shore are based on the current Storyteller's Character, the actual stories and events themselves should center on the other Player's Personas.


Time for some sleep...  :)   I'll try to post notes regarding the system itself later today.

Thanks!

[Lance D. Allen]

So the "Storyteller" is the dreamer, and the other characters exist in their character's dreams? That's awesome, man. Actually, if I am reading you correctly I think you should change Storyteller to Dreamer, for two reasons, one because Storyteller is reminiscent of White Wolf, and Dreamer (again, if I understand you properly) fits the idea better.
 Forgive me if you've covered this, but is this game already structured enough that you've played it already? If so, I'd like to hear (either here, in PMs, or in the Actual Play folder) of any games you've played already.
 Anyhow, I really like the idea of all participants being both Player and Storyteller, alternately, as well as the idea that you can play any game. A group could play this as their primary game, yet still manage to play a different game every session. I am definitely interested in hearing about the system. Be assured that I'll be following this thread closely.

[Mike Holmes]

How does the Wonderful Point system work?

And do you have any specific questions that would indicate what sort of feedback youare looking for? The concept seems pretty sound so far, I'm not sure what needs to be commented on.

Mike

[Bob McNamee]

I was thinking along the lines of playing a game set in the dreamlands... but It never really crystallized into either an existing RPG or me making one...
One of the biggest advantages, from a GMing standpoint, in that setting was that there was a built-in justification for real world game problems... in our case it was 6 or so people who wanted to play RPG's and only 4 or so who showed up on any one session, not always the same ones everytime.  The dream setting allows the possibility to have characters vanish and appear in the course of the game.  Simulating waking or dreaming.  It seemed a good way to get around running NPC PC's or having PC'c at the whim of another PC's control.

Bob
...now I'd be inclined to have them ocassionally switch characters with each other... but then I'm leaning more narrativist lately

[bodhi]

First, thank you for the feedback.  Now on to the replys.


Lance said:

I think you should change Storyteller to Dreamer

That's perfect, thank you!  I'll use Dreamer from now on as the game-specific term for gamemaster.


Lance asked:

So the "Storyteller" is the dreamer, and the other characters exist in their character's dreams?

Almost.  The Dreamer's Character is the dreamer, and all the Player's Personas (including the Dreamer's) exist in the Dreamer's Character's dream.  (*whew*).  Each Dream (I think I'll use that term now instead of "adventure" or "story", thanks) is really something like a funhouse mirror, reflecting the common Mythic world of the Characters.  Characters in the game are "connected", fated to dream a common Dream, which is shown to them through questing in the personal dreamworld of each Dreamer's Character.

The Dream in play should be weighted with details from the Dreamer's Character, but there should be hints of all the other player's Characters as well.  As the Dream plays out, players can influence the Dream itself by spending Wonderful Points (soon, I promise).  The developments that a player contributes to the dream are limited by the number of points spent, and also by the fact that it must be related to the player's Character and/or Persona.  In other words, as the Personas explore the story of the Dream, the Dream begins to blend into a common dream.  This is further encouraged by the reward system (soon, too, really.)


Lance asked:

Forgive me if you've covered this, but is this game already structured enough that you've played it already?

No, not yet.  I'm somewhere between inspiration and system design - both seem to be going at once.


Lance asked:

A group could play this as their primary game, yet still manage to play a different game every session.

Mmm, that's one of the ideas.  Also, players can spend Wonderful Points into a special pool for each True Dream they have; anyone who shares that True Dream can spend or pull from the common pool.  I was fantasizing about creating a database of Characters on the net, kind of like a matching service; players could have one character, but different persona's in many different games, both on and offline.  (I've always wanted to see metaplots jump back and forth between games like Ultima Online and Everquest - a group of players might be able to do a miniature version.)  If the True Dream pools could be implemented online, a gaming group playing offline, but with a computer near, could be spending points into one Dream pool, while a group of Players in Everquest could be pulling points out of the same pool.  Anyway, that's how the fantasy went.   :)


bodhi

[bodhi]

Mike asked:

And do you have any specific questions that would indicate what sort of feedback you are looking for? The concept seems pretty sound so far, I'm not sure what needs to be commented on.

I don't know.  This is the first game I've ever been serious about developing and completing.  I don't even know if the concept is sound, or if its too overdone, or whatever.  I guess what I'm hoping for is an experienced hand or two to point out holes, or make suggestions about what might work better.  


Mike asked:

How does the Wonderful Point system work?

Okay, I'll try to thrash this out a bit now.  Basically, players spend points to influence the story or to resolve important situations.  Most player actions won't require points to be spent.  

Players can only spend Wonderful Points (WD from now on) by using a True Dream through a Personal Dream.  A Character without a True Dream cannot spend points.  The player announces his wish to add to the narrative, wording his development so that his Character's True Dream is working through one of his Personal Dreams (or his Persona's Personal Dreams, if players are on the Far Shore).  If a player can use a Personal Dream's Influence positively when wording his wish, then that acts as a free additional WP towards making it happen.  Since the dreams of others can influence the Player's chances, he can also use this moment to use the Dreams or Influences of others against them (this deducts one WP from whatever WP's the opponent spends).   The player then writes down how many points he wants to risk.  The Dreamer also secretly bids WP points based on how hard she thinks the event is to make happen.

At this point, the other players can spend points (again, True Dream through Personal Dream), to help or hinder the process.  This is kept secret.  The Dreamer does the same for any NPC's or forces or dreams that have a stake in the outcome (and something should just about always have a stake in the outcome of dreams).

One die is rolled by the player and one by the Dreamer.  Just what dice are rolled should be determined before the game.  1d6 seems simple enough to me.  WP's are revealed, and modifiers tallied.  If the player ends up with a score higher than the Dreamer, then the Player's development is accepted.  If the Dreamer's score is higher than the Player's, then the Dreamer decides what happens.


Other Uses for Wonderful Points

Players can spend WP's to develop their Personas.  When using The Farther Shore with another game system, Wonderful Points replace the reward system from the other game.  For example, if you were using D&D to portray the Far Shore, nobody would get any experience points for killing monsters.  Players could, however, use WP's to raise the Level of their Personas, if they so wished.  The Dreamer should decide on how many WP's are needed to "level up".  (50 WP's per level, or whatever).

WP's can be deposited into a True Dream pool.  Anything with the same True Dream can pull or spend to that pool.  

Some things for development "real soon" are spending points to change something's True Dreams, and leaching of WP's from Characters in various ways.

I'll post about the actual methods for rewarding WP's later.  I'm ti-i-red now.

Thanks again.