Break Time - How to Cheat Death without really trying

[Paganini]

GRR. Just hit the wrong button on my keyboard and caused the Forge to eat my post. Oh well... text reconstruction commences.

So, I was beating my brains out last night trying to fix some of the problems in Cornerstone, when I sat back in my chair and went "SHEEEE! I need a break."

Of course, a new game idea at once charged in and banged me upside the head. Why is it that your brain does the best work when you tell it to shut up and go away? Must be some kind of defense mechanism.

Anyway, while I was typing all this out, I realised that the dice mechanics I was using didn't really fit the Mojo mechanics. So I changed them around. I give you:

"How to Cheat Death without really trying - A Shadows suppliment for disturbed adults"

Comments and suggestions begged for. :)

The inspiration for this game was a movie I saw part of on cable a month or two ago. I think it was called "Final Destination." It was a pretty juvenile flick, but it had a really cool perversion of the mathematical idea "Anything that can happen, will happen."

It goes like this: Everyone dies. Death is a statistical certainty... the only question is: when? Because this is the case, the longer you don't die, the more likely you are to get dead. All fine so far. Old people are more likely to die... that's why life inssurance is cheaper if you're younger. But here's the twist: Suppose that the Universe doesn't just rely on statistics to take care of the poor human sods. Suppose it dispatches Fate to actively hunt down people who have lived too long.

This game can be played in any setting, using any characters. It can even be sprung on the players by surprise as an injection into an existing campaign. (No, you can't get arrested for GM Cruelty.) The only requirement is that the game begins in a more or less mundane way. The heros are gathered together at the inn, the deckers are hanging out at the doughnut shop, and so on. But, sometime during the first session the characters will Cheat Death. And from then on, the Universe is out to get them.

So. Here's the deal.

The players win if their characters survive the session.

The GM (as Fate) wins if he can kill the characters.

Characters begin the game with a single Doomed point. Every time they survive an attempt by fate their Doomed score goes up by one. The more Doomed you are, the harder it is to survive.

If a character dies during the session, the player may rejoin next time with a new, un-Doomed character.

Characters also begin the game with a single Cheat Death point. Cheat Death points can be spent to stay alive. Once you run out of Cheat Death points you have to roll dice.

During the game a running total is kept of the characters' Good Mojo and Bad Mojo scores. (Both start the game at zero.) Whenever a character does something during the game (drives a car, cooks dinner, goes parchuting) the player must make a Mojo roll. Mojo rolls don't have anything to do with success, skill, ability, or anything like that. If you're worried about that stuff you can use your usual game system. Mojo rolls define how stacked the local Universe is against the character. To make a Mojo roll the character rolls 2d20, one light (Good Mojo) and one dark (Bad Mojo). I use red and black. If the red die beats the black die, the character gets Good Mojo equal to the difference. If the black die beats the red die, the character gets Bad Mojo equal to the difference. When both dice are exactly the same, something really cool happens that I haven't figured out yet. (Any ideas?)

Any time the the character gets Bad Mojo, the GM gets to describe how the danger aimed at the character gets a little more extreme. ("You carelessly set the knife on the countertop, where it balances precariously. The slightest nudge could send it plunging in any direction.") Any time the character gets Good Mojo, the player gets to describe how the danger aimed at the character is a little less serious. ("I accidentaly throw the knife out with the trash.") Descriptions of such events should not involve the character actively trying to increase his chances. The players and GM know that the Universe is after the character, but the character doesn't have a clue. Narrations should appear to be totally accidental, or coincidental.

When the character's Good Mojo score goes over 20, subtract 20 from it and give the character a free Cheat Death point.

When the character's Bad Mojo score goes over 20, subtract 20 from it. The GM gets to try and kill the character.

There are a couple of rules for this.

Rule number one: The death must be violent. No lingering diseases, quiet heart attacks, or taking the wrong pill at bedtime.

Rule number two: The death must use the environment. The best attempts by Fate resemble Rube Goldberg machines. In fact, the GM must use a number of elements equal to the character's current Bad Mojo score (after subtracting 20 as above).

Each element should be connected in some way to the other elements. Each element should be lethal in and of itself. For example, Tracy spends a Cheat Death point; she sees the tree in time and desperately runs out from under it - first element defeated - only to find herself in the middle of the street in front of an out-of-controll bus.

The GM need not disclose the elements ahead of time. Each should be revealed in sequence. However, if the sequence ends and the player realises that the GM has neglected to narrate the required number of elements, the character recieves a number of free Cheat Death points equal to the number of elements that should have been used, but weren't. Even Fate has to follow the rules.

So, for example, Tracy has a Bad Mojo score of 3, but the GM only describes a single element - the tree falling on her. Tracy will get two free Cheat Death points... if she manages to dodge the tree.

Rule number three: Mass destruction is cool! In its quest to destroy the characters Fate has no restriction from destroying cars, knocking down buildings, and erupting volcanos. If the Earth has to be destroyed to restore balance to the Universe, well, then, that's the way it has to be.

Characters can avoid death in two ways.

Spending Cheat Death points allows a character to survive for free. Each Cheat Death point spent cancels a single element in an attempt by Fate. The player spending the cheat death point gets to explain how the character cheated death. Cheating death should not be by virtue of the character's own survival attempts. Rather, the character survives by sheer luck (the character bent over to tie his shoe-lace at the last minute, or got out of bed on the opposite side from the rattlesnake nest), by Fate missing (innocent bystanders get splattered), and so on.

If a character runs out of Cheat Death points, then the player has to roll dice. For each element in the attempt the character rolls a number of d20s equal to his current Doomed score. If any 20s are rolled, the current element kills the character immediately, and the GM gets to describe the scene in graphic detail. If no 20s are rolled the character survives the current element just as though he'd spent a Cheat Fate point on it, describing the outcome as normal. The character then moves on to roll for the next element.

Whether or not the characters finally figure out that the Universe is out to get them, and what they do about it if they do, is entirely up to the group.

[Henry Fitch]

This sounds pretty cool. One thing to keep in mind: if you want to stick this into your game, it's a much better idea in Paranoia, CoC, or Godlike than it would in Sorcerer or The Pool.

[Lance D. Allen]

I somehow don't think this is a really serious idea. I think it's one of the types of things you'd play with Paranoia (as suggested by the winged one) or some other less than serious game.. Of course, you could introduce it into any game you are currently playing if you feel a character has been around too long, and the player refuses, despite hints or outright telling them, to retire their character.

[Paganini]

I somehow don't think this is a really serious idea. I think it's one of the types of things you'd play with Paranoia (as suggested by the winged one) or some other less than serious game.. Of course, you could introduce it into any game you are currently playing if you feel a character has been around too long, and the player refuses, despite hints or outright telling them, to retire their character.

It's definately not something you'd want to do for a long time. I could see it being played seriously for a session or two, but I imagine it would get boring pretty quickly. I think it would work really well to spice up an exisitng campaign that has stagnated. It's pretty much a meta-game... you can add it to any system out there.

As far as serious play goes, you could use it as a standalone narrative game, playing it up for drama and suspense. It's not exactly versatile though. :)

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Paganini