[The Devil's Advocates] Alpha Design

[Mark Causey]

Mark Causey here.

I have been tinkering with game design for quite a while. I have often (temporarily) concluded that I'm not good at it. However, I finally found something that I was excited enough to finish (at least on an alpha level).

I don't want to completely repost everything I talked about on Story Games, and the Alpha document I've made is sort of expecting you to have read it. Still, I'll let the document stand on its own.

Here's the document: LINK

Description

The Devil's Advocates (TDA) is a game of discovering the inner workings of a Historical Celebrity by exploring what they truly regret not doing at the end of their life and witnessing what he/she chooses to do when given a final chance to take action.

Here are my questions:

How does it read? It was basically a brain dump.

What are Themes 3 and 4? I'm stumped right now.

Should I dictate how many scenes there are in each Thematic Act?

How do I handle a tie with Themes or Hindrances for the Final Act?

[Jason Morningstar]

It's a short read, if you were reluctant to follow the link.

You know what would help?  Could you refine and post the big three or something?  I hve no idea what the players do, in a procedural way, or who/what they play beyond the historical figure. 

"Celebrity" is the wrong word - the implication doesn't fit.  Personage.  Big Wheel.  Something, but celebrity has connotations that are not accurate. 

Things you regret?  Passivity.  Ignorance.  Cruelty...  Why not let the group hash out what themes they want to explore individually?

How long is an act? 

[Mark Causey]

1. What is your game about?

TDA is about exploring a famous person from history by assuming their life was full of regret and seeing what happens when given the opportunity to do something about their regret.

2. What do the characters do? One character, the famous one, is bound to screw up earlier in life and try to resolve it at the end. The other characters are there to foster those experiences.

3. What do the players do? One player will take on the role of the famous character in each of four acts. The other players will take on the roles of supporting characters in each act. At times, cards will be drawn to give an end to a scene and determine who will have final authority on the narration of that scene.

How about a Personality or a Notable?

I was thinking that the regrets would be best to be predefined for the scenario, but I think you're on the money for having each group decide what they want. I'll need to have notes in there explaining how not to have overlapping Regrets.

My original idea was to have an act should be as long as the Thematic Player wanted it to be (that is, have as many scenes as they wanted) until they hit on the key Final Scene to highlight their Regret. They should be able to say, "If only I'd ..." and have it relate to that scene.

[Jason Morningstar]

Can regrets be specific?  If the luminary (!) is Henry VIII, could it be "I regret killing Anne of Cleaves"?  Or would it be "I regret using my power so savagely and capriciously" or what?

[Mark Causey]

Actual Play should tell, but I'd want the other players to have some input on the matter.

I'm trying to think of a situation where not defining it would lead to better game play, but I'm not seeing it now.

So, let's imagine Henry in game play? (I'll make some stuff up because I don't know him well).

One player states: "I regret not telling Anne how much I loved her"
Player two: "I regret not raising my children to love God"
Player three: "I regret ..."

Dang, I'm having a hard time coming up with interesting and distinct Regrets. It'd be easier if it were just qualities:

Someone who isn't Henry VIII:

1: I regret my political tunnelvision.
2: I regret my violent anger.
3: I regret my shame of my homosexuality.
4: I regret never returning to my family.

That was more of what I had in mind.

[Anemone]

Did you intend from the start for this to be about regret?  It strongly orients the flavour of the game.  I was picturing something more high-adventure in the earlier discussion.  Also, I -- and you -- would have an easier time finding players with a less formal vocabulary.  "Thematic Act" doesn't sell nearly as well as "Aventure 1"...

Anyhow, I'm not terribly hot about limiting the drivers to four regret-based themes, but here are some suggestions for niches #3 and 4:

• Forgiveness
• Decisiveness
• Courage
• Curiosity

[Jason Morningstar]

If you are going to codify, I'll definitely second "courage".  I also agree that you need to be careful to avoid this being static - I can see potential conflict, but it is internal for the most part.  I ... sense a lack of ninjas.

And, if I understand it correctly, there's nobody who matters other than this this central character, right? 

[Tymen]

This game could be good, you have a lot of potential historical figures to choose from.

I can just imagine playing Oppenheimer. "I am become Death, the destroyer of Worlds."
Talking about regrets.

[Mark Causey]

Sophie: I did not intend for this to be about Regrets from the beginning. But, with the absorption of the title, "The Devil's Advocates", I became intrigued with a concept of, at death's door, someone giving you a chance to change something in your past. 'Regrets' seemed to be the easiest way to explain it.

I recognize the high-adventure stuff I was working on before. I was hoping that that would be the final Act of each session. Going to change what you wanted to change. I'm not sure what that would entail, just yet.

I'll take note of the weird vocabulary - I plan to make it look better soon. Thanks!

Jason - I'm not sure about the categories or not just yet. The idea behind these categories (and the codified Hindrances) was to help define the endgame (and the final scenario).

As for the central character being the only one that matters - so far, yes. I sense you have ideas, please share them. I came here from SG so that I could have focused design help.

Tymen (sorry, didn't have a chance to find your name before I started this post): Thanks! That is an awesome suggestion!

[Jason Morningstar]

Can you describe a conflict, Mark?  What do you want it to look like in play?  Lay out a cool scene you can imagine taking place for us.  With a single character, I'm having a hard time visualizing what actually goes on.

[Mark Causey]

Okay. I've written what came to mind below. I don't think it really resembles much of what I'd intended with the original post. Questions follow.

The Advocates have arrived at Jehanne's (Joan of Arc's) cell as she awaits her sentence. The key thing here is I don't really want any conflict over the Luminary believing the Agency of the Advocates, because I think of that as unfun.

Jehanne's player starts the ball rolling by stating that she Regrets never having gotten to play as a child.

"There was this one time, in the valley, with Jacques ..." she states. The player is content with this (maybe the rules or the advice tells you how much to give at the beginning).

Each player draws a card from their hand. Jehanne's player wins this round with a 9, and the suit is Clubs. This means Something which I haven't determined yet. For the example, it will be Irresponsibility. Either the Suit is noted somewhere or the card removed.

"We were going to play a hide and go seek game of Knights and Brigands. I was going to be the Brigand. It makes me laugh now. I ran into the forest nearby. I was so very much concentrating on finding a good spot that I didn't notice the cavalry men coming down the road . . ."

Each player draws a card from their hand. Player A wins with an 8, surprising but delighting her. The suit is Spades, and for the example it will be Mortality.

"Jacques must have become enchanted with them and tried to follow along, didn't he? He got underfoot and was..." the Advocate asks.

Jehanne's player pauses. This is her chance to accept or deny the narration. Denial will cost her a card to Player A, who will finish the Narration. Acceptance means that she can finish the Narration on her own.

"Yes, that's how it happened. My grief over Jacques caused me such anguish. I never wanted to play games again."

This is short example. I'm not sure if play will last for too many more rounds. In the next Act, Player A would take over Jehanne's role and start with another Regret. At the end, the tally would be reviewed and the one with the highest amount would inform how to frame the final scene, where the Advocates offer Jehanne a chance to ameliorate or relieve her greatest Hindrance. It would need to follow the same format. I imagine that the final scene will always be 'imaginary', in that it would just be something the character would experience in their mind.

Does that make sense?

[Jason Morningstar]

OK, so Devil's Advocates is shaping up to be a sort of shared storytelling game?  What is the objective, if there is one?  What is the central conflict - how does regret factor into it?  Your example included randomly assigning participants to continue the story, and constrained their narration, but to what end?

[Mark Causey]

Game play will determine the true factor of the Luminary's Regrets and the Advocates will find a way to alleviate it before the Luminary's death.