Quanta: the game of interstellar vacations

[sambearpoet]

You play an existentially bored, nearly immortal energy being who, in order to escape its ennui, has been transmitted into one of many of the invisible crystalline orbital Quanta Stations throughout the known universe. There, it is transformed from an energy state into a physical body. While embodied, you will have a "sabbatical", a vacation experience if you will.  If your physical body is killed, and you retain enough Quanta, you may wish to re-form to resume your enjoyment of the planet below.

Sometimes, that's even part of the charm: dying to have fun. Your experience is largely determined by which Corpora you choose to provide your vacation experience. There are many Corpora; each one specializes in a specific experience. There are archaeological digs, extreme sports, quests, treasure hunts, cultural showcases, even honest-to-goodness rescue and military operations: all of them transitory and completely visceral.

The rules? 1.) You can't tell anyone who isn't a Quanta what you are: the Continuum forbids this for their own reasons.

2.) Your corporeal body has an expiration date. If you don't finish what you're doing and get back to a collection point, you may lose the Experiences you have had as your physical shell disintegrates and your energy body is re-absorbed into the Continuum: it will be like going on a trip, taking a lot of film pictures, and accidentally exposing the entire roll of film upon your return. You may "save" yourself and extend your time available by checking in with the Concierge, a lesser being who acts as a go-between with local custom.

And 3.) You must keep watch for Darkness, which has been known to capture Quanta and eat not only their physical bodies, but their energy bodies. For the most part you should be safe. After all, the Corpora have worked very hard to provide you with this experience. A special Quanta Corpora called the Cohort keeps watch for Darkness and regularly patrols the universe for them.

Design Notes

You've probably already seen some of the bare bones here.

* Not only do you create your character, but you also get to create your character's body. Things such as gender and race, number of appendages and so on are malleable. The game's mechanics will reflect what you choose in the body-creation phase.

* Each Corpora will be a flag to tell the players what sort of experience they can expect.

* Each Quantified Being's body will be flags to the game master as to what the player wishes to accomplish in the story.

Conflicts: player versus scenario. player versus player (on the Quanta level), Corpora versus Corpora, Cohort versus Darkness

Feel / Flavor: Obviously this screams to be made into a "comedy game" but I'd rather play it straight to a certain extent. Have you ever read David Brin? You know how his aliens are all, well, extremely alien? I'm going for that feel: otherworldly, bizarre, and intriguing, but plausible.

More to come, but any initial comments?

[Anders Larsen]

Hi Sam, and welcome to the Forge!

One thing I was wondering when I read your post was what is the characters actually doing in this game? Why are they engaging in these conflicts you describe? What I think you need is to give some more background to why these conflicts are important to the characters.

I look forward to see more of this ideas.

- Anders

[sambearpoet]

Good question and a primary point of concern for me.

To a certain extent, this game's primary conflict is the PC versus themselves - this is to say, they are bored with immortality and a life of pure peace inside the Continuum. Taking on a physical body makes them vulnerable but it also makes life exciting for them. The secondary conflict is whatever's created by the vacation experience. The tertiary conflict is that the Darkness, a continuum of energy beings which are opposite the Quanta, seem to be trying to kill them off.The backstory on that is that they can only perceive the Quanta when they are manifest in physical bodies. To a certain extent, I think this is what puts the spice in the immortal Quanta's experience: the idea that this is one of the very few ways they could possibly "end" = death by Darkness while corporeal.

I am thinking that story artifacts generated by this game will be closer to the "What I did on my summer vacation" kind: humorous and light-hearted.

I can't get away from thinking that the play of the game might also be used as a tool for examining the basic nature of role playing and entertainment: after all, the way you can pop in and out of bodies, change them like you change clothing, is somewhat like people creating characters in a RPG - it's a metaphor-phor-phor! (echo in here).

I also wonder if it might be more compelling to offer the Concierge character as a primary focus - who are these people, who are not immortal but spend their lives basically trying to figure out how to make someone else's existence intriguing and fun for a short period? What do they get out of it? Obviously the Quanta can be fantastically wealthy if they wish: just materialize some gold, or whatever's valuable on that planet. Or, the Concierge may make an awesome NPC focus, an avatar for the GM in the story.

It may turn out that this is just too fluffy a concept to move forward - the central conceit of being able to create your character from scratch, body and all, seems to be the main thing going for it. At the very least it seems headed for the designation of "pick-up game" - which would not be a problem for me, thanks to SotC's blazing the trail in that direction.

I hope I answered your question sufficiently, though.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi there,

I'm not seeing it as too fluffy at all. Given your posts so far, the only thing I'm concerned about is falling into habits long-entrenched by other games, when you don't have to. The specific habits I'm concerned about are:

1. The idea of a GM-NPC who wields total authority over what the player-characters may do

2. The idea of an overwhelming outside Daaarrrk which threatens anyone and everyone, forcing them to band together

Both of these are control-methods, forcing the shape of play into familiar railroaded scenarios and reducing the actual impact of player choice (in this case, the form of one's current body, among other things) into mere trappings.

I suggest relaxing these. Speaking for myself, the idea of the Concierge is amusing and interesting, but not if it includes #1; the idea of the Dark is overwhelmingly boring and threatening, as I see nothing there except #2.

I suggest sticking with your notions about the bored-self and the classic notion that one might find meaning in what's supposed to be fun and relaxing, or in fact, that perhaps unique meaning may be found there. There's no reason why it can't keep its light elements and still hit this thematic (and highly personal-per-player) quite hard. The film City Slickers may be your working model.

Best, Ron

[sambearpoet]

The reason I wanted to have Darkness is that I wanted there to be some element of "true risk" in the story. But there's no reason to necessarily have a Big Bad do this; it could be that the very process of embodiment creates a risk to the energy being.

Or not; perhaps this other idea I've been toying with, called Ennui, could be part of the risk. Ultimately I see the primary conflict being between Ennui (boredom and stagnation) and Discovery (self-discovery, enlightenment, vibrancy) and perhaps this Ennui is the "big bad" in the story, something within the characters themselves. I am wondering, though - would something like that be compelling to capture the imagination of the players and to drive the plots of the stories created? I think so, if done right.

I wasn't thinking of the Concierge as being a total authority GM-PC. Really he's just another player character: I like that he is *not* immortal. He's a local guide, a native, someone who understands local custom. But if he dies, he doesn't come back. The Concierge is a mirror and a cue sheet, perhaps, but not all powerful.

Thank you, Ron, your comments have generated good thoughts.

[Clyde L. Rhoer]

Hi Sam,

Maybe this is too close to Wraith, but what if the The Concierge is what makes the trips risky. Having The Concierge want something the other players can easily supply doesn't seem very dramatic. Maybe The Concierge is more like an energy parasite, that bonds with the Quanta, drawing off their energy. Perhaps rather than a hard expiration date, you have a point where continuing onward is risky. Maybe this is where you try to have things in the story hit that are important to the player. Then they have interesting choices to make. Just some thoughts.

[sambearpoet]

Interesting ideas, Clyde, and I will put them in with the other stuff that's swirling around in my head about this game.  It is a good thing to think about what the Concierge gets out of it - the Corpora (think of them almost as travel companies that put together vacations) need a material person to help set things up - but what does the Concierge get?

The hard expiration date makes for some dramatic tension, but it can seem like railroading, true. Mayhaps it can be a question of risk versus time.

BTW, I see you have a game-related podcast; get in touch with me and I'd love to see about getting you on to the gbncom.com "Goblin Network" - my email is my first name at my first and second name dot com.

[sambearpoet]

Ooh, want to answer the following questions:

What is your game about?
Quanta is about immortal energy beings who take on material form for recreation; risking their immortality to fight their own ennui.

What do the characters do?
The characters strive to overcome their basic ennui for existence by involving themselves in new and interesting activities which can be as simple as a traditional vacation trip to the beach or as complicated as leading a group of oppressed slaves in a revolt against their uncaring cybernetic masters. It doesn't matter if they live or die, what matters is the renewal of the sense of wonder and discovery.


What do the players do?
Aside from getting the fun of putting together their character's bodies from scratch (and having the option of building stuff in like "Eyes in the Back of Your Head" and "Hidden Tentacle"), the players can confront their own ennui and compare their experiences with that of the energy beings while crafting story artifacts that have a "Quantum Leap", "Doctor Who" or "City Slickers" theme to them.

[Ron Edwards]

All right, that does it. You sold me. I am now having geek-flashbacks to Phil Foglio's Buck Godot comics from the 1980s. Write the freaking rules in 2-5 pages and playtest this thing, and I will playtest it too, and we will have a party in the Playtesting forum.

Best, Ron

[brainwipe]

I really like this concept, Sam. Nice one, mate!

To assist in balancing each Holiday, you could give each player group an amount of energy to use on that holiday. If they blow the budget collectively before they start the holiday, they'll have less "power" during the experience. The amount of power should be bartered, traded, divided between the group or whatever the players decide. No system of giving out this pool of power should be imposed by the GM.

My only concern is the many opportunities for settings. For many GMs, not having a setting to read, understand and digest is terrifying. When you create the game, include a couple of fairly familiar holidays that allows the GM to get up and running quickly. It will mean that the GM will have to create more for each holiday, to keep it varied.

[sambearpoet]

Alright - I am going to go forward with this one - thanks for the encouragement!

[HighmoonMedia]

Hey, Sam. I see some more of the podcasters have begun their journey to the Forge (myself included).

Your game idea sounds interesting; bizarre, but interesting. I don't have any suggestions to add right now, but I'd like to see how this develops.

I am thinking that story artifacts generated by this game will be closer to the "What I did on my summer vacation" kind: humorous and light-hearted.

I actually want to write a game about Travel--about the experience of preparing for, the excitement/trepidation of doing it, and the bummer of returning--but aside from this idea I got nothing, so I continue to mull it over...

[sambearpoet]

Daniel, I would definitely like to consult with you and definitely give you credit. Let's talk sometime soon