[Townsfolk] Power 19 2.0

[chronoplasm]

1.) What is your game about?**

Imagine Harvest Moon if the crops you were trying to harvest were monsters that fight back.
In Townsfolk, you play as a peasant in an enchanted world where trees lash out against lumberjacks, caves swallow up miners, and the only plants and animals to eat will eat you first if they can.
To survive in this world, you must become a special kind of warrior called a Tradesman by perfecting your skills into a fighting style. Farmers use their scythes to mow down fields of plant enemies. Miners dig through defenses to chip away at enemies with high HP. Blacksmiths use fire to soften up ore monsters and pound them with hammers until they conform to a more useful and obedient shape.

2.) What do the characters do?**
As a Tradesman, it is your job to protect and maintain your town as you gather up resources for the harsh winter that lies ahead.

3.) What do the players (including the GM if there is one) do?**
Players cooperate to create a world and survive in it. Players draw cards from decks to create monsters and terrain and work together to gather up resources and story points to build up their town in preparation for winter.

4.) How does your setting (or lack thereof) reinforce what your game is about?
In this setting, danger is around every corner as just about everything is a monster that you must fight. Even the approaching winter is represented as an ice demon.

5.) How does the Character Creation of your game reinforce what your game is about?
Players start by selecting their profession (farmer, merchant, brewer, etc.) and selecting skills. Then they create some terrain. The terrain they choose in the beginning determines the stats they begin with.

6.) What types of behaviors/styles of play does your game reward (and punish if necessary)?
The game rewards players for creating greater challenges for themselves and cooperating to overcome those challenges. Players choose when they want a monster encounter to occur and they are rewarded for making the monster encounters more difficult.

7.) How are behaviors and styles of play rewarded or punished in your game?
Players must defeat monsters to collect resources. By making encounters more difficult, players are rewarded with story points which can be used to stack the decks and purchase plot devices.
By working together, players can overcome more difficult encounters, thus collecting more resources and story points.

8.) How are the responsibilities of narration and credibility divided in your game?
All of the players act as DMs by using story points, creating terrain, and determining when and where they encounter monsters. The decks of cards add an element of the unknown however. The cards are used to create randomized terrain, randomized events, and random monster encounters.

9.) What does your game do to command the players' attention, engagement, and participation? (i.e. What does the game do to make them care?)
It gives players a perspective that's a little different from what most games offer and provides some cute over-the-top fun.
At the same time, the threat of winter casts a looming shadow of desperation over the game that forces players to race against the clock.

10.) What are the resolution mechanics of your game like?
Resolution is card based.
Players start each 'day' with a certain number of cards in hand.
Tasks are performed by taking a certain number of cards from the top of the deck and laying them out face down and side-by-side to create a 'task pile'.
To complete a task, players reveal cards from hand then turn cards from the task pile face up. Modifiers are added up, then the lower ranking cards are discarded.
When all cards from the task pile are discarded, the task is complete.
When a player runs out of cards in hand, that player's character is exhausted.
Tasks can take several turns or days to complete in this way but go a lot quicker if people work together.
Combat will use a modified version of this.

11.) How do the resolution mechanics reinforce what your game is about?
Every task takes time to complete when time is working against you. The deck, you see, acts as a clock counting down the seasons. When the deck runs out of cards, winter comes.
The system rewards players for trading and cooperating to complete tasks more quickly.
It also has an element of risk as you can lose your own cards while attempting to perform any task. These mechanics are all meant to be integrated into combat, reinforcing the idea that any mundane activity can turn into a battle against minor spirits.

12.) Do characters in your game advance? If so, how?
Characters can become more advanced in their professions and develop new skills by spending story points. Resources can also be used to create or buy better equipment.

13.) How does the character advancement (or lack thereof) reinforce what your game is about?
Becoming more advanced in one's trade (carpentry, fishing) translates into combat as characters use their tools as weapons.

14.) What sort of product or effect do you want your game to produce in or for the players?
I want people to get themselves into ridiculous situations and have a laugh about it.

15.) What areas of your game receive extra attention and color? Why?
I'd say the proffessions. That was the idea that started it all and I'm going to have a lot of fun figuring out how simple tradesmen like Coopers are going to be able to use their craft to fight pumpkin monsters.

16.) Which part of your game are you most excited about or interested in? Why?
I'm rather excited about the resolution mechanics. I haven't figured it all out yet, but I think I could do some interesting things with it.

17.) Where does your game take the players that other games can't, don't, or won't?
I don't know. I think though that I want to take players in a similar sort of direction that first edition D&D took players, but with a less epic approach. Everything can potentially kill you (the gem explodes!) and monsters can pop out at you from the most improbable of places.

18.) What are your publishing goals for your game?
A friend of mine actually wants to start a business making miniatures.
I'd actually like to publish this game along with a series of minis that I'm currently doing character designs for (I'm trying to learn how to sculpt).
Minis would be an optional feature however, used for advanced combat rules.  I want people to be able to play the basic game with only one or two decks of 52 cards.

19.) Who is your target audience?
I actually want this to be a game for all ages. I'd like little kids to be able to play as well as adults.

[Greg 1]

Do the PCs co-operate?  For instance, is the lumberjack going to help the farmer fight plants?
Are the players expected to get into roleplaying situations?  If so, what sort?
Is the game only supposed to last until one winter arrives?

[chronoplasm]

The PCs are supposed to cooperate, but mostly by filling their respective roles. The Lumberjack can help the Farmer to fight vegetables, but the Lumberjack won't excel in that type of  battle like the Farmer would.

They players are supposed to role play, but I'm not sure how at this point. I guess it would be mostly bartering and 'town counsel' types of situations.

The players do continue to play past winter, beginning a new year in game time. Each year is more difficult than the last. The monsters are powered up and new monster varieties could appear (to be added in expansions like 'Infernal Almanac').

[dindenver]

Kevin,
  I think that you need to build the interdependence into the system. But not through niche protection or whatever, but through the resources themselves. Like the Lumberjack can't make enough firewood to for the entire village to survive the winter without a little help. And the same goes with all the professions. If each Class goes about their job without help, maybe its enough for half the village to make it through the winter. BUT, if they get help (even from people that don't have that class), it's enough so everyone can live, no?
  And maybe suggest (don't make a rule for it, but you know, lay it out in the setting) that the ones who help the Lumberjack are the one's most likely to get firewood, if there is not enough to survive, right?

[chronoplasm]

That makes sense.
Cool.

[chronoplasm]

OK, so I guess I'll go over the 'professions' again.

Everyone starts out with basic skills from all of the professions, but the professions can increase your skills in their respective areas. You can take multiple professions or you can specialize.
Professions are divided up along two dimensions: Role and Resource.

The four roles are:
Runner (mobility based. Explore and transport.)
Gatherer (extract resources from monsters.)
Processor (transform resources into useable goods and tools.)
Maintainter (safeguard against the unpredictable and make sure things run smoothly.)

The four principal resources are:
Mineral (abiotic, immobile, bludgeons animals)
Water (abiotic, mobile, dillutes mineral)
Plant (biotic, immobile, soaks up water)
Animal (biotic, mobile, eats plant)

The four resources also correlate to each of the roles and add secondary roles to each of the professions.
Mineral = Maintainer
Water = Collector
Plant = Processor
Animal = Runner

The 16 Base Professions:

Mineral Runner = Merchant (bring resources and goods to other towns to do business.)
Water Runner = Ferryman (transport goods, resources, and goods across water.)
Plant Runner = Trailblazer (clear away tree monsters to build roads.)
Animal Runner = Postman (ride your trusty steed to deliver mail and parcels.)

Mineral Collector = Miner (dig through defenses and use your pick to chip away at ore monster HP.)
Water Collector = Fisherman (use bait and traps and lots of patience to catch fish monsters.)
Plant Collector = Farmer (use your scythe the mow away at fields of veggie monsters.)
Animal Collector= Hunter (use stealth and tracking skills to find and kill beast monsters.)

Mineral Processor = Blacksmith (use fire to weaken ore monsters then beat them into submission with your hammer.)
Water Processor = Distiller (seperate impurities and create brews from liquid monsters.)
Plant Processor = Carpenter (saw and hammer wood monsters to create items.)
Animal Processor = Butcher (slaughter beast monsters with your knives then carve up their meat for good eating.)


...OK. I need your help, The Forge, to come up with the Maintainer classes.
I need:

Mineral Maintainer
Water Maintainer
Plant Maintainer
Animal Maintainer

Each one of these needs some skills that are applicable to defending against monsters.
Your thoughts?

[whiteknife]

If you want some ideas, heres a couple:
Mineral Maintainer: Geologist (figure out the stress points and composure of rocks in order to defend against them/ help attack them. Also helps in amking rocks into useful things)
Water Maintainer: Marine Ecologist (this doesn't sound very genre appropriate, but I can't think of anything better) (Study currents and habits of fish and the water in order to predict when they will be spawning/aggressive/etc., also when water is safe to drink)
Plant Maintainer: Gardener (learn the ways of plants in order to defend against them and help the friendly ones (if any) grow.)
Animal Maintainer: Trainer (bond with beasts and attempt to calm them down, also studying their like and habits in order to protect against them).

Well, I'm not sure if that helps, but there it is anyways. I like what you've got so far. I'm also interested in seeing where the idea of a town council as a central thing could go. Anyways, keep going! I want to see more.

[chronoplasm]

Thanks whiteknife! Trainer sounds like a pretty good idea actually...
I'm considering Miller for plant maintainer though.

For Town Counsel I was thinking players would debate and vote to decide the towns next course of action and give some opportunities to role play and progress the plot.

I like how 'relationships' work in Dogs of the Vineyard so I'm thinking of incorporating a similar idea.
Players could get a certain number of points to invest in their characters families.
In addition to choosing your characters name and profession, you choose the names and professions for your characters parents. Your parents professions give you a bonus to skills from that profession. You could also leave these spaces blank  to play as an orphan.
You also get to create your characters spouse and give her a profession. Furthermore, your character can have children. They can't have professions unless you choose to be a more aged character with grown up children, but they can still perform tasks depending on their age.
You can also choose to list any family member as deceased to give your character a certain amount of 'sorrow'. I'm not sure what this will do, if anything. I might just be making this overly complicated, but I'm just brainstorming here.
Players can even choose to be part of the same family and pool their family points together. For examples, two players can choose to be husband and wife or players can choose to be siblings.

[dindenver]

Kevin,
  Regarding relationships, don't forget that for many people their relationships to their friends are more valuable than their relationships to family. In fact, when I GM ditv, no more than half of the Relationships on the sheet are family members. Maybe that is just a weird artifact of how I GM or the people I associate with, but maybe it might be an idea on how to make/use Relationship mechanics for your game.

[chronoplasm]

Hmmm... thanks!
That also makes me think of pets too.
This makes me think maybe the relationships part of the character sheets should have a 'mouths to feed' section.
Hey...
The game is all about resources, right? Maybe relationships should have an effect on this.
Parters You and your partners all pool together your resources then take even shares.
Parterns can be friends, spouses, associates, anyone that you cooperate with.
Dependents A portion of the share you recieve must go toward supporting your dependents. Whatever is left is for you. Dependents can be children, elderly family members, sick friends, pets, etc. Your dependents can do some work, but it won't be equal to what they are recieving from you.

Your thoughts?

[chronoplasm]

Pardon my spelling. Parterns? Heh.

Anyway, I also wanted to ask you guys how you visualize the characters in their world? That is, how do you see a farmer fighting a bunch of veggie avengers? How do you guys see a blacksmith fighting an ore monster to try and pound it into a plowshare? I already have my own ideas, but I just wanted to see what you guys think as it might give me some ideas.