Inspiration: let's break some eggs

[Hannu Hurme]

Hi all!

First let me introduce myself, my name is Hannu Hurme and I'm from Finland. I've been lurking here, on and off for some time now and I've found these forums and the articles extremely helpful.

Like so many roleplayers before me, every now and then I get into mood to create something of my own. Reading the GNS articles certainly helped a lot and made me see roleplaying in a whole new way. It also made me stop pretending that I actually know something about rpg design and made me try some new things (to me that is).

Setting

The setting is fantasy based. I haven't put much more than that on paper yet. Try to imagine a city where night has fallen, it's dark outside with only the moon and few lanterns providing light. Yet the palace is brightly lit from the inside and you can see people dancing, socializing and dabbling into court intrigue. The world outside is harsh, cold, dark and wet. Full of ordinary if perhaps unhappy people, but also thieves, mercenaries and people who deal with forces beyond most peoples comprehension.

In many ways it's supposed to be a medieval world with social contrast turned way up and everything being bit more fantastic, mystical and secretive. A world where underworld and high society can deal with each other through various ways, but also world where you can have your basic fantasy fair should you want that. I have some more ideas but this post is mostly about the system.

Character creation

Players will write down a description about their character. This will be used to pin down what kind of abilities and skills the character will have. My current preference is that if player or GM feels the character should develop more, the player will write a new description and adjust abilities from there. This process should naturally take into play the earlier description as well what has happened during the play. I can also see GM taking part in this process and making suggestions to player as to how the character might have changed.

Each character will also have, for the lack of better word, inspirations. These can really be almost anything, fear of dark, immerse lust for opposite sex, drive to seek insane excitement, love for the color red and so on. Inspirations will probably have a number assigned to them. The number would tell how important the inspiration is, but it could also be used in tandem with a skill in certain situations, much like TROS I think.

So as an example when our rather adventurous character is surprised between sheets, with someone else wife. He might color his action description with the inspiration. If he does this he gets to use director stance and actually for that action determine what happens. This happens even if he loses the fortune test, so perhaps after botching a sword attack he can still escape through the window, rather nude but still alive.

I've never played nor tried to do anything like this. I've read reviews about games like TROS which use spiritual attributes and more, but hopefully I'm still being at least bit original.

Magic

Magic will be very dependant on inspiration. When casting a spell, player will describe the effect his character is trying to achieve, and somehow this must stem from the inspiration. If the test is successful his thoughts transform into reality, if not perhaps the caster still believes it so strongly he thinks it happens even if no one else notices anything.

As always, when using inspiration the player gets to use director stance and describe what happens. Even in case of failure.

Example: A character with inspiration 'fear of darkness' is skulking through shady alley and decides it's getting bit too dark. Player describes how the character standing on the cobblestone street imagines how a warm ball of light slowly appears in his cupped hands and slowly reveals the walls around him.

If the test is successful the spell works as indented and the character can proceed. If not he might believe for a short while that it did and then suddenly awake to the fact that he is standing in pitch black spot. Perhaps a fumble would mean that instead of revealing the walls it would reveal the very reason he has been so afraid of the dark.

I haven't really thought magic much further than this. Aside from random fumbles and mishaps I'd like the magic to have a negative side as well. Perhaps it would be emotional drain, and for a while empty your inspiration 'pool'. I don't know.

The rest of it

No resolution mechanics exist at the moment. Suggestions are welcome. I think open ended and fast would describe pretty well what I want to have. All I have at the moment is pile of notes written on paper, very haphazard notes at that. Hopefully I wasn't too long winded and confusing. The inspiration part is really only "inspiration" I've had while creating this game. I was really struggling as what I really wanted before I got that idea.

Magic might be insanely powerful, so powerful in fact, that I'm wondering if all characters should just be spell casters. I don't really feel like limiting it. Suggestions are welcome here as well.

As for things like combat, damage and so on I really want something simple. Characters will probably not have any gauge for measuring how hurt they are. Either they are alive or they are dead. Yet there should be a way for combat to last bit longer than just the first successful attack. With all this I've got my work cut out for me. The process has just started, but I'm having some high hopes about this, especially the magic part.

My thanks if you took the time to read all the way here. Don't be too harsh ok? This forum is almost too scary as it is. :)

[Spooky Fanboy]

Well, the magic system fits well. I liked the magic system and I think perhaps everyone should have it. It makes sense in a fantasy-type world: those with a lust for power and the appropriate temperment should get it. Ironically, this prevents many revolutions and revolts, as those who don't want the responsibility that comes with power (or just don't care about power) don't seek it out.

I'd suggest basing the results of combat and everything else off of Inspirations. Just make magic a sort of Color that makes certain results easier to explain. Since characters are bundles of Inspirations, the Inspiractions themselves should have an exploitable downside as well as a beneficial side. Thus, certain situations are almost-guaranteed to trap the character, unless the player can use another Inspiration to aloow the character to escape.

[Brian Leybourne]

I'm really liking your ideas so far.

As for resolution systems, perhaps having a read of games such as Pretender or Otherkind (Which Pretender is based on anyway) might give you some ideas. They both use the idea of stats giving dice to roll, and the die results determine who gets Author stance (GM or Player) among other things (how successful the action should be, how much damage you might take in doing it, and so on). Your system is sounding a little different (the player always gets author stance) but otherwise similar if you map your Inspirations to their Stats.

I'm by no means saying that those systems are better or worse than what you're doing, etc, I'm simply offering them as possible inspiration to help you along. I'll be keen to see how you go.

Brian.

[Mark Johnson]

Very surprising! Great idea, I would love to see what you are going to do with it.  So far my heart is not breaking.  You have the inspiration, let's see the perspiration.

[Jonathan Walton]

Also, check out everything ever written by Shreyas Sampat (http://www.geocities.com/torchbearer_rpg/).  He writes games that aim for the sort of tone and play that you're describing here, though your concepts are fairly unique in their own right.  Most relevant here is probably Torchbearer, which does a few interesting things to achieve similar goals and might provide some inspiration.

Oh, and welcome to the Forge.  It's a great place to be :)

[Shreyas Sampat]

I think Brian's totally onto something when he said to take a look at OtherKind, with Inspirations mapped to OtherKind's stats.  The OtherKind system is so tempting to tweak that I did one myself; it's not nearly as complete as Pretender, but it's something.  There are a couple of threads about other interesting applications of OK.

As for other stuff that you may want to look around at:

The Pool/The Questing Beast, particularly the treatment of Motifs in TQB as aspects of the story, not the character.

Shadows for a second look at player empowerment.

You may notice that I'm not a fan of multiple systems interacting, unless they do for very important reasons.  For that reason, I suggest to you that skills are hardly as interesting a mechanic as your inspirations; do you feel you need both of them?  Certainly it's possible that your game does, but don't assume a skill system just because.

The word Inspiration is full of great associations; I'm interested to see further developments.

[Hannu Hurme]

I've been thinking after my last post. Reading your replies did make couple of things more clear to me. My feel is that the fantasy world has to center around these people who can shape reality with thought alone. I'm going to call them dreamers from here on. Not all have this power, but all player characters do. Also it's not a common trait, but most people probably know what a dreamer is.

Imagine a person abusing a dreamer to his own ends if he has the possibility. A dictator could turn dreamer into a weapon to be used at his command, unwilling weapon perhaps, but still very human at his core. Subject to all kinds of physical and mental torments and an outside person could even shape his powers by "brainwashing" him. Bit extreme, but even with their powers they are still quite vulnerable.

I'd suggest basing the results of combat and everything else off of Inspirations. Just make magic a sort of Color that makes certain results easier to explain.

You're probably right. Yet I'm having hard time figuring out what do I exactly want, and how to build the mechanism around it.

Since characters are bundles of Inspirations, the Inspiractions themselves should have an exploitable downside as well as a beneficial side. Thus, certain situations are almost-guaranteed to trap the character, unless the player can use another Inspiration to aloow the character to escape.

Could you elaborate the downside, with an example if possible? I'm not sure I understood you correctly about this.

I'm really liking your ideas so far.

As for resolution systems, perhaps having a read of games such as Pretender or Otherkind (Which Pretender is based on anyway) might give you some ideas.

My thanks, reading through those two games really did help me a lot. I can almost grasp what I want yet it's still out of reach. Maybe few more days of pondering about it will make me realize what I'm missing right now.

Very surprising! Great idea, I would love to see what you are going to do with it.  So far my heart is not breaking.  You have the inspiration, let's see the perspiration.

Somehow I feel I'm not sweating enough just yet. :)

Most relevant here is probably Torchbearer, which does a few interesting things to achieve similar goals and might provide some inspiration.

Torchbearer was an interesting read. Very different from anything I've ever read before. Somewhat difficult read as well, I'm going to have to read it again and explore Shreyas Sampat's site some more while I'm at it.

I think Brian's totally onto something when he said to take a look at OtherKind, with Inspirations mapped to OtherKind's stats.  The OtherKind system is so tempting to tweak that I did one myself; it's not nearly as complete as Pretender, but it's something.  There are a couple of threads about other interesting applications of OK.

Agreed. The otherkind got me thinking a lot. Your Torchbearer too, but it also squeezed my brain into a knot which will take some time to open I'm afraid. :)

As for other stuff that you may want to look around at:

The Pool/The Questing Beast, particularly the treatment of Motifs in TQB as aspects of the story, not the character.

Shadows for a second look at player empowerment.

You may notice that I'm not a fan of multiple systems interacting, unless they do for very important reasons.  For that reason, I suggest to you that skills are hardly as interesting a mechanic as your inspirations; do you feel you need both of them?  Certainly it's possible that your game does, but don't assume a skill system just because.

I've yet to look into these other games you mentioned, but I'm inclined to do so once I have a chance. I understand your dislike for multiple systems and I agree - I think. At first there were supposed to be only some skills and then inspirations. Now I'm wondering if I should ditch the skills and add some emotions. Inspiration powered by hate vs. inspiration powered by love. Quite a difference me thinks.

My thanks to you all, I've been a big help already. Creating this rpg is turning into a difficult task, but that's usually a good sign. When something is difficult and you don't give up, well that means it's important. I believe this is.

Now some musings about the mechanics...
This is bit difficult to explain, especially in English so bare with me, and please ask if you don't understand. Being in balance, and being in contact with your(inner)self is important. Lets assume that each character has a self attribute. This reflects how in touch you are with your feelings, your mental well being and all that. Characters would also have basic emotions like hate, anxiety, happiness and so on. These emotions would have a permanent value (unless the player would like to do a rewrite as I said in the first post) which portrays his tendency in that direction. Characters self attribute would be used to control these values in extreme situations.

As an example, a character with nothing in self attribute would often be at the mercy of his emotions. His reactions would be extreme, and moods might change quickly in stressful situations. This doesn't mean he would be mentally ill, He just doesn't understand what he feels as well as someone else. On the other hand the stronger the emotions, the more fuel it would give to inspiration so sometimes going bonkers might just help.

These emotions could also be used when doing something that has absolutely nothing to do with the inspirations (use hate to break through two big thugs etc.).

Emotions would also come in pairs. Despair – Hope, Anxiety – Happiness, Fear – Safety... Polarity and all that.
All this is just some random thoughts really, I don't want to force emotions on players, can't do that and it is be part of what they do when they roleplay. Thus I'm not sure if the above can be used in any meaningful way, but something did click in my head when I got the idea so perhaps it can be processed into something useful.

Ideas and suggestions are welcome indeed!

[ScottM]

Imagine a person abusing a dreamer to his own ends if he has the possibility. A dictator could turn dreamer into a weapon to be used at his command, unwilling weapon perhaps, but still very human at his core. Subject to all kinds of physical and mental torments and an outside person could even shape his powers by "brainwashing" him. Bit extreme, but even with their powers they are still quite vulnerable.

It's a book, not a game, but this is exactly the premise of Ursula LeGuin's "Lathe of Heaven" novel.  A significant difference is that her novel is set in the modern day.

As for the self aspect- I like the idea.  Are you thinking it would be an expendable resource, called upon only infrequently?  Would it constantly subtract from the emotions?

(I read the always subtract into your sentence: " On the other hand the stronger the emotions, the more fuel it would give to inspiration so sometimes going bonkers might just help.")

I don't want to force emotions on players, can't do that and it is be part of what they do when they roleplay. Thus I'm not sure if the above can be used in any meaningful way, but something did click in my head when I got the idea so perhaps it can be processed into something useful.

Maybe if you encourage this behavior (with a reward mechanic) it will drive the game?  If you 'pay' people who display fear (and they have the fear attribute), it might encourage people to take traditionally negative emotions.  Or you could make "Self" the rational nature of the character, which might be rolled against a driving attribute.  If Self won, the character would act to preserve themselves, if not, they can march into death (or whatever emotion drives them).

My 1.9 cents,
Scott