If I'm crazy, how come I can do _this_?

[Jason L Blair]

I N S T I T U T I O N E I G H T Y E I G H T

http://www.key20.com/institution88

As always, a work in progress. I88 (both the game and the site) was done in about 4 hours. I'm still expanding on it. In fact, if you click fast enough, I'll still be working on it!

God bless the 'net.

[Thededine]

Have pity on we who are consigned to 800 x 600 laptop monitors!

[Jason L Blair]

Alright, alright... I'll shrink it down from 900 to 800 across.


Argh.

[Matt Machell]

Nice.

Couple of 404's in there, but the site evokes a good atomsphere. Lookign forward to seeing more.


Matt

[Jason L Blair]

Yeah, I'm going to work on [the facility] and [the initiation] tonight. I'll also add some more stuff to [the protocol].

Thanks for checking it out!

[Mike Holmes]

Hey Jason, how't it going?

A couple of days ago I wrote a setting for the Tohousand Setting Project at www.Mysticages.com called The Institute; sort of a game framework. Not at all like yours, but still, synchronicity is interesting. Great minds?

Anyhow, some thoughts on your game. First, I think that it's possible for a player to take two negative stats in the same area which, by the calculation would give them negative Vitality or Potential. Not what you intended, or is there to be some fix later? Or is there something about the combat that we don't see yet?

If its a problem, here's a solution. Make all stats range from one to eleven, which is the same range of possibilities (Six, formerly zero, I assume is average?). An advantage of this is that then this is the number of dice you roll for resolution, no math required. Then perhaps Vitality and Potential can be (x+y) times 5 giving a range of from 10 to 110 (as opposed to the previous range of -30 to 100).

A question. Any use of last ditch removes all powers?

Also, I'm interested in the elemental power. It's the one thing that seems to move the powers from weird science phenomena to mystical in nature. Especially the resistance of these "substances" to manipulation when simply mixed with other substances. Is this an intentional efect?

I'm very interested in seeing where this goes.

Mike

[Jason L Blair]

What the hell? I posted a response to this and it never showed. Okay... here we go again.

A couple of days ago I wrote a setting for the Tohousand Setting Project at www.Mysticages.com called The Institute; sort of a game framework. Not at all like yours, but still, synchronicity is interesting. Great minds?

Maybe on your end. ;)

First, I think that it's possible for a player to take two negative stats in the same area which, by the calculation would give them negative Vitality or Potential. Not what you intended, or is there to be some fix later? Or is there something about the combat that we don't see yet?

When calculating Vitality and Potential, the absolute value of the governing traits is used. So a -3 and +3 are both 3.

A question. Any use of last ditch removes all powers?

Currently, yes. But I want Last Ditch to do something else, too. The only thing I could think of was the "times 5" damage negation. But it's still not as "Akirapocalyptic" as I want.

Also, I'm interested in the elemental power. It's the one thing that seems to move the powers from weird science phenomena to mystical in nature. Especially the resistance of these "substances" to manipulation when simply mixed with other substances. Is this an intentional efect?

Kioka is the only one, of those tested, that has manifested this power. The other psychics (which I'll get into later) cannot. Kioka is definitely becoming something else. Currently, she's laying dormant in the center of the hospital (which I'll get into when I do [the facility]) and is feeding her army.

What's up there now is actually a precursor to something bigger. A war is brewing, obviously, between Kioka and Colonel Everson and only one side will win. Who wins will decide the next "phase" of the game.

The site's been resized, by the way. Hope you all enjoy the new, slimmer 750px width!

[Mike Holmes]

I thought I sensed an Akira edge to this. Kioka/Keiko.

Tetsuo!

There was a discussion about using a Jenga set to create suspense for a game recently. This might be perfect. As players use powers and get more powerful, they have to draw out Jenga blocks. If the tower falls, you get the Akira effect (or something similarly apocalyptic. Lookout! The general pushes this by tring to capture the subjects, and the subjects have to use their powers to hide and escape. If a resolution can't be found within a certain time...


Booom!

Mike

[Laurel]

Dang it!  Mike Holmes has been in my brain again.  I didn't make any Akira connections myself, but as I was reading through the webpage, I was thinking about this being ~exactly~ the right kind of game to apply a jenga-style suspense mechanic... with that *BOOM* factor.  Every time a character grows more powerful psychically, they also risk fatalistic side effects and might self-destruct... or take out a whole city block with them.
Rather than Akira, the images that came to me were Carrie & Firestarter.

Laurel

[Jason L Blair]

Man, I am totally digging a suspense mechanic. Hm... I'll have to think of a way to do it without actually requiring a player to purchase Jenga.

[Clinton R. Nixon]

Jason,

Here's a suspense mechanic, which may or may not work for you. I note that you're using pools of d6's for resolution.

Ok. Whenever someone rolls for a psychic power, when they get a 6, let them re-roll and add as normal. Also, though - make them put that 6 aside. This is a permanent six, used instead of a normal die when you roll psychic powers.

In game terms, you could call this a surge, or something. You would not get to re-roll this die on subsquent rolls.

When your entire pool is sixes - crazy surge madness.

Example:

First roll for power activation (6 dice): 1, 3, 3, 3, 4, 6 (+ 2 - reroll on the 6) = 22 total

Second roll (6 dice - one perma-six): 6, 2, 4, 5, 5, 6 (+5 - reroll) = 33 total

Third roll (6 dice - two perma-sixes): 6, 6, 1, 1, 5, 6 (+3) = 28 total

This continues with each roll. Finally, you should have all sixes in one roll - that's when everything goes pop.

[Jason L Blair]

Clinton,

Not bad but hard to keep track of over multiple sessions. Perhaps I should have the subjects keep track of those repeated sixes on the sheet and when it hits a certain amount -- KABLAMMO! A tolerance limit of some sort? Perhaps equal to their concentration?

Hmm...

[Mike Holmes]

Clinton, that's perfect! Swoot!

It also means that rolls will tend to get significantly higher and higher on average, 2.5 points per locked die to be exact. Which emulated the concept well, I think. Bigger and bigger displays until, pow!

Anyhow, you could also include rules for unlocking by the character unwinding or something. The interesting thing is that a particular player might decide to run around with a few locked just for the higher results. The downside is that the player has a greater chance of blowing it in fewer rolls.

I love how this limits the player's desire to use the abilities except in circumstances where the character does not know the potential danger (Tetsuo's problem), or they are in actual serious need of them. OTOH, even with one die left, the player has only a one in six of going off. So there will probably always be situations that are worth taking that risk in play.

Wow, it just gets cooler the more I think about it.

Locked. Hm. Like locked balls in pinball. Lock em all and the game explodes with balls!

This is what Ralph refers to as a slam dunk, a mechanic that just couldn't get much better for the situation. Hey, Clinton, if Jason doesn't use it, can I steal it?

Mike

[Clinton R. Nixon]

This is what Ralph refers to as a slam dunk, a mechanic that just couldn't get much better for the situation. Hey, Clinton, if Jason doesn't use it, can I steal it?

'Sho nuff. And as a way to keep track of the locks, Jason, I'd just have a place on the character sheet called 'Locks' with little circles.

Locks: O O O O O O O O

When you get locks, you just check them off, like so:

Locks: X X X X O O O O

[Jason L Blair]

I think I'll give it a try, Clinton. Thanks!