[breaking the ice]Teahouse, bondage and cows, oh my!

[Emily Care]

Hello all,

Tom (bluegargantua) was kind enough to help me do some playtest for Breaking the Ice this week. You may recall Vincent's post a ways back about Lines, Veils and Breaking the Ice in which we just did the character creation bit.  

Breaking the Ice is a two-player game about dating, where you each play a character that has something in common with the other player, and something different from you. I'm figuring most folks will find somebody of the opposite gender and go at it. So to speak.

Tom came up with a great concept for our characters.  They had met at a festival, hooked up and now this date was the first time they'd actually met in normal, daily life.  Just how bad were those "festival goggles" she'd been wearing? And could he deal with actually dating somebody rather than having an experience and moving on?

The character generation was a hoot.  I'd asked Tom to bring on the "let's break this game" attitude to run it through it's paces, so he was all "Where'r my stats? Can I take +6 modifier for this? Exactly how many experience points do I get for..." and so on.  There's no numbers on the character sheet. I was tickled.

The best moment was when we did the Favorite Color part.  You pick the character's favorite color and both players do free association from the color to get some ideas for the character.  We did Tom's character first and when I leaned over to write "river" next to Blue on the paper he goes "Hey! Get your hands off my character sheet!"

The characters were pretty well matched--pagan newage crunchies both: my character, Roger, was a rich kid who sold amber and other stones and crystals at festivals; Tom's character Ashiko was intended to be a "fluffy-bunny" pagan, but the fact that she was also a poly bi-girl into bondage ended up giving her more depth ( I think) than Tom had originally intended.

They went on three full dates, including dinner, a motor-cycle ride, a tea ceremony and a divinatory ritual.  As per the mechanics, we came up with lots of ways that the characters tried to make the other character more attracted to them, and also lots of ways that they screwed up or had stuff things not quite go their way.  I've run out of time to post, so I'll describe more in detail on Monday, but I wanted to share the site for the game since it is now completed.

And did they do it? Yes! With Japanese rope-binding involved, no less.

Stay tuned.

yrs,
Emily Care

[Jonathan Walton]

Hey Em,

Your game rocks!  I was so excited to hear that you were writing it, and it looks great.  Now I have to find someone to play it with...

A couple thoughts, just on a first read through:

Initially, I wondered whether your opening description of "differences" was a little... traditional, say, for the crowd that I normally hang with, especially on things like sexuality and gender.  I keep thinking of Dave Eggers writing, "On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being totally straight and 10 being totally gay, the author is a: 3."  Some people are even less structured in defining the intricate complexities of their sexuality.  And then I was thinking about all the trans people I went to college with...  Anyway, after some thought, I realized that if you set up the game as if you're expecting people with non-traditional self-images and lifestyles, you might get "transgendered polyamorous bi-sexual pagan fruititarians go on dates, the RPG!"  Which is not quite what you want, I don't think.  Still, I think giving players more leeway in determining "a different sexuality" or "different gender" would be cool.  So I could play a guy who's significantly "more gay" than I am (since I'm probably about a "3" too), or a trans guy who identifies as female.  But maybe that should just be house rules, depending on who you're playing with.

Also, since it's a two-person game, I guess I was expecting more "improvizational system" bits, where one player would do something or suggest that they do something and the other player would decide what they thought about that and they'd work something out.  You have some of this in the judging of other people's attempts and handing out bonus dice, but my personal tastes would lean towards something with more subjectivity and less die rolling.  After all, I don't feel like dates are random at all, though they are carefully negotiated, even in the misunderstandings.

So I guess I'm thinking of something where I'd go:

JON: "Bob glances at his watch, a nervous habit.  He's trying to decide whether he should open up to Jill and tell her that he's only ever slept with men before."

MARTA: "Okay, well Jill's going to assume that Bob is glancing at his watch because he thinks she's boring and is longing for the date to be over."

And then they sort of figure out what the implications are for their emerging relationship, one step at a time.  If you've built in a way for this back-and-forth dance to happen, I can't really visualize it yet, at least from reading the mechanics.  Maybe seeing it work in actual play would help it make more sense.  Or maybe just a bunch of examples.

In any case, keep up the good work!

[Emily Care]

Hi Jonathan,

Thanks! For the support & the input.  

Initially, I wondered whether your opening description of "differences" was a little... traditional, say, for the crowd that I normally hang with, especially on things like sexuality and gender.

Yes. The target audience that's been in my head as I've worked on this has been what I think of as fairly mainstream-populous gamers.  Who actually ends up playing the game may be a whole 'nother kettle of fish.  And I hear what you're saying loud and clear, its been entirely wierd for me to write this game since I don't really believe in gender 'cept as a cultural construct.  It would be my hope that one might come out of this game with a similar understanding, but its been written for simplicity and ease rather than polemical intent. The players will get to have whatever conversation there is to be had with one another about their differences. Guaranteed to vary based on the players.

Still, I think giving players more leeway in determining "a different sexuality" or "different gender" would be cool.  So I could play a guy who's significantly "more gay" than I am (since I'm probably about a "3" too), or a trans guy who identifies as female.  But maybe that should just be house rules, depending on who you're playing with.

Completely. 100%.  I can see playing this game that way.  The stark dualities are there to give people easy lines of attack, but whatever you want to explore would fit in the framework.  

Also, since it's a two-person game, I guess I was expecting more "improvizational system" bits, where one player would do something or suggest that they do something and the other player would decide what they thought about that and they'd work something out.

There actually is more negotiation and discussion in the system than it might seem at first glance.  The way the dice work is to give you opportunities to develop your character and create just the kind of detail like you described below.  The other player gets to give you feedback directly on every bit you narrate, rather than only through the medium of the other character.  

JON: "Bob glances at his watch, a nervous habit.  He's trying to decide whether he should open up to Jill and tell her that he's only ever slept with men before."

MARTA: "Okay, well Jill's going to assume that Bob is glancing at his watch because he thinks she's boring and is longing for the date to be over."

Here's how this would play.  First off, since the players are the same genders as their characters, I'm taking it to mean that the difference they chose is sexual orientation, with Jon straight and Marta is bi (possibly leaning towards lesbian) and their characters switched.  Sounds to me like this issue could be important to Bob's character conception. In Bti, each character has a Conflict, something that makes it problematic to go on the dates.  I can see Jon having chosen "has only had sex with men before" as his conflict, and if he did so then both he and Marta commit to making this a big deal for both Bob and Jill, and to reflect it in the characters' actions and the events of the date.    

On Jon's turn, he'd/you'd have Bob do something to try to make Jill more attracted to him. Say he'd started a conversation with her about relationships or asked her about herself.  For each die to roll towards making Jill have a good impression, Marta and Jon would have some interaction about what Jon wanted Bob to do.  This exchange might have occured after all the initial rolling, which ended unsuccessfully. The conversation happened but no sparks flew.  So Jon pulls out the big guns and invokes his conflict, knowing it puts him at risk of getting into deep water.  He describes Bob just getting the courage up to try to talk about it, and gets the Conflict dice. Then Marta gives a suggestion for a Re-Roll based on Bob's action: Marta thinks he's bored (high marks if this is part and parcel of Marta's baggage).  Things narrated for a Re-Roll have to put the character at a disadvantage, so Jill's misinterpretation would be perfect.

You have some of this in the judging of other people's attempts and handing out bonus dice, but my personal tastes would lean towards something with more subjectivity and less die rolling.  After all, I don't feel like dates are random at all, though they are carefully negotiated, even in the misunderstandings.

I'll be curious to see if playing the game changes how you see the dice & the randomness. But a free-flowing back and forth system would be another great way to do this. I'd love to see many different approaches develop if more people make games based around interpersonal interaction.

yrs,
Emily

[Ben Lehman]

So, uhm, are we going to end up getting a more in-depth play report?  I mean, you can't just mention Japanese Rope Bondage and leave it at that, can you?  Isn't there a law or something?

In other events, I'm having a bit of difficulty picturing the pacing of the game, in terms of attraction and connections, from the text (if I were better at snap probability analysis, this would be no problem.)  Am I correct in the assumption that you first get a whole boatload of attraction and then, finally, start picking up connections (if you get any)?  What effects does this "get it all at the end" pacing have on play, do you think?

In other commentary (on playtest draft, not play) don't you think that there should be other endings, too?  Like "don't keep dating, but always think wistfully of each other?"

yrs--
--Ben

[Emily Care]

Hi Ben,

In other events, I'm having a bit of difficulty picturing the pacing of the game, in terms of attraction and connections, from the text (if I were better at snap probability analysis, this would be no problem.)  Am I correct in the assumption that you first get a whole boatload of attraction and then, finally, start picking up connections (if you get any)?  What effects does this "get it all at the end" pacing have on play, do you think?

The pacing is actually a slow wind up.  You're choking for dice at the start and have to work for every shred of probability.  This eases up over time as you increase your base Attraction Level.  That's the number of dice you get to roll free (or cheap anyway) and it's bound to increase over time if you just work at it. There are essentially two phases--the initial period where you focus on increasing your Attraction level, and the lead up to the end-game where you utilize all your resources to create Compatibilities which are needed to get a happy ending.  In this version you get an increase to your Attraction level as well as a compatibility when you roll 5-6 successes.  Pending more info I may change that to be an either/or proposition.

In other commentary (on playtest draft, not play) don't you think that there should be other endings, too?  Like "don't keep dating, but always think wistfully of each other?"

That's a great ending, Ben. The endings need fine tuning. I'll keep it in mind.

yrs,
Em

[Christopher Weeks]

Neat!  It was exciting to read it.  

First, I found the background texture image distracting.

Then, I think the play page was generally difficult to comprehend.  Actually, I'm not sure I got it all.  I'd suggest an outline overview with every line a link to the important text.  (Or better, have the details in the sidebar next to the brief explanation.)  

There's also something tricky in the way re-rolls are explained.  Are you paying your accumulated re-rolls per die or per handful of dice that you're re-rolling?  I started thinking the latter and now I think the former.

I'm keen to read more of a blow-by-blow of how play went.  How long did it take?  Did it feel like first-dates?  How different would it be playing with someone you don't particularly know? (Would it break the ice?)

You should tune and sell this.

Chris

[bluegargantua]

Hey,

 I was the motorcycle-riding, bondage-fetishizing, tea-drinking, quilt-making, dragon-worshipping gal in the above game.

 I'm going to wait a bit until Em throws out the play-by-play (cause it's her game and she has the notes) but I did want to make a few early comments:

 1.)  Character Creation -- So I came to the game with a scenario and character kinda pre-formed.  We'd had the idea that the characters started off with a spontaneous sexual encounter that wasn't supposed to go into relationship mode, but did and what that was all about.  I also had the idea that I was going to make a New Age flake because there'd be this rash, impulsive, emotional decison-making that would flip-flop back and forth and throw grinding drama into the game.

 Then Em explained the character creation system.  :)

 Actually, I think we got a very classic situation out of it.  We had flakey New Age Girl and Sensitive (enough to get in your pants) New Age Guy who suddenly both had consequences to a choice they usually didn't spend any time worrying about.

 But the interesting thing is that Ashuko actually had a surprising amount of "solidity" to her.  Yeah, I said that her totem animal was the water dragon from "Spirited Away" and she took the name Ashuko even though she wasn't Japanese and had never been to Japan.  I gave her a Mercurial Temper and an artsy background and stuff.  So it looked all set, but as we went along and new ideas came out, soon she's riding a motorcycle and she's got this tea house in her other lover's backyard and she's got a fair amount of weighty stuff to her.

 I'm not sure if this means that it's really difficult to come to the game with a unilateral concept of who you want to play, or if it's really difficult to make 2-dimensional characters.  Either way, I don't know if that's a flaw or a feature of the game.  I've still got to puzzle it over a bit.

 2.)  Improvisation -- There was a fair amount of in-character stuff that went on, it wasn't Advanced Date Simulator by Avalon Hill or anything.  I'm sure the addtional play commentary will elaborate.

 But I realize there could've been a bit more:

 Em, my suggestion is that you want to encourage people to suffer a little bit.  Before allowing a re-roll, I would have people do a bit more role-play.  We did most of the roleplay once we got a success or failure off of the die roll (including any re-rolls), but it occurs to me that it may have been more interesting (and justified the re-roll traits we called on), to play out some space between the initial (failed) roll and any re-rolls you pull in.

That's my 2 cents for now.  
Tom

[Emily Care]

So, uhm, are we going to end up getting a more in-depth play report?  I mean, you can't just mention Japanese Rope Bondage and leave it at that, can you?  Isn't there a law or something?

If there isn't, there should be. 'K, here goes:

Setting up for the date
So Roger and Ashuko meet at a festival. They hook up, and lo and behold--it turns out that they live in the same town.  Both are experienced pagan party animals and are used to making deep connections with folks who oh-so-conveniently live hundreds of miles away.  Roger, the confident smooth jet-setter finds himself actually falling for Ashuko which threatens his player persona. Ashuko on the other hand gets major "buyers remorse" at having to deal with Roger outside of the intense and of-the-moment setting of a festival.

Dinner and defying death
Roger asks Ashuko out to dinner at her favorite place, an organic, vegetarian number.   She comes, but her doubt's at full force. Roger finally gets her to warm up a bit by playing the SNAG card--chatting her up about what's important to her, what she's like--and getting to insert some of his experience of Japan into the conversation.  To get some re-rolls, I made up a business deal that a friend might flake out on for Roger's background. Enough successes were rolled to raise her attraction for him.  Not enough however to establish interest in Japan as a Compatibility.

After dinner, Ashuko decides to give Roger a run for his money and took him out for a spin on her motorcycle, a Kawasaki Ninja, of course,  as a nod to her fangirl fluffy-bunniness.  She wants to see what kind of stuff he's made of.  This was a fun turn, so I'll break down the rolls made to give you an example of how the mechanics work.

Example of an Attraction Roll
Tom created the motorcycle as a new trait for Ashuko.  He called it into play by saying she asked him if he'd take a ride with her, to get his Attraction dice. His attraction level was 2 at the time, so his initial dice pool was 2d6.  Not gonna get him the requisite 3-4 successes he'd need to raise Ashuko's attraction level, so he kept narrating to get Bonus Dice for the roll.  He'd described her as wearing flowing clothing made from some of her incredible fabric stores, so to correct for the seeming contradiction of riding the motorcycle in that outfit, he had her wear a jumpsuit on the bike.  I suggested it be a la Charlie's Angels and gave him a bonus die for sexiness.  

We were playtesting the game with only 3 possible bonus dice available to be awarded per turn, so he came up with two more aspects of the situation--the alluring nature of the physical proximity, I think, and a quick shift in mood, reflecting her mercurial nature.  He invoked his conflict too for three more dice--since she was looking for problems with him to be able to write him off as just another festival fling, she lead footed it and did some tight manuevers to see if he would flinch.  This gave Tom three more dice.

So Tom rolled:
Attraction dice =2d6
Bonus dice=3d6
Conflict dice=3d6

Rolls: 1,1,2,3,3,4,5,6

Disadvantageous stuff for the Re-Rolls

Only two successes, Roger wasn't impressed. Tom rolled 8 dice all together, 3 of which were from his conflict which he couldn't re-roll. 2 were successful, so he didn't need to re-roll them. That left 3 dice for him to come up with things that gave Ashuko grief in some way.

First. Tom said something about a near miss, maybe a cow in the road.  Yep, that'd be good for a Re-Roll. Good for a final event for the turn, but what else happened before that?

A theme that the two characters had going between them was a sort of rivalry between the totem animals they worked with.  Tom had come up with the Water Dragon power animal for Ashuko.  I suggested that Roger might have a thing for dinosaurs, and we discussed how he might even have a chip on his shoulder about dragons.  We could imagine him showing people his triceratops ("cause they're horny"--are you for real, Tom?) tattoo and having heard again and again "Is that a dragon?" or "Dinosaurs are kids stuff, why don't you get a real tattoo, like a dragon?"  grrrr....  

So there's Roger on the bike sitting behind Ashuko. And Tom describes an elaborate water dragon embroidered onto the back of the jumpsuit.  Here's Roger hurtling pell-mell through space, with his old nemesis staring him down with beady little disapproving eyes.  That got Tom a Re-Roll die, fer sure.  Plus one for the "is this chick gonna kill me?" factor.

Fear for life, evil eye from the Water Dragon and final close call with a cow crossing the road got him his three possible re-rolls.  He rolled another success and nailed that increased attraction.  Now how to interpret this harrowing experience in a positive way?  We had the two pull over to the road after missing the cow and an "oh my god I could have killed you" moment.  Her real concern made brought him closer. She's not just a psycho chick...

It actually came out about this time that I'd miscommunicated to Tom what exactly the attraction level represented: he'd thought it was his character's attraction to mine, while what you're actually trying to raise it the other character's shine on your char. We figured it out and corrected it, and I've tried to make that clear in the write up now.

Onward and kinkward
So after the near death experience, Roger gracefully sees if Ashuko wants to come back to his place. He doesn't but I make the roll anyway, and she invites him out again. This time to her place for a tea ceremony.  Cut to Ashuko's incredible place near the river. She's living in a little one room studio, on land owned by her sugar-daddy lover, Richard.  The tea ceremony goes well, Tom rolls 5 successes and established a Compatibility between them.  This allowed a trait, "shared artistic sensibilities", to be written down on both character sheets.  Now if either of us call on this trait, we get a second die to roll by having the other player narrate something to add to the action.  

Afte the tea ceremony, they move on to something a bit more challenging... Ashuko brings Roger into her studio apartment and starts to weave a semi-clad Roger into a living sculpture via her skill in Japanese rope bondage. Although she said it would just be a simple deal, she gets a little carried away with the art of the project and has to get reeled back in.  Although Roger is a novice, this experience is overwhelmingly positive for him, enough so to create another Compatibility, and in my turn the characters move on from titilation to out and out sex.  

Lines and Veils revisited
Where were the lines of comfort? Nowhere close.  Tom and I are good friends and tallking about this situation was well within both our our comfort zones.  What veils did we use? Well, it wasn't like watching a porn flick.  I described Roger getting a hit on what Ashuko was looking for in a partner, and got feedback that turning the tables to top her now was warmly received.  Called on Roger's extensive experience and used the bondage compatibility by having him incorporate elements of bondage into their play, getting Tom to toss in the fact that she was truly into it.  

Endgame
The characters were well pleased with the sex and the night turned into morning before Roger left. But in the morning, Ashuko was having a serious case of cold feet about this whole thing.  She proposed the next date be a ritual done before Lammas, to see if there's really something between them.   Throughout the dates, Tom had described her having done divination working with her Water Dragon spirit guide,  giving her positive or negative omens.  This was the final showdown.  

Back to Ashuko's house for the ritual. Held in the zen stone garden near the tea ceremony building there, Tom takes the first turn and Ashuko starts out her magicking, but it all goes terribly awry.  They whole dragon-dinosaur conflict surfaces again and for the first time, Tom's rolls come up all low--no attraction for us, much less another compatibility.  Ok, Roger's got to pull it out of the fire.  Or else, this was just another festival fling for the two of them, and they'll have to see if they can deepen their ability to commit with some other hairless monkeys.  

Roger brings a kewl object with connection to his dinosaur totem, the impression of an actual fossilized dinosaur tooth he's gotten hold of through his connections.  He has her bring out a token of her totem--a gorgeous banner of a water dragon that gave Roger the eye during the bomdage session, does his ceremonial magician thing and does divination.  I called in his conflict dice by having it really matter to him what came out of this.  Player been played.  The roll was successful, and I narrated that the divination, using the I-ching, was a hexagram that indicated opposites being recognized as different aspects of one another.  Opposites calling into being their complement, like the yin and yang.  

Opposites in resolution
This fit very well for the dragon/dinosaur dichotomy.  It may well be that the myth of dragons came from finding dinosaur bones. Dinosaurs are deep ancestors, but they are divorced from the sacred and put on a pedastal by science (and grade schoolers) instead.  Dragons are the badass of magical creatures and often seen as the height of spritual power.  We had Roger finally make peace with this old enmity by seeing the connections there, and in his connection with Ashuko.

And as we talked about this, Tom speculated about what underlay Ashuko's hesitation to get more deeply involved. It became clear that her poly lifestyle functioned as a defence against intimacy, just like Roger's fleet-footed lifestyle of traveling all over the globe.  The characters themselves were mirror images of one another.  We wound up the game with an epilogue for the characters.  They stay together, but actually don't change much about their lives.  Live seperately and travel, and have other relationships, but have each other to come home to now.  

I have some comments about mechanics and responses to questions, but this post is plenty long enough.   More later.

yrs,
Emily Care

[Emily Care]

Thanks for the feedback you've given, everyone. Really good comments.
I'm wondering, did you find the example of play I posted clear, or confusing?

I'm keen to read more of a blow-by-blow of how play went.  How long did it take?  Did it feel like first-dates?  How different would it be playing with someone you don't particularly know? (Would it break the ice?)

Lessee.  It took about 3-4 hours plus some hang time.  It's definitely a good quick one-shot. At least for me, the three date length fit the bill dramatically speaking--the first date we got a chance for the characters to size each other up, the second we get to develop the attraction and the obstacles between them, then we got to wind it all up one way or the other in the third date.  Less or more would have been wrong.

Did it feel like first dates?  Well we had the advantage, as Tom pointed out, of the characters already having hooked up. The ice had been broken already.  But it definitely had the awkwardness of a first date--Ashuko with the "who is this person" tape running in the background of her mind, and Roger trying to play the smooth come-on lines and winding up having to get real.  For these particular characters, the issues were more about longer term commitment than getting-to-know-you jitters.  

Playing with a new person would be very different I'm sure.  Working out the boundaries would be wicked important.  And the awkwardness would probably be very real at first.  The character generation is intended to give the two players an opportunity to get a chance to do some non-threatening ice-breaking activities, and start off with a collaborative dynamic that they can bring into the game.  And I think that playing this would help you get to know the other player as a person, or at least know more about their interests and maybe their past experiences as well.  Any thoughts, Tom?

yrs,
Emily

[Christopher Weeks]

edit: D'oh crosspost.

Your character will be unlike you and like the other player in some way.

I originally read this to mean that there would be two attributes of the character, one of which was to be specifically unlike you, and the other to be specifically like the other player.  I guess I'm pretty sure that I was making a silly mistake, but I'd like verification.  You're specifically exploring this one way in which you and the other player are different, right?

I'm wondering, did you find the example of play I posted clear, or confusing?

I think it's helpful.  It's still a bit of a chore to connect what the rules say with what you were doing, but that's how it always is.  There is a bit of trouble for me keeping track of players and characters particularly with respect to attraction of one to the other.  I figure that playing it will help more, but I'm not sure when that's going to happen.

Chris

[Emily Care]

Jinx! Buy me a coke! :)

You're specifically exploring this one way in which you and the other player are different, right?

Yes.  One aspect that you switch, be it gender etc.  Gotta be more clear...

Thanks Chris!

---Emily

[Frank T]

Hi Emily,

I like the idea of your game. It sounds... intrigueing. The detailed example of a turn has explained many things. Maybe you should include it (or something alike) in the rules. Especially the thing about the re-rolls was not quite clear to me at first. Moreover, I think it disadvantageous to explain the Re-Rolls before the Compatibilities and Conflict Dice. The other way round would be more organical and easier to comprehend, I guess.

I am still a little at a loss about the turns. How many are there per date? How closely confined are they? Should some sort of scene cutting occur between turns, or should each date be played out full length? Moreover, it would be helpful to specify exactly when and how new traits may be created. The rules leave that pretty much open.

I agree with Ben that the game could use some tuning on the part of the "Ever After". Essentially, the Attractiveness Level should be involved. Compatibilities are one thing, but what use are they if the attraction isn't strong enough? On the other hand, strong attraction with no compatibilities can make for a long, unhealthy, tormenting relationship if it turns out badly. This perspective could open up a nice little tactical apsect especially if you go for the "either/or"-approach. To add more spice, you could also make it relevant whether the characters' conflicts have been resolved satisfactorily. On the other hand, such a twist could make the resolution stage just a little too fussy.

Anyhow, the game absolutely seems to be worth a try. If I find someone to play it with, that is. My girlfriend is not a gamer, but she might object if I try it with someone else...

Frank

[Emily Care]

Thanks, Frank! Good comments.

Anyhow, the game absolutely seems to be worth a try. If I find someone to play it with, that is. My girlfriend is not a gamer, but she might object if I try it with someone else...

I'd say try it with your girlfriend, if she's willing. It's a good game to play with a non-gamer since the situation is one to which anyone can relate.  And playing with someone with whom you already have a high level of intimacy seems like a good way to start out.

best,
Emily

[Sydney Freedberg]

This is a nearly content-free post, but oh well:

This game is really cool. Definitely on my "to play with non-gamer wife" list, along with Trollbabe, if we can only get some baby-free time to do it....

I agree that the Endings need to cross-reference Attraction and Compatibility, though. You'd get a My Life With Master-style matrix of good, bad, and ambivalent outcomes, potentially.

If I can ever get My Eventual Game (MEG) together (which is way more traditional and action-oriented but still struggling with emotional issues), I definitely want you (Emily) to comment: You have a rather different and intriguing take on game design.