[Dungeons/Dummies] Mechanic brainstorm

[daMoose_Neo]

Let me run this through:
1) Read this thread last night: The Try/Fail Sequence as a Mechanic
2) Went to bed right afterword, part of it sticking in my brain.
3) Woke up with idea! Dungeons/Dummies Original Thread

The D/D Imp game is ment to be a bunch of bumbling, idiotic, failing stooges. Failure is Funny, which I want this to some how follow.
So, out of that thread, arose this:

A 2d6 resolution system. Every action in one session/adventure/game follows a scale, 2 - 12, starting at 2. On a sucess, this resets itself to 2.

Mechanically speaking:
To suceed, a roll must be equal to or less than the current target number. A player may 'Risk' one to two Praise Points to raise the TN one level per point (from 2 to 3, from 3 to 4). Should the roll fail, the TN sits at that number and the player who made the attempt may not make another try until someone else does. Should the player suceed, Something Good happens and the player collects that many Praise Points.
1) On failures, the Imps don't stay in the exact same situation to keep trying over and over: Player tries something, It Fails, Something Bad Happens, New Challenge. Players may make attempts at the same thing later, but that chance is not a given.
2) Different scenerios may be given where the DM can alter the TN (dropping it to make it harder, raising it to make it easier) for the situation.
3) Players narrate Success or Failure, sometimes with nudges from the DM that might help setup the next challange.
Success or Failure is determined by the players as well, within reason. Is it a success for the team or is it a personal success? (Fulfilling a personal want at the cost of something for the team)
4) Anyone can try to make a roll for any check or challenge- thus, all the Imps could be working hard on setting a trap and baiting it with cheese and one Imp, with an obsession for Cheese, makes a check that has been suitibly hightened, and POW!

"Bob walks up behind the other Imps munching on a wedge of Cheese. "What you doing?" he asks, spraying cheese crumbs all over the others, who are watching around the bush. "We're waiting for the adventurer! Now SHUSH!" "Okay...*munch munch munch*" "Wait a second...where did you get that cheese?"

I'd like to see many of the "You IDIOT!" situations- either them blowing things or squandering (or backstabbing). Because they gain the Praise Points, there is a higher incentive to try to re-collect whenever possible: they allow the player to make more attempts AND higher PP means more praise from the Master. Plus, this also incorperates the backstabbing element I was looking for- the player can stick it to everyone else by doing something almost meaningless and mindless.

Need to do some more work on it...but seems to best accomodate what I'm going for...

[jerry]

The D/D Imp game is ment to be a bunch of bumbling, idiotic, failing stooges. Failure is Funny, which I want this to some how follow.

Somewhat off-question, have you read Creeks & Crawdads? If you can find a copy, I recommend it. It has the same point: you're role-playing crawdads that have, following a nuclear holocaust that destroyed all intelligent life, have become the de-facto intelligent life on the planet. But intelligent crawdads are still pretty stupid.

I don't have my copy with me right now, but as I recall it doesn't so much  reward failure as punish success.

Jerry

[daMoose_Neo]

Nah, I'm thinking more along the lines of some reward (to a degree) for failure. Success, though, must be an option and a possibility- only way anyone gets to keep any of these hard-fought Praise Points to use later is to ensure the objective as a whole is completed.
With this kind of rolling, success is an eventuality, by 7 (which is an investment of 5 points) they have an almost 50/50 chance of succeeding AND points to spend on other successes. Once they get past initial issues, players can start the ball rolling on completing the objective OR screwing with other players.