[FafGame] This is a Good Game. This is the Best Game

[Ben Lehman]

I seem to have just acquired my first license, to develop a game based on http://fafblog.blogspot.com/">FafBlog.

The goal is to develop a role-playing style party game that would appeal to FafBlog readers.  Thus, the text is peppered with in-jokes.  But I'm curious if the basic idea is sound.  Any ideas for how it could be improved upon?

FafGame

The world's only game for FafBlog.

Get a group of people together.

Each person writes down three to five present day events or politicians or media personages.  Things like "terrorism" or "DeLay Scandal" or "Trent Lott."  Also include one blank card for each player.  Put these in a hat.  If you do not have a hat, you may not play this game.

Each person also writes down three to five topics which are not particularly political.  Things like "strawberries" or "elk" or "omelettes."  Also include one blank card for each player.  Put these in a hat, as well.  If you do not have a second hat, you may not play the game.

Take turns.

During a turn, the active player picks one card out of each hat.  Then, they act out a FafBlog style scene that address both of the topics.  First, they choose what sort of scene to do and any extra players to bring in:

Fafnews: The player takes the role of Fafnir, describing what happened or monologuing about something.  Other players may be brought in as Giblets or Chris, or both.

Gibletorials: The player takes the role of Giblets, ranting about something.  Other players may be brought in as Fafnir or the monkey.

Higher Wisdom: The player takes the role of the Medium Lobster, speaking to us in his infinite wisdom from beyond space and time.

Fafblog Interviews: The player takes the role of Fafnir, interviewing someone, and someone else takes the role of the interview subject, whomever that is.

High Adventure or Travelblogging: The player takes the role of Fafnir or Giblets describing their zany adventures.  Other players may be brought in as Chris, the Pope, or anyone else they happen to encounter.

You must announce this like so: "The topics are snowflakes and terrorism.  I am going to do a Fafblog Interviews scene, and I need you, Joe, to play Kofi Annan."

If you draw out a blank piece of paper, you only need to do the other one topic.  If you draw two blank pieces of paper, you must Pieblog: which is like a Fafnews monologue but must be Fafnir alone and must reference pie.

After the scene plays out, each person who didn't play in the scene secretly rates each person who did play in the scene from 0-2 with regard to how well they addressed the topics and how funny they were.  Those are your points.  The person who drew the topic gets an extra +1 for being on the spot.

At the end of the game, whoever has the most points does not win.  Giblets wins!  Bow down before Giblets!  Bow down before Giblets NOOOOOOOOOW!

[ethan_greer]

In general, I approve. The basic engine seems straightforward an workable. Don't have much advice to offer really, but I did want to point out that your capitalization is off -- it should be "Fafgame." Just a minor point, but worth mentioning, I thought.

As an aside, how did it come about that you got a license to create a game for Fafblog?

[Ben Lehman]

Oops!  You're totally right about the capitalization.

As an aside, how did it come about that you got a license to create a game for Fafblog?

I was thinking in general about light Sim games based around specific predefined characters, and this popped into my head.  So I wrote to the author and asked.

Are you a Fafblog reader?

yrs--
--Ben

[Eero Tuovinen]

The scene type options should be on cards or something, to make selecting pleasurable. Select one from the stack, essentially.

I'd also seriously consider having decks of readymade cards for those political/other issues. That loses some freedom and topicality, but otherwise I fear that the game is too self-reflective. The topicality can be corrected with the genius solution of annual (whatever) expansion packs. Or, if it's a PDF game, then you can just publish a "card of the week" each week to keep the deck topical enough. And have furious poll-voting wars between cards to decide what topics are "out" of the official(TM) Fafgame deck.

In any case, this kind of design is easy to finish, but it also has one big challenge, which is player support. You're essentially asking the players to do impro-theater about random topics.
Pro: it's simple to learn, and has a family game quality to it, with nary a nerdity in sight
Con: low replayability on the rpg scale of things, more alike to a party game

So I suggest that you focus next on systemic support of the play performance somehow. Perhaps another play level where the points are utilized somehow for longer-term campaign play? Or some additional structure to the scenes, so it's not just impro? Or a way to introduce additional scene types and character options, to make you own characteristic Fafblog characters and scenes? Or, is there an agenda to what Fafblog does? Perhaps have some way to attain that agenda in-game even while the blog struggles on?

Or, otherwise, make it a party game. A real borderline case of being a rpg, but that shouldn't stop you.

[ethan_greer]

Yes, I read Fafblog. It pleases me greatly.