Adventures-in-a-Box

[Sven Flottmann]

Hello!

As mentioned in the Connections Board, I am a Gamer from the (by far)

largest German RPG Board, who wants to Tranlate Your Games.
(Check this link for Details)

I am also developing games and Mechanics myself.
So my Game isn't "Ready to play". It is a Concept and I am about to Build a PDF in german.
And here where are other (more experienced "Systembuilders") than me... I want you to Judge my Idea, give me Hints, Ideas... constructive Critic...(and forgive my bad englisch writing by the way... my Understandig and Translations are far better than the english I produce, Sorry!)


So lets come to the Thing the Headline stands for:
I have build a System wich is Called "Instant-One-Shot-Operating-System" (IOSOS). It is the Base structure for the "Adventures in a Box".

In my Imagination Authors can use IOSOS to Produce Adventures wich you can play "instantly".
The Group buys (ok, downloads and Prints) the... 15 Pages (including Rules and Premade Charakters). Read 2 Pages of Rules, and the GM reads the Page that is Actual, and leads the Players through the Adventure. So this Post introduces you the System that will be used, and the structure of this "ready-to-game"-Adventures...

(You "can" use the System without an premade adventure, but thats not it's real purpose... it will be mostly written for the authors of "AiaB"'s)

The Goal of "Adventures in a Box"
Is to make good Con and Quick Play Adventures (if some Player is missing in a Campaign, for one session) and to Aquire "non Gamers" for the Hobby.
The System (IOSOS) is always the same it depends on th Adventure if it is for "beginners" or for RPG-"Experienced".

One more Thing Ahead: AiaB are Extremely Railroading (By the actual State of my Work)
The Beginner Adventures will be almost like a Boardgame (without Board) and try to develope to become more scene Desciption as the Adventure is nearing it's end.
Maybe it Sounds strange, but it will be explaned later.

The System: IOSOS
(It is not complete! ... the Questions in it, and in the End will show where my Problems are)


Character Creation
Easy thing:
You Create a Charakter... as you are the Author of a Adventure, you take charakters that have all the Skills that will be needed for exactly "this" one adventure... So Maybe Astronomy or Cooking are extremly Powerfull (in the appropriate scene).

Each Charakter has "Traits" and "Specials"... That's it... no more Values!
A Trait is... rather Similar to Wushu-Traits.
Cook, Warrior, Wizard, Very Strong, Charming...
Traits are inborn "Powers" of your Charakter Noone could take Away from them... (Except Amnesia... Killing the Carakter...... In Case of Charming: Ripping Skin from the Face... but that doesn't count right now ;-))

You Can Use Traits Very widely and very Free, becaus they have a widespread field of Use.

Every Chracter ha a Trait called miscellaneous Wich is neccesary for Everything the Traits do not serve...

Specials are... Some Kind Of Equipment... you can Use it only in Special Circumstances, and lose maybe loose it. (A Sword is good in combat and Breaking things... maybe Intimidate... but thats it nearly...)

Conflict Resolution and Storypoints.

If it comes to a Conflict, you Use 2D6. (I took them because nearly everynon Gamer knows them and Has them in Monopoly  or the like).
Make That:
2D6+Fitting Trait+Special vs. Conflictvalue.

If the Player is exatly or Above the Conflict Value, he succeds. (Fitting Trait: you always have the "Misc. Trait" so it is EVER: 2D6+Trait at last. "misc." should be equal with every Charakter... except you want to have a "Jack-of-all-Trades".)


Thats the System for Itself! The GM ist passive, and the numbers on the charaktersheet are very flexible... because it depends on how high you ste the power of the Dice, and the Conflictvalues.

For a normal Game...

There are some Points to add: "Storypoints".
If you want to Use IOSOS for a Campaign as you know it: give every charakter 10 Storypoints... Maybe the GM wants to roll against th Players... who ever scores higer takes the amount of the "above" from the Storypoints of the other... who ever wins, takes the right dto describe the end of the Scene.

Related to AiaB...

There are Also storypoints... for the whole Group...
The Goal is to have a nice dventure for about 4 Hours of Gameplay... So it will Consist of "Scenes" and "conflicts".

From here it is all Logic (by the Word Logic like "integrated circuit") (Tech)).

The GM reads an introducing Text... for Beginner AiaB's a few more hints are seeded. "You can go now to the Tavern, Or..."
The Players will Face Conflicts... if they are solved "positive" (depending on what that means in the Story) they earn Storypoints on the Tab.
If the Charakters fail they will lose or gain no Storypoints.

(Conflicts can/should be solved by roleplay as much as possible... but for beginners or who whants to: you can roll every single conflict down!)
At the end Of a Scene, a Table will tell you, what Scene the GM has to introduce next...

Yes. It is almos like a Cmputer game and the "IF-THEN-ELSE" principe...
But that is what it's thought for.

Exaple for an Overview for the GM:

Chart:
Scene 1 If Storypoints are 10 Or higer then Go to Scene 2A
If SP lower than 10 go to Scene 2B

Scene 2A If SP 8 Or higher and Kid Rescued go to Scene 3A
If SP lower than 8 and Kid Rescued go to Scene 3B
...
...
I think you get the Idea.
This is also what I mean in "More Scene descirption."
In the first Scene, there will we "computer Gaming" and not very much description.... in Scene two, teh GM willl have a dialouge rather than a Roll for the Group Diplomat, in the Third scene they will have to describe their actions as they rescue the people from the Burning house, rather than Roll it with "Misc". and then thay may have become Gamers, thinikng they are Plaing an Boardgame without a Board...

So I want to have the Introducing Text Aswell as If it is a regular Boardgame...
AiaB is exactly this... It has premade "Board" (Story), its Rolling Dice if something Happens... You collect "Points" and can Actually "Win the Game".
(Maybe you give every Szene a specific Name... make a nice Grafic (fitting to the Setting) and moving a token along the "Board" from scene to Scene...

Maybe I shuld declare the GM a "Storyteller" or "Fate" and the Players have really to "Pay" the SP to him (take Pokerchips or pennys)... so the "Boardgame Feeling rises... I am still thinking about it...)

So my Questions:

How can I mange the Storypoints...
-scince the Charakters have no "Statics" For themselfes, there is no Danger (other than the Script says)...
-Is it all color anyway, because If the SP are not enough they go to the  scene "the bitter End" anyway?
-Is there a other way for this? (Schould I get Away of Railroading, and do something like the Inspectres Franchise-Dice ?!)
-Might this be a good way to bring non Gamers to play? (The "From Board- to RolePlay -Game) ?

Thanks for reading this far!

Best Regards,
Sven

[Troy_Costisick]

Heya,

I have a few questions.  I think I have a vague idea of what the answers might be, but I need you to clear them up. :)

-First: What is your game about?

I think it's about creating short term adventures mainly for use in convention tournaments.  Is that true?

-Second: What do the Characters do?

I think it's whatever the GM tells them, right?

-Third: What do the players do?

I think it's use their characters to earn story points so they can advance to the next stage.  But I'm not sure.

If you could answer all three of those questions clearly, then I think we will have a good foundation to build from. :)

Peace,

-Troy

[Sven Flottmann]

I have a few questions.  I think I have a vague idea of what the answers might be, but I need you to clear them up. :)

i'll do my best! :)

-First: What is your game about?
I think it's about creating short term adventures mainly for use in convention tournaments.  Is that true?

First I wanted that "Open the Package and play form the Spot feeling", wicht you can still have with this game.
But while I developed the Game, I filtered three "main potentials" out Of it, wich are depending from the Author of the Premade Adventure (The AiaB Author).

-A quick Game... wether on a Con, or If One of your Players can't come forone Session, or you want to play a "Railroading" Adventure like it is.

-A Game that can be also Played by Beginners... if written right, then Maybe without any Experienced Player in the Group.
(My wish is to test a fully Grown AiaB at a complete non Gamer Group i can observe *wish*)

-A Game that you can use to introduce our Hobby to People who are not Gamers.

I think that is waht it is Able to... depending on the Author... leave more Space for Role-Playing, and you have a great one Shot for the Days you don't want to play your Campaign.
Take the "Freedom" awy, make it More Roll-Playing and you have a "sneaky way" to tell People it is a Board game, and convert them... let them taste some RPG.

-Second: What do the Characters do?
I think it's whatever the GM tells them, right?

Yes, as mentioned Above.. it might have that "textadventure Feeling, because you can't Go on a Line/Scene that is not on the "Storychart". So the GM must wether improvise (and take the Adventure just for Ideas) or follow it as it stands there...
(I think this will be the Main difference: The AiaB's for beginners will/should have more Texts with Atmospheres, giving basic GM'ing hints etc, while for experienced... you must not tell them that they can make more Atmo, if they add details to the description etc.

So: Yes: The Auther in First, and the Gm in the Last instat, have the Strings of the Story in the Hand... Inside of the gven Plot, the Characters just make descisions, maybe Roleplay them Or "Roll" them down...

-Third: What do the players do?
I think it's use their characters to earn story points so they can advance to the next stage.  But I'm not sure.

Yes.. that is it...
You might Add Details to the Characters... as. The Warrior always makes fun of the muscleless wizard, maybe Beginners will make Role-Play themselfs, If you give good Character Discriptions...

But Yes. Players Move There Charakters to the "Hot Spots" (Conflicts) Role- or Roll-Play them, earn/loose Storypoints, and Follow the Storychart. (So you can "loose" and "win"... unlike a RPG... more like a Boardgame.)

Not relating to the questions
Hah! I found a German Languaged Example of mine for a "Storychart"...(It is A Picture and hard to modify for me... please forgive me... a Map of the Terms is here:

Szene means Scene
Abenteuer means Adventure
geschafft means accomplished
nicht means not
Red Lines mean "If not git the Events/Storypoints to solve this Scene "good"
The Blue lines:go Figure ;-)

Link: AiaB Storysketch

If you could answer all three of those questions clearly, then I think we will have a good foundation to build from. :)

I Hope I understood your Questions right, and the Answers are clearly enough. (If not, I think I missunderstood you, and try again)

Thank's! :)

Sven

[Troy_Costisick]

Heya,

I think I know what you are doing now, and that is good. Let me make sure.  You game is based on the idea that there will be a prewritten script for the players and the GM to follow.  Players take on the role of a character just like if they were taking on the role in a play.  The players add Color to the charactes, but never get into Author or Director stances (see provisionaly glossary).  The main job of the players is to move the conflict along the path determined by the GM.

Okay, so here are the main things I think you need to accomplish in your game in order for it to work:

1. Aid GM's in creating stories/scripts for their game.

2. Explain to players they need to supress their own ambitions and thoughts for the game and simply allow things to develop according to the GM's plan.

3. Create a reward system the reinforces #2 and gives the players motivation for completing the campaign.

I will say this, and keep in mind it's only my own oppinion.  To me, this game does not seem all that fun because it gives the players very little choice in things.  The game becomes much less interactive and more like a dictatorship.  For the purposes that you listed, the game might work.  DnD has made plenty of bucks off selling adventure scenarios.  I encourage you to make your game, however, in my oppinion, not many experienced games well care for it.

Peace,

-Troy

[Sven Flottmann]

Hiho,

You game is based on the idea that there will be a prewritten script for the players and the GM to follow

Correct!

Players take on the role of a character just like if they were taking on the role in a play.

In Case of "Beginner-Adventures" Yes!

The players add Color to the charactes, but never get into Author or Director stances (see provisionaly glossary).  The main job of the players is to move the conflict along the path determined by the GM.

By the GM and/or the prewritten Adventure.
And Yes: the Beginners will Slay Orcs, because the Script says so... as you will "kill" your Opponents Chess-Figure because the Rules tell you to.
Also the Stances spply (or in this case don't) as you said! Aswell as does Color.

1. Aid GM's in creating stories/scripts for their game.

My plan is to write a Guide to AiaB Writing with "fixed" Texts wich will be copied as basic into any AiaB. So Athors will have a Guideline to write Hints and Helps for GM's (wether expirienced or not, that will be on the cover of any AiaB).

Explain to players they need to supress their own ambitions and thoughts for the game and simply allow things to develop according to the GM's plan.

For the BEginner VErsion: That is an RUle that can't be turned down... it will actually be like a stupid computergame or Textadventure, more or less... like a Boardgame without board.

Create a reward system the reinforces #2 and gives the players motivation for completing the campaign.

I get that with the Motivation (you are Right), but I don't see the "reinforces #2" thing... can you help me understand, or is that in the Glossary aswell?

To me, this game does not seem all that fun because it gives the players very little choice in things.  The game becomes much less interactive and more like a dictatorship.  For the purposes that you listed, the game might work.

It exists for no other Reasons than this. So it is Okay!

DnD has made plenty of bucks off selling adventure scenarios.  I encourage you to make your game, however, in my oppinion, not many experienced games well care for it.

That's the Point: I don't mind!
I hope to give some Expirienced a tool to make an easy Entrance for non-Gamers to the World of Gaming (as described above: 1st Szene: Moving like in an Textadventure, without ANY other interaction than: "There is a Guard at the Door, what do you do?"
And then developing within one Session, to have a conversation, Maybe play a bit of Color (the descriptions on the Cahractersheets will give some Ideas, what the "Figure"(its not really a Charakter is it?) talks like, what Past he has...

And maybe the "Figures" wil bemade to Charakters by the non-Gamers within the time of the session...
AiaB is thought for the "supersceptic-nongamers".  so Roleplay will be never Mentioned in the AiaB (In the Guide to write an Adventure, Yes... for the Authors... not the GM's!) so you will play a Boardgame first.

The AiaB's for More Expirienced Gamers will be more Free... Without Scenchart I think, and true One-Shots.
In my Imagination, the Box-Adventures for Expirienced GAmers might be some more "exotic... tasting new Settings, or weird things, that you don't play everytime in your life... who knows.

Thanks For your Ideas so far!
If it reads like this, than I know my Concept is nearly what I wanted it to be.

I keep this thing up, and hold it up to date here.
More Critic and Ideas are wished for!

Thanks!
Sven