[Pimp My Prehistory] - first section

[Tobias]

Hello All,

I'm throwing out the first part of my new game under design. 

Pimp my prehistory

It’s 65.432.100 BC, and Earth has been found by the Aliens.

Nice little fishbowl to look at, Earth. Flowering plants and trees, bees, dino’s, pterosaurs and birds, interesting sea creatures, smallish mammalish beings that’ll some day grow opposing thumbs, maybe.

That’ll never get hot NeuroImmersoNarroGameVision (NING-V) ratings back at the home planet. Time to spice this up a bit.

The UFO zooms over to a nice big dead crater, lush, green, couple of dino’s, etc. Nice little closed space, once they started experimenting here, it was sure to be a nice mess, and the repeat characters would be nice and recognizable in the show back home. Stick down a couple of transmitters on the crater rim, almost-perfect coverage.

Now, which creatures to Uplift? Some of those horny tricerops fellows? That lispy velociraptor? No flying creature, though, they’d just fly out of the crater – too hard to control. Bad for the ratings.

Preferably a couple that would get the sympathy crowd back home all mushy with rescuing the poor little creatures, and a couple that’d be nice and oafish, dumb, easily manipulated, to please the viewers that wanted to feel superior, and a couple of clear favourites, playing the game hard as it should be played.

And so it happened. Only – the aliens were under pressure to get their show on the road, and they worked hastily and therefore got a bit more than what they asked for when they made the ‘superior players’. Some of the creatures have figured out what’s going on. More worrying, they have a limited form of telepathy among each other – which can’t be captured on camera!

And they have their own agenda – anything from escape from the crater, subversion of the show to their own benefit, ending the show, etc. And they’ll go to lengths previously unimaginable to get there.

What do you do?

You play an overly-smart uplifted creature from a species of which a few families have been uplifted, but are still viable breeders with the old stock.

You know you’re being filmed. You know the film crew will mess with you to keep the ratings at home up. You know being (un)popular is important.

You also know there’s a future to be conquered. With, or without the aliens.

One of you won’t be one of these creatures – you’ll be the alien film crew instead – with your own responsibilities.

The Pimping Process – being Bling (Character Creation)

The pimping process is a combination of personal desires and group suggestions. You know you’re unhappy with some aspects of yourself, but you’ve got to leave some of it up to the experts.

First, you get to pick a creature from the period (Late Cretaceous) you want to play.
Examples are: Triceratops, Hadrosaurs (duck-billed), Velociraptor, frogs, various insects, Maniraptor (feathered), snakes, diverse mammals up to dog size, and yes, Tyrannosaurus Rex.

After you’ve picked your type, you have to describe the following characteristics associated with you:

• Size
• Senses
• Predator/Prey
• Armor/Fur/Feathers
• Gills/Lungs
• Locomotion
• Breeding
• Appendages
• Social/Loner
• Communication/Color

Now, as your brain expanded, you were unhappy with five of these characteristics – and the experts are here to help! Everyone first picks their five characteristics.

Then, going round the table, each creature is given the full treatment. For each characteristic you’re unhappy with, every other player makes a suggestion to “bling you all better”. You get to pick which one you like, also give the player that made that suggestion one ‘pimp  point’.

Example: One of the things Tyrannosaurus Rex is unhappy with, are his unsightly little forepaws. The other players make suggestions, but you like the one where you get an opposable thumb the best. You write down ‘blinged with opposable thumb’ on your character sheet and give the player that made that suggestion a pimp point.

Once all creatures are done, one player will have the most pimp points. This player will not play their creature, but play the Alien Film Crew instead (they’ve shown they have a brain for bling!). That player has wholly different goals – keeping the audience on HyperGlurbia captivated.

Dawning realisation (Goal Creation)

Meeting of Masterminds (Player interaction)

Being an Alien Film Crew (The one non-Earthcreature player).

Shooting the sessions

Spicing things up for the folks at home

Editing the sessions

Audience feedback – further Uplift

Scattered concepts to find a place:

Pimped Brain attributes

• Deep thinking
• Creativity
• Social capacity

Alien-import attributes

• Bling
• (Un)popularity
• Uplift

-------

Now, I have a few questions, of course.

How 'familiar' are these concepts to you, readers? The 'Big Brother', 'Extreme Makeover', 'Paradise Hotel', 'Pimp my ..' vibe - is that getting through?
I am currently using DitV & PTA for inspiration - but are there any more Cretaceous / Uplift games you'd recommend I review?
Can anyone recommend appropriate art collection / artist that I can use (or would feel motivated to) to spice this up on the cheap? (I know this is a question more for 'connections', but I didn't want to split the discussion over multiple places).

Tx!

[Bill Masek]

Toblas,

I like the idea of the pre-historic reality show.  Its funny just on general principle.

Your character creation system is solid.  Very cool.  I really like how it provides the player with a set of finite options for each aspect, but that list will be different every time.  Very nice.

I am not sure what the purpose of this game is.  We have the uber-cool dinos.  We have the alien film crew desperate for ratings.  What kind of control over the dinos does the alien film crew have?  Can the aliens reward the dinos who support them/help them get ratings?  What advantage is there to rebellion and what resources do the aliens have to punish them?  What effect do ratings have?  How are they determined?

This is a very cool idea which I feel has a lot of potential.

Best,
       Bill

[Arpie]

I think an interesting aspect of those shows is the cynicism with which the crews invoke suffering in the participants and milk it for all its worth.

What if the alien film crew was actually a slightly futuristic human one and they're filming genetically-engineered dinos (from amber or something.) Like a real bad talking jurrasic park reality TV show (which I think sorta fits the color you were shooting for.)

As for terminology, I think you're on the right track, if you use modern terms and make it slightly futuristic, then you'll capture the TV habit of using awkward, slightly-out-of-date lingo to spice up a program.

I don't know enough about the rules basis you're using to give any coherent rules feedback yet, tho'.

(It'd be interesting if the players didn't know who the alien film crew character was. If you could work that some way.)

[Josh Roby]

Tobias, I like every piece of that idea except your use of 'bling' and 'pimp'.  Which is unfortunate, since I think that was sort of the genesis of your idea.  But I don't find them necessarily appropriate, and think they're kind of moving sideways to the reality-teevee popularity-contest players-at-cross-purposes aesthetic (which I love).

Also, I think it'd be more amusing if the player didn't choose which alternative to take -- the other players did.  This would be a lot closer to Trading Spaces or whatever reality teevee show you want to use.  The actual owners of the home don't make any of the decisions about what happens to their home; that's half the tension.  Which begs the question for me, can you put that character creation process into actual roleplay instead of pre-roleplay, to capture that tension?

[darquelf]

Tobias, I like every piece of that idea except your use of 'bling' and 'pimp'.  Which is unfortunate, since I think that was sort of the genesis of your idea.  But I don't find them necessarily appropriate, and think they're kind of moving sideways to the reality-teevee popularity-contest players-at-cross-purposes aesthetic (which I love).

Also, I think it'd be more amusing if the player didn't choose which alternative to take -- the other players did.  This would be a lot closer to Trading Spaces or whatever reality teevee show you want to use.  The actual owners of the home don't make any of the decisions about what happens to their home; that's half the tension.  Which begs the question for me, can you put that character creation process into actual roleplay instead of pre-roleplay, to capture that tension?

Or let the Alien Film Crew decide, since they did raise these animals up in the first place.  Or at least let them decide initial species and one or two other traits...and thats when it all went haywire.

[Tobias]

Cool, lots of feedback, lots of answers to give.

Bill,

Good questions - those are exactly the kinds of things I need to flesh out. I'm thinking the aliens won't have direct control over the dino's, but can make their life a bit harder or easier (sneak-feeding on the side, etc., slight roll bonus/penalty or target decrease/increase) on dino-initiated actions. The more significant control will be in the way they can edit the footage they're going to show (thus showing what they appreciate/think cool, which will feedback into audience appreciation and more Uplift for the coolest creature), and in setting 'group hurdles' (for unsticking slow-moving, boring NING-V). I want double-edged swords here, for the TV crew: too much messing about with the footage and assignments will reduce the audience's appreciation of the 'real life' aspect.

What advantage is there to rebellion? A player-goal related one, I think.Some end-game thing to strive for.

As to alien punishment powers - besides what I already mentioned, some of you may have noticed the year I chose. It's just before the K-T boundary - aka as the Meteor Strike. I'm not going to put it in large, but more subtle-like.

I see ratings as a positive feedback enforcer between the alien film crew and their favo dino's (the ones that help them get ratings). How are they determined? That's a sticky one, for which I welcome suggestions. A die role based on player actions seems somewhat inadequate (but could work), but having the players vote on it also seems a bit weak. Another option would be to have positive and negatieve outlier results in the task/conflict resolution system (natural 1/20, anyone?) be immediate rating-grabbers - an incentive to take action, even if you're likely to fail.

Arpie,

I get you on the cynicism. Strange too how the participants willingly enter such games/shows (which in this RPG isn't the case, of course).As to the slightly futuristic humans as the film crew - that isn't what my first vision is, but I guess it's a piece of Color that's fairly playgroup-tweakable.

I'm also very glad you like the terminology - your take on it is definately a part of the atmosphere I'm trying to create.

Coherent rules feedback - not much coherent rules, you're so right. :)

Joshua

'bling' and 'pimp' are indeed the genesis of my idea, but that doesn't make them holy. I do still appreciate them, though - perhaps I can find a way to write them that you (and others that don't like those terms now) will feel they fit into the 'show'. Perhaps not. It's a valid issue.

As to the players not choosing which alternative (pimp-up) to take - I think the players will be more invested in their characters if they get to make those decisions themselves. A parallel to the Extreme Makeover where a few specialists make different suggestions. Like you're at the hairdresser/barber, and you've got 3 of them hovering over you, all looking to do something cool to your hair - but you decide which.  I definately want to have the film-crew able to give them screwy assignments, though (can you get the image of the fading, failing show, and the ever-more-desperate efforts to make 'good' TV? That'd be cool).

Hmmm, it might indeed be cool to role-play the pimping up... if it will help capture tension (which is a big head-breaker for me), that'd be a good thing!

darquelf

Well, given that the player that suggested the most accepted pimps becomes the alien film crew, in a way they already did, no? But it would be cool to write that into the story (dare I say SIS?) some way.

Thanks all! Oh yeah, and the name's still open. Pimp my Planet also sounds good, or Extreme Planet Makeover... we'll have to see.

[Sydney Freedberg]

This is a very neat character generation system. Now, of course, you've got to tie into a conflict resolution system and a situation-generation structure -- although half your Situation is already there in a big way, of course, it still needs to be translated into specific problems the Uplifted are faced with every "show."

Two smaller things:

1) The player whose character-generation suggestions for other players are most eagerly accepted...loses his chance to be a player. I mean, being the GM is cool, sure, but not if you didn't actually want to. I'd rather see Pimp Points, representing "this is how well you understand the alien TV-producer mindset," used to give each player a bit of GM-power/director stance.

2) The player-characters (player-dinosaurs?) all start out knowing they're in a reality show -- why? Wouldn't it be more interesting if the players know (of course) but the characters have to work to figure it out in-game, thereby giving them a shot at end-game? If you've not seen The Truman Show yet, you gotta rent it.

[Tobias]

Sydney,

Thanks for the comments. I've worried about the AFC player myself - what if you don't want to be it? Originally, I had the AFC player as 'GM-esque with fun reward cycle as well' in mind, but perhaps I can distribute that task. I don't want GM-driven plot, really, I want dino-driven story, so allowing every player to toss fun hurdles into the mix (and interact, in some way, with the home audience) could be teh cool.

As to your point #2 - I'm more in a DitV-mood of 'there's no hidden information, this is the situation, these demands are upon you, what do you choose' vibe then 'discoverd the hidden masters' vibe. In the reality contest shows, the forceful pain from above is abundantly clear to the participants.

Saw the truman show. It's definitely an influence.

While you were writing your post, I was writing sentences as "conflict resolution should transform your current subgoal and sub-problem (that which makes you a character caught in a dynamic situation, unable to do nothing (or making 'do nothing' an active choice) to a new sub-goal and sub-problem, which you're also itching to resolve" and "a character's problem/goal should not be the wholly determined by the global situation or the global rules (remember my earlier perceived failures on mechanic memory of player's actions as opposed to good usable facts entering SIS) but by the players' defined goals and problems within that global situation" (i.e. no GM masterplot but player-driven events).

So yeah, scene start-stop, narration becoming truth, and suspense/tension through 'what will it cost to achieve what you want' - all of these are lacking now.

I'm better at setup (Setting, Color, Situation, Character creation) than during game play rules, I keep finding. :) and :(

[Sydney Freedberg]

As to your point #2 - I'm more in a DitV-mood of 'there's no hidden information, this is the situation, these demands are upon you, what do you choose' vibe then 'discoverd the hidden masters' vibe. In the reality contest shows, the forceful pain from above is abundantly clear to the participants.

True. But remember that even in Dogs, there is an initial "find stuff out" phase. It's pretty darn easy to do, with no wanking around after the GM's fifty clues, but the discovery process is there and it requires meaningful choices (e.g. "how badly do I bully these people to get them to spill?") that shape the crucial later phases of play.

[Tobias]

I can see that the initial discovery phase (especially if it's more like tenet-building from all the players, than 'revealing the uberplot' from a GM) might be nice and shaping for the endgoals. Even if it doesn't "cost" a lot to find out (but it might), it will at least guide play in a direction / provide constraits to spark creativity.

[Sydney Freedberg]

Of course, now I kind of want a minimally uplifted Triceratops ("huh? What? huh? Oooh, grass! [munchmunchmunch]") to win Endgame while being the sole player-character to remain blissfully unaware that the whole thing's a set-up.

[Troy_Costisick]

Heya,

I'm gonna second Josh.  Bling and Pimps strike me as out of place.  If you cna find a way to work around those exact terms, I would recomend it.  That might be a personal taste thing, so take it as thou wilt :)

Peace,

-Troy

[Tobias]

Sydney - LOL.

Troy - How about I include it, but make it's clear that it's the aliens sorta mis-using the term (the 'inappropriate TV jargon' mentioned earlier?)

[Josh Roby]

I've worried about the AFC player myself - what if you don't want to be it? Originally, I had the AFC player as 'GM-esque with fun reward cycle as well' in mind, but perhaps I can distribute that task. I don't want GM-driven plot, really, I want dino-driven story, so allowing every player to toss fun hurdles into the mix (and interact, in some way, with the home audience) could be teh cool.

Well, since you're talking about a film crew, what's to stop you from having every player make both a dino and a crew member?  You could even divvy up the GM tasks according to the film crew roles -- the producer, director, editor, host, etc.  Then you'd have a clear motive for players challenging other players, through their particular film crew roles.

[Tobias]

That's cool. I had considered them being part of a crew, but I never realised that they could have special crew roles instead of anonymous drones. Hmmm.... :)