[Apocalypse Scissorhands] My 24 hour RPG

[joepub]

Hey -
I finished writing a 24-hour RPG a little while ago, and it was just posted up today.


I had decided to do something akin to Game Chef or the Ronnies in that I had a few concept words from which to choose from, and had to write a game around those.
I asked 5 friends, and got the following 5 words: Serendipity, Ladybug, Tiger, Lamp, Scissors.

I settled on Serendipity and Scissors.
I wrote a game called Apocalypse Scissorhands, which basically works like this:
The Cosmos were re-organized by ineffectual management, putting Apocalypse, God of Torture into the position of God of Love instead.
The game is played out by lovers who try to unite, with Apocalypse's misplaced "help" along the way.

The game is available here:
http://www.1km1kt.net/rpg/Apocalypse_Scissorhands.php


The few things I specifically want feedback on:
Did I manage to capture the tongue-in-cheek, humorous overview of the heavens I was looking for?
Are the game mechanics simple enough to be easily picked up and played with?

Did I manage to create a game in which Apocalypse is a bumbling, yet powerful character?

[dindenver]

Hi!
  It is cute. I like it very much.

Did I manage to capture the tongue-in-cheek, humorous overview of the heavens I was looking for?

  Yes, very well. There is one line where you call "The Management" "God" by accident (Description of cupids fall on page 3), other than that the flow was good and plenty.

Are the game mechanics simple enough to be easily picked up and played with?

  Well, the "Between Lovers" test can be read a couple different ways, but it is cool either way. And in one part you describe two respect auges and in another imply that there is a respect gauge for each god. But with those two things errata'd, it seems quite cool.

Did I manage to create a game in which Apocalypse is a bumbling, yet powerful character?

  Yes, I think he would advance too quickly, but it is well designed for a short game.

  It's a neat idea, and well executed, bravo!

[joepub]

Thanks.

Yeah, as to The Respect Meters (which I realize now I don't have a single name for - I called them scales, gauges, meters, and levels throughout):

Each god within The Prefects has the same respect level for you - because peer pressure influences it. Therefore, each God has a respect, its just identical to his/her peers.

So I had a tricky time figuring out how to best write that.

It's a neat idea, and well executed, bravo!

Yay!

[Zach]

Did I manage to capture the tongue-in-cheek, humorous overview of the heavens I was looking for?

I enjoyed the read. Page three reminded me of Paranoia and Office Space, in a good way.

Are the game mechanics simple enough to be easily picked up and played with?

I'm not sure that I understand. Could you guide me through this example? Lucrettia and Sachel are new to love. They have Friendship 4, Romance 2, Desire 1, and Logistics 5. Their soulmate meter is presently 12. Sachel is waiting for Lucrettia at the dog pound, but she has been delayed by her wicked uncle who has a habit of locking women in towers. Everyone agrees that waiting is a function of the lovers' friendship.

Sachel rolls 4d6 -- 14! He then adds his soulmate meter of 12 to arrive at 26. 26 > 12 (his soulmate meter), so Sachel waits until Lucrettia is able to escape from her uncle's tower by tunneling through the walls with a spoon. That's where I see the first problem. Even if Sachel had rolled the absolute minimum (4), adding it to his soulmate meter would provide a number greater than his soulmate meter. These people will always make their checks to get together unless Apocalypse steps in to "help". That's pretty funny, but is it intended?

The problem becomes more pronounced at endgame. If the Soulmate Meter is at 38, then all Between Lover tests are made on 10d6 or so. Even with Apocalypse's ministrations, reducing a 73 (35 on the dice plus 38 Soulmate Meter) below 38 would be very difficult, given that the most he can reduce a roll by is 30 (By using a skill that he has 1 in, and then rolling a 6 for 5d6 of disaster dice.)

If both lovers are working directly toward and end (perhaps making sure that a romantic evening doesn't end up with muttered apologies and rosy cheeks), are the numbers the same? The word "collaboratively" in the .pdf has me confused.

Mechanically, there's no reason to make an Against the World Test. Let's say that Sachel failed his friendship roll in the previous example. He feels that Lucrettia has abandoned him, but he wants to be sure. He visits her fiendish uncle and plies him with rare candies in an attempt to cajole the fiend into revealing the true intentions of his niece. Since Sachel hasn't made any Against the World tests since his last failed Between Lovers test, he rolls 0d6. With no chance of rolling a 1, he automatically succeeds. The uncle reveals his evil plan in return for a pittance of candybeans. Sachel and Lucrettia can continue their wooing.

Also: Have you considered passing the role of Apocalypse to a player rather than the GM? I don't have a solid reason for questioning this, but it seems like something to consider.

Having said all of this, I'm interested in the game. I had a lot of fun coming up with my example scenarios, so the material is quite evocative.

Thanks,
Zach.

[joepub]

but she has been delayed by her wicked uncle who has a habit of locking women in towers. Everyone agrees that waiting is a function of the lovers' friendship.

Sachel rolls 4d6 -- 14! He then adds his soulmate meter of 12 to arrive at 26. 26 > 12 (his soulmate meter), so Sachel waits until Lucrettia is able to escape from her uncle's tower by tunneling through the walls with a spoon. That's where I see the first problem. Even if Sachel had rolled the absolute minimum (4), adding it to his soulmate meter would provide a number greater than his soulmate meter. These people will always make their checks to get together unless Apocalypse steps in to "help". That's pretty funny, but is it intended?

Sorry for the confusion - My intention was that you DON'T add your soulmate meter to your roll.
That roll of "14" is tested AGAINST your Soulmate Meter of 12.
14>12 so you still succeeded. However, that 4 would have failed (4<12).

Testing collaboratively: Both players make this test (roll xd6, test against soulmate meter), except that their die rolls and their soulmate meters are combined.
Both Sachel and Lucrettia have DIFFERENT soulmate meters. they'll likely be similar - but the attributes are individual.

So, if they tested together - Sachel rolls 4d6 and gets 14.
Lucrettia decides that she needs a logistic test to get out of the tower. She rolls her 3d6 (Logistics 3 for her, let's say) and gets 8.

They combine their results, 22.
They combine their Soulmate Meters (12 for Sachel, and let's say 12 for Lucrettia) for a total of 24.

22<24, and thus they fail to unite.

[joepub]

Also: Have you considered passing the role of Apocalypse to a player rather than the GM? I don't have a solid reason for questioning this, but it seems like something to consider.

I considered it. I gave the idea roughly 49 minutes of thorough thought.
Because of the lovers set up, you need an even amount of player characters. Unless you start getting into love triangles, which I haven't.

So what I think would work is with an odd number of players Apocalypse is a GM, and with an even amount the duty is shared.

Mechanically, there's no reason to make an Against the World Test.

Sorry - to clarify, if you're taking the first Against the World test, then that counts as one test being taken since the last Lovers test - thus it is test with one die.