[Slime Octopi and Coral] Redesigning Mechanics and Defining Humanity and Mr. H.

[Thunder_God]

This game is what I call a CSI Game, or Competitive Story Interaction game. It's been brought up between Eric Bennett and myself. Eric is big on the Mythos and on riffing, I'm big on competitive play, together we brought up an idea of how to combine the two.
That idea is Slime Octopi and Coral, where three of the four players play "Elder" Gods and the fourth is playing Mr. H., H for Hysteria, History, Humanity and well, .P. Lovecraft :)

The mechanics will be based mostly on those of Cranium Rats, although I'm still unsure on what parts will require changing, or rather how. I know the actions during the Turns will be redefined, as will the "GM"'s role, along with character generation and End-game. Though end-game may only change in terms of flavour.
This game could be much more easily imagined as a board-game than even Cranium Rats, and that's saying something.

Discussion on Slime Octopi and Coral will be posted here as it will become available(or talked).

For you to know what ideas we've brought up till now I'll post the two chat-logs between Eric and I, to be honest, since we're in the Wild Riffing stage or not too far past it I am going this route so you'll see all the ideas we're throwing in, and also to see where we disagree regarding Mr. H. and Humanity.

We need input on Mr. H.'s roles and definition, and that of Humanity and how it will deal with the game's themes.

Session 1
02/04/2006
[01:05] Eric: Slime, Ocotopus, and Coral.
[01:06] Guy: Now here's a name.
[01:06] Guy: Slime Octopis and Coral.
[01:07] Eric: *taps his chin* Ooh, vs. mode! Six player enlightenment!
[01:07] Guy: Heh.
[01:07] Guy: Octopi, no "s".
[01:08] Eric: Rat, Dirt, Water. Rat is singular.
[01:08] Guy: There's one Coral glinting in the darkness, the eternal darkness. It is  called "Earth", you are racing the other Octopi, "Elder Gods" in common parlance, for domination of this Coral, this storm-stopping Coral.
[01:08] Guy: I corrected myself, I said "Slime octopis".
[01:09] Eric: Aha. Sorry.
[01:09] Guy: Now that's a cool game setup.
[01:09] Eric: *nods* I like it. Broad scope...oh hells yes. I'm writing the first supplement for CR.
[01:09] Guy: Heh.
[01:10] Guy: But this will use the same basic system, no controlling people, ETC.
[01:10] Guy: Meaning, you'll be the first besides me to use the CSI System! :D
[01:10] Eric: *nods* Three different Elder Gods...manipulating history..I like it.
[01:11] Guy: Heh.
[01:12] Guy: Actually, this one could probably have an unlimited amount of players.
[01:12] Guy: No GM is also possible, if there is a GM, he's either playing The World, The Darkness or The Dark World.

Session 2
05/04/2006
[21:33] Guy: The "Enlightened" in Slime Octopi and Coral? We'll call him Mr. H.
[21:34] Eric: *laughs!*
[21:34] Guy: H for History, Humanity, Hystery, H.P. Lovecraft :)
[21:34] Eric: Hystery?
[21:34] Guy: It's Lovecraft, Hystery.
[21:34] Eric: You mean Hysteria?
[21:35] Guy: Yes.
[21:35] Guy: Sorry.
[21:35] Guy: I thought of this in the army, then immediately forgot what it was I wanted to write down, now had neuron reconnection and lift-off.
[21:35] Guy: Do you approve of "Mr. H"? :P
[21:36] Eric: *chuckles* Very much.
[21:36] Eric: Especially the Hysteria angle. ;-) This should be a very over the top game...recommened reading to include E. E. Smith's space battle sequences.
[21:37] Eric: Mostly for such wonderful bs as alien ships warping into a human-human fight and start melting down all the iron to power their technology.
[21:37] Guy: I don't know E. E. Smith, but I already have some ideas for the game, heh.
[21:37] Guy: Besides, that sounds like endgame, have to begin with the time before Humanity as Turn 0, when  Humanity emerges being Turn 1.
[21:38] Guy: And then each Turn is an epoch.
[21:38] Guy: You say where you manipulate  Humanity and how.
[21:38] Guy: At the end of each turn Mr. H tells you what happens, and a new round of jockeying and manipulation begins.
[21:39] Guy: :)
[21:39] Eric: What is the endgame condition? The game should probably have a set of "Milestones" that can be introduced, to pace things.
[21:40] Guy: Bronze Age, Ice Age, etc.
[21:41] Guy: With Space Age marking the beginning of Endgame.
[21:41] Guy: Where Humanity clashes directly with its manipulators, who have to stop their manipulations and take direct stance!
[21:41] Eric: *grins* I like, I like.
[21:42] Eric: However...is there anyone advocating for Humanity at the table, other than Mr. H? Or is that the entirety of his role, rather than being the primary GM figure?
[21:43] Guy: He adjudicates rules and advocates Humanity.
[21:43] Eric: *nods* That is what I thought, but I was just checking.
[21:43] Guy: In a way, imagine Cranium Rats, but with one Character, and all Aspects being almost the same.
[21:43] Eric: Hmm...creating your Alien God should be a big part of this. A place for the players to go wild, insane, and excessive.
[21:43] Guy: But the difference is that of ideology they CHOSE, "PCs" will be modeled after several of the Elder Gods.
[21:44] Guy: Well, I'm unsure if there'll be unlimited choice, we'll see.
[21:44] Eric: I think there should be guidelines, but that giving the players the option, at the very least, of a DIY Great Old One would be best.
[21:45] Guy: ::Nods::
[21:45] Guy: I just thought the same.
[21:45] Guy: PC Creation will probably be done by questions. Since the most important bits will be their ideology.
[21:45] Eric: *nods* Cool. Ideology is their "goal", then? What they are shaping the world towards. Oh! Form defined by function. They should be symbolic.
[21:46] Guy: I'll have a pool of 5 words, about 3 pools of 5 words, From each pool each player picks 1 Word, and the words answer a question, all words are conflicting.
[21:46] Guy: Leading to choice, albeit limited, constrained to result in rivalry.
[21:46] Eric: Aha! One of the things that the Mad Gods do is create servitors. The Slime player advocates for the creations of the Great Old Ones.
[21:46] Eric: 15 words, weighted right, would give a lot of choice.
[21:47] Guy: We'll see, I'm not so sure. Perhaps they want to shape Humanity into the right form of Servitor Race.
[21:47] Guy: Not 15 words.
[21:47] Guy: 3 groups of 5 words.
[21:47] Eric: 3x5=15, however you group then. Division of words into those groups is based on...?
[21:47] Guy: 3 groups, meaning, for first group, P1 picks 1/5, P2 picks 1/4 and Player 3 picks 1 of 3 words that are left.
[21:48] Eric: *nods* Gotcha. Nonetheless, that is a lot of customization.
[21:48] Guy: Like, "What is your view on Humanity's Place?" Now we pick 5 words which will base the God's answer.
[21:48] Eric: So each God is defined by three questions?
[21:49] Guy: That is the beginning and most important part, yes. Perhaps more questions, but 3 seems a good solid number to begin with.
[21:50] Eric: *thinks* Mechanical benefit of words would be simply a statement of goal, or...?
[21:51] Guy: I thought of it, unsure now, maybe connect each word to a mechanical aspect raised/lowered. But there may be none. This game is about the players using their Stats, which may be decided on the Form level, and not the Function level(that'll be the Questions) which provide the direction of the challenge, rather than the how.
[21:52] Eric: I imagined so. Otherwise you would be loading too much information onto the questions.
[21:52] Eric: I still like the idea of a Slime player portraying the races manipulated by the Old Ones.
[21:53] Guy: Heh.
[21:53] Guy: We'll see.
[21:53] Guy: I think it fits better with the general theme.
[21:53] Guy: You say what you do to them.
[21:53] Guy: Mr. H says what they do/result.
[21:53] Eric: Well, it works well with...aha!
[21:54] Guy: Like an Old Skool RPG. You do something, the GM feeds you information back, then you go from your new position.
[21:54] Eric: Humans arise from one of the races that the Gods bring with them to the Earth.
[21:54] Guy: Just like Dungeon Delving.
[21:54] Eric: This gives the God that they originated from a temporary advantage in the early game, but will penalize their endgame.
[21:55] Guy: Hm.
[21:55] Guy: Here's a better idea, if I may say so.
[21:55] Guy: The Slime Octopi brought Humanity.
[21:56] Guy: Then, being made of Slime, Sentient Slime, it seperated into 3 entities, Elder God entities, that want different things, and now Humanity is of all three, and of neither.
[21:56] Eric: Hmm. I like the idea, but...mankind should be an accident or an offshoot. In Lovecraft, they are an industrial byproduct that comes back to bite the Elder Gods on the ass over the years.
[21:57] Guy: It was Slime, all of life originated from the viscus and almost Deific Slime.
[21:57] Guy: Don't worry, we can sort that out, and you know what? Fuck Lovecraft.
[21:57] Guy: We're riffing off Lovecraft, not aping him.
[21:57] Eric: Ehhh...I think past history should be involved. Turn 0 you narrate who you are and why you come to Earth.
[21:57] Guy: We're not going to worry over Elder God, Alien God, Outside God, Servitor God and such terms, about the different writers.
[21:58] Guy: Just write something INSPIRED by.
[21:58] Eric: (Riff is fine. But making humanity directly created is a major change to the aesthetic.)
[21:58] Guy: That was what I intended for Rule 0.
[21:58] Guy: I'm not sure most people will care, and it gives a more powerful thing.
[21:58] Guy: Think of it like this, Slime seperated into 4 entities.
[21:59] Guy: 3 Slime Octopi and Humanity, and Mr. H ;)
[22:00] Eric: *is somewhat distracted screwing around with the government at the moment* Gotcha. I think that requires the Gods to be too similar.
[22:01] Guy: Not at all.
[22:01] Guy: They seperated because they were too different and could not contain one body no more.
[22:01] Eric: Why were they in one body in the first place?
[22:03] Eric: Hmm...howabout this. The Slime Octopi is something of a "travelling form". Landing on Earth, a piece of each God broke off when they separated, creating Mr.H. He has the essence of all the gods, and becomes a bit token in their conflicts because the one that "gets" humanity gets more strength than the others possess. Mr. H is something that shouldn't have happened. Mr. H is the universe screwing with the Gods.
[22:04] Guy: Mr. H. should be left undefined.
[22:04] Eric: Why?
[22:04] Guy: Mr. H. is narration, Mr. H is feeling, Mr. H is humanity.
[22:04] Guy: That's the definition of Mr. H.
[22:04] Guy: Mr. H. defies definition.
[22:04] Eric: Mr. H is humanity, yes. It gives Humanity a bit of punch.
[22:04] Guy: That may make him too adversarial.
[22:04] Guy: I'll come up with a cool background when I write it down.
[22:05] Eric: He isn't adversarial. He is a prize.
[22:06] Guy: Hm.
[22:06] Guy: But then how is he also history and hysteria?
[22:07] Guy: I want him more like a tool and its user, I don't like too much clarity, and Lovecraft agrees with me.
[22:07] Guy: Never spell things out.
[22:07] Eric: *snerks*
[22:07] Guy: Saying "The Slime seperated into 3 Octopi, and something else"
[22:08] Eric: You have already defined that the something else is Humanity.
[22:08] Guy: And later saying Mr. H is Humanity, Hystery, History and .p.," well, once the players see who the four "player characters" are, they should be able to understand.
[22:08] Guy: I suggested.
[22:09] Eric: Hystery is not a word.
[22:09] Guy: Hysteria, sorry.
[22:09] Eric: Thank you. ^_^ Now then...
[22:13] Guy: How do you like these ideas?
[22:14] Eric: I think Mr. H needs work. I disagree with the concept of Slime Ocopi. I think you suck out a bit of life from the proceedings without prior history.
[22:15] Guy: I think the players need to set out the background.
[22:15] Guy: Turn 0 is by the players and Mr. H.
[22:15] Guy: We can tell them how Turn 0 begins, but not what is in it.
[22:15] Guy: I think you suck out the life from the /Game/ by dictating turn 0.
[22:15] Eric: And how am I dictating Turn 0?
[22:16] Guy: And besides, you don't know what 3 Elder Gods you'll come up with. Or even if you'll have 3 players, and what their goals would be. They could also be FOR.
[22:16] Eric: "Everyone needs to be on Earth, and the Humans arising, by the end of Turn 0. Who are you, why are you here, and where did these monkey's come from?"
[22:16] Guy: I dislike the general direction of specifying what Mr. H. is.
[22:16] Guy: Hm.
[22:17] Guy: Who and what are you won't be the Function questions, but the Form. The 3 Function questions will probably be:
[22:17] Guy: 1) What do you want?
[22:17] Guy: 2) How will you use Humanity to get your goal?
[22:17] Guy: 3) How will you deal with the other Slime Octopi?
[22:18] Guy: How's that?
[22:19] Eric: I think 3 is a bit too open. Maybe change it to a question of attitude?
[22:19] Guy: I meant that.
[22:19] Guy: The question will be constrained by words.
[22:20] Guy: When answers are like Aggressively, Feign Cooperation, etc...
[22:22] Eric: *nods* That contrains the meaning, so that would work.

[Thunder_God]

I will now write and answer the Power 19 for this idea, Eric will join us later with his version of the Power 19. We both will answer it on our own, so we could see where we have seperate things in mind, where these create tension, and where we can riff on one another's ideas to fill holes.

1.) What is your game about?
Elder/Outer Gods who land on Earth before the rise of Humanity, trying to control and manipulate (proto-)humanity and history to their goals.

2.) What do the characters do?
The characters compete amongsts themselves and against Humanity in order to control and shape it, or fend off the Elder Gods in Humanity's(character) case.
Ultimately, the Gods try to reshape Humanity in their shape, as Servitor Races, whereas Humanity wants to throw off the shackles placed upon them by these External beings.

3.) What do the players (including the GM if there is one) do?
The players play the Elder Gods, one of them plays Mr. H. They compete against one another over the limited Resource called Humanity and its future. They work out deals and backstab one another to further their goals, while being careful to not be overthrown by the strengthening(?) Humanity. Mr. H. fills in the GM's role, and portrays the Gods' effect on Humanity and Humanity and the world's reactions.

4.) How does your setting (or lack thereof) reinforce what your game is about?
The setting is initially that of one lone star hurtling through space, with "something" crashing on top of it, simultanously creating life and its rack. As time progresses the setting expands as culture and humanity progress, or do not, based on the Gods' goals.
Humanity being a finite resource with a defined growth-rate leads to a boardgame mentality, with "wildcard" events acting as randomizers to keep people on edge.

5.) How does the Character Creation of your game reinforce what your game is about?
Character generation includes answering questions about what your God is, what it wants, what it wants from Humanity, how these relate to one another and so forth. This is the Function phase. This is done by drawing from a limited number of words to create the answers to these questions. Since the words will be mutually exclusive one can be ensured to have a character that will have a hard time to work with others, if at all.
The characters' goals may also stand in stark opposition with their methods. Nothing like a ravenous entity that wants to breed lower beings.
Character generation will also have a Form phase, where you pick and choose different physical/spiritual aspects of your character, which give you certain weaknesses to be covered, and powers to exploit others' weaknesses. Or relate differently to Humanity.

6.) What types of behaviors/styles of play does your game reward (and punish if necessary)?
Backstabbing and alliances, being able to plan for the long term while being able to respond to a quickly changing playing field.

7.) How are behaviors and styles of play rewarded or punished in your game?
Those who cannot form alliances, uphold them, backstab others and protect themselves from being backstabbed will find their strategical position deteriorating as they are picked upon by the other players. Mr. H's player is more there to portray what happens than form any interaction with the players, their relationship is that of cause and effect.
You need to be able to make and execute long-term plans that will be carried over several rounds of play-time in order to reach your goals and secure victory.
As you are not the only player present and other players as well as random chance are likely to throw monkey-wrenches at your character you will need to be able to think on your feet and redraw plans.

8.) How are the responsibilities of narration and credibility divided in your game?
Turns progress with Mr. H. narrating the overall results of the past turn and setting the new scene, or epoch, as each round of play is another notch on the progress of time. What the world does, what humanity does, etc. The players then describe their actions, with Narration being traded based on system and Mr. H.

9.) What does your game do to command the players' attention, engagement, and participation? (i.e. What does the game do to make them care?)
You can win in this game. Everyone wants to win, or at least everyone participating in this game should want to win. Narration rights can be bought and move around quickly.
You make and break pacts with other players and constantly look out for number one. You.

10.) What are the resolution mechanics of your game like?
The Resolution mechanic of the game is based on that of Cranium Rats, albeit modified. You roll D6 and need to roll under a trait ranging 1-5, based in large on your Form and Function, those who compete in an action roll to see who will control the conflict, with those that rule highest on single dice gaining Narration.
There are Dice and Token as different resources that can be used to bolster rolls, stop others and so on.
How the mechanics will be modified from those of CR is not yet final, but there will certainly be advantages to controlling more of Humanity, having your people more advanced, more loyal, etc. Humans can die, be stolen and they can rebel. Resource management will be inserted and controlled by Mr. H., Humanity will be able to perform on a wider scale, but not as strongly, thus making several small "characters". As Humanity's numbers increase it becomes more dominant, harder to control and more likely to rebel. Probably done by having a limited number of pools and inverse relationships.
IE: Number+Loyalty=20. Number=10>Loyalty=10. Number=15>Loyalty=5.

11.) How do the resolution mechanics reinforce what your game is about?
On the Gods' front they relate to how each Elder God tries to shape History and make his vision become reality through the narration. On Humanity's end it's a resource game that will tend to lead towards Humanity breaking free and an end-game where they fight the Elder Gods for freedom or slavery, forever.
If the Elder Gods try to keep humanity down they will have a much harder time to gain their goals, and it will happen much slower, giving the other Elder Gods more time to thwart their plans.

12.) Do characters in your game advance? If so, how?
Humanity advances based on its reactions to Random Events and the machinations of the Elder Gods. It also advances based on its natural progression chart provided it is not messed with.
Elder Gods gain resources in a manner based on their Function, their Form may shift as they gain or lose conflicts. Their Function may change completely when challenged or proven ineffectual to the point of crush.

13.) How does the character advancement (or lack thereof) reinforce what your game is about?
There's a limited pool to draw from, so characters are forced to compete in order to advance.
Humanity is messed with in order for the EG to advance, so it competes against them.
Competition is encouraged and reinforced through advancement. In fact, there is no advancement without reinforcement of the game's premise!

14.) What sort of product or effect do you want your game to produce in or for the players?
An urge to squelch opposition, to sit down and consider both the tactical and the strategic consequences of their actions, while trying to factor in what others do.

15.) What areas of your game receive extra attention and color? Why?
The setting. Well, H.P. has such a cool premise going on, and so many people like it, they and he must be onto something.
Well, to be frank, most of the difference between this and CR is the premise, and the premise is setting based. The rest of the mechanical shift from CR is there merely to support this unique premise, so it must be explored.
I want to explore the cold-lone space, I want to explore the inhuman and inhumane Elder Gods.
This game is about Control, but also about Freedom.
Eventually, it's about Victory.

16.) Which part of your game are you most excited about or interested in? Why?
The option to have a limited game-play length and how the Resource you're vying for? That's basically another player's character!
Why? Because I feel this game may form a strong bridge between RPGs and Board-games, and could be modified with ease to be more of an RPG or more of a board-game, depending on what the group desires at the time.

17.) Where does your game take the players that other games can't, don't, or won't?
At the other player's throats.
It lets people play a God. Just like in Black and White, you play a god-sim. You can play that in other games, sure. But not in other RPGs. Yours is the power to take control of humanity, of your people, and shape them according to your vision.
Your very distorted vision.

18.) What are your publishing goals for your game?
Publish as PDF, later as Book, joint effort with Mr. Bennett. Will be tied into Cranium Rats from which it had sprung.
Currently undecided if to publish/promote as a short limited-time game ala The Mountain Witch or a more medium limited-time game ala Polaris.

19.) Who is your target audience?
People who like H.P. Lovecraft's works, people who like board-games. People who like God Simulation computer games.