Compact RPG Challenge REVISED

[Madkitten]

Forked from the following thread: http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=20302.0

Send YOUR contribution to this E-mail Address: CompactRPG@sverige.nu
Last submission date: August the 28th.

The rules for the endeavor are as follows:

    * The game are to be maximally 2 A4 pages long, and a character sheet is to be provided within these two pages.
    * The text are not to be less than 8p Arial in size.
    * The marginal should be at least 5 mm.
    * Illustrations are allowed.
    * Basic roleplaying concepts can be assumed to be known (what a GM/ST is, how attributes work and so on).
    * A working system should be enclosed in the two pages, no freeforming.
    * Lists stating equipment, abilities and the like is not necessary, unless they are part of the system.
    * The system used should not be a rip off of an existing system, it can however share similarities.
    * Previous submissions cannot be used in future Compact RPG Challenges.
    * Games submitted will be put into a short compendium by myself, and should therefor be submitted in a pdf format with the knowledge and consent that it will be published. The submissions should be sent to me, my email will be published close to the submission deadline.
    * The game should have a name, the name of the writer/writers and a short abstract of a maximum of 50 words
    * Every endeavor will get a theme that should be tried to followed.


In closing, the games will be voted on by the forum-participants here on the forum, within the following categories:

    * Best game all over.
    * Best concept.
    * Best system.
    * Most innovative design/idea.
    * Best theme.


Other considerations, small and larger:

    * Accusations of cheating should be sent to me in private.
    * There might be prices, but don't count on it.
    * Questions should be directed into this thread.


So, the theme for this endeavor is: Technological Horror.

Goals (what gives points):
Best concept: The game that has the most interesting backstory-concept.

Best system: The game with the best system.

Most innovative design/idea: The game who have the newest ideas, not necessary the best game but certainly the most original.

Best theme: The game who follow the theme in the best fashion.

Best game all over: Best game all categories.

Best visual layout: Guess...

[Madkitten]

My Email is up again BTW.

[Kesher]

Tony--

So, it looks like you're saying that all of us who participated in the contest are going to be voting; that's fine, but I then have a couple of questions:

1. I assume we shouldn't vote for our own game?  :)

2. Are you just going to go with a one-vote-per-category for each participant in terms of totals, or will there be some sort of continuum of points (i.e., 1-5) in each category?


Everyone else--

I'm interested in why people chose the resolution systems they did; I haven't read every game yet, but it seems like a larger percentage than you would (or I would, anyway) suspect used cards.  Why?  Did you choose cards because it somehow fit the theme, or was it because you felt it was easier to use for resolution in the small amount of space you had to work with, or was it for some other reason entirely?  And how about other systems used?

For example, I used d10s first because they had the too-perfect-to-resist quality of generating ones and zeroes, which totally fit the theme as developed in ASSEMBLER.  Also, I used pools of dice in particular because I wanted to have the tension of bidding using pools of dice, which (hopefully) reinforces the tension inherent in the Setting.

Aaron

[Madkitten]

Tony--

So, it looks like you're saying that all of us who participated in the contest are going to be voting; that's fine, but I then have a couple of questions:

1. I assume we shouldn't vote for our own game?  :)

2. Are you just going to go with a one-vote-per-category for each participant in terms of totals, or will there be some sort of continuum of points (i.e., 1-5) in each category?

1. I believe that would constitute bad form, so, no, pleas refrain from doing that :-)

2. three votes per category, you may not put more than two on one single entry per category.

[Colin Fredericks]

Everyone else--

I'm interested in why people chose the resolution systems they did; I haven't read every game yet, but it seems like a larger percentage than you would (or I would, anyway) suspect used cards.  Why?  Did you choose cards because it somehow fit the theme, or was it because you felt it was easier to use for resolution in the small amount of space you had to work with, or was it for some other reason entirely?  And how about other systems used?

I used a choose-your-own-quality system, where you pick a certain number of traits you share with fictional characters. I did that because it a: took up relatively little space, and b: was easy to link into the feel of the game. The traits are used in a bidding war against the GM's pool of plot chips. I realized later that game sessions can end up skewed heavily towards the players or GM after the first contest. Not necessarily a bad thing, just a thing. I think cards would probably have been more limiting than I wanted for this particular game.

--Colin

[Filip Luszczyk]

So, I probably wouldn't enter the challenge if I didn't get the idea of using some electronic device for resolution in a Technological Horror game. After dropping the concept of microwave oven based game (^^) I thought about stopwatches, and an idea of making narration time a precisely counted resource sparked in my head. The rest, the whole parasite background, "railroady" tug of war between players and GM, tokens, and all, came to my mind rather naturally after I got that basic idea (definitely, the whole premise and theme are derived from system here, not the other way - the game could easily work for werewolfs or demon possesions as well). Most of the system itself formed in few moments, when the tokens economy idea arised after the issue of possible narrating getting rid of the parasite as a first thing to do was discovered. And basically, since it's a narration rights game, not much else was needed in the system.

The only thing I regret now is limiting player's narration rights when it comes to introducing new stuff into the story. I did it as a last system change, to increase interaction at the table by giving players reason not to narrate too long at a time. Now there is a risk, though, that the GM dominates the game too much.

[Ken]

Everyone else--

I'm interested in why people chose the resolution systems they did;

Sync

When I considered the theme of the challenge, I was definitely thinking along the lines of horror movies and pscychological thrillers. The characters that dominate these stories aren't really all that different from each other in terms of ability, so I didn't see the need for a drawn out characteristic system when just one trait (Action Level)  would do. While the characters can certainly be different on the surface from each other, they pretty much all have the same effect in the game, though maybe through different means. I also like linking health to AL, so that characters became less effective as they sustained damage; makes sense to me.

As for as the 2d6 aspect; it was easy to figure out, both for me and potential players, though not horribly innovative. I had briefly brainstormed alternate modes of task resolution, but felt that if nothing came readily to mind, then I'd be forcing it to work just to be different. Overall, the game seems user friendly and easy to pick up, which I think is a must for something that only has two pages of rules (and story content, and art, and indents, and margins, and a title, etc.). I probably would have never stripped it down so much on my own. Now that being said, I've already got a bunch of add-on rules to add a bit more diversity (though not much) to the characters, and have branched off into different genres for future products.

Ken

[Thunder_God]

The only thing I regret now is limiting player's narration rights when it comes to introducing new stuff into the story. I did it as a last system change, to increase interaction at the table by giving players reason not to narrate too long at a time. Now there is a risk, though, that the GM dominates the game too much.

It is still not the 28th, you can still fix it.

[Filip Luszczyk]

Guy:

But it's already after 15th, so I don't want to. The game was originally supposed to be ready til 15th, so if something's not right now, let it be so.

Also, the risk doesn't mean certainty, and the rule can just as well give the expected results, depending on group involved. If I ever write expanded version of the game, and that's possible, this will be one of the first issues to address.

Ken:

I'm curious, why did you decide to actually describe Them? The second page kind of completely changed my impression of the theme of your game.

[Ken]

Ken:

I'm curious, why did you decide to actually describe Them? The second page kind of completely changed my impression of the theme of your game.

From the very beginning, I had a pretty solid idea for Them (appearance, abilities, etc.) as an integral part of the game. Monsters in a horror game seems like a natural choice to me. I also wanted pockets of action and conflict, as well as suspense and paranoia, so They had to have a physical form to fight (at some level).

What your thoughts were about the theme of the game before you read page two?

Thanks,

Ken

[Filip Luszczyk]

What your thoughts were about the theme of the game before you read page two?

On the first page it was kind of like "Woah, creepy!".

On the second page it was more like "Woah, ghostbusters."

I'm not sure which of these fits your idea of this game better.

[Ken]

On the first page it was kind of like "Woah, creepy!".
On the second page it was more like "Woah, ghostbusters."
I'm not sure which of these fits your idea of this game better.

Actually, either will do. Thanks alot for reading it, and your thoughts.

Best

[Colin Fredericks]

Hey Tony - How does it look? How many submissions did you get? Can you post links so we can do some reading and voting?

[btrc]

I've been trying to get my revised entry in, but I keep getting a "mailbox full" bounce message when sending to CompactRPG@sverige.nu. Makes it hard to meet a deadline when you can't cram it in the mail slot. In any case, my revised game (Ebon v1.01) can be downloaded at:

http://www.btrc.net/pub/ebonv101.pdf

Greg Porter

[Madkitten]

OK, the challenge deadline is officially meet, and during the next couple of days Im going to put the compilation together.

I will post a link to the compendium once done, in a  new thread, and then the voting starts.

Take care all.