Untitled Questions

[Yokiboy]

Hello Keith,

As a huge Dark City fan I really enjoyed the Ronnies version of Untitled, and wonder how much the published version(s) differ from the contest winner? Any play examples or did you see that as destroying some of the mood of the product (sort of like breaking kayfabe)?

I deciphered the basic rules as featuring oppossing D10 dice pools, where zeros cancel high numbers on a 1-for-1 basis, and the minimum die pool size is 1 die. Successfully Finding Hope increases Hope by 1. Those Who See = the players' characters, or could it be NPCs as well? The Haze + Hate bonus for vile acts is obviously added to the protagonist's side of the conflict, to sucker the poor bastard into doing vile, fucking acts and further alienating him. Hey Keith, you're a sick SOB!  ;)

Unfortunately I don't understand the Endgame trigger as written in the contest version: Hope > Control = Haze. Is Endgame really triggered when someone's Hope is greater than Control, and Control is equal to Haze? Should the actual formula be Hope > (Control + Haze)?

TTFN,

Yoki

[Yokiboy]

One further question, again about the Ronnies version, is Will, from the What We Are section, only really used to determine the dice pool of the Others, as in Others = Control + Will (note that I replaced # of Those Who See with Will as that is defined as the same thing)?

[Nev the Deranged]

So, yeah. I only noticed the foldery spiraly thing on Sunday, and I guess I assumed it was a ghetto-production of the latest CoS thing that Keith just hadn't had time to make all shiny for the con. And yeah, I will admit that pretty much caused me to ignore it. Now, I didn't spend a lot of money at the booth this year, for various reasons, but if somebody had pointed it out and said "hey, it's some crazed, bloodstained, artifacty thing" I would have been all over it, cuz I love that shit.

So, I missed out on checking it out, and Keith missed out on some sales. Bummer.

The good news is, I'm still interested. Where can I find out more? The website doesn't say much, and there don't appear to be any other threads about it.

I did think the spiral was Dark Cityesque, and that totally should have caught my interest, but frankly by Sunday I was broke as hell and burnt to a crisp.

[jburneko]

I wasn't at GenCon but Ron's post in the convention forum caught my attention.  The game seems to speak to a lot of things that interest me.  However, I'm curious about the "unique" thing.  Are the elements listed on the website really unique from copy to copy?  If so, how does that tie into the actual gameplay?  Is someone who plays from copy A playing something different from copy B?

Jesse

[Yokiboy]

The good news is, I'm still interested. Where can I find out more? The website doesn't say much, and there don't appear to be any other threads about it

Nev/Dave, you could check out the Ronnies contest winner version,

Yoki

[Alex F]

You should be able to get the real deal from the store here: http://www.bobgoat.com/store/untitled.php

[Keith Senkowski]

Hey guys,

Sorry it took me so long to get around to your questions.  First thanks for the interest in my little experiment.

Yoki: I rewrote and retooled the piece from the Ronnies entry.  That was sort of my starting point and I went off in a different direction the more I worked on it.  You can get a better idea of how things work by taking a look at the rapsheet. 

Dave/Nev: I'll have a better preview up on my site sometime tonight.  It will include some pieces and maybe a snippit of the audio portion.

Jesse: The unique elements are the presentation of the content.  With each copy I try to skew it towards a theme of some sort.  One copy might have hand written notes that push the piece towards a specific theory.  Another my just be frenzied stream of consciousness writing
I poured out at 4 in the morning.  The play should be very similar in structure, though the tone might be affected by the text, which was the idea behind the notes and such.

If ya guys have any more questions feel free to ask away.

Keith

[Yokiboy]

Yoki: I rewrote and retooled the piece from the Ronnies entry.  That was sort of my starting point and I went off in a different direction the more I worked on it.  You can get a better idea of how things work by taking a look at the rapsheet.

Thanks Keith, it looks like you retooled it quite a bit. I am glad that the rapsheet confirmed the Endgame trigger as Hope > (Control + highest Haze). I am very keen to give this game a try.

[Nev the Deranged]

Dave/Nev: I'll have a better preview up on my site sometime tonight.  It will include some pieces and maybe a snippit of the audio portion.

Sweet. I'll check it out.

[Yokiboy]

Hi Keith,

A few more questions, but I'm very tired after a long, hard week, so I hope I still make sense.

You can get a better idea of how things work by taking a look at the rapsheet.

First, what function does the rapsheet serve in the game, or is it even a part of the game? Apart from the rules summary, I have a hard time to see how any of the info ties in to the game - where's the Hope, Hate, Haze, and Humanity if it's indeed a character sheet?

Second, do we play ourselves as protagonists in the game?

Third, could you explain what an Aspect is?

Fourth, is the Haze + Hate Vile Acts bonus gone from the published edition? I hope something similar has replaced it, but was just left out of the rapsheet summary.

Fifth, I see no mention of the Versus Each Other or Aiding Others in the Conflict Draws section of the rapsheet summary. Are these options no longer a part of the game, or do they fall under another category?

Sixth, how accessible are the rules, are there any play examples in the published version? It must be a fine balance to keep up the mystery, while still making the game easily accessible - I think Lacuna Part 1 succeeded spectacularly in keeping this balance.

Lastly, in what ways does Untitled separate itself from other media instances of protagonists feeling played and controlled by some ultimate (game) master? I'm referring to movies such as Dark City, and games such as Over the Edge's Self-Referential Awareness plot, and Lacuna Part 1 and its Blue City parallels to roleplaying? If answering this would spoil some of the fun of experiencing the game, then please disregard the question.

TTFN,

Yoki

[Yokiboy]

I just read Robin D. Laws' comments, and am more intrigued than ever!

Untitled, Keith (bob_goat) Senkowski, Bob Goat Press. This game appears as a battered manila folder with a rubber band around it, a hand-drawn black spiral on its cover. Inside are a variety of cryptic and disturbing player handouts, including a CD-R. According to Keith's description as he handed it to me, this is not a game with one GM and many players, but many GMs, all taking turns to put obstacles in the path of its sole protagonist's attempt to escape from a metaphorical labyrinth. After several pages through the material I have yet to find the crucial text bits that explain this, or give away the fact that what you're holding in your hands is, in fact, a game. Now, I'm sure I'll find them after concentrated study, but in a way I hope I don't. Because what could possibly be cooler than a game where the rules are, a guy comes up to you at a show, mutters something about the game play, hands you a bunch of weird stuff, and leaves you to assemble the pieces? I haven't been this tickled to receive a mysterious RPG treasure/art object since a spiral-bound opus called Kill Puppies For Satan was surreptitiously routed to me by its then-anonymous author, several moons ago...

Keith if what you told him of many GMs and one sole protagonist is true, I have just figured out what the rapsheet is (although, I still can't see any flags on it).

Oh well, I just transferred $45 to my PayPal account, and they're yearning to be spent.  :D

TTFN,

Yoki

[Keith Senkowski]

Yoki,

You ask all the hard questions...  You better be careful with that...  They may come looking for you...  I'll try to answer your questions without raising any flags...

There is no reason to have a special sheet to record the events of our lives, though a journal helps...

We are all ourselves in our own little drama... 

Read the photocopy...

There is no one to help.  Only yourself.  But the Others are always around...

[Yokiboy]

Oh fuck it! Sold.  :D

I love weird shit, and Untitled fits the bill for me. I'll pester you more after I get my grubby, little fingers on it.

TTFN,

Yoki

[Brennan Taylor]

OK, now I have to buy this, too. Damn you, Senkowski!

Seriously, I didn't pick it up at the con both because I didn't have enough cash, and I knew they were all handmade so I knew there was a limited supply and I didn't want to buy it up and rob someone else of the cash. Also, I forgot what it was.