[George's Children] Playtest IV

[jim pinto]

George's Children is an original game design by Jon Hodgson and jim pinto.

I've now playtested this game four times, and it's really taking shape. We had a great game on Friday, but I'm still having trouble with the economy of the tokens.

In George's Children, the players take on the roles of children (ages 7 to 12) in an apocolyptic world devoid of adults. The true cause of the apocolypse isn't important, but the tone of the game is determined by the way the players narrate the game. Told in five acts, this GM-less game is run with no prep-time and very little paperwork. The events take place over the course of ONE DAY in the life of the characters... who do not need to know each other before play begins, but who find cause (during Act II) to journey together.

To Play: You need only four colors of tokens and a method (perhaps pennies) of flipping coins. Tokens with two different sides are ideal.

The Act structure is as follows.

Act I: Breakfast
Act II: Rumors
Act III: Hero's Journey
Act IV: Finale
Act V: Bedtime

In each act, the children must embellish different details of the game, narrating and advancing the story as little or as much as they can within the confines of the rules. Using their two stats (memory and imagination), the children can either Forge Bonds (reduce worry) with one another or Forge Confidence (gaining glory for themselves). When a child forges a bond with another character, he reduces the worry of both himself and the target player. When a child forges confidence, he sets a challenge for himself, that the other players can complicate by expending Memory or Imagination. If he succeeds, a point of Glory is gained (regardless of how complicated the act becomes).

Worry is gained each time a child fails at anything and each time a child "refreshes" his token pool (memory and imagination).

In Act I, the children must forage for food, each player narrating in Initiative order (youngest to oldest). In Act II, the children each tell a rumor (in reverse Initiative Order) of some THE that they have heard about. The THE is the thing that poses some sort of obstacle of the group and sets the plot for the story that session. There are two methods for determining which plot is most likely... spending Imagination... or voting... which is determined before play begins. Once the plot is determined, the children begin their quest while on their way to face the THE.

Act III is where the children take turns (in Initative order) either Forging bonds or confidence, progressing the story as they go. Once a child gains five worry, he is out of the game (although the player may still be involved in Act IV). When a child reaches five glory, Act IV is entered and the child who gained the last glory begins telling the tale of the finale.

NOTE: In the Lord of the Flies version, play continues until all but one child has five worry. In the Extended game, play continues until everyone has either five (or more) glory or five worry.

In Act IV (during the finale), each player (in turn) details one fact about the conclusion for each point of Glory gained. They do not spend it all at once, but rather detail one each, before play passes to the left. The player who gained five glory (in the standard version) gets to tell the first and final details of the finale. While it is inappropriate to maim or kill a player's CHARACTER during the finale, players that know one another well enough can embellish as much as they like. A fact (in Act IV) cannot advance the story to the point of no-return, but once a fact has been uttered, it cannot be undone by a successive player's embellishment, either. The facts should have something to do with the THE and should further the aims of the story. Beyond this, there are no hard and fast rules for how glory is used. Because there is no chance of failure, however, Glory is immensely more powerful than Memory or Imagination.

In Act V, each player is allowed to detail one aspect of the character to his left (in Initiative order) for each point of Worry accrued during play. Each player takes a turn detailing ALL of the aspects of the character to his left... as they would affect the child THAT EVENING.

During my most recent playtest, the story we told was incredibily entertaining, extremely dark, and (I hope) well-received. The hard-line difference between Imagination and Memory has finally been established thanks to this playtest. Because Aaron and I know each other, I was able to kill his character during Act IV and Vasco's detailing of my character during Act V was brilliant. Aaron's explanation of Josh's character's fate was equally brilliant.

I think I only need to play this a couple more times before I'm ready to publish everything.

Playtest: Josh, Vasco, Aaron, jim

[Ron Edwards]

Wow! I'd like to know more about specific moments of play ... or better, about the build-up to them through what, at the time, seemed like more ordinary play.

Best, Ron

[jim pinto]

In our latest story, in Act I, both Josh and Vasco were unable to find food, so it was up to Aaron and I to feed everyone... Josh and Vasco did a wonderful job of describing the setting and surrounding environs, which set a great tone for the entire game. And when Aaron used a six year old child as bait to catch a hungry dog (to eat), the tone of the game was cemented.My favorite moment in Act I was my narration of my dead girlfriend... which gave a sense of immediacy to my own character's venerable age of 12. By this point we transitioned into Act II, where everyone detailed a rumor, but it was Josh who gave us our plot.

Josh's character (the youngest), suggested we seek out THE Mommy who would take care of us and make sure we never grow old. Fantastic plot. We used the token method during Act II and Josh's story won out.

During Act III, we found ourselves encounter three different gangs of children at different moments, but it Vasco being afraid of the dark (when we fell into a sinkhole in the sand) that stood out as the coolest use of the token system. And his final challenge of Act III where he accidentally kills another kid was also amazing... it made the Finale that much more dark.

Act IV resulted in us never finding THE Mommy (technically), but did show the potency of the Glory tokens when the other gang chased us into a dilapidated warehouse. Aaron's character suffered the most tragic death, which was just so bleak in a 28 Days Later kind of way... sort of when the dad gets the blood in his eye. I think Vasco ended up getting away and Josh crawled into the arms of a headless Mannequin (surrogate Mommy).

Finally, in Act V, Vasco detailed my character (Doug) burying all of the dead (which tied in perfectly with my character and the end of the story).

In all, we played for about 2.5 hours and everyone got a moment to shine, although Aaron's character was the most quiet and succeeded the least in the story.

Favorite Moment: We all laughed when Dum (an NPC of Josh's invention) kicked my character's ass, perfectly fitting the pace of the story. Second, would be when Vasco's character finally realized that Doug was a fit leader and that he wasn't ready to take over the group, yet (one of his goals).

[Ron Edwards]

You seem to have hit the sweet spot between (1) the well-known joy people find in absolutely hosing their own characters and (2) the great satisfaction to be found in making highly-consequential decisions both as and about one's character.

I'm looking forward to seeing this one.

Best, Ron

[joepub]

We used the token method during Act II and Josh's story won out.

What is the token method during Act II?

Using their two stats (memory and imagination), the children can either Forge Bonds (reduce worry) with one another or Forge Confidence (gaining glory for themselves). When a child forges a bond with another character, he reduces the worry of both himself and the target player. When a child forges confidence, he sets a challenge for himself, that the other players can complicate by expending Memory or Imagination. If he succeeds, a point of Glory is gained (regardless of how complicated the act becomes).

This sounds brilliant, Jim. I really like that you have the option to reduce worry (potentially saving a member of your group) or to improve confidence (putting you ahead). It presents quite a bind for people - do they push to achieve the goals of the group, or do they push to keep the group safe?

I don't understand how they use their two stats though.
Can you explain the use of Memory or Imagination? I remember reading about it earlier threads, but can't find those now.

Also - if a child fails at Forging Bonds, do both the children gain a Worry, or just the acting child?

....
Finally, Jim, I'd be willing to playtest this for you if you'd like.

[jim pinto]

in Act II, either Imagination is used to determine the story... or player's vote (an optional rule) for their favorite plot.

and i may take you up on your offer, joe

let me touch up my notes and i'll send you something

[jim pinto]

I'm sure this is a faux pas, but since Jon Hodgson and I created this game for charity, it would be great if people could spread the word.

And since today is National Child Safety day, it seem an appropriate day to release the game.

Thanks for your help.

georgeschildren.blogspot.com