[Survival] New RPG Concept - Seeking Input on "Incidents" For Story Settings

[ynnen]

Hello, all, I'm feverishly working on my current design pet project, known as Survival. Here is an overview of the game:

Survival!

OVERVIEW

Survival is a role playing game mirroring popular disaster movies, books and television shows -- those tense dramas where a group of people wash ashore in uncharted lands after a storm at sea left them shipwrecked, or perhaps travelers who find themselves the sole survivors of a plane crash deep in a desert. Or the sole survivors of an explosion that decimated the city, trapping the characters in the remnants of fallen civilization. There are myriad possibilities to create engaging, thrilling adventures that rely on people coming together in tenuous situations and working together for their mutual survival. The rules are simple and flexible to put the focus on telling the story of these intrepid characters, creating in a collaborative effort betwen the Actors (the players who manage the cast of survivors and decide what they do) and the Director (the person helping guide and direct the over-arching plot and render decisions).

The game is played out in Episodes, like a television series. Each Episode generally follows the action for a particular day, and is comprised of several different Scenes depicting the important events for that Episode. Many of the game terms reflect television, movie or radio drama production conventions. The Director and Actors work together to move their cast of characters (the Stars and Extras) through the various Scenes, completing Episodes and working together to resolve the story that has thrust them all together in their current predicament. A typical four-hour game session may consist of 2 to 3 Episodes. Each Episode is tracked on a separate Script - an activity log where the Director and Actors log important information about their scenario, creating a living history of the campaign.

The Director handles the interaction with the environment and any characters not portrayed by the Actors themselves. The Director also poses situations and problems to the party, but in a change from standard role playing games, the players collectively manage a large group of survivors rather than single individuals. Depending on the Setting (where the story takes place) and the Incident (which generally defines how the story began and sets some ground rules), the band of survivors may be a fairly small group of a dozen or so people, or perhaps a much larger group with 30 to 40 people.

The group of people who are in the situation are collectively referred to as Survivors. There are basically two separate classes of Survivors. The most common type of Survivor is an average person with average abilities and a single Specialty that sets them apart from the others. These Survivors are called Extras or Commoners -- these are the background characters in the story told by the campaign. A small percentage of Survivors are a cut above, however, and have a variety of traits and Specialties that make them well-suited to lead and coordinate the efforts of the Extras. These remarkable individuals are called Stars or Headliners -- they are the main characters in the story.

WHAT I'M LOOKING FOR

Currently, I'm looking for additional ideas on the Incidents that could trigger a campaign or form the basis for a story -- those events that thrust people into these situations to fight for their very lives, or work together for their mutual survival until they can be rescued or some other condition resolves their situation. The Incident creates a sense of tension and danger to help keep the story interesting and creates a compelling reason for a wide variety of people to work together for a common purpose. It also helps the Director frame his scenes and keep an end-goal in mind for what a suitable resolution for the overall campaign or storyline might be.

The system can just as easily handle a group of people lost in the deepest jungles of Africa as it can tell the story of a small commuter flight bound for Alaska that has to make an emergency landing miles away from civilization. Or a panicked group of teens who wake up from a slumber party to find everyone else in the neighborhood is simply - poof - missing. Or a band of campers who stumble across a mysterious cave and get trapped inside. Or a class of school children locked inside a museum after dark. Or an ocean liner that hits a reef and the survivors have to swim to the shore of an uncharted island filled with exotic and dangerous creatures. Or a bus filled with convicts crashes, allowing them to escape, but forcing them to band together to prevent being captured and sent back to jail.

Other traditional Incidents could include:

• Vehicle Crash (Plane, boat, etc. as appropriate)
• Kidnapping/Hostage Situation
• Natural Disaster (volcano, hurricane, earthquake)
• Pandemic Illness/Plague/Bioweapon
• Terrorist Attack/Bombing/Nuclear Weapon
• Medical/Military Experiment Gone Awry

I'd love to hear other concepts and ideas on what would make a compelling or interesting Incident. For the final rules, I'd like to include a sample of play for both a traditional setting, and for a more unusual setting to showcase the game's flexibility.

[Adam Dray]

Here are my additions to your bullets:

• War (foreign power, alien invasion, etc.)
• Resource Crisis (out of oil, power grid cut off, etc.)
• Marooned in a Hostile Environment (desert, jungle, ocean, ice storm) -- similar to Vehicle Crash, perhaps, but it can start a different way (e.g., the bad guy leaves you there) -- I think you mentioned this in your text, but not in your list

How about less traditional "survival" stories, like child abuse or passing English Literature 101?

[Eero Tuovinen]

Well, my own disaster game has the default setting of "a massive zombie invasion", so I guess that'd work for you as well.

[David Artman]

* Left in a prison during a major disaster (ex: epidemic; see The Stand)
* Saturday detention (see The Breakfast Club)
* Adrift and sinking/leaking (ex: at sea, in space; see Poseidon Adventure or Apollo 13)