world of nixon - surrealistic postindustrial roleplaying

[splattergnome]

hello, my name is david clarke and i am *shock* currently designing a new roleplaying game, which seems to be rather popular here in these forums ;-)

since i am a film student, i have written several movie scripts, and although they have their differances, they all seem to take place in the same mileau...

and recently i've had the idea of taking ideas from discarded script attempts, notes and other info and do some good oldfashioned worldbuilding for a website called world of nixon, which will describe the mileau of the world. and while i haven't gone far into it, i've been struck by the idea of roleplaying in it, since it so differant than anything i've ever played in or have heard of (i know, a brave boast, but stay with me!). so, i've decided to use the world as a roleplaying setting.

it is a world which borrows heavily from david lynch, dark city, hellraiser, brian aldiss, and j.g. ballard. a world where the people are normal, but the world is insane. the setting is a gigantic city full of factories pouring tons of smoke into the sky. the world of the prophet nixon, who brought the postindustrial antichrist complex with him after the destruction of rome in the eternal atomic explosion (yes, it reminds be a bit of the -hellstorm- of gurps technomancer, which i've recently got my hands on, but i had -my- idea earlier). a world where bomber-jets from -beyond- throw bombs on the -city- (the country of merica is no more, it was destroyed by nixon) which change reality and contaminate them with the deadly doxrine-analphs, a disease which causes one to bleed more blood than one actually has.

well, i don't want to get into too many details here, just wanted to hint at the surreal nature of it all.

the basic idea of the game is that players are ordinary people... waitresses, lawyers, factory workers and the like. normal people like you and me, with no "special" abilities.

i first looked around at other rpg systems for inspiration. i didn't want to base it off another rpg, since i want to eventually bring it out in (e)book form. i glanced over fudge, but it didn't seem to be what i wanted.

i am not going to use attributes, hit points and the like. i am going to use traits based on occupation and hobby. i have been thinking of four levels of job skill:

narrow - skill only usable in context of one's job
broad - skill also also adaptable to other contexts
specialized - very good skill (used within context of one's job)
expert - very good skill adaptable to other contexts

for example, a shoe salesman might have "persuasion (narrow)" which means he can sell shoes, but will have trouble selling insurance or otherwise persuading people. "persuasion (specialized)" will be an expert on shoes.  shoe salesmen with broad or expert will be able to adapt their skills to similar situations to good or great effect, for example persuading an insane gunsman to put their gun aside in a bank robbery, whereas the first shoe salesman could probably only sell him new shoes.

it is very rough at the moment, but that is the basic idea. to have a job, one must at least have a narrow skill in the job qualifications... but some people are better at it, and can use it outside the job. for example, a secreatary might have "computer (narrow)" and type in addresses, but she won't be able to surf in the internet or play computer games ("computer (broad"). if she had specialized or expert, she could probably make homepages... (note: world of nixon has no computers ;-)

there are several "meters" however which can be compared to a combination of "hit points" and "saving throw" which play at intregal role in the game:

reality - the level of being "in" this reality. people who are not tend to fade away during the reality bombings

contamination - the level of contamination by doxrine-analphs

sanity - this is pretty much self-explanatory

memory - people tend to forget things when reality changes... memory level is the "strength" of memory

mundane - how "normal" you are. the more you fall out of line (or your role), the more tempting target you are for "strange happenings"... usually not that good... this is the simple single reason why most people are unaffected by the world dying around them. i might dump this one, though.

those are my first thoughts i've had up to now, but i'm sure things will change soon enough. i would love to hear comments or crititicisms.

[Jake Norwood]

I actually really like your skill rating system. It's definable, yet flexible, sensibly mathmatic, yet easy on the numbers (figuratively speaking, here). Your world sounds interesting, and the stystem seems like it specifically supports it (which is a thing I like), although it hasn't sold me yet as something I couldn't do with GURPS or Shadowrun.

So, tell us more.

Jake

[Laurel]

Yes, definately tell us more.   Here's some questions that immediately came to my mind.  

What is the "postindustrial antichrist complex?"

What inspired you to make Nixon the central antagonist, a symbol of antagonism?  

If you were going to state the premise of WoN in one sentence, what would it be?

[Clinton R. Nixon]

What inspired you to make Nixon the central antagonist, a symbol of antagonism?  

I can't help chuckling, unfortunately. This post is of no merit.

[Bailywolf]

It all sounds quite... grim.

Read some China Miéville (espcialy Perdido Street Station and the upcoming Scar).

Have to ask... what is the point?  The point of play... it just seems so relentlessly hopeless, ugly, nasty, and dark... you play expressly mundane, ordinary people in a world gone completely to shit.  What is the draw?  What pleasure can I take from playing this game?  Is it like Jared's Schism where character mortality plays a significant role in the game (but then at least you get some cool powers before loosing it...)?  Or more like CoC where you can only hope to salvage some short-term exestential satisfaction from surviving against an awful horrible reality.

[Laurel]

Actually, I laughed too at Nixon=root of all evil  but then I went to look at the World of Nixon homepage (by correctly guessing it would be www.worldofnixon.com)  and guessed that the author is German and hoping for a different, more sophisticated socio-political perspective than my whitebread middle class American education provided.

[splattergnome]

so let us answer your comments one by one...

it hasn't sold me yet as something I couldn't do with GURPS or Shadowrun

certainly i have thought about using another game system for the rules (i am rather fond of gurps myself), but it is too complicated for what i want. and, my own system means i can use setting-specific rules.

What is the "postindustrial antichrist complex?"

well, i mistyped there, it is actually the antichrist industrial complex - i shouldn't type so fast ;-) this is... well, difficult to describe. to quote a little from stuff i've written:

"antichrist industrial complex? mr. cole, what exactly is it?"
"you know what an industrial complex is, don't you?"
"you mean like factories and stuff?"
"yeah... this one produces the antichrist."

in distant times they came to earth, and they were known as the anti-christ industrial complex. after years of engineering, their prophet NIXON was elected into power. within years, he became absolute dictator, and the world soon disintegrated after the ignition of the eternal nuclear explosion of ROME.

What inspired you to make Nixon the central antagonist, a symbol of antagonism?

erm, creative inspiration. i don't know where most of my ideas come when i write, but i noticed after two, three scripts that they all mentioned NIXON (note: RICHARD NIXON, not CLINTON R NIXON ;) ) as being responsible for how things were... note that the world of nixon is a parallel universe... things happened a bit differantly than here.

If you were going to state the premise of WoN in one sentence, what would it be?

the day-to-day life of people in a world gone insane. i guess that sums it up quite well.

It all sounds quite... grim.

that isn't exactly the mood i am aiming for. i am aiming for apathy in the face of wonders. it is this contrast i find fascinating. people strive to remain normal, act normal when the world is falling apart around them - because this IS how they survive. see the mundane meter, above. if they let these things affect them, then they will. otherwise, life goes on normally. people die, certainly, people get sick, people are asked to help the "war effort". but most people live their own happy (or not so happy) lives on the side. the whole strangeness is accepted as a normal part of life... because if they acknowledge it, they will be pulled into something they can't get out of.

what is the point?

it is the joy of life. think of flowers growing in the ruins of bombed dresden after the second world war. think of people in england after the industrial revolution who come home from 15 hours in the factory and still spend some time with their children. much of the game will be small-scale.

it is the mystery. an important part of the game is the choice every character has to make. will he remain mundane, and live a relatively safe life? or will he risk sanity, or more importantly his reality, to discover the many truths and secrets of the setting? wondrous things are out there, and not all are bad... but it is a risk.

think of it comparable to an illuminated campaign. strange things happen, and people try to ignore it, or they will be pulled in. if this is your choice, fine, you'll have lots of fun. or you want to live your "normal" life... well, things are strange enough that there will be enough to do. think of it as a slightly darker "over the edge".

and people can easily play "investigator" type of characters... but not as a job, but as a way of life (people "waking" up out of their drug-induced mundanity and look around, asking themselves what the hell is going on, for example, why does it always rain at the same time every day? oh, they'll love -that- answer... ;) ) actually, mixing this "investigating" with day-to-day "soap opera", if you so wish, is how i will gm my own campaign.

twin peaks is an example of this - not horror, but a bizarre humorous view of life where strange things happen all the time.

the author is German and hoping for a different, more sophisticated socio-political perspective

er, half-german. my native language is english, even though one might not tell from all of my spelling mistakes ;) oh, and i can laugh about nixon. i choose him because the domain name was still free *grin* nixon symbolizes intrigue... not overt danger. and he is not -only- a bad guy... he is dark grey, instead of black, in a monochrome world.

[Bailywolf]

The premise seems more novel friendly than game friendly... I can't understand the draw... I get to play a what?  Totaly mundane person who tries very very hard to stay mundane and do mundane things in the face of the bizare and wonderous and terrible?  Oh shit!  The neighbor's house just turned into a giant mound of sentient tapioca pudding!  I'd better go to work on time today, fill out paper work for 8 hours, then come home!  That will save me!


What are characters actualy supposed to do?  Characters in ficiton can be brought to life through naritive even when their exploits are entirely mundane, I'm just thinking about the serious hard-sell when I try and convince my players that the goal of the game is to stay as normal and mundane as possible while I describe weird things to them... what do PC's actualy do?  What is the point of making this premise into a game and not a piece of pure fiction?  What is the attraction?

[Paganini]

What are characters actualy supposed to do?  Characters in ficiton can be brought to life through naritive even when their exploits are entirely mundane, I'm just thinking about the serious hard-sell when I try and convince my players that the goal of the game is to stay as normal and mundane as possible while I describe weird things to them... what do PC's actualy do?  What is the point of making this premise into a game and not a piece of pure fiction?  What is the attraction?

Have to say I agree with Bailywolf. My first thought after reading the intro was: Man, this guy has put some thought into this. This is a cool place that I'd like to know morea bout. (Especially that bit about antichrist factories... that's an excellent attention grabber.) He's even already got a half-way workable game in place.

But I don't think it will fly as is. Playing mundane characters is really very boring if there's not a good reason for doing it. (A game about drunk hillbillies is boring. A game about drunk hillbilies holding the last line of defense against parasitical aliens is both engaging and hillarious!)

However, I think that there's so much good stuff already in place, only a slight shift in focus is needed. What I would do here is keep the premise that "survival is achieved by persevering in the mundane," but I would switch from the characters *being* mundane, to the characters having *given up* their own normal lives in order to preserve the mundane lives of their neighbors, friends, loved ones, and so on. This is a much more interesting game. You have conflict. You have stakes on the line that may be lost (How much of your own existence do you sacrifice to save your friends / lovers / communities?).

I'm envisioning this as the characters wanting nothing better than to just live out their day to day lives fixing dinner, watching TV, filling out forms, but they *can't* do that, because no one will ever have a normal life again if someone doesn't take action.

[splattergnome]

I'm envisioning this as the characters wanting nothing better than to just live out their day to day lives fixing dinner, watching TV, filling out forms, but they *can't* do that, because no one will ever have a normal life again if someone doesn't take action.

you know i like that, i really do... you guys have a point. i think it is wonderful ironic to imagine people wishing to fix dinner, fill out forms and other tedious normal stuff all the time, but they *have* to save the world as we know it, one very small step at a time. perfect: i love anti-heros, and these are definately some.

i will still go ahead and have mundane jobs to start out with, for the simple reason that no one (except superman perhaps) actually starts out as a hero. these are -normal- people doing the best they can... who decide to risk their own reality, safety, ect. to help out, something like freedom fighters or the resistance against reality (and NIXON).

*rubbing hands together*

thanks bailywolf, paganini... your criticisms are EXACTLY what i needed...

[Clinton R. Nixon]

I really like the idea of starting in normal jobs - for about five minutes. This game - so far - reminds me of Brazil. In that, the players should want to just get back to their normal jobs, but can't because of some problem.

I try my hardest not to cause an echo in here, but anyway - read this thread on Kickers. It's exactly what every player character in the World of Nixon (damnit, I love saying that) needs.

- Clinton

[Paganini]

i will still go ahead and have mundane jobs to start out with, for the simple reason that no one (except superman perhaps) actually starts out as a hero. these are -normal- people doing the best they can... who decide to risk their own reality, safety, ect. to help out, something like freedom fighters or the resistance against reality (and NIXON).

This is excellent stuff. Mundane existence *must* be the baseline for this game, otherwise there's no contrast or connection between the heros and the culture they're working to save. I think it's a great idea to have characters be defined initially by mundane jobs. Part of character creation, or even the first session, can be devoted to explaining what the characters did / want to do, and how they had to give it all up to save their way of life.

thanks bailywolf, paganini... your criticisms are EXACTLY what i needed...

My pleasure! This game sounds very cool.

[Bailywolf]

What if people develope into sort of magnified versions of their former selves- to extreme that they can no longer be considered mundane...or perhaps even human.  THey are somehow metaphysicaly tied into that piece of the mundane they used to take part in, and must protect it...  becoming sort of default guardian spirits or avatars or some such.  But if they abuse their magnifications too much, they will weaken the percieved normality of their mundane roots and thus damage the reality they defend...


So, design a mundane person exactly like you describe- with abilities which describe their mundane lives-  Short Order Cook, Bouncer, Beat Cop, Lawyer, Persuasion, Sex Apeal, Brawny, Streetwise, Good with Money- whatever.  

Then, MAGNIFY them...basicly, create a paralel supernatural order of power based on each level of the mundane ability...these can be very weird but will always be tangentaly related to the mundane trait.  The player gets to make up the magnified side of the ability, but must stick with it later during play.

some examples:

Short Order Cook With nothing but a decent kitchen and plenty of "ingredients" you can cook up living creatures to do your bidding...but they always smell like seasoned herbs.

Bouncer If protecting a building or entranceway, you can subdue and toss out ANYONE who lacks a Supernatural ability greater than your Bouncer ability.

Beat Cop  While patroling the streets, you can impose any of three states of mind on anyone you meet- Difidence & Respect; Fear; or Good Will.  Only a supernatural ability greater than your Beat Cop ability can counter this.

Lawyer  You can negoiate a binding contract WITH ANYTHING.  Such contracts must have stipulations for all parties involved, including conditions which break or void the contract.  You could, for example, promise only to fill your car up with the best gas in exchange for your car promising never to need repairs.  Contracts need not be between you and another person or object, but can be between other people or other people and objects.  If the physcial contract is destroyed, it is nulified.

Persuasion  You can alter a person's perceptions by suggesting that what they see or otherwise sense is in fact something entirely different.  This is most powerful when the suggestion is close to the reality.  "This is not a gun, it is a chocolate novelty pretend gun." would be very easy, while "Actualy, that burning car falling from the sky is in fact a trick of the light." would be hard.

Sex Apeal  You can arouse even the dead with a promise for your affection.  By whispering sweet words to a corpse or over a grave, you can raise the spirits of the dead to serve you.  Ghosts want to feel loved and are attracted to beauty- and they will obey so long as you charm them into it.  For the promise of a kiss, they will enter a corpse and animate it...but will require their reward immediatly on rising...

Brawny  Simply- you are always just strong enough.  Never overwhelmingly strong- just strong enough to get the job done as well as it needs to be done.  Just a hair stronger than the guy are wrestling with, just a hair more powerful than the boulder is heavy, just modestly more tough than the thugs baseball bat strike.  You are a single rank better than the minimum you need for success.

Streetwise  the streets speak to you.  You are more than just wise to the ways of street live- the streets live for you.  Blowing trash spells messages for you...the grafiti is your oracle...the homeless treat you as their King, the gangs as a respected neutral party, the Beat Cop as his natural enemy...

Good With Money   You are more than good at managing money... you rule it... under your influence, money will come to life...bills will fly like paper birds or fold themselves into orgami animals and follow your orders.  Coins will streak from cash registers and strike like throwing stars.  Credit Crads will move like cobras and hipnotize your victims...



Or you could have made up antirely different ones... no two Short Order Cooks need have the same Magnification either...

A bit of a lark, but eh?

[Mike Holmes]

I really like the idea of starting in normal jobs - for about five minutes. This game - so far - reminds me of Brazil. In that, the players should want to just get back to their normal jobs, but can't because of some problem.

You know, I associated it with Brazil right off as well. I see the setting totally as Terry Gilliam's "Somewhere in the Twentieth Century."

Superfluous ductwork, that should be the watchword for the color.

Mike

[Seth L. Blumberg]

Instead of kickers to pry the PCs away from their mundane lives, you could use a group self-hosing, like in Metal Öpera.