[Power 19] Godai (be warned...long post!)

[Klaus Graziade]

Okay, so I've been working like crazy to get my game together.  After a good year of brainstorming, dead ends, and lost ideas, I've been struck by inspiration the past month and have been creating non-stop.  Any questions about anything are welcome.  I can't think of many questions I have other than "does it seem like it could work?" and "does anything seem overwhelmingly flawed?"  I hope to play test with my friends very soon.  Without further adieu, I present the Power 19 for my game, Godai (the Japanese elemental tree - the basis for statistics in the game). 

1.) What is your game about?**
2.) What do the characters do?**
3.) What do the players (including the GM if there is one) do?**

The sun is no more than an ember in the sky, and the earth, its prodigal child, has witnessed the passing of tens of thousands of generations.  The saga of mankind, borne in the rocks and stones of our home, draws near its close.  Resigned to their fate, those who remain carve a bitter living from a lonely, dying planet.  But in these seemingly final years, something will ignite to cause the torches of heaven and earth alike to once again blaze with the fires of manifest hope.

Godai is a game of destinies in an era of strife and desperation.  Players assume the roles of men and women who challenge fate itself by overcoming their own suffering and restoring to their lives the perseverance to draw them nearer to their ideals.  Though many have fallen astray and remain numb, characters in Godai will follow their passions to the end.  Often these passions are driven by virtue; just as many are driven by vice.  But morality, so grey an area, lies subject to the judgment of those who risk everything to feel alive again.

Godai is designed to be both a game and a work of interactive fiction.  The story's chronicler will guide the story forward and assume the roles of all ancillary characters.  She maintains the correct sense of time and order.  However, the story as a whole is built by the social experience that occurs between all players.  Within the guidelines that the rules of the game provide, players and chroniclers will both tell and experience the story at hand.

4.) How does your setting (or lack thereof) reinforce what your game is about?

Godai takes place in a "dying earth" setting in which everything has changed.  The sun no longer burns bright yellow, but rather a deep orange that hints at its end.  The continents are unrecognizable to the 21st century eye.  Plants and animals have evolved to these new conditions.  Mankind, loath to change, has not, and consequently the collective consciousness of humanity has become hopeless.  By finding a way in this new world, players and characters overcome the trials, both internal and external, that it presents.  The limitless decaying landscape provides a canvass in which characters can paint a new future of hope.

5.) How does the Character Creation of your game reinforce what your game is about?

The most important part of character creation involves character concept, stimuli, and motivation.  Concept (the character and her history), stimuli (things that inspire your character's emotions) and motivations (the character's goals and passions) are key elements in role playing Godai.  While motivations move a character forward, she may never assume too many at one time or else she will delve into the hopelessness of impossibility.  Additionally, stimuli are limited to a few emotional categories.  Concept, on the other hand, is the part of character creation that can be limitless.  The more defined the character's concept, ways, and history, the easier she will be to role play.

6.) What types of behaviors/styles of play does your game reward (and punish if necessary)?

Godai rewards good role playing through characterization and narration as well as taking risks to win the stakes of a conflict.  The latter is often a gamble, but can result in tremendous character evolution.

7.) How are behaviors and styles of play rewarded or punished in your game?

Mechanically, the way a character enters, acts, and role-plays a conflict generates a system of "positive," "negative," or "bipolar" feedback.  The feedback system will reward players for their wisdom and gall, but also harm them when things get too rough.

8.) How are the responsibilities of narration and credibility divided in your game?

Narration is critical in Godai.  Because it becomes a work of interactive fiction, players must narrate exactly what they wish their characters to do.  When a player uses words like "attempt" or "try," they no longer dedicate themselves to their actions.  Ultimately, committed narration on the part of the players becomes the element that moves the game forward.  The chronicler has a similar responsibility to move things forward as well.  Her narrations (as well as doing her homework to prepare the game) are just as important.

9.) What does your game do to command the players' attention, engagement, and participation? (i.e. What does the game do to make them care?)

Godai, though it has a high learning curve at times, allows players to experience a style of role-playing that lets them explore a rich world that they shape.  Characters, as they accumulate experience (mechanically and non-mechanically) will often grow into rich alter-egos of their players.  Additionally, the amount of control a player gets over the consequences of a conflict allows them further investment into shaping the game.

10.) What are the resolution mechanics of your game like?

In Godai, each character is defined by five elemental spheres that encompass all general skills.  They are also given traits to reinforce their unique characterization.  By using a dice pool mechanic based on "bids," players choose how invested a character becomes in a conflict.  Winning a conflict may force a character to bid more than she would like, and she may suffer consequences as a result.  Using d10s, characters invoke the appropriate elemental sphere and enter conflicts.  Rolling no more dice than the level of the sphere, they seek to roll success (8, 9, 10 showing for a 30% chance each die) that outweigh the successes of the opposing force (This is not a difficulty threshold; any opposing force, even inanimate objects, roll dice just like players).  Whichever side wins the conflict dictates how it proceeds.

11.) How do the resolution mechanics reinforce what your game is about?

The bidding mechanics of Godai allow characters to weigh the consequences of investing in an action.  Similar to gambling, dedication can prove to be dangerous.  However, it often becomes necessary to risk quite a bit to achieve one's motivation, and these mechanics reflect this.  Remember, dice are only rolled when there is a conflict.  Many things are resolved through role play itself.

12.) Do characters in your game advance? If so, how?

There are two ways characters advance: through experience points or through "positive" or "bipolar" feedback.

13.) How does the character advancement (or lack thereof) reinforce what your game is about?

This method of advancement shows that both small and large experiences cause characters to grow.  And because growth tends to bring a character closer to her motivations and dreams, it is important that characters grow.

14.) What sort of product or effect do you want your game to produce in or for the players?

I want players to have fun, plain and simple.  As a writer by trade, I also want them to exercise their imaginations through a game of Godai.  Narration, improvisation, and the like are all what should make a game of Godai fun.

15.) What areas of your game receive extra attention and color? Why?

The setting receives quite a bit of attention, mainly to reinforce the desperation that most of humanity feels.  Additionally the bidding system has received a lot of hard work towards it because I wanted to create a unique system that doesn't overwhelm, but allows for deep game play nonetheless.

16.) Which part of your game are you most excited about or interested in? Why?

I'm most excited about the bidding system, because while it's not unique (other games allow for bids I think), I like the way I was able to make it a binary dice pool mechanic that focuses heavily on storytelling.

17.) Where does your game take the players that other games can't, don't, or won't?

Godai will take you to a bleak world no one has ever seen and it will let you reshape that world just as it shapes you.

18.) What are your publishing goals for your game?

If I was able to publish Godai, that would be fantastic.  At the moment, however, I just want to create a game that works!

19.) Who is your target audience?

Honestly, my friends are the target audience.  I want them to have fun.

[whiteknife]

It seems interesting. I think that the idea is good and could be a lot of fun if you have players devoted to the concept (doesn't really seem like it's for casual players, but that doesn't seem to be your target audience). One thing that I was wondering as I read is what the characters "face". I get that you're going with a "overcome adversity" kind of self-discovery thing, but I'd be interested to know if you had stuff planned for how the players are to go about that. For example,   do the players fight demons while following their passions? Do they engage in political struggles? While I'm sure you could probably do any of those, I was wondering what kind of default "conflicts" you worked into the setting, if any.
In any case, have fun and good luck.