Gods Gone Wild! Power 19

[JohnG]

So here's what I've decided for my next game.  Gods Gone Wild! has been the playtesting medium for Ember's system while the RPG itself was still being crafted, and everyone I've played it with had so much fun playing it that I decided the idea deserved its own game.  This is meant to be a small RPG with just the rules to play and a concept that encourages people to let their senses of humor and creativity go wild.  Can Gods Gone Wild be played as a serious game?  Sure, but why would you want to?  I've picked this project up as kind of an interim project before I work on supplements for Ember or another RPG entirely, something fun to recharge my batteries before I start giving blood, sweat, and tears to something big.  So here's my power 19.

1. What is your game about?
Gods Gone Wild is a game about tribes who worship various deities, but the deities have gone on vacation and without them everything is going to hell.  The god of wine is passed out, the god of war is doing the limbo, and the god of the harvest just snuck off with the goddess of love and no one's seen them all night!  Someone has to bring the gods back to work or everyone is DOOMED!

2. What do players do?
Players create a character who is a member of a tribe, they also design the world, the tribe, and the gods of their tribe instead of the game master doing it. 

3. What do characters do?
Characters have been tasked by the priests of their tribe to track down the gods and bring them back to work by whatever means necessary.  This might be quests from the gods, contests with the gods, or just figuring out some way to force their party to end.  The details are up to the gm and the players really, but the point of the game is too be open and outlandish so who knows what might happen?

4. How does your setting reinforce what the players do?
There is no setting, I've left that as a vague concept for players and game master to build from, essentially making their own settings every time they play if they want.  Once again this allows the players more narrative power and creates a game with more improvisation and less planning.

5. How does the Character Creation process of your game reinforce what the game is about?
Character creation is going to rely largely on the type of tribe the character is in and the type of god they worship, once again tying the players into their own work creating their character's world before they even make the character!

6. What types of behaviors/styles of play does your game reward (and punish if necessary)?
Honestly the point of the game is just to get your friends together, have some fun, and hopefully make someone spit their soda out all over their character sheet at least once a session.  The most powerful thing in this game is narration, humor, and creativity so I will definitely be including incentives for that!  Other than that I think being boring and not participating are their own punishments.

7. How are behaviors/styles of play rewarded or punished in your game?
Well creativity and fun are rewarded with bonuses to actions being done, but really the point is to have fun with your friends and I think that's good enough.  Punishment, as I said before I think not having fun is bad enough on its own.

8. How are the responsibilities of narration and credibility divided in your game? 
GGW has an interesting, or at least I think it is, method of campaign creation as the players create the world with some guidance from the game master and then hand their world to him so he can craft a campaign while they make characters.  Will this on the fly campaign make sense, be dramatic, or even be linear?  Maybe not, but the point is to let your sense of humor run free and leave drama and suspense behind for another game, allowing a gaming group to recharge their batteries just like I'm doing by making this game.

9. What does your game do to command the players' attention, engagement, and participation?
Simply enough there is no game without their participation, literally.  For that matter they have put work into creating the campaign and making the world they want to play in, so most people will want to actively participate instead of helping make it and then not wanting anything to do with it.

10. What are the resolution mechanics of your game like?
I've kept them to a simple highest roll wins type of system so that resolutions can be done quickly and hopefully without breaking the flow of narration too much.

11. How do the resolution mechanics reinforce what your game is about?
I haven't made them yet but I'm shooting for quick and easy resolution to assist narration instead of stumbling it.

12. Do characters in your game advance? If so, how?
I suppose they could, I might include rules for it, but it's designed for short term campaigns and carefree gaming so they'd really only be there just in case someone wants to run a longterm campaign.

13. How does character advancement or lack thereof) reinforce what your game is about?
Well it's not entirely decided yet, but it's most likely going to lack advancement rules to reinforce the fact that these are quick fun campaigns that aren't meant to be the long epic campaigns that people enjoy in other games.

14. What sort of product or effect do you want to produce in or for the players?
Just to have fun and take a break from more dramatic games, maybe laugh their asses off and have some great inside jokes and stories for next time they're just sitting around the table.

15. What areas of your game receive extra attention and colour? Why?
I suppose it would be the campaign creation because of its extra player involvement but it's really just meant to be a quick RPG where the gaming group makes it what they want it to be.

16. What part of your game are you most excited about or interested in?
The world creation that each gaming group gets to do, I think this in itself will be a lot of fun and will hopefully make people who would normally keep quiet and distant be a bit more active and involved.

17. Where does your game take players that other games can't, don't, or won't?
Damned if I know, I just want to make people spit their soda out.  I suppose the player involvement in campaign building is semi-unique but I doubt that I'm the first person to come up with it.

18. What are your publishing goals for this game?
Probably just PDF, maybe a small printed book.  If I charge anything it won't be very much.

19. Who is your target audience?
Gamers who want something crazy to do between long campaigns, something to help them unwind and just have fun with their friends for a few weeks while someone's still creating their campaign or as a way to let off some steam before they dive into another year long adventure.  Hell, everyone with a sense of humor really!