First Thoughts: Dystopia, Personal Drama, and Die Pools- Setting and Rules Help

[Willow]

So, the idea for this setting came to me in a dream.  I rarely remember my dreams, so when I do, I know I've got something good.

You've got an island nation.  (Where is it?  Maybe in the Baltic Sea, or off the coast of Africa.)  Basically a fascist dictatorship.  (And backed up by the US for reasons of realpolitik.)  The whole social structure has been crumbling for years, you've got ruined abandoned cities, a number of densely populated city centers.  People are trying to leave the country, which is illegal.  The government employs spies/assassins to kill its own citizens when they step out of line.  (These guys are called Specters.  Player characters are likely either Specters, close relations of Specters, under heavy surveilance by one, or are impersonating a Specter.)

My game play is inspired by Spione and Polaris.  Players take turns, either framing a scene for themselves or someone else.  When you frame a scene for someone else, it's likely to be bad for them.  Hopefully during these scenes, there will be cross-pollination of characters; it's a small island after all.

So when it's your scene, you get a bunch of d6s.  (I'm going to do some fiddling to find a good number- somewhere in the 6-10 range.)  You roll them, and any pairs are matches- you can use these to succeed at what you're doing.  Any singles are trouble- someone framing a scene for you can spend them to introduce complications.

Each number represents a specific kind of method or trouble.  For example, 1s represent Violence- you can use a set of 1s to fight (and a bigger set represents more effectiveness), but single 1s might represent Violence inflicted against you.

(This is also inspired somewhat by ORE- you might have a bigger set, and a set that is a method you find more palpable.  What do you do when your big set is Fighting and you're trying to find out if your wife is cheating on you?  Uh oh.)

Also, those trouble dice stick around until their used.  Every time someone frames a scene for you, they can roll a die and add it to your trouble pool.  They can use a single die, but pairs of dice represent even more trouble.

So, I think I've got an interesting start here.

Some questions for feedback:

Rules & Premise:  Sound interesting?

Die Pools:  Can you recommend a good die pool size?  What I'd like to happen reliably is have a few pairs to pick from, and a couple of single dice.  I might have to bump up the die size, but d6s work well with the intended methods.

Setting:  This is kind of a hazy slate.  Some areas that might help me out:
Any good reasons for the govt. to be killing it's citizens (other than that they're trying to escape)?
Any good reasons for these people to want to escape en masse (other than that the govt. is trying to kill them?)
What do people do in their day to day lives in a tyrannical police state, crumbling or otherwise?  What's the status quo supposed to be?

[J. Scott Timmerman]

Rules & Premise:  Sound interesting?

Honestly, it sounds depressing.  But yes, interesting. 

Die Pools:  Can you recommend a good die pool size?  What I'd like to happen reliably is have a few pairs to pick from, and a couple of single dice.  I might have to bump up the die size, but d6s work well with the intended methods.

Six dice seems like a good bet.  Here's a chart I made in case you're rolling 6.

0.01%   All dice are the same.
0.39%   Five dice are the same, with one different
0.96%   Four dice are the same, and the other two form a pair
3.86%   Four dice are the same, and the other two are different
0.64%   Two sets of three matching dice
15.43%   A set of three matching dice, a pair, and a single
15.43%   A set of three matching dice, and three different dice
3.86%   Three pairs of matching dice
34.72%   Two pairs of matching dice, and two different dice
23.15%   One pair of matching dice, and four different dice
1.54%   All six dice are different

Matches and singles appear to be pretty balanced.  Very rarely would you not get a pair at all.  And you've got about a 40% chance of having more possible complications than your resources to overcome them.  I would guess that a higher dice pool would significantly decrease this even for 7 or 8 dice, but I haven't run the numbers on that.  Of course, with pools of d6s that size, it's also impossible not to get a pair.

Setting:  This is kind of a hazy slate.  Some areas that might help me out:
Any good reasons for the govt. to be killing it's citizens (other than that they're trying to escape)?

These are all too common in the news...  Genocide, dissent (political, economic, etc.), or even to wrest resources from control by more localized regimes.  Or sheer intimidation.  Whenever this is happening, remember that there are some citizens who perceive the killings as alright.  What is going through their heads?

Any good reasons for these people to want to escape en masse (other than that the govt. is trying to kill them?)

There are always forms of oppression other than killing, or in combination with killing.  Religious and ethnic discrimination in legal/social matters are big ones.  And even when it's not government oppression, people might still leave for economic reasons.

What do people do in their day to day lives in a tyrannical police state, crumbling or otherwise?  What's the status quo supposed to be?

That really depends upon the culture.  A lot of people feel powerless over the regime itself and just try to live.  Remember that there are also many who are allied with the regime itself, ethnically, economically, or via ideology - often a combination of the three. 

In such a polarized environment, violence can beget violence, and guilt is often by association with someone else who happens to be closer to the opposite pole.  Or violence can silence people.  Stalemates in power can last decades.  But, especially if killing is going on, things are more likely to tip in one direction or another.  The status quo can change.

My suggestion is that you borrow liberally from the news and real-world events on every continent, past and present.

-Jason