MonkeyWrench Con Edition - Harlekin-Maus Game

[Zak Arntson]

Okay, I've totally revamped MonkeyWrench for convention play. Feel free to print up and photocopy and give away:

http://www.harlekin-maus.com/cons/monkeywrench_con.html

Looking at the original MonkeyWrench, here's what I found lacking and my fixes:

No concrete way to end
This time around, the GM gets tokens. When the GM runs out of tokens, the game can end. This can help the GM pace things (by holding on to tokens to make the game last longer or spend a ton to speed things towards the end).

Space Station setting is limiting
It's a convention game, so for maximum interest (I'd hate to see people thinking "it's a sci fi game, bleah", there is now ANYTHING possible. You just have a setup and a goal.

No Statistics
Though I believe now stats a la Shadows is a great thing for games, I want to try out the Dying Earth method. This is where each stat is a resource to be spent and refreshed. So now Monkeys have three stats (Noggin, Hands & Feet, ThugMonkey) which also let people customize their monkeys somewhat.

Monkeys can't die!
Here I take a page from my Jon Morris Sketchbuk Roleplaying Game (which gets its mechanic partly from Toon) where you have a "hit point" resource: Gusto. Once you run out of Gusto you always roll REALLY BAD for five minutes. This should reconcile the people's desires for "hit point"-ness.

[Andrew Martin]

Monkeys can't die!
Here I take a page from my Jon Morris Sketchbuk Roleplaying Game (which gets its mechanic partly from Toon) where you have a "hit point" resource: Gusto. Once you run out of Gusto you always roll REALLY BAD for five minutes. This should reconcile the people's desires for "hit point"-ness.

Could you explain more about ""hit point"-ness." please? I don't understand.

[Zak Arntson]

Sure. Hit points (or some health measurement) are a staple of roleplaying games. Like extra rules for combat. They aren't required but are often expected in an RPG. There's this idea that a game needs some measure of "wellness" that when you reach zero, your PC is out of the game.

Many RPGs are based in some part on survival, so it's appropriate to have some measure of surviving. But there are tons of RPGs where this isn't needed at all, or a variation of wellness is used. MonkeyWrench is all about crazy monkeys, not dead monkeys, so I initially didn't include any hit points.

I wanted the convention MonkeyWrench to appeal to a broader audience so I added Gusto (another name for Hit Points). It's more comfortable that way. Only when a Monkey's Gusto reaches zero, it's just another roleplaying opportunity and impetus to keep playing the game.

Same reason I added stats. I just received a question (not the first for my games) about stats in MonkeyWrench. In both cases I added something that I hope will make the game more interesting to play, rather than an addition for addition's sake.

[Ron Edwards]

Hey,

In technical Forge terms, Zak has added a Resource to the character design of the game. However, unlike a well-known role-playing Resource known as "hit points," which are very unforgiving (ie your character is dead and you may no longer play), his Gusto exacts a minor, timed penalty.

Best,
Ron

[Andrew Martin]

Thanks, Zac and Ron!