New Game [MeMe] - Basic idea - Take 2

[flossy]

I have had some more thoughts on the basic game idea described on the thread below:

http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum/index.php?topic=28572.msg268640#msg268640

The idea now is that the character players are characters from fairy tales/urban myths. Those character normally live in thier never ending story, the big bad wolf is doomed each day to be killed by the axe man, the goldren goose is killed and found not to have gold in it etc. The land of the characters never changes, they are actors going though their part each and everyday.

When I stated that the world never changes, that wasn't strictly true. What happens in the contempary world effects the world of the players. The only way of effecting the contempary world is by possessing people. The possessing player describes a skill/ability set of what they require, another player, probabily a foe from the fairy story/urban myth, describes the particulars of the person that gets possessed. There is some negotiation at this point.

The players are either attempting to change their story to their betterment or maintain the status quo.

That's the basic idea. I would appreciate any feedback and areas of concern about the game. Cheers

[Chris Flood]

I've read this and the original thread, and I feel like I could use an example or two of how you envision an actual game scene transpiring.

[flossy]

That's a fair enough request. Sorry about the delay in getting back to the forum, but I've been on holiday and just got back.

Here's a broad overview of how I see the game being played. Please bare in mind that this is a First Thoughts forum post, and there are areas which will require firming up.

Initally we have character set up. In this stage players will come up a character idea that will come from Urban Myth/Folk lore. At this point some characters may choose to be other characters involved in a particular Urban Myth/Folk lore, for example one character may be Red Riding Hood and another the Big Bad Wolf. Once the basic character has been decided the characters get to choose 'some' abilities which are rated as minor, lesser or major. The abilities chosen will include the ability to possess mortals of the contemporary world which is the only way they can physically effect the contemporary world.

At this point I need to explain something of the setting. The players are existing in their Folk Lore/Urban Myth world where they spend their time going though the motions of playing out their particular Folk Lore/Urban Myth. They are being going though the motions and although they can be aware of what is going on in their story, but can not vary from it without interacting with the contemporary world. Interacting with the contemporary world world is the only way of adjusting their story. The characters own Folk Lore/Urban Myth setting is only intended as a back drop to where the adventures happen, the main stay of the adventures happen in the contemporary world.

Once character creation has been completed, the game begins. I do picture a GM of some nature to be present to guide and moderate. The first player starts running though their story until they get to a point that they want to change. The GM then 'somehow' determines a correlating event between what the character wants to change and a change in the contemporary world. If the character can make the contemporary world change in that manner, the change happens in the story. The bigger the change in the story, the big and harder the change in the contemporary world. The player needs to possess mortals to effect the contemporary world. The player states what kind of skills/abilities they want, and the other players give definition on who the character actually gets to play. There is some negotiation at this point to end up with an appropriate possessed person. That player will run though a scene with a GM and then play will move on to the next player.

Here's a quick run though of a character idea and where it may start.

In discussion with another player, there of the players decide that their story should be 'The Killer in the Backseat'. In this story a young woman gets in her car after a night out. While driving home another car keeps driving up to the back of her car and flashing his lights. This keeps happening and worries the young woman. This happen up until the woman gets home and the car goes past and the man shout out to call the police. It turns out that the man in the car was trying to warn the young woman of the killer in the back seat but each time the man flashed his lights, the killer ducked in the back of the car. All the characters choose their abilities at this point. It happens that it is the young womans who goes first. She decides that she'd like to have a boyfriend with her for this story to have a happier ending for her. The GM thinks that this is a big change say four out of five. The GM deciding that escaping from an all female person would be a sufficient change for this to take place. The player wants to posses a woman prisoner, who is a gymnast and has contacting in the underworld. After negotiation the character is actually a woman who is in prison in Australia who has is in jail for killing her husband. Her contacts with the underworld were made while in prison. She has some supernatural ability which has already been chosen at character creation, it may be being able to remotely read documents and the people she possesses tend to remain conscious of what is happening to them and they can argue with the possessor but not take any physical action. The scene is set and the young woman goes about trying to escape prison.

Hope that helps clarify, and sorry if it rambles.

[flossy]

Couple of other points come to mind now.

I think that it should be a signal Urban Myth/Folk Story that the group are portraying. In that way every character has an interrelationship with each other.

Secondly, when attempting actions in the contemporary world, the game mechanics need to be quite simple as the mortals who get generated may only be used briefly. My initial thoughts are for skills stats going from 1 to 5, and if the character has less than the required skill they fail, above the succeed and if equal they succeed half the time. If it is unclear if a mortal has a particular skill, a dice roll to say yes or no.

Any thoughts or suggestions greatly appreciated.