[Assimilate (tentative title)] the Power 19

[RicardVahgner]

Hello world,

So, I finally decided to dust myself off and mount my game design endeavor 'gain. I pulled out my most recent design document and went to reviewing it again. Needless to say, I'm entangled.
I then told myself I was going to score the Socratic Design blog and not give up until I found some kind of outline to aid me in my quest. Well, thank God I DIDN'T give up.
So, after cross-referencing several entries, I finally collected a goldmine of much needed information. I also manage to complete the Power 19 questioner, as well...big shocker.
And now I'm here. Below is the milk I have spilled on the kitchen floor. Anyone willing to help me "clean it up"? :3


1.) What is your game about?**
A game where players actually begin as their "real" selves but end up becoming their personas. The players fall into a fictional world and are eventually assimilated into it by engaging in the world's problems, world's inhabitants' problems, and so on. They must become their personas and face what challenges await them in this new world.

2.) What do the characters do?**
The characters seek out an explanation for what they are going through; they end up aiding other characters and personas in their quest, and eventually end up taking part in major world events. They grow there personas through synchronizing with the world by learning, studying, training, and conflict with others. Personas are "powered" by some kind of life force.

3.) What do the players (including the GM if there is one) do?**
The GM in an interactive "supervisor"; he is basically a wise sage who prods players along gently, allowing them to think about their situations with clear minds.

4.) How does your setting (or lack thereof) reinforce what your game is about?
The setting is an fantastic world that, compared to our actual world, is a dichotomy, and I want to try to show that. The setting should pull the players, familiar with real life, into a non-illusory world that is amazing and fantastic, yet still believable at the same time. The personas would be suited for this setting, unlike the real vessels. 

5.) How does the Character Creation of your game reinforce what your game is about?
Chargen should collect information about the players desired attributes, preferences and such.

6.) What types of behaviors/styles of play does your game reward (and punish if necessary)?
I am a fan of drama, and I would want my game to reward excessively aggressive, renegade performances or noble paragon behaviors; with all preferably leading in a heroic direction, at the appropriate times. As for punishment, I despise metagame thinking; and I want to chide conservative thinking; outside the box will net the expected and unexpected behavior, I believe.

7.) How are behaviors and styles of play rewarded or punished in your game?
Dramatic, in character acting is rewarded with the best information and responses; in an action sequence, the players get the leeway if something goes awry. In combat, they might receive bonuses or be able to execute special or over-the-top sequences against their enemies and such. They could receive rewards in the appearance of damage/resistance bonuses, increase in points gained, or even new abilities. Punishments should perform in the opposite, but probably not going so far as actually degrading a persona/player.

8.) How are the responsibilities of narration and credibility divided in your game?
The GM and players all contribute to the story of the game. The GM simply sets a tentative direction for the story and is responsible for most of the narrating. The players should be able to possibly alter the direction and add flavor to the narrative process. Credibility is based on trust among the participants and overt use of dice and other materials.

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?)
The game looks at the players' hearts and uses things meaningful to them with/against them. The personas are basically the "superheroes/alter egos" of the players – possibly their better halves. The game's conflicts should appeal to a majority of the players; the engagement should be revolutionary and easy to use (with an appropriate learning curve) and be filled with interesting and dynamic action; the game should, finally, encourage the players' participation though expected persona advancement and likeable outcomes.

10.) What are the resolution mechanics of your game like?
Engagements are handled through narrative, character interaction, and dice rolling. Dice are planned to be used extensively in power usage and character engagements.

11.) How do the resolution mechanics reinforce what your game is about?
With the game being about solving world problems and the players' own personas, the resolution mechanics are what allow these goals to be achieved. The interaction reveals information about the personas – maybe even the players themselves, and facilitates mission advancement and persona growth.

12.) Do characters in your game advance? If so, how?
Throughout the game players must deal with the synchronization of themselves – their personas – with the world they are in. Their actions affect their ability to handle themselves in the world. This directly ties to their ability to combat others and interact with the world and its NPCs. I don't want the players to focus directly on increasing their abilities. I want them to involve themselves in the happenings of the world and round out their persona, to bond with it, and to lead it in the direction they desire to go. This is ultimately how character advancement occurs.

13.) How does the character advancement (or lack thereof) reinforce what your game is about?
Considering the game is about progressing in a new world in a new body (quite literally), I think this will fit. Involving oneself with the world ultimately allows one to fully take on whatever in thrown against them. Nonparticipation (and therefore not advancing) will most certainly lead the player to failure.

14.) What sort of product or effect do you want your game to produce in or for the players?
I am ultimately aiming to give the players a dramatic narrative that is, really, about them, and that puts a smile on my face. I want the characters to feel a genuine sense of immersion in a living world, something they might feel in a video game that really appeals to them, or a movie. Maybe even virtual reality... Also, a sense of accomplishment once they've conquered an immense challenge. Not to mention the many engaging encounters laden throughout the entire journey.

15.) What areas of your game receive extra attention and color? Why?
Character development, personal encounters and issues, combat, also a sense of discovery and finally rich, detailed narrative.

16.) Which part of your game are you most excited about or interested in? Why?
Considering my past attempts at tRPG design, I am looking forward to developing and witnessing an immersive combat sequence with intricate design details and these flexible player reward sequences. Also, I am hoping the whole "real to fictitious" thing turns out to work well and being appealing...I mean, most people do have fantasies of themselves as doing extraordinary things, right? We all want to be superheroes (or something like that).

17.) Where does your game take the players that other games can't, don't, or won't?
Sure, all rpgs involve a player creating a character and jumping into a game, but they don't actually deal with the player, him/herself, somehow being absorbed into this game and transforming into their imagined persona. This leads to what some games might try to do but can't accomplish – the player has more interest in the game; personal conflicts can be presented to them, that are based on their own weaknesses and personality (which are presented lightly in the beginning of the game, where the player succumbs to stress).

18.) What are your publishing goals for your game?
Perhaps publishing nation-wide? I've just been really focused on completing a nice game to play with and see where that goes. I just really want people to enjoy my intellectual property. I suppose I would start with online PDF. Boxed sets would be really nice, though.

19.) Who is your target audience?
Teenagers, young adults – the population interested in fantasy, games that aren't micromanaged (4eD&D, anyone?)

I feel that the first question is a bit shallow (maybe it's just me, it makes some sense); #3 could use a li'l more fleshing out. Section 7 sounds awesome, methinks. I didn't fully understand #8, though...feedback on that one would be appreciated. Number ten seems sparse, as well. What do you think about my idea of advancement? Do you think I'm focusing attention on the appropriate parts of the game?
I am going to look up info on publishing, too...after getting some rest. I think the target market is appropriate, too. Thanks for taking the time to go over this, fellas!

Hoping for radical feedback!
Drew

[RicardVahgner]

So how long will it take to get some feedback on this site? I know, out of four hundred people, someone must have something to say.

Drew

[Lance D. Allen]

Sorry Ric, but it's actually not a good idea to post a Power 19 and ask for feedback. I've done it myself though, so it's not a bad mistake to make. This questionnaire is pretty controversial, and a lot of high-profile users on this site think it is completely worthless. Aside from that, it's a wall of words that does very little to encourage people to read through it. Me, I'm not totally against the Power 19 (except as a "hey, this is my game" introductory post), but I also just saw this for the first time.

Some questions to move into discussion:

'splain what you mean by Persona? I think I get it, but I'd like to be clear.

For number 7, how, literally, are these rewards represented? Does the GM give numerical bonuses? More dice? Do the other players get to decide what deserves a bonus?

For number 9, you said:

The game looks at the players' hearts and uses things meaningful to them with/against them... The game's conflicts should appeal to a majority of the players;"

That's a pretty bold statement, and definitely catches my interest. How does the game do this? How do the rules and text bring these meaningful, appealing conflicts out, and put them into the fiction?

10 is asking, I think, for something a bit more specific. Without regurgitating your whole mechanical system to me, can you describe the basics?

Your answers to 12 and 13 are actually very, very compelling. How does interaction with the world, bonding with the persona advance the character?

I am looking forward to developing and witnessing an immersive combat sequence with intricate design details and these flexible player reward sequences.

Wait, what? But you said... How is this going to keep the focus on interacting with the world, bonding with the persona?

To expand a bit also on your comments at the bottom: Question number 8 is kinda badly phrased, as it assumes you've a bit more familiarity with games that are non-traditional. In common RPG play, the GM narrates everything that happens in the world, and the players narrate their own actions. Credibility means how easily the play group accepts anything that's added to the fiction. GMs usually have a lot of credibility, by virtue of their position. Players usually have credibility over declaring what their character does; If you say Ragnar has red hair and carries an axe, we're probably going to believe you. For the rest, the game setting and system apportions credibility. If you say you've got an axe, the setting will back you up if it's a bog-standard fantasy. If you say that you chop the goblin in half, the natural twenty you just rolled, and the maximum damage on your dice mean we'll probably believe you. The +10 Vorpal sword you pull out of your backpack is less likely to get believed, as there's no way that the setting or system (which includes the buying of equipment) will back you up.

There's more to say, but I'll wait until you reply back.

Also, I just noted this is in Endeavor. This sort of discussion normally takes place in First Thoughts. Ron or Vincent may move it over for you if he notices it's in the wrong folder, so don't worry about it for now.

[RicardVahgner]

Ah, I see. Well, I just saw that someone else posted in this forum, so that is why I followed suit. Sorry for putting this in the wrong place, sir. As for your questions, I will ruminate and get back to you ASAP. Thank you very much for responding!

Drew

[lumpley]

First thoughts it is. Carry on!

-Vincent
site tech admin

[Excalibur]

Hey, Ricard.

I have to admit, I just scanned through your 19. Personally, while I like how the 19 gets a lot of stuff out there, I have fewer questions that I ask and they might be a bit more difficult to answer. They come from a series of game dev videos on youtube and are called Jarod's big 3 questions, the fourth is added by the host of the videos.

1.  What is your game about?
This sets the tone about everything. Love, Violence, etc. your game mechanics should be about that concept. This is not the setting, that is where your game takes place which is not the theme.

2. How is your game about that? or How does your game do that?
Game mechanics should reflect the concepts in question 1.

3. How does your game reward or encourage that behavior?
Is the reward mechanic? XP? Favor Points? Something more obscure/abstract?

4. How do you make that fun?
What will make players want to come back and play this game again and again?

Now, about your setting I think you should look into the series of novels by Joel Rosenberg: The Guardians of the Flame series. This is almost exactly what you describe. I would also suggest looking into the game Timelords which has rules on how to represent time-traveling versions of the players. It provides ways to define a player's attributes as a character in the game. It also provides a means to create characters (that are not the players). So with these two suggestions you have 1: A very similar setting, 2: A way to represent the players themselves in game, and 3: A way to present the personas the players morph into.

It'll be a bit of reading, yes, but you'll find it entertaining, trust me

[Artz]

The idea that the player enters the world and develops into someone else is extremely interesting and engaging. I've never seen anything like it, and I've seen a lot of game systems. All I can say is: stick with it, and I'm excited to see where it goes. Good luck.

[Jeff B]

I also find the notion of taking the "real" player into the game and engaging the fictional world as a very interesting idea.  I think it will accomplish two things in particular.  One, it removes the need to create an artificial personality, which some players find to be a burden.  Two, it sets the stage for "what if" questions about one's self.

"What if I had a million dollars?"  Cool.  You enter the fictional world to discover you have substantial financial assets, and even more on the horizon if you play your cards right.

In various forms, giving a person power will bring out some of their dreams.  Maybe they want to create a utopia, or being a warlord, or seek their true love, or be famous or controversial.

If you give the player X power to start with, you can then reward them with X additional power for making good use of the original power.  Perhaps players could be tempted with a sort of wish that they get from start:  YOu could wish for money, fame, superhuman abilities, political power, many admirers, or whatever.  Work from there toward creating a empire that reflects your inner desires.

Just a thought.