TV Land

[Gwen]

This is an old idea of mine, which is a combination of "Stay Tuned" and "Quantum Leap."

Stay Tuned was a movie from the early 90's where Satan sells people satellite dishes which suck up the viewers and send them into the TV shows.  It was horribly hokey.

Premise

The idea here is that the players make characters, traditionally themselves.  Each person writes down a television show they feel comfortable GMing and they are put on a list of 1-20.  This could be anything like Simpsons, Star Trek, the hunting show,  a cooking show, a game show.

The hook here is that each show is a violent parody of itself, where everyone is out to kill the characters.

20 shows should be picked, because a d20 is rolled and whatever number comes up is the show the characters are dumped into.  Depending on if the show is half an hour or an hour, the players have that much REAL time to do one of two things:

Find out what the conflict is and resolve it (like Quantum Leap)

or

Find a static portal.  The static portal immediately teleports them out of the show and into ther next one.

Moving from show to show

Each time a show is "defeated" it is crossed off.  Then the d20 is rolled again to see which is next.  If you roll a show that's crossed off, roll again.  The point is to defeat all 20 shows and get out of hell.

You can take things with you through the shows, FE a star trek phaser into the fishing show.  Towards the end, the characters will probably be wounded and armed to the teeth (depending on what shows are rolled earliest.)

Living and Dying

There are no skills and attributes, players tell the GM what they want to do and the GM decides if it is appropriate for the show.  (Bruce Willis could shoot at a telephone cord and knock down a helicopter.  The guy on the fishing show couldn't.)  It is up to the GM to decide what is possible and imposible.

To stay alive, characters gain Starring Points.  Each player starts with 5 and they acquire more by accomplishing feats or overcoming obstacles in TV Land.  Whoever has the most Starring Points is the Star.  They cannot die and can pretty much do whatever they want.  The second most is the Co-Star, who cannot die, unless it is in the last 10 minutes of the show.

The rest are supporting actors,  who had better watch out because they can die at any time.

Essentially, there is very little rolling,  except when something might kill the characters.  Roll a D20.  if the dice number equals the number of the show, someone (the person/s with the lowest starring points.)

There is a lot of running.  Only the Star and the Co-Star do much fighting, but that's how TV works,  is it not?

Satan

Satan loves people who do well.  That means more ratings and better satellite sales.  However, Satan hates it when people beat all 20 shows and go free.  In the last 5 shows, Satan himself will jump into TV Land and try to get everyone killed.  He has to obey all the rules of TV as well, so he can be defeated, but he usually jumps in as the most powerful character in the show.

He carries with him a remote control.  He can flip channels, mute sound, anything a TV remote can do (not a VCR remote.)  If the characters somehow get the remote, they can hit power and immediately free themselves.

House Rules

There's not much to the game and there is a lot of room for expansion.  We have played it with an actual television, where you randomly hit numbers and play whatever show you land on.  Other times we used a TV guide.

You could add in attributes and skills, but seeing as how things change from show to show, there would be either way to many skills, or too many worthless skills.


I'm just posting this as something for people to try if they feel so inclined, but I'm also willing to help answer any questions if you feel I missed something.[/b]

[Mike Holmes]

The most important question: How does one get Starring Points? Or, rather, who has the authority to give them? Why start with 5 and not 0?

Also, I assume that the player who volunteered the show as being able to GM it becomes GM as you move into that world? Does he play himself as well in that world? What's to precent himself from just stating that his character has defeated the conflict, and jumping out?

Mike

[Emily Care]

Hi Gwen,

Thanks for the game. It looks like a lot of fun to play.  What sorts of stats/combat mechanics have you used?

How do the static portals work?

I'm collecting short, easy games to play with a group of friends that is made up of half gamers, half non-gamers.  Played Soap with them, and Matchmaker. This looks like just another such game that would go over well.

--Emily Care

[Eric J.]

This looks pretty fun, however-

Are most people fluent in the trivia of 20 shows?

And:  I'd try to find a system of mechanics that works well for this.  Mabee not skills, but definitelley attributes.

Another thing:  Why is every one trying to kill the players?  Cooking show?

[Walt Freitag]

Hi Gwen,

This sounds like a lot of fun.

VHF-only tuners on old TV sets had 12 channels, numbered 2-13. Sounds like a d12 could be used, for a minimum-6-hour game instead of minimum 10 hours. (Of course, deadly threats would be nearly twice as likely to kill as with a d20. But counteracting that, you'd only have to survive 12 channels. In fact, your mechanism has a cool feature: as long as the average number of rolls per channel-episode doesn't change much, you can use any size die and the overall odds of survival remain about the same.)

Can you think of a way to get commercials into the game?

- Walt

[Gwen]

How does one get Starring Points?

By accomplishing great feats, overcoming obstacles or otherwise changing the storyline of a show.

, rather, who has the authority to give them?

The GM of that particular show.

Why start with 5 and not 0?

I'm suprised I missed this part!  Starring Points can be used a number of various ways.  They can be used to prevent death, reroll the dice, perform a spectacular feat, anything that the character can conceive and the GM will allow.

I assume that the player who volunteered the show as being able to GM it becomes GM as you move into that world?

You are correct, sir!

Does he play himself as well in that world?

No, that could be abused too easily.  When someone GMs, their character is considered "lost" to another show.  Presumably, the next show to be entered by the characters.  For game purposes, this character can give the background story to people who might know nothing of the show, because they've spent the last half hour spending time in that "world."

What sorts of stats/combat mechanics have you used?

Essentially, there are none, but the game is free-form enough to accept them.  The only definitive roll is the D20 to decide if your character dies and Starring Points to prevent it.

How do the static portals work?

I'm suprised I didn't cover this either.  Starring Points can be "wagered" to discover a Static Portal.  Any character can spend "x" number of starring points.  Then a D20 is rolled and if the number is equal to or less than the number of starring points, a Static Portal is found.

The catch here is that all of the Starring Points are lost.  I forgot to go over what happens in the case of 0 Starring Points, so I'll cover that at the end.

Are most people fluent in the trivia of 20 shows?

I don't know.

Why is every one trying to kill the players?

Because that's what gets ratings!  No one watches TV for dandilions and rainbows.  It's all about the conflict of good versus evil!  And you're good!

Cooking show?

The Iron Chef cooking show has a lot of fire, a lot of knives and people are always running around with both.

Zero Starring Points

Trying to find a Portal is an easy way to escape a dire situation in ANY TV show.

However, by leaving with the conflict unresolved and acknowledging a world outside of the TV show you are in, you've successfully destroyed the micro-cosm reality of that show.

So If you lose all your Starring Points trying to find a Portal (or lost them all some other way) you are in serious danger, my friend.

Higher Starring Points signify the "star" and the popularity of them.

If you have zero, you become an "extra."  This means you can die in the background and no one will give it a second thought.  There is no roll to see if you survive.  So if you hit zero star points and jump into a NASCAR race, odds are you are going to catch a flaming tire with your teeth.[/b]

[Gwen]

Can you think of a way to get commercials into the game?

I hadn't given much thought to commercials before.  As it is, the game is meant to be very fast paced.  The characters only have thirty minutes to discover what the conflict is and resolve it.  IMHO, a commercial would both take up valuable time and also slow down the pace of the game.

You could interject a commercial during a show where everything "freezes" for fifteen seconds.  Then characters have that time to accomplish whatever they're trying to do.  (They wouldn't go into the commercial themselves, because characters from shows don't participate in their sponsors advertisements.)

A commercial could also be used when someone needs to go to the bathroom, etc...  Commercials would then be 30 seconds long and everyone away from the playing area would lose 1 Starring Point every 30 seconds and people lose interest and ratings drop.

[Emily Care]

The game in total runs 1/2 hour, right? Or is that 1/2 hour per show that's encountered, so you play out twenty 1/2 hour sessions or thereabouts?

--Emily Care

[szilard]

Can you think of a way to get commercials into the game?

I hadn't given much thought to commercials before.  As it is, the game is meant to be very fast paced.  The characters only have thirty minutes to discover what the conflict is and resolve it.  IMHO, a commercial would both take up valuable time and also slow down the pace of the game.

Well, on TV, commercials are often placed at cliffhanger moments. One possibility would be to allow players to spend starring points to call for a commercial break. This might be a "time out" in which they can plan for a sec about their character's crisis situation.

~szilard

[Ron Edwards]

Gwen,

I have very little to say except that this is a phenomenal idea.

Have you seen Paul Sullivan's game Munchkins? I reviewed it, as well. Its ... unusual mechanic might interest you, in relation to your game idea.

Best,
Ron

[Bob McNamee]

Heaven help you if you get stuck in a half hour info-mercial... demonic Craftmatic Beds, Bowflex, Juice makers etc....yikes

[Jonathan Walton]

Holy S---!  Ron is completely right!

You wouldn't necessarily have to brainstorm TV styles if you didn't want to.  Just turn on the tube, start flipping channels, and write down any interesting ideas you see!  You'd have 20+ in less than 10 minutes.  You could even have some mechanic for the characters jumping to a random TV show, where you roll dice and turn on the TV to whatever channel you roll, imagining the characters sucked into whatever's on at the moment.

Actually, the whole concept of television as a kind of "interactive, constantly changing Fortune mechanic" is pretty interesting, especially for a game like this.

I'll be interested in seeing where you go with this, Gwen, just so I can stea-... er, get inspired to work on Storypunk ;)

[Gwen]

The game in total runs 1/2 hour, right? Or is that 1/2 hour per show that's encountered, so you play out twenty 1/2 hour sessions or thereabouts?

A little of both.

Sitting down and playing can take as little as 1/2 an hour.  Groups can play each show one by one in small incriments or sit down and play several in succession.

As long as you keep track of Star Points, there's not much more necessary to remember.  Each show has independant storylines, so it doesn't matter where you leave off.

As for writing characters in or out, it is extremely easy.  If, for some reason, someone who WAS playing the game is suddenly unable to attend the next show, TV has uncountable ways to write someone off of the show.

If characters get left behind (say, in the instance of a static portal) they can always try to acrue Starring Points of their own to discover their own Static Portal.  Then it might be time for revenge.

Writing new characters into the show is also easy, because tons of people have a satellite dish, so there are uncountable people trapped in TV Land.  The group could easily meet up with someone else and work together to escape.

I'll be interested in seeing where you go with this, Gwen

Everything that's been posted is pretty much the extent of everything I've thought of.

If anyone else wants to expand on this, of course, you're more than welcome to.

[Jason E. Roberts]

This is somewhat similar to a homebrew idea I've been developing called Channel Zero. Players are actors trapped inside a fictional 1950s/60s sci-fi anthology TV show called Channel Zero. I wanted it to be Narrativist with the Director (the GM) laying the episode conventions (characters, setting, props, teaser) and the players having control of the story after that (plot, resolution). Being lazy, I decided to base the mechanics on Jared Sorensen's iSystem concepts, borrowing heavily from InSpectres and Octane. I also snapped up elements of Extreme Vengeance and HKAT.

I mentioned this idea briefly to Jared at GenCon and had originally meant to follow up in an e-mail, but time has not been on my side recently (working on FVLMINATA and Apollyon Noir). Perhaps it's worth writing up in PDF format and seeing what people can do with it. Most of it is written up (I even have a Pilot episode) - what's missing is the thematic stuff that describes how players can make their  own Channel Zero "season" of episodes fit the genre and time period.

Here it is (summarized):

(1) Create Bio
Every actor needs a Stage Name, a Screen Presence rating (on a scal from 0 to 10) and special Gifts (such as Breakaway, the ability to destroy props).

(2) Read for Parts
The Director reads the synopsis of the episode (the TV guide bite) and presents the possible Parts. Players roll based on Screen Presence for the opportunity to pick Parts for the episode. When a player chooses, he can designate the Part to be a Leading Role, Supporting Role or Guest Spot.

(3) Perform Teleplay
Actions are resolved according to Jared's iSystem, with player control of the outcome increasing with the die result. However, dice for this roll comes from only two sources: the Presence Pool and Props.

Presence Pool
This is a common pool of dice (but finite) that can be used by any actor in the teleplay. Actors using dice from this pool must ham it up or overact in some melodramatic fashion. For each episode, the pool is set to 5x the combined Screen Presence of the lead performers in the episode and 2x everyone else.

Props
Objects used by the actors may contain Melodrama dice if the object is referenced in the teleplay. When any actor mentions the prop in meaningful and original dialogue, the Director awards a Melodrama die to the prop. Actors cannot simply repeat the name of the prop several times to “power” the prop. The Director should award the dice. The prop can then be used as a Melodrama roll in whole or in part, by any actor who is in possession of the prop. Dice used from this pool can be replaced with further references in spoken lines.

While the cameras are rolling, players follow three rules:

(a) Players must communicate with each other as the parts in the story. They are, after all, actors. This is the Dialogue Rule. Any communication “out of character” should be greeted by adlibbed puzzlement by the other actors in the teleplay. The only time players may speak as themselves (i.e. the actors) is during a commercial break.

(b) The Motivation Rule states that the actor must play the part to achieve the motivation and goals set forth by the Director. Interpretations are allowed (artistic license). Remember that Guest Stars need not worry about this rule.

(c) The Celebrity Rule is the most subjective of the three. This is how interesting the actor made the part. It’s a matter of entertaining the audience with an inspired and riveting performance. Did the actor’s performance secure the episode’s place to any decent Channel Zero marathon? Remember that Supporting Roles need not worry about this rule.

(4) Rate Performance
After the episode has ended (I've been toying with the InSpectres idea of acquiring points to finish the episode), the Director rates the performances as defined by the three rules and adjusts the actors' screen presences.

[Jared A. Sorensen]

(4) Rate Performance
After the episode has ended (I've been toying with the InSpectres idea of acquiring points to finish the episode), the Director rates the performances as defined by the three rules and adjusts the actors' screen presences.

I would use point acquisition as a way to keep the show on the air. Points are market shares, ala the Nielsen ratings system. The Director is more or less the pool of TV critics watching the show. A bad show could have huge ratings, a great show could be cancelled early.

Better still: allow players to manipulate the two areas. I can artifically lower the show's critical acclaim to pump my own screen presence during the episode...or I can lower the show's popularity by making it more avant garde (and critic friendly...cuz we all know that critics only like the least accessible material out there, right?). Tongue in cheek...