CONTAGION: Pitch for an indie RPG

[Ian Charvill]

Shortly after watching Ginger Snaps I was playing a puzzle game on the PC – a game called Bejewelled.  The game has a music track that is fairly minimalist and repetitive.  The music made me think of John Carpenter, and from there his movie The Thing.  What Ginger Snaps has in common with The Thing…

*  an ensemble cast, where focus is on the relationship between the characters
*  a limited physical environment
*  one or more characters who become infected with a contagion which leads to metamorphosis
*  the dramatic struggle of the characters to survive and to prevent the spread of the contagion[/list:u]
There are a number of movies like this -

Night of the Living Dead, Invasion of the Body Snatchers - and if you extend the idea with the idea of psychological metamorphoses there are even more - Rabid, Shivers.

It also strikes me - hence this post - that these features would also be suited to a tightly focused game.

My question would be: are there any games that cover this ground already?  The important features are a quite simple system (I’m thinking fear and pretzels) which mechanically addresses the four points above.  And the nature of the contagion needs to be highly customizable.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Ian,

I think your first-stop reference is Dead Meat, by Sean Wipfli (unodiablo), and the posts in the Destroy All Games forum, as well as my review of an early version of the game.

That said, I think you're onto something.

Best,
Ron

[Mike Holmes]

Also, the Isolation System. Do a search on the fora.

Mike