Cradle: A role playing game of innocent terror

[The_Confessor]

Hey guys, long time no see.

I'm almost finished the final draft of Cradle. I should have it completed in a week or two, at which time I'll post a link.

Thanks for everyone's help!

Much Love,
James

[Simon W]

I for one am dying to see your finished game. I mentioned it to a couple of gaming buddies a while back and they were eager to play! So let me at it!

Simon

[Phillip]

Wurthering Heights, by Phillipe Tromeur, uses this roll under/roll over technique.  You may want to look at it for inspiration:
http://philippe.tromeur.free.fr/whrpg.htm

[The_Confessor]

I've actually played Withering Heights. It was wonderful fun! I was an Illertate Irish Catholic Alcoholic!

[The_Confessor]

I have finished the first complete draft of Cradle. Here's the link for it: Cradle: A Role-Playing Game of Innocent Terror. If you're interested in playtesting it, let me know so when I do the final version, I can give you credit.

[Kirk Mitchell]

Hey, Confessor

Just read through your game, looks pretty awesome. I am really looking forwards to playtesting it at some point over the next month or so (but these damned assignments are tying me down, I'm not even supposed to be on the net right now). I just want to know one thing: How do you calculate the Resonance of a child or adult? It doesn't say anywhere how to tell who has a Resonance or not nor how to show how much. I hope I haven't missed something and ended up sounding (reading?) really stupid, but that was just about all I could find wrong.

I'll post back after I've finished playtesting, and keep up the good work.

Kirk

[The_Confessor]

I didn't come out and say it, only implicated and inferenced it in the text, but in actually the Resonance of a child or adult is not actually statted or given a statistic.

The reason for this is that the Child's loss of Resonance should be role-played, and not bound by a number. It doesn't matter how much Resonance a child has, mechanically. Because, once the Toy is at zero, the character is effectively dead.

Resonance for adults works similarly, though the vast majority of adults have no Resonance. Once again, this is not statted, so that the GM is not limited by a number in his role-playing.

Thank you so very much for the wonderful compliments; it really means alot to me to hear someone speak so kindly of my work. It honors me quite more than I deserve.

James

[xiombarg]

Yes, but you might want to consider having that explaination in the text....

(Which reminds me, I need to read it in more detail...)

[Daniel Solis]

I don't know how I managed to miss this thread, but damn is this a neat little game. The traits are very cool and I could easily see this as a great game for a series of fun one-shots.

I wonder if the task resolution system isn't a tad complicated. The main sticking point for me is this +1 difficulty modifier for every two degrees of difference between opposed rolls. If I'm playing a game about toys protecting children, I'd like to have as few calculations as possible. Something simpler, perhaps involving immediate comparison rather than calculation perhaps. Is there a particular reason you chose the task resolution system you did?

[Daniel Solis]

I don't know how I managed to miss this thread, but damn is this a neat little game. The traits are very cool and I could easily see this as a great game for a series of fun one-shots.

I wonder if the task resolution system isn't a tad complicated. The main sticking point for me is this +1 difficulty modifier for every two degrees of difference between opposed rolls. If I'm playing a game about toys protecting children, I'd like to have as few calculations as possible. Something simpler, perhaps involving immediate comparison rather than calculation. Is there a particular reason you chose the task resolution system you did?

[The_Confessor]

I thought the two-for-one mechanic was pretty simple. It was originally a three-for-one type of thing for combat, and I felt that was too complicated and made things too easy.

There are some greater explinations I need to make in the text, this is after all the pre-playtest version. But hey, just because I wrote it a certain way doesn't mean you can't make it your own!

Thank you so much for the praise, I can't believe people actually like my silly little idea.

[Daniel Solis]

A wacky thought crossed my mind just now. I recall one of the neat things in John Tynes' Puppetland, where puppets come to life in an old toymaker's workshop at night, was that you actually drew what your character looked like, life-size. The different types of puppets had different advantages and powers, much like the different types of toys you've established for Cradle. So that got me thinking... I'd have a lot of fun if I could actually have the character I'm playing, i.e. the toy, at the table with me as visual aid. When speaking in-character, it'd be fun to talk through the toy, so to speak. Say I have a Bionicle toy as my character, I would just have it there speaking and maybe pose it to match its actions or temperment. It'd be cool, I think.

In fact, it would be just like playing with toys.

[Kirk Mitchell]

Hey, that's a pretty cool idea Gobi!  How about all of the players bring in a toy from their childhood or somewhere around the house (as the case may be), and that would perfectly match the Confessor's stated intent that this game help you make those toys come to life just as they did when you were a child. Basing your character around your favourite toy as a child would only better support that aim. I'd go with it.

Hey, even more so, how about go the full monty and have the players crawl around on the floor of a bedroom and act out what the toys are doing depending on the roll you get. I can just imagine... Anyways, just think on it, but I think it'd be pretty cool. Like getting in touch with your childhood (cheesy).

Kirk

[Daniel Solis]

Hey, even more so, how about go the full monty and have the players crawl around on the floor of a bedroom and act out what the toys are doing depending on the roll you get.

Ehhh - I dunno if I'd go THAT far :p

[The_Confessor]

Actually, one of the toys I recently purchased was bought with the whole "this is the toy I'm playing in Cradle" idea. It was a puppet/stuffed animal monkey that squeaks. I often looked at and stared at it while working on the game. So, yes Gobi, I think that's a wonderful idea.