Phantom - thumbnail sketch

[Cadriel]

This is an idea for a game I've been hashing out in my head all day; I think I've got it distilled to the point where I can communicate the barest bones of the RPG.

Basically, the idea comes from a very unique anime series called Boogiepop Phantom (the title Phantom is very tentative and probably won't stick).  The show used a very cool, disjoint method of storytelling, and it contains the kind of horror I want to use.  It is very purposeful, very atmospheric, and very creepy both at the moment and afterward.

Before the beginning of play, the entire group gets together and designs 2 or 3 Phantoms, figures that come into being because of some flaw in reality.  The nature of the Phantoms and what they're up to should be left somewhat vague, because gameplay will create a fair amount of that.

From the start, there should also be something of a cast of characters.  There are four basic groupings that they fall into.  Negatives are people who suffer from a Tragedy - some personal loss or failing that has begun to consume them.  Positives are people who have already overcome such a Tragedy.  Neutrals are there as a part of the story, but are not directly involved with a Tragedy.  And Turncoats have moved into active collaboration with the Phantoms.

The reason all of this is important in-game is, simply put, Phantoms are attracted to Negatives.  As I said earlier, a lot of this is up to the group, and a lot will be determined in play, but the general framework remains the same:  the Phantom (through any means appropriate to its nature) creates a situation that offers a seeming solution to a Negative's problem, but is in fact a false hope (it will generally exacerbate the situation or corrupt the Negative further).

This general pattern is followed for most of the games, in sessions simply called "stories."  Before play begins, the players choose a Negative and a Phantom.  One player will be playing the Negative; another the Phantom, and the Game Moderator is allowed just as much leeway as the rest of the players.  In general, the game is fairly heavily based on Stance; the Phantom player uses a lot of Director Stance, while the Negative player will rely mostly on Author (and moments of Actor) Stance.  Any other players (for the sake of simplicity, I'm assuming there's at least one) will portray everybody else - though the Phantom player can take over Turncoats at any time.  Within the individual story, the GM is to be highly concerned with atmosphere (in the finished product I intend to have some good guidelines on how to create the right effects) and scene flow.  In particular, there will be some time spent highlighting other characters from the overall game.  These don't have to be simultaneous; they could happen before or after the events portrayed in the current story, and indeed may be a lead-in point to another story.  At this point, I'm assuming that the GM is the person in charge of keeping time straight and fostering (not writing) the overarching plot that is made up of the individual stories.  A story itself is composed of the give-and-take between the Negative player's input and the Phantom player's input, with the inevitable result (based upon his or her own actions) that the Negative character will either grow and become a Positive character or die horribly.  It is a horror game, after all.

This overarching plot is, as I've said, quite malleable during play.  In a nutshell, it should be the reason behind all of the strange events that are going on in the stories.  By developing it (through unitary stories and the cutaway segments alike), the players define all those neat questions about the Phantoms - why they're here, what they want, what they're like, and how it all comes down in the end.  Because of this, there are a couple other types of individual game.

One is an interlude.  This is a session that is focused on two or three player-generated plot threads that run in scenes and allow material from the stories to be integrated in such a way that there will be much more to build from in the subsequent stories.  Basically, this is saying "For one session, we're going to - in game - focus all our energy on making sense of what's gone on so far."  An interlude should happen for every 3-5 stories, to keep the game from going off course.

The other is a confrontation.  A Positive character finally gets to go off and try to face the Phantoms head-on.  This should not happen too early, as once you do a confrontation the status quo will have changed.  The actual events will vary greatly on what has been determined so far about the Phantoms.  Generally an entire game can stand only one or two confrontation.

The final confrontation may be followed by a coda, which is a Positive's encounter with the new status quo after the confrontation.  It's like a story, but instead of a Tragedy what is worked out are the lingering emotions (and plot issues).

The game is, obviously, very much based on a limited "campaign" lifecycle; I don't think the framework can - or should be able to - withstand more than 10-15 good sessions altogether.  It's also intended for small groups (since you only get 2 main acting players per session).  All of the resolution will be based on Drama and Karma, and that's one thing I will need to do some serious thinking about - but I'm set on it being Fortune-free, as no real Fortune mechanic would be presentable without completely breaking the ambiance.  And that's important to me.

Any comments on the idea, how to implement it, forseeable benefits and problem areas, etc would be greatly appreciated.

-Wayne

[Cadriel]

This isn't a bump; I've done a lot of thinking on how to do this game up right, and I came up with this document:

http://www.geocities.com/felianan/Phantom.doc

Please give it a look-see, and comment here if you do so.  It's very short, and I'm concerned in knowing if it's complete enough to play if I fill in all the assumptions between the cracks myself.  Thanks.

-Wayne

[Mike Holmes]

Bandwidth limit at the site. I'll try again later. Any chance you can put it on a more reliable site?

Mike

[Cadriel]

Dunno why there'd be trouble with bandwidth, but here's an alternate:

http://www.angelfire.com/rpg2/cadriel/Phantom.doc

-Wayne

[Mike Holmes]

Geocities just does that. After X amount of downloads thsy shut you down for a bit. Limits their total bandwidth requirements. Hey, what do you want for free? :-)

Checking it out.

Mike

[roleplyr4ever]

I like your game, but the word document you made doesnt have enough detail. I would play this with my group if there was more detail to the game. Just more umph, like setting, and other things, like explinations of what things are, because you just say, Tragedy, with REALLY telling what it is. I really like the base concept though!

[roleplyr4ever]

P.S. This game resembles wraith and orpheus by White Wolf.

[Mike Holmes]

In the resolution rules, you use the phrase "normal opposition rating". What does that refer to?

Mike

[Cadriel]

In the resolution rules, you use the phrase "normal opposition rating". What does that refer to?

Ah, yeah, the wording's a bit murky there.  Basically, when someone or something opposes a Negative Resonance character, their rating changes.  They get either that character's Resonance as their rating, or their usual rating +1, whichever is higher.

Oh, and I've been thinking about Tragedies a lot today, and I'll be writing something up and linking to it shortly.

-Wayne

[Cadriel]

The aforementioned document on Tragedies can be found here:

http://www.geocities.com/felianan/tragedies.doc
http://www.angelfire.com/rpg2/cadriel/Tragedies.doc

It gives sketches of four types of Tragedies, with descriptions, notes on the Story flow, the behavior of Phantoms who use those Tragedies as their Triggers, and the typical circumstances of a Triumph.  I'm still collating my thoughts on the setting.  Currently, I'm thinking there will be a straightforward horror version and a more heroic option offered in the actual game as a basis.

-Wayne

[roleplyr4ever]

Any chance you will bring both documents together, revise it , expand it, and make it playable. Right now You have got a big jumble. I just want a clearly read Core Book, so I can actually understand as I go, and not read, then understand 2 pages later. The only reason this is bugging me is cuz I want to play this bad. I just dont have the patience to put the game in my own words.

P.S. I love this idea. It gives everyone a BIG roleplaying kick in the ass.

[Cadriel]

roleplyr4ever:

I'm actually working actively on getting a playable core document together, and possibly integrating it with a "core" setting that will provide a background and motivation for everything that is going on, as well as a model for play over several sessions.  What I really need to know at this point is:  for the playtest document, what will need expansion?  What's unclear, what could be said better, and what issues are unresolved?  I'm pretty sure that I need better guidelines on story flow issues, but other than that I'm unclear as to what needs to go in before it's playable.  Any advice on that end would be a big help.

-Wayne

[Mike Holmes]

Actually I'm pretty sure that you've covered the story flow stuff pretty well. Unless you're talking about adding more mechanical support, which I'm all for. What you have is very light, and trusts to the text. That said, it seems pretty straightforward.

Since you have an all opposed system, why not go with successes on a 4-6? That way people can play with whatever dice they have using halves or even/odds, and they can even flip coins if that's all they have. Just a thought.

Mike

[Cadriel]

The current working playtest document:

http://www.angelfire.lycos.com/rpg2/cadriel/PhantomTest.doc
http://www.geocities.com/felianan/PhantomTest.doc

It's updated from the previous files.  There's still no setting because I'm intent on writing a few modular settings with expanded rules, new story flow guidelines, and even different methods of enhancing multi-session story arcs.  Commentary welcome.

-Wayne

[roleplyr4ever]

MUCH BETTER! This is much better.
Me and my troupe played this, and its great.