GM/World as Character

[Lxndr]

Mike, I think he's looking for a system where the GM's "character" (the rest of the world) is objectively statted out.  Instead of an avatar within the world that represent himself, just some game where the world itself has statistics which impugn upon the characters in various ways.

Thinking about it, t seems that the Master in My Life With Master fits the bill, more or less, what with Fear and Reason helping to define the majority of the minion's actions.  The "World" in MLwM is personified in the Master, then, and the Master has a character sheet.

This is why I suggested Fastlane - the GM doesn't have a character sheet per se, but does have a Bank of his own, which can limit his involvement in conflicts.

[deadpanbob]

Mike:

Yeah, that's a concern.

Here's what I'm shooting for - the GM has a 'character', or an 'avatar', that doesn't actually come into play except in the sense that a puppet master or mastermind villian does.

This avatar is in fact, in the context of the game, 'behind everything'.  This GMasCharacter is a conciet within the game that actualizes the GM's traditional power into a game rules built avatar that eventually the PC's can compete with directly for dominance.

My intent is to have a couple of 'switches' in the rules, which when set to the highest Step On Up levels, will make the game essentially about a competition to topple the GM - and the final showdown in that competition is an actual face to face confrontation with the GMasCharacter.

Bear in mind that the GMs traditional suite of powers and responsibilities aren't totally in play here - and to the extent that the GM in my game has them at all, he/she has to pay to exercise those powers.

I hadn't thought of the Paranoia example - but that melding of GM and Computer is pretty close to the feel I'm going for - but unlike Paranoia, the player characters will hopefully actually have a chance to challenge the ultimate power in the universe - and win.

I'll have to dig out my copy of that game and read it again.  Thanks.

Cheers,


Jason

[deadpanbob]

Lxndr:

You almost got it right - perhaps its a blend of what you suggest for MLwM and what Mike suggests - I'm not sure.  See my post above - we cross posted.

I should probably pony up the cash to put MLwM on my RPG shelf - I was thinking about it anyway.

EDITED to ADD: And yes, the concept of the Bank that appears in Fastlane is similar to how the GM in my game will have to pay for his/her exercising of the traditional GM powers.  I got this originally from the game called Pace developed here on the Forge in the last year - not sure if Pace got it from someplace else tho...

Cheers,


Jason

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Jason,

You referenced our discussion of the explicit text in Tunnels & Trolls which outlines how a good dungeon is literally managed and maintained by an in-game character who is supposed to be an alter-ego, or at least some kind of specific GM-player-character (so to speak), of the Game Master. For reference in this thread, the link is [Tunnels & Trolls] Second level characters.

Seems to me to fit your criteria exactly right.

Best,
Ron

[Mike Holmes]

Jason, MLwM is exactly what you describe. The GM plays the Master, and the world as a projection of his aura of fear. The players can't assault the Master until certain conditions are met. Then special mechanics just for that fight come into play. Of course, there's no real "Step on Up", it's all locked in in tactical terms. But that's just a matter of changing the exact rules in that phase.

This is definitely your resource, IMO.

Mike