[Game Chef 2011] Daughter of the Terran Revolution

[emurphy]

DAUGHTER OF THE TERRAN REVOLUTION

Neuer before Imprinted.

-----

You've been branded a traitor. With Earth too crowded to accommodate yet another prison, they herded you onto a spaceship and launched you into exile. Meanwhile, beneath the surface of an obscure asteroid, robotic drones were already hard at work preparing your new home.

One crash landing later, things are really fouled up. Thanks to a radiation leak, the handful of you who survived the impact have at most a fortnight left. Your SOS over the ansible was met with dead air. The only survivor will be the AI who was supposed to oversee the colony; your only chance to leave something behind is to tell her your stories.

-----

The procreation sonnets IN SPACE!

Daughter: The AI. In spirit, anyway.
Exile: You, obviously.
Forsworn: Will you tell her the truth?

[emurphy]

Well, MatrixGamer already posted a draft of his, so here's a draft of mine.  Now go do that comment thing!


PLAYERS

3 to 7, no gamemaster.

MATERIALS

A list of questions, one copy per player.

A standard tarot deck (78 cards). Alternatively, one or two standard
poker decks (52 cards, jokers optional).

GAMEPLAY

Each copy of the list of questions pertains to a convict who survived
the crash landing; whenever a question says "you", it refers to this
convict. During the course of the game, the players will collectively
establish each convict's story as it happened, as they understand it,
as they tell it to the AI, and as she understands it.

For each numbered question:

  * Draw a card.
  * Look up its rank and choose one of its suggested themes.
  * Look up its suit and choose one of its suggested themes.
  * Emphasize these themes in your answer.

For lettered questions, do not draw a card, just answer them on the
basis of the previous answers.

Once everyone has answered a question, discuss your answers with the
other players and make changes if you want, then pass your list to
the player on your left.

LIST OF QUESTIONS

  1) What specific crime(s) were you convicted of? How high or low is
      the bar for "treason" in your society?

  2) What (if anything) did you actually do that was related to your
      conviction? If so, then how illegal and/or immoral (by your own
      code and/or that of your society) was it?

  3) What did you expect would be the outcome of your actions? What
      did your society expect? Was the actual outcome better, worse,
      or about the same?

  4) What was your life like before these events? What was society
      like before these events?

       a) How well do you understand yourself? How well do you understand
           your society? How well does your society understand you?

       b) How well does the AI understand you? How well does she
           understand your society?

  5) Did you leave behind anyone close to you? If so, then what do they
      know/think/believe about your situation, and does society consider
      them partly to blame? If not, then why not?

  6) If not for the crash, how comfortable or uncomfortable do you think
      your exile would have been?

  7) Do you think the crash was:
       * Accidental?
       * Intended by your society, effectively an execution?
       * Allowed by your society due to shoddy safety measures?
       * Due to sabotage by a suicidal fellow convict?

  Do you think/hope that the ansible was broken, or that your SOS
      was heard and ignored?

       c) What do you tell the AI about these things? How honest are you?

       d) How honest does the AI think you are about these things?

       e) After hearing your story, will the AI continue trying to
           contact your society? Will she try to conceal her survival?

       f) After hearing from the AI (or not), will your society try
           to find her? Will they try to retrieve her, destroy her,
           alter her memory banks, or leave her alone?

CARD THEMES

The Fool (the Joker) is a wild card (pick any rank and suit you want).

Rank:

  Ace - beauty, ego
  2 - hardship, worth
  3 - reflection, memory
  4 - material, purpose
  5 - cycles, control
  6 - growth, ruin
  7 - perception, strength
  8 - harmony, similarity
  9 - loss, solitude
  10 - love, hate
  Jack - community, wisdom
  Knight / Queen - age, fate
  Queen / King - death, preparation
  King / [A-4]H - knowledge, expectation
  [1-7] / [5-7]H - change, appearance
  [8-14] / [8-10]H - conflict, potential
  [15-21] / [J-K]H - belief, truth

Suit:

  swords / spades: air, power
  wands / clubs: fire, simplicity
  cups / hearts: water, emotion
  coins / diamonds: earth, wealth

Alternately, you can use an individual theme for each card:

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suit_of_swords
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suit_of_wands
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suit_of_cups
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suit_of_coins
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_Arcana

INFLUENCES

Shakespeare's procreation sonnets, and the sonnet form in general.

Tarot readings, particularly the standard Celtic cross method.

_Paranoia_, for case studies on how things can go wrong. _Mage:
the Ascension_, for case studies on belief systems.

Paul Tevis, for familiarizing me with Game Chef. Laura Bishop, for
informing me of Game Chef 2011 in time to participate.

My daughter Victoria, eight years old this month.

[emurphy]

I feel like there should be one or more "roleplay this part out in traditional fashion" parts added somewhere.  Not sure how the pacing would work out, though; maybe just make it a blanket "do it whenever it feels appropriate" suggestion.

[emurphy]

Revised bits:

Each copy of the list of questions pertains to a convict who survived
the crash landing; whenever a question says "you", it refers to this
convict. During the course of the game, the players will collectively
establish each convict's story as it happened, as they understand it,
and as they tell it to the AI; they will also establish the nature of
the AI, and how she understands the stories that she's told.

Questions c) and d) should be roleplayed in real time, with the player(s)
directly opposite the convict playing the AI. Past events can also be
roleplayed in this way, with the other players portraying significant
NPCs, and the player(s) directly opposite the confict acting as GM if
needed.