The Chairman enters the arena once again. The light's come up. He's carrying a fist full of d10s. He rolls them and considers the results as a strange grin comes over his face. What could it mean?

Chairman wrote: It seems to me that the last time we stepped into Game Design Arena that we had a contest pitting the Iron Game Chefs against each other to produce the best Simulationist game. The expectation now is that the last leg of the triad will be to have an Iron Game Narrativism contest. But, good counsel has disuaded me from this idea, as well as my own evolving ideas about design. So, from this time on, the Iron Game Chef's will no longer be categorized by the play modes that their games promote.

It seems to me that far back games were always defined by their genre. I think that it would be good to use this as a category going forward. To whit, this iteration of the contest will be in order to crown the new:

The chef is judged by his decisiveness, so without further deliberation, a master smith of the north, game chef from the land of thousand lakes... he announces the game, first one to spring to mind:

The Battle of Frozen Waste

The knights of Snow, they are straight and true... perhaps too straight, for the revered Oracles have cast the stone of displeasure for them seven times, seven times in seven times seven years past, and the order has grown weak... and now it's time for their judgement, for the Ambassador has risen. Ambassador: the great demon of the North, the one with the bone castle and only fangs and talons for children at night. The lord of the werewolves, they say. And only the Order stands in his way...

The Battle of the Frozen Waste casts the players in the roles of brave paladins (for each and every man of this valiant troupe is one after the day is done) who face the terrible demons of ice in a battle to decide the fate of the middle lands. The game starts only a day before the battle, and will end in victory or defeat for mankind and life or death, honor or shame for individual paladins.

More to come in the days to come, obviously. After I decide on some mechanics for nonce. Here's to hoping that the games aren't judged for legibility, some of us being a little non-english.

Announcer wrote:
It's clear what Tuovinen is doing... he's vying for the favor of the judges by his swift action. But is speed enough!?! How will it affect the rest of his work? Has the chef painted himself in a corner so early in the race? Has he borrowed too heavily from George Martin? How stupid one has to be to promise the first game to spring to mind... Most important of all, did he make the first starting announcement, or is the strategy futile?

Damn. Just when I was gearing up to finish the next version of Thugs & Thieves. Oh well, I guess a week delay won't hurt too bad, and this could well be a nice warm up after my weeks away from design.

Prepare for Ice Dawn.

I really don't have time for this. But I can't help myself.

Assault Force ICE DAWN

After the tragedy at the third summit of Silverleaf Falls, a special unit was created to respond to acts of terrorism at the border between worlds – codename: ICE DAWN

Assault Force ICE DAWN is War for the Oaks meets Rainbow Six. The diplomatic situation at the border between our world and faerie is a delicate one. There are those who seek to destroy the peaceful alliance between the realms and plunge all into war. Only the brave operators of ICE DAWN stand in their way.

More to come...

Whoa, horrible timing, but at least it's not during exam week, like last year... Can I NOT do this? I don't think so. Ahem...

Seadog Tuxedo

You and your fellow band of penguin pirates sail your enormous laser-sharked iceberg-ship/home through the dangerous seas of Arctica, hoping to bump into another iceship or peaceful community, so that the raiding and pillaging can begin. Such is the lifestyle of fuzzy penguin pirates! Booze, violence, and uppity penguin wenches! Arrrrr! Squeak!

The Summer Isles, deep in the warm southern reaches, are ripe with plunder. However, when you crew aboard an iceship, sunshine is your worst enemy. Make sure to get in and get out, pulling off a spectacular nighttime raid and sailing away before dawn. Otherwise, you might find yourself easy prey for the shaman-wizards who rule the Summer Isles. They worship the sun-god, indulge in penguin sacrifice, and shoot blasts of solar flame hot enough to melt holes in your ship. Yowza!

It's going to be a icy hot time in the arctic tonight! Strap on your fur-lined asbestos pirate gear and get ready to rock!

Commentators:
"It seems that Tuovinen-San has set off an early wave of designers bent on capturing their own corner of the creative pallette. An interesting maneuver. Will this cause a landslide of entries, however? How many of them will see their way through to completion? On cannot say at this very early date!"

Here's to hoping that the games aren't judged for legibility, some of us being a little non-english.

Coming Soon To A Tabletop Near You...

Dawn of the Damned

Ragnarok is here. The evil force that the ancients had called Fenris has escaped his bondage from Gioll (under the Icelandic volcano Askja). Iceland is soon overrun by Fenris' demonic and zombie hordes. Now only you and your comrades can stop Fenris by launching what will probably be a futile last assault on Fenris' citadel. But can you rediscover the ancient magical secrets that can destroy Fenris or will you soon be among his mindless slaves?

File under: Gamist Romp

Submissions to this contest must be made no later than 11:59 PM CDT on April 19th, 2003.

Mike Holmes wrote: Wait, the judges have decided to extend the contest by exactly one year. How generous of them! The deadline is April 19th, 2004!

I'm not even going to mention how bad the timing is. However, purely speculatively:

Dawn-Winds

On the very edge of night a handful of outrigger canoes ride the dawn-winds, chasing the dark ice-islands on which they hope their loved ones still survive.

Imagine a world like the Pacific. The endless sea is dotted by semi-tropical islands—small, lush paradises populated by isolated societies, each slightly different from the next. Fishers and farmers, they are proud people, mostly peaceful, sometimes warlike. There the days are long—very long, weeks by our standards, the dawn coming no faster than a swift-sailing outrigger canoe—and the nights, longer still. And now, in the night has come a horror, unseen or unheard of before, a horror which has ripped the tribe to shreds—huge islands of ice, swarming with the dead. From the ice the dead creatures descend on the islands and carry away the living, carry them away into the endless night in which the ice-islands sail.

Who are you?

In Dawn-Winds you play an islander tribesman or tribeswoman, racing into the edge of night in a frantic attempt to catch up with the ice-islands and rescue the loved ones who have been stolen away from you.

What happens in the game?

The game takes place just prior to the final assault on the Ice-Islands. The characters tell each other stories of their lives before the Ice came, and remember the hardships and the terror of the chase; then they play out their last rescue attempt and its joyful or bitter aftermath.

Can you believe it? Here I am, all ready to watch another cool Indie Game Chef when ... my wife leaves for Vegas all week! So I'm in this thing.

Check. Island & Ice? Break up Antarctica. Check. Assault? Teams of elite weird soldiers fighting the incursion of whatever broke up the frozen waste in the first place. Fantasy? Heroes as paranormals rounded up in an 18th century attempt to curb all the rest of the unnatural things. Check. Finally, a dash of shared mythos creation on the part of GM & Players alike.

And what's this? He's using swordfish as a resolution mechanic? Does he truly believe in swordfish?

Mike: When you mention incorporating 3 of 4 terms, I presume you mean incorporate them into the game and/or mechanics, not necessarily restricting it to the title of said game... correct?

Presuming that to be the case... I'll have a go at this (though fantasy, to be honest, may be my least favorite genre of game). Let me think....

My game will be "Broken Vows".

If I need to use 3 of those words in my title then it will be:
"When the Ice Hearts Face the Coming Dawn: A Final Stand on the Island of Faithlessness" (I find that somewhat annoyingly long, however)

If I may ask, may I fit a synopsis of the game in this thread, and the finished product elsewhere? I ask because I may well overload this poor system with my words. That, and I can make things a bit more elegant and flashy if I can format them more properly. If not, very well, I'll see what I can do.

Now to actually make the fucking thing.

Dav

Dawn on the Island of Ice

For a thousand years, the stars have shone down on Halakat, the Sea of Tears, burning brightly in a sky that was always dark. Now in the east the horizon has brightened to grey, and the stars have begun to fade. The shamans of the People speak of the rising of the Sun.

For a thousand years, the People have lived upon Ganakagok, the Island of Ice, in the midst of the Sea of Tears. This mountain of ice, floating in a cold sea, has been carved into soaring spires and dizzying stairs, immense caverns and intricate labyrinths. The legends of the People speak of the Ancient Ones who carved it so, to escape the falling of Night.

Dawn is coming to the Island of Ice. The stars are fading. The sea is growing warmer. The world is changing. Will the People survive the change?

An earnestly narrativist effort inspired mainly by Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast, with flavoring from the fantasies of Michael Moorcock and Gene Wolfe.

OK, now, Jonathan is clearly using proscribed incredients! Since when is it allowable to use any kind of humours in cooking, I ask you? Everyone knows that humor trumps pathos any day of the year... Oh well, we'll just have to make do without, I guess.

I find it interesting how many of our phantastics are using modern condiments. I guess this is a hopeful sign, american fantasy has been in a rut for far too long. Seems that I'm alone with my tolkienist riff, actually, if this goes on...

It's also interesting how Piers Brown and I both stumbled on the same structural idea for the game. May the best flashback win!


Anyway, back to the fray with some color pieces! The following is the background for Battle of the Frozen Waste, as well as a preliminary mission statement. It should be noted that the game will include solid advice on converting it to tell a tale of any tolkienist fantasy battle, including those in the LotR. A little like a MLwM for tolkienist fantasy, if I may try to charm the judges with such a comparison...

The Situation

The Knights of Snow (or Northern Order of Knight-Chevaliers in Service, as they are formally known) were established after the last time the ravening creatures of the north penetrated the southern climes, bringing early snow and horrible death to the lands of men. After terrible sacrifices and wholesale slaughter the demons were driven off, but not without leaving the middle lands in ruins.

When the imminent danger had passed the knightly order was soon left to control the bordermarches alone, as the then-emperor first turned his gaze to the west and then lost his throne and the empire to the various hereditary lords of the realms of the empire. This didn't mean any sagging of the effort, though; the lords all pledged support to the Order, and for a long while they send men, weapons and supplies that the Grand Masters of the Order put to good use, expanding their realm to the north and building forts long beyond the pale of what the man had known before the demons came.

Then, as the reader probably already knows, the attention of the Lords started to sag, what with human life being short compared to creeping of the glaciers. The men, the weapons, the supplies... they all came more infrequently, and then in smaller and smaller quantities. This didn't spell doom for the Order, though, for then the bordermarches could support independent vassals, and the Order could pledge it's protection to the meager populace in exhange for what it needed to survive.

Then there were the Oracles. The personal mages and soothsayers of the late emperor, the Oracles didn't waste any time in offering equal service to the Lords when their star seemed to be in the rise. Soon it was that for every lord there was an oracle, and they adviced their lords with utmost wisdom and insight. One could even say that the oracles were priestesses in a noble religion. First the oracles were one in their advice and supported the Order, but later on they, like every man of the midlands, forgot the Knights of the Snow. First it was a singular exception, that the stones should turn against the Order, but then it was all the more frequent and the robed mathriarchs were one in saying, year after year and every seven years in grand council, that there was no need, that the Order was fattened by the rich lands of the marches, that the demons were asleep in the north and would not rise.

Of course they were wrong. The Order knew, but was not listened to. The Lords wasted their strength skirmishing against one another and the western sidhe, The Oracles blinded themselves to the truth. When the legate for the Ambassador came, announcing His strength... The Order knew that they'd stand alone, and likely nobody else would if they should fall.

But the Knights of Snow... they are a hard, hard fellowship. Hard as ice, in heart and head. 'Though some of the men might have deserted the forts when the legate came, 'though some knights voice their disagreement... the Grand Master Schleyr didn't flinch, but instead send his riders and mustered both old-timers and young boys of the fief against the coming darkness. And when the Grand Master rode, the Order was behind him almost to the man, with forts near and far emptying to answer the Great Call.

Great were they to the eye, the Knights of Snow... but greater the darkness, as they should come to know. All the knights, bowmen and spears hardly enough to withstand the darkness, not to talk of striking back. Only valor will help them now, when they ride to meet the Ambassador on the field of honor.

It is said among the men that the Grand Master harbors an oracle, you see. It's said that he knows that the forts and fortresses, even the great castle of Sveafors will fall if the Order will not assemble and ride to the field. There is no choice, whisper the voices, for the Ambassador has unearthed from the dark sepulchre the forgotten artifact, the Desangraal, the Chalice of Doom. The chalice that will overflow darkness and blood, should the winter solstice come to pass unchallenged.

Thus it is that the Knights of Snow ride to meet the darkness in the far north, in the hopes of seizing the Ambassador unprepared. The land is however against them, and the troops are bloodied by both freezing cold and constant skirmishes with ghouls, barbarians, werewolves and even worse things.

Now, the end is near. The outriders have sighted the shadows and the troops within them, seen the Ambassador in it's terrible beauty and horrible monstrousness exhorting the demons. The Order will arrange for battle come dawn, for tomorrow is the day of the Solstice, the shortest day and the darkest night of the year.

Style and goals

The Battle of the Frozen Waste (BFW) is a limited-length roleplaying game suitable for independent play or as a pro/epilogue for a longer campaign. In BFW the players tell the story of a great battle between the forces of light and darkness, reminiscent of modern fantasy literature. A reader familiar with the heavy post-tolkienist fantasy tomes will have recognized how those books most commonly will peak in an epic battle where the fate of all that is good hangs in balance. BFW strives to capture that epic moment of gore and glory in a game.

The style of play in BFW is primarily and most importantly pathetic. Pathos is the cornerstone around which everything else will be built. Whether the game will be a paean for heroism or gritty exercise in cooperation and bravery, it's pathetic nature will shine through strong. The colours should be used with abandon, swathing the knights in heraldic tinctures and gold and silver, while giving the demons darkest attributes imaginable, with crests of blood and pain. This is the moment of truth for a whole world, and neither realist nor animation palettes are sufficient; strive for colours worth the masters of renaissance, colours where lead and arsenics blind the painter all the while giving the audience the richest feast possible. Pathos is about distilling reality.

The goal of play for the players is primarily to produce a satisfying visual phantasm for the enjoyment of all. To this end they will take roles as members of the Knights in their darkest hour. By role immersion or inspired storytelling they will entertain themselves and other players through a story where their individual knights face their hardest choices and the Order in totality faces either death or victory, depending on the choices of the players.

Four

Not sure of much yet, but characters will be defined by four stats:

Island The Island stands alone, indominatable against the elements, and thus does the Island stat define ones ability to look after ones self - to survive in the wilderness, to hide from prying eyes, to sulk unseen past the mainland.

Ice Cool under pressure, and mysteriously alluring. A character's Ice is a measure of their will power, cool and social grace.

Dawn Mysteriously each day the magic of the sun is renewed, and with it the light and heat of the land. Some can tap this ancient magic for their own. Dawn is their ability to do so.

Assault To err is human; to forgive divine - to maim, kill, murder and otherwise batter is fun. Hit 'em in the head with your Assault.

WIZARDS OF ICE AND TWILIGHT (v0.1)
*******************************

The world is a a huge archipelago of islands, spread from Dawn to Twilight and from Ice to Fire. Players are wandering wizards, traveling the islands, spreading wisdom and fighting The Chaos from Beyond the Last Island.

Character Creation
-----------------------
The character's Wisdom draws from three sources:

Skybound - Actions of Intellect; Magic of Sky & Fire
Earthbound - Actions of Body; Magic of Earth & metal.
Waterbound - Actions of Emotion; Magic of Water & Flesh

Distribute 12 points between these. No score may be less than one.

The character's Cardinals are

Ice & Fire
Dawn & Twilight

Distribute 6 points between Ice and Dawn.
Distribute 6 points between Fire and Twilight.

Description/Distinction - [I need something more to make each wizard distinct.]


Resolution
--------------

For each conflict:

- Player declares goal
- Player declares use of Magic or Mundane
- Wisdom & Cardinal are chosen [how?]
- Player rolls number of d6 equal to chosen Wisdom and looks for Cardinal score as TN or less.

Results:

If Magic was declared, 1+ success is required.
If Mundane, then 2+

Magic results produce magical solutions or progress in a conflict. Also, any time a single 1 appears in a magic roll, that Wisdom score is increased by one - and te player must choose another wisdom to decrease. Any time two or more 1s are rolled, the Wisdom is increased and the lowest Wisdom is decreased!

If this results in any score hitting zero, the zero score may never be used again. If two scores hit zero, the character undergoes Apotheosis, becoming an angel - and leaves play.

Dawn (1+/2+)
Player narrates the begining of some new story element related to declared goal..

Twilight (1+/2+)
GM narrates the end of some story element related to declared goal.

Fire (1+/2+)
GM narrates progress toward the goal in terms of change.

Ice (1+/2+)
Player narrates the progress toward the goal in terms of preservation.

Dav, the ingredients don't have to be part of the title. Just incorporated somehow.

I thought I'd take a stab at making a fantasy game with a loose Inuit flavor.

Lak

Elders say the land beyond Inotowok was once warm as our fires. Lush with green things and animals that flew in the sky, they say. But, for reasons unknown, the sun went to sleep many winters ago. Slowly, our people were the only ones able to survive, all alone on Inotowok. With the talluak, the protective spirits, keeping us just warm enough, we managed to survive on an island isolated from the rest of the world by oceans of ice.

And life was good in those days, not so much different than before. But those who died when the sun went to sleep did not lie as easily as that great, slumbering star. Their restless souls grew corrupt in the long night, hungering for life. In their desperation, they became the tonrar karpok, the hungry ghosts, who gather at Inotowok's shores, waiting for the talluak to rest at dawn. Their hordes grow larger and more vicious every day, their smoky forms twisted into horrors unimaginable.

But the sun is not entirely asleep even in these frigid ages. Ublarpassik, spirit of hope and daybreak, has shed tears of fire into the living souls of great heroes. The Lak stand nobly at the shorelines, preparing defenses against the tonrar karpok and narrowly saving our small, cold island from destruction.

Just when I'd given up hope that this event would ever see the light of day again!

I'd curse the ridiculously bad timing, but I think that's really a part of the challenge.

And I'm down a day too.

Arg!

My hat is in the ring.

I will be using Island, Assault, and Dawn (I may incorporate Ice, we'll see). I'm pretty sure the only possible choices for PC characters will be beefy minotaurs, sexy cat people, and withered dead-looking guys.

It's going to be a chore to fix all the problems with D&D and then get the entire ruleset rewritten and posted, but I'll do my best...

Tom

Snow From Korea
The summer of Nihon is long, and dry, and hot. Your lady love has asked you to bring her snow from Korea to cool her brow. Can you bring it back before it's too late? Will the dragons of the ocean stop you before you return? Will you survive the armies of Korea and the hengeyokia of your own province's outlands?

An adventure game.

Dav wrote: Mike: When you mention incorporating 3 of 4 terms, I presume you mean incorporate them into the game and/or mechanics, not necessarily restricting it to the title of said game... correct?

If I may ask, may I fit a synopsis of the game in this thread, and the finished product elsewhere? I ask because I may well overload this poor system with my words. That, and I can make things a bit more elegant and flashy if I can format them more properly. If not, very well, I'll see what I can do.

Anyone else find my penguins funny? Do ya? Do ya, punk? Yeah, funny like a scurvy seadog that's going to feed you your own liver. We'll see who's laughing then...

-----

SEADOG TUXEDO: System, Part One

Declaration of Intent

This game is not funny or cute. This game is badass, dammit! Any signs of cuteness or humor should be quickly suppressed. Anyone caught giggling uncontrollably at the table should be forced to walk the plank or go get everyone snacks. The person running the game needs to enforce this with a ruthless efficiency. Grimace a lot. Snear at any players who allow themselves the slightest smirk. After all, you're pirates, dammit! Get control of yourselves!

This game is meant to emulate the often bizarre nature of Saturday Morning Cartoon fantasy worlds. It's got a setting specifically designed to be a cool toy line. Imagine Pirates of Dark Water meets Carebears. Let out your inner pre-pubescent.

Character Generation

Pirate Penguins have 3 traits, representing the depth and complexity of their identities.

PIRATE represents their scurvy seadog life, with its carousing, drinking, wenching, fighting, plundering, stealing, singing pirate songs, and generally being an ocean-sailing rapscallion.

PENGUIN represents their innate nature, fully of cuteness, love, friendship, and the joy of swimming gracefully in the sea or sliding down sheets of ice on your belley.

These two traits express the inherant contradiction in the life of a pirate penguin. I mean, you're a scurvy pirate, dammit, but you're also a cute and fuzzy penguin. This causes all sort of angst and inner turmoil, as the cuteness struggles against the desire to be truly badass. Pirate penguins are the kind of drama queens that put vampire Shakespearean actors to shame.

Each character also has their own IDIOM, which represents their gimmick, giving them a seperate identity. Having individualized Idioms makes it possible to make more action figures. Every pirate penguin has an emblem representing their Idiom emblazoned on their belly and it should also be immediately obvious from their name. For instance, the pirate penguin Black Death has an evil-looking locust tattooed on his tummy, while Forked Lightning has a bright yellow bolt of electricity.

Idioms distract pirate penguins from the inner turmoil of their souls. They are an attempt to resolve the eternal tension between the pirate's life and the penguin's natural instincts. Thusly, they almost always show signs of torment, taking the form of dark and nasty things, monsters from the Id.

Character creation involves simply selecting an Idiom for your character. Everything else is secondary. Penguin and Pirate traits are not measured numerically, but as states of being. Every character strives to stay in their pirateness as much as possible, but sometimes slips into their natural penguin state, letting the beast take over. Each player should have some way of indicating which state their character is currently in, either by placing a counter next to the appropriate trait or simply using their pencil as a pointer to indicate one or the other. All characters begin play with their Pirate trait fully in control.

Sun-worshiping shaman-wizards, the bane of a pirate penguin's existence, are created in similar fashion, though they have the trait SUN-WORSHIPING SHAMAN-WIZARD and DECENT HUMAN BEING instead of Pirate and Penguin. Their IDIOMS all have something to do with fire, the sun, burning death, and the like, and their names too. Volcano Raga, high-priest of the Cult of the Sun, is empowered with the Idiom of Volcanic Destruction. Instead of having their Idioms ritually tattooed on their bellies, sun-worshiping shaman-wizards wear red robes with their Idiom symbol embroidered on the back. Much less badass, but what do you expect from such pansies? Like pirate penguins, sun-worshiping shaman-wizards struggle between badassness and being normal, which, for human beings, is not about cuteness, but about compassion and forgiveness (yes, this game is optimistic about human nature; it's a Saturday Morning Cartoon).

-----

More to come...

Commentators:
"Fukui-San? Adding the new entrants, that's thirteen entries already. This is really shaping up to be a great battle."

"Yes, Ota, the chairman will have more than his fill of gaming dishes to sample!"

[someone want to take the role of Ota (Iron Chef sideline commentator)? First non-participant to step in gets it.]

Snow Day!

The freak summer blizzard that buried the Hawaiian islands under four feet of snow has passed, and the day has dawned on a sunny, if cool, morning. The palm trees are frozen stiff, every frond laden with icicles. Power's still out, but the weather report on Mom's battery-powered radio says that the weather will turn warm and sunny again by tomorrow morning.

The kids down the block have spent the entire night building a grandiose snow fort in Joey's front yard. They've got two towers, icicle spikes, and a dug-out ice cave stuffed to the gills with pre-made snowballs. Atop it all, they've made a flag by affixing an old t-shirt to a broom handle. Show-offs.

Eric is conscripting an army of faithful snow-musketeers to head up the assault, Jeffrey swears he knows of a secret underground passage under the Gilman family's patio, Johnny and Suzy are sculpting our secret weapon - an honest-to-goodness flying ice dragon - and best of all Alice's mom said she'd make hot cocoa for all of us. The kind with the little marshmallows.

Fort Joey must fall, and it must fall before dawn, or else the summer heat will beat us to it.

Using the assigned elements as the character attributes?!

Jack wins.

Best,
Ron






... What?

[Mike's the judge, not me, for people who don't get the joke. This post is merely a spectator cry of enthusiasm.]

hanschristianandersen wrote: Snow Day!

Commentator:
"Indeed, Edwards-san is correct that Aidly-san has taken a bold approach that puts a strong highlight on the four ingredients by making them attributes. But will forcing this arrangement lead to a palatable game? This remains to be seen! Further, the technique is not new - Palaskar-san in the last competition did something very similar with his attribute system. This entry did not win - so it is no garuntee!"

"Oh, and Tom-san is reeling in a sea of indecision. He seems not to be able to strike a claim on his own creative ground. Can he recover his composure, or is he out of the running?!?"

"Veteran Sampat-san is also in the arena now with a typically evocative start. Solis-san, no newcomer to design himself, has also decided to take part in the challenge. Alan-san has come with a strong dose of mechanisms early, having at the least a basis for character generation, and resolution. The bar continues to rise quickly in the early going!"

For millenia the Lord of Fire and the Lord of Ice battled. The world was racked with freeze and thaw, flame and ice. Finally, the Lord of Ice defeated his opponent. He created a great shard of ice that would never melt, the Heart of Winter, and imprisoned the Lord of Fire within it. Arrogant and content in his victory, the Lord of Ice slept.

With the Lord of Fire imprisoned, ice and cold ruled the world. Once slow and creeping glaciers swept down from the North to cover the land, and the Ocean froze. Only through the efforts of their magi, wielders of the Magicks of Heat and Light, could mankind survive in this frozen wasteland.

Hundreds of years after the Lord of Ice's victory, a great magus has stolen the jewel containing the Lord of Fire. He knows of the ritual that can shatter that prison, and free his Lord. If this should happen, the world would again be plunged into turmoil. The Lord of Ice, awakened by the treason of the magus, has sent his servants to retrieve it before the humans can release his foe.

At dawn on the Summer Solstice, the Lord of Fire will be released. . . Unless you can stop it.

Can you assault the stronghold of the fire-mage? Can you withstand the heat of the flames, and the chipping axes of men? Can you recover the Heart of Winter before it's too late, or will Fire come with the dawn, as it did of old?

Icelings.

Best served chilled.

Terra Australis

---

It is the year 1691. You've heard the rumors: The oceans unleashed something horrible, leviathans and serpents are found closer to Europe's shores than ever before. A punishment from God? Spawns of the Devil? It's a good thing the greatest minds have been sent to investigate. You even personally saw Robert Hooke depart on the Faithful four years ago. Things must be going well, since the only demon you've ever seen, a terrifying man-bat, swooping through Hamburg, was packed in a gigantic cage and sailed south to undergo study and exorcism.

---

You can't remember how long you've been caged here, the fearsome man-bat, caught sleeping after sneaking into a lord's wine-cellar. Now you're trapped in the belly of this stinking ship with only enough rooms to stretch one wing at a time. Your only company has been superstitious sailors, a few armed guards (who refuse to acknowledge you as a thing of reason), and one other monster. A squid-headed gentleman, something of a scholar, from whom you've learned some rudimentary mathematics. It's tough, though, since you have to communicate through iron bars and suspicious guards. That, and those tentacles muffle his speech. His name is Varun, you think.

It has grown colder, and you now spend much of your time shivering under wool blankets. The boat is still rocking, but it has come to anchor, judging from the sounds above. Three strangers, two gentlemen and a lady, descend the steps. Two of them are stifling nausea, handkerchiefs pressed to their noses. One, with a crooked back, extends his hand into the cage.

"To my right is the Lady Soraya Kiyanfar, to my left, Lord Jeong Seonggye. I am Sir Robert Hooke. Welcome to Terra Australis. Dalrymple Island, specifically."

His grip is firm, and he kneads your hand thoughtfully, exploring what lies beneath the furry skin. You soon forget this, however, as the cage is unlocked. You forget the cold, too, as you are led up to open air and the prospect of dry land.

---


What do the characters do?
As a monster, you are indebted to the World Royal Society, and serve them as an explorer in the strange icy islands of Terra Australis. Unfortunately, many would see you killed and buried, or killed and studied. Your only comfort comes from your fellow monsters and the few sympathetic humans you find here in the Bastion. That, and you're the only chance against the gibbering unnameable things and their wretched minions; unleashed when Terra Australis split into a million islands, prompting the World Royal Society's formation, and the judicious alliance among the civilized world to quell the assault on humankind.

What do the players do?
Players throw their characters into dangerous and maddening situations across the islands of Terra Australis, investigating and fighting all things stranger than themselves. They take part in a joint creation of the Terra Mythos, the backstory and mythology of the world, molding it how they wish. The Mythos can, for example, become a Lovecraftian return of elder gods, an occult conspiracy begun by surviving Atlanteans, or an alien invasion from the moons of Jupiter. To this end, players extend their control beyond a single monstrous character, playing the parts of human NPCs, creating new relationships between all characters, and forming new mythologies and beasts.

What does the GM do?
Participates and guides the Terra Mythos creation, building on (and with) the Mythos to instigate problems and disasters. The GM also uses the player-driven relationships, stressing them to keep play fresh and interesting.

(minor editing done even after extensive Preview-buttoning)

[unlurk]

After months of trolling these forums (ok, fora) I just registered for the sole purpose of saying:

Pirate Penguins. SO COOL!

The gamist tinkerer in me now wants to see a point-based system for designing iceberg city-ships complete with charts showing rates of melt-off vs. richness of plunder at different latitudes....

Snow Day - Core Mechanic

Characters are defined by one stat - their age. Age can be as low as 5, or as high as 15.

All rolls use 20-sided dice; you are encouraged to use a sparkly white d20, because they kind of look like snowballs. There are two types of rolls; Fantasy Checks (roll under your age), and Reality Checks (roll over your age). If you roll exactly your age, then that is a success for regardless of whether it was a Fantasy or Reality Check; plus, you get a Gold Star. (Haven't decided what Gold Stars do yet.)

Fantasy Checks are used for: Discovering secret tunnels, Sculpting Ice Monsters to assist you, Figuring out what other peoples' Ice Monsters can do (and how to beat 'em), and Making Up True Stuff.

Reality Checks are used for: Throwing Snowballs, Running Real Fast, Avoiding Parents, Sneaking Out Of The House, and Knowing Lots Of True Stuff.

Shouldn't younger kids be better at Fantasy Checks and older kids better at Reality Checks? I think the rolls are backwards.

Talysman enters the Roleplaying Arena a bit late, still recovering from a recent illness... and perhaps a bit feverish, since he seems to be muttering setting ideas to himself and viciously rejecting them. "maybe a 19th-century artic explorers discover a Conanesque Ultima Thule, magical tropical island surrounded by ice and mist? nah, too many forgotten island entries already... a floating ice-island? nope, someone just covered that one, too..."

wracked briefly by a fit of coughing, he has a sudden inspiration and begins mixing ingredients in a large bowl. "I only hope I have not wasted too much time!" he exclaims.

I didn't think I'd have an entry, then this sprung fully-formed into my mind.

Island at the Dawn of Time

A chilly wind picks up as the sun begins to rise; you feel the first touches of warmth on your cheek. It is the first time - your first sunrise, the first sunrise ever, and as you awaken you look over the island on which the Creator set you before he turned off the lights and walked away. The ice is melting on the island, but as you look out upon the frozen sea all around you, you realize there is so much work to do.

It is the dawn of a universe, a world waiting to be born, and your characters are its Adams and Eves. It is your job to name the things in this world, and in doing so give them form and purpose. But the long night before the first day has frozen those things in the sea, encased them in ice. And the ice will not give up its secrets easily.

Armed with nothing but your Names, you and your fellow children of the Creator prepare to make war with the ice, to free the world that is waiting to be born.

Shouldn't younger kids be better at Fantasy Checks and older kids better at Reality Checks? I think the rolls are backwards.

Chairman-San,

In past IronGC competitions we've had folks not announce their intent to participate until they'd basically already completed their entry, which then comes as a complete surprise to spectators and contestants alike in the very late stages of the competition.

I'd like to suggest that this isn't very conducive to odds-making and side-betting among spectators. What can be done?

Paul

BADASS the roleplaying game
every man is an island.

The Measure of a Badass is his Enemy.
The GM is gonna throw fearsome shit at you. You're ready for it, or you're gonna go play some weaker game.

Chef schmef! I'm'a serve up bloody raw red meat!

-Vincent

Well, I think I'm gonna throw my hat into the arena

Look forward to it.

Alright, dammit, wow. I go to bed, get up the next morning, and look at all these beautiful games that want to be played. And wow.

Wow. This is an amazing array of cooking talent we have lined up here.

Just a brief tease of what's coming.

-----

[img]http://1001.indie-rpgs.com/seadog.jpg[/img]

Materials & Setup

To play Seadog Tuxedo, you will need the following:

1) A table that you can get wet. Either some kind of plastic one, or you can cover your expensive wooden dining room piece with a vinyl tablecloth. Whatever. Just something you can get messy.

2) Walk into a liquer store or other dealer of alcohol. Buy the cheapest rum you can find. [EDIT: Yes, I mean literally the cheapest rum that's being sold. I don't care how awful it is.] You're not going to drink this because you like it. You're going to drink this because you're badass. If you're underage, find something that is sufficiently badass, like real ginger ale (the spicy kind) or high-class root beer/cream soda.

3) A few coasters or other small objects to represent the Summer Isles. Arrange them all on one side of the table, in an archipeligo. Arrange the players seats around the opposite side of the table, far from the Isles. The GM's chair goes opposite, since they're in charge of the sun-worshiping shaman-wizards.

4) You're going to need some small things to represent ships. If you have pieces from Wizkid's upcoming foam pirate miniatures game, that would be great. Otherwise, just use whatever you can find. They need to be small, like two inches long at the most. Legos might work too.

5) You're going to need lots of icecubes. If you have trays, make sure you fill them the night before, but an electric machine (like in most up-scale refrigerators) is better, so it'll keep refilling during the game. You're probably going to want to play in the kitchen if you can. Otherwise someone will keep having to run and get more ice.

6) You're going to need basic pirate gear for each player. A hat or an eyepatch is plenty. Just something simple and noticable. When their character is in badass pirate mode, the gear stays on, when they become a cute and adorable penguin, that stuff comes off. This keeps you from having to use a character sheet (superceding what I wrote previously), which would probably just get wet and fall apart. Lacking proper pirate gear, baseball caps work. Just turn them around backwards when you're a badass pirate and forwards when you're a cute penguin.

-----

More soon...

Paul Czege wrote: In past IronGC competitions we've had folks not announce their intent to participate until they'd basically already completed their entry, which then comes as a complete surprise to spectators and contestants alike in the very late stages of the competition.

Guest Sumo Wrestler Commentator wrote:
I'm wondering if the rum needed for Walton-san's penguins needs to be further clarified. I mean.. if you think about it.. if you go into a store and look, there are the gold rums and the silver rums, and they're usually the same price.

Fukui-san wrote:
Yes, that's true! And there's a difference in how they're made, correct?

Guest Sumo Wrestler Commentator wrote:
Correct, but in the very cheap rums, the gold rums are made by adding food coloring and other additives, while the humanely decent gold rums are made in oaken casks. The cheap gold rums can really do a number on your system!

Fukui-san wrote:
So I guess we need to ask Walton-san if it's more in the spirit of his game to choose a cheap gold rum over a cheap silver rum?

Guest Sumo Wrestler Commentator wrote:
Yes, yes, that is what I'd like to know.

Rum-guzzling Penguinista Buccaneers? That's a hell of a tough act to follow. Here goes...

Snow Day! Making Ice Monsters:

Describe the Ice Monster you want to make. It can have as many abilities as you want it to, but you can never make the same Ice Monster twice. As an exception, you can make a whole bunch of the same Monster all at the same time; an army of Snow Goblins, for example.

Now, you (and any other kids who want to help you) need to go collect Pieces so that it can have the special abilities that you want. For example, if you want to make an Icicle Dragon that can Breathe Fire, Fly, and is Impervious to Snowballs, you might first go swipe Uncle Mel's cigarette liter (for the Fire Breathing), then borrow the wings from your kid sister's old Halloween costume (for the Flying), and then grab a piece of corrugated tin from the workshed (for an armor plate that is Impervious to Snowballs).

You can only hold two things at a time; one in each hand. If something is particularly big and heavy (like the piece of corrugated tin), then it will occupy both of your hands. So if you have to get a lot of items to make your Ice Monster, you'll have to stash them somewhere; you can't carry them all at once. Watch out for Joey's Gang, as they might want to steal your unguarded Pieces to make their own Ice Monsters!

If you have an existing Ice Monster that has an ability that lets it Carry something, then it can hold on to a Piece for you.

Also, if you know exactly where to find a piece, you can send any existing Ice Monsters to go fetch it (assuming that the existing Ice Monster can Carry), but remember that Ice Monsters can't go indoors where it's warm; you have to do that yourself. And when you go inside, watch out for Mom & Dad, because they might catch you and make you clean your room or something.

(And be very careful about stopping for a cup of hot cocoa, because if you stop indoors for any length of time, all your Ice Monsters melt and you have to make new ones. Ideally, get Mom to give you a Thermos full of cocoa before you set out. With the disadvantage that thermos-cocoa can't accommodate marshmallows.)

Also remember that anywhere you go outside, you might be spotted by Joey's Gang, so keep a snowball handy at all times. And a snowball occupies one of your hands

Once you've assembled the various pieces, you can spend some time sculpting your Snow Monster. All of your Snow Monsters have Snow Monster Power equal to your Age, and all of the abilities that you were able to scrounge up Pieces for. Newly created Snow Monsters follow you around wherever you go until you tell them to do something else.

talysman wrote: IceRunner: a dweomerpunk fantasy setting

Huh! I'd like to give up rather than confront this kind of superior design, but that'd be dishonorable. I'd better show some mechanics from my humble design effort for a change. Really hard to be noticed with so many classy acts in the arena. I should have brought some penguins too, werewolves simply aren't in season...

The following is the central mechanic of the Battle of the Frozen Waste. I'll keep on the character creation for a little while yet.

The Bag and stones

In addition to creating characters and setting details the players will need to prepare the Bag: this is a normal bag suitable for stone-drawing mechanics, accompanied by different colors of stones. The stones are put into another bag heretofore referred to as the reserve and mixed. From now on the stones from the reserve are drawn in random.

The stones themselves are different colors; at least two and no more than five or six colors is probably suitable. The rules will often refer to a fist of stones: this is any amount of stones a player can comfortably close his fist around to conceal them from the other players. There is no minimum to a fist, and if the players should be giants or the stones really small nothing stops from using something else than player's fist as a limit to stone drawing, as long as the stones are concealed comfortably. There should be at least five fists of stones per player in the reserve at the start of the game, though all colors need not be in equal amounts. If the players have particularly luxurious stone collections the reserve can be made by each player simply grapping a full fist or two of preferred colors. The goal here is for the players to have some rough notion about how many stones per color there are, but to still allow for uneven distributions if that should be preferred.

A fist of stones is always open to the player himself and secret from the other players. The Bag is always secret to all, except for rough evaluation by weight, feeling from the outside etc. The reserve is likewise secret. Anything else is public. A player may reveal secret information known to him as long as he doesn't include numbers.

At any time during the game the players may add stones to the reserve by the fist: each player may take stones of a preferred color and add that fist in the reserve. This can be done any time all the players accent, and must be done when the reserve runs empty.

Before play starts each player puts a fist of stones from the reserve to the bag, checking the colors. Thus each has some notion about the colors of the stones making up the Bag. While it's permissible to talk about the colors, it's considered bad taste to reveal exact numbers. If preferred by all, a second round of fists may be added to ensure a longer game.

The last part of the preparation is for the players to assign meanings to the stones. Stones will act as randomizers and a kind of an oracle for deciding how the play will progress. Most of their meaning is generated during play, but as with the characters, something will be fixed at the start. Each player will choose one quality for one color of stone in accordance with the following explanation. The decisions are made individually and may all concern the same stone color. Any non-sensible meanings are redecided until an agreement is reached.

The stones are used for multiple purposes through the game, but the most common one is as a help in interpreting actions through the /meanings/ of the stones.

Every color has multiple meanings that are defined through play. Players keep record of these with pen and paper. Meanings are only ever added, never reduced. The same color may never have two completely and clearly contradictory meanings, as defined by consensus. Only meanings relevant to a given situation are ever considered, while relevancy is judged by the player doing the consideration.

When choosing meanings for the colors the players should first consider these, most basic ones. A color should have at least one meaning from these examples, and a color may ever have only one meaning from a given list, as others are always considered contradictory.

Allegiance:
Order
Ambassador
Barbarians

Domain:
Midlands
Frozen waste
Sidhe

Skills:
Martial
Arcane
Stealth

Element:
Ice
Fire
(others to taste)

Action:
Assault
Defend
(others to taste)

When assigning additional meanings the players are almost completely free to invent any they care to. Meanings incomprehensible to other players are almost useless as others won't use them. Contradiction is judged most strictly, so for example "Order" and "Werewolves" are not in any way contradictory, although werewolves are setting elements associated with the Ambassador. When in doubt, if two players are for any meaning it will be accepted.

Meanings hold to the same non-limiting principle that regulates general description. No meaning may be universal, such that it applies to any and all situations. All spheres of meaning have to be divided in at least two parts when assigning them to colors. In other words, there must specifically be something that doesn't belong under a given meaning.

My submission is: Dawn of the Day of the Monsters (A Atomic Fantasy). Can't reveal more right now, but I have the concept and now starting to work on the core mechanics.

The Chairman says:

Paul Czege wrote: In past IronGC competitions we've had folks not announce their intent to participate until they'd basically already completed their entry, which then comes as a complete surprise to spectators and contestants alike in the very late stages of the competition.

Conversely, a couretsy question: how certain should I be of completion if I want to announce a potential entry? (This could be a reason for the not announcing.)

Ota wrote: Fukui-san? You'll note that several more challengers have decided to join the competition. Perhaps most notably, Iron Chef Laviolette, himself! In his inimitable fashion, he's already found meanings for some of the elements that nobody had considered previously. His presence will really turn up the heat on the other chef's competing.

Still no sign of Iron Chef Freitag, but there's still plenty of time for him to enter the fray. He came in relatively late in the last competition, and maybe that's what's happening this time. It could be strategy, or timing, or just as likely he may just not plan to compete. But until we hear from him, the chefs all have to consider the possibility that they may be in competition with him as well.

Other notable entrants include Lumpley-san, Forrest-san, and Cherry-san, all proven avant gard game chefs. Less known, are hanschristiananderson-san and crackerjack-san. Who are these competitors? Could they sweep out of the unknown to take the competition? Or are they, perhaps, well known game chefs in disguise?

Eero-san seems to be quavering in his resolve despite seeming to be ahead of the pack in terms of volume of material created. Will he have the confidence in himself to continue? Who will be the first chef to succumb to the pressure?

As I was going to sleep last night, I came up with this, which I emailed to myself at work so I could post it this morning. There's a rather obvious inspiration from Clockworx in here, but AFAIK inspiration from other sources isn't generally considered bad form:

Island at the Dawn of Time: Basic Character/Game Mechanics

Characters are completely undefined in this system, apart from having a name. Instead, the GM (who we'll call the Unmaker, for reasons that should be obvious below) keeps the only sheet, which is the World Sheet. The World Sheet keeps everything that has been Named, and its rating. Ratings can be from 0 to 7. At 0, a thing barely exists. At 7, a thing can no longer be unmade, but neither can it be used to help make other things; it has solidified. There is a rating below 0 - X. At this point, something has been unmade, and cannot be remade.

The World Sheet starts with just the character's names, each at a value of 4. This signifies that the character exists. Other things that always exist include the Island (6), the Sun (7) and the Ice (7). At the dawn of each day, including the first day, each player gets 1 point. This can be put into a new thing (which they then Name), or it can be given to an existing thing. If a player's character ever reaches 7, or goes below 0, they lose their ability to Name. Note: Need something for players who have lost characters to do.

For each day (between sunrise and sunset), each character gets one "action." They describe what they do during the course of their day, and which Names they are using. It can be one Name; it can be many Name; but the Unmaker can veto anything that doesn't make any sense. If using the Name of another character, they may veto it as well. (Note to self: Need to figure out how to order the player's actions).

For each Name, the Unmaker picks a number between 1 and 12. The player then tries to guess that number. You may then move forward or back a number less than or equal to that Name's score - with a 0 between 12 and 1 on the cusp. If the number chosen fits within this range, it succeeds.

The player needs at least half his choices to be successes. If this happens, all the Names, even the ones he failed at, are raised by one. If he fails, then they remain the same. A Name with a rating of 0 must be guessed exactly; on any Name other than 0, if you guess the target exactly, you get an extra point that MUST be used to create a new Name, at a rating of 1.

After each character gets their day, night falls, and frost sets in. The ice and cold of the night reduces each and every Name that hasn't reached 7 by one point. Names that are at 0 are reduced to X, and become unmade, never to be Named again. Then, as the day dawns, each player gets 1 new point to put into a new thing, or augment an old thing and the cycle starts over again.

Four

Attributes are well and good, but a game needs a setting. Thus do I bring (by way of some rather contrived fiction) a early taster of all-that-is:

The young Chanters sat cross-legged on the floor in front of the teacher for their first lesson, excitement was obvious in their faces but they already possessed the discipline to sit still and be quiet. The teacher was old now but he still wore the bone armour proudly – its intricate carvings badges of honour from past glories. In his hand he held a hard-boiled egg.

“All-that-is is shaped like this egg. We are here,” he stabbed a gnarled finger at a point on the fattest part of the egg. “Although, of course, on the inside, not the out - for how could there be an outside to all-that-is?” Taking up a knife he sliced the egg into two neat halves. “And like the yolk lies central in the egg, so the sun lies central in all-that-is. Every night the sun dies, and its ashes fall to earth, and before every dawn you will perform the chants that bring the new sun and by this ancient duty you will ensure the life and health of all-that-is.”

One child dared raise a trembling hand. The teacher raised an eyebrow. “Yes?”

“We know of the sun, master, we see it everyday and we have heard the chants. Tell us of the rain, master? From whence does it come? What must we do to ensure its fall?”

“We know not of where the rain comes, child, for it falls only in the dark when the Sun is not. You must fill the sacred bowls and bless the waters so that they may call to their loved ones that they may fall as the rain by night. All these things will be known to you at the proper time.”

Like the reed, bending in the wind, your humble gamesmith bends but doesn't break in the pressure of master designers. A cynic might even speak of false timidity, uncoiling to strike when least expected. Here's some contest resolution mechanics for the Battle of the Frozen Waste. I'll include the character creation too, now that I'm here.

Play preparation

Each player chooses individually one of the following character archetypes:

High Noble: the masters of the Order, either born and bread northlanders who've risen to their positions with experience, or southerners who have gained their position by deeds or breeding outside the order. The High Nobles will advice the Grandmaster in planning the Battle and will lead the men in battle.

Knight: lesser nobles and their closest men. All men mounted and in armor are considered knights in the order, although some may hold higher social positions than others. These are the strong offensive fist of the Order when fighting the Ambassador, not the least because many demons are averse to steel most knights are clothed in.

Footman: armed either with pikes or bows, the footmen are the actual backbone of the Order's army, able to withstand horrible attacks with bravery. Footmen are commoners, and are usually led by commoners or petty nobles.

Oracle: there are other magicians in the middle lands, but apart from the barbaric ice shamans there is none in the icy wastes behind the borderlands able to withstand the Ambassador's corrupting influence. The Order however has some oracles, whose magical and arcane knowledge might spell victory, if trust is acquired and treachery avoided. All the oracles are women.

Hero: the general riff-raff that joins armies of freedom in fantasy epics and will save the day against all odds. By definition these can be anything, from talking animals to forgotten princes. They have to still have a reason for being there, though, both from the viewpoint of the high nobles and their own.

The Ambassador: the great demon of the North, hankering to swallow the middle lands. There is beauty in the ice sculptures and blinding whiteness of His domain, but it's not beauty fit for human life.

The choices the players make degree largely the focus of play, as different characters have different kinds of worries in the day before the battle. Apart from this narrative focus there's however no limits at all to the character details, and if a player wishes to play a peasant prince who forces himself on the gatherings of high nobles, he's welcome to choose the archetype of High Noble and play his character as a commoner. The archetypes decide what the character /does/, not what he /is/.

Only one player may play the Ambassador, and if two or more players want it, randomization must be used to determine the player.

There is no traditional character creation. Instead the players decide on facts about their character independently and in cooperation, to the degree preferred. What mechanical impact these decisions might have is realised later in the game by the choices the players make. It's preferable that a player have some kind of concept about what his character is about in the game when it starts, but likewise a degree of moderation is hoped for: a player should not feel a need to frontload his character unnecessarily, as this will only constrain his choices in the end.

As far as the game world goes, it is divided into the midlands and the frozen waste. The former is the domain of the other players, while the latter is that of the Ambassador only. The players share rights of narration about things of their own domain equally in the following way: Any world detail or color that doesn't limit another player is completely free and allowable, while details that make limiting statements about the domain are possible only by concensus, that is, if nobody disagrees. All the players should remember that the world being a scetchily defined fantasy, many things are possible and nothing should be discounted as long as it doesn't damage the designs of another player. It's assumed that anything alluded to in the rules is true to some degree, but that leaves great swathes of room for cultural, geographical, cosmological and other kinds of detail for players to fill in on their leisure.

For players unused to this kind of free-for-all, an example about the differences between limiting and non-limiting statements: "There is a knightly order of the South." is a non-limiting statement, while "There is only two important knightly orders, Snow and Sand." certainly is limiting. The above world creation rules allow players any non-limiting statements about the world, but limiting statements are only possible by concensus, that is, every player except the Ambassador has to agree about things of the midlands.

For the Ambassador things are simpler, as the player has the sole power to decide on general facts about the frozen waste. The Ambassador player may still offer suggestions about the midlands, as the other players can about the waste, but the other party has to accept such suggestions for them to become a truth.

This freedom of general description of certainty doesn't include the actual play actions of characters or other normal play, but is only limited to background facts and milieu of play. So the Ambassador player may freely decide on the general description of werewolves, but he cannot simply degree any actions of those same wolves. There's rules for that kind of thing.

The players will have to prepare the Bag before play can begin. The Bag chapter details the procedure. The last part of the preparation is for the players to assign meanings to the stones. Stones will act as randomizers and a kind of an oracle for deciding how the play will progress. Most of their meaning is generated during play, but as with the characters, something will be fixed at the start. Each player will choose one meaning for one color of stone in accordance with the Bag chapter. The decisions are made individually and may all concern the same stone color. Any non-sensible meanings are redecided until an agreement is reached.

When the play preparation is sufficiently finished, so that the players are raring to play, it's time to start the game. The first phase of play is called "Waiting for Dawn", as in it the players come to learn to know their characters and the perils ahead, while the characters are preparing for the morning of the battle. This will be described in detail in the chapter of the same name, after the chapter about stone mechanics.


Conflict resolution

When using the stones during the game the players will have a bunch of /free stones/, which are displayed in front of the player for all to see. These are used to affect changes in the scenes played in various ways. Free stones come from the Bag and are either discarded or added to traits after use.

Conflicts are always against another player's intentions. When two players disagree about something concerning the story they can resolve the disagreement by burning stones. This happens by concealing your free stones and revealing a fistful of them simultaneously with your opponent. The player who discards more stones of a suitable color wins the conflict. The resolution is narrated cooperatively by all the players.

Colors suitable for burning depend on the particulars of the conflict and the meanings of the stones. If a stone represents a relevant attribute, ideal or symbol that implicates a certain result for the conflict, then it can be used. The players shouldn't give colors meanings they don't know how to use, so it's simplest to limit yourself to straightforward skills and such at the beginning.

If both players discard the same amount of stones then neither will gets his wish, but instead the conflict is cut short for some reason. The difference is split by the other players in narration, as usual.

/Traits/ are stones that are added to a character. Whenever a character participates in a conflict where the player discards one or more stones one of them can be added to the character. In such a case the player will choose one of the color's meanings and put the stone on a piece of paper with the meaning. From now on the character has that meaning as a trait, to be interpreted in a way the player prefers. If another stone of same color is added to the character it has to be added to the same trait until there's at least three stones in the trait. After that the player may either start another trait of the same color or continue adding stones to the old one.

The narration of the conflict's resolution is based on the stones and traits used. Although only appropriate meanings are accepted when counting the victor, any meanings of any burned stones are suitable for the narration. The narrating players should take stones in turn from all participants and narrate at least one fact for each stone, taking freely of any of the stone's meanings. Thus a "werewolf" stone that's discarded in a war council situation might in the extreme case mean that a werewolf attack interrupts the council. The narrators start with one of the players and take stones from them in turn until only the winner has appropriate stones left. After that come the actual repercussions of the conflict. In this process inappropriate stones are used to help narration but are not counted against the idea of taking turns. Thus each participant loses appropriate stones in turn, and other stones when the narrators wish. The end result is that the winner is left with the difference in the amount of appropriate stones.

In the end of the conflict narration the narration rights move to the player who still has stones left. He uses the leftover stones to narrate repercussions of the conflict. One fact of the story costs one stone, as does one stone of a negative trait for another participating character. You all know how these things work.

The above is the simple conflict resolution, to which the following additions apply.

Using traits is simple: when a character participates in a conflict and has traits with meanings appropriate for the situation, the stones of the trait are added to the player's sum of burned free stones. The trait stones are however not lost, but are returned after the conflict.

If more than two players participate in the conflict each of the players will narrate in turn with his own stones until only concordant players have stones left, in which case they deal with the repercussions stone by stone, taking turns.

A player can add a meaning to a color before the resolution by paying a stone of appropriate color and incorporating the change in the narrative. This however signals his intention to the opponent quite strongly.

If a player uses all of his free stones in one color his is considered a /dramatic/ effort, but only if he had at least one stone in that color in the first place. A dramatic effort cannot lose and will instead tie a non-dramatic effort. If a player uses two of his colors the effort is /heroic/ and will tie even dramatic efforts. By adding further colors the player can force ties against even greater efforts. For this purpose stones of otherwise inappropriate colors are counted.

A player may discard one stone from his character's trait after the fists are opened. This is considered a /sacrifice/ by that character. The narration will include the character sacrificing something and the player may use that traits of that color for any meaning of the color in that conflict.

A trait might have a negative impact on a given conflict, in which case it may be counted in the other player's favor. Such negative traits may come from losing conflicts and cannot of course be sacrificed. They can be removed as a repercussion of a conflict, though.

The Ambassador has traits in the same way other characters do, but in His case they are much more abstract. The Ambassador is always considered to be present in any conflict that happens in the frozen waste, and his traits most likely manifest through his minions. Otherwise the Ambassador is played like the other characters, in accordance with the later rules about scene resolution.

Next up is the general lay of the game, I guess.

First time entrant, but I love working under a deadline. This may be good.

Burgess-san, having left his ingredients at home, enters the ring a little late! Will it be a tasty dish? or merely a disappointing mish-mash? Only the chairman can decide.

Isolation Therapy (Working Title)

Premise: all characters are prisioners in a collective hallucination, sent there to atone for their (perceived) sins. The hallucination is a product of childrens' dreams. Although all characters occupy the same prison, they do not interact -- think of it as parallel universes.

Goal: to escape the prison and redeem yourself in the minds of the children.

Style: primarily narritavist, with gamist elements for flavour (cool fiddly bits to pass around the table, etc.)

Notable Features:
- competitive (one player will be the "winner")
- no single GM
- little or no pre-game prep required (great for "fill-in" games)

How the heck does this tie in with the Ingredients? For that matter, how is this Fantasy?
- fantasy (def): the creative imagination, unrestrained fancy
The world is strange, surreal, and full of whimsy -- you're in a dream fer pete's sake!

- island (def): something/someone resembling an island, especially in being isolated and surrounded.
The "uber-theme" of the game is isolation, that you are alone -- an island.

- dawn: this game will be a race against time -- each character will only have until the next sunrise to escape the prison (island).
- ice: to redeem yourself, you must thaw the mantle of ice that clutches your heart -- to become more like a child.
Dawn and Ice will both be 'scores' that vary as the game progresses. Essentially, it's "ingredients as victory conditions".

Acknowledgements
Not enough good things can be said about Jack Aidley, whose work (both on this Iron Chef and Great Ork Gods) provided some excellent jumping off points. Ingredients as Stats? Good golly, that's a good idea! We all stand on the shoulders of giants...

(c)2004 Darcy Burgess

Ota-san wrote:

Less known, are hanschristiananderson-san...

Posting late last time wasn't a strategy, it was a scheduling crunch. And history repeats itself: most of the writing for this game is going to be completed during the weekend, if at all. But I don't mind presenting a teaser...

Arabian Nights ON ICE FAMILY SPECTACULAR

When Shazaman-Yugurovich, Sultan and High-Ranking Amateur Pairs Skater, caught his partner skating with another man, it drove him into a jealous rage. In his fury he made a terrible vow: that each day he would take a new pairs partner, skate with her in a Special Exhibition in the evening, and at dawn, kill her.

As the days went on and the Sultan began to carry out his vow, it became more and more difficult for his Vizier to recruit new partners. Soon, even the Ukrainian coaches learned to refuse the "opportunity" of having their best new talent perform in a Special Exhibition with the Sultan. The day came when the Vizier made his peace with Allah and prepared to tell the Sultan that no partner for the day could be found, knowing that his own head would be forfeit.

But, desperate to save the kingdom and her father’s life from Shazaman-Yugurovich’s madness, Vizier’s faithful daughter Scheherazade volunteered to skate with the Sultan herself. Her father was dismayed, but he did not know that she had conceived a clever plan. Hastily she assembled a small army of professional skaters, costume designers, set builders, musicians, sound engineers, lighting technicians, special effects experts, and Zamboni drivers. Then, when the evening’s Special Exhibition was over, she offered to entertain the Sultan with her own presentation. Her aim was to direct dramatic on-ice performances that would fascinate the Sultan, so that he would spare her life to allow the stories to continue. Her survival would depend on the Technical Merit and Presentation of the characters in the show, and on the Sultan being totally enthralled by their tale at the moment dawn, the time for morning prayers, arrived.

Thus begin the famous Thousand and One Arabian Nights ON ICE FAMILY SPECTACULAR.

You will become Scheherazade’s characters, as they live magical adventures in a fantastic world, from the smooth icy streets of Baghdad to the smooth icy expanses of the great Desert to the smooth icy bedchambers where ardent princes and irresistible slave girls meet in leaping twirling passion. Keep your blades sharp, because you must use all your skills -- footwork, jumping, spinning, synchronization, spirals, lifts and throws -- to confront fearsome monsters, corrupt courtiers, dangerous djinn, impious infidels, and biased French judges. Most of all, you must make sure the Sultan is entertained by your adventures, or else your tale, and Scheherazade’s, will end at dawn.

- Walt

I'm thinking that Iron Chef Fantasy has become Iron Chef Fantasia.

Like Fantasia, many of these games seem well suited to being enjoyed while in a state of...shall we say...elevated sensory perception...

Man, I thought the penguin pirate idea was weird until I read Walt's idea. You guys are fucked up. (That's a compliment.)

As always, Walt knows how to bring the pain. Well, bring it, bi-atch. Ain't none of us intimidated by you and your Iron Game Chef Championship Belt. It's time to see who's the real King of the Rink, fool. Let's get ready to RUUMMMMMBBBBLLLLLE!

Y'know, I'm not a big fan of "fantasy", but I suddenly had this vision... of dark hearts, soliced words, stoicked hearts and maladroit visions, black fire and steel, nordic fighters and racial cliches, heads and heart held de-sundry as volumnious strains of METAAAAL strained upon the metallic icy lands... and hence, comes:

The Dance and the Dawn
A romantic shoujo-fantasy fable of the Islands of Ash and Ice, and a Thousand-Stepped Midnight Waltz for Love and Dreams at the Ice Queen's Eternal Court of Infinity.
(working title)

The 3 Guests of the Island of Ash meet the 4 Captives of the Queen of Ice, and are so pledged to dance the Midnight Waltz upon the Ice Queen's court. for three and only three nights. Will they find true love, or be trapped upon the Island of Ice forever?

As you watch the night sky start to gray over what appears to be a sea of clouds, you recall how you ended up on top of the icy slopes of Mount Fuji. As a ronin, you were use to a hard and lonely life, traveling from village to village looking for whatever employment you could find. So naturally, when you were approached this time you quickly accepted the offer, though not realizing exactly what you were getting into. Now you find yourself on top of this cold mountain preparing for an assault on the mountain witch along side a group of men you neither know nor want to know. Men who all carry a similiar story as yourself.

Who knows what the dawn of this day will bring? How will desperate men uncapable of trust react when their only means of survival is to rely on each other?

The Mountain Witch
An rpg by timfire

Fukui-san wrote: And there he is, last competition's champion, Walt Freitag. And what's this preposterous concoction he's promising to cook up for us? Will it perhaps be a multi-layer delight similar to Extreme Vengeance (only with figure skating instead of actors?) Or will it be something else entirely? Will the end result be a playable avant gard game, or an unapproachably pompous monstrosity? Freitag-san has the skills if anyone does - will it work out?

And the entrants are piling high. Burgess-san, another relative unknown has joined. The active newcomer Dev-san has joined the chase (obviously preying on the chairman's well known fetish for heavy metal). And timfire-san of enters with yet another west pacific rim cuisine entry? Will the high number of entries from this tradition work for or against the chefs in question?

Hansechristianandersen-san should realize the honor that the mispelling in question represents. Ota made the same mistake with Jared Sorensen on his first encounter. Mayhap this is a good omen? Only time will tell!

OK, this is getting slightly ridiculous. Pretty soon I'm winning just because everyone has forgotten good old home cooking and nobody else cares to have some good ol' tolkienist sensibilities here... I'll have you remember that ice melts in Araby, or I would if it weren't so obvious that I'm green with envy.

I'm now revealing a significant portion of the Battle of the Frozen Waste in the form of the first phase of play. The game is divided into two phases, of which this is the first. I'm afraid the text gets only denser, I'll probably have to restructure and rewrite the whole after I get it all done, with hopefully some play examples. I won't be explaining this yet, though; that'll be the last, when I interpret the masterpiece for the masses...


Waiting for Dawn

When the play is prepared the players move into the first actual phase. This is "Waiting for Dawn", the time for introductions, expositions, building suspense and preparing surprises. During this time the players ready themselves for the chaos of the battle proper, and the characters gird themselves for the very same confrontation. If the battle is the great climax, this is the build-up.

Play will progress with players taking turns to interact with the setting, NPCs and other player characters. Other players not currently in character will communally take on the traditional GM tasks, preserving the domains outlined in play preparation (that is, the Ambassador won't describe any Order stuff or play Order NPCs, and the Order players won't play wilderness or monsters). The point here is two-fold: first, the players will have opportunities for detailing (and therefore strenghtening) their characters, and second, they have the opportunity to perform heroic deeds to better the Order's chances in the coming confrontation. A central decision is how much effort the players put toward each of these goals, and whether they strive for the artefact option detailed in the chapter about the Chalice of Doom.

When a player gets a turn during the Waiting he will draw a fist of stones from the Bag and place it in his free stones for all to see. As usual, the fist may be empty. When the Bag is empty the Waiting will be at end and dawn will come. The players can easily judge some rough approximation of how many stones are left and can apply the knowledge to the flow of time and other such matters. It's assumed that the play will start during the day before the Battle, during the march of the Order. Where the players take it from there is largely in their hands, but most characters will probably spend the night in camp to get at least a little rest.

The Ambassador doesn't get a regular turn during the Waiting; instead His minions and pure will will harass the Order in various ways. If all goes well for him he will be that much more powerful come the morn. Maybe the Order will break during the night and the whole battle becomes unnecessary, who knows.

The order of player turns can be arranged to whatever's convenient, and characters can act out of turn if applicable. The goal is however that all players get roughly the same amount of turns in the sense of possibilities for conflict. Their characters can assist others and be all over the place if appropriate, but the mechanics of a turn apply only to the current player.

During each of his turns the player will perform the following actions:
1) Draw a fist.
2) Frame a scene.
3) Play the scene.

The appropriate scene with it's mechanical results is played to a completion, after which it's the next player's turn. The detailed explanation of the actions follows.

1) Draw a fist: as already intimated, the player will take a fist of stones from the Bag and put it on the table with his /free stones/. These are used later to play the scene. If the Bag is emptied this is the last scene of the Waiting.

2) Frame a scene: the player has complete control over the scene his character will appear in. The player may decide that other characters or NPCs are in the scene and may arrange matters within bounds of believability to his satisfaction. The scene may happen in the present of the Order's march or camp, or in any past or future point of time. The latter kind of scenes are played with exactly the same rules as other scenes, but are assumed to be fiction of some kind (either flashbacks, fantasies or plans). Players still always play their own characters and appropriate NPCs in all scenes, and will later acknowledge the truth of facts established in flashbacks. It's assumed that anything the players frame is consistent in some frame of reference with the other scenes already established, making a logical whole.

3) Play the scene: The scene is played according to the guidelines given above. Every scene ends after a conflict resolution is narrated, regardless of the conflict in question. A scene may also end without a conflict when the players of all characters in the scene agree. In this case the player may invest any amount of his free stones in an /advantage counter/, which are explained a little later.

During the playing of the scene all players except the Ambassador player can start conflicts whenever they wish by taking their character or a NPC and placing it in odds with another character. If another player capable of controlling the opposition concents, a conflict is started. This is played as indicated in the last chapter, and the Ambassador player may take part. A player may make his character or NPC do anything at all as long as another player does not declare conflict. A conflict can only be started when a character tries to do something active, so in effect you need two players willing to start a conflict.

A player can bring his own character or NPCs to the scene whenever they wish, as well as narrate other events they prefer. If another player disagrees, he can start a conflict like in the case of characters disagreeing. If a conflict is so abstract that it has no actual plot significanse it's not narrated at all and any winning stones are discarded without repercussions. Examples might be arguments about control of NPCs, or whether the parthians are drunk on wine before the battle or not. This kind of abstract conflict /doesn't/ end the scene. A conflict is to be considered abstract if no character is present and able to either use or gain traits from it.

The Ambassador doesn't get turns during the Waiting, but he can still narrate anything concerning the frozen waste. He cannot start conflicts, but can join in on conflicts started by the other players. The Ambassador character is considered to be in the scene for trait use and gain whenever the scene takes place in the frozen waste (that is, any time it's not a flashback or similar about the midlands or some other faraway place).

During the Waiting all stones discarded by the other players are added to the Ambassador's free stones. Stones discarded by the Ambassador are returned to the reserve.

When a player gains an advantage counter, he puts the stones used to buy it aside with a short note about the situation where the counter was gained. Gaining an advantage counter is a sign of a benefit that has accrued for the Order in general, and thus the narration should probably tell about alliances, new intelligence about the enemy, a commando strike at the demons or powerful magics gained, as examples. Something that will help the Order in the future. Any player may during the scene announce the advantage counter, at which stage the other players have to either accent or announce conflict with whatever is the in-game reason for the counter. If two players resist the advance counter (not counting Ambassador), they can postpone both the counter and the conflict to a specified later stage of the scene, if they should so wish.

If the advantage counter goes through, the players will narrate it based on the stones the staging player put in the counter. This happens in a way similar to the narration of conflict resolution, with each stone providing color based on it's meaning. The scene ends after this counter narration.

Advantage counters are used in the next phase to sway the outcome of the battle. Hopefully they will be enough, because the Order is otherwise horribly outnumbered.

One thing I can say about my game: it's "survival comedy" that, like most of my ideas for systems, is not conventional in the way the system defines the boundaries and capacities of the game. Look for a tasty teaser some time later tonight/tommorow morning.

Time to bring out the big guns, i.e. GummiBears/Asterix-influenced mechanics and a whole lot of Color...

-----

Seadog Tuxedo: System, Part Two


Dawnwine

Deep in the Summer Isles, the Fortress Impervious houses the vineyards of the Sun-god himself, carefully tended by the Cult of Sun-Worshiping Shaman-Wizards. Grapes shine like tiny solar orbs, bursting with warm juice: the nectar that sustains the entire immortal civilization and it's autocratic priesthood. Sungrapes can be ritually prepared, through ceremony and (if they're available) penguin sacrifice, to create a divine elixer known as The Essence of Dawn. This ambrosia not only extends the life of humans, but endows them with the solar fury of their patron, empowing the Sun-Worshipping Shaman-Wizards with the moxie required to kick serious ass.

To pirates, this drink is known as Dawnwine. Why do they bother raiding the Summer Isles so much? Dawnwine. After all, pirates do their best to keep the drink out of the hands of the Sun-Worshipping Shaman-Wizards, who will only use it for evil, extending their lives and using their solar magic to subdue Decent Human Beings. Besides, have you seen what Dawnwine can do for pirate penguins?

When drunk by a penguin pirate, Dawnwine also empowers them with serious moxie, represented by an immediate projection of their Idiom out into the world. If Forked Lightning, for example, downed some Dawnwine before confronting the enemy, electric arcs would erupt from his diminuative penguin body, making him near-invincible for a short period of time. He could hold off an entire army by himself, as long as he managed to get away before the effect of the ambrosia wore off.


Narration Rules

Seadog Tuxedo uses a turn-based system of free narration. Play proceed in a circle, with each player giving a brief description of what their character does. This narration is basically unlimited, as long as it fits within the genre and color of the game. Pirate penguins can swing from chandeliers, sneak through towns under the cover of dark, pull off amazings stunt of spectacular daring, all by their player simply narrating what happens. Likewise, the GM (or other players, if you have enough) should narrate for the Sun-Worshipping Shaman-Wizards and other significant characters.

This means that, in practice, confrontations are like duels. No one ever fails to do what they narrate, but no one gets narration rights over someone else's character. For example:

SWSW #1: "Aha, Forked Lightning! We meet again! I'm going to burn you to a crisp you scurvy scalliwag! Reaching into my belt, I pull out a magic solar wand and fire bolts of heat at the penguin!"

FL: "That's what you think, Villain! I scamper nimbly out of the way of a few bolts, before lauching myself in the air, sword swinging!"

SWSW #1: "I step out of the way and wiggle my eyebrows menacingly. You've overestimated yourself, this time, little one... Face the wrath of the sun! I fire a blast at the gunpowder barrel he's standing next to, causing it to explode in a cloud of heat and smoke!"

FL: "Rolling out of the way, Forked Lighting emerges looking slight burnt and bruised, but he smiles triumphantly, though in pain. Is that the best you can do, you old fake! I pick up a barrel of Dawnwine, obviously feeling a bit weak, and throw it into the ocean, jumping on top and paddling it back towards the iceship!"

FL: "I pick up a barrel of Dawnwine, obviously feeling a bit weak, and throw it into the ocean, jumping on top and paddling it back towards the iceship!

SWSW #1: "Cute trick, pirate!"

They roll. FL gets 2, 4. SWSW gets a 5.

SWSW #1: "Forked Lightning leaps onto the floating Dawnwine barrel, but it rolls out from under his feet, causing him to fall unceremoniously on his rear end. He looks dazed and very cute and adorable."

FL: "Help! Help! Somebody help me! Oh, the evil man is going to get me!"

SWSW #1: "Cute trick, pirate!"

They roll. FL gets 2, 4. SWSW gets a 3.

FL: "The Shaman-Wizard calls for his troops to come get the pirate, but when they rush to the edge of the pier, the ones in the rear bump into the ones in front, causing a domino effect that ends with the Shaman-Wizard flying unceremoniously into the brine!"

SWSW #1: "Hack, spit, cough! Curses, foiled again! I'll get you, you... pirate!"

Oh, I can't believe I forgot this part!

Whenever your character drinks some Dawnwine, you (the player) have to take a shot of the cheap rum or whatever you're using. And that's definitely cheap gold rum. I mean, it's frickin' Dawnwine we're talking about here! I don't care if it's nasty. Suck it up!

Also, drinking Dawnwine is the only time anyone can drink any rum (or whatever). So part of the incentive for pirate pillaging is to get more rum for the players. ;)

Dammit Jonathan, quit it! You're making the rest of us look bad!

*smacks Jonathan upside the head with a slushball*

CUTE TRICK, Jonathon!

Just wait 'til everyone sees my Dark-Samurai-Fantasy cooking!

Terra Australis

I tricked you all! I don't believe in swordfish! It's squid all the way down.

---

In this post: Example play script, with light mechanics notes, highlighting two features of play. Fighting with monsters and creating your Terra Mythos. I want any conflict to further the story; there are _no_ whiffs. Conflict is physical, emotional or mythos, without yes/no outcomes. It is more, "Do we get in more trouble? Or do we solve a problem?"

---
Setup
Established facets of the Mythos are called Evidences (because they are not entirely factual). The default beginning to the game are the following Evidences:
Terra Australis: A vast maze of islands where Antarctica would be.
The World Royal Society: A coalition of great thinkers from all over the world.
Bastion: A growing compound created in response to the threats from Terra Australis. It is on Van Dieman's Islands (modern day Bellamy Islands), in Horror's Bay, surrounded by ice and snow.
Robert Hooke: Ambitious and frighteningly intelligent leader of the World Royal Society in Bastion. Not only does he preside over Bastion's scholarly goals, he addresses the practical, such as overseeing the Bastion's ongoing construction.

For this example, the players have established these Evidences during the "setup/social contract" phase of the game. The Evidences are required to handle the following: What are the Player Characters? What was the enemy's first assault? What is the weird globalizing science which gave rise to the World Royal Society? What is this strange enemy?
Irregulars: Pronounced 'ee-regular' for a bit of flair. They are discovered in many ways, some being born, others found frozen in Norwegian ice, and so on.
The Great Fire: The worldwide event that prompted the formation of the World Royal Society. Horrible cults summoned or released great salamanders to threaten the entire world. These
Coalhearts: The Night of Fires left behind weird burning coals which cannot be extinguished, provide a limitless source of bitumen, and which, when worked upon by various means (depending on the culture that uses it, from clockwork to prayer), allows instant communication. They are called Coalhearts, as they were found in the smouldering corpses of the Terrors. Because of their rarity, they are hoarded by the Royal World Society and used very sparingly.
Terrors: Monsters unleashed in the Great Fire, and discovered to be spawning from somewhere south of all civilization.

There is the GM and two players, Grace and Mark. Grace is playing Kleykir, a massive Viking brute found in Norwegian ice (who, incidentally, has a body temperature a few degrees below freezing). Mark is playing Vedun, a psychic squid-headed scholar from India who wields a cane sword in combat. There are a pair of NPCs, human companions. There have been no relationships made, yet, so the humans are handled simply by some measure of a) respect for monsters, b) fear of monsters, c) possibly some effectiveness. Their names are Li and Becher.

---
Example Script: Monster Fight w/ Mythos Creation

GM: As you descend the rough-hewn steps, you realize they are stone beneath a layer of pitted ice. The cave is growing warmer, slightly more bearable. The tunnel is bigger, now. Carved pillars, dusted with frost, rise to an icicled roof. Sunlight is thrown in by the snowy entrance, and casts weird shadows. The other end of the cavern could be an ornamented door or a giant statue; you're not sure.
Grace: It's going to be a slumbering guardian. And we're going to wake it up. [conflict mechanic: fails to create a fightable monster] Oops, it's long-dead and mummified.
Mark: [somehow gains control of the conflict, and uses this chance to add Evidence] It smells awful, and Li recognizes the thing from the library at the Bastion. It's called a [consulting Terra Australis sourcebook of weird & occult names] re'em, a terrible beast of which only two exist at one time. It gives birth before dying to a pair of twins.
GM: [Mark can give NPC Li direction, but the GM actually plays NPCs] Li lights a lamp and advances into the cave. He tells you of the re'em, and shines his lamp upon the beast [GM embellishing the new Evidence]. 'See how its three eyes see in all directions, and three horns gore its enemies?' Li grabs Becher's arm as Becher goes to touch the thing.
Grace: 'Vedun, can you feel anything?'
... at this point it can be a conflict, or the GM simply narrates. The GM chooses conflict ...
GM: Mark, Vedun feels a sinister presence, whispering in your mind in two discordant tones. You feel an ethereal stirring from the re'em! [GM instigates fighting conflict, psychic in Vedun's case].
Mark: Vedun closes his eyes and writhes his tentacles [spending some resource to bulk up success, but still fails].
GM: The re'em stirs, but only its belly. From its womb two horrors tear free! One swings its hairy paw at Vedun, sending him into a column. Vedun collapses to the ground, moaning.
Grace: Kreykir hefts his axe. Time to get rough on these guys! I'll decapitate one of them! [conflict mechanic, Grace gains ground]
GM: You swing your axe into its neck and are sprayed with black blood!
Mark: [his character is low on resources, but not out of action] Vedun rises from the column and draws his sword. He lunges at the uninjured re'em. [conflict mechanic, Vedun loses ground, sacrifices a resource, in the form of an NPC]
GM: You draw your sword, and advance to save save Becher. The bleeding re'em collapses on him, squashing him.

---
And so play continues. Already the group has established a particular monster and some of its features. This can be built on and changed and so on. Perhaps later, they meet more re'em, and the lore was wrong about there only being two on earth. Maybe they drag a re'em corpse back to the Bastion, only to have it give birth to two more. Or maybe the re'em are guarding something terrible, and the group continues deeper into the cavern to investigate.

A character will consist of a conflict resolution ability/resource (for using your character's abilities, whether it's fighting, shooting, whatever), and an Evidence creation/modifiation resource. NPCs also count as a shared resource. To heighten the value of NPCs, I'll say that you get more oomph by sacrificing/damaging an NPC if you have a relationship with him/her. Same with PCs, possibly.

I want to have some sort of dwindling resource to create tension. PCs should always have a chance to overcome conflict, though. I'm thinking some sort of "spend resource, reroll failure" (like Dying Earth) or "see odds, spend resource to increase odds" type of thing.

Lastly, when somebody 'fails', everyone has a chance to turn it into something else. If you fail in a conflict, someone can use the failure to create/modify Evidence and vice versa. Or you can shift the conflict into a different direction. I want all the players to be very active, so if there is no current conflict, you just create one.

hanschristianandersen wrote: Dammit Jonathan, quit it! You're making the rest of us look bad!

timfire wrote: CUTE TRICK, Jonathon!

Holmes-sama:

With everybody smacktalking their way through this contest, and with my mind fraying at the attempts to understand how some of these games manage to get labeled with the brush of "fantasy" (the main fantasy seems to be in their designers' hopes of defeating me). Good ol' Walt, who cooks up a fine game... though he has never faced the likes of me.

So... uh, let's talk odds... Walt has the belt, so he's the favorite to win. Jack had Ron's "kiss of death", so we know his game will suck. Hans over there, well, his game isn't called "The Ice Maiden", so we know he is breaking with family tradition. And I know, I am in a difficult position. Hell, I can barely recall the last game I made. So, with Paul-san's greatful permission, I would post odds:

Walt: 1.5:1
Jack: 2.2:1
Hans: 2.6:1 (drops to 2.2:1 if he follows family tradition in the title)
Zak: 2:1
John Walton: 3:1
Eero: 3.2:1
Timfire: 2.5:1
Dev: 2.8:1 (would be higher, late entry, but the title is so... big)
Dav: 13:1
Anyone else: about 3.2:1

Oh, and here's a glance at part of the character sheet for "Broken Vows"

Lived by the: (Cloth, Crown, Scales, Sword) [Circle One]
Died by the: (Cloth, Crown, Scales, Sword) [Circle One]
Sold my Soul for: (Blood, Breath, Flesh, Shadow) [Circle One]

Sins left to resolve:

Soul: Ice:
Fire:

Blood-
Breath-
Flesh-
Shadow-

That is all. Bring it kids, bring it.

Dav

Fukui-San wrote: Rating himself at 13:1, a classic attempt to throw folks off the trail of his cooking. From the man on The Forge who's had, perhaps the most commercial success of all? False humility, perhaps? Or just tactical maneuvering?

And he didn't even rate the first Iron Game Chef crowned. John Laviolette is in there duking it out. Also I think Walton has gotten runner ups in both contests - or are you buying his "too early" jive talk?

Indeed the smack talking groweth plentiful. It seems to be affecting the odds-makers.

This is the last you'll hear from me today.

You've already seen a picture of a pirate penguin, so how about Isabel (renegade pirate daughter of Volcano Raga) and Azmodeus (the Shaman-Wizard in charge of the Fortress Impervious and the vineyards of the Sun-god).

[img]http://1001.indie-rpgs.com/seadog2.jpg[/img]

I'm too much of a honky to talk jive, Mike. I just talk smack ;)

PREVEIW, with chapter samples





Dawn of the Day of the Monsters

"Creeper Creek, Texas. The DM seems to of stopped it's movement at that

location."

"Gentlemen, I propose an air to ground missile strike, which will

hopefully subdue the beast so we can capture and quarantine it."

"No time. We'll have to nuke it."

"Texas, you'r going to launch a nuclear strike on Texas?"

"Yessir."

The good news: the tactical nuke dropped on the hostile entity given

the military codename "DM" was far enough out in the desert to not

destroy the town of Creeper Creek. The bad news: now creeper creek is a

shifting landmass somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean, an irradiated chunk

of a Gilligan's island carved out of Texas like a nuclear knife through

butter.

The sun was rising as the military final found the island that used to

be the Texas town of Creeper Creek. As the army green helicopters

swooped down over the island the video feed started to give out.

Radioactive interference with the transmition. However the blurring

subsided for a few seconds, just long enough to show the secret

military council what they needed to see: a town crawling with atomic

mutants.

"Send in the O.R.C.'s"

Chapter One, PC's:
In DoDM, the Player's Character is one of the townspeople of Creeper

Creek, now a survivor a nuclear holocaust and flesh-eating mutants. To

make things worst the army has declared the entire island contaminated

with the genetic mutatagens of the presumably dead hostile giant mutant

beast, codenamed DM. Thusly, the army has sent in hordes of goblins

(goblin: derogatory term for U.S. soldier) and O.R.C.'s (experimental

combat soldiers) who are just as ready to kill as the mutants, and a

heck of a lot smarter (well, not the O.R.C.'s). The goal of the game is

to survive, so the characters will have to work together (or stab each

other in the back) to survive as best as they can until they can figure

out a way to escape.

Chapter Two, Secret Military Commander's Only (Gamemasters):
Of course, there is no way the PC's are going to escape. Theyre going

to survive as long as possible, and hopefully die off one by one in the

most glorious and goriest ways. But don't tell them that. You want them

to actually think they have a chance, and when they play that way, by

the end of the game everyone would of had a great time.

Chapter Three, The Madness to the Method (System):
sample of play-
Bob: I shoot it! (makes a gun motion towards the "direction" of the

fictional O.R.C. with his hands)
Military Commander (GM): (thinks: damn that was fast) Ok..um, you were

really fast so you shoot first. The O.R.C. didnt even have time to

raise his gun, it crumbles and falls over. There's the sound of grunts,

squeals and army boots behind you!
Andy: Ok, ok, ok I pull out my revol-
Military Commander: BANG BANG! The O.R.C. command squad fires, and a

bullet bursts through Andy's head. The rest of you, who didnt even

raise you guns, are surrounded and the O.R.C.'s are hesistating but

they dont take prisoners...
Bob: I reach for my gun slowly hoping they dont notice, just edging
Gamemaster: One of the O.R.C.'s twitch
Samantha: I start jumping and shouting! distractin-them!!
Bob: I kick up my gun with my foot and grab ahold of the handle
GM: the O.R.C.'s cut you down in a hail of gunfi--!!
Bob: DODGE! DUCK! ROLL! and I shoot back
GM: The ORCs are on the move and you arent shooting very well with all

that stunts so there not hit and pointing their guns and
Bob: BANGBANGBANG (it's a revolver, I can get three shots squeezed off)
GM: TWO ORCS down, ONE LEFT, SQUEAL-SHOOT-SAMMY!
Sam: I fall down while jumping! (slower but well thought out)
GM: umm..you get hit in the shoulder, and it hurts, a lot.




(This is just a preview, the full submission will be forthcoming in the next few days)

Crazy Old Fortune Teller Lady Commentator wrote:
I must admit, I'm a little surprised at some of the entries. They are.. they are not what you might consider standard fantasy--

Ota-san wrote:
Fukui-san?

Fukui-san wrote:
Yes, Ota-san?

Ota-san wrote:
Sorry to interrupt, but some of the other chefs have voiced similar opinions. They are concerned over what they believe to be some liberal interpretations of "fantasy".

Fukui-san wrote:
I don't know, I mean, they seem alright to me.

Somewhat Clueless Actress Commentator wrote:
Oh, absolutely. "Fantasy" is such a broad theme. If you go into a bookstore, there are a lot of things under the "fantasy" heading, and just think of how much is simply "fiction"!

Crazy Old Fortune Teller Lady Commentator wrote:
Hmm, I suppose that is true!

Ota-san wrote:
Yes, the Chairman has been pretty open in past contests, and certainly doesn't hesitate to sample dishes even if they don't exactly fall under the theme!

Fukui-san wrote:
Well, I guess we'll just have to wait and see what the Chariman thinks of some of these entries.

Somewhat Clueless Actress Commentator wrote:
Yes, yes, exactly. I think all of the entries so far fit the theme, in, you know, in their own way. It's very exciting!

Be warned...

The Gods are coming!

Using three of the four terms in the game title should count for something, right? Right? And I have no cute penguins, piratical or otherwise. The judges have got to be loving that.

Assault Force ICE DAWN

Pre-Game Prep: Making the Cards
---------------------------------------------
The group gets together and does the prep work before the mission. The GM should resist the urge to make cards ahead of time. You will make one set of 10 cards for the group, not 10 cards per player.

First, you need some index cards. You’re going to write one word on each card, as directed below. Write the word up near the top of the card to leave room for more notes that you’ll add later.

On the first card, write ANALYST. On the second card, write NEGOTIATOR. On the third card, write SORCERER. These cards represent your support team. Put these cards aside for now.

Grab four more cards. One card gets labeled ALPHA, one is BRAVO, one is DELTA, and the last is ECHO. These cards represent your operations teams. Put these cards aside.

Now you’re gonna label three cards: INTEL, DIPLOMACY, and ACTION. These cards will be used to keep track of bonus dice during play. Lay them out in the middle of the table.

You should now have 10 cards on the table, one word each.
- Analyst
- Negotiator
- Sorcerer

- Alpha
- Bravo
- Delta
- Echo

- Intel
- Diplomacy
- Action

Now it’s time to create the characters.

More to come...

I'm sorry, I have to edit and repost... I tried to edit before I posted, but something got screwy with my connection. So, here is the revised version:

God Lore: The Chronicles of the Immortals

Spawned from the essence of the Ancient Ones, you find yourself, an Immortal, blessed with the
powers of the gods and born with the mandate to take part in the monitoring and control of all
things. Your existence demands you to influence reality and perpetuate your own supremacy.

In order to do your duty, you have been given the power of the Life Force, the basis of
life itself, the power behind the elements.

These elements -- Dawn, Ice, Island and Breath -- combine in your being, all of which
you use to control the very nature of the universe.

Dawn: the power of birth, the blazing sun and the warming fire

Ice: the solid essence of life-nurturing water, and the freezing death of the chill

Island: the soil and rock that stabilize the world and support plant and animal life

Breath: bears the evidence of the Life Force, the Winds of Time and the Vacuum of Space


Together, the Immortals and the Chronicler will journey through a story of accomplishment and
feats where Creation is bound and unbound, where Life is made and destroyed, where gods die
and are reborn.

Plunge into the mysteries of the gods, while sipping the nectar of Ambrosia and living
their stories, dreaming their dreams, bearing their hopes and knowing their fears.

Now is the time of legends lived. Now the God Lore is spoken. Now the Chronicles of the
Immortals are made known!

Holmes-san, you bastard! This is a terrible week for me to do this, and I sooooo want to. Alas.

I'll offer up a tease, at least. Odin only knows if it'll ever be more than this. This idea howled to me from the cold north:

http://www.chimera.info/images/ragnarok_logo.jpg

Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Walton!

The ghost of Iron Game Chef past makes an appearance to remind the chefs of Number 1 Rule.

Ron Edwards wrote: All right, you wickerbuckin' finnicks ...

That's enough pictures, K? Use links.

Best,
Ron

I haven't forgotten! I'm still cooking up this weird little Inuit fantasy thing. In the meantime, I've researched a little more on the actual mythology and lifted a couple key terms. Most notably, there already is a word for "cannibal spirit" which was mighty convenient. With this new knowledge, I've revised the introductory passage.

Lak (Revised a bit)

Elders say the land beyond Inotowok was once warm as our fires. Lush with green things and animals that flew in the sky, they say. But, for reasons unknown, the sun went to sleep many winters ago. Slowly, our people were the only ones able to survive, all alone on Inotowok. With the talluak, the protective spirits, keeping us just warm enough, we managed to survive on an island isolated from the rest of the world by oceans of ice.

And life was good in those days, not so much different than before. But those who died when the sun went to sleep did not lie as easily as that great, slumbering star. Pana, guide and caretaker of the dead before reincarnation, was overwhelmed by the great numbers of dead now entering the ghostly realm of Adlivan. Great evils were done before the sun fell asleep and Pana could not in good conscience bring those dark souls back to our world. Further, there were simply not enough new bodies into which to reincarnate those souls.

The souls were angry at their imprisonment, combined their anger into a powerful storm and forced their way out of Adlivan, back into the land of the living. Upon their return, they found their world gone. The world of their memories buried under the snow. Their anger grew even greater, twisting them into vile horrors swarming in the mad, violent orgy of the storm. They became atshen, cannibal spirits, fiercely jealous of those who still live here on the island.

Elders sensed a darkness approaching. Spectre-storms approached in enormous thunderheads pregnant with every darkness of the human heart. Elders pleaded for assistance from Pana for it is Pana who is meant to care for these souls and soothe them. Alas, Pana was weak. Once the doors between the worlds were forced open, they were too hard to close. But then Pana thought of a trick. Just as the evil souls of Man were now in the land of the living, so to would she send the souls of the light, compassionate, and courageous.

Great souls were condensed by the thousands, sometimes by the millions, and branded onto the bodies of special men and women of the island. They were the Lak, the greatest, who still stand at the shores, the forest, the icy desert and elsewhere on the island, defending us from the atshen in all their horrid forms.

Obligatory Semi-Clever System Concept
Character effectiveness is defined by the length of your name. You sacrifice syllables from your name as your resource pool to do great, mythic acts. The last syllable of your name is always "lak" which is an actual Inuit sobriquet meaning "the greatest." When "lak" is the only remaining syllable of your name, something cool happens... I haven't decided what yet. But after that point, you can no longer perform mythic acts until the next dawn.

I'll write up more tomorrow.

Dav wrote:

Hans: 2.6:1 (drops to 2.2:1 if he follows family tradition in the title)

Awwright, that's enough trash talking for me for one night. Now, on to some more game content:

Snow Day! Assaulting Fort Joey

First, an important clarification: Actions performed by Ice Monsters *always* use Fantasy Checks, and never Reality Checks. Ice Monsters don't have Age, so these fantasy checks are made against the Ice Monster's Ice Monster Power instead.

Second, a key rule that was left out of the section on Snowball Fights: As your action, you can Cry Uncle to admit defeat and bow out of the fight. No Kid will*ever* throw a snowball at someone who has cried Uncle, but since all actions during a round happen simultaneously, another kid can use that same round to get in a parting shot. If you cry Uncle, you're out for the rest of the Snowball Fight, and you can't join back in. All of your Ice Monsters are out of the fight too, but at least they don't melt. Feel free to cheer on your comrades from the sidelines.


Assaulting Fort Joey is a daunting prospect.

The Towers - From the high vantage points of Fort Joey's two towers, a Kid gets to throw snowballs as If they're a year older than they are. Also, because of the high walls, a Kid throwing a snowball at a Kid in a tower throws as if they're a year younger than they are. Ice Monsters are unaffected by the towers.

The Snowball Stash - A single kid running back and forth can keep both towers stocked with snowballs, allowing the throwers in both towers to throw a snowball every single turn.

The Icicle Spikes - Because of the Icicle Spikes around the fort, you can't just rush up and attack the fort. Oh, no. You need a *cunning plan* first. (More about Coming Up With A Cunning Plan in the forthcoming section on Scene Framing.) Without a Cunning Plan prepared beforehand, you can pelt the fort's defenders with snowballs, but you can't actually take the fort… no matter what sorts of Ice Monsters you have on your side.

At any given time, Fort Joey is manned by either Joey (age 15, and a mean shot with a snowball), or by his younger brother Jimmy (age 7, and a know-it-all brat.) Jimmy is almost always accompanied by a sneaky Slush Troll (Ice Monster Power 7, with the abilities Sneak Around, Slushy Claw Attack, Carry Slushball, and Mock Other Kids.). Additionally, 1-3 other kids will be present (ages vary wildly), and each of them has an Ice Monster with two powers. Note that Joey himself doesn't have an Ice Monster, because he's been too busy improving the fort itself to bother sculpting one.

If, with the aid of a suitably Cunning Plan, the characters and their Ice Monsters can drive off all of the fort's defenders, and somehow circumvent the Icicle Spikes, then they have successfully taken Fort Joey! Each Kid on the victorious side gets to do a Victory Dance, or a Victory Song. Plus, they each get a Gold Star! (I still haven't decided what Gold Stars do.) But be careful for reprisal raids, for now that you own the fort, Joey and Jimmy and the other kids will be sure to return just as soon as they've fortified themselves with Hot Cocoa… How long can you hold the fort?

God Lore: The Chronicles of the Immortals
Continued...

The Four Influences

In the Universe, four Influences form the elemental make-up of all things. These Influences are powered by the Life Force. Every Immortal commands the use of all four Influences to varying degrees. Furthermore, each Immortal has a primary Influence which usually helps her determine her patronage.

These four Influences are Dawn, Ice, Island and Breath. All four are represented to greater or lesser degrees throughout the Universe.

Dawn is the force of fire and birth. The Immortals that choose Dawn as primary tend to be hot tempered and vibrant, full of life and quick-tempered. They generally choose to be patrons of such things as the hearth, the passionate embrace, or the most powerful, the Sun.

Ice is the force of water and cold. Without Ice life cannot survive, heat would destroy all, and everything would dehydrate. Immortals who control Ice tend to be very calculating and circumspect. They rarely let their emotions get the best of them and usually rely on their cunning to guide mortals into the Immortals' desired paths. Patrons of Ice Influence choose things such as fish, the morning dew or at the highest levels, rain.

Island is the power of the earth. Island-specialized Immortals are very "warm"-hearted and remain calm under pressure. Very little can shake their resolve, but they tend to recognize times when emotions are needed in order to manipulate mortals and facilitate their agendas. These Immortals tend to choose the dust, plants or even the Earth itself as their patronages.

Breath is the imaging of the Life Force and Time. Mortals require Breath to maintain their life and to advance. Immortals with primacy in Breath tend to be very quick-witted, skilled in the intricacies of socialization and are very adept at persuasion. They frequently stir up crowds of mortals in frenzies through their words without revealing their godliness simply out of enjoyment. These Immortals tend to choose patronages over things such as hiccups, breezes, or even the atmosphere.



Life Force

Life Force (LF) is the power that is an Immortal's existence. When an Immortal is "born", he is granted the power of Influence through using his LF. This power defines the types and amount of influence he is granted. The Immortal has Thirteen (13) Influence Points (IP) to spread between his four Influences (Dawn, Island, Ice and Breath). He must have a minimum of one IP in each Influence and must choose a primary Influence which must have the highest (or tied for highest) IP devoted to it. As the character develops and matures, he will eventually gain more IPs. As he gains IPs, his LF will rise. LF is determined (after character creation) by totaling the number of IPs.

If an Immortal's LF ever reaches zero, the Immortal is considered to be unavailable for play with his LF dissipated into the ether of time. The player may retire the character, or if other players are amenable, they may attempt to resurrect the deity by spending their own IPs to bring the "dead" Immortal back to life -- this requires a number of IPs equal to the "dead" Immortal's normal LF.

The Demigod must declare his primary Influence which must have his highest Influence number or be tied with other Influences (with no Influence being higher). After this primary Influence is declared, the Demigod should take time to decide her patronage*. Below a table of patronage examples for Demigod level is provided. The Demigod level is quite insignificant in the grand scheme of Immortal Status; therefore if deciding to on a different patronage than listed, care should be taken.

Demigod Patronage List
(For Random Result roll five six-sided die and add the results)


5 -- Roll Again
6 -- Apples
7 -- Bunyons
8 -- Caterpillars
9 -- Dust Motes
10 -- Ear Wax
11 -- Flatulation
12 -- Garbage
13 -- Hiccups
14 -- Impish Behavior
15 -- Jumping
16 -- Kale
17 -- Leeks
18 -- Minnows
19 -- Nails (Toe or Finger)
20 -- Oranges (for the scurvy scum that follow!)
21 -- Penguins (MUHAHAHAHAHA)
22 -- Quail
23 -- Roses
24 -- Snails
25 -- Torches
26 -- Ugliness
27 -- Vomiting
28 -- Worms
29 -- Yelling
30 -- Other (Choose or Make-Up Your Own!)



*A Note on Patronage:
As Immortals gain "Status" they gain new patronages. A Demigod has only one patronage. Further information on Immortal Status and more patronages will be detailed later.


Immortal Status

Immortals gain status through their acquisition of Influence Points because IP directly affect an Immortal's Life Force. Life Force exists in both a "static" and a "current" form. Immortals determine their effectiveness in each encounter and through each action by the amount of "current" Life Force (CLF) available. The CLF reflect the available Influence Points available to be used by each Immortal at a given time.

Static Life Force refers to the overall amount of Influence Points available to the character when fully "charged" with Life Force. The higher the character's SLF goes, the more power and greater status she has within the Immortal community. Eventually an Immortal can gain such status as to be named among the greatest of the gods, being a patron of such things as the very elements they represent, or if wise and powerful enough, an Immortal may try to take over the rulership of the heavens from more established figures (i.e. Zeus, Odin, etc).

Immortal Status Matrix
SLF Status
-------------------
13 -- Demigod
20 -- Eternal
27 -- Sovereign
34 -- Hierarch
41 -- Titan
48 -- Singular

When addressing an Immortal with 27-33 SLF, he would be addressed as Eternal "Name" by Immortals of higher status. If addressing an Immortal of greater status, they would be addressed with the term Lord preceding their status and name... Lord Titan "Name".

Okay... that's enough for tonight... It's way too late, and I need some rest... I'll cook some more tomorrow.

Below the eternal Pole Star lies the mistake, festering like a forgotten apology, a tower of smoke to the sky that most of the People prefer to ignore even as the demons it spawns crush their fragile palaces of starlight, frost, and ice.

But you are not like most of the People. You are a Star Knight, guided by the charter set down by the long-dead Snow Queen, chosen for the heavy duty of guarding the People against the yearly demon invasions from the frigid mists of the mistake, and try to save what remains of your civilization after the fall of Polaris.

The knights have a thousand forces arrayed against them, and the radical elements from within the People are as dangerous as the demons that boil forth from the Mistake with every dawn. And, in the end, it shall be the knights themselves that will destroy what remains of the greatest civilization that ever was.

Your fight is as futile as a baby crying against the coming of summer.

But you have decided to take up the struggle. Don your starlight sword, take only a breathsuit as refuge against the cold, and fight against that coming light.

Coming soon from Whenever The Hell I Feel Like it Productions
A Ben Lehman Game
Designed by Ben Lehman

Polaris

Chairman Holmes!

A question regarding the judging:
In regard to the three ingredient rule -- if all four ingredients are used, but one is less primary than the others, is there a loss of honor in the half-hearted use of one ingredient?

yrs--
--Lei Xiansheng

As I'm sure my preveiw showed, instead of trying to integrate a loose system and freeform like I have in the past, I am instead going for "dramatic freeform" that focuses on the dramatic and full bodied (literally) storytelling that I often have and have been in games where the GM's have, incorporated it into their tabletop games (sound effects, dramitization, real time responses, motions mimicking characters)

I don't expect for Dawn of the Day of the Monsters (DDM) to be complicated or polished enough to rank very high, but I'm enjoying the experience of limited time and slightly guiding game creation experience.

That which was known as Four shall hence forth be known as Chanter.

Is this a show of confusion from our chef? Or a cunning ploy designed to throw his opponents?

G A N A K A G O K --- DAWN BREAKS UPON THE ISLAND OF ICE

For a thousand years, the stars have shone down on Halakat, the Sea of Tears, burning brightly in a sky that was always dark. Now in the east the horizon has brightened to grey, and the stars have begun to fade. The shamans of the People speak of the rising of the Sun.

For a thousand years, the People have lived upon Ganakagok, the Island of Ice, in the midst of the Sea of Tears. This mountain of ice, floating in a cold sea, has been carved into soaring spires and dizzying stairs, immense caverns and intricate labyrinths. The legends of the People speak of the Ancient Ones who carved it so, to escape the falling of Night.

Dawn is coming to the Island of Ice. The stars are fading. The sea is growing warmer. The world is changing. Will the People survive the change?

GETTING READY TO PLAY includes (a) creating characters, and (b) fleshing out the setting, including (1) sketching a rough map of Ganakagok, (2) detailing the characters' village, and (3) deciding upon elements of the metaplot, including the nature of the spirit-world. Creating characters is done by the players; fleshing out the setting is done by the Game Master (GM).

CHARACTERS are men of the People, the tribespeople who live on Ganakagok, a gigantic iceberg floating in a freezing cold sea illuminated only by starlight. They all belong to the same village, and are in fact related to one another by kinship ties of marriage and consanguinity. Each player should create his or her character one after another, so that players can draw upon each other's character creation process.

Name. The naming of names is important; characters should have names with a vaguely Inuit feel, with lots of guttural consonants, aspirations, and flat schwa sounds. Hagak, Jukub, and Natahuk are all suitably icy and primitive, for example. Players should be discouraged from trying to name their character, 'Nanook'.

Attributes. Characters receive 10 points to distribute among four attributes called Body, Face, Mind, and Soul. No attribute may be lower than 1 or higher than 5. A score of 2 or 3 reflects notable competence or ability in an attribute; a score of 4 or 5 indicates exceptional prowess. A score of 1 indicates no special proficiency--the character is unexceptional in that dimension.

Body reflects physical ability and athletic prowess. Characters use Body to trek across the snow, bag their prey when hunting, fight, and perform other physical tasks.
Face reflects all sorts of communication skills and social status. Characters use Face to interact with each other, negotiate with strangers, persuade each other, woo maidens of the People, and so forth.
Mind reflects mental acuity and knowledge. Characters use Mind to learn and apply the lore of the people, and to craft material goods.
Soul reflects moral development, reverence, and piety. This is the attribute that is used for journeying into the spirit-world, which any character may attempt via dreams and vision-trances.


Gifts. Characters may also take up to 6 points of Gifts, which reflect possessions and relations that can aid the character in times of need. For each point of Gift a character is given, a token of that Gift should be recorded. No more than three gifts of any one type may be given to a character at the start of the game. A character may never have in excess of six Gifts of any one kind.

Gifts are used in two ways. First, if a Gift is relevant to a particular action, it may be used to increase the character's Attribute for the purpose of avoiding Risk or accumulating Success (see 'Taking Action' below). Second, when Failure does occur, Gifts may be sacrificed (broken, lost, damaged) to ward off more harmful effects.

Goods aid Body-based actions. Goods tokens are listed as specific items of equipment, e.g., a whalebone harpoon, a hide kayak, a whale-oil burning torch, a sharktooth knife, a rope of twisted sinew, and so forth. It doesn't matter too much what the item is, though it should be something of general rather than specific utility. When Goods are used up, they are lost, damaged, or destroyed, and need to be repaired or replaced.
Love aids Face-based actions. Love tokens are listed as relationships, favors, and kinship ties with specific individuals from the village (who are specified by their names and their relations to other characters), e.g., 'Saved Takanuk, the chief's brother, from a snow bear during a hunt,' 'married to Luinapa, the shaman's second-oldest daughter,' and so forth. Players should feel free to invent characters at this time, as well as to create relationships overlapping those of other players. When Love is used up, the other person is mad at or otherwise disinclined to help the character; the relationship needs to be patched up.
Lore aids Mind-based actions. Lore tokens are listed as the titles of myths, legends, or songs that the character knows, e.g., 'How the Whale Lost His Teeth,' or 'The Brave Harpooneer'. When Lore is used up, it has been forgotten or confused, or is somehow always already irrelevant, and must be studied anew.
Mana aids Soul-based actions. Additionally, depending on its source, mana can aid one other type of action. Ancestor mana aids Face actions. Before dawn, Star mana aids both Mind and Body actions. Sun mana aids Face actions and, after Dawn, Body actions. Ancient Ones mana aids Body actions. Regardless of source, Mana tokens are listed as specific items of mystical or religious significance, e.g., a braided-seaweed amulet in the shape of a man (Ancestors mana), a scrimshaw talisman carved with star-signs (Star mana), a piece of polished black stone found in the ice (Ancient Ones mana) and so forth. No character starts with any Sun mana. When Mana is used up, it may have lost its mystical resonance through obvious inefficacy, been profaned or otherwise rendered unclean, or been sacrificed in some sort of potlach or other ceremony. In any case, the amulet or talisman must be purified or replaced.


Sample Character. The GM tells the players to create characters who are men of the village of Turanagu. The first player creates his character, Gujanopak. Gujanopak (Body 3, Face 3, Mind 2, Soul 2) is a young hunter of the village of Turanagu. He carries a whalebone knife (Goods 1) and a rare bone-handled stone axe (Goods 2). He also owns a sturdy kayak (Goods 3). He is the son of Umagakan, the village chief (Love 1), who taught him the 'Tale of Karakojuk in the Belly of the Whale' (Lore 1). His proudest possession is the ornately carved ceremonial kayak paddle (Ancestors Mana 1) he made for his initiation into manhood.

THE VILLAGE is a central focus of the game. The village has Stores of meat, hides, bone, oil (rendered from fat), and other necessities of life; these Stores are held in common by each family but can be drawn upon by others in the village (in exchange for current or later favors). The village is also the characters' social world. A village consists of maybe 7-12 extended and interconnected families of 10-12 people living in ice caves, tunnels, or caverns on the lower reaches of Ganakagok. The People live by hunting seals, sea lions, and other large aquatic mammals, including the occasional whale, and by fishing. Each village has a chief (usually the most successful senior hunter); his wife is often but not necessarily the 'senior mother' of the village, with great influence upon what the women of the village do. Each village will also have a shaman, usually an elder man but possibly a woman, who is conversant with the methods of dream-interpretation and spirit-journeying.

To describe the village initially, the GM should indicate the Stores of meat, bone, hide, and oil held by each family and map out the social network of the village insofar as it is known. A GM could decide that a particular family is especially prosperous or impoverished; this will create interesting social dynamics in the village. Assume that about one-quarter of each family consists of able-bodied hunters, with the remainder divided among able-bodied women as well as dependent children and the elderly.

Village Example. Turanagu has 8 families and about 100 people, the DM decides (i.e., about 12 people per family). He gives each family in the village Stores equal to Meat 14, Hide 6, Bone 3, and Oil 2 (i.e., the characters need to get out there and hunt!). The village's social map is very sketchy at this point; it includes Gujanopak, his father Umgakan (the chief of the village and the head of Gujanopak's family). A second player created Hagak, Gujanopak's elder brother, who is married to Luinapa and saved Takanuk, his paternal uncle, from a snow bear.

THE MAP of GANAKAGOK is created by the GM. The map is a rough sketch of the area surrounding the village. The village is the center of the characters' world; they should regard it as the only truly 'safe' zone they have.

Map Example. The GM draws a circle representing the village of Turanagu in the center of the map. He draws another four circles, approximately in the cardinal directions. The area to the south he labels 'Open Sea (Halakat)'. The area to the east is 'Icy Cliffs (Gokutagun)'. The north is 'Glacial Plains (Anunagoruq)'. Finally, to the west is 'Neighboring Village (Danokaru)'. The GM connects each area to the village with a line.

THE METAPLOT involves the coming of the Sun to Ganakagok, and the changes that the Dawn brings. As the game begins, the Sky contains 100 stars (actually, hundred of stars, but say 100 for the sake of tracking). As the Sky brightens, Stars will fade. When the last Star fades, the Sun has risen. It will slowly climb higher and higher in the Sky until it reaches the height of Noon. As the Sky changes, conditions on Ganakagok will start to change, too. In addition to disasters caused by melting and shifting ice, the spirits of fading Stars (whom the People revere) will contend with the spirit of the Sun (who desires their reverence). The spirits of the Ancestors of the People may also interfere, and the legacy of the Ancient Ones who created the Island of Ice will have to be reckoned with.

The GM must create a time line of events that occur as the dawn approaches and the Sun climbs higher in the sky, keyed to the number of Stars remaining (pre-dawn) and the height of the Sun in the sky (post-dawn). The incidence of these events (which will include animal migrations, avalanches, ice floe break-aways, 'icequakes', and disturbances in the spirit-world) should cause characters to seek out an explanation and a solution for their village at least and perhaps for the People as a whole. Whether this solution is an exodus from the Island of Ice or seeking refuge in its depths will depend on the direction the GM guides the metaplot.

As the Stars fade, their mana becomes less powerful. Each turn, the GM can roll percentile dice (based on the number of stars remaining) or just decide that one or more Star mana tokens has become ineffective since the Star that bestowed it has faded from the Sky. Once the Dawn breaks, all Star mana is ineffective thereafter.

Once dawn breaks, the mana of the Sun becomes more powerful: in addition to aiding Face actions, it also aids Body actions. The GM will have to decide whether, as the Stars believe, it is possible to forestall the Dawn. The spirit of the Sun is majestic and, according to some, beguiling.

It may be that Island was built as a sanctuary from the domination of the all-consuming Sun, or that once the Sun has risen a new age of prosperity will come once the People travel to the new home that has been granted them. Something else may be the case entirely. The GM must decide what the truth of the metaplot is!

THE SPIRIT-WORLD is an important element of the metaplot, since it is through the spirit-world that the People can learn of the conflict between the Stars and the Sun. The creatures of the spirit-world include the Ancestors, the Stars, and the Sun. The Ancient Ones may also be represented as a separate category of spirit, or may be hidden, or may in fact be the Stars themselves in different form. Again, the GM must decide.

Journeying in the spirit-world to gain mana from the spirits is an Soul-based action that incurs some risk to the character; this is discussed at somewhat greater length below.

In any event, traditional spirit-journeying allows the People to interact with and gain mana from Stars and Ancestors. As the metaplot progresses, the power of the Stars will fade (i.e., dealing with them is less Risky but produces less Success per effort as well) and the power of the Sun will increase.

PLAYING THE GAME involves following the story of the People as the Dawn comes ever nearer. Each turn represents a few days worth of time. During a turn, characters will take actions of different sorts. The order of action is random; if it matters who acts first, roll off. After actions are resolved, the sustenance of the village is determined and the metaplot is advanced.

Taking Action. During a turn, each character can attempt three broadly defined actions, e.g., 'I go hunting for my family,' 'I go to the neighbor village to trade,' or 'I explore the Glacial Plains north of the village.'

Once a player has declared his character's intention, the GM will determine the parameters of the action resolution, including (1) the Attributes relevant to tasks comprising the action, (2) the Risk associated with those tasks, and (3) the amount of Success required to achieve particular outcomes.

The basic dice mechanic is this: For any task within an action, the character's level of Success is equal to his Attribute. For each level of Risk associated with the task, roll 1d6. If a die is greater than the Attribute (plus any relevant Gifts invoked), it inflicts 1 Failure on the task. The GM will determine how much Success is necessary to accomplish the task at hand, or what is produced per unit of Success (e.g., 1 Success during a the physical part of the hunt might mean that the hunter has bagged a penguin with enough meat on it to feed him until the next turn.

The player then has to decide how to deal with Failure. He can (1) trade Success for Failure, (2) accept an injury (reduce an Attribute by 1 die until 'healed'), (3) lose a Gift (permanently, or at least until 'replaced' or 'repaired'), or (4) accept a narrative complication, if offered by the GM or opposing player.

Gifts of the appropriate sort can be used during an action to lower the Risk of the task or to increase the amount of Success -- but not both. In any case, a die roll of '6' is automatically a Failure.

A player can decide to accept greater Risk for additional Success. For each additional Risk die rolled, increase the Success of the character by one.

A player can reduce his Risk by limited his Success similarly. Roll one fewer Risk die per level of Success sacrificed.

Obviously, Risk trade-offs have to be made before the dice are rolled.

Cooperation among characters may play an important part in the game. Depending on the specific activity undertaken, cooperation can be resolved by (a) having individuals undertake separate efforts, each of which requires some measure of Success, (b) reducing the level of Risk or increasing the Attribute level of the character leading the task, or (c) producing additional Success for the character leading the task. The GM must decide.

Conflict between characters (fistfights, verbal sparring, and so forth) involves treating the opponent's attribute as the Risk level for other character.

Example of Conflict. Hagak (Body 3D) gets into a fight with a stranger from another village (Body 2D). Hagak has 3 Success to the Stranger's 2. Hagak rolls 3 dice and gets 1 ('miss' as this is less than or equal to 2, his opponent's Attribute), 4 ('hit'), 6 ('hit'); the stranger rolls 6, 6 (two hits, as both are greater than Hagak's attribute of 3). Hagak has a total of 5 hits (his Successes plus the result of the stranger's Risk) while the stranger has 4 hits. The stranger, with fewer successes, decides first what to do: he opts to trade all his hits to negate four of Hagak's. Hagak hits the stranger, who loses 1 Body. Hagak wins the fight; the stranger is bloodied and (with his action) takes refuge with another family in the village.

The GM should be prepared to create different 'dice structures' to represent different situations, e.g., a race between two characters, trying to accomplish something in a specified amount of time, and so forth.

A 'narrative complication' can be anything the GM decides: a permanent rivalry or hatred, a scar or injury, or any sort of trouble the GM thinks is reasonable. The GM should decide if narrative complications hasten the coming of Dawn.

Out on the Ice. The People live by hunting, and this sometimes necessitates long trips out on the ice. If a character ends a turn out on the ice, not in a village, he must try to Survive using his wits (Mind) and fortitude (Body). He needs a total of 1 success per turn away from the village (i.e., 1 success on the 1st turn out, 2 on the 2nd, and so forth). The GM should key survival Risk to different areas of Ganakagok--e.g., the Glacial Plain might be a 2-die risk while the Icy Cliffs are a 4-die risk. The open sea should be a much greater risk; perhaps as much as 8 dice.

Hunting. Hunting trips require the hunter to accumulate intellectual Success to track or find his prey (Stalk) and physical Success to bag it (Catch). The list below provides examples of Success rates and what's gained.

Seal. Numerous and therefore relatively easy to find, relatively easy for a determined hunter to catch and kill. Provides 2 meat, hide, bone, and oil each per completed hunt. Stalk 2, Catch 3, (Risk 2)
Sea Lion. More dangerous but also proportionally more productive than seals (3 meat, hide, bone, and oil per completed hunt). Stalk 2, Catch 4 (Risk 3).
Penguin. Also numerous, but smaller and therefore harder to catch in sufficient quantities for the effort required. Provides 1 meat, hide, bone, and oil per completed hunt. Stalk 2, Catch 4 (Risk 1).
Whale. Infrequently encountered, and extraordinarily dangerous for a lone hunter or even a small group. Provides meat, bone, and oil in extraordinary quantities--say 100 each--per successful hunt. Stalk 4, Catch 20 (Risk 6).


Characters can fish, which is Risk 0 and produces 1 meat per 2 Body per action.

Spirit Journeys. Spirit journeying is a Soul-based action that can be used to obtain mana or oracular information (that will be of ambiguous meaning and uncertain accuracy, naturally). At the beginning of the game, the Stars are powerful (Risk 4, 1 success per mana received or question answered) and the Sun is weak (Risk 1, 4 Success per mana received and questioned answered). As the Stars fade, this will reverse until the Sun is powerful and the Stars are weak. Interacting with the spirits will often require a Face-based task to avoid their enmity.

Making Goods. Making new Goods (or fixing broken ones) requires the expenditure of Stores and Mind-based action. If a character is married, his wife will take up to one action per turn to make things for him.

Learning Lore. Learning new Lore requires Face-based action to get a knowledgable elder to teach it and Mind-based action to remember it.

Making 'Love'. Gaining friends and influencing people within the village requires Face-based action.

Recovery. Players can recover lost Attribute points for their characters by taking an action and telling a story of a sort appropriate to the Attribute being 'healed'. The story need not be terribly lengthy, but it should maintain the flavor of the game. The following format indicates the sort of thing that should be appropriate:

'Hear now the tale of [character]! [Character] was [description]. One day, [Introduce a complication, like a difficult task being proposed to the character]. But [character] was undaunted! [Tell how the character overcame the complication and was rewarded.] Thus ends my tale!'

Body. Tell a story of Monaagak, the powerful King of Whales.
Face. Tell a story of Ganakorop, the shapeshifting trickster-seal.
Mind. Tell a story of Panuuguka, the wise Mother of Stars.
Soul. Tell a story of Meetaqi, the Good Son of Panuuguka.


Taking Care of the Village. At the end of every turn, the village has to be fed. Each family uses up a number of Stores of Meat equal to its size. If it doesn't have the necessary Stores, it can get food from another family (if they have extra--the GM has to keep track, making some simplified assumptions about the success of hunters from each family). If it doesn't have enough, it can 'expose' one or more elderly members to the ice. This kills them, of course.

The village also has to be heated; each family burns 1 Store of Oil per 3 people in the family. If it doesn't have enough, treat the family as if it's out on the ice at Risk equal to the cumulative shortfall.

Advancing Toward Dawn. Each turn, starting from 100 on the first turn, some number of stars will fade (maybe 1d6 to start, more as the Sun gains in strength). The GM decides exactly how many and what effects this has, and what can influence the rate at which Stars fade. It may be possible to reverse the coming of Dawn, but on the other hand it may not be. Once Dawn breaks, the Sun climbs in the Sky at maybe 1d6 degrees per turn. Once it reaches its full height (90 degrees), the campaign ends.

There is my entry!

Notice how it invokes the theme ingredients: the coming of the Sun (dawn), the isolation of the People (island), and the desolate nature of their environs (ice)!

And, pace Eero, it is Tolkienesque in spirit if not in its trappings: the fantasy invokes melancholy about the world changing, and nostalgia for a lost past. The world of the People is literally melting out from underneath them.

As I promised, an earnest little fantasy.

Bill White

Dawn of the Day of the Monsters has survival horror, a frantic and fun atmosphere, a satirical storyline, and it even has fantasy roleplaying tropes (presented in a cheesy 50's scifi being heckled by MST3K kinda way)

and because all the hip kids are doing it...

the dawn is the focal point for the "beggining" of the game, as well as the metaphorical dawn of an age of mutants and atomic monsters
Creepers Creek is now an island in the Atlantic, and nobody can get off of it
And the military is assaulting the irradiated, man eating mutie filled island with it's hordes of Goblins, O.R.C.'s, and other monstrosities.

It really doesn't look like I'm going to have time to finish Lak in the next few days. I'm heading out of town tomorrow and saturday and it's only a couple weeks until graduation with so much left to do. I'm a little disappointed that I couldn't finish the concept, but them's the breaks I guess.

Anyway, Bill_White's pretty much done the whole Inuit thing right there. :P

I am not confident about this game's chances; it feels like it has something missing. But I stand behind both the concept, and the utility of the game's rules (even if they don't really excite me).

Island at the Dawn of Time

Intro/Back Cover Text

A chilly wind picks up as the sun begins to rise; you feel the first touches of warmth on your cheek. It is the first time - your first sunrise, the first sunrise ever, and as you awaken you look over the island on which the Creator set you before he turned off the lights and walked away. The ice is melting on the island, but as you look out upon the frozen sea all around you, you realize there is so much work to do.

It is the dawn of a universe, a world waiting to be born, and your characters are its Adams and Eves. It is your job to name the things in this world, and in doing so give them form and purpose. But the long night before the first day has frozen those things in the sea, encased them in ice. And the ice will not give up its secrets easily.

Armed with nothing but your Names, you and your fellow children of the Creator prepare to make war with the ice, to free the world that is waiting to be born.

Game Preparation

Gather some players (2 is the absolute minimum, but I personally suggest 3 or higher) and two sheets of notebook paper. Write 'Creation Roster' on the top of the first sheet, and tear the other one into equal parts, one for each player.

Each player writes their character's name on their sheet of paper - this is all they need to do at the start of the game. The Creation Roster holds all the Names that have been brought into creation. At the start of the game, the Creation Roster includes all the character's Names, each starting at a value of 4. It also includes the Island itself, also rated at 4. As names are added and addressed, the ratings will change, so make sure to write everything down in pencil.

Game Constructs

In Island at the Dawn of Time, there are two types of points that need to be tracked. The first, Nomen, are the points that determine how important a Name is. A Name on the verge of extinction has 0 Nomen points. A Name on the verge of becoming perpetual has 6 Nomen points. At 7 Nomen points, a Named thing has become perpetual - it can no longer be unmade. If a Name ever goes below 0, it has been Unmade and can never be returned.

The other type of points are the Machinae. For every Name that a player brings to 7 points, he earns a single Machina; for every Name that a player creates that is brought to 7 points, he earns another Machina (thus earning up to two Machina per Name, if they bring it to 7 points themselves). Machinae are mainly a point of prestige, but they do have a few in-game uses, the most prominent being determining the turn order during each round.

Turns

Island at the Dawn of Time is played in turns, each turn signifying a day (from dawn to dusk). These turns are further divided into sections.

1. Dawn
At the dawn of each day, before anything else happens, each player is given a Nomen to spend. This can be put into a new Name, or it can be given to an existing thing. If put into a new Name, that Name should be added to the Creation Roster at a value of 1, and the player who created it should be noted as well. No more than one Nomen may be given to a single Name during dawn - players must spread their points around. If any character's Name has reached 7, or dropped below 0, their player does not get this point.

2. Day

Every player gets one 'turn' a day. On the first day, players go in alphabetical order. On subsequent turns, the turn order goes from most Machinae to least - if two players have earned the same Machinae, the player who earned it first has seniority. Players may not pass their turns, but must take them in order. Turn order does not change during a day, even if a player earns more Machinae.

During each player's turn, the NEXT player in line will take on the role of the Unmaker, personifying the forces that are assaulting Creation. Then they take their turn, and the NEXT player in line takes on the role of the Unmaker, and so on. The last person in line has the first person in line as their Unmaker.

During their turn, a player must describe what their character is doing during the course of the day, and which Names they are addressing. A player always uses his character's Name, and may use as many Names as desired, as long as they all make sense in the course of the narrative. You may only use the Name of another player if they okay it.

Once the Names the player is using are decided, there comes the guessing game. For each Name, their Unmaker picks a number between 1 and 12. The player then tries to guess that number. He may add or subtract a number of steps equal to that Name's current value - with a 0 between 12 and 1 on the cusp. Yes, a player may guess 0, but the Unmaker may only pick a number between 1 and 12. If the number their Unmaker chose fits within the range surrounding the player's guess, it is considered a success. If the target number is guessed exactly, that Name's value is automatically raised by one Nomen.

The player needs at least half his choices to be successes. If this happens, all the Names he was addressing have their Nomen raised by one (this is in addition to any bonuses from guessing). If the player fails, the Names don't change at all.

There are special cases for those players whose character's Names have been brought below zero, or brought up to 7. A player whose character's Name has reached 7 is now a part of the world - he has lost the stuff of creation, and cannot Name things. However, their existence can still be useful - they can add one Nomen to any single Named entity, and may collect additional Nomen by reducing their Machinae, on a 1:1 basis. In addition, they may attempt to guess a number that their Unmaker chooses - if they succeed, they get an additional Nomen.

A player whose Name has dropped below zero has their character become an agent of the Unmaker. During their action, they may subtract a point from any Name - and may expend additional Machinae to subtract more points, on a 1:1 basis. If any Name falls below 0 due to their actions, they earn an additional Machina - or two if that Name was their own. This player may also attempt to guess a number that their Unmaker chooses - if they succeed, they can create a new Name. With luck, they can then Unmake it on the following turn.

3. Nightfall

At dusk, every player with a Naming character must compare their Name's score to their Machinae. If the value of their Machinae is higher than their Name, their Name's value rises by one. If their Machinae value is lower than their Name, their Name falls by one. After this, the ice and cold of the night creeps in, and each and every Name that hasn't reached 7 is reduced by one Nomen. Names that are already at 0 become Unmade, never to be Named again.

Endgame

Once there are no more Names in flux (all are either Unmade, or perpetual), the game is over. The player with the most Machinae has won this round of Island at the Dawn of Time.

As I try desperately not to fall off the radar...

(That panting is me trying to keep up with all the rest of you writing machines AND work 6hours of overtime a day...GRR!)

As I jump on the band wagon, the game formerly known as Isolation Therapy is now know by the much more "artsy fartsy" moniker, ISOL.

Here's a snippet of what I'm working on...

Components
You're going to need a bunch of things to escape the Eidolon (and maroon your friends). These are the tools of the game!

Table
Chairs are optional, but a decent-sized table that everyone can fit around is an absolute must for a game of ISOL. This just isn't one of those games that you can comfortably play in the back of a car on your way to Moose Jaw.

Adult Content
Your character record. It isn't anything flashy, but it really cuts down on the cheating when everyone can see you don't have "always win this game" as a Facet...

Script
This is where you chronicle the obstacles your character has faced, and what the result was. Not only does it help reduce confusion at the table (Who was it who faced the three-toed sloth man?), but it also provides a nifty record for reminiscing purposes six months from now.

Dice
ISOL makes tried and true six-sided dice. (All hail the stoic d6!) However, to help gameplay move a little more smoothly, dice are classified into colour-coded categories. Below are the categories of dice, along with their suggested colour. Actual colour doesn't matter, so long as each category has a discrete colour.

Boon Dice (White)
The higher your boon dice result, the better things go for your character. Each player will need at least one Boon Die, and one or two spares wouldn't hurt.

Bane Dice (Black)
These nasty little devils counteract your Boon Dice. Just like their lighter cousins, each player will need at least one Bane Die, ibid on the spares.

The Stranger (Green)
There's only one in the game, and everyone's going to be squabbling over it. The Stranger is tied to themes of isolation. The Stranger, the Sun and the Crystal, are collectively refered to as Story Dice. Story dice can be used to help or hamper, a character, depending on who is rolling them.

The Sun (Red)
Works just like the Stranger, except that it's tied to themes of XXX.

The Crystal (Blue)
No big surprise, the Crystal is tied to another theme group -- XXX.

The Island
An index-card sized piece of paper. Preferably colour-coded to match the Stranger (I like to use construction paper). The Stranger begins the game on the Island, and the Island begins the game in the middle of the table, where everyone can reach it.

The Horizon
Same trick as the Island, but colour-coded to match the Sun.

The Glacier
I believe I detect a trend. Colour-code this slab of dead tree to match the Crystal.

Sprite/Gremlin Tokens
Any two-sided token will do, so long as you can tell at a glance wich is the "good" and which is the "bad" side. There also needs to be room to mark who this token belongs to, as every player will need one. Othello (tm) chips work really well, if you have some white grease pencil for marking the black side.

Story Tokens
If you aren't drowning in glass stones by now, you soon will be. Make a trip to your local flower shop and get a big old bunch of these pretty coloured stones. Any colour will do, even mixed. Every player will need about a dozen.

The Quill
There's only one writing instrument allowed at the table during ISOL. That way, everyone will be forced to focus on the story at hand. Try to pick a good, dark felt marker that writes with a nice, sharp point. Also, make sure that it will be legible when used on the Island, the Horizon, and the Glacier. Since everyone shares the same Quill, don't stick in in your mouth...

Snow From Korea
The characters in Snow From Korea are samurai men, the devoted lovers of samurai mistresses home in Nihon. They have been sent to Korea (or any of the other barbarian countries of the mainland) to recover some rare and precious thing, the Snow. The Snow doesn't have to be real snow. It's just what Snow-hunting samurai call it, from a line in the popular story The Tale of the Heike where one of the court ladies says to her lover, "The summer is hot. Bring me snow from Korea to cool my brow."

It is your job as a player to make sure your samurai comes home with enough Snow to make his mistress happy, and to make sure that he isn't so terribly transformed by the journey that she'll recognize him when he gets there.

One player, the Holy Emperor of Korea, (or referee, for a less grandiose title), has the job of describing the samurais' travels to the players. She (I'll always refer to the HEK as "she" and the other players as "he") decides what they encounter on their way, and serves to narrate those things external to the players' characters. It's her job to make the journeys difficult.

How To Play:

Getting started:
First, decide how long the game will be, in terms of encounters the samurai have along their journeys. I suggest that you play at least ten encounters.

Then, each player (except the HEK) should describe his samurai; he should write a haiku giving some idea of his character. A classical Japanese haiku is an unrhymed poem three lines long; the first and third line are five syllables and the second seven. If you're not Japanese speakers, you may want to write English haiku; don't fret too much about their length. After writing a descriptive haiku, each player should name his samurai, and his samurai's mistress, and decide secretly what the Snow is that his mistress desires.

The next step is to assign numbers to your samurais' Facets. All the players should agree on a number and divide that amount of points among the Facets as they choose, putting at least 1 in each. Each Facet describes a skill that's important in samurai society; there are three, Awaré, Kenjutsu, and Tanka. Awaré is the samurai's sensitivity, his feeling of the sadness of impermanence. It describes any deep emotion evoked by an external object or person. Kenjutsu measures your samurai's steeliness of spirit and his skill with the blade. Tanka measures his spiritual discipline, skill at poetry, and so forth. Record these initial Facet scores.

Playing:
The HEK goes around in a circle, describing a scene with each player where the samurai leaves his mistress to go on his journey. In this scene, the names of those two characters and the identity of the Snow should be revealed.

Once each samurai has been introduced in this way, the HEK goes around in order again, running an encounter with each samurai. She chooses the type of encounter, but she may not choose the same type twice in a row. After each encounter, the samurai's player may describe where his character is headed next, and whether he wants to challenge one of the other samurai. Repeat this until each samurai has had as many encounters as was decided at the beginning of the game.

Finally, once all the encounters are played out, the HEK and each player should play out a scene where the samurai returns to his mistress, with or without the Snow. Once all these have been played, you can determine who has won the game.

Encounters:
An encounter is a place in the samurai's journey where he comes across something unexpected which tests his abilities and affects his disposition. Any encounter has the potential to change the samurai's Facets. In every case, the Facet being tested is the one at risk; it may be increased or decreased by the encounter. In most cases, another Facet may be affected by the encounter as well, its force being transferred into the tested Facet. We call this Facet the "source." There are three types of engagement:

• Letter Writing! A good samurai lover will write often and eloquently to his mistress, and sometimes he needs to communicate with other loved ones as well, or simply record his thoughts. He tests his Awaré in doing so, and the satisfaction of writing a good letter brightens his heart but its strain tires his mind and critical faculties; its source Facet is Tanka.
• Oni Attack! There are many strange beasts, monsters, and ghosts wandering the countryside, and in all cases these creatures are hungry for manflesh or hot living blood. Oni Attacks test Kenjutsu. When a samurai wins an encounter with an oni, it hones his skill with the katana, but it hardens his heart; the source Facet is Awaré.
• Enlightenment! Taoist priests and Buddhist monks wander the wild lands of Nihon and Korea, teaching anyone who will listen with riddles, stories, and tests of martial discipline. Enlightenment improves (and tests) a samurai's Tanka, but it sways his heart toward peace; its source Facet is Kenjutsu.

There are three modes of engagement with encounters:

• Assault: In the Assault mode, the samurai throws all his resources at an encounter, laying himself bare to the consequences. He recieves a +2 bonus to the tested Facet when engaging in this Mode.
Win: Transfer two points of the source Facet to the tested Facet. Lose a point of any Facet.
Lose: Lose two points of the tested Facet.• Dawn:In the Dawn mode, the samurai is suffused with the ki of the world; while he risks little in this mode, being guided by the perfumed hands of fate, he recieves only a minor benefit.
Win: Transfer a point of the source Facet to the tested Facet.
Lose: Lose a point of the tested Facet.• Island:In the Island mode, the samurai seals himself off from the rhythms of the universe. He can avoid feeling the repercussions of his action, in this way, but it is more difficult for him to act effectively. He recieves a -2 penalty to the tested Facet while engaging in this mode.
Win: Gain a point of the tested Facet.
Lose: Nothing happens.

To find the result of an encounter, you need a number of 6-sided dice. The samurai rolls as many as his tested Facet, modified by his mode of engagement, while the HEK rolls as many dice as the Facet, unmodified. Count all 1s and 6s as successes for each side. If the samurai has at least as many successes as the HEK does, then he wins the encounter. Otherwise, he loses.

Challenges:
If a samurai has been challenged, that means that he meets one of the other samurai along his journey, and the two engage in a contest of skills. This occurs on the defender's turn, before he has any encounters. The challenger chooses a Facet to test; the source Facet is the same as when an encounter tests that Facet. Then each samurai chooses a mode of engagement and the dice are rolled as usual; the challenger wins if he has at least as many successes as the defender.

Finding the Snow:
After an encounter where a player rolls the maximum possible successes, he finds a cue that leads him to the Snow. During his next turn, instead of describing an encounter or challenge, he and the HEK should describe together the scene where the samurai obtains the Snow. The Snow when he finds it has as many points as his highest-rated Facet. Whenever a samurai would lose points of a Facet, the player may decide that the Snow is somehow diminished instead and transfer the whole point loss to the Snow.

Returning Home:
Once all the samurai have met all their encounters, find the total difference between their initial and current Facets and subtract this number from the score of their Snow. The higher this number is, the warmer the reception that they recieve upon arrival; the samurai with the highest score wins the game.

Coming Soon: Examples!

Sadly, like Gobi, I just don't have the time. I'll also be leaving town this weekend, thereby dismissing any chance I can get this idea I had finished. For shits and giggles, here's the idea in a nutshell:

You play the Einherjar at the tail end of Ragnarok. Somehow, Fate changed. Things didn't go as gods and men expected. The lands are all but destroyed, and the gods with them. All that remains are scattered islands and cold, dark seas. The ice creeps ever inward, swallowing what's left of the world in darkness and cold. Despite what the prophecies say, a new world and another dawn haven't arrived.

Your duty is to fight for the dawn and rebirth of the world. The remaining islands hold the last vestiges of life, but they are also inhabited by the last terrible enemies of Ragnarok (beasts, giants, undead, wyrms, etc.). So, you and your fellow Einherjar assault the islands, capturing them from the dark forces that inhabit them and fend off the long, cold death of the world.

You cannot die; you are healed in Valhalla after each "night." But, you can lose ground. The endgame, then, compares the world's Ice rating (increased by the Einherjar's losses) to the Dawn rating (bolstered by their victories).

However, fate, as ever, is unkind. This little gamist romp is doomed for the Iron Chefs gig, and therefore likely doomed beyond. I did spark some design ideas for myself, though!

At last, Shreyas posts the game I've been waiting for! Such a tasty dish will be hard to defeat.

Might I suggest, Shreyas-san, a bit of flavorful garnish for your entree? It seems to me that the "Assault Mode", "Dawn Mode", and "Island Mode" really ought to ditch the designation "Mode", and instead use the much more savory designation "Kamae", which is the word used in various Japanese martial arts to designate combattive engagement postures.

The three thereby become "Assault-no-kamae, Dawn-no-kamae, and Island-no-kamae", which seems downright scrumptious to me.

Working Title: Forever

Rosy fingered dawn palms one of the earth’s verdant islands, a paradise of white sand beaches, high-end resorts, starched uniforms, and laundered money.

You wake with a start, sheets wound at your feet where you kicked them during the night. The sun hasn’t risen enough to burn the chill out of the air, but your brow is clammy with sweat, clouded by an evaporating but inescapable dream...

As the working title suggests, diamonds are the primary ‘ice’ in Forever. Stolen diamonds, conflict diamonds, maybe cursed diamonds. Although alternate meaning will come into play, from being cool under pressure, to ‘ice’ as in the verb to kill, to cubes melting in tall glasses.

Forever is a game of three linked settings and stories.

In the first, characters are members of a criminal gang, fresh off a significant jewel heist. They are lying low on some island in the Caribbean or Pacific, starting to think about selling their shares of the take and assuming new identities. Everything is going according to plan. Until the dreams start, and the waking visions, and the encounters.

The second setting is a flash-back to the planning and execution of the heist. Profit and loss, betrayal and sacrifice, brilliance and blunders are revealed. Some of which may be mirrored, in warped form perhaps, in dreams in the first setting.

The third story provides glimpses of the diamonds’ sources and consequences. A war-torn zone of sub-Saharan Africa in the late 1990s/ early century: Liberia, or Sierra Leone, or the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Marauding child soldiers decked out in knock-off American brand names, refugee camps, flak-jacketed aid workers, dour mercenaries, bribes changing hands, middlemen, and everywhere, the ice that lubricates the deals that buys the guns that secures the mines that provides the ice that…

In other words, people and events and places the jewel thieves could not possibly know, but that somehow are intruding upon their reality. This bleeding over between places and times is the fantasy element of the game. It will be up to the players to explain the weirdness and synchronicity. They can keep it subtle or draw in elements of folk magic, curses, whatever.

Players fill in the three story arcs, and create the connections between, by turning over playing cards that are placed face-down in three diamond-shaped patterns at the beginning of the game. Each card, when flipped, suggests a scene or occurrence through the combination of its suit and face value, each of which has a certain theme or mood or characteristic associated with it. The cards revealed will also allow or require players to switch between the three settings, so the stories intermingle. The innermost cards in the three patterns will hold the keys to the resolution of the stories in each setting.

I haven’t decided if there will be rules to constrain what players can say when they turn over a card.

The chaiman takes note:

Ben Lehman wrote: A question regarding the judging:
In regard to the three ingredient rule -- if all four ingredients are used, but one is less primary than the others, is there a loss of honor in the half-hearted use of one ingredient?

Fukui-san wrote: More entrants! This promises to be the largest field yet. Quite unknown a chef named redivider-san comes into the arena and immediately starts preparing his dishes. Lehman-san is obviously in the running as well, as we can see from his question to the chairman above. Outspoken newcomer Asrogoth-san also takes his place amongst the competitors. And Short Order Game Chef Arneston-san comes in strong, quickly laying down the outline for his meal. He may be a hard to beat contender given his well-known prowess with compact and rapid game meal preparation.

And what's this? White-san has completed his entry? So soon in the competition? Is this confidence, or sheer bravado? More use of penguins. An interesting development. But they do compliment the ice ingredient well, in their own peculiar way.

It seems that Solis-san has bowed out, though I think that we'll miss his dishes despite his claim that others are making similar ones. Maybe he will finish their preparation at a later date.

The respected Snyder-san pokes his head into the arena long enough to give a little lesson on game dish garnishes, and to lay down an idea for a dish. And just as quickly vanishes.

Dishes are being prepared left and right, and many of the culinary delights that the chefs are preparing are nearing completion. It looks like the products of their efforts will be well prepared to say the least!

This should be the rest of my stuff, right here. After this, I've just got to consolidate and arrange all these dishes into a final array for the judges. And, as always, I've saved the best (and weirdest) for last...

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Seadog Tuxedo: System, Part Three

Fill 'er up, boyo!

Each player should have a shotglass or other small container in front of them. Whenever their character succeeds in obtaining Dawnwine and refilling their bottle (since every character only carries one bottle), their shotglass is filled with rum, representing this. All shaman-wizards start out each episode with their shotglass filled, unless there's some plot afoot involving a lack of supplies.

Regaining Badassitude

Both pirates and sun-worshiping shaman-wizards can lose their badassitude through conflict, reverting to their cute and decent selves. In order to get their mojo back, the characters have to wait for the current scene to expire first. This can be tricky, seeing as cute penguins are helpless targets for any sun-worshiping shaman-wizards in the area, unless shielded by their mateys and quickly taken back to the iceship or other safe hideout. Likewise, Decent Human Beings can easily be taken prisoner by the pirates, unless other shaman-wizards step forward to prevent this.

Captives on both sides are humiliated, but not mistreated. Decent Human Beings may be forced to serve the pirates, dance for them, and so on. Likewise, the shaman-wizards always appreciate penguin servants and have plenty of dungeon space in the Fortress Impervious in which to keep them in chains. Often times, an exchange of prisoners will quickly be negotiated, with the pirates returning captives and Dawnwine in exchange for their friends and the shaman-wizards doing likewise. Prisoners can also be exchanged for a ransom, magical objects, information, or whatever other scheme the pirates and wizards want to work out.

The shaman-wizards always hold the threat of ritual sacrifice over the penguins' heads, which frightens them a great deal, but killing never actually happens. Whenever a penguin ends up on the alter, they will inevitably be saved at the last minute by their pirate comrades. Additionally, Decent Human Beings forced to walk the plank are inevitably fished out of the water by local fishermen or saved through miraculous acts of the Sun-god, who loves his priest-kings, misguided though they may be.

Once a cute or decent character is integrated back into their respective faction, a simple scene-long ceremony is enough to restore their badassitude. For shaman-wizards, this is a formal ceremony that re-invokes the favor of the sun-god. For pirates, their mates simply redress the penguin in properly badass pirate garb. Then they all the players should yell "Arrrrrr!" and get back to plundering.

Victory? and Rebuttals

Seadog Tuxedo is meant to reflect an ongoing cartoon series, which means that neither the pirates or the shaman-wizards should ever gain an obvious or irrevocable advantage. This is an eternal battle meant to continue forever. As such, whenever such a thing would seem about to occur (for instance, if the shaman-wizards were about to sacrifice a penguin to the Sun-god) the opposing side gets a "Rebuttal."

Rebuttals are not world-changing paradigm shifts. They are slight twists of events that make all the difference in the world. For example, perhaps the penguin sacrifice suddenly manages an action that would normally considered badass (and, therefor, illegal), such as escaping from their bonds. Perhaps there is some accident or lucky escape, where the ritual bonfire catches the high-priest's cloak ablaze. Perhaps the hooded cultists are really the pirates in disguise.

Similar things would occur if it looked as though the pirates had obtained an absolute advantage or were about to alter the very foundation of the world. Maybe they stormed the Fortress Impervious and took it over. Maybe they burned down the vineyards of the sun, destroying the source of Dawnwine (and what would the series be without Dawnwine?). In this case, the GM or a player representing the shaman-wizards would get a rebuttal. Perhaps Volcano Raga and other powerful wizards secretly sneak back into the Fortress with several casks of Dawnwine, ready to kick serious ass. Perhaps the Sun-god yells at the wizards for not defending his vineyard and then uses his magic to regrow it from a box of stored seeds (afterwards, stealing some seeds could be the point of a whole episode).

Gregory and Isabel

Modern cartoons don't like absolute dialectics, where one side is all good and the other is all bad. Instead of making things sufficiently complex, however, they often go the route of having "token" representives on both sides. This was the route taken by the writers of Seadog Tuxedo. Very much like the "token gay guy" in sitcoms, this show has, if you dig this comparison, "token transgendered" characters who cross cultural lines.

Gregory is the shaman-wizard's loyal penguin servant. He plays himself off as being selfless and hard-working, but he really just wants absolute power for himself, and the shaman-wizards have control of the only source of real power, Dawnwine. Of course, the wizards have made it abundantly clear that Gregory is not allowed to drink Dawnwine, but, unsurprisingly, the little penguin spends all his spare time scheming about how to get some. As such, Gregory shares his badass trait (Sun-Worshiping Shaman-Wizard) with the priesthood and his weak trait (Penguin) with the pirates. Otherwise, he's treated as normal. Gregory's Idiom is "St. Elmo's Fire," the ghost light that haunts ships and sailors.\

Likewise, what would this cartoon be without a strong, uppity and very hot female character who hangs out with the pirate penguins and acts as a combination of unrequited love intrest and surrogate mother? All action cartoons have one of those. Ours is Isabel Raga, daughter of Volcano Raga, the High Priest of the Cult of the Sun. Being a rebellious teenager, she has thrown her lot in with the pirates and spends her time pillaging the Summer Isles with her new adopted family. Similar to Gregory, Isabel uses the pirates badass trait (Pirate) and the shaman-wizards' weak trait (Decent Human Being). Interestingly, since Isabel comes from a long line of shaman-wizards, she gains fire powers from Dawnwine just like her father, though her volcanic Idiom usually takes the form of colorful jets of flame (her father prefers rivers of lava and clouds of smoke and ash).

Sailing on the Ships of Ice

Yeah, you know this is what you've been waiting for: iceship mechanics!

Pirate iceships are basically just icebergs, those giant drifting islands of ice. With a few quick alterations, such as sails (which pirates inevitably seem to have hidden in their trousers), any iceberg can be made servicable in the time it takes to run a few scenes. However, iceships are not really made for sailing through the warm southern waters of the Summer Isles. They melt rather quickly and are liable to leave pirates stranded if they suffer any delays or setbacks during a raid.

To simulate this, iceships are represented on the tabletop by ice cubes. If possible, find someone with an electric ice machine that spits out those little half-moon shaped slivers of ice. When you put the round edge against the table, they look just like little boats.

Now, assuming your house isn't kept at freezing temperature, the iceships are going to melt in realtime, while scenes are playing out. If your iceship is totally melted, or drifts/falls off the edge of the world (the table), your pirates are stranded wherever they happen to be (in the water, on the Summer Isles, on a sandbar) until they manage to change this situation by stealing a human boat or hijacking one of the icebergs that occasionally floats south and steering it back home.

Now the pirates normally live in a moderately-sized ice castle on the northern continent of ice. Whenever they are there or sail around the arctic seas, no ice needs to be used. Their iceships don't melt fast enough up there to actually shrink at any noticable rate. Only when the pirates decide to sail south (which they almost inevitably do, in most episodes) does the ice hit the table.

This is how this works:

1) On any given turn, a player can either declare their character's actions or push their iceship 1d6 inches across the tabletop. Dice must be rolled, a ruler must be utilized, all in real time while the icecube is melting. Once the icecube reaches something placed on the table top to represent an island or other interested feature of the southern ocean, the players (including the GM) can declare actions and frame scenes related to to that location.

2) Any icecube-drift that occurs, as the ice begins sitting in a growing puddle and even floating on top of it, also occurs in-game. The pirates might park their iceship only to have it drift away, forcing them to abandon it or swim/sail out to it. Icecubes that drift over the edge of the table are removed from play.

3) The shaman-wizards fire magic can do a doozy on iceships. This is represented on the tabletop too. After drinking Dawnwine a wizard character can focus his attention on an iceship. The player representing the shaman-wizard then picks up the icecube in their hands, warming it and causing it to melt faster. As long as the wizard is focused on melting the ship, in game, the player can focus on melting the icecube. If the wizard is distracted or impeded in his melting, the player must set the icecube back on the table in the same spot that they picked it up. If more than one wizard is blasting away at the ship, one player may try to crush the icecube in one hand. If they succeed, the shards are placed back on the table, representing fragments of the iceship that might still be servicable to resourceful pirates.

4) It can be ever more annoying if the iceship melts on the way back home, stranding the pirates and their booty in the middle of the warm ocean. There should be some marker on the player's side of the territory that represents the cold waters of the arctic seas. Once back to that point, intact, the icecube is removed from the table and the pirates can breathe a sigh of relief. This point is also the starting point where icecubes are placed to begin an expedition to the south.

5) Sometimes, to ensure the safety of the whole, individual pirates who don't make it back to the ship on time may be left in the Summer Isles. After all, they have to get the iceship back before it melts. This kind of situation just comes an excuse for more storytelling, as the pirate tries to wait out on the Isles (avoiding the authorities) until their mates can come back and rescue them.

6) To represent the lucky break of having an iceberg drift through the Summer Isles and provide a way off (which is a good option if the whole crew is stranded), the players can all choose to give up the rum (Dawnwine) that they have (assuming they have some) to put an icecube into play. This can be moved by any player as normal, on their turn, including the GM and players representing shaman-wizards. Since the pirates inevitably have more players, the icecube should eventually reach the pirates (assuming they are working together), but at a much slower rate than a crewed iceship, due to meddling by the opposite side.

Lingo

Like every cartoon show, Seadog Tuxedo has trademark phrases.

-- "Yowza!" Pirates always use this word instead of any four-letter words. Try it. It's fun.

-- "Squeak!" This is the noise frightened penguins make.

-- "By the sun's eyes!" A popular curse among shaman-wizards.

-- "Daddykins" is what Isabel calls Volcano Raga. He hates this. It's why he disowned her, actually (not because she's a pirate).

-- "Power of the SUN!" What shaman-wizards yell when downing Dawnwine and turning on their solar magics.

-- "BURP!" The sound pirates make after downing Dawnwine. Kids love penguins and hot girls making rude bodily noises.

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And that's that. Wow, what a great contest! I've been drooling over some of the entries coming in. Maybe we can work out something with indie-netgaming to run most of these in the coming month.

I'll do a consolidated revision by the due date, just to keep Mike's brain from imploding, but that's basically all I've got. Good luck to everyone who's still working on designs!

Jonathan. I've for a long time wanted to be a writer, and have accordingly gotten used to watching others' work with the eye of a competitor. I'm not jealous by nature; on the contrary, I tend to get only joy from the successes of others, as they elevate us all.

Now, however, due to some combination of the open competition of the Iron chef and your skill in writing a light, clear and delightful game, my gut is wrenched by jealousy. If you were here right now I don't honestly know if I'd congratulate your obviously superior game or just cried myself content.

I'd withdraw from the competition right now if that didn't actually rob you of one victory. Instead I'll just post my game so Mike can tell us both how much better you are.

I'm not angry at you; I'm angry at myself for failing so clearly compared to the Seadog Tuxedo. I should have managed such concise output, simple mechanics and strong color, instead of the mostrosity I have to offer. The elegance of the other works with their fairytale settings, childhood wonder and ice skaters just underscores how my heavy tolkienism fails as modern culinary art.

Anyway; The Battle of the Frozen Waste is nigh finished, with just some editing and final fixes to be done. The mechanics got cleared and straightened considerably from what I've already posted, and I wrote today the last part concerning the battle itself. I'll post the final work perhaps the day after tomorrow.

Eero Tuovinen wrote: I'm not angry at you; I'm angry at myself for failing so clearly compared to the Seadog Tuxedo. I should have managed such concise output, simple mechanics and strong color, instead of the mostrosity I have to offer.

The Pathos! Eero-san has offered to commit sepuku out of his sense of beauty and honor inspired by Jonathan-san's work. Put away the dagger, Eero-san! Your words embody the high drama that inspired your work! Every dish has it's place, and anthing can happen in Gaming Kitchen Arena!

To all those who may thinking of quitting, know that making it to the finish line is its own reward!

The chef humbled himself and wrote: Eero-san, the anguish in your words makes my own heart heavy. If I had but known that my dishes would cause you such pain, I would surely have chopped off my own hand and served it to you, my Finnish brother, before I allowed it to cause such discouragement to take you in its icy grip.

Like your own arctic warriors, find that indomitable spirit that will allow you to overcome, even in the face of fierce penguin opposition. There is little honor in giving up and much to be gained by seeing a dish through to the end.

Jonathan Walton wrote:
Out of character, here, I REALLY want to play other people's games (and I was really excited about yours, Eero, actually), so people BETTER finish them. Don't me leave me alone, facing heavyweights like Walt, Zak, and Shreyas! They'll tear me limb from limb and feed my body to the penguins!

The Dance and the Dawn continues! Since I'm playing very deliberately within the fable-mileau, I'd say I'm securely within the bounds of fantasy. Now here's a snippet:

Laws of the Waltz: Each Princess and each Prince is represented by a chess piecce, and will use a standard chessboard to represent their midnight waltz. The laws of the waltz are as follows:
1. A waltz is of three steps, and so each Dancer will take 3 moves around the board.
2. A dancer may only waltz clockwize around the board, and never backwards.
3. A dancer may always request to cut in with the partner of another; this request must always be honored, and so the Dancers will exchange partners.
4. When passing another Dancer, one must pay her a polite compliment.
5. When a song has ended, all Dancers must pass their current partner on to the player on the next clockwise player.

Chairman-san, a question with regards to rules:

What of the ubiquitous Player Character Record Sheet? If a .pdf of such were to be hosted off-Forge, would that be grounds for disqualification?

They do make the dish so much tastier...

Snow Day - Scene Structure

General Principle: The players have sole-authority over what their Kids do next. The guidelines for this are described below.

General Principle Number Two: The GM has sole authority over the passage of time, with the caveat that time always moves forwards. The game starts at around 10:00 in the morning, and ends at Dawn, which is 6:00 the following morning. Thus multiple scenes may take fifteen minutes, or a single seemingly brief scene may span the whole afternoon between lunch and dinner.


All scenes start with all the Kids convening at the Secret Base, namely the tool shed behind Jake's house.

From there, everyone needs to decide what to do next. The possible options are:

Hold A Secret War Council
Scout Out Enemy Territory
Sculpt Ice Monsters
Go Inside For Cocoa
Go Lookin' for Trouble
Assault Fort Joey!

All of the kids must reach a consensus on which of the above happens next.

If no consensus can be reached, the matter is settled by stepping outside and holding a Snowball Fight. Once the only Kids left standing all want to go do the same thing, the matter is decided. This is a generalized mechanic - ANY time the rules call for Consensus, but no Consensus can be reached, the matter is settled by a Snowball Fight.

If a Kid wants to be a spoilsport and not attend the scene, the only alternative option is to Go Inside For Cocoa. Pouting is strictly optional, but encouraged.


Now, for more detail on the different choices:

- Hold a Secret War Council
Because of the Icicle Spikes, any assault on Fort Joey is doomed to failure unless you first Hold a Secret War Council to decide on a Cunning Plan. First things first: The Cunning Plan needs a Cool Code Name, and there needs to be consensus on the code name before any further planning can happen.
Once a Cool Code Name is established, the assembled Kids must devise their Cunning Plan for getting past the Icicle Spikes. Any plan will do, so long as it is Cunning, and so long as the plan has Consensus.

- Scout Out Enemy Territory
This involves sneaking over towards Fort Joey, to find out who is defending it, and what sort of Ice Monsters they have. Ice Monsters that can either Sneak or Fly are great for this. As with any excursion from the Secret Base, there's always the risk of encountering either one or more Neighborhood Hazards, or another group of Kids, so keep your snowballs handy.

- Sculpt Ice Monsters
Already described in an earlier post.

- Go Inside For Cocoa
Already described in an earlier post; due to be revised and updated in the forthcoming Expanded Special Rules for Thermoses of Cocoa.

- Go Lookin' For Trouble
This involves prowling around the neighborhood until you find some other kids, at which point you pelt those kids with snowballs. Why? Cuz Snowball Fights are fun, that's why.

- Assault Fort Joey!
Already described in an earlier post. Remember that unless you're armed with a Cunning Plan, an assault cannot fully succeed.
And did I mention that Cunning Plans are one-use only? Just like you can't make the same Ice Monster twice, you can't use the same Cunning Plan twice. Though you can re-use Cool Code Names, with appropriate modifications: For example, "Operation Slippery Thunder" might get reborn as "Operation Super-Duper Slippery Thunder".


Only three more sections to go - Expanded Special Rules for Thermoses of Cocoa, Stats and Guidelines for Various Neighborhood Hazards, and best of all: Midnight Moonlight Magic!

Holmes-sama:

I humbly submit for your judgement: Broken Vows. I have kept things short, and relatively sweet. Notice the utter lack of flash and delivery... as the honorable Holmes-otennoo-sama has said that they will not gain me anything...

This will be my finished product, as I am out of town this weekend, and will be unable to polish later on. So, here it is, without grammar or spelling checked!

Humbly,
Dav-chan


Broken Vows (The Dawn of the Final Judgement)

The Premise:
Three days ago, you were alive. You lived by one of four paths: the sword, the scales, the cloth, or the crown. You had traveled far through this path. Your life was something to earn you both enemies and allies. You were loved, you were feared.

And three days ago, you were murdered.


Unknown to most, you had made a decision. This decision was one of the oldest mankind had ever endured. In time before hours or days, before years or months, God had set before mankind a choice: to be righteous and obedient, or to be wise and ashamed. As your mother before you, you made your choice. You sold your soul.

More than this, you contrived to lead a life of sin, a life of iniquity. Admired, indeed; coveted, assuredly… but now your life has ended. Now, the Devil must be given his due.

Or must he?


You find yourself resurrected. Not to dwell in the lands of your birth, nor to the eternity of everlasting torment. You are awakened to a world between heaven and hell, between paradise and oblivion. You are in the Islands of Between.

Here, your status is gone, your life spent hoarding, or spending, a life of excess… a life of sin. All of it is gone. You are at a beginning, a final chance for salvation. There can be but one of two outcomes: forgiveness by God, or purchase by the Devil.

Given one final chance, can you discover your greatest sins and put them aright? Can you reclaim what you lost in your bargain with the Devil? Or, will you fall from grace once more, and this time, there will be no ground to halt your descent.


These are the Islands of Between, and here, your fate will be decided.


Character Creation:

While it can be said that there is benefit to reading the entirety of a game before delving into the rigors of creating a persona for the world, this time it works differently. All you need, for the moment, will be some paper and a pen, perhaps a copy of the character sheet. We will create as we explore, and by the finish, you will be ready to begin your first journey into Broken Vows.

First, you must choose the manner in which your character once lived. There are four choices: the cloth, the crown, the scales, or the sword. What was the manner of living for your character? A priest? Nobleman, or merchant? Or someone who dealt the wages of death, a soldier and knight? Choose what brought you your station.

Next, we must choose how you died. Again, there are four choices. While you may have lived by the cloth, did you die by the crown? Or was it butchery at the hands of an embittered merchant? Perhaps war brought you the same end it brings so many. Choose how you found your death: cloth, crown, scales, or sword.

Now that we have seen your beginning and ending upon the earth, perhaps we should see how you tread from one end to the other. Every man sins, this is fact put forth by church and God. While some may find forgiveness through repenting, this was not an option for you. You died with sins staining your soul. What sins were they? Eight grievous sins still weigh heavily upon you. Eight sins will form your trials within the Islands of Between. Name them, give them voice and form. Do not hide from your wickedness.

Be specific in your descriptions. Did you murder a baker who refused you rent as his rightful lord? Did you covet the wife of a knight and don the antlers of cuckoldry? There are seven deadly sins, and you consulted that list eight times. Avarice, envy, gluttony, lust, pride, sloth, and wrath. Seven sins. You committed some more than others, and perhaps some none at all. Name your eight sins, name them all. What inaction brought about great harm? What fleshly delight brought shame to your house? Name your darker deeds.

But darker only, for your darkest deed remains your singular understanding, your contracting of your spirit, your soul, your animus. What did you sell this most precious of assets for? Was the gain worth the cost? You have four choices, budding character, to set a price upon that priceless commodity. What was the price of your soul: blood, breath, flesh, or shadow?

That, then, is a fine beginning. We will return to this building of your character’s self in a bit. For now, let us understand the world you just departed; a brief bowing of our heads in remembrance, if you will.

The world of the earth is rife with chaos. Future times, should the world struggle that far, will refer to these days as Dark Ages. The church is powerful, and seems to find the souls of many burdened heavily with avarice, and thus, they benevolently take this sin upon themselves as they wrest such trying burdens from the arms of the plebeian masses. The nobles purchase their way to heaven, and the serfs starve, and find what blessings they may in lives far shorter than those of better station.

Merchants travel far and wide, and carry their scales everywhere. A pound may not be a pound tomorrow, but the scales only lie at the soft caress of the broker. None are innocent, and those who might be freest of sin, find themselves darkest within. These ages, these Dark Ages, find equal filth in all walks of life, but the higher the station, the more blessed the water required to cleanse such stains.

But, enough of this dreadful land; it is behind us, and surely, there will be enough dread in looking forward to spare us the trouble of expounding upon what happened before. Let us look upon these Islands of Between and discover what we may.

The Islands of Between:

There are four main provinces of the Islands of Between, each ruled by a different master. Each finds their own way to govern their citizenry, and their own path to salvation… or not, as the case may be. Each walk of life, be it sword or cloth, crown or scale, will begin in one of the four lands. Salvation, however, often requires a long journey, and sometimes, even the damned are known to neglect their duties. Therefore, it is in God’s own hands as to where one will find oneself, thus, it is best to know something of each province.

The Islands of Between are myriad islands joined by the Sea of Ash. This ashen expanse is all that remains of those who have died being decided between heaven and hell. To touch this gray remain is to die, thus, few sail these seas. Only two navies exist: the ships of the Crescent Chain, and the Unmanned Fleet. Both use boats of bone, powered by slaves at the oars, to sail between islands. A few private ships remain, and the other two rulers have their own ships, but nothing rivals the two powers of the Sea.

The lands of the Islands of Between are hot and cold, lush or barren, much as the earth you left. However, no animals, or natural animals, walk, fly, or crawl. The plantlife is inedible. Little exists that could be considered beautiful or pleasurable. The dead do not litter the ground after a battle, as all men who die here are rendered to ash immediately upon death. This ash blows away to the Seas of Ash, its touch dealing the same death as the seas the small pile will eventually join.

There are, however, four main lands of the Islands of Between:


The Lands of the Crescent Chain:
Ruler: The Witch-King Ashyyn Taifa “The Uncrowned”
Often Starting Point of: Sword lives

The lands of the Crescent Chain are rife with the Moors and Saracens of the world. They spurn Christ, and fight in the name of their own prophets. Many godless abide here, and the ruler of the land, the Witch-King, is said to be a master of all four forms of magic.

There is but one God in this land, and his name is Allah. Laws stem from this God, and are draconian at best. The ruler is a strong supporter of slavery, but only those who do not know the worship of Allah and his prophets. It is known that the Witch-King’s favored method of execution is drowning one in the Seas of Ash.

Ashyyn Taifa, called the Uncrowned, as the viziers of the land have refused to anoint him in the name of Allah, has ruled the land longer than people may recall. His capitol, Al-Bedii, has stood longer than any other city, though it is plagued by the demonriders of the sands.

The Crescent Chain is six islands, with the largest housing the capitol. Other islands are dominated by smaller cities, and the desert sands are rife with tribal wanderers that claim what the term “wells of faith”. Largely, these are nothing more than pits of ash, but wanderers, known as the demonriders for their hellish steeds, mix this ash with blood and drink it as a delicacy. As it is one of the only means of sustenance in the lands of the Between, it is sought after greatly. The magics and spices put into this mixture render the ash inert, allowing it to be consumed by the beings of the lands.

The Isle of Penitence:
Ruler: Pontifex Merrin “The Red Father”
Often Starting Point of: Cloth lives

The Pontifex Merrin, known as the Red Father for his constant warring on other lands in the name of the One True God, is a man that seems, on the surface, to be a holy and devout man. However, his obsequious nature masks a fervent desire. He has long since lost his soul and his place in heaven and now thinks that only through eliminating every unbeliever of every land may he gain entrance to heaven. He calls himself the Sword of God, a nickname that many have corrupted to a baser nomenclature.

His lands are ruled by a dark version of the Catholic Church, torturing victims until they confess, then turning them to ash. The Tower of Righteousness is filled with the ash of those executed in the name of the Lord. The hope is that when the tower is filled, God himself will descend from the heavens and carry the Red Father back to eternal paradise.

The Isle of Penitence is small in size, but has bountiful trees, and myriad dark forests. It is said that dragons wait in the forest, stealing those who waver in their faith. None have seen these beasts, but the soldiers of the Pontifex are known to keep a wary eye on the wood’s edge.

The Sands Forever:
Ruler: Empress Catherine “The Iron Dowager”
Often Stating Point of: Crown lives

The Iron Dowager cares nothing for God, and nothing for mankind. She rules from her court, where intrigue and plots twist and twine until they are unrecognizable. None can determine whether the Iron Dowager is working for some unknown goal, or is mad and works only to create more secrets.

Her secret police force, though widely known, is called the Iron Hand. They are swift and cruel, and listen for words of ill against their lady, taking such victims in the night and “sending them away”.

The name of her lands “The Sand Forever” is a joke, as the land is blighted with snow and ice. Beneath this permanent freeze, however, is clearly visible a layer of sand. At one time, this great island was a desert. Some great catastrophe turned it to ice. Most say the snows will not melt until the heart of the Iron Dowager is freely given to another. None are holding their breath for such an occasion.

The City of Dawn:
Ruler: Jack Dendrist “The Philanthropist” “He-Who-Almost-Is” “The Unmanned”
Often Starting Point of: Scales lives

Handsome Jack, Jack of Many Names, Jack Short-Cock, all of these are titles by which the ruler of the City of Dawn is known. The City of Dawn is a small island, dominated by a bustling metropolis. The land has no laws save that Jack may tax anyone, anytime, anywhere. He rules by virtue of having a large navy, and a number of soldiers who will enforce his will. It is said he gained this army from the father of one of his countless paramours.

One night, the father caught Jack in bed with the paramour, and the father demanded Jack’s death. Jack refused, and the father, knowing the prowess of Jack with a blade, decided to bargain with Jack. Jack said he would wager his life on the roll of the bones. When the bones came into Jack’s favor, the father demanded a turn rolling the bones. Everyone knew Jack’s loaded dice always rolled 7, and the father said that he would wager his navy on one roll of the dice. Jack decided on 7, and the father said the price of his navy would be the honor of his daughter returned to the family. Jack agreed.

A seven was rolled.

Jack, a man of his word, went for a cloth to grant the blood of the father’s family honor to be returned. The father said he would not permit a man of common filth to dirty his wife’s linens. He handed Jack a butcher knife and told him to keep his word. Jack, being a man of honor, of a peculiar sort to be sure, but a man of honor, chopped his manhood from his body and gave it to the father.

It is said that even with half his cock, he is still more man than any in the City of Dawn, and should the day come when someone has a better manhood than Jack, he will grant them half his navy.


This is where you may find yourself, now we must look at how. How did you die? Hanged? Stabbed? Burned? That is how you appear. All men wear their proof of citizenship to the Islands of Between as a mark on their flesh. Some may have died of poison, and appear with blackened teeth and nails, others may be burned horrifically, all of it is in how you died. Some appear without an arm, others with their heads sewn back to their body. Whatever you wore or carried when you died is likewise with you. Depending upon the manner of your death, this could be nothing, or quite an ensemble.


Now that we understand where it is your soul has made its way to and how it appears, we must understand what it is you might do there. Your God (the GM), will pit you against this world, challenge you, find the evidence of your fate. Will you be damned, or will you be saved? To determine this, you will be faced with situations that mirror your eight sins. These situations will be thematically similar, and will occur no more than twice, but no less than once in each session. It will be the decision of the each damned soul to determine how often the trials are faced. Will things move swiftly, testing you twice each session, or will it proceed slowly, with a chance for judgement occurring but once each session?

Each time a character passes a trial by changing the outcome to a favorable position, that character has succeeded in regaining some of their grace. Each time the character falls back into their old ways, committing sins, they forever stain their soul with sin. Not all trials will be passed, and not all trials will be failed. Humans err, and you have proven that you are, indeed, human.

Each time you fail a trial, killing a merchant for the love of his daughter, similar to the actions you took to dally with the prefect’s wife when you lived, the Devil grants you more power. The link you have formed by selling your soul to the dark one strengthens. This strengthening is known as “Burning the Soul”. When you burn your soul, you gain a bonus of +1 to any roll involving a single Fire Trait. Which trait, you must decide when you gain this hellish gift. One point is added to your Fire Soul meter, measuring the total of your damnation.

When you succeed at a trial, resisting temptation, however, you feel the grace and joy of God surround you. It is not enough to say “get thee behind me” this time, but true action to make amends for former wrongs, and to show the err of the action is required. Not merely resisting the daughter of the merchant, but exposing her evil for the world to see. Should you do this, you gain a bonus of +1 to any roll involving an Ice Trait. Which trait, again, you must decide when you gain this honor of God. One point is added to your Ice Soul meter, measuring your possible salvation. This process is known as “Quenching the Damned”.

But this talk of bonuses, and fires and ices must confuse a man, no? Let us speak of that which we mean. Each person is made of four things: Blood, Breath, Flesh, and Shadow. Each of these things controls the actions of a person, moving them, giving them shape. Your blood gives you humors, creates thoughts and moves these thoughts through your flesh. Thus, the Blood controls the mind, and all aspects of the mind. The Breath carries the winds of your soul through you, the center of all things spiritual. Thus is Breath the aspect of the spirit. The Flesh is what covers you, gives you form and allows movement and action, thus, the Flesh controls your body. Lastly, the Shadow is what is cast upon the ground, the image of how you are seen in the light of day. Shadow is what you seem to be to others, the aspect of your tongue and lung. Shadow controls how you interact with others. One of these four traits is your weakness, two are your foundation, and one is your strength. Choose them and align them. The weakest trait is rated at 2D6. Your two foundation traits are rated at 2D8. And your strength, your trait of reliance, is rated at 2D10.

But, be careful, for those who have the greatest understandings often fall the hardest. In the Islands of Between, all things are in balance, hovering. Thus, though you may find your Flesh strong and hardy, quick and agile, it also means that your failures may be greater, and your losses ever-painful. In the end, many have thought that which we are strongest at might also be our weakness, and our weakness, in truth, our strength. It is possible.

But before we speak of this, two of these traits are linked to your grace, your Ice Soul. The other two are your darker aspect, your Fire Soul. You must mark them appropriately. You must understand what this means. Your Ice traits, when used for righteousness, truth, or things considered Godly, are more effective. When your character wants to begin a challenge with someone or something, he must choose an Ice trait if the action is for the good of his soul. Conversely, when acting in the purview of the Devil, a Fire trait must be chosen. Do you react with words when you seek to destroy someone’s livelihood, or is it with steel? Resolve this before you move forward.

And finally, this is important, but whatever trait you sold your soul for must be a Fire trait. Blood, breath, flesh, or shadow, you gave a portion of yourself to the Devil, and now the Devil has sway over that aspect of your life.

The mechanics of the Islands of Between are simple in their execution. All things are in balance, and thus, all things have their success measured by the fulcrum. When rolling a challenge, the center, the median, is the point of balance. With 2D6, the balance is 7; with 2D8, it is 9; with 2D10, 11. All things are measured by how far from the center your roll lies. A result of 4 on 2D8 is 5 points under the center mark. This means that you have 5 Underpoints to be spent on the outcome. Similarly, a roll of 11 would mean that you have 2 Overpoints to spend on the outcome. Not all points must be spent, but the GM may detest waste, and has the option to spend any unspent points.

In general, Underpoints are marks of failure, and Overpoints are marks of success. Thus, a bonus of +1 to a trait is a good things, and penalties are less than fortunate.

The form of these bonuses are left to you to determine. A hellish servant, or sword of righteousness could be the manifestation of the Devil’s, or God’s, pleasure. Unlike most equipment bonuses, these are not subject to the limitations and strictures of most benefits (described later). Instead, these are dedicated items, and grant a bonus to the roll, rather than set outcomes.

Challenges are determined by defining a goal, choosing a trait to govern the action, setting bonuses and penalties, then rolling and spending points upon the outcome. When a player requests a challenge, the trait governing the challenge is determined by the GM. When the GM requests a challenge, the trait is determined by the player. When the points are spent, the determination for who narrates the outcome is decided by point expenditures. Some challenges will not be resolved in one roll, others will be. Stated goals for a challenge should be directly stated aims, such as “overpowering the guard”, “convincing the baker I did not cheat him”, “hiding from the enemy”, “gaining a room in a high-class establishment”. The GM should design a goal for the opposition (this goal may not necessarily be the reverse of the character).

In any challenge, a person has at least 2 Action Points. These points may be spent to Take Action, Resist Action, or Augment Action. Taking an action means that you are taking the offensive in a challenge, attempting to bring about your stated goals. Resisting an action means you are making it harder for an opponent to bring about their goals. This resistance is measured by giving a -2 penalty to the roll of the opposition. Augmenting an action can only occur if 1 point has already been spent on taking an action. The augmenting function boosts the roll to the next die level (a 2D10 roll will be boosted to a 2D12 roll, with the median being 13).

Should the person or side who initiated the challenge obtain their goals before the opposition, it is the decision of the initiator to cease action, or continue, which may force the opposition to fail in their stated actions, which could have favorable consequences for the initiator. In some cases, this may be impossible (such as when your stated action is to kill someone, and their goal is to kill you. Once you succeed, the opponent cannot, very easily, continue the challenge). Remember, the outcome of a challenge is determined by the expenditure of Overpoints or Underpoints on a given roll. Points left unspent by both the GM and the player are lost, and not carried over to future rolls. The following is a list of possible expenditures for Overpoints and Underpoints.

There are times when a challenge is considered “balanced”. This may only occur if a trial is occurring, or other significant point in the game. During this challenge, the GM and player determine the combat to be “to the death”, and eliminate the “Win challenge” and “Lose challenge” options from the charts below. Only total loss of all points under the life stat will determine this outcome.

Underpoints:
1: -Gain disadvantage (-1 to a future roll against this opponent, the opponent chooses when to exercise this bonus). This may be chosen up to three times in one roll.

-Lose a Trait bonus (gained through situation, equipment, trial successes or failures) for the duration of the challenge.


2: -Take 1 damage.

-Lose the challenge (GM narrates outcome)


3: -Drop 1 Die Rating (2D8 turns to 2D6, etc.) for duration of challenge (2D6 is lowest)


4: -Lose 1 Action Point on next roll.

-Lose a Trait bonus (see above) for the duration of the game session.

-Lose the challenge (player narrates outcome)


5: -Drop 1 Die Rating (see above) for the duration of the game session.

-Permanently reduce Life stat by 1.


6: -Win challenge (GM narrates), but the GM has 4 points to spend on Underpoints


10: -Win challenge (player narrates), but the GM has 4 points to spend on Underpoints.


Overpoints:
1: -Gain advantage (+1 to a future roll against this target, you decide when to spend this bonus). This may be chosen up to three times.


2: -Opponent takes 1 damage.


3: -Move up a Die Rating for the duration of the challenge.


4: -Change challenge type next roll (Blood to Breath, etc.)


5: -Bonus Action Point next roll

-Win challenge (GM narrates)


10: -Win challenge (player narrates)

When you first created your character, you determined the method by which your character lived. You also determined how the character died. This is important, consult that trait now. The manner by which you died has all “Lose the challenge” traits reduced in cost by 1 point, when you are involved in an action appropriate to the manner of your death. Being executed at the order of the king makes you nervous around nobility. Similarly, dying on a battlefield brings back memories whenever you enter combat.

However, the method by which you lived gains a similar bonus, all rolls involving the manner of your chosen life have the cost of “Win the challenge” reduced by 1.


The tools of man carry forward into the realm of the Islands of Between. Armors, weapons, scales, carts. All of these exist. Some things that do not, however, would be the soulless. Animals. Thus, without beasts of burden, slavery and forced servitude have become something popular within the world. Slaves to pull wagons, slaves to pull oars, all of this is commonplace. While each province has its own manner of deciding what constitutes servitude or slavery, all provinces utilize this means of labor to some degree.

Equipment, servants, and protection can often mean the difference between life and death. In a world where words can draw blood, and the mind can perceive the unknown without hindrance, all manner of benefit is precious. Equipment bonuses should never exceed +2, and in most cases, are determined purchases of Overpoints. For instance, a sword, rather than giving a +2 to a roll, may instead mean that any roll resulting in Overpoints automatically has 2 points spent on 1 damage for free. Similarly, armor could grant a negation of the 1 damage each round, rather than giving a penalty to an opponent. Such determinations are left to the hands of God.

Servants and helpers are likewise restrictive. A servant may be able to absorb damage at some rate (such as 2 per round), but when they absorb a full ten, they are killed again, and transformed to ash, as is anyone who dies in the Islands of Between.


Magic also exists, such as it is. Such powers are always determined by rolls involving a the trait that the character sold their soul for, as magic is the purview of the Devil. But, sometimes from dark actions, great light is shone. Magic is not fire and brimstone, but rather, it is the bringing about of unseen powers through the Devil’s will. While magic in Broken Vows is not throwing fire and brimstone, it is still a potent tool. All characters have knowledge of one type of magic: gleaning, flaying, obscuring, or calling.

Gleaning and obscuring are used to find people and things, or hide people and things, respectively. Flaying is used to strip flesh from bones, break objects, or generally be destructive. Calling is summoning forth hellish aid in the form of imps or minor objects. All uses of magic are made as normal challenges, however, there is a cost. Each time magic is used, at least 1 damage is taken by the user. Only death can pay for life, and only blood calls the magic. Sacrifice is the key to calling forth the Devil’s knowledge.

All magics may also be used to heal yourself of Life. When doing so, you must make a sacrifice appropriate to the type of magic you use. Flaying requires destruction of something precious, calling requires a bargain with an imp, gleaning requires something secret to be found and given to the magic, and obscuring requires something to be given to hell, hiding it from men for all time. Such actions of magic do not require a sacrifice of Life as normal, as the sacrifice is given the alternate form described above. Success indicates that the character is healed, completely. Failure means more damage.

When initiating a magic challenge, however, each point of Fire Soul gains you a bonus of +1 to the roll. Each point of Ice Soul, however, penalizes you 1 point.


The End:


While all men struggle for salvation, in theory, others do not seek redemption or damnation. The folly of this is for you to decide, but one thing is certain: you have tasted damnation by the selling of your soul, and you want none of it. You know your eight trials, and you must find who holds that bargained portion of your soul. Once the trials are over, and your soul recovered, you will be Judged. For each trial passed, you have obtained a point of Ice Soul. For each trial failed, one point of Fire Soul.

Should you end in balance, four and four, you are doomed to spend your existence as a wanderer in the Islands of Between, eventually to be given to the Seas of Ash. Should you have more Ice than Fire, however, you have cast the chains of damnation to the side, and may ascend to heaven. In the event that Fire has province over Ice in your soul, you are given to the Devil and eternal torment.


Death:


Should you lose all Life points before finding your ultimate destination, you are condemned to ash, and find oblivion in its grip.









Character Sheet:

Name:

Lived by the: [Cloth, Crown, Scales, Sword] (circle one)
Died by the: [Cloth, Crown, Scales, Sword] (circle one)
Sold my Soul for: [Blood, Breath, Flesh, Shadow] (circle one)

(1 at 2D6, 2 at 2D8, 1 at 2D10, choose 2 Fire and 2 Ice traits (damned trait must be Fire))
Blood: (Fire/Ice)
Breath: (Fire/Ice)
Flesh: (Fire/Ice)
Shadow: (Fire/Ice)

Soul: Ice:
Fire:

Life (10):
Magic Type: [Calling, Flaying, Gleaning, Obscuring] (circle one)


Equipment: Bonus Traits:







Sins (8):

The Mountain Witch
Mechanic Preview

-------------------------------
Restless but tired, you agree that the group should sleep one last time before attempting its unholy assault. As you slowly drift off, you are surprisingly greeted by memories of times past, memories of happiness and former loved ones that give your heart warmth atop this cold and desolate rock. But other memories slowly creep into your vision, memories of heartbreak, hardships, and betrayals. Memories of both others and yourself that you long sought to forget. As the warmth of your heart is slowly drowned in regret and despair, new and unknown visions begin your fill your sleep, visions that soon become nightmares. Visions of the Mountain Witch himself and the horrors that might await you.

What was that, a dream? Whatever it may be, you know it must be a bad omen. And judging from the tension and unease that seems to have fallen upon the party, you realize you were not the only one to have been visited that night.

Fate Cards
At the start of the game, each player is given a 'Fate Card.' Each Fate Card has a different Fate that the Players must play out.

Some Fates hinge on a personal weakness in the character.
Some Fates hinge on a dark secret in the character's past.
Still other Fates hinge on some unholy alliance with the Mountain Witch himself.
Needless to say, none of the Fates are good, and each one will require a betrayal of some sort.

At the start of the game and after shuffling the Fate Cards (maybe a dozen of them total), the GM deals one to each player. The cards must be kept secret. If any of the players are unsatisfied with their cards, they may exchange them for another card of their choosing from the unused deck. [Doing it this way ensures that players aren't sure what cards the other players have.] After the cards are determined, the GM announces what cards have been picked, though who holds which cards is still kept a secret. This way players have an idea of what's to come, though from whom they aren't sure of.

I'm not sure how, if at all, I'm going to enforce these Fates.

-----------------------------------
How did you let yourself get pulled into this mess? Oh yes, the money. Lots of money. You were told that there was a sum of money for the group of men that defeated the Mountain Witch, a sum large enough to set you up for a long time. A sum large enough to finally let you settle down and forget this endless drifting. Funny, though, the thought that first popped into your head. "If anyone doesn't make it, that's just more money for myself."

What's also funny was your second thought: "I'm sure everyone else is thinking the same thing."

Trust
I'm still working the kinks out of this one, but needless to say, players will need to build Trust between their characters. Trying to build trust will put your character in some sort of vulnerable position. It may also be tied into conflict resolution & narration privileges.

[Thanks to Rich Forest for a bit of inspiration here!]

---------------------------------
Conflict Resolution
Probably simple 1d6 vs. 1d6, with degrees of success.

--------------------------------
That's what I got right now. Tomorrow I hope to have the mechanics solidified, Saturday I hope to have some monsters and other challenges, and then Sunday I'll get everything written up.

BADASS the roleplaying game
every man is an island

Q&A
Q: Are there badass chicks, too?
A: Yes.
Q: Are they still an island? Because, y'know, the "every man" thing.
A: Badass chicks are even more an island than men.
Q: No shit?
A: You have occasionally read a book or watched a movie, right?

-Vincent

Question: can I have multiple entries?

if not, can I scrap my first dish and start another?

Lxndr wrote: Question: can I have multiple entries?

if not, can I scrap my first dish and start another?

Snow From Korea: Optional Rules

Fighting Schools:
Obviously, not everyone in Nihon fights the same way. This is represented through the use of Fighting Schools. Each School has an unusual take on the kamae, a special method with a strength and a weakness. These apply to all types of encounters and challenges, not only those of Kenjutsu; each school teaches a philosophy harmonious with its battle techniques. When creating your samurai, choose one School. To use a School ability, roll a die. On a one or two, the Low effect takes place. On a five or six, the High effect does. Some sample Schools:

Mirror and Tree School:
The practicioners of the Mirror and Tree School have trained themselves to respond to every situation in the same way, reflecting or standing still as the necessity demands. Any kamae, usable only in Challenges.
Low: Your Facet is set equal to your opponent's.
High: Your opponent's Facet is set equal to yours.

Two Swords One Heart School:
The Niten Isshin Ryu teaches that one can approach a problem from two angles at once. Unfortunately this can divide one's attention. Kagai or Ariake no kamae.
Low: Roll your Facet twice and take the lower number of successes.
High: Roll your Facet twice and take the higher number of successes.

Ocean Flower School:
The Ocean Flower School teaches that strength, like the moon and tide, waxes and wanes. Ariake no kamae.
Low: You do not count sixes as successes, but roll three extra dice.
High: You count threes as successes, but roll three fewer dice.

Culture and Inheritance:
Just like one's knowledge of poetry and strategy can come from many places, one's upbringing can affect one's skills as well. When creating your samurai, you may exchange one point of Facet for a Culture trait or an Inheritance trait. No Facet may be affected by more than one of each type of trait. Every possible Culture and three example Inheritances follow.

Inheritance:

• Dayforged Yari: You have a magical weapon - most often a spear - made with a little piece of the Sun herself. This weapon's radiance beats in time with your heart. Anytime you would raise your Kenjutsu, you may redirect the raise to Snow or Awaré instead.
• Lotus Sutra Armour: You can calm the hearts of beasts and men with a gesture and the words, "Buddha bless you." When challenged, you may flip a coin, and if it lands heads, you may change the challenge to one of Tanka. When an encounter would raise your Tanka, you may redirect the raise to Snow instead.
• Wind-Carried Sakura Heart: You have a deep, intuitive understanding of the beauty of falling blossoms and melting snow. You can reroll your School die once whenever testing your Awaré. When an encounter would raise your Awaré, you may redirect the raise to Snow instead.

Culture: Any Culture Trait adds 1 to one Trait for encounters and to a different Trait for challenges.

• Earth and Sky Warrior: The kami of your home province have given you a deep respect for nature and its fragility. +1 challenge Awaré, +1 encounter Kenjutsu.
• Bureaucratic Prodigy: You were a star at your provincial college, and your family is at least slightly upset that you are gallivanting in the wilds instead of finding a proper job as a clerk or courtier. +1 challenge Awaré, +1 encounter Tanka.
• Ancestral Daishô: You carry an ancient weapon, which buoys your heart with honour and is legendarily sharp. +1 challenge Kenjutsu, +1 encounter Awaré.
• Iaijutsu Enthusiast: You have studied the methods of ceremonial duelling. +1 challenge Kenjutsu, +1 encounter Tanka.
• Buson's Haiku School: You know fashionable literature and are well-versed in the spontaneous composition of poetry. +1 challenge Tanka, +1 encounter Awaré.
• Temple Guardian Training: You have spent time as a sohei, one of the legendary holy berserker-monks of Buddhist temples. +1 challenge Tanka, +1 encounter Kenjutsu.

Please note the terminology shift:
Kagai no kamae: Assault posture
Ariake no kamae: Dawn posture
Mujintou no kamae: Island posture

Another entry from one who usually sits on the sidelines:

Fantasy Ice Breaker #1: The Dragon's Lair

The king, who has no children, has decided that the one who kills Fuego, the old dragon who lives on the island just off the coast of Fantasia, will succeed him as king. You are a dragonslayer. A group of dragonslayers will be assaulting the island tonight. At dawn, one dragonslayer will emerge victorious and the rest must serve him as king.

Step 1: Create your dragonslayer

Step 2: Assaulting the island

Step 3: Victory at dawn

Oh, I don't expect that cutting my cooking time in half will help at all, but my first game sort of floundered in the dust, looking perfectly playable but without that final spark. Its final form, such as it is, is already in this thread.

Meanwhile, a new idea popped into my head. So I want to develop it. It has the spark that my other game lacks, I think. Without further ado, the introductory text to my new game. It's a little crass.

Frigid Bitch

How did you get yourself into this mess?

Deep in the forest, with no company but your trash-talking buddies, the ones who got you up here in the first place. You were all lazing about the village square, drinking and avoiding work like usual, when one of you brought up the idea of finding the Frigid Bitch and curing her little man problem.

I mean, it was almost the Solstice, and the village was full of so-called heroes talking about how they'd be the one to succeed when all else failed. Someone in your little group said "y'know, it can't be that tough. I bet you we could do that."

It sounded like a good idea when the sun was high above your shoulders and the ale was warming your belly, but with sobriety came sense, and the dull ache of fear. But you weren't going to back down from the Ice Queen first - you weren't going to look like a coward in front of your buddies. But none of 'em backed off either.

So now you're all standing on the edge of the bluff, miles from home, as the sun dips down towards the horizon. Past the bluff to the west, in the shadows, you can see the outline of the castle poking out of the forest like an island on a sea of green. It's been grown over for quite some time - vines, weeds, and of course rosebushes. They always said the Bitch liked roses. It doesn't surprise you - they're all blood and thorns. Nothing a decent lady would like.

You've got some leftover leather jerkins from the last war, stolen from the miller's stores. You've got some knives and pitchforks and maybe even a scythe that hasn't seen work in years. But the castle is guarded by more fearsome things than that - things that have eaten many a real knight, out for glory or to make a name. Heck, you grew up with stories about the Ice Queen, watching people going off, never to return - you should know better than anyone.

Yet here you are, on the night of the Winter Solstice, waiting for the sun to go down and the castle to awaken. The legends say the curse can only be lifted if someone melts the heart of the Ice Queen - but if you can't do it, you better be ready to run, because when dawn comes, you'll be trapped, frozen in the castle just like everyone else who's come before you. And you're not alone - there's the real heroes, the champions who've cone this far.

The only way to make it into the castle is to trust your friends, to go as a group. But you can't trust your friends for too long, because in the end, if you're lucky enough to get through the death trap and find the Ice Queen, it's every man for himself.

Anyway, the sun's going down. You better get going. After all, the Bitch waits for no man.

A game to talk smack about:

I made this in the last hour or so. Mike said multiple entries okay! This might not fall under "RPG".

This also might not be functional, I haven't played it.

Dav

The Dangerous Island of Much Treasure and Terror!

What you need to play: Some graph paper. A d20, a d6. Some pencils. Some scrpa paper. A certain degree of boredom.



The idea of the game is that you have found a deserted island that only appears during certain tides. On this island, there are ruins containing a vast treasure. Being treasure hunting types, in you go. The problem is that, while you found the treasure at the center of the labyrinth, you now have to get out.

Further problem: the treasure is actually the prison for a host of malevolent spirits… probably.

Still further with the problems: at dawn, the tides change and the island is washed under the sea. This is bad, as you are not fish people, but treasure hunting people of the human persuasion.

A final little problem: there is one boat, and your companions aren’t so trustworthy.

Off you go!

Each player creates a Malevolent Spirit, and 2 Treasure Hunters (you go through the hunting types rather swiftly, I would think).

Malevolent Spirits have 2 Attributes:
Assault: the ability to affect things in the physical world in a rather forceful manner. Hitting levers, knocking people over, the like.

Coercion: Tricking someone you are possessing into taking actions and such. I would think this is pretty useful as well.

Malevolent Spirits have 7 points to put into these attributes. No higher than 5, no lower than 1.

Treasure Hunters likewise have 3 Attributes:
Superstition: How suspicious and such you are about the possession bit. It can be a good thing, I promise.

Trap-Looking-For-Dealy-Ability: Ability to find and disarm traps. A good thing for a treasure hunter.

Didn’t Hurt: Avoiding the anger of Malevolent Spirits.

Hit Points: 5

Treasure Hunters have 10 points, again with the upper-cap of 5 and the lower-cap of 1.


Here’s the deal.

The Malevolent Spirits want to get all hell off the island. Little problem. They are trapped inside diamonds (y’know: “ICE”… okay, okay, stretching, but I got the other 3 so fuck-off). Some diamonds have a baddy spirit, others, not so much.

The goal: get out of the cave as a Malevolent Spirit and row all fuck-out to the horizon, stranding other sorry spiritual saps in limbo.

Obstacles: traps, a maze, other treasure hunters, other malevolent spirits

Here is what happens. Take all the treasure hunters and put them face-down in a pile, after numbering them (or naming them, if you want to get all “immersive on it”). Mix ‘em up and pick one without looking at it… okay, now look at it.

That’s the sorry bloke that picked up your diamond (ICE!). All right, return your little hunter to the pile. Hand-out 2 hunters to each player. If you get the hunter that has your diamond (ICE!), toss all them hunters back in the pile, tell a quick story as to why that little round of picking didn’t work-out (you know, get all narrativist or something), and pick again. Keep doing this until no one has a guy that is carrying their malevolent spirit.

(For you simulationists: you come from a weird Aztec-meets-Aleutian-by-way-of-Philippines fantasy-land. Name your spirit appropriately)

Everybody let’s everyone else know which hunters they are controlling. Now, on your turn, as a Malevolent Spirit, you can do one of many things:

Assault some sorry sap. Coerce a hunter. Nothing.

If you coerce a hunter, that hunter can take a Superstition check to discover if the command came from one of the diamonds he is holding, or make a Will check to avoid the command (either Superstition or Will, NOT both). If you assault someone, they take 1 damage (or you can trigger a trap if you want, as a Malevolent Spirit who was cooped up in this tidal island paradise for the last 1000 years, you know where they are (in theory… not so much in practice)) Assaults may be resisted by a Didn’t Hurt roll.

Roll 1D6. If you roll equal to or less than your number, you succeed, if not, so sorry.

Now, each hunter also gets to move 4 squares on a turn (they don’t have to move the full amount).
*or*
If the hunter made a successful Superstition roll, the hunter may discard 1 diamond (each hunter carries 5 diamonds. Due to mental control stuff, the Malevolent Spirit is always the last diamond picked and tossed.

The hunter must follow the commands of a successful Coercion (if possible, and not resisted by a Will thing) in terms of movement or direction. The hunter also takes 1 damage from any Assault successful upon them (hunters have 5 Hit Points).

Each player also gets a “Build Phase” after hunter movement and such.

In a build phase, you may make 10 lines of map. Roll a D20: on a 20, the exit is in that area, go ahead and mark it with an X. On a 1-5, there is a trap, go ahead and mark it with an O. By the way, there aren’t any rooms, all hallways are 1 square wide and just go and go. You can make a dead end, but only so long as there are other open paths on the map (or if the exit has been found). All 10 lines must be contiguous. All future build phases gain a cumulative +1 to the roll. A natural 1 always means a trap. Once an exit is established, it is the only exit, and screw off on finding more exits. By the way, the edge of the paper counts as an automatic wall.

A hunter may not walk into uncharted territory. That is bad, and not possible. Because I say so (go ahead and tell a fucking story about it if you want).

When walking over a trap, the hunter may roll Trap-Findy Skill to see the trap before walking over it. Doing so means the trap is avoided and remains for future hunters. Avoiding a trap takes 2 movement squares, rather than 1. A hunter walking blissfully unaware over a trap (failing the Trap-Findy roll), takes 1 damage… go ahead and tell a little story about how much that sucked (you can go ahead and be as descriptive as you like, but you may get stuff thrown at you if it gets too long-winded).

If the hunter carrying your Malevolent Spirit dies, FRET NOT! If another hunter walks over the dead hunter’s square, the hunter gets to pick up 1 diamond. If the hunter had a Malevolent Spirit, then guess which diamond that hunter picked? That’s right, the diamond with the bad, naughty spirit in it. This may mean that a hunter has two Malevolent Spirits on his person. This is not good… but, there is nothing to do for it.

Some little nit-picks:
How to resolve multiple successful Coercions or Assaults: the Coercion that succeeded the most goes through. In the event of a tie, the hunter becomes psychically scrambled and sits on his ass for the turn.

Multiple Assaults are resisted once, but each successively successful assault reduces the poor hunter’s Didn’t Hurt skill by 1 for the turn. On a failure, only 1 damage is sustained (because it would hurt too much to do more).

If all hunters die: everyone loses. That’s right, loses.

If more than 1 Malevolent Spirit makes it out alive due to a hunter carrying many possessed diamonds, they fall madly in love and get to drop the “Malevolent” part of their title. They make baby diamonds.

If, after twenty turns no one has made it out, dawn rolls in and you are all buried in a watery grave. That, by the way, sucks.

You all start in the center of the graph paper in a room that is 6x3 (vertically tall, rise over run people!) There are a number of exits equal to the number of spirits in the game. Yes, a multiple hunters may occupy the same space.

Go play the game!

The final weekend of the competition approaches.

Throughout the contest, aside from a short comment to praise the quality of the other chefs' work, Chef Forest has been very slow and quiet. Calmly, methodically, just outside the spotlight, he has been gathering his ingredients and writing and re-writing his recipe by hand. So many ingredients have been thrown out. The recipe is a chaotic jumble of revisions. Only now has he managed to write down his final recipe and gather those ingredients that he wishes to keep.

Some would call this madness--the final weekend is already upon him, and he has only now finished writing his recipe by hand and stewing his base! How can he hope to finish his game with only the weekend to fill in so much! And what does he have, brewing in the pot, a dish as yet not even named? Some ingredients we recognize: ice, assault, and islands. But what are these other ingredients he has added?

Strange ingredients for a tabletop RPG indeed... Super Mario Brothers? The Legend of Zelda? Donkey Kong Country? Super Smash Brothers? Mario Cart?

What kind of dish could this be? Could it possibly live up to the proud legacy of Chef Forest's role model, the eminent Shigeru Miyamoto-Ou-Sensei? Or would he be shamed by the dish?

And wait, is Chef Forest adding a final ingredient to the mix? Can you see it? Yes, it's, it's... can it be? Playtesting?! A powerful ingredient indeed. But will he have time to see the dish to its completion?

Much of this is not strictly speaking new; rather, it's an outgrowth and clarification of some earlier ideas. Besides Ice Monsters, Thermoses and Slush Points represent the other noteworthy bit of resource management.

So, without further ado:

Snow Day - Special Expanded Rules for Thermoses and Cocoa

The first time a kid goes inside for Hot Cocoa, he may fill a thermos full of cocoa and take it with him. At any time - EXCEPT during a Snowball Fight - a kid carrying a full thermos can drink it, removing six Slush Points. Only kids can drink cocoa; Ice Monsters can't. In fact, if you pour Hot Cocoa on an Ice Monster, it inflicts six Slush Points on the monster itself! (In a Snowball Fight situation, this requires a Fantasy Check to succeed; failure means that your just spilled some perfectly good hot cocoa all over the place.)

Any subsequent time that you go inside for Cocoa, you can fill up any empty thermoses that you're carrying.

Carrying a thermos occupies one hand. Because it takes two hands to scoop up a snowball, you have to drop a thermos that you're carrying first! Alternatively, hand it to another Kid, or to an Ice Monster that has the power to Carry Things. Or hold onto it yourself, and have someone else craft snowballs for you.

If you Cry Uncle or are Driven Off in a Snowball Fight in which you have previously dropped a Thermos, then you have to leave the Thermos behind, and hope your side wins the fight! Otherwise, the other side can scavenge the thermos.

If you lose your thermos, you can't get another one automatically; your parents would just scold you for losing it. Picking a snowball fight with another bunch of kids is the most expedient way of getting your hands on a new thermos.

You can safely stash your thermos indoors or in the Secret Base without fear that another kid might steal it, but if you leave it anywhere else, it's fair game.



Two posts to go - Neighborhood Hazards and Midnight Moonlight Magic Monster Mojo! Then I'll probably condense all the posts into a single final document for judging.

In the meantime, I'm going to go have some cocoa.

IceRunner: a dweomerpunk fantasy setting

part 2 (part 1 located here)

Overview:

IceRunner is intended to be a typical small-group fantasy RPG for 2-5 players, one of whom will take the traditional "GM" role. aside from the usual pencils and paper for recording character data, the group will also need dice: at least one d10 and two sets of four d6s with different colors; these rules will refer to the d6 groups as black dice (aka Curse dice) and white dice (aka Magic dice).

you may also wish to use small transparent plastic beads, glass marbles or some other counters to represent Ice stones collected, but Ice stones can be tracted as a score on the player sheet instead, if desired.

the feel of the game is intended to be somewhat gritty and "realistic" rather than cinematic or mythic. the setting is Western Europe in the Dark Ages or a parallel universe version (to avoid worrying about details of geography, economics and the like.) treat the world as a somewhat simplified version of history, rather than an exact duplicate. technology is low, superstition is rampant, and magic is a rare, mysterious force.

the spirit of the game is cyberpunk without the technology: somewhat pessimistic, but rebellious and individualist, with the player characters fighting an oppressive, intractable system. the PCs have magic, but it's hard to use in the ordinary world; it should *not* be treated as a fantasy replacement for high-tech or cybertech. magic in the game should look as much as possible like the medieval superstitions that inspired it.

the PCs and other sorcerors in the world are part of a loose "underworld", a hidden society all to itself existing alongside ordinary society. since magic is feared and hated, sorcerors are either pariahs (voluntary or involuntary) or leading a double life. sorcerors meet under cover of darkness at crossroads or in the depths of the wilderness to trade forbidden goods, exchange arcane secrets, or sell services to desperate people willing to risk damnation to fulfill their desires.

ordinary conflicts in the game are resolved with a quick roll of a single d10; on an even result, the action succeeds and does 1 point of "damage", which may be physical damage, social damage, or other metaphorical forms of damage. players can invoke Advantages to boost how much damage is done on a single roll, or they can save their Advantages until after the roll, to allow a reroll if the first fails. failing a roll has no effect unless it's a reroll, in which case the character takes 1 point of damage instead.

magical conflicts work the same, except that additional dice (black Curse Dice or white Magic Dice) are rolled; magical or curse effects are invoked if the d10 result is less than or equal to the highest Magic or Curse die result. also, if a Curse die matches a Magic die, the two cancel out.

Chargen:

to create an IceRunner PC, choose a class and estate (social rank) and think of a short character concept built around the two, then choose five advantages. CLASS in IceRunner indicates what magical acts the character is especially good at (granting a temporary Magic Die any time the character attempts that action under the appropriate conditions.) ESTATE is one of the four broad social categories of medieval Europe and grants an advantage under specific social situations. ADVANTAGES in general allow potential rerolls and possibly boost "damage" on successful actions.

the sorceror classes and their bonuses are:

• Enchanter: gains 1 temporary Magic Die when creating astral islands or "magic items";
• AssaultMage: gains 1 temporary Magic Die when using magic in a physical attack;
• Warlock: gains 1 temporary Magic Die when using magic in a social attack;
• Witch: gains 1 temporary Magic Die when using magic to heal (plants, animals, humans... physically, socially, spirtually.)
• IceRunner: gains 1 temporary Magic Die when entering or leaving the astral realm;


there is a fuller explanation of these classes and how the bonuses work in the Magic section

the social estates are Peasantry, Merchantry, Nobility, and Clergy. functionally, the Peasantry supplies all the food (farming, hunting, fishing) as well as grunt labor; the Merchantry includes anyone practicing a skilled trade (including mercenary soldier) as well as actual merchants; the Nobility own the actual land, ensure its defense, and enforce the law; the Clergy provide moral and spiritual guidance as well as spiritual defense. each estate gets one social reroll when dealing with social equals and one social level boost when dealing with social inferiors; Peasantry are considered social betters of outlaws, including known sorcerors. Clergy in theory cannot exercise control over the Nobility, but threats of excommunication or interdict essentially make them the highest social level.

when selecting Class and Estate, be sure to indicate in your character concept what happened when the character took up sorcery: is the character an outlaw, a hermit, or a "mole"?

• OUTLAWS were discovered to be sorcerors and are subject to capture, punishment or death in their home village.
• HERMITS abandoned their village and former life; they are not known as sorcerors, but may be treated with suspicion.
• MOLES continue to lead a double life in both normal society and the sorcerous underworld; they are treated as ordinary members of their Estate unless they behave in a suspicious manner.


since sorcerors grew up within normal society, they still have the mannerisms and force of personality of their Estate. thus, a sorcerorous Noble Outlaw can gain the Nobility bonus when not recognized as an outlaw; a Clerical Hermit can gein the Clergy bonus on a first meeting, until the other party becomes suspicious about the hermit's lifestyle; a Merchant Mole will gain full social benefits until the secret is revealed.

Advantages, as mentioned above, will either boost how much damage is done on a successful roll or allow a failed roll to be rerolled. the types of Advantage and examples of each are:

• Talents: quick, strong, stealthy, gentle with animals, sharpsighted, quickwitted, charismatic
• Allies: brother, cousin, widowed aunt, old mentor, kindly priest, horse
• Equipment: finely crafted swords, shields, and armor or other equipment


all beginning Advantages are extraordinary but non-magical in nature. sorcerors can gain supernatural bonuses through play, however.

after choosing Class, Estate, concept, and five Advantages, think up a name for your character, flesh out any other details (like personal possessions that do not count as extraordinary equipment,) then decide as a group where the characters just came from and where they are going. they do not need to know each other yet.

Ordinary Conflicts:

when characters are involved in a conflict, whoever controls each character (player or GM) states what the character's intended action will be ("I will attempt to open the sealed crypt", "Theobold will try to rip off the lowest branch of the tree".) whatever each character is in conflict *with* on the current turn is called the Obstacle; the character and the Obstacle are examined to see if one has a clear approriate advantage over the other, either because of a listed character advantage ("Theobold has Great Strength, but this is an ordinary tree") or because of a temporary situational advantage ("the branch is unusually brittle".) each advantage that favors the character for this kind of action gives +1 damage on a success; each advantage that favors the Obstacle gives -1 damage. if a player sees that the total basic damage in this conflict will be -1 (or otherwise doesn't like the potential result,) the player can change the character's intended action.

the player and the GM must also agree on a backfire effect. in some form of combat (physical sparring, social maneuvering, emotional abuse,) the backfire effect would simply be the same kind of damage dealt to the character instead of the Obstacle. in other actions, it is something else detrimental to the character: a character firing a bow might have a backfire effect of damage to the bow, for example, or injuring an Ally; a character sneaking past guards could have a backfire effect of alerting the guards.

once the intended actions, total basic damage, and backfire effects for each character involved in the conflict is determined, initiative is set based on highest total basic damage (which can be a maximum of +5). ties are resolved in alphabetical player order but considered to take effect simultaneously. each player in order rolls a d10; if the result is even, the action is successful with +1 to total basic damage; otherwise, the action failed to have the desired effect. the player gets to narrate the effects of the action; it's up to the player whether the character fails badly or simply struggles valiantly without making significant headway.

if a character scores 5 or more points of damage against an obstacle after one or more rolls, the overall goal of the damage is achieved: in a physical attack, this means the obstacle was killed or broken; if making a social attack, the obstacle is expelled from the social context (if the context is an entire village, the opponent is driven away as an outcast; if it's just a heated discussion in a village market, the opponent is made a laughingstock.)

failed rolls can be rerolled by invoking appropriate advantages that were not used to boost total basic damage. thus, if Theobold has the Great Strength advantage but does not invoke it to boost physical damage in a fight, on a failed roll the player can narrate "Theobold's sword can find no opening in the enemy's defensive sheildsweeps, so he attempts to knock the man aside with his mighty blows", then make a reroll. rerolls are exactly the same as regular rolls *except* that a failed roll causes 1 point of damage to the acting character, with the damage type determined by the backfire effect chosen. players can reroll as many times as they have appropriate advantages that can be used creatively in the current conflict, but take 1 point of damage on each failure. after taking 5 points of backfire damage, rerolling stops -- and the character may be dead or otherwise incapacitated, depending on teh backfire effect.

players can attempt to gain temporary situational advantages, rolling to push for higher ground in a combat, or rolling to secure a rope before climbing a cliff. the "damage" in these cases is rolled over into future actions that exploit that situational advantage; the bonus disappears when the situation changes again or the conflict is finished.

players can attempt appropriate actions to heal damage -- applying bandages after a combat, eating a meal to repair hunger damage, etc. again, this is figured as for an ordinary conflict, with "damage" being applied to removing accumulated damage.

another (desperate) option, particularly for physical damage, is to convert the temporary injuries into a more permanent injury, which is treated as a disadvantage (advantage applied negatively.) for example, if Theobold has 4 points of physical damage and fears the enemy's next blow will kill him, he can erase the 4 points and take a "maimed leg" or "severed hand" disadvantage. it doesn't matter whether the damage erased is 1 point or 4 points; the disadvantage taken in exchange is worth 1 level as an advantage to an opponent. so, a player could choose to risk letting damage rise to 4 before converting into permanent wounds, or play it safe and convert damage early and often. disadvantages can only be removed through roleplaying and will take more than one scene.

Magical Conflicts will be covered in detail in the next installment.

Iron Chef Laviolette blinks in surprise at the number of typos that are making their way into his carefully prepared dishes. perhaps his continuing bouts of fever are affecting his sensibilities?

he shakes his head and downs a shot of NyQuil. perhaps the Giant Q will aid him in completing his culinary treat. if not, at least the final recipe can be corrected later, after the judge has made his decision...

My entry in its final form:

Fantasy Ice Breaker #1: The Dragon's Lair

The king, who has no children, has decided that the one who kills Fuego, the old dragon who lives on the island just off the coast of Fantasia, will succeed him as king. You are a dragonslayer. A group of dragonslayers will be assaulting the island tonight. At dawn, one dragonslayer will emerge victorious and the rest must serve him as king.

Step 1: Create your dragonslayer

The purpose of this game is to "break the ice" or get to know the other people in a safe and fun environment so each dragonslayer will be a projection of each player. All dragonslayers will be assumed to be quite capable in their profession. All the player needs to do is to give themself a lofty title. For example, if Eric is playing the game, he may call his dragonslayer "Eric the mighty".

Step 2: Assaulting the island

Each player makes a monster card for each other player in the game. Monster cards are simply blank cards where you a player can write down the name of a monster and draw a little picture. Additional information about the monster may also be written on the card (such as
breathes fire") if desired. Once everyone has made their cards, they are played face down in piles in front of each player. Each player may only place one card in front of each player.

Now, one player is elected to start the game. That player narrates their assault on the island. The player on the left of the starting player keeps track of time and after every 60 seconds, flips over the top card on the starting player's pile. The narrating player must then incorporate the monster into his narrative. If the narrating player fails to incorporate a monster card before the next monster card is flipped over, the narrating player must take a wound token. After the last card in front of the narrating player is flipped over, the narrating player has 60 seconds to end his narrative with the dragonslayer's arrival to the dragon's lair.

Then the player on the left becomes the narrating player and the player to his/her left becomes the timekeeper and card flipper. This repeats until everyone has had a turn.

Step 3: Victory at dawn

Once all dragonslayers have made it to the dragon's lair, old Fuego reads their minds. Each player must write down a personal question for each other player on a blank card. If a player has any wound tokens, they must write down a personal question for themself for each token. Once all questions have been written, all question cards are shuffled together. The cards are then dealt out to each player with the players with wound token receiving an extra card for each token. Starting with the first narrating player, each player then reads one card and answers the question. Then the player on the left does the same and the process repeats until all questions have been answered. Once all questions are answered, each player secretly votes for any player besides themselves to be the winner, slay the dragon, and become king. The votes are counted and the king is hailed! If there happens to be a tie, the player with the least wound tokens wins. If there is still a tie, just arm-wrestle for it or something.

Terra Australis

What does he pull out next? A durian? Heavens, no! Oh, he's only joking. The durian goes back under the table and out comes a bucket of li hing mui! Candied squid!?

---

With the competition nearing a close, I need to hammer out the mechanics. To get that solid foundation, I've been pulling out every design trick I know! I've even come upon a few new ones (for me), such as What does the player/gm/character do? Another new thing for me, regarding rolelaying game design, is a state machine. What's this? The marriage of computer science and roleplaying games? And in a way that doesn't produce Rolemaster-like complexity? That's right.

The basis of a state machine is that at any point, the machine is in a specific state. The machine receives input and changes its state. You graph these states and their connections out with little bubbles and arrows. I figured, in game design, you have specific states the game is in. For Terra Australis, I initially defined the states as follows:

GM control: This is when the GM is moving the game along, players state actions which don't require mechanics, (i.e, "I'm going down the steps"), and so on.
Players Roll: Any player initiating a Conflict, Resource creation or Evidence creation causes all players to make a Roll.
Player creates Evidence: The player is creating/modifying Evidence.
Player creates Resource: The player is creating/modifying a Resource.
Conflict: The players deal with the conflict using further Rolls. During a Conflict, things can be shifted around (with Evidence and Resource creation & use), but this is all considered part of a Conflict.

The connections are pretty simple. From GM control, the GM can move into a Conflict or a player can move into Players Roll. From Players Roll, the successful player moves the state into creating Evidence, Resource or Conflict (if nobody succeeds/wants, the state moves back to GM control). Here is a graphic diagram (I hesitated on including an image, but figured a schematic wins the information vs. promotion battle).

Now, after studying this, I realized that during a Conflict I want the players to be able to add Evidence and Resources. I also figured the state machine could be simplified. And it could!

With simplifying, the states are now: GM Control and Conflict, with Conflict having its own various internal states. But since I already have this early state machine prepared, I don't need another one to figure out how Conflict will play out.

Conflict, whether GM or Player initiated, consists of all the Players making a Roll. This Roll encompasses initiative (which player acts first, in the case of competing interests) and success. A Roll can be modified by expending a player's resources (relationships, abilities, etc).

- If a player initiates Conflict, they receive automatic first-dibs on initiative. They also get to declare the whether the Conflict will be a straight-up Conflict (fight, argument, etc), Evidence creation/modification, or Resource creation/modification (relationships, mostly).

- If the GM initiates Conflict, the Players Roll, but the GM sets everything up as if she were successful from the get-go (without rolling). This means the GM can create/modify Evidence, Resources, etc. without risk.

Once the Conflict is over, play returns to GM Control. Conflict can be especially quick if the initiated Conflict is simply a new piece of Evidence.

With that settled, finishing up is a matter of how Rolls work, and how players use their resources to modify those Rolls.

---

That's my dish so far. It's nearing completion. Hopefully the delightful wafting of sickly-sweet, li hing-dusted calamari doesn't overpower the judges!

Rich Forest wrote: Strange ingredients for a tabletop RPG indeed... Super Mario Brothers? The Legend of Zelda? Donkey Kong Country? Super Smash Brothers? Mario Cart?

Zak Arntson wrote:
With the competition nearing a close, I need to hammer out the mechanics. To get that solid foundation, I've been pulling out every design trick I know! I've even come upon a few new ones (for me), such as What does the player/gm/character do? Another new thing for me, regarding rolelaying game design, is a state machine. What's this? The marriage of computer science and roleplaying games? And in a way that doesn't produce Rolemaster-like complexity? That's right.

Jonathan Walton wrote:
Rich, you silly wang ba dan! I've been wanting to design a game that could be played with 8-bit techno in the background. Keep rocking out with your socks out.

Walton-san glances nervously up from his simmering dish of Sweet and Sour Penguin and Pineapple. So many chefs preparing dishes both elegant and succulent! The pressure to be a finisher is beginning to get to him. Sweat beads form on his brow. Is this the end?!

At the Dawn

The elves were the first people, the blessed, immortal children of the spirits of the One True Flame. They were made perfect, beautiful, and graceful, given the ands of the West to rule over eternally, The Land of Twilight, where the Two Trees rose bearing the Light of the World...one of silver, one of gold.

But the Enemy had always lurked in the Darkness Beyond, jealous of creation, desirous of its bounty, and time had not stilled his frenzy, or tamed his desire, only inflamed it and encouraged his plots. Disguised as a great spider, the Enemy came to the West and crept across its plains to the Halls of the Undying, from where he stole the light from the Two Trees and fled with it across the icy seas, to the black northern wastes of the East, so close to the Darkness where he had spent eternity hidden from the One True Flame.

It is a time before, of myth rather than history, when the great wars of the elves were fought against the hordes of dark beasts twisted by the Enemy. This is no time of men or goblins, but a time when the First Children of the World took up their swords and bows and chased the Enemy to his black fortress in the icy North, when they battled demons, werewolves, dragons, and more hideous things of the Night which whole nations of men would learn to fear, yet a single elf would face in titanic struggles of armies of light against armies of darkness.

You are a Child of the First Land, of the West, most perfect of all things in creation. Immortal, eternally young, skilled with word and hand, sharp of eye and deep of spirit. It is to you to recover the Light of the Two Trees and return them to the West, in the Blessed Lands. It is your Heart which guides you, and the spirits of the One True Flame speak to it. Your sword is sharp, and will become legend, become magic, in a later age when the light of creation has dimmed, and mortal man steps new upon the world, and will speak of your ability and grace in quiet awe.

There will be Tragedy, though, for the First Age of the world always ends by tragedy, quieting their youth and giving way to the slow unravelling of the years. You cannot die, though you can fall. You cannot die, though the Enemy can capture you and torture you, breaking and twisting your spirit. You cannot die, though your grace can be tortured from you with broken bones, torn skin, and poisoned thoughts.

And there will be Victory, for the First Age to end, creation must stand, and not drift into darkness, hidden from and lost to the light of the One True Flame which created it. The One True Flame will protect you, and work through you. The Enemy will be banished once more to Darkness, his fortress will fall, and Creation's song will continue.

And there will be Temptation, the Darkness will promise sweet things, and lure you into the Enemy's service, twisted and cursed. And Creation will ensnare your soul and beg you to stay, a tenant upon the Eastern shores meant for man, where Dawn is not yet come and the stars are constant and brilliant companions looking down from heaven.

May you not fail in banishing the Enemy and reclaiming the Light of the Two Trees to return to the West.

IceRunner: a dweomerpunk fantasy setting

part 3 (part 1 located here; part 2 located here)

Magical Conflicts:

magical conflicts are resolved by rolling a d10, as for ordinary conflicts, but one or more d6s are rolled simultaneously; the number and color of the d6s vary depending on the situation. the dice are of two colors, indicated as black and white, but other colors can be substituted; the black dice are called Curse Dice and indicate involuntary magical effects, like magical backfires, while the white dice are called Magic Dice and are required to preform voluntary magical effects. if a character doesn't have any Magic Dice available, that character cannont do magic.

magical acts require a physical action: you have to make or do something and invest that action with magical power. flashy cinematic effects like throwing bolts of lightning are not possible, although causing lightning that already exists (in an ongoing storm, for example,) to strike an enemy *is* possible. in medieval superstition, magic was more about the meaning of an event than its fantastic appearance. thus, you have cattle or people who sicken suddenly, which could be entirely natural, but the villagers suspect someone *wanted* that sickness to occur and look for a sorceror.

the game mechanics of what you can do with magic:

• boost damage to your next conflict roll;
• reduce damage on your next conflict roll;
• allow for a reroll on your next conflict roll;
• bless someone (giving them persistent Magic Dice);
• curse someone (giving them persistent Curse Dice);
• produce an unusual description in an otherwise ordinary action (no mechanical effect);
• invest magical points into something (potion, amulet, talisman, etc.) allowing those points to be used later.


note that several of these options mention "the next conflict roll". this means that the magic roll can be used for a temporary situational advantage, carrying over its damage bonus or reduction to the next time the character is in a conflict. this can include boosting another magical conflict roll and carrying over those boosted results one or more times to generate massive damage. the bonus accumulated must be used by your next turn; you cannot make a magical conflict roll, roll for another unassociated conflict, then apply your magical boost two turns after the original roll. the only way to carry over magical points beyond the next roll is to invest the points into a magical creation.

another concept important to magical rolls are the Curse Dice. Curse Dice represent involuntary magical effects, usually causing damage to the character affected by the Curse. Curse Dice are acquired in various ways: another sorceror can Curse you, there may be a Curse in the current location, or you may be pushing the limits of sorcery.

on any magical conflict roll in the ordinary world, players must roll an extra Curse Die. this represents the potential for magical backfire; magic is a very fickle art. players do not roll this extra Curse Die in the astral world, nor do they need to roll this die in a highly magical location. players must also roll an extra Curse Die if they are in the ordinary world and:

• they are not alone;
• they are trying to produce an unnatural effect where it can be observed;
• they have never performed sorcery before (this doesn't apply to player characters, normally.)


also, if an area or object held is Cursed and the conditions of the Curse are active, sorcerors must add the Curse Dice associated with that Curse for the magical conflict. note that Cursed areas or objects can apply their Curse to otherwise ordinary conflicts; if a sword is Cursed to cause anyone who uses it to double over in pain, then the Curse Dice are rolled on any attack using the sword.

white Magic Dice work in a similar manner to Curse Dice. sorcerors can use one extra Magic Die on any magical conflict roll in the astral world; further, each sorceror Class has a specific condition which grants an additional Magic Die. using magic potions, talismans, amulets, and the like allows extra Magic Dice as well, as does natural magic in rare magical locations. plus, even ordinary locations can grant an extra Magic Die if at least two of the following "superstitious conditions" apply:

• there is no sunlight or moonlight visible in the area;
• the magic is performed at a crossroads;
• it's the day of the new moon;
• the magic is performed in a circle of toadstools;
• the magic is performed where three trees grow together as one.


none of these conditions by themselves will grant a Magic Die, nor is there extra benefit for more than two.

in addition, there are the magical diamonds known as "ice". ice is not a natural gemstone; it is created as a magical act in the astral realm. each small gem is invested with 1 magical point, which can be used once to add 1 Magic Die to a magical conflict roll; the gemstone dissolves when used, or when exposed to sunlight or moonlight.

before getting into the gritty details of magical conflict rolls, it should be noted that there are three kinds of Magic and Curse dice: temporary, persistent, and permanent. Ice provides temporary Magic Dice: add them to the roll once and they disappear, whether they work or not. persistent dice can be added again and again until they *work*, then they disappear; these are the kind of dice found in magic items or cursed locations. persistent Curse Dice can also be cancelled by matching Magic Dice and vice versa; this will be demonstrated later. permanent dice are rare: the single bonus die in the astral realm is permanent, and so are the dice on holy relics; they can never be cancelled or exhausted.

magical conflict rolls are handled in the following way: the player states the sorceror's intention, similar to an ordinary conflict, but includes the general appearance of the effect being attempted. ordinary total basic damage is figured the same as for ordinary conflicts; it will apply to the physical action being performed, but will not apply to the magical effect itself. next, the player checks to see how many Magic Dice are available; the player must be able to use at least one Magic Die from one of the above sources in order to perform a magical act at all, and can use up to 5 Magic Dice on one roll. after totalling the number of Magic Dice to roll, the GM tells the player if any Curse Dice are in effect, including the nature of the Curse that will be invoked, if any; if there are any Curse Dice with a vague effect, like the dice acquired from performing magic in the ordinary world, the player and the GM must agree on a magical backfire effect. players have the option of specifying that a magical backfire will occur as immediate damage or as a persistent Curse. again, as many as 5 Curse Dice may be rolled at once.

initiative is determined in the same way as ordinary conflicts (indeed, other characters may be attempting ordinary actions at the same time.) the player rolls the d10 as well as 1-5 white d6 Magic Dice and 1-5 black d6 Curse Dice. the first thing checked is: do any of the Curse Dice match any of the Magic Dice? one Curse Die can cancel out one Magic Die of equal value, and vice versa.

EXAMPLE: the player rolls three white dice and four black dice; the results are white: 2, 5, 5 black: 1, 2, 2, 5. the white 2 cancels out one of the black 2s, leaving one black 2, while one of the white 5s cancels out the black 5. thies leaves white: 5 black: 1, 2 as the result.

the success of the physical action and the success of the magical meaning of that action are determined seperately; the physical action is resolved with the standard "even result = success, odd result = failure" technique. whether the result of the d10 is even or odd, check to see if it is less than or equal to any of the white Magic Dice remaining after the cancellation phase; any Magic Dice greater than or equal to the d10 result earns 1 magic point. likewise, if any of the remaining black Curse Dice are greater than or equal to the d10 result, the Curse effect or magical backfire is invoked and 1 backfire point is applied for each successful Curse Die result.

EXAMPLE: on the previous example, the player rolled white: 2, 5, 5 and black: 1, 2, 2, 5, which left white: 5 black 1, 2 after cancellation. if the d10 result is 4, the player earned one magic point; if the d10 result is 2, the player earned one magic point and one point of Curse damage.

if a player decides to invoke an advantage for a reroll, only the d10 is rerolled; the Magic Dice and Curse Dice are left on the table as-is. in fact, if a player attempts a magical conflict roll, earns one magic point, then decides to reroll, THE MAGIC POINT STAYS. the player can actually earn additional magic points on the reroll over and above what has already been earned. however, the same rule applies to Curse Dice; if you invoke a Curse on your first roll and then reroll, you may make the Curse worse.

Magical Actions:

any sorceror can perform any magical action, as long they have a Magic Die to produce the effect and any necessary props or conditions (for example, you can't brew a magic potion unless you have something to brew in.) this even applies to a non-sorceror who has acquired a Magic Die in some way: a thief who steals Ice and tries to work magic, for example, or someone who has been blessed, or even some desperate individual who buries a fertility doll at the crossroads one night at the dark of the moon. there is an extra Curse Die the first time a non-sorceror attempts magic; but after that, the character is a sorceror and has no extra penalty. once you've crossed the line, there's no way back.

one basic magical action is to boost damage; this is typically used by AssaultMages (on physical attacks) and Warlocks (on social attacks), since they receive a bonus Magic Die on those actions. on a magical physical attack, the sorceror channels magical force into an ordinary attack; any magic points earned are added to damage points on a successful roll for increased damage. on a magical social attack, the process is similar, except that the warlock is spreading lies or sowing discord instead of stabbing a victim in the dark of night.

another option is an indirect attack; in this case, the physical action required to "cast the spell" does not add ordinary damage points to the magic points earned. instead, magic points are applied as damage delivered through some pre-existing condition, such as a lightning strike during a thunderstorm or an ongoing illness. AssaultMages can apply their bonus die to indirect attacks as well as direct attacks, since it is still a physical assault. likewise, a Warlock can whisper insults to an effigy of a victim instead of spreading rumors directly; it helps mask the source of the social attack.

Witches, on the other hand, specialize in reducing various forms of damage. by mixing an herbal poultice, a Witch can apply magic points to reduce damage points a victim has already taken.

Witches, Warlocks and AssaultMages sometimes work at crosspurposes. someone suffering from a series of calamities might suspect sorcery as the cause, and may seek out a Witch or a Holy priest for help. aside from curing any damage already done, a Witch can attempt to track the source of the evil magic; this is treated as "damage" to the persecutor's concealment. once the persecutor has taken 5 points of "concealment damage", everyone in the community will know who is responsible for the attacks.

sorcerors may also choose to apply persistent Magic or Curse Dice to a target instead of damage. if the target is a person, he or she can invoke the Magic Dice as many times as desired until they work or are cancelled by Curse Dice, at which point they are exhausted. in the case of Curse Dice, of course, the target has no choice, but must roll the Curse Dice on all applicable rolls until the Curse is invoked or cancelled. if the target is an object, anyone holding that object can invoke its Magic Dice, and anyone using a Cursed object invokes its Curse Dice until the dice are exhausted. if the target is a place, anyone in that place is affected in the same way.

when sorcerors place a Curse, they must describe the unnatural tell-tale signs that the Curse is working ("May the victim's hair fall out!") either a Curse Die or Magic Die may be limited to certain conditions ("any man who draws a sword in this sanctuary will be stricken with pox!"); in that case, the Curse Dice or Magic Dice are only rolled when the conditions are met. sorcerors can only remove a Curse by pumping Magic Dice into a magical conflict that invokes the Curse, hoping to cancel the Curse Dice with matching Magic Dice results.

Enchanters and other sorcerors may also create amulets, talismans, or other magical objects by investing them with magic points. magic points are used:

• to boost ordinary damage;
• to reduce ordinary damage;
• to give an extra reroll;
• to add a temporary Magic Die.


each magic point is used once, then lost.

one special form of enchantment is the creation of Ice. as mentioned previously, Ice can only be created in the astral realm. every Magic Die rolled that is equal to or higher than the d10 result rolled creates one Ice gem, which can be used later for one temporary Magic Die.

how do you get into the astral realm? this, too, is a magical action; it requires only one magic point to cross over into the astral void. this is the specialty of IceRunners, so they cross over into the astral much more frequently than other sorcerors; many sorcerors prefer to trade with IceRunners, exchanging their own services for bags of Ice. one thing to note about entering the astral realm: since vanishing from plain sight is an unnatural effect if observed EVEN BY THE SORCEROR VANISHING, sorcerors must roll an extra Curse Die when crossing over. for this reason, most sorcerors only cross into the astral realm when they are in a pitch-black room or cave.

crossing back into the ordinary realm does not take a roll normally, as long as the sorceror is not evading someone in the astral realm and returns to the spot originally left. if a roll is required, the sorceror gets a Magic Die from performing magic in the astral realm, plus one die if the sorceror is an IceRunner; no Curse Dice for being in the ordinary world are rolled, of course. IceRunners thus are also often used as smugglers and couriers, because they can travel long distances in the ordinary realm by entering the astral realm and then leaving immediately to a different physical location.

the astral void is exactly that: a black void, sometimes with the faint suggestion of swirling mist. sorcerors can create astral islands in the void using standard enchantment procedures, putting at least one Magic Die into the island to maintain it. astral islands are dimly glowing grey discs, roughly three yards across for every Magic Die worth of size. astral islands can be drained, just like other enchanted objects, but this causes the island to shrink; if it loses all its Magic Dice, the island vanishes. since astral islands are normally created as storage areas for precious items, draining an island is not considered appropriate behavior; any objects on an island when it vanishes are cast loose into the astral void and must be located individually.

setting details, including rules for handling The Holy, werewolves, elves, and enchanted beasts, as well as what sorcerors do and how they relate to each other and the medieval world, will be covered in the next installment.

Iron Chef Laviolette sweats a bit after this prodigious effort, and glances at the ever-ticking clock of the RPG Stadium. he has just prepared the meat of the main dish, with its simple die mechanic seasoned with quirky Curse Dice and Magic Dice, but he still needs the special sauces and seasonings of the setting itself, as well as the dice vegetables and fruits of the reward system and GM techniques. oh my! that's at least two more parts to complete before sunday!

greyorm wrote:
At the Dawn

Terra Australis

He's set aside the li hing squid for now, and is producing a variety of annuals. His assistant seems to be preparing some kind of sauce, and boy does it stink! Flowers? Stinky sauce? What will this side dish be?

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I'm making my design process as transparent as I can, hoping to provide the same enjoyment for you that I get watching the cook at Thai Tom. I am ready to divulge the hearty entree of character design! It's pretty simple, actually. To define your character, you come up with the following:

Name
Nationality
Curiosity

Name & Nationality are simple. Just pick something or do a google search on, say, "Persian Names". Curiosity is what makes your character a monster. Vedun's Curiosity would be, "Psychic, squid-headed." Kreykir's Curiosity is, "Thawed viking, body temperature still below freezing."

The next part of your sheet has a blank space marked Resource Points. You start the game with 3 stones here (a stone is easier than writing & erasing points).

The final (and large) section on your sheet is labeled Resources. It is nearly empty, with each slot consisting of two spots, Name and Type. With a starting character, you get two resources. The first is your Curiosity (no type for this one), and is written on your sheet for you. Your other resource can be one of four types, your choice:

PC Relationship - If you wish, you can create a relationship between yourself and another PC. Both players must agree on this. The nature of the relationship needn't be hammered out now. Write "PC" for short, under Type.
NPC Relationship - Write down the NPC's name. Again, don't worry about the nature of the relationship, yet. Write "NPC" under Type.
Thing - An item which your character can use during play.
Fate - Something you'd like to have happen to your character.

Vedun got NPC Relationship, Mecher. Kreykir got Thing, Icy War-Axe.

What's next? The system, which I've almost figured out. This means the character sheet/creation is in the "nearly done" phase, since a change in the system could reflect a change in the sheet.

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I can't believe it, but somehow the flowered stink sauce is growing on us! The delicate pungency is breathtaking. But what will it be ladled over?

Mahoutsukai!
Recurring Antagonists for Snow From Korea

There are people in the world who dabble in the dark magic of blood, mahoutsukai. Not honourable samurai, of course! But the mad scholars of Qin, the man-eating savages of the southern islands, even the otherwise reasonable aristocrats of Korea have their own inauspicious powers. These rules allow the HEK to create and play recurring characters, in a deeper and more complex way than by simply describing successive encounters as having the same people in them. The HEK may create a mahoutsukai at the beginning of the game, at the same time as the players are creating samurai. This character is her Big Gun; he can be brought out when she feels the need to give a samurai a particularly hard time.

Creating the Mahoutsukai:
Creating the mahoutsukai is very similar to creating a samurai. First; the HEK should write a descriptive haiku for the sorceror, and then name him. She should secretly decide a nefarious plan that the mahoutsukai intends to implement. The next step is to assign numbers to his Facets. The HEK has as many points as the players to distribute, and obeys the same rules, with one exception: a mahoutsukai may have 0 in one Facet, but not two. As with samurai, mahoutsukai may also have School, Culture, and Inheritance, if you are using those optional rules. Record these initial Facet scores.

A mahoutsukai's Facets mean something slightly different than those of samurai, since he is twisted by darkness. His Awaré is his sensitivity to the fragility of things, and his fondness of breaking them. It is not empathy and consciousness of beauty. Similarly, his Kenjutsu is not his knowledge of the arts of combat; it is his bloodthirstiness and knowledge of inflicting injury. His Tanka represents his twisted, demonic lore. Finally, his Snow score represents his reserves of unholy energy. If you are using the optional Inheritance rules, the mahoutsukai does not benefit from the "finding the Snow" rule; he must redirect Facet gains to his Snow in order to empower himself.

Using the Mahoutsukai:
In the place of a normal encounter, the HEK may have the mahoutsukai challenge a samurai. The challenge is resolved according to the normal Challenge rules. In addition, the mahoutsukai may not challenge with the same Facet twice in a row, and the HEK may only use him once per turn cycle per three samurai, rounding up. (So she may use him once per turn cycle with three samurai, or twice per turn cycle if there are four.) The first time the mahoutsukai appears, the HEK should reveal his nefarious plan to the players as part of the scene.

At the end of the game:
The mahoutsukai's points are scored at the end of the game in the same method as those of the samurai. If he ends the game with the highest score, then he has achieved his nefarious plan. The HEK should narrate a short scene where he gloats. Nonetheless, this cannot prevent the samurai from returning home safely, nor does it prevent the samurai with the highest score from winning the game.