This is totally the self-pimping thread. Nearly-done games, totally done games, and half-baked game ideas all welcome.

Polaris (nearing print) rocks for a few reasons. First is that it has great color. Second is that it has a GMing mechanism that won't make my head explode. Third is that it has a resolution mechanic which is vigorously structured Drama, and that has a great ripple effect throughout the game.

Bliss Stage (half-done) rocks because it's about all that sex I wished I was having when I was 15. Plus, it has giant robots.

Tactics (pipe dream stage) rocks because it is awesome Gamist sugar.

So why does your game rock? Don't make me look like a putz for being the only one posting on this thread.

yrs--
--Ben

Dear Putz,

My game, Nine Worlds, rocks.

It rocks because it has a playing card mechanic system that empowers players to be creative contributors.

It rocks because it has incredible illustrations and awesome graphic design. It's a treat for the eyes, and the color oozes out of the gamebook. It's a pleasure to read.

It rocks because it produces actual play like this:

It rocks because it's a "magic" game that makes the magic meaningful and consequential. It's about fantastic stories, not just fantasy.

It rocks because people who've purchased the game online will receive generous discounts when I release a revision (it'll be free, in the case of PDF buyers).

Sincerely,
Matt

My game, Conspiracy of Shadows RAWKS (which is infinitely better than rocks)!

It RAWKS cause Descriptors are crazy clever ways of making interesting characters with implied history without 10 page write ups that are never used.

It RAWKS cause the Players collaboratively create a reason for being together as well as a series of relationships, getting rid of the need for 10 page write ups about Ludwig's Uncle Arney and why he is important.

It RAWKS cause it lets you create your own fucking monsters and conspiracies with ease.

It RAWKS cause my art RAWKS and screw you if you don't like it.

It RAWKS cause I support the shit out of it.

It RAWKS because I fucking say so!

Keith

My game, Capes does the following:

• It reads your mind• It then shows everyone exactly what you actually want from the game• It makes perfectly clear that what you want is not incompatible with what they want• It pays other people to make you fight tooth and nail for what they now know you want...• ... but only if they let you win it in the end.

Which is why Capes rocks harder than a fifty mile asteroid thirty seconds away from impacting on Millenium City.

Like I even have to post to this thread...

The Imp Game RAWKS EVERYTHING! Or not, I mean theres only so much 3 foot tall bumbling fools can rawk...I dunno if they can even rawk rocks come to think of it...

In The Imp Game you and your fellow players take on the world as imps, the servants of a quasi-dark and wannabe evil overlord. You get sent on various missions, I'm working up the rules for micromanaging a dungeon, its all great fun and ready to play with no notice or prep what-so-ever- just get 3-6 folks, at least 2 six sided dice (though 2 dice per player is best), and start running with it!

The GAME rocks for several reasons:
1) Strictly follows KISS- Keep it simple stupid! One mechanic, do whatever you want. Win, lose, your call! Chargen takes all of 10 minutes, almost nothing to remember, keep all of your notes on ONE index card!
2) Subject matter - who doesn't like being evil? ^_^
3) Any game that incites a 20 minute laughing fit per 2 hours of play in the majority of its games HAS to rawk! In fact, one game didn't even get out of char-gen without one of the players laughing uncontrolably. To me, THAT is a mark of greatness :D
4) Quite flexable, entertaining for any genre or setting with characters highly prone to failure.

Power/Evil ROCKS because it's the only GM-less SuperGamist strategy RPG around (that I've seen, and admittedly, I haven't looked very hard, but pssst).

It's unapologetically all about stepping on up, plus you get to play evil empires with powerful minions that beat each other up all the time. Is that not the R0XX0R?

Also because it's an exercise in exploring the question of what makes an RPG. How minimal can you make the role of narration without leaving RPG territory?

My game rocks because it was given to me by a fourth-dimensional being that entered my room on a ray of light. He said he was my grandson in the future, so I should claim authorship. The manual began as blank pages. They wrote themselves while we played. Anytime we came across something broken, the game took us back in time and corrected itself. Play featured zero prep adventures that yielded complete satisfaction from sessions lasting only fifteen minutes, yet it had the range and depth to sustain campaigns of 30 years or more. It came with implants that self-integrated to your brain stem, causing you to experience play according to your GNS preference, regardless of what actually happened.

My annoying friend stopped by to brag about the cutting edge design in one of those Forge games he'd picked up from Indie Press Revolution. Slurp! My game incorporated those elements, in ways more innovative and daring than the author had conceived. Impressed, my friend thumbed through my game.
- "This is the same damn thing as add dice for critical success. That's been in V:tM for ages." Zap! My game turned my ex-friend into a grease spot .. and cast Alter Reality to where everyone thought it was White Wolf who'd reinvented the wheel.

I HOWL at the irony of my post above where I say it produces actual play like this:

And then nothing shows up.

It was supposed to be: Uppity Archons

Matt Snyder wrote:
And then nothing shows up.

Ben,

Touche'

Yours,
Putz

My game BARBAREN! (in playtesting), in which you play fierce, extremely masculine barbarian warriors, UTTERLY rocks because:


• It's about fucking and butchering. Really. It's porn and splatter and outrageous sexism all the way. The ultimate, none-too-serious Macho RPG.

• It's got an active resource combat mechanic that is 0% Sim, 100% Gam and 100% fun. The very same mechanic is used for laying a woman, too.

• Your resource for improving fighting stats is gained solely by fucking, and your resource for improving wooing stats is gained by butchering.

• There are only four kinds of women: "Süße Dinger" (sweet things), "Schönheiten" (beauties), "echt geile Säue" (something along the lines of real hot nasty horny babes), and "Göttinnen" (goddesses).

• Every player character has a nine inch cock. No shit.

• It's got some player empowerment and relationship rules inspired by Ralph Mazza, which might not be special in American games any more, but certainly is in German games.

Oops, guest is me. Sorry about that.

- Frank

Frank T wrote:


• Every player character has a nine inch cock. No shit.

You know, Ben, I knew I'd get you when you wrote this part about

all that sex I wished I was having when I was 15

Fastlane definitely rocks. No question about it. What other than rocking can one do when one lives the kind of decadent high-stakes lifestyle it endorses.

Fastlane rocks because it is the one and only roleplaying game in the world to take advantage of roulette bidding, and is written and played in such a way that the system is easy to grasp, even if you've never gambled before.

Fastlane rocks because it limits not just the power of the protagonists, but also the power of the gamemaster, forcing every player to worry about resource management across the table. It consistently stacks the house against the protagonists just enough to increase the "pressure cooker" feeling, and every time the players lose, their loss is the gamemaster's gain.

Fastlane rocks because it encourages GM and player collusion during character/campaign creation.

And finally, Fastlane rocks because, apart from the cover, it has no art at all, just a kick-ass layout that focuses on the one most important thing about any roleplaying game - the text.

----

Snowball rocks because it is the ALPHA game in the No Press Anthology (of which I sold three (3) copies yesterday to a local game store). Not only is it based on a rocking game called The Pool, but it was designed to facilitate play in the style of the Memento - play that starts at the end of the story, and reverts, scene by scene, back to the beginning. But it rocks even more because it plays JUST as fun going forward.

----

Shangri-la will rock because it's a dream game that defines its characters through allegories, and makes relationships in the real world significant without devoting any in-play time to actions, tasks or conflicts in the real world.

That's all for now, though my other games will rock too. I mean, I'm on a roll!

Frank T wrote: You know, Ben, I knew I'd get you when you wrote this part about

all that sex I wished I was having when I was 15

Ben Lehmann wrote: Are you doing a US release of your game?

Okay, Ben. I'll be a putz, too.

With Great Power... rocks because:

•  It is rife with tension from the defining the Struggle during Hero Creation, through every cardflip in Enrichment scenes, in every grueling Panel of Conflict Scenes, to battling it out for the ability to redeem Devastated Aspects.

• With every choice, the players decide what they're going to protect, and what the cost is.

• It's got a head-to-head card-based conflict resolution system that combines strategic thinking with story flexibility. Failure is never the end, but neither is success.

• Everyone has a hand in everyone else's story because folks not in the scene are cast as Supporting Characters.

• Players choose which Aspects of their hero is vitally important to the villian's plan. The GM figures out why it's important.

• In every one of the last five playtest sessions, one person put down a card without saying a word, and everyone at the table either laughed or did the low "oooo." When playing cards provoke emotional responses, I KNOW the game rocks.

• It's got the Thought Balloon. 'Nuff said.