Topic: Half Meme Press First Annual Unplanned Contest
Started by: Paul Czege
Started on: 8/2/2005
Board: Half Meme Press
On 8/2/2005 at 2:40pm, Paul Czege wrote:
Half Meme Press First Annual Unplanned Contest
I just approved the proof of a roleplaying game. And the printer is tracking to have books to me for Gen Con. So I'm geeked, and decided to have a fun contest. The first person to guess the game gets a free copy of it (retail value $4.00). Here's the two rules:
• Submit your guess by posting on this thread. You only get one guess, so use it wisely.
• If you already know the game whereof I speak, either because I told you about it, or because I accidently copied you in on an email intended for someone else, or because someone I told not to tell about it actually told you about it, or because you live with me, you're disqualified from the contest.
I think I can say that it's not an impossible challenge. The clues are out there. But it'll definitely require some perceptivity and creative inference.
I'll try to hit this thread at least once a day to confirm/disconfirm guesses.
Good luck,
Paul
On 8/2/2005 at 4:33pm, matthijs wrote:
Re: Half Meme Press First Annual Unplanned Contest
"My Life with The Forge"? Where the minions are forum newbies, each scene is a new Big Model thread, and those who make it through the endgame end up with their own theory blogs?
On 8/2/2005 at 4:38pm, Ben Lehman wrote:
RE: Re: Half Meme Press First Annual Unplanned Contest
Nicotine Girls
On 8/2/2005 at 4:59pm, Paul Czege wrote:
RE: Re: Half Meme Press First Annual Unplanned Contest
Matthijs, not correct, but it sounds like fun.
Ben, not correct, but an excellent guess.
On 8/2/2005 at 5:04pm, TonyLB wrote:
RE: Re: Half Meme Press First Annual Unplanned Contest
The Valedictorian's Death?
On 8/2/2005 at 5:06pm, Ben Lehman wrote:
RE: Re: Half Meme Press First Annual Unplanned Contest
But it will be correct sometime in the future, right? Nicotine Girls is the best.
yrs--
--Ben
On 8/2/2005 at 5:11pm, Uzzah wrote:
RE: Re: Half Meme Press First Annual Unplanned Contest
"How to part Joshua from his money"?
"My Life with Master d20"?
"The Half Selfish Gene"?
On 8/2/2005 at 5:12pm, ejh wrote:
RE: Re: Half Meme Press First Annual Unplanned Contest
If I wasn't disqualified, I'd be saying "My Life With Master: d20 Edition"
On 8/2/2005 at 5:13pm, Uzzah wrote:
RE: Re: Half Meme Press First Annual Unplanned Contest
ejh wrote:
If I wasn't disqualified, I'd be saying "My Life With Master: d20 Edition"
Hah!! Beat you by 30 seconds. :)
On 8/2/2005 at 5:15pm, ejh wrote:
RE: Re: Half Meme Press First Annual Unplanned Contest
30 seconds late and a dollar short as usual....
On 8/2/2005 at 5:39pm, quozl wrote:
RE: Re: Half Meme Press First Annual Unplanned Contest
The Wedding Planner?
On 8/2/2005 at 5:43pm, Andrew Morris wrote:
RE: Re: Half Meme Press First Annual Unplanned Contest
The World, the Flesh, and the Devil?
On 8/2/2005 at 5:44pm, Paul Czege wrote:
RE: Re: Half Meme Press First Annual Unplanned Contest
Tony, not correct. (But if I could only figure how to get people to play it!)
Ben, thanks. (And maybe. Maybe next year. It just keeps getting cruelly bumped down the priority list by other projects.)
Joshua, one guess to a customer. (But none correct. Bring your $4 to Gen Con.)
Ed, you're disqualified.
Jonathan, not correct. (That ain't no game. It's a gauntlet!)
Paul
On 8/2/2005 at 6:15pm, Paul Czege wrote:
RE: Re: Half Meme Press First Annual Unplanned Contest
Andrew, not correct. (But at some point lightning will strike and I'll realize how to fix the mechanics, and then...)
Paul
On 8/4/2005 at 1:01pm, Paul Czege wrote:
RE: Re: Half Meme Press First Annual Unplanned Contest
Okay, so I told you it wouldn't be easy. I believe it's time for a hint:
I will not be selling a pdf version of this game.
Paul
On 8/4/2005 at 1:07pm, Clinton R. Nixon wrote:
RE: Re: Half Meme Press First Annual Unplanned Contest
Nicotine Trollbabes? 'Cause that would be awesome.
On 8/4/2005 at 1:15pm, GB Steve wrote:
RE: Re: Half Meme Press First Annual Unplanned Contest
Paul wrote: I will not be selling a pdf version of this game.Damn you Czege, what about us poor foreigners! I guess I'll just have to find someone to raid the Forge stall for me.
As for my guess(es), The Forge? Follow the Yellow Crack Road - a psychotronic game of cars, drugs, ruby slippers and small dogs. How far will you go to get back home?
On 8/4/2005 at 1:37pm, lumpley wrote:
RE: Re: Half Meme Press First Annual Unplanned Contest
Am I disqualified?
-Vincent
On 8/4/2005 at 2:17pm, ethan_greer wrote:
RE: Re: Half Meme Press First Annual Unplanned Contest
Dragonlance: A New Beginning.
Heh heh heh.
I have no idea for an actual guess, but thanks to this thread I am now imensely curious.
On 8/4/2005 at 2:17pm, ethan_greer wrote:
RE: Re: Half Meme Press First Annual Unplanned Contest
Shit, I also meant to ask, will it be available outside of GenCon?
On 8/4/2005 at 2:42pm, Paul Czege wrote:
RE: Re: Half Meme Press First Annual Unplanned Contest
Clinton, not correct. But damn, what's more painful, girls who lack the skills to achieve their dreams, or girls who ruin their own lives in the process of helping others? (I'm not sure I could write another one of these.)
Ethan, not correct. But I promise availability if you're not at GenCon.
Vincent, you are not disqualified.
Steve, not correct. But see my response to Ethan.
Paul
On 8/5/2005 at 7:09pm, Mike Holmes wrote:
RE: Re: Half Meme Press First Annual Unplanned Contest
Empire of Satanis, The Czege Edition
Mike
On 8/5/2005 at 8:24pm, Paul Czege wrote:
RE: Re: Half Meme Press First Annual Unplanned Contest
Mike, not correct. But a great guess; that one's definitely in the oven.
Paul
On 8/5/2005 at 8:57pm, Gordon C. Landis wrote:
RE: Re: Half Meme Press First Annual Unplanned Contest
If you've written "Your '50's Name - an RPG add-on for bowling," I"m pissed. Because I was going to do that . . .
Gordon
On 8/6/2005 at 2:35pm, Paul Czege wrote:
RE: Re: Half Meme Press First Annual Unplanned Contest
Gordon, not correct. (We can probably negotiate a quit claim fee if you're worried about competition for that idea.)
Paul
On 8/6/2005 at 2:43pm, Paul Czege wrote:
RE: Re: Half Meme Press First Annual Unplanned Contest
The printer beat my expectations. I have the books in hand! And so, a second hint:
My Life with Master takes place in "the vague setting of an unspecified central European country, somewhere around 1805, in and around an unnamed town." This game is more specific, down to the exact year, season, city, and country in which the events of play take place.
Paul
On 8/6/2005 at 6:25pm, Paul Czege wrote:
RE: Re: Half Meme Press First Annual Unplanned Contest
Okay, the third hint, a visual one for visual thinkers, in the style of Concentration:
concentration.jpg
(Danielle rolled the d30. And yes, Ed's disqualified because it's his artwork!)
Paul
On 8/6/2005 at 8:34pm, Miskatonic wrote:
RE: Re: Half Meme Press First Annual Unplanned Contest
I know I'm missing a word here. However, I will not allow this goddam contest to consume any more of my Saturday afternoon, so I'm going to guess:
Bacchanal
On 8/6/2005 at 9:30pm, GB Steve wrote:
RE: Re: Half Meme Press First Annual Unplanned Contest
I found a couple of references to Bachanalia. Tolstoy painted a picture in 1808, and Schopenhauer talks about it too, in The World as Will and Idea in 1818.
On 8/7/2005 at 5:07am, Paul Czege wrote:
RE: Re: Half Meme Press First Annual Unplanned Contest
Larry, that is correct. Congratulations! You got it just from the Concentration puzzle, and not from having read my pseudonymously submitted[sup]†[/sup] entry to the Game Chef competition and thinking it had my stylistic fingerprint? (Score one for visual thinkers.) Are you going to be at GenCon? If not, PM me your mailing address.
(Incidentally, our playtest was a blast, and actually resulted in just very minor changes.)
Mike, I apologize for getting up your nose on the Game Chef forums.
Vincent, I apologize for lying to you on the phone.
Paul
[hr][sup]†[/sup]I wrote and submitted it as M. Paul Buja. My Life with Master is a multiply award-winning game. I didn't want that to influence the judges.
On 8/7/2005 at 5:45am, matthijs wrote:
RE: Re: Half Meme Press First Annual Unplanned Contest
Paul wrote: But I promise availability if you're not at GenCon.
So... I'm not at GenCon. Will you be sending Satyr messengers to Norway?
On 8/7/2005 at 11:33am, Miskatonic wrote:
RE: Re: Half Meme Press First Annual Unplanned Contest
Well holy crap.
Yes, it was from the picture (BACC) and a crossword puzzle dictionary. The satyr dude kinda backed it up.
No, I actually went through every Game Chef and 24-hour RPG entry but found no Czege. I didn't actually think to look at the names of all those games, I mean if the word Czege doesn't appear on the page...
I also went through way too many backposts on the Forge, hoping Paul would have let the beans slip.
I will send an envoy all the way to Indianapolis just to pick this up.
On 8/8/2005 at 2:58pm, Mike Holmes wrote:
RE: Re: Half Meme Press First Annual Unplanned Contest
I got it this morning as soon as I saw the picture. Not that I even put it together with the game posted to IGC. I just saw BAC and Bacchus, and would have guessed the name from that. Too easy!
;-)
Sending Eero, Matthijs?
Mike
On 8/8/2005 at 3:40pm, matthijs wrote:
RE: Re: Half Meme Press First Annual Unplanned Contest
Mike wrote: Sending Eero, Matthijs?
Finland, Finland, Finland... the country where I'd quite like to be... just playing with Eero, or watching TV... Probably just as easy & expensive to get the game from the U. S. for me, actually.
On 8/9/2005 at 12:33am, Eero Tuovinen wrote:
RE: Re: Half Meme Press First Annual Unplanned Contest
Paul wrote:
[hr][sup]†[/sup]I wrote and submitted it as M. Paul Buja. My Life with Master is a multiply award-winning game. I didn't want that to influence the judges.
Wha- where-!- Paul, you bastard! I was thinking that that's one game Paul Czege would be proud of. I just couldn't have guessed that one in a million years, I was sure that Paul's all burned out on design and resigned to sipping margueritas at his dreamland ranch. Glad to be wrong. And a false name, of all things! Now I'll have to read all those IGC games with an eye to whether they could after all be from one of my favourite designers. Call me elitist, but that personal connection to a designer's body of work gives me loads of new interest.
<grumble>Using false names is just not fair. I wouldn't dream of personally congratulating a M. Paul Buja on a fine game, and thus I miss my chance of telling Paul how impressed I was with the keen vision the game sets on an extremely marginal genre. Just not fair on fans.</grumble>
So, the next question: is the game available for retail? If it is, you know your fans in Finland will want it. Based on the IGC version, I expect that they'll be quite satisfied with their favourite bad-boy designer, too.
On 8/9/2005 at 4:59pm, Paul Czege wrote:
RE: Re: Half Meme Press First Annual Unplanned Contest
Larry, just let me know who's picking it up on your behalf. After all that work, you certainly earned it.
Mike, I blame Danielle's dice rolling. I guess the answer to whether an rpg designer can be recognized by his technique will have to wait for another day.
Eero, I think we can work something out. I'm sending you an email. But you should know that the rules of the print version aren't substantially changed from the pdf version that remains free in the Game Chef archives. I had expected the playtest to reveal mechanical issues, which I'd fix for the print version. But it played so great, better than the examples suggest, that I made only minor text changes.
Paul
On 8/12/2005 at 3:33am, Sean wrote:
RE: Re: Half Meme Press First Annual Unplanned Contest
FWIW, Paul, I liked the 'no soldiers in your opening die pool' fix on the basis of a first reading. Kira thought this game was cool though, when I described it to her. That's not a normal occurrence. Maybe you should run this instead of MLwM come October....I'd play. (But I'd like to play MLwM as well, of course.)
On 8/19/2005 at 10:55pm, Victor Gijsbers wrote:
RE: Re: Half Meme Press First Annual Unplanned Contest
The Bacchanal PDF is the second text I ever read which contained the word demesne. Guess what the first text was - yep, My Life with Master. I sure hope all future Paul Czege games will contain this subtle trademark as well. :)