1.) What is your game about?
My game is about children who leave home to save the world with friends and the mentors who aid them.

2.) What do the characters do?
The characters grow, change and gain new powers and have conflicts with evil minions.

3.) What do the players (including the GM if there is one) do?
The players pursue their Banners in order to gain XP and the GM puts out scenes that will allows players to pursue their Banners' goals and use their Secrets.

4.) How does your setting (or lack thereof) reinforce what your game is about?
The setting is customizable with several sample settings that show players how to create their own pools and customize the level advancement and the Banners and Secrets.

5.) How does the Character Creation of your game reinforce what your game is about?
The characters will take banners that have to do with the game's conflicts and their pool refreshment should reinfornce the themes and color of the game.

6.) What types of behaviors/styles of play does your game reward?
The play rewards the pool refreshment scenes that are defined during world generation and the gaining of XP through following Banners.

7.) How are behaviors and styles of play rewarded or punished in your game?
Players gain XP by following the goals on their Banners and helping fellow players achieve their own Banners' goals.

8.) How are the responsibilities of narration and credibility divided in your game?
It is pretty traditional in its divvying up of responsibilties between player and GM but it does use kickers as a way of marking the advancement from Youngling to Hero to Legend.

9.) What does your game do to command the players' attention, engagement, and participation?
Banners are chosen by the players and should get them excited about the game.  If not, the players are encouraged through the system to buy-off the Banners and gain new ones.

10.) What are the resolution mechanics of your game like?
The resolution mechanic is a simple skill roll by the players can opt to Make a Stand (Bring Down the Pain) in order to irrevocably change a named NPC or defy a loss.

11.) How do the resolution mechanics reinforce what your game is about?
The game is about the conflicts you are willing to pursue in order to stand up for what is important to you in the world and in the story and how that can change you.

12.) Do characters in your game advance? If so, how?
Characters can advance through the buying of new Secrets and Banners and Skills but they can also advance from Youngling to Hero to Legend, which is a bit trickier but is tied into the Banner -> XP economy.

13.) How does the character advancement (or lack thereof) reinforce what your game is about?
Again, it is tied into the Banners that allow players to gain XP and it is a game about growing and changing while saving the world.

The advancement is all about the push towards ascending and finally being able to make a mark on the world.

14.) What sort of effect do you want your game to produce for the players?
I want them to start out with young wanna-be heroes and end up with Legends who have changed the world and realize that you have to change in order to grow and that saving the world is easier and more fun when your friends are there to help.

15.) What areas of your game receive extra attention and color? Why?
World Generation is receiving extra attention because that kind of collaborative world building is really important to me.

16.) Which part of your game are you most excited about or interested in? Why?
I'm excited to see what I've done to the TSoY system and how it works.

17.) Where does your game take the players that other games can’t, don’t, or won’t?
I don't think any other games have world building built into the game with definite steps on creating an awesome world with your players and then creating characters who are tied into that world and its conflicts in the same wide open way that this game does.

18.) What are your publishing goals for your game?
I'll Lulu this sucker, if the gods of geekery and gaming are with me...by Gen Con.

19.) Who is your target audience?

Everyone reading this, gamers who want to game with their kids, gamers who loved TSoY and want to know what else it can do, gamers who love young adult and adult fantasy literature such as Earthsea, Sabriel, Dune, A Song of Ice and Fire (Bran, Sansa, Robert, Jon and Arya's chapters) and The Wizard of Oz but haven't found a game that does that for them just yet.

Well, that certainly sounds fascinating and it happens to link up with a few ideas I'm exploring right now, in between taxes and bills, heh heh.

But, what's TSoY, again? Sorry, I don't always get these references or have time to look them up! I hope that doesn't offend you.

Anyway, I'm gonna throw out a couple ideas here based on your answers and hope they help despite my considerable handicap, here:

I like the idea of change-to-grow, an important aspect of short fiction and one often explored in longer stories. There's a school of thought that certainly says all main characters change over the course of any story, unless the story is about how someone is destroyed by their inability to change...

Finding new ways to reflect emotional change, as well as the niftier spectrum of powers that fantasy offers, fascinates me. I like the Banners idea in this aspect, it holds close enough to D&D's alignment system to be familiar and inviting, while at the same time having a more epic and customizeable feel.
I especially like the idea of rewarding teamwork by handing out Xp to those who help others acheive their Banner goals. But why buy the banners? Why not make them just a free carrot?

Making secrets an important element of character development sounds fun. I wonder, do secrets have to be developed before hand, or can you have, say, a few "open" secret slots and backfill them when you need to straighten up your character or fit a young hero into a plot development?

Thanks for the reply; it is really appreciated.

TSoY is The Shadow of Yesterday, Clinton R. Nixon's wonderful system that you can check out here: http://www.anvilwerks.com/?The-Shadow-of-Yesterday

Players start with two Banners and two Secrets but thy can buyoff their Banners and they can always buy more.  Secrets are really just powers, not secrets at all.  I might change the name so it is less confusing.  My apologies.

Banners are entirely a rip-off of TSoY's Keys system but with a few bells and whistles.  Players can hand XP to one another for helping fulfill their Banners, called Granted XP.  So far in playtest it is working really well.

Thanks again for the interest, if you have any further questions, please let me know.

Just wanted to say that I really, really want to try this :-)
Best of luck
Peter

I dig what your doing with the World Generation stuff, Judd.

It plays a big part in my interest in this game. Using Pools to reflect stuff relevant to the setting is really cool.

I think this will be great way to ease kids and young adults into gaming.

Heya,

2.) What do the characters do?
The characters grow, change and gain new powers and have conflicts with evil minions.

17.) Where does your game take the players that other games can’t, don’t, or won’t?
I don't think any other games have world building built into the game with definite steps on creating an awesome world with your players and then creating characters who are tied into that world and its conflicts in the same wide open way that this game does.

18.) What are your publishing goals for your game?
I'll Lulu this sucker, if the gods of geekery and gaming are with me...by Gen Con.

Troy_Costisick wrote:
Heya,

2.) What do the characters do?
The characters grow, change and gain new powers and have conflicts with evil minions.

-Could you go into more detail about this?  Basically, what I want to know is what the characters' motivations are to act.  Why do they want to leave home, grow, and fight monsters?

Troy_Costisick wrote:
-One thing, what part of the game are you most unsure about at this point in your design?

Hey dude, coming in late in the game (after reading your LJ posts and the like).

Can you explain Banners a little more in-depth? Namly:

Their Banners will drive them to do these things if they are set up right.  There are two kinds of Banners, Passions and Cornerstone.  The Cornerstone Banners are hot enough to really drive a game along on their own and the Passions should make that game even more interesting.

Andy wrote:
Hey dude, coming in late in the game (after reading your LJ posts and the like).

Andy wrote:
What are the difference between Passion and Counterstone banners? 

Andy wrote:
Also, elsewhere you mentioned that some banners give others XP?  How does this work? Do YOU take the Banner and give others XP? Or do THEY take the Banner, and you give them XP?  Do you have a play example?

Andy wrote:
Also, when you build a 1Q world, do you have to tie skills permanently across the world to a Pool? Or do you do it player-to-player? Or does the player get to decide at that moment which pool a given use of the skill falls under (given shared-world considerations)?

Andy wrote:
Thanks! Following with interest.

I want them to start out with young wanna-be heroes and end up with Legends who have changed the world and realize that you have to change in order to grow and that saving the world is easier and more fun when your friends are there to help.

I don't think any other games have world building built into the game with definite steps on creating an awesome world with your players and then creating characters who are tied into that world and its conflicts in the same wide open way that this game does.

Anders wrote:
Maybe you could make it so it is necessary for the character to change, in order to save the world. In that way the success of the story will be dependent on the characters ability to change.

In order to get from Youngling to Hero the PC has to Buyoff or get rid of one of their Banners.  It is pretty simple, really but we'll see how it goes and how it works for longer term campaigns.

I have been thinking about rpgs for children, and there are a few thing I believe such a game should be able to handle.

First, a child may not respond well on continuous failure. If the dice roll make them fail again and again, a child may get angry at the game, and stop playing it.

There is to ways I see this can be handled:
1) A failed test, will lead to an other angle of approach. This is properly how most experience player will handle a failed test, but for a game for children, this could be build into the system.

2) A failed test will make the character stronger. So the task may fail, but the character will learn from it. The hardship of the world will make you stronger.

The second problem is that children will not understand the limitation in the game. They have not yet "learned" to limit their imagination. They may suddenly want to turn into a tiger, or be able to fly out over the mountains, and other thing, where most game will say you can not do that, or if you do that you get a penalty.

If you want children to engage in the game, the mechanic should let them use their imagination without too many limitation, or maybe even reward childlike fantasy.

And this will be healthy for grownups too.

- Anders

Anders wrote:
I have been thinking about rpgs for children, and there are a few thing I believe such a game should be able to handle.

Hello,
I like this idea and also wonder if it is appropriate for children. Most of the games I see children play have tangible objects (cards, tokens, pieces, etc.) to assist the game. Children respond to this better and it keeps their attention.

The description and posts started me thinking of a Talisman-like board game or RPG with cards as a direct mechanism for play. Powers, forms, major actions, challenges, world construction and advancement can be supported by a well balanced card system. If the card descriptions are imaginative then children will respond to them. They can combine cards to form the fantastic creations in their imagination. Challenges can be designed to have certain thresholds of success depending on which cards the players use. The reward can be anything that has a specific value, power or secret. Building cards let the players create locations on an expanding "map". Advancement maybe stepping up the skill die. D4 to d6 to d8, etc. cap at d12.

The card sets:

Personalities - a simple description of an iconic character: dwarf, knight, archer, etc. Personalities have one special ability and limitation that is always in effect. Knight - +2 to slay dragon, must always save damsel in distress.

Quest - a specific action at a location type the character must satisfy. Players draw two of these cards at the beginning of the game.

Magic cards have three types. A power can be used on self or target. A form or form/power combination can be used on a challenge in an adjacent map tile.
Powers - magic-like effects and special abilities.
Forms - summon animal or creature when facing a challenge.
Secret - different kinds of secrets or special game effects.
Lets a character enter a tile, take the treasure and bypass the challenge. Does not satisfy a quest. The map tile is impassable until the challenge is removed.
Request aid. A character can face a challenge with another character. The aiding character faces the challenge and if succeeds, takes the treasure, but doesn't move to the new tile. If fails, then gains a magic.

Build - a map tile to add to the board. Must be placed on an empty space adjacent to the player's location on the map. Immediately place a treasure and challenge on it. A player can build or move at the beginning of their turn. Certain map tiles have special effects when the character visits.

Challenge - a monster, creature or task that must be overcome to gain the treasure. If you fail then gain a magic. If you use a form to face the challenge and succeed then the challenge is removed, but the treasure remains on the map. Gain nothing if you fail with a form.
Treasure - an instruction or treasure (with a specific value) the player keeps

This game could be played with a GM to predefine the map or without a GM.

Hmm. The more I write the more it sounds like Talisman.

Troy

TroyLovesRPG wrote:

Hmm. The more I write the more it sounds like Talisman.

Troy

Paka wrote:
Anders, the more I playtest this, the more I think it isn't so much a game for children as a game about childhood.

Paka wrote:
But I will get some junior high schooleres together and run 'em through a playtest before I am done and let you know how it goes.

Wow! A game ABOUT childhood!
That could be fun, eye-opening, thought provoking and creepy, too. Tell us more.

My mind wanders to stories/movies like: Peter Pan, Where the Wild Things Are, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Drop Dead Fred, Matilda, Little House, The Explorers, Never Ending Stroy, The Sandlot and ET.

and on the dark side: Flowers In The Attic, IT, Darkness Falls, The Lady in White, Nightmare on Elmstreet, The Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane, The Talisman, Boogey Man, Hide And Seek, Lord of the Flies and my favorite, Stand By Me.

Do it!

Troy

p.s. Thanks for the prompt to create the card/board game. Cardboard game?!!!!. (c) He he he.

Anders wrote:
Since we don't have junior high schools where i live, I am not quit sure what age group you are referring to. But after a quick search on the web, I believe I was thinking about younger children. But I look forward to hear about the playtest anyway.

- Anders