I've got an idea for an RPG based on modernist literature. This would be my first RPG and I admit I have never played an indie game. Oh, and I'm new the Forge. That said...

The setting would be urban, modern. I assume the real world since I don't want to have people spend too much time on "world creation". So like New York, Paris, etc. The theme might be the alientation of the individual within a broken, fractured society. Or maybe grace in the face of an unimaginable future. I also want to encourage, or maybe require, a tragic ending.

My ideas is to have a single protagonist, since that is key to the genre. The rest of the players would play the world (more like a traditional GM role). I like the idea of structuring the other roles like in a play. Maybe delineating roles like "foil" or "antagonist", so that each of the other players get a character that fills one of these specific roles.

I'm also thinking the story framework should be developed collectively. The protagonist would have some main goal--say a drive to create art or a need to live 'truthfully'. The role of the other players would be to thwart or help the protagonist.

Finally, randomness would need to be central to the game play. So conflict resolution and even maybe plot development.

I would love to get feedback on this. Especially if there are games out there that are similar that might be worth looking at.

Ed

Hiya Ed.  Welcome to the Forge.

I'm interested in what you've got so far.  Seems very interesting.  But, I don't know a thing about modernist literature.  So how would you describe what this RPG would be about to someone like me?  Someone who doesn't know what modernist literature is.

-Eric

DH Lawrence?
TS Eliot?
Joseph Conrad?
Virginia Woolf?

Heya,

I would consider anything from Ibsen to Samuel Beckett to be "modern literature" and fair game for your idea.  What specifics about Modern Literature do you really want to explore?

Peace,

-Troy

Hi there Ed,

There's two things that come to mind that you may want to look at:

Guy Shalev's Cranium Rats, which has the players playing metaphysical concepts as they wrangle over the protagonist, and

Michael S. Miller's Discernment, which is in the Nopress RPG Anthology, along with 7 other awesome games. In it, you have one player playing a character and all of the other players take on GM roles as they attempt to discover the characters Soul Quality.

I'd like to see your answer to Eric's question as well.

Hope some of that helps.

Eric wrote:
Hiya Ed.  Welcome to the Forge.

I'm interested in what you've got so far.  Seems very interesting.  But, I don't know a thing about modernist literature.  So how would you describe what this RPG would be about to someone like me?  Someone who doesn't know what modernist literature is.

-Eric

Hello Ed,

Along with fantasy and sci-fi, I like modernist literature. I can only read so much because it can be bleak and depressing. It conjures too much loneliness and self-esteem issues. However, its great when you're with a group and you can see how if affects the others. Everyone brings a little bit of themselves into every game they play.

So, emphasizing the struggle of the individual within a fractured society in an urban setting may not get a lot of response. Having the players gang up on one usually never works. Creating teams and having no referee is favorable. Each team could possibly play the society and an individual. The goal would be to make the individual function or resolve an issue in the other team's society.

I imagine this game could be very narrative with the focus on identifying necessary ideas to forward the struggle. It could also be pure strategy colored with terms from the modernist theme. Picture 25K pyramid: the things are those that invoke simple or complex emotions, ideas, responses, events, etc. Funeral, death, sickness, divorce, war: things that make you grieve. This could definitely be a card game. Just paint everything black and white. Now try this: silent phone, empty mailbox, strangers, closed sign, long stretch of road, one chair, no photographs, office cubicle, microwave dinner.

Good luck,

Troy

Ed wrote: This game would have players explore what it means to be an individual in the modern world. Meaning, how does the individual cope with a mass-produced world; courage in the face of death. Does that help?

ed_keer wrote:
This game would have players explore what it means to be an individual in the modern world. Meaning, how does the individual cope with a mass-produced world; courage in the face of death.

Eric wrote:
Now, it occurs to me that I could totally do some online research, figure out what modernist literature is, then come back here and discuss how I think one could design that into a game.  But!  What I think will be one hundred times more awesome is if I keep myself ignorant on the subject and let you educate me by way of discussing your game design.  Are you up for that?

Hm. I'd say that meaningless is only meaningful if it was meaningfully chosen.

That is to say. Stories that lead to meaningless as a Theme are all sorts of cool, but if you have it forced upon you and can't choose it? I'm not so sure. But then again, I'll be curious to see it work, even if it's not my personal cup of tea.

Ed, welcome to The Forge.
I must say - I'm amazingly keen on this idea in general.
My games (and writings and everything else I've done in my life) all seem to really come back toward this kind of theme.

First of all, have you heard of Perfect?

It's a game about people who live in such a repressed and clockwork society that crime becomes their only way to achieve their goals and cling hold to their identity. They commit crimes in an attempt to stay truly human.
The world about them is cold and suspicious, and Inspectors line the streets waiting to take them into conditioning.
Victoriana feel to the society.

1984 meets Clockwork Orange meets Bronte meets Paranoia.
It's my game, but I think NOW is a very relevant time to bring it up. check it out here.
Red-Rimmed Eyes, a free PDF I wrote, also relates to some of the themes: meaningless and isolation, and remorse for the person you have become. It also has an owlbear in it, which is unmistakeably cool.

Check out Guy's game Cranium Rats.
Guy is also known as Thunder_God, who posted just before me.
In his game, players represent different parts of a single person's psyche.

Picture 25K pyramid: the things are those that invoke simple or complex emotions, ideas, responses, events, etc. Funeral, death, sickness, divorce, war: things that make you grieve. This could definitely be a card game. Just paint everything black and white. Now try this: silent phone, empty mailbox, strangers, closed sign, long stretch of road, one chair, no photographs, office cubicle, microwave dinner.

Having the players gang up on one usually never works. Creating teams and having no referee is favorable. Each team could possibly play the society and an individual. The goal would be to make the individual function or resolve an issue in the other team's society.

But if you think about the standard RPG format (my experience is literally limited to D&D and Traveller*), the GM is responsible for laying the groundwork of the story, and the players bring the characters. So instead, it would be the GM brings the character and the players create the story--conflicts, setting, etc.

joepub wrote:
Um...
I suggest getting out there and reading. A lot.
A lot of the RPGs that The Forge has lent a hand in developing, and has championed, are very progressive and completely different than the process/setup of d&d and Traveller.

Go to www.1km1kt.net
Read a bunch of the free Game Chef submissions on there.
Game Chef is a yearly game-creation contest...
I suggest there as a starting place because:
a.) There are some really fascinating and new concepts being introduced in many of the games.
b.) They are free and easily accessible.
c.) They are easily digestible, usually much smaller than a print-published book.

Ed wrote: Since one of the things modernism stresses is the individual versus society, I thought it would be really cool to invert the standard RPG format of one GM and several players.

Eric, I like your idea.

Running with it in a few directions:

a.) A player (Let's stop calling it GM, k?) contols Consumerism. Another controls Isolation. Another controls Workplace Animosity.

Each player controls an Element which Stresses the Protagonist.
The elements should funnel the protagonist toward either acting against them, or bleakly accepting them.

b.) A player controls Consumerism. Another controls The Weather. Another controls The Alley Cat that Bothers You.

Each player controls a Force which somehow affects the Protagonist.
Some give crutches, occassionally. Some can be trusted. Some can't.
In the end, nothing is really there to support the Protagonist, though, and those crutches get kicked out.

c.) A player controls Mona, the Girl At the Coffee Shop. Another Plays The Woman in Red I Always See on the Bus. Another plays Boris, The Manager Who Tries To Connect with His Workers.

Each player controls a character, someone who the Protagonist comes into contact with a lot.
They should be quirky and outlandish at times, and each representing one of the facets of The Big Reason that the protagonist is so alone.

I'm thinking along the lines of the characters in Albert Camus' The Outsider.

I love option C. very cool. I like it because it stays away from the more meta approach. It puts the abstract into the details. If that makes any sense.

Ed wrote: I love option C.

I like option C the most too.
Keep in mind these aren't cut-and-dried options either. Maybe two work well together?

Because I thought that C was the weakest one of the bunch.  I mean, if I'm playing a single character, even a very cool one, then how do I keep my focus on destroying the protagonist via Consumerism?

Joe wrote: You are solely trying to destroy the protagonist via your character.

Joe wrote: The "players take on roles like Consumerism" idea was sorta tossed out the window for "players take on roles like The Man on the Bus".

Here's where I run up against my ignorance. Both options could be interesting, but lead to different types of games.
But I'd much rather have the ideas of modernism infused into the game rather than directed by the game. So I like the idea of players playing specific characters instead of playing modern forces. Then perhaps you incorporate modernism by the type of conflicts or choices players get to make with their characters.

That's cool.  Go with what you're excited about.

So, ok, how would you infuse modernism into the game via the characters?  What will seperate the foils from the protagonist?  And how will that seperation potentially destroy the protagonist in a modernist way?

-Eric

What will seperate the foils from the protagonist?

The posts have me thinking about some of the modernist characteristics (I've observed) and how they could direct the game.
No hero
Multiple protagonists
Stream of consciousness
Variable time
Metaphor
Personification
Identity vs conformity
Truth vs bliss
Emotion vs function
Life vs security

The characters are struggling to balance their lives while making sense of the world in which they live. They want to function blissfully, conforming to the standards adopted by the populace. On the other hand they want to live, embrace emotion, truth and discover their unique identities . Each cannot achieve this on their own. They must interact with the others and hopefully gain insight.

The goal is to increase Identity, Truth, Emotion and Life without losing all conformity, bliss, function and security.

In turn, each character becomes the focus of the group. Conversations revolve around issues the character wants to resolve. The other players must determine which aspect needs to be increased or which one needs to be reduced. To increase Truth the player must reduce conformity, function or security; to increase Emotion the player must reduce conformity, bliss or security; and so on. The focus may or may not want the others to guess correctly and there are drawbacks to deception. Also, the others may not want to give in to the conversation. So, there are multiple outcomes to the conversation, affecting the focus and another player, beneficially or poorly.

The mechanics should be simple enough to create. Its possible to use hidden answers and reveal them at once or just wait for the first player who guesses correctly. Incorrect guesses should be penalized in some way.

I'm sleepy.