For a little over a year now, I've been working off and on with a game of roleplaying prison stories. The design is intended to capture the feel of everything from The Shawshank Redemption and Oz to more escape-oriented fare like Prison Break. The original post related to this game can be found here. Basically, characters have eight traits grouped into pairs, each representing ability with certain activities and a certain mental state (see the original post for these traits). Two other traits, The Institution and The Outside, aren't tested directly, but instead measure the extent to which a character still has hope or has been consumed by the incarceration system.

Lately I've been reading Burning Empires and playing some board games and I think I've hit upon a system for structuring the game, something lacking in my earlier design thoughts. I love the idea of using a limited number of scenes as currency that must be expended to achieve your goals in Burning Empires, but I wanted something to better capture the unpredictability and sudden violence of prison life.

So I think play will be organized into Cycles, during which each player can pursue a goal through 4 scenes. Extra successes gained during conflict resolution can be saved and rolled over into later scenes in a Cycle (encouraging planning), but after a Cycle ends, all left over successes are lost. The GM would get 2 scenes for each major opposition faction and several wild scenes that can be used by any NPC.

So there are 8 types of scenes, one focusing on each of the traits. So if you want to kill someone, you can only do it in a Shiv scene, while if you want to score some drugs you need a Yard scene. Your character's intent must correspond to the type of scene you chose to have. At the beginning of each Cycle, 8 cards (one for each scene type) are shuffled and then dealt out in a row, the first four face up and the last four face down. The cards dictate the order in which the types of scenes will be played out, and, of course, you're not sure what order the last four will come up in.

Once everyone sees the order the scenes will be played in, each player secretly writes down the four different types of scene they want their character to have this Cycle and their goal for the Cycle. The GM does the same. You cannot have two of the same type of scene, although you can be dragged into a scene type again if another character targets you with it. Then play begins with the first type of scene, starting with one of the GM's NPCs and then going to a player and then alternating between the GM and other players until everyone who wanted that scene type has had their scene. The scene types are played out one at a time until the Cycle is finished and each character has achieve or failed in his goal for the Cycle.

Example: Joe wants his character Vern to finally kill his nemesis Beecher. The scene cards are dealt out in order as follows: Yard, Snitch, Guilt, Block, and four face down cards. Joe devises Vern's plan. Vern will have a Yard scene to procure a weapon, a Snitch scene to get the guards to turn a blind eye in exchange for ratting out another inmate, a Block scene to get his Aryan Brotherhood buddies to help out in the killing, and finally a Shiv scene to attempt the murder. Vern hopes to roll extra successes in the early scenes to help in the Shiv scene and put that bastard Beecher out of commission for good. Of course, who knows what Beecher is planning...

So my questions:
1) The planning and goal creation parts of this structure need mechanical support - any thoughts on how to beef them up so they make the random scene order and scenes as currency hum?

2) If the face down cards don't come up like you want them to, what would be an appropriate consequence - Forced to follow through anyway? Able to abort and lose one (or all the rest) of your scenes?

3) Is such a structure evocative of prison drama?

4) Is the whole thing too mechanical (betraying its boardgame roots)?   

Any help is appreciated.

Hi Eric!

I've alas no help to provide. But I am interested in such mechanics and would love to read an example scene or playtest report to get a better grasp.

Hi Eric,

I really like the extension of Burning Empires scenes as currency. When I read your example I thought, "Wow, that's cool." I think using constraint in an RPG is a great way to guide game play and creativity. Here's my attempt at your questions.

1) Can you explain more what you mean by needing more mechanical support? Having to use the cards you write down is a mechanic.

2) Are you tied to the laying down cards aspect? I'd like to suggest you can still have some randomness and give players a little more time to think if they have a hand of cards, say six or seven, but can only play four. Even with 7 cards you may not have the one you need. Having rules for trading might add some interesting tension between players. "Hell no, I'm not trading you a Shiv card!" My other suggestion is if you stay with the eight cards, then have all players and the GM who asked for that scene type to share a scene, especially yard scenes, it seems like a lot more action would spring that way.

3)It sounds like it.

4)I'm not sure this can really be answered outside play-testing.

I have some other thoughts/questions, if these are outside of what you want to discuss right now, feel free to say so. What are players trying to do in this game? I'm not getting a good sense of the direction I should be taking if I were a player. Am I trying to kill the other players, and win? (Not sure if Beecher is an NPC or PC in your example.) Am I working together with them? Maybe I'm trying to create and face dramatic prison stories, or is the idea more focused on recreating one of the TV shows/movie you named? What happens if I leave the Prison, maybe I get paroled or break out, is the game over for me, or is leaving prison not an option? It's totally o.k. I think to say leaving prison is not an option in this game. Then the final question I always seem to ask in games that have strong turn taking and other board game devices, are you sure you need a G.M? As the game has been revealed so far, I don't see the purpose for one.

Christoph, Clyde:

Thanks for your thoughts and confirmation there's merit to this mechanic. Let me answer Clyde's questions to flesh things out more:

1) With respect to mechanical support, I was thinking of how Burning Empires reinforces its scenes-as-currency structure by having sets of scenes play out a specific maneuver chosen by the players, which in turn alters the disposition of each side of the conflict during a phase of the Vaylen incursion. Everything interlocks and drives forward the macro- scale action while the micro- level scenes are being played out.

I like the basic scene currency mechanic I've got with the 8 cards ramdomly dealt out and only four being visible to limit player knowledge (thereby mirroring the uncertainties of prison life), but I think I need some mechanics to guide players in setting goals for each Cycle. I don't want something as rigid as BE's maneuvers, but something more than "Decide on a goal." And I want to  encourage players to craft a larger agenda that carries over multiple Cycles (e.g., escape from prison, rise to lead your gang, destroy your rivals utterly, etc.). I want inter-faction rivalries and possible PvP interactions that are no-holds-barred in pursuit of character ambitions. Perhaps something as simple as having an overarching agenda be chosen during character creation, along with mechanics to break the agenda down into several sub-goals that are the steps necessary to achieve the agenda and serve as the goals for each Cycle? This is where I'm stuck.

2) I'm not sure I understand your card suggestion Clyde. Can you explain it a bit further? It sounds like having players draw cards from a "scene" deck and being forced to choose their scenes for each Cycle from their hand.

The 8 cards I have in mind dictate the order of scenes for all the players and the GM, nothing else. Once the cards are dealt out, everyone gets a few moments to determine what what goal they have for this particular Cycle and the scenes this Cycle that would best help advance that goal. Then the different scene types are played out one at a time.
I really like the suggestion of offering to have players who chose the same scene type the opportunity to share the scene. It wouldn't always be appropriate, but in many cases (especially where players are cooperating or targeting each other) it would be great.

3) Glad to hear my example sounds right for the type of game I'm shooting for. Christoph, I'll work up a few more examples as I continue development and post them as the mechanics develop. Playtesting is likely a ways off, but I'm looking forward to it.

Clyde, the players in the game would be playing individual prisoners, each with a crisis related to their special traits that demands action on their part (basically a kicker). For example, a character like Michael Scofield in Prison Break would have a trait related to his brother on death row that the player has chosen to put in crisis by having the execution be imminent. Once the crisis is established, they choose the means they'll use to try to resolve it. Another example would be the Beecher character in Oz - all he wants to do is put his head down and get his time done so he can return to his family, but another prison predator (Vern) decides to make Beecher his bitch. With that crisis in place, player with a character like that would have many options to determine his future course of action.

The game would support PvP interactions and rivalries, but ould also allow players to cooperate against the Gangs and Guards, the true forces of adversity in the prison. The GMs role is to play the Gangs and Guards and push hard on the player's crises.

Part of the game is accumulating points of Tension over time. once a character's level of Tension reaches a predetermined point, that character plays out the current Cycle and then enters an endgame where the level of his various attributes determines his ultimate fate as narrated in an epilogue. Many of these epilogues would involve finally getting out of prison, but otherwise there is no way play to do so outside the endgame.

Clyde, does that make things clearer? Raise more questions? I'd be happy to discuss the game more.

Thanks again for your thoughts,

Eric

Hi Eric,

I like the numbers so I'm going to keep that theme...

1) It seems to me that if you want to make sure there are inter-factional rivalries, and possible PVP interactions with no holds barred you should write that into the game, so that going for broke isn't left up to chance. Some random thoughts.... Perhaps each player is part of a gang and each gang grants a special ability, or special currency, like gambling, drugs, sex, or murder. Perhaps the special ability is only granted if a sub-goal is reached, in effect it has to be turned on or earned. Maybe there are special abilities granted for controlling certain parts of the prison like the Laundry, Kitchen, Library, etc. Maybe each gang has figures of power, who if they are taken down create a hindrance for that inconvenienced players gang.

2) My suggestion was basically what you described. Instead of laying cards down 8 cards, players would have a hand of cards to play for their actions. I think I threw this out because I had a thought of how much fun it would be to throw down a Shiv card. *grins* 

One thing I would look for though when you start playtesting is watching to see if people get frustrated, or confused and lost, when the 4 face down cards don't come up the way players hoped.

3) So the G.M. is there to create bangs, and general adversity? As a Player I would collect tension points, then I collect them all, and we look at what kind of person I played and that tells us how I go out? Body-bag, spoon, or suit? How does that work? What happens if I collect points much faster than the other players?

4) With a game that can have PVP, have you thought about death? What part can a player take in the game after they die?

5) Have you considered rape at all? I'm not sure how you would tackle it or even if you should, but it seems to be a part of the genre you are looking at. If you haven't considered it, or even if you have, I'd suggest Stop Prisoner Rape as a good resource on the subject especially the articles written by Stephan Donaldson, A.K.A. Donny the Punk. He wrote about his actual experiences, with a brutal honesty, very bleak stuff. That's assuming I'm correct in thinking you are pointing more towards a more realistic dark game, than a black comedy.

Clyde,

Thanks for your additional thoughts. Sorry for the delay in getting back to this discussion.

1) I definitely want some characters to be affiliated with different gangs since such ties are essential to surviving in prison. I've already done some research on the main prison gangs. But I also want to allow players to have characters that are not part of the gang structure. The idea of special traits being available to members of different gangs is a good one, and it would be easy enough to allow unaffiliated characters to have something similar.

Your other thoughts on controlling areas of the prison, etc. are very much in line with what I've been thinking. Making the struggle between various gangs for power within the prison the center of play would make the sub-goals and overarching agendas easier to devise. What do you think about including several fleshed out gangs with ready-made goals and agendas, so a player can pick one and immediately have an idea of what they'll be doing in play?

Before play, I want to have the players and GM set up a relationship map of the prison's key figures and ensure each character is tied in some way to several. Seems a good way to drive play and keep meaningful decisions coming.

2) What to do when the 4 face down cards come up in a way that thwarts a player's plan is still an open question. My current thought is either force them to go through with their intended action, or cancel it and make different choices (maybe losing one scene as a penalty). It's definitely an issue playtest will have to iron out.

3) Yes, the GM plays opposing gang leaders, guards, etc. all out to challenge and screw with the characters. Currently, the resolution mechanics are a dice pool with 4s and 5s being successes. 6s can also be successes, but only if you take Tension points equal to the number of 6s you rolled. So more success leads to more Tension over time. I've got a matrix of results roughly sketched out with different ends for a character depending upon whether The Outside or The Institution is higher and what other attribute is the highest when Tension reaches a certain level. It's very influenced by MLWM. Tension could accrue for the group of characters as a whole or individually, resulting in one shot play or characters coming and going over time.

4) Again, a character can only die as part of the endgame currently. I'm wary of allowing character death to occur in play since the issue you raised would loom large. Do you think limiting death to a final scene undercuts the gritty play I'm going for?

5) Thanks for the links. Rape and sex in prison need to be part of this game, but handling it is going to be tricky. It's something I'm still thinking about. Having firm veils in place to keep certain content only vaguely described seems key. I don't want to use lines to limit content, though, since these issues, though they can be very disturbing, are key to the prison experience.

Again, Clyde, I really appreciate your thoughts and insights. You've given me a lot to think about. I promise to be more prompt in making further replies.

Cheers,

Eric

Hi Eric,

No need to apologize. Forums are asynchronous. Anyway...

1) I think it's a good idea to have gangs already made up, and if you are ambitious perhaps outlining a method to make appropriate gangs. Some things you might consider addressing; the gangs connection to street gangs, their tattoo's and symbols, perhaps history, rivalries (seems all gangs have them), and preferred crimes. Knowgangs.com is a horribly ugly website, it plays music and flashes things at you... however the resources section gives short info on the large prison/street gangs, and can be used for finding gangs you find interesting and getting more info if you need it. If I was making gangs I would definately find the Nazi Low Riders interesting as a model due to their cultural appropriation. Also the Mexian Mafia, and Nuestra family for their deviding of street gangs, and prisons, into North and South. Lastly MS-13 for it's connections to El Savador guerillas. and it's sheer size in El Salvador.

4) Does holding off death undercut the tension? I can't give a good answer to that, it sounds like an issue to address through playtesting. I have played games with similiar competitive themes that held off death and those didn't seem to suffer a lack of tension. whether that holds for this game seems unknowable until tried.

5)Read the bottom half of Sydney Freeburg's response to me in one of my threads. I don't think I can put the issues better than that post about the different models for limits.