Hallo

(This is my first time posting - please be gentle)

I've been toying with an idea for some time about a series of one-shot scenarios roughly connected on the premis of reincarnation.  Since I joined the military and left my old gaming group behind I'd like some kind of meta-campaign that could be played once, twice a year over the course of a few years to reach it's conclusion - something my vacation schedual would allow. 

Seeking this, I was thinking about something along the line of prefabricated characters, thrown together by pre-planned endevor or fate, assumed by the players.  Each character's "Soul", that part of him defined in style by the player and in mechanics by "Soul Points", influences the body it is in.  "SP" could be spent to gain additional skills or grant a guaranteed success during gameplay.  Every character would have a series of objectives, "major" and "ideal", which if brought to fruition through the arch of the story would grant permenant "SP". (One point for major success, two points for ideal success.) While Soul Points are "spent" at character creation (and possibly untapped "SP"'s spent throughout the story on successes) they never go away- next session the new lives of the Souls manifest their aquired motivations in new ways, spending the mass sum of all the "SP"s thus far gained anew.

A simple conflict resolution seems best - a D10 rolled against a GM-decreed difficulty rating, with "skills" granting a bonus to the roll.  Player vs Player/NPC conflict settled by opposing D10 rolls, plus any modifiers. Very heavily reliant on GM-discression, but the idea is to make it as universal as possible so as to be able to set the different chapters of the over-all story arch in vastly different places with vastly different player characters.

Naturally, after a number of sessions the resources available to the players could grow seemingly out of control, but bear in mind this system is being devised to be used maybe a dozen times before the "endgame."

I was toying with the following as a chart for spending "SP"
-3 points to aquire a new skill
-2 points to aquire a skill the soul had in a past life
-1 point to gain a single guaranteed successful action

I've developed a short scenario featuring a would-be producer pretending to run a bed-and-breakfast so as to shoot a new style of reality show - Survival against false threats.  In this case, zombies.  Below is an example of the kind of character sheet the GM would give to a player (in this case a week or so before the game, preferably with a detailed sketch of the farm mentioned)

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Clive Brouder (The Director) - Clive is an aging want-to-be director who's thrown what remains of his life savings into a low-budget reality show he hopes to sell to a major television network.  A week ago he temporarily procured a farm and farmhouse a few miles outside of a sleepy New England hamlet which has been rigged throughout with hidden microphones and video cameras.  Two dozen work-for-rent vagabonds have been costumed as zombies and wait in the woods around the farm, along with three professional stuntmen who are charged with all the "dramatic" action - and who have signed hold-unaccountable agreements with Mr. Brouder. 
Clive has invited a number of people to the opening of "New England's newest Bed and Breakfast."  His hope is to record the hardship of a group of strangers forced together during a "zombie outbreak" and later edit it into a full season series.

Skills : Fast Talk (+4) : Leaves NPCs agreeing with Clive without giving due consideration to what's being said
Dramatics/Theatrics (+4) : Can inflate situation to make things seem more extreme than they really are
Sneaky (+4) : Good both at going unnoticed and at hiding his agenda

Inventory : Hidden Mike X 4 - While the whole building (and the farm and porch outside) are rigged with microphones these hidden mikes perform better.  They can be placed in a room or worn on a person.
Cell phone - Complete with pre-programed numbers for his crew outside.

Conditions for Major Success : Must string the experiment out over at least one solid day (preferably longer, as long as a week), and have at least five "High Tension" moments (Zombies breach the house, fistfight between survivors, someone charges the horde for some philanthopitic endevor, etc).  Survivors must not discover the ruse until those conditions are met.  Non-stunt zombies must not get hurt.  Nobody dies.

Ideal Success :
-At least 5 "High Tension" moments
-At least three nights of being under seige
-Nobody dies
-Nobody injured
-No legal difficulties afterwards : Convince survivors not to press charges, etc...

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So, for example, if the player assigned the role above and (s)he had 3 Soul Points to expend (s)he might decide to take a skill called "False Persona" to better pretend to be a Bed and Breakfast propriator.

...

Of course I'd love to hear anything you'd have to say about anything I've written or any ideas or critisms you might have, but I'm specifically struggling with:

The Endgame - A campaign featuring the players as the souls themselves, rather than as embodied beings?  What kind of quest or goals would be fitting such a long buildup?  I'd certainly hate to reach the point of saying "Sorry, buddy, but you missed the cutoff point by... two soul points" or "You rolled a one?  Guess you go to hell. Ah, better luck next time!" Maybe a better ending would be a kind of redemption - rejecting their given goals (and thus future advantage) to "do the right thing" could mark the victory of the player's soul over the chain of life it's been tied to? That feels right but stands to alienate the remaining players - if they know the goal is to be "selfless" there's no real contest (anyone can pretend to be a saint in an RPG).

Guaranteed success - Is this too powerful?  Would it be best replaced with a "+5 to one d10 roll" or something similar?

Anyone know of a similar game out there? I don't mind re-inventing the wheel to personalize this for my play group if need be but I'm sure there are tonnes of useful ideas and suggestions out there.

Thanks for reading!

- Sean

Hello Sean, and welcome to the Forge,

I must say, I think your idea of a reincarnation game is quite interesting.  It seems to be a good solution to the problem of "What do I do if I only see my friends irregularly?"  (I know I went through that when I left for college and my gaming group stayed behind).  In thinking about it this morning, all kinds of random tangents of what you could do with that system have popped into my head, although since you seem to have a pretty clear idea of what you want, I'll get to your questions (although, if you do want a few random ideas thrown at you, let me know).

Personally, I can't think of a similar game out there, though I'm still somewhat new to the world of indie RPGs.

In terms of a guaranteed success, it's powerful, but it sounds like a big sacrifice to make.  Personally if the choice was between a brand new ability and 2 or 3 free passes, there's a good chance I'd take the former.  I mean, how many SPs does a character get?  If it's not many, then they really do need to be saved.  However, the game-breaking paranoid side of me says, well, what happens if this is a truly story-altering check?  I would assume that such checks would happen every now and then, and so I guess the question is are you okay with the story being majorly altered by a few well-timed SPs?

In terms of endgame, that's a good question.  Is your idea, say, that you'll get together with your friends 3 times a year, each time playing a different campaign, and then after 2 or 3 years end it for everyone at once with a bang?  Either way it probably depends a lot on the structure of your world.  If yes, then I guess my question is, well, what do you want the players to accomplish in that time?  Maybe it's a character gets 9 lives then poofs out of existence.  Maybe at the end of 9 lives, the soul has to account for what it did in its life (good vs bad acts, difficult decisions, bravery, or maybe just success), and some great divine being tells it whether it's going to heaven or hell (or some options like that).  And, I mean, saying you need to have 10 SPs by the end, well, it would certainly make it interesting, and set a goal for the characters, though I see your point about it maybe being anti-climactic. 

If the same collection of souls don't have to remain from game to game, you have some other interesting options.  What if, for a soul to earn another life, it has to be good (or successful, or something like that) in this life?  If a player truly fails at life in one game, then their soul is destroyed, and for the next game he has a new soul.  Or, what about the opposite, that the purpose of life is to escape it, and that once a player has been successful enough for enough games, her soul transcends, and for the next session she gets a new soul?  (kind of the Buddhist mentality)  And I do agree that it needs to be something not easily attainable, so that player's don't just throw their character's lives away, because that's what they're rewarded for.  I mean, the Greeks (if I'm remembering correctly) worshiped greatness, and that was the way to good things after you died.  How about something like that?  Or maybe it’s to figure out the secret of the universe (something that the character slowly learns more and more about as time goes on), or that there could be some common theme like that which runs throughout all of your campaigns.  I guess the only problem with these though is that there isn't a real endgame, no real closure, instead players just keep cycling through souls. 

I mean, I guess to be more help, here’s my question: in the abstract, what do you picture your endgame being like?  All at once?  Heaven/Hell or something else?  And if so, can every player get into heaven?

I guess my last question about the world is, well, what kind of world is it (real I'm assuming), and how do the religions and sciences of the world deal with reincarnation?  Is it even the same world from game to game?

Hope that helps, or at least that it gets you started thinking.  And I hope it was gentle enough.

Simon

I'll get to your questions (although, if you do want a few random ideas thrown at you, let me know)

I mean, how many SPs does a character get? ... what happens if this is a truly story-altering check?

Is your idea, say, that you'll get together with your friends 3 times a year, each time playing a different campaign, and then after 2 or 3 years end it for everyone at once with a bang?

What if, for a soul to earn another life, it has to be good (or successful, or something like that) in this life?  If a player truly fails at life in one game, then their soul is destroyed, and for the next game he has a new soul.  Or, what about the opposite, that the purpose of life is to escape it, and that once a player has been successful enough for enough games, her soul transcends, and for the next session she gets a new soul?

I mean, I guess to be more help, here’s my question: in the abstract, what do you picture your endgame being like?  All at once?  Heaven/Hell or something else?  And if so, can every player get into heaven?

I guess my last question about the world is, well, what kind of world is it (real I'm assuming), and how do the religions and sciences of the world deal with reincarnation?  Is it even the same world from game to game?

And I hope it was gentle enough.

In terms of ideas, the big thing I had would be less based around a realistic world, and more a fantasy world.  I mean, given that characters *are* actually reincarnated, and that there seems to be a lot of evidence showing it, I could see entire worlds based around reincarnation religions.  It could be one, it could be several, but everyone would have it in their head that this is not their last life (probably), and have some guidance on what it takes to come back.  Also, you could make it kind of a puzzle or mystery, such that characters have 9 lives (or whatever it is) to figure out something profound about life.  Also, since the game is about coming back from death, you could make it that at the end of each gaming session, most (if not all) characters die.  I mean, that is a thing of beauty about your system, that if a character dies, it sucks for that session, but the player will have a brand new one next time you get together. 

I feel like I had more, but that's what I can remember.  And I'm sure most of those were counter to what you wanted, I guess it just shows how versitle your original idea is. 

So, I guess realize that just because the game is based upon reincarnation, it doesn't necessarily mean that you need to go the Hindu route of people searching for inner peace and morality.  Although, I do think it is a really cool idea putting the character's goals and player's goals in conflict.  Would the players know they are in conflict, or need to figure it out for themselves?

Neat idea for an endgame.  I don't know, I guess I'd just keep it in mind as you send the players on various advantures, just so you have some idea what they should be going for (or, you could make it up at the end when you see what they have been doing).

Other than that, you sound like you've really thought this out, and it sounds quite cool.  Good luck with it!

Simon

Sean,

My experience with running and playing short or intermittent campaigns has taught me (or tried to; I often ignore it) to keep goals modest and simple.  Sometimes it's better to reach the endgame a tad earlier than you thought you might than to never get there because someone couldn't make it to the only session you had planned that month.

One possibility along these lines would be to have the inital character creation include a decision on an endgame goal.  Kind of a, "I'll keep getting reincarnated until I finally achieve X".  Of course, this couldn't be done half-assed; players would have to be genuinely stoked about achieving X or there'd be no payoff.  With that in place, each incarnation becomes an attempt at progress toward the goal.  "Will I make progress that I can use in my next life?  Will I actually achieve the goal this time?  Or will I get killed quickly and go back to square one?"  Not sure if this example suits your purposes... just presenting an alternative to "major goal, then ideal goal, then endgame scenario"...

Now, a slew of questions:
Is coming back in a different body (as opposed to just digging out a year-old character sheet) supposed to be cool in itself, or just sort of a novel and utilitarian way to resume play after long breaks ("I don't remember my old character well and don't care to play him again")?  If it's suppose to be cool in itself (and I see no reason why that shouldn't be achievable), wherein do you imagine the fun?  Will it be:

• Adjusting to a new time and place, and new opportunities for action ("Moscow, 1937!  Perfect for my quest!")?
• Adjusting to new bodies and capabilities ("Why am I so strong and what are these 'rifle' things?")? 
• Remembering your previous lives instantly / gradually / not at all?  (Also: are you born normally?)
• etc

If you haven't thought about these yet, you might want to; and if you want more feedback here, posting these might help.

Random idea:
A friend of mine ran a game where he didn't tell the players about reincarnation, he just said there'd be multiple quests with different characters.  At the end of quest 1, everyone died.  Quest 2 began with some sort of sudden awakening, and all the Quest 2 characters slowly discovered odd & unique things about themselves -- things the players recognized as constituting the characters from Quest 1!  This enjoyable process of realization was enabled (I think) by the fact that the GM had swapped players and characters -- so now I'm playing the reincarnation of Fred's character, Fred's playing the reincarnation of Doug's character, and Doug's playing the reincarnation of my character!

Thanks guys! Lots to think about...

Simons :

So, I guess realize that just because the game is based upon reincarnation, it doesn't necessarily mean that you need to go the Hindu route of people searching for inner peace and morality.  Although, I do think it is a really cool idea putting the character's goals and player's goals in conflict.  Would the players know they are in conflict, or need to figure it out for themselves?

Neat idea for an endgame.  I don't know, I guess I'd just keep it in mind as you send the players on various advantures, just so you have some idea what they should be going for (or, you could make it up at the end when you see what they have been doing).

My experience with running and playing short or intermittent campaigns has taught me (or tried to; I often ignore it) to keep goals modest and simple.  Sometimes it's better to reach the endgame a tad earlier than you thought you might than to never get there because someone couldn't make it to the only session you had planned that month.

Burrito wrote:
The Endgame - A campaign featuring the players as the souls themselves, rather than as embodied beings?  What kind of quest or goals would be fitting such a long buildup?  I'd certainly hate to reach the point of saying "Sorry, buddy, but you missed the cutoff point by... two soul points" or "You rolled a one?  Guess you go to hell. Ah, better luck next time!" Maybe a better ending would be a kind of redemption - rejecting their given goals (and thus future advantage) to "do the right thing" could mark the victory of the player's soul over the chain of life it's been tied to? That feels right but stands to alienate the remaining players - if they know the goal is to be "selfless" there's no real contest (anyone can pretend to be a saint in an RPG).

Burrito wrote:
How's this : It's a little trite, but the very first session starts with the "heros", characters I'll have the players design based on themselves, in a bar. 

Burrito wrote:
Maybe a fellow they meet there asks them to "do him a favor" and deliver an important message for him, for which he'll "pay them handsomly", a role-playing standard used as a red herring to get the flow going.  The main thing is, after leaving the bar they hit some guy (actually one of their college professors) with their car and kill him.

Burrito wrote:
Do they hide the evidence?  Where?  How?  Turn themselves in? . . . Should be good for a few hours. 

Starting with the second session . . . a post-death scene or a dream sequence . . . A voice in the darkness asks if they've make atonement . . . the characters find themselves admidst "Fire, Brimstone and Burning Rubber".

And when time comes for endgame an opportunity to actually make amends presents itself.

Burrito wrote:
Maybe a chance to stop their previous selves.
Maybe a chance to save the professor's son from some horrible fate.

Burrito wrote:
That would draw the players in more, trying to make up for something they did

Giving it thought, I believe you've got an extremely valid point.  If I declare (or if random dice rolling dictates) that they've run over a man it doesn't give any emotional attachment to the act.  A choice is nessicary. I suppose if I wanted to be cheap about it I could say that they have a friend in the car with them at the introduction - a split second decision must be made wether to hit the man who appears in the middle of the road or go off-road, where an accident and some fudged dice rolling kills the friend (and hopefully no players).  But that does seem cheap.  I'd need a situation dictating a hard, immediate choice, which they could all be held at least partly accountable for (which is why I like the idea of being slightly drunk - any one of them could have, by volunteering to be a designated driver, theoretically prevented an auto accident), and which could be argued as a great wrong-doing no matter how the situation is addressed.  In short I need to force them to damn themselves. Without obvious railroad-ery or forced action. 
Suggestions greatly appreciated.

The group I play with seems a strange bunch - there's very little min/maxing when we play D&D, and it's common for our characters to do something the player knows to be self-defeating or detrimental simply because it's "in character", or "the way my character would act", but with the rapid abandoning of characters and changing of game-worlds I fear we haven't got a healthy sense of concern for our character's emotional wellbeing.  I think we'd volunteer to have a mental breakdown because the situation seems to dictate it, but we wouldn't "feel for" our characters. Which I guess is why playing "themselves" seems so tempting. I suppose it would be important to make sure that that is acceptable to the players, though, before I get so "close to home."

I'm ordering "My Life With Master" - from what I've read it's excellent at making the goals and setbacks of the minions seem personal. Maybe I'll learn something.

"Fire, Brimstone and Burning Rubber" was an attempt at being clever (a failed one it seems).  It's a reference both to hell (fire, brimstone, and the knashing of teeth) and an auto accident (the squeal and smell of the tires coming from together, smearing the road with melted rubber skid-marks).

Thanks for the excellent posts, guys.  While I think this idea is workable it's becoming clearer how it could be molded together. And how to avoid having it fall apart.

- Sean