Hello,

  I've been reading here for awhile and I have several ashcan games that have never seen the light of day. So here is one I am interested in taking further to something playable. I've been reading through http://socratesrpg.blogspot.com/ and thought that this is a good game design process. So here is the Power 19. A couple of things I need help/comments with (other comments, questions, etc are welcome too!!!):

Questions that I really need help on: 2, 3, 5, 7, 10, 11, 12 

Ashcan - On the Path (working title)

1.) What is your game about?
Generic FRP system focusing on what players are willing to give up for their characters to become advenutres/heros.

2.) What do the characters do?
Go on adventures, be they dungeon delving, social conflicts, raising an army.

3.) What do the players (including the GM if there is one) do?
Decided what their characters are willing to give up to become a hero

4.) How does your setting (or lack thereof) reinforce what your game is about?
No setting really to speak of. I think your world might be better then mine.

5.) How does the Character Creation of your game reinforce what your game is about?
Players would need to pick what their ties are away from adventuring. Other then that I need some help with this one.

6.) What types of behaviors/styles of play does your game reward (and punish if necessary)?
Risk taking, going on adventures, sacrificing relationships, housing, wealth, farm fields for glory

7.) How are behaviors and styles of play rewarded or punished in your game?
Not sure yet.

8.) How are the responsibilities of narration and credibility divided in your game?
Mostly the narration would fall on the GM setting up scenes to push adventuring.

9.) What does your game do to command the players' attention, engagement, and participation? (i.e. What does the game do to make them care?)
Hopefully the players wonder what heros have to give up to become heros. But this is from a half baked ashcan I have.

10.) What are the resolution mechanics of your game like?
I haven't start on mechanics. But I want something like the mechanics in Lacuna or InSpectres.

11.) How do the resolution mechanics reinforce what your game is about?
See 10

12.) Do characters in your game advance? If so, how?
Yes. I need to read through and process the article  Is Character Advancement Necessary? over at socratesrpg and finish reading through several of the indie rpgs I own.

13.) How does the character advancement (or lack thereof) reinforce what your game is about?

14.) What sort of product or effect do you want your game to produce in or for the players?
Think about the human side of their adventures and what they have to give up

15.) What areas of your game receive extra attention and color? Why?
What happens in the absence of the hero

16.) Which part of your game are you most excited about or interested in? Why?
Figuring how to make the loss of things at home powerful and ways for the heros to redeem themselves as well

17.) Where does your game take the players that other games can’t, don’t, or won’t?
What the characters have to or are willing to give up for their adventures. And is it possible to strike a balance between being a hero and saying tending the family farm.

18.) What are your publishing goals for your game?
Ashcan at the moment but eventually I'll just put it up on my website. So self published

19.) Who is your target audience?
Not even sure yet.

Thank you for your help, comments, and suggestions!

Ara

Hello Ara,

I have one or two observations, apologies but these aren't really specific to any of the power 19 questions that you requested help on.

First off, great idea! I like the potential that the game presents for exploring the nature and value of heroism itself, which brings me to the question; 'why SHOULD sacrifice be necessary to achieve hero status?' Don't get me wrong, I think you're onto a winner here, but I think the answer to that question might help provide some focus to the creative agenda inherent in your game. A clear theme in your game is that heroism and sacrifice are intrinsically linked, and, thinking about it, the reason for this is that there is something inhuman about a hero. Your game taps into a dynamic, inherent in many RP scenarios i've encountered; the characters in a given adventure are heroes, but the player's who've created and control them are not. What's the distinction? What is it about being a hero or an adventurer that makes us want to play that role? On the surface the answer seems simple, heroes recieve huge rewards for their efforts, be they gold, glory, defeating the bad guy, saving the girl or whatever, but it's been my experience that the real enjoyment of roleplaying in a high fantasy setting isn't in the great homecoming glory parade or rolling around in piles of looted treasure, it's the times when your character is being tested to his limit, and prevailing only by virtue of his superiority over 'normal', non-heroic human beings. So it's what the hero 'is' that's usually the meat and bones of an enjoyable fantasy roleplay, not what he 'gets'. In your game, I suppose it's what the hero 'isn't' and what he's lost that would drive the narrative and create some potentially really interesting roleplay situations.

In the context of you prime directive 'what players are willing to give up for their characters to become advenutres/heros' you might want to explore a game mechanic that takes the focus away from resolving the usual set of adventure/fantasy encounters (combat, negotiation, infiltration etc.) and create an environment where the characters' ability to succeed in these kind of endevours is never called into question, instead looking into the impact on the psyche of the character of the progressively greater sacrifices he has made in pursuit of his goals, be they in material wealth, personal relationships or, crucially, in their own humanity. This is very off the top of the head, but maybe a pile of 'hubris counters' which each character amasses in exchange for any heroic feat they may wish to perform, awarded by the DM based on the excessiveness of the particular heroic endevour, with a loose framework of character effects tied to the character's current level of hubris. Perhaps in conjuction with this, a seperate pile of 'insanity counters', 'sanguinary counters' and so on, I suppose reinforcing the notion that for every act of heroism a character achieves, they lose touch a little more with their humanity, which can manifest in a myriad of archetypal hero personality traits. Also, heroism walks hand in hand with death, so perhaps by the end of any game the characters must have died, measuring success by the legacy of fame they leave behind?

One point that i'd like you clarify, with relation to 13, i'd be interested to know if you're referring to what happens to the character's 'normal' life while they're away adventuring and being a hero, or what happens to the WORLD when there are no heroes to save it? I think either could add some interesting depth to the game if represented in the mechanic.

Hope at least some of that was relevant and helpful! Good luck with the game, keep us posted.

Jacob

Jacob,

Thank you!!!! There is so much in what you wrote in need a little while to read and think on it. You've given me a bunch of ideas. I was fairly stuck!!!

Ara

Could you expand on your answer to question 3 - What do the players (including the GM if there is one) do?

Your answer (Decide what their characters are willing to give up to become a hero) gives us an extremely broad overview of the whole game.  I'm interested in what you see a game session as being like.  What sort of decisions do the players make, and what sort of actions do they take while they're playing the game?