Hi all, i finally did it...i sat down today and filled out a power 19 for my game Terra Fantastica, here it is i tried not to give away to many specific plot points or get too specific into any one aspect of the game as i was just trying to get an overall view of the game out there for you all to see of course i just want to know what everyone thinks, ill have mechanics and more specifics up soon, ive written up an example of combat and am working on a character creation example ill post up as well...lets get the gears a' grindin' and thanks in advance for any and all comments!
-brandon

1.) What is your game about?

My game is about the struggles and adventures of humanity during the Second World War on an alternate and dying earth, an Earth changed by a catastrophic event in the early years of the 20th century forever altering the fate of every man, women and child on the planet. It’s a game about patriotism, faith in humanity, and hope. And martians. 

2.) What do the characters do?

The characters take sides in a worldwide conflict, both world war two as we know it, and in the race to save humanity.  The characters are scientists, based out of the World Coalition of Scientific Minds in New York City, racing against time to return earth to its proper orbit before it freezes entirely, eradicating the already depleted and embattled human race, or worse, before it crashes into Mars destroying both planets.  The characters are young soldiers in the Allied army serving aboard an experimental Skyship patrolling high above the frozen trans-atlantic front, a wasteland of ice-shelves and glaciers where once an ocean churned.  The characters are thrust into a time of great desperation, but also a time of hope, where great men are driven to achieve great things in the face of adversity, where adventure is found in everyday life, in a time where urgency of each moment becomes ever so apparent.   

3.) What do the players (including the GM if there is one) do?

The players create and control characters who exist within the framework presented by the game setting.  The characters work on behalf of one or perhaps many factions and or nations of the earth in order to better humanity, and to make a living. Be it by working for a national Newspaper, or fighting on the frontlines of the current world war.  A campaign’s scope can be anything from a single noir style Police drama, to an epic scale International conflict depending on the GM’s desire.  The GM sets the scene and narrates the story in a very conventional rpg manner while guiding npc action and providing the players with target numbers, conflicts to overcome and all other general GM responsibilities and services.   

4.) How does your setting (or lack thereof) reinforce what your game is about?

My setting, a 1940’s earth which has gone out of its normal orbit and has drifted away from the sun over the course of about 40 years, reinforces my game’s main focus of hope and the strength of humanity by presenting a fantastic and inspirational backdrop where human life as we know it has taken on a very finite and dramatic quality.  The earth is literally ending…but life goes on as the great figures in earth’s history defy fate and circumstance and struggle against seeming annihilation in the name of humanity and patriotism.  Dozens of theories exist as to the proper means of saving the world…Based in New York City, one of the last unfrozen places in north America, Einstien and The World Coalition of Scientific Minds work secretly with the aid of a demonized and exiled Nikola Tesla to right the terror he has brought upon the earth.  In Russia a Maniacal Stalin demands that his country’s Scientific community solve earth’s dilemma at any cost, no matter the means, be they atrocious or unethical, to prove Russia’s technological superiority.  And the Nazi Regime, Led by the monsterous Hitler and bolstered by an otherworldy and terrible secret ally, Seeks world domination and seeming destruction despite the earth’s dire circumstance...This is where the characters fit in, thrust into a setting where their actions and alligences are of utmost importance and urgency.  The characters are faced with choices that literally spell the fate of humanity.

5.) How does the Character Creation of your game reinforce what your game is about?

Character creation in my game plays a very important part in investing the character and player in the background and setting of the game, and upholding the spirit and theme of each campaign.  During character creation, which is split into two sections, the player creates not only his characters statistics but also plots out a character’s background in an in depth process which determines what skills, abilities and resources the player will be able to choose from during character creation.  Character creation in my game will seek to use the background building aspect of the process to further connect a character with the setting, and to bolster a characters feelings of patriotism and link with his or her fellow man. By creating a character whose roots in society are firmly established, the players will be more apt to roleplay the character faithfully to his national background and hopefully more in-character with the setting  and theme of my game.   

6.) What types of behaviors/styles of play does your game reward (and punish if necessary)?  

My game will reward self sacrifice and daring actions,  it will benefit players who are willing to make descisions that benefit the betterment of humanity while putting there characters at risk of harm, imprisonment or death!  My game seeks to create heroic, although human, characters.  Good roleplaying will be rewarded along with the completion of truly fantastic feats.  Staring death in the face without blinking, fearlessly walking the razors edge and never backing down in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds are all activities that are not only encouraged and expected in my game but ones that will be met with rewards and hopefully a sense of achievement in the players.  Thus far I haven’t thought of a way to penalize players, I don’t think that there will be a mechanic in place to specifically punish a player, hopefully a gaming group will be so enthused and invested in there character that powergaming, metagaming and other no-noes of the like will be absent from sessions of my game (wishful thinking I know)

7.) How are behaviors and styles of play rewarded or punished in your game?

Acts of extreme bravery and heroism will be rewarded, rarely and only when deemed appropriately by the GM, with points to a certain attribute similar to a “Karma”  or “Force” or “Fate” point which can be used by a character to positively modify the outcome of a roll through the expenditure of said point. Also these acrude points can be used to increase a chracter’s “Fame” statistic opening up new abilities and traits for use in character advancement

Cowardly or Evil acts will also be kept track of by the GM in order to be used against the characters in order to adversely effect their rolls a the whim of the GM, unless of course the character is of the Villainous sort, in which case they will work much like the rewards mentioned above.

8.) How are the responsibilities of narration and credibility divided in your game?

The GM handles the narration of setting and all NPC action and interaction.  The characters are responsible for all of their characters actions reactions and speech.

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 having the fate of humanity in the balance will be enough to motivate the players to care about their characters’ actions.  Also throughout the in depth character creation process the players will create a character they are invested in and care about, also the characters’ of their fellow players should be equally interesting, entertaining and worthwhile to motivate a group to care about the outcome of the game.  The setting as well will seek to be very rich an interesting, holding the players attention and enthusiasm throught the course of a campaign.     

10.) What are the resolution mechanics of your game like?

The Resolution mechanics for skill based non-combat tasks are very simple; A GM determined target number, based on difficulty and situational modifiers which is rolled against with a predetermined factor based on level of expertise in a skill. 

Combat is handled in a very cinematic fasion which will reflect the back and forth of a swashbuckling, bare knuckle, knock-down-drag-out fight.  Players will roll a single die added to a modifier bassed on combat prowess and skills   
compared to an opposed roll and try to gain the upper hand in combat allowing them to administer the knock out punch or killing blow.  The combat system is designed to simulate hollywood style back and forth brawls

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

The combat mechanics are a better reinforcement than the situational and skill mechanics in this respect.  The combat mechanics seek to establish a true tug of war style combat where characters go back and forth round to round gaining and losing the upper hand in the hopes of seizing the opportunity to KO their opponent much like the climactic final showdown of classic action movies giving the fights a truly gritty and gutsy quality.  The combat system is designed to present a real “it aint over till its over” feel.  Also they work well for fighting groups of henchmen or flunkies as the characters will usually be able to handle groups of lowly Nazi grunts or scurvy Sky Pirates with little threat barring bad luck or extraordinary circumstances much akin to the Green Hornet cleaning out a warehouse full of gangsters without breaking a sweat.  In the case of more evenly matched combatants such as one of the characters and a hired assassin the combat will feel a lot more risky and intense…like a fight between Captain America and the Red skull as apposed to Cap against some fresh nazi recruits.
The combat system will lend its self to character defining moments and hopefully reinforce the player’s investment in their character’s growth and development.

12.) Do characters in your game advance? If so, how?

Yes! One of the players goals in my game will be the growth of their character from a newly graduated physicist into a world traveled expert in their field, or from a reformed petty thug with a heart of gold into an infantry sergeant leading new recruits on the front lines, or from a budding young pilot to a dog fighting ace the likes of which hasn’t been seen since the red baron.  Characters will gain a number of building points as rewards from the gm both for situational performance and for the completion of major milestone achievements the characters can use these points to buy attribute and skill upgrades at differing rates.

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

The character advancement system of my game helps to reinforce a feeling of achievement.  It will give the players a reason to keep playing and keep fighting the forces of evil and keep trying to save the world.  As the characters develop the GM is able to present them with greater and greater challenges, allowing them to effect the world around them in more and more meaningful ways.  It will reinforce the feeling that although the world cant be saved in one day, by one man, through perseverence and hope the characters can achieve something worth fighting for.

14.) What sort of product or effect do you want your game to produce in or for the players?

I want the game to create a real sense of achievement and adventure.  The game will create a sort of nostalgia and familiarity through its use of human characters fighting for ordinary goals of freedom, survival and justice but fighting for them in very extrodinary setting which magnifies each and every human triumph be it in a globe spanning conflict or just everyday life.  I want my game to provide great characters and great fun for its players. I think that the two go hand in hand.

15.) What areas of your game receive extra attention and color? Why?

Both the setting and the character creation process receive extra special treatment. I feel that although the system and mechanics absolutely can not be ignored or “half baked” even a great system runs the risk of becoming boring and dull when the system runs on mediocre rails and is set in an uninteresting world with stale characters.  That being said, to me rpgs are about a characters interaction with other characters and with the world they live in.  Given great character creation flexibility and detail and a deep, immersive and intriguing environment the players are much more apt and able to create a cast of well rounded and interesting characters they care about.  Presenting a GM with a good setting is also instrumental in setting the stage for a great rpg.  Arming a GM with a strong set of tools for campaign building is essential for a games success.  Id like to say however that ive tried to pay special attention to all aspects of my game so far in its development but I I have to choose a few, these are my favorites!

16.) Which part of your game are you most excited about or interested in? Why?

I am most excited in the setting.  The game world is so rich and filled with almost endless possibilities.  The fact that it is our earth, and our history just turned on its ear a little with some far fetched science fiction aspects and a sprinkling of comic-book over-the-topped-ness gives it a lot of identity and relation to our own world.  At its core it is a pulp science fiction setting but with it you can go anywhere on earth and write a compelling adventure.  From the mean streets of an overpopulated and gray skied New York City, to the frozen tundra of Russia’s Siberian plain, from the snowy battlefields of the European theatre, to the skies high above it.  You can run whatever kind of game you want to run within these settings, from a down and out detective drama, to a Sci-fi tragedy or a shoot-em-up dirty dozen yarn.

17.) Where does your game take the players that other games can’t, don’t, or won’t?

The goal isn’t really to take them anywhere completely new but to take them somewhere fun! I feel like there are a million different fantasy, futuristic, alternate earth and sci-fi RPGs.  The history of our world is one of the craziest and richest settings you could ever dream up!  My goal is to take an all too familiar setting, WWII era earth, a setting you can readily research and identify, and present it in a new exciting and entertaining light.  My goal is for each session to present the players with a setting they can readily grasp but is different enough to hold surprises and adventure for them.  My game’s character will take the perfect setting, our earth  and our history and make it even more exciting and entertaining.

18.) What are your publishing goals for your game?

I hope to test the heck out of it. Publish it. Win some awards. Have an awsome booth at all the cons I can get into. Sell it. And let it build itself using profit to publish and promote suppliment materials.  Ive got a job and probably always will so I don’t need to make a bunch money off of my game, I just want it to grow and for people to enjoy playing it.

19.) Who is your target audience?

Everyone.  But more so, fans of Science Fiction, Action, Adventure, War and Crime Drama movies, fans of the works of H.G. Wells and Jules Verne, Fans of the Steam-Punk genre and rpg enthusiasts in general.

thanks to everyone for suffering through this ramble...what do you think!

Brandon,
  Here is some thoughts for you to chew on:

i tried not to give away to many specific plot points or get too specific into any one aspect of the game

2.) What do the characters do?

The characters take sides in a worldwide conflict, both world war two as we know it, and in the race to save humanity.  The characters are scientists, based out of the World Coalition of Scientific Minds in New York City, racing against time to return earth to its proper orbit before it freezes entirely, eradicating the already depleted and embattled human race, or worse, before it crashes into Mars destroying both planets.  The characters are young soldiers in the Allied army serving aboard an experimental Skyship patrolling high above the frozen trans-atlantic front, a wasteland of ice-shelves and glaciers where once an ocean churned.  The characters are thrust into a time of great desperation, but also a time of hope, where great men are driven to achieve great things in the face of adversity, where adventure is found in everyday life, in a time where urgency of each moment becomes ever so apparent. 

Based in New York City, one of the last unfrozen places in north America

Stalin demands that his country’s Scientific community solve earth’s dilemma at any cost, no matter the means, be they atrocious or unethical, to prove Russia’s technological superiority.  And the Nazi Regime, Led by the monsterous Hitler

The characters are faced with choices that literally spell the fate of humanity.

My game will reward self sacrifice and daring actions,  it will benefit players who are willing to make descisions that benefit the betterment of humanity while putting there characters at risk of harm, imprisonment or death!

Staring death in the face without blinking, fearlessly walking the razors edge and never backing down in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds are all activities that are not only encouraged and expected in my game but ones that will be met with rewards and hopefully a sense of achievement in the players.

“Fate” point which can be used by a character to positively modify the outcome of a roll through the expenditure of said point.

8.) How are the responsibilities of narration and credibility divided in your game?

19.) Who is your target audience?

Everyone.  But more so, fans of Science Fiction, Action, Adventure, War and Crime Drama movies, fans of the works of H.G. Wells and Jules Verne, Fans of the Steam-Punk genre and rpg enthusiasts in general.

dindenver,
thanks alot man im glad to finally get some feedback, i just got home from work and it is 3am...i am going to respond to each of your questions in the morning but i couldnt resist thanking you now!
brandon

dindenver,
thanks for the feedback heres what i have to say in response...

i tried not to give away to many specific plot points or get too specific into any one aspect of the game

  This will not serve you well. the more unique your setting is, the more you need to shout it from the rooftop. Give it away, what's the worst that could happen?

Patriotism is a sticky point too, right?
  One person's patriotism is another person's Nationalism is another person's Jingoism, right?

Based in New York City, one of the last unfrozen places in north America

  OK, this part was confusing to me, I love games set in New York City. But I mean come on, how can New York be thawed and Arizona not? Is the tilt of the earth off kilter too?

Stalin demands that his country’s Scientific community solve earth’s dilemma at any cost, no matter the means, be they atrocious or unethical, to prove Russia’s technological superiority.  And the Nazi Regime, Led by the monsterous Hitler

  I think you should be careful to portray these as very different villains with very different approaches/motivations, you know? I mean at the basest of levels, they were both insane, but their methods and motivations were vastly different. For instance Stalin "knew" what was going on and acted that way despite all evidence to the contrary. While Hitler learned what was actually happened and then manipulated the situation to match his own crazy ideas.

2.) What do the characters do?

The characters take sides in a worldwide conflict, both world war two as we know it, and in the race to save humanity.  The characters are scientists, based out of the World Coalition of Scientific Minds in New York City, racing against time to return earth to its proper orbit before it freezes entirely, eradicating the already depleted and embattled human race, or worse, before it crashes into Mars destroying both planets.  The characters are young soldiers in the Allied army serving aboard an experimental Skyship patrolling high above the frozen trans-atlantic front, a wasteland of ice-shelves and glaciers where once an ocean churned.  The characters are thrust into a time of great desperation, but also a time of hope, where great men are driven to achieve great things in the face of adversity, where adventure is found in everyday life, in a time where urgency of each moment becomes ever so apparent. 

  Ok, this answer is kinda all over the place. I see what you are trying to do, but I wonder about the execution, you know? What I mean is, if you make a game where you can be a reporter, scientist, soldier or politician. Then how do the players get together, makes compatible characters and have fun.
  To give you an example of what I mean, I heard about a game that only lasted 15 minutes into actual play. One character made a big, bad fire Mage, the other a noble Shipwright. So, the GM puts them in a Tavern to meet each other and immediately they clash. One is a man with physical power over fire, the other a man with massive political connection. MEchanically equal in most ways. Except that when a shipwright mouths off to a fire mage, someone gets burned...
  What I am trying to illustrate is that if you make a game where the characters can be anything, what is to motivate them to be anything compatible? Maybe the above is just evidence of dysfunctional play. But certainly the system didn't do anythign to encourage the players to make compatible characters, right?

The characters are faced with choices that literally spell the fate of humanity.

How? By and large, I find that most of these settings heavy games (and I love settings heavy games, btw) require the setting to sort of maintain an equilibrium in order to keep working. For instance, Exalted, The Dragon-Blooded loose their teeth if they don't have the political power of the Empire behind them, right? So, how does your game empower the players to change the world, while avoiding the pitfall of ruining the setting if they actually do?

Brandon,
  No prob man.

  OK, most of your answers were cool. Only two things really make me pause:
1) The whole idea that you can put ANY group of characters together and expect the GM to somehow magically make an adventure that features all their talents is a stretch. I KNOW it can be done, but can it be done consistently and by a novice GM? One thing WOD has going for it is that it is a very hostile environment. That encourages smart PCs to line up on the side of good and work together, despite their differences.
  But what I fear is not that issue (although I guess it probably still is an issue in your game), but the netrunner issue from CP2020. So, if one character is a Tesla-like mad scientist and another is a field reporter, how does that work? One wants to be in the lab unless he is testing, the other wants to be in the field finding a story? You could run it as two separate plots, maybe but then how do the characters know/like each other AND how do they maintain that relationship if they don't have any contact? Do you see what I am trying to say? By making the options so varied, you are almost guaranteeing that some characters made will not have compatible agendas/environments. I mean a true inventor who is trying to save the world is not going to want to leave his workshop until the world is saved (maybe for field tests, but if you hand wave the lab time, then the player has nothing to do for like 70-90% of the game's time line). And a dedicated reported is not going to sit around in a lab waiting for the story to come to them, right?
2) Some of what you said concerns me. If I am trying to save the world, I'd like to be able to actually change it, you know? Even if its a little change, it still needs to be possible, right? Otherwise, what's the point? That is part of the darkness/emo vibe of Vampire and other WoD games. You can't actually fix the world, right? No mtter how many vampires a Hunter kills, there will still be more. They might even be able to take out one whole Clan (not likely, but maybe), but that will just serve to make the other Clans unite and fight back harder, right? But, I don't think you want to go that Dark/emo, do you? If that is the case, how do you enable the players and GM to change the setting in a meaningful way and still have the same fun that got us there available? It's a thin line to tread. On one hand, if you make it so that the world is still the same after they change the world, then they don't really change it, right? And if you make it so that the world changes too much, then the fun that got you there evaporates, right?

  Anyways, stick to your guns about what you want and make sure the mechanics does what you want/say it does, you know?

  Good luck man!

Your setting sounds wonderful!  It's crazy in the best way.  I could easily imagine having many adventures in it.

You say the game's about patriotism, faith in humanity, and hope, but I don't see the system lining up to support that.  How will the design reinforce those themes?