[me=Lynne H]carefully lays down a fiver against herself for more than likely posting something in the wrong place again. Apologies in advance if I have ;)[/me]

The basic premise of this game is that you play a star that has fallen to earth due to your fascination with mortal concerns. When you fell, you lost your starlight and your memory. Recently something triggered the awareness of what you were and a longing to go home, but you are held to earth by your lack of star stuff and ties that you have developed (either as a result of your fall or made during your "blank" period). You are now searching to find your starlight and return home.

I've written plenty of stuff for other systems (Dying Earth in particular), but never tackled a system before and that's the bit that's a little sticky (especially as the other half of our roleplaying group have a small child now and we don't get to play much anymore). Still, myself and my hubbie decided to go for a one-to-one playtest and were quite pleased with the results:

The first session was me running a game for him. He created a soldier character but in a pulp/ Boy’s Own Adventure vein. He couldn’t decide between WWI and WWII and asked for my (the GM’s) opinion. I thought WWI might be a more interesting starting point, what with odd battlefield occurrences like the Angels of Mons (maybe the glowing lights that were mentioned in some “reports” were actually his star falling). From this, we discovered that actually coming up with a reason to fall can be quite tricky. An alternative character creation path could be to decide upon the initial period setting and type of character, then work back to why they could have fallen.

Then he had to think about what Talents (skills) he wanted. Going back to the whole battlefield angel theme, his Unique Talent would be “Guardian Angel”, really a sixth sense of imminent peril that helped to keep him alive in dangerous situations. He decided only to take one Normal Talent (non-magical, if you like) to start with, “Pack Up Your Troubles”, which we decided covered the basic skills a WWI soldier would have (rifle use and basic survival). Basically, what a Talent name actually covers in terms of abilities should be determined by discussion, with the GM’s word being final. If there’s no GM, it should be a group decision with a vote if all else fails. If that doesn’t resolve anything, we would suggest tossing a coin.

In terms of Ties, we discussed it and went for Duty and Camaraderie. Ties can give you Normal Talents, associates and details on how your character is likely to behave.  What became really apparent was that a check sheet for character creation would be really handy!

The Awakening (when the character remembers what they are) was pretty brief and ran right into the scenario, which in a larger group it probably wouldn't. The character had his Awakening on the battlefield and was promptly sent off on a mission to destroy a secret German weapon (which, coincidentally was being powered by a piece of his Starlight essence). The rules supported this very well, being a relatively simple bidding system to adjust the level of success rolled on 2d6. Careful mangement of points meant we got through the scenario without any major mishaps.

The lovely people at the Collective Endeavour have commented on the system not integrating well into the setting and I'm working on adjusting that. The main thing that could derail the game is the fact I can't test the major premise - that only one player is in the spotlight per session and everyone else plays the NPCs. Fingers crossed I'll be at Conpulsion to test it out in some way...

[This probably would have fit just as well into the "First Thoughts" part of the forum...but it contains solid play experiences involving a playtest of the game and questions about how  to develop...so I'd say you've picked a decent spot to make the post.]

[By the way....welcome to the Forge.]

I'm interested in the notion that only one player is the focus of the session while others play NPCs.

Does the player continue to hold the spotlight until their own part of the story is completed? By this, I mean..."If a player doesn't complete their part of the story in a single session, does it carry over to the next?"...and on the flipside of that..."If a player finishes their story before the session is complete, does play move to a new dominant character?"

I've toyed with the notion of a single dominant character a few times, and if there are mature players who understand that they'll get the share of the limelight later it usually works really well. If there are players who are constantly vying for the GM's attention then things can quickly get problematic. Have you considered the rewards people will be getting in exchange for not being the focal point of the story at this point...do they get more narrative input?...does their character exist in a limbo state where they don't gain bonuses, but in exchange they don't suffer from failed risks?...do they simply accept the understanding that their time in the limelight will come later and they'll just have to wait their turn?

In passing I took part in a twelve session campaign based on the 12 steps of the heroes journey [I joined in as a "special guest" during the last three sessions]. One player took the part of the hero while everyone else knew they were simply in sidekick roles, they would live and die as long as it helped the hero, but if the hero died, the game was over. Everyone knew this from the outset and had made sure that they played their designated roles. It had some really great moments, the kind of anecdotes that make roleplaying a unique and special experience.

Have you got some more details for your system so I can put your terminology into context with the scenes you have been describing? Offering names of talents evokes an instant feeling about the game, but I can't be sure if the feelings I'm getting from these terms fit the design concepts you had in mind.

I'll check on Collective Endeavour to see if I can find any details over there.

V

[me=Lynne H]waves "Hello!" to Vulpinoid[/me]

I hadn't really thought about what would happen if someone didn't reach their goal in one session, but that's the whole point of posting to place like this ;) In the first instance, I think it would be better/fairer to leave it as a cliffhanger, for completion at a later date. And if someone achieved their goal very quickly, and there was still lots of time left in the session, it would certainly be possible to start up the next character's go in the spotlight.

The idea is that those not in the spotlight actually take on the roles of significant NPCs, so that they get some proper characterisation (even the best GM sometimes gets a bit swamped with handling all of the NPCs).

I'll post a little more later on ther terminology, my lovely husband has just brought my tea in ;)

[me=Lynne H]settles back down and apologises for being late[/me]

In terms of system:

The original set up was that each character would have Hope (what gave you wizzy powers), Brass (determination to get things done) and Solitude (sense of failure) points. You used Hope to do cool stuff, Brass to alter dice rolls to your favour and Solitude was really only a monitor of how badly you were doing in game terms (you gained it for critical dice failures and failing to retrieve Starlight). Your character had to decide on why they had fallen to earth, and what Ties held them there (could be people, things, even abstract concepts like friendship). Ties can dictate where Starlight might be found and can also give guidelines for how the character behaves. You also get to design Unique Talents (tailored wizzy powers) and Normal Talents (mundane stuff, but none-the-less useful). The names of the talents are supposed to be quirky, so they not only give a feel for what you can do with them, but also some clues about the character as well.

After falling to earth, you forgot what you were and your Starlight scattered. The beginning of the game is when you Awaken and realise what you are and what you can do. You roll 2d6 if you need to roll anything, the first d6 determining success or failure, the second one how well/badly you succeeded/failed. Brass was used to alter the outcome of rolls and for modelling struggles in contested rolls (both sides bidding to determine the final outcome).

As a system it works, but Solitude was sort of sitting there like a lump, as was Hope to a large extent. The lovely lads at Collective Endeavour pointed that out, so we're currently testing a new, hybrid type system. The Hope, Brass and Solitude points are still there, but the dice have changed and the bidding system for changing rolls has gone. You still roll two d6, one Hope (positive) and one Solitude (negative, fear of failure). Whichever one is higher determines the outcome, good or bad. If you want to shift the odds in your favour, you spend a point of Brass to roll a third die (which you add to the Hope die, mimicking your determination to succeed). Solitude points are still accrued as they were before, but now they also affect how people react to you - the more you have, the more reluctant people are to be in your presence.

Its still a work in progress and I'm waiting for feedback from larger play-testing groups. Hopefully I'll be running it at Conpulsion in Edinburgh in March as well to see if I can get my point across to complete strangers ;)