The Oasis Club

Alternate reality 40’s club like Casablanca (Belize).  Explorers, adventurers, etc all come through this club.  Maybe this is something like part story-game, part time management game.

People come in different skin colors (like bright red, blue, purple, etc) and these don’t always work together well.  Groups get together and go on adventures.

Edge is the party statistic that shows how much on edge they are with getting along with each other.

So, you are putting together groups of people and the adventures have to be done somewhat quickly.  Then there is a mechanic to stop time and tell of the journey.  Each player is working towards one thing or another like Exploration, Adventure, Research, Treasure.  You bet on whether the party is going to succeed like Manila.

interesting take. the first game idea i've seen where there isn't a fantastical desert land (i think).

What do you mean by "time management"? Are you talking about fictional time, or real world time?

Not really time management, but I have the meme for those games like Star Wars Cantina and Cake Mania in mind, where all these customers are coming in to the Oasis Club and you are trying to sit them down at tables with other adventurer/explorers to make a full party.  That's one part, so maybe you have 3-5 tables and 4 people can sit at a table.  Each has a skin color and contrasting colors (on the color wheel) don't get along at all, but sometimes get put into a party together.  So, when a table fills to 4 people, they go off and do something.  That's when the story part of the game starts and I'm not at all sure how that goes, but I'm inspired from my recent reading of Lost City of Z and also by the boardgame Manila.  So, you have at least two boards, the Oasis Club sheet and the adventure board. 

On the adventure board, I'm thinking that maybe 3 or 4 paths exist and players take some set number of turns narrating the adventure the party is taking.  So, each player tells part of the adventure and really it could be just about anything and then you get to a conflict point and roll dice.  The results show whether the party goes forward or not and is going to be modified by Edge which is some score made by the different colors of the skin of the adventurers.  You have this story about a set of adventurers who are sometimes conflicting with each other and are often getting into trouble on their expedition. 

It's too boardgamey right now, but I want it more narrative about all these expeditions than each player taking the role of a specific character.

The one concern I have is thematic in nature; traditionally 40's is depicted as black and white in more ways then one.  Vibrant colours of skin for that particular time period might not fit terribly comfortably? 

Then again, depending on what you do with Race that could lead to some very interesting games.  The Oranges might bad-mouth the blues as perpetually lazy slobs.  Interesting social dynamics for certain.

One thing I think of when I think of stylized black and white photos, are these old/retro black and white photos with just a small portion colored in, like a pinup girl in black and white, but with bright red lips. Looking at it like this might work to resolve that concern (and make for some cool illustrations, if you had them).

@ Jason - Yeah, it's definitely going to be a strange version of the 40s.  I think of maybe more like some backwater gateway into lands of adventure.  The couple of times I've visited Belize I felt like it was this place out of time where Hemingway might show up or PH Fawcett, in search of adventure.  There's definitely going to be conflict among the different colored Skins.

@ Darla - Great ideas for imagery!

Ok, so one player will be the Bartender (of the Oasis Club) and that role will switch around most likely during the game.  The other players earn points/currency by telling the tale of the adventure to the Bartender who throws in little difficulties here and there based on the die rolls.  He has some number of points to give out and must get rid of them all at some point.  Some of the other roles might be Hostess (who seats the different adventurers), the waiter/waitress (who can perhaps help the party somehow) and the busboy (who clears out the tables).  Once an adventuring party leaves and the story is told all the roles switch players.

We're going with primary + secondary colors.  Blue - Purple - Red - Orange - Yellow - Green in a color wheel.  Once a table is filled up to 4, you calc the Edge score.  I want this score to be between 1 and 6 cause you will roll an Edge die and try to be under it.  Not yet sure how to calc the score, nor how to accomplish choosing the different colored patrons (tokens in an ideal world, I guess).

Once a table is filled, the party goes on adventure.  They leave the bar (that table is now reserved for them if and when they get back and no other patrons can go there) and go on the adventure tableau.  They are trying to reach some Lost City or other.  There are some number of phases or spaces they are trying to reach.  Each turn each player will be betting for or against them in different ways and then a player will narrate the next part of the trip and roll the dice.  If it's in favor of the adventurers they go further.  Bad rolls might make them stall out, suffer casualties or lose provisions.

I'm tired and none of it is making sense, but in my head it's working.  Now to figure out how to tell you how to play it so you buy it too!