Just to review Chrysalis is a game about teenagers who find their bodies host to an extraterrestrial parasite that just wants to go home and all the while trying to keep the awesome powers they have bestowed in order to help a secret. Players have 3 Resource Stats they can choose to influence their roll when taking an action and a list of Quirks that helps with characterization and is used as fuel for their resources. This is a game that uses a GM and relies a lot on the story as well.

Previous threads on Chrysalis:

<a href="http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forge/index.php?topic=30310.0">Initial Thoughts
<a href="http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forge/index.php?topic=30310.0">Roll Penalties

Now I had the idea when making this game to make it so that players can have what could be considered 1.5 or 2 characters in game. What I mean by that is that a player can take on the role of a human host as well as that of one of the stranded aliens who have their own personalities. The thing is the player cannot play take on the role of both their human character AND it's alien symbiote. Their symbiote character would have to belong to another player's host and this would be to encourage player interaction as this show does not have one star.

One possible example:

Player 1 is Bobby(human) and Zerg(alien) who belongs to Annie
Player 2 is Annie(human) and Deathstar(alien) who belongs to Roy
Player 3 is Roy(human) and Max(alien) who belongs to Lilla
Player 4 is Lilla(human) and Droido(alien) who belongs to Bobby

*The names are bad I know, I promise it's on purpose.

Now the aliens would not have alot of control over their hosts, at first, but who knows they do share their human's body, thoughts, and nervous system. This is where my dilemma comes in. Obviously this could be alot of fun. It could also be big waste of time with more drama than daytime television occurring if the people you are playing with want to be ... donkeys.

The point of the game is to get the aliens home wherever their home may be but maybe Player 2 is more interested in having his alien character take over his hosts body and commit character suicide. Should I include this feature anyway? Other games have done it successfully yes but I haven't been able to get those and read how. Is it more trouble than it's worth? Should I include it but write up a second way to play for players who just want to be human?

I really like the idea, I would like to make it work if possible. If I did go forward with it I realize I would have to be very strict on how much control the alien can exert over the human. I also do not want to make the mechanics too involved and something like this screams for a health stat of some kind if the alien can take over it's host. Maybe I should make them more like snarky sidekicks with no real power or influence besides communication I'm not sure.

Yes? No? Maybe?

Two points:

First, I actually kind of like the two players to a character idea.  You raise a fine point about potential conflict of interest between a player controlling both a character and the symbiote of another character.  Not saying this is the answer, but have you considered having each player control either a human host or a symbiote?  If you have an odd number of players, have the odd one be the counterpart to an NPC attached to the "party".

So for four players, you'd only actually have two human characters, and two aliens that are along for the ride.

Another point:  in my experience (and I'd love to hear counter-examples!), designing a jackass-proof game is very, very difficult if not impossible.  If a PC is going to be a griefer, he's going to be a griefer.  James Nostack's post, "In-Fiction Sexual Exploitation" (http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forge/index.php?topic=29455.0), is an example; a player just decided to be a jerk.  Honestly, dealing with problems of that nature falls to the group to police.  There aren't really "don't be a dick" rules in games like this that I've seen; it's a group's responsibility to rectify or oust the jackasses when/if they rear their heads.

I'd suggst making symbiote/host conflicts a part of the game -- rather than attempting to stamp out symbiotes killing/manipulating their hosts, create game mechanics to handle it. Also bear in mind that if a host dies, the symbiote dies also, so the suicide scenario probably wouldn't happen. An allignment system of some sort may be required, something to determine how much conflict would be expected between symbiote and host.

Jim, Stairs you both have very good points. I agree that to prevent douche-baggery the easiest way would be to take the option away altogether but I am kinda hesitant to force the players into choosing one method of play too. Maybe I could write in multiple methods? Encourage them to break my game?

I like the idea of creating a system mechanic that incorporates the power struggle between the human hosts and their parasitic counterparts. I could always make a fourth stat and call it "Harmony" and this stat would work just like the other 3 except that it's used by humans for rolls in preventing the alien from taking control. I may need to include a timer of some kind so that the player can't just repeatedly try to take control every other minute. I don't know what kind of timer though especially since it's story based and doesn't rely a lot on minuscule details decided by dice.

What do you guys think?

Let's throw in a concept from Vincent Baker's Apocalypse World.

One of the character types, the Skinner, has an ability called "Hypnotic", which provides different benefits when targeted against NPCs and PCs.  On a success against a PC, the Skinner gets the following options:

"For PCs [...] any time you like you can spend your hold, 1 for 1:
• they distract themselves with the thought of you. They’re acting under fire.
• they inspire themselves with the thought of you. They take +1 right now.
On a miss, they hold 2 over you, on the exact same terms."

You could consider either an opposed roll between the PC and alien, or simply a roll by the PC, to determine whether the alien wins or the PC maintains his grip.  Perhaps even give the alien a couple options:  let them advise the player, and grant him a bonus on actions if he listens, or let him take control one way or another, possibly by duress rather than direct manipulation.  A snippet from a Brainer move from Apocalypse World, "In-brain puppet strings":

"[Y]ou can plant a command inside [your target's] mind. [...] At your will, no matter the circumstances, you can spend your hold 1 for 1:
• inflict 1-harm (ap)
• they take -1 right now
If they fulfill your command, that counts for all your remaining hold."

So, the alien declares "I'm trying to advise", or "I'm trying to interfere".  On a successful advice roll, give the player +X to whatever he's doing.  On a successful interference roll, the alien can damage or otherwise harass the player (-X to a given roll) if he doesn't listen.  Of course, you can always introduce a clause suggesting that if the alien wins an interference roll by a large margin, he takes over temporarily.

If the player wins the roll against interference, he gains the courage of his convictions and gains some benefit.  Now, the onus is on the alien's player; it's a gamble.  Do I try to interfere, with the knowledge that what I'm doing may end up helping my host in the long run?  You don't need a "timer" or other limitation because interference has hidden costs associated directly with its use.

How about making the control move between the alien and the human. a teeter-totter of control if you will.
I don't know what may trigger this change but sometimes the alien could "win" control over the human - maybe at very inopportune times.
The human would have to "coddle" the alien to be able to maintain control? Maybe have to do little things how the alien wants to keep it satisfied (which is a form of control in and of itself) if the player chooses to act wholly against the alien they have a chance that they will lose control? a roll or point lose system or something like that?

Just a thought.
Man i want to play this game. ;)

Necro