I don't really have anything to post here right now, but I said I'd start a thread, so... here it is.

I guess I can post some thoughts on a few different ideas, and maybe people can weigh in on which one deserves further effort.

IDEA #1: Gangland
Warriors-esque game about a group of '70s-style gang members trying to navigate their way through the bad part of town. Part The Warriors, part... The Warriors. Or Escape From New York. Play would consist of a set number of conflict scenes, but other than that this one's all premise and no structure.
City: In there!
Edge: Advantageous character trait.
Skin: Social connections within the gang community -- as in "Give me some skin."

IDEA #2: Action City!
Over-the-top action movie emulator trading heavily in cliches and well-worn tropes. Players have different roles: One's the Protagonist, one's the Antagonist, and the others are Friends of the Protagonist. Every character has a Sub-Plot defined at the start of the game, possibly at random, with a Sub-Plot Track to measure progress. Every scene that deals with the Sub-Plot means another box checked; these checked boxes have some sort of mechanical utility during the climactic confrontation, so dealing with your Sub-Plot actually makes you more capable of dealing with the A-plot.
City: Everything takes place in urban environments.
Edge: Same as above -- but flavorful stuff like "Crazy Like A Fox" or "I Know Kung Fu."
Skin: Uh... maybe... exterior, or, uh, surface... motivation? I have no idea what to do with this one.

IDEA #3: Horse People
Sorta Proto-Indo-European/Amerindianish hunter-gatherer primitive nomad-types. Play centers around battling the environment and jockeying for political control within the tribe. Each player could possibly play both a tribal leader and the members of the "sub-tribe" that follow him/her. Sessions are structured in year-long arcs, divided into four seasons. Each season is its own sequence of scenes with a concrete goal set forth by one or more players -- not sure how that would happen.
Edge: As above. I know this is a cop-out, but it lends itself to mechanical terminology so easily that it's hard to pass up.
Skin: Each sub-tribe is distinguished from the others by the animal skin its members wear. These sub-tribes have some personal trait in common in accordance with their totem animal. F'rinstance, the Bear People are strong and the Wolf People work exceptionally well together.
Desert: I have no idea. All I know is I can't use City for this one.

All right. Action City! it is.

The link to my blog there has the details so far, if anyone wants to check it out.

For anyone who wants to see the as-finished-as-I-could-get-it-at-4am product: Action City!

I'm sure I left out something important. I just don't know what it is yet.

I've uploaded a revised version of Action City!, for those who want to check it out.

Oops -- screwed up the URL. It's fixed below.

devlin1 wrote:
I've uploaded a revised version of Action City!, for those who want to check it out.

Current version of Action City! is here.

A short PDF of errata, clarifications, and useful stuff is here.