Hey all,

Here's a fun little game I came up with over the course of the last two weeks or so. It's what I call a Stealth Narrativist game, filled with a lot of sneaky mechanics to encourage that sort of play without having to throw player narration and director stance in people's faces. Let me know what you think.

Main Void Main

What is MVM?

Main Void Main is a cyberpunk game about future shock, and the past man cannot escape. No matter how far you run, or what parts you replace, no matter how much you live in a datastream, humans cannot escape themselves. The focus of the game is on passion, empathy, and drive, and their opposites, ruthlessness, alienation, and apathy. The players will find their characters driving towards one extreme or the other, to find their fate in the future unknown.

The game is inspired by Sorcerer’s Humanity mechanic, Dust Devils’ Devils(does that make sense?), the Riddle of Steel’s SA’s, and Trollbabe’s “one number to rule them all” This game was conceived during the brief thread about cyberpunk being about alienation a month or two back, and the idea of balancing alienating others and alienating one

The Setting

Main Void Main can take place in any point in the future, as long as cybernetics, virtual reality, or androids exist. You can play with just one element, or all three, depending on your setting. Each provide a means of exploring what it means to be human in very different, but compelling way. Figure out which of the three you want to use or not use, if any are the focus of your game, and what tech level any of them are at.

•Virtual Reality

The main thrust of this sort of theme is “What is real?” and alienation from the outside world. Virtual reality could be a set of goggles and a funky body suit or a plug that goes into the side of your head. In some cases it could be a holographic room, or some form of induced dream state.

Source material: Lawnmower Man, Dreamscapes, Tron, Lain, Avalon

•Cybernetics

Cybernetics and bionics are all about self alienation and “Who/What am I?” Cybernetics could be something as simple as not too realistic looking limbs as basic replacements up to biological genetic alterations to make your body completely inhuman. In this case, treat cybernetics as any mechanical or biological alteration deliberately done to the human body.

Source material: Battle Angel Alita, Robocop, Ghost in the Shell

•Androids

Androids are all about, “What is human?” Androids could be mechanical beings with or without emotions and self will, biological constructs/clones, or a mixture ot the two. Android stories are almost always about trying to find and define the thin line between genuine existence and empty programming/preconditioning.

Source material: Bladerunner, Metropolis, Ghost in the Shell, Appleseed

Quicksheets

Once you’ve got an idea of the thematic focus of your game, write up a one page sheet that details

•Where? (The high tech corp offices of Neo Tokyo, the dirty wastelands of Old Detroit, etc.)
•When? (20 years after VR computers have been introduced, Post WW3, etc.)
•Who’s in charge? (Genom Corp, The Steel Crips gang, A US dominated UN council, etc)
•What’s technologically possible, and what’s the kind of stuff the player’s are probably dealing with?(Nanotech, railguns, cybernetic cell phones, etc.)

Characters

•Concept
Define your character by listing the 3 most important traits about them. These 3 traits should be the 3 that the character relies on to get through life. Notice that they don’t all have to be positive, but they do have to aid your character in surviving and succeeding in life. These traits can be mental, physical, social, emotional, etc.

Example-
Frank Mercado is a high corporate exec, who’s made his way by being bold where others were meek, and always being able to play his opposition like a violin. His traits are:
-Rich Aerodynatech Exec
-Aggressive personality
-Sense weakness and pounce on it

•Pandora
Each character gets one Pandora, which is a situation, character, or fact that brings trouble into their life, over and over. This could be a rival, a romantic relationship that always seems to go wrong, a deal with the devil, being wanted, being in debt, self hate, etc.

At any point in the game, you can choose to have a Pandora scene, where you frame the scene in regards to your Pandora. You can also introduce your Pandora into a scene if it fits as well. Think of the Pandora as a way of saying, “This is the conflict I want my character to face”.

Example-
Frank Mercado always assumes that every situation can be won, and that he’s always in charge. He has never learned the meaning of “Win some, lose some”, or how to recognize an unwinnable situation. His Pandora is Arrogance.

•Heart

Heart is the quite simply, caring. It could be passion, compassion, zeal, fanaticism, or anything in which you care about someone or something, be it material or an idea or belief. It’s opposite, Heartless, is not caring. Whether apathy, antipathy, cold blooded ruthlessness, its simply not giving a fuck.

Heart is measured with a number from 1 to 9, which will fluctuate in play. You can choose any number from 1 to 9 for your character’s Heart. If your Heart ever reaches 0 or 10, your character has reached their Finale(see below).

MVM is designed to create stories where the character goes from idealism to disillusionment, from cynicism to compassion, hangs at the edge of the abyss, be it fanaticism or meglomania before taking that final step. Think about where your character lies and what kind of story you want to tell, be it one of major change, or staving off the inescapable, taking a final commitment or making the ultimate sacrifice.

Example-
Frank Is about average for a corp wageslave, he cares about himself and his family, but not too much about anyone else. Paul, Frank’s player, wants to use Frank to tell a story about going too far and going over the edge, one of karmic downfall, where all the crap that Frank pulls comes back on him. He sets Frank’s Heart at 6 and considers different ways to make Frank crash and burn.

•Finale

The Finale is the last scene in which your character is active. Your character has reached their Finale at the point that their Heart reaches 0 or 10. You can choose to activate your Finale right away, or delay it. If you choose to delay your Finale, the GM automatically can narrate the outcomes of any actions you may attempt. You do not get to make any Heart rolls and have to accept the GM’s decision.

You can fully narrate the outcome of your Finale, but at the end, your character must be removed from play. This could be retirement, living happily ever after, or being brainfried or trapped in a VR nightmare.

•Plot points

Your character starts with 0 plot points, but you earn a plot point any time your character’s Heart rating rises or drops a point. You can spend 3 plot points to reroll any Heart roll, and you can also trade or give them to other players as you see fit.

Resolution

•Heart or Heartlessness?

For any conflict in which you are attempting to:
-Harm another person or group of people
-Aid another
-Influence another person or group of people
-Act on strong emotional motivations

you need to make a Heart roll. Decide if your action is going to be made out of Heart(caring) or Heartlessness(not caring). Either one can apply, all you need to do is simply narrate it correctly. Killing someone out of mercy and killing someone out of cruelty or callousness are two different ways you can use Heart or Hearlessness for the same action.

You cannot narrate thoughts or feelings, but have to display that through words or actions in the narration. For example, you couldn’t say, “’She’s just a tool’, he thinks, as he kisses her.”, but you could use, “As they embrace, she doesn’t see the sly smile creep across his face, or hear the almost inaudible chuckle from him”.


•Rolling Dice

For any Heart rolls, you’ll roll 1D10. If you are making a Heart action, you are trying to roll equal to or under your Heart. If you are making a Heartlessness action, you are trying to roll above it. If you fail, but one of your Traits can be applied to the conflict, you can reroll once. You can also choose to spend 3 plot points to reroll once more.

Success indicates that you have succeeded, and the GM narrates your success. You gain a Heart point if you were making a Heart roll, and lose one if you were making a Heartlessness roll. You also gain a Plot point from having your Heart rating rise or fall.

If you have failed, then your Heart stays the same, and the GM narrates your failure.

Optional settngs:

Main Void Main isn’t just restricted to Cyberpunk settings, but can also be used in other genres and settings that promote a lot of emotional conflict.

Gangsters
Gangster movies are all about loyalty, honor, brotherhood, betrayal, ambition, greed, and sacrfice. Perfect settings to run with the conflict between Heart and Heartlessness.

Samurai
See all those fun things in Gangster movies? It’s pretty much the same thing with samurai stories as well, the only difference being that you use swords and honor plays a bigger role.

War Drama
There was a flood of Vietnam movies in the 80’s that pretty much explored the range of humanity and inhumanity in war. If you want to play something serious and frightening, try Full Metal Jacket or Apocalypse Now using these rules.

HK Wuxia
The fights are never about who’s better, but why you’re fighting. Love, loyalty, vows, revenge, you get the drift.

•Other good sources that tell MVM type stories:

Comics
Sin City, Kabuki, Battle Angel Altia, Sanctuary, The Dark Knght Returns, DK2, Evangelion

Movies
Godfather, A Better Tomorrow, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Brother, Ghost Dog

Comments?

Chris

This reminds me a lot of Enlightenment, (speaking of which, what happened to it?) but stripped down to its barest core. Did that influence you in any way? I can see it in the sliding Heart/less scale.

That's really cool; I'm a big fan of minimalist design. I also like the 'stealth Narr' angle; it's pleasantly non-intimidating.

This reminds me a lot of Enlightenment, (speaking of which, what happened to it?) but stripped down to its barest core. Did that influence you in any way? I can see it in the sliding Heart/less scale.

fourwillowsweeping wrote: This reminds me a lot of Enlightenment, (speaking of which, what happened to it?)

Bankuei wrote: Actually I never got a chance to check it out. It was actuall a cross between Trollbabe's magic Number and Sorcerer's Humanity ideas.

Emily, the idea I got was that traits allowed you a reroll on Heart tests involving that Trait. I'm there with your question about the setting elements, though; I'd like to see an explicitly mechanical way in which they are involved. But again, this game is just so elegant that it might not need that.

Bankuei wrote: If you are making a Heartlessness action, you are trying to roll above it. If you fail, but one of your Traits can be applied to the conflict, you can reroll once.

Emily,

To go a little more in depth with your questions, at first I was thinking of simply going with Heart as the sole mechanic, but most folks like to have a little more differentiating factors in their characters. Not only that, I wanted to allow folks to have a solid chance at working their Heart rating back away from one of the edges without having to rely solely on Plot points or getting hosed all the time. In other words, the traits are sort of a limiter to the "Empty Pool" syndrome from the pool. If you are playing your character according to the role you've created for yourself, you have a greater chance of story control.

Second, the Who/What/Where is basically setting up Setting/Color/Situation in one big go. One of the biggest problems with either universal systems or home settings is that players have a hard time familiarizing themselves with those 3 elements. If you say, "We're playing Star Wars tonight!", everyone gets the idea right away. The Who/What/Where is an explicit call for folks to get on the same page if they're doing something outside of an established background.

Also, one of the major issues with sci-fi and cyberpunk is that its all about societies and cultures changing under progress, so you're not just introducing new laws of physics("Look, we can record your soul into the computer, death is no longer a threat!"), but also a new culture("Today's Neurochip news, your 5 second synapse firing into the future! Today, we look at retro-grunge-anarchy, is it a new religion, or merely a fad?")
Lots of folks get lost real quick in these games because of it.

Strongly establishing setting and situation are very important, especially since the system isn't based off of simulating reality("Bio-regenerative nanites work up to 10 rounds after death..."). In other systems, where the mechanics establish physical reality, you don't need as much guidelines. In this game, success could mean anything, its entirely up to the social contract of the group to enforce reality and physics, which requires a shared understanding of what is and isn't possible.

As far as Cyb/VR/And elements, I simply took the most common and prevalent themes in Cyberpunk stories, and said, "What thematic purpose do they serve?" I could probably come up with similar elements for the other settings I've listed, such as "The big score", "The lost technique" , etc. Basically, my point is to allow players to quickly plug and play the elements and explore whatever premise with an appropriate tool.

The most important exploration is the "Why" of your character's actions. You can kill out of Heart("For the cause, For the one I love, for justice, mercy killing, etc"), you can kill out of Heartlessness("You don't matter, nothing does, I'm a killer anyway, Justice doesn't exist...").

You as a player can choose what meaning any action has to you as an individual. Two people can do the same action, both out of Heart, and have two different reasons for it being a Heart action. Basically, each action is a statement about your character. The setting is simply a catalyst for exploring your character's journey between Heart and Heartlessness, and deciding which of the two extremes is his or her story going to end on.

Chris