Game Chef 2017

HERE is my submission (with the indispensable help of my creative partner) for Game Chef 2017.  The theme was Borders, with Yarn, Smoke, Cut, and Echo as the ingredients.

We thought through several ideas, and we tried to think through making an area control game about shifting borders between countries or factions with yarn for the borders, but it proved to be too wonky for the time we had in development.  We also spit-balled another game that I hope we can get written and posted before it goes cold, called Wake.  Like many of the 70 odd games submitted, it also included death as the border, and used stories for the element of yarn.  The idea was that we would be telling stories about the same character with ritual spoken responses (echo) to commemorate various events in the life of a character who'd died.  Each story would be shaped by an emotion, possibly by a randomly drawn length of yarn corresponding to that emotion.  After the story, and after the spoken ritual, the yarn would be burned.  We liked the idea as a way of building characters in reverse.

I liked that the judges sent each contestant four other games for peer review, and from those one nomination for the winning entry.  One of my reviews was for a LARP about friendship growing distant, that, while impeccably written was not a game that I would want to play.  The one I nominated was a game about characters resolving issues through the lens of hallucinations that has a Walter Mitty sort of vibe.  The other two games included two more awkward games.  The first, a competitive one that is meant to be a competitive one that would work better as a story telling game with other players adding constraining elements.  The second game was very slim, and more awkward still with mechanics and information that drove exactly nothing in the  game, while thematically being about a breakup.  All in all, not a fun game.

It was good to compete and complete a challenging creative project.  This is my second competition submission (the last being last years 200 rpg challenge).  Gotta push through and get busy!

Game of Death - an October Challenge Game, Mostly About Punching

http://dcugames.blogspot.com/2016/10/game-of-death-first-draft.html

This is the first completed game for my October challenge.  The month is two thirds done, and I have learned that it is very hard business to try to create a game a day.  I might try again in a more modest form with a game idea seed a day next time... we'll see.

But here it is, a complete, but simple game.  It uses a decreasing resource management mechanic, with two different die resolution mechanics used in a hybrid tandem; a die pool for gaining successes, and a die target number mechanic for determining binary pass/fail success.

Having put it out unplaytested, it is sure to have problems that need to be addressed, but it should be fun (though brutal).

I have about half a dozen other half done ideas to choose from next.  Hopefully, I can get the rest out by the end of month!

Prestige: The Game of Terrible Compliments

The Crown has called a great feast to determine who will be appointed to rule new land on the marches.  All the best have come to seek the honor.  You, however, are the one that will win this.  This is a feast of pomp, and manners, and fine beverages... an event of great boasts... and compliments for all contenders that will with florid politeness grind them all beneath your heel...

THE GAME

All players will see that their cups are filled with a tasty beverage to enhance loquacity and perspicacity.  The host shall sit in role of The Crown, and the rest of the players as peers.

Next, players will in rounds regale the company with a boast, one each in turn, outlining each of the following in such a fashion as will bring amazement to the heart of The Crown:

- First, a claim against your most noble pedigree.  What is the single greatest fact of your most noble birth that sets you above the peasants, and apart from your less worthy peers?
- Second, the fact of your greatest virtue.  What aspect of your character shows you to be more than worthy in heart and mind from churls and villains?
- Third, a deed of great merit.  What is your single greatest accomplishment, showing you fit not only in word but in action, to hold stewardship of the cantankerous marches for The Crown?

When these meritorious boasts have been laid before The Crown, and for all to see, everyone will then take turns giving a compliment to the peer of choice, extolling the greatness of the claimed boast, for it is just, and right, and proper that the peers hold unity before The Crown for only a churl, or villain, or rabble-rousing insurrectionist would not stand firm in the unity of the state.  HOWEVER, let us not forget, that should The Crown be more impressed with your rivals than you, you will gain nothing!

Thus, you must give a compliment of splendid form, that nonetheless shows the truth of the matter such that, in the end there can be no doubt that whatever boasts your rivals claim, they are in fact weak, shabby, and silly accomplishments indeed... proving the boaster unfit to rule the marches.

After everyone has had a chance to lay a compliment, a moment to savor the fine beverage will be observed before another round is taken to address a compliment to another of your peers.  Should the company wish, as many rounds as it takes to compliment each player can be taken, but should brevity be required, two rounds is sufficient.

After the rounds have been completed, the crown will choose who is most worthy based on their accomplishments.  Glory upon their house and their name!

Pollyanna And The Goblins (revised)

Once upon a time, there was a pleasant young girl named Pollyanna.  She found herself in an orphanage one Christmas, and she was the last one to get a gift out of the charity barrel.  Though she was hoping for a beautiful doll like the one she'd seen in the shop window, all she actually found was a pair of crutches.  She was at first sad, because what did she need crutches for?  But then she remembered what her wonderful Dad had taught her long ago... always find something good about every situation you are in.  Then she cheered up, because the crutches reminded her how glad she was that she didn't need them.

And then the goblins came to burn down the orphanage...

                                    * * * * * * * * *

This is a game in which players take turns as goblins putting Pollyanna into a jamb... until Pollyanna gets out.  But being a sweet and positive child, she does not fight goblins with bloody violence... she fights back with optimism!

SETUP

Each player will have as many tokens as there are players.  A stack of index cards will be shared by all.

The most disgruntled player will be the goblin chief the first round, and the player to their left will begin as Pollyanna.

Each player will take one turn playing Pollyanna while the other players play the goblins that turn.  After each time that a player acts as Pollyanna, the role of Pollyanna passes to that player's left.  After everyone has had one turn each as Pollyanna, the game will conclude.  There is a little more to the structure, but this is the basic structure of the game.

The players, beginning with the first round Pollyanna, will                                                               ("Hope" at http://redreevgeorge.deviantart.com/)
frame the story, determining the stakes, the locations that                
Pollyanna must traverse to deal with the goblins, and the first
hazard the goblins inflict upon Pollyanna and the orphanage.

FRAMING THE STORY

Pollyanna will begin by describing the scene, answering each of these questions briefly but colorfully:

1) What time is it?  The time of year, and the hour included.
2) Where in the orphanage is Pollyanna?  Write this on an index card with the time.
3) What is Pollyanna doing?

THE STAKES

Next, the player who begins as the chief goblin will begin listing the stakes - those things which Pollyanna must defend, or recover.  The goblins will each list one stake, each of which Pollyanna may make a single modification to if she likes.  The goblins will answer the following questions when naming the stakes:

1) What is at stake?  This can be another orphan, a birthday cake, or any other concrete thing.
2) Where is that located in the orphanage?  Write the location on an index card, with the stake noted beneath.  The things at stake should be things that Pollyanna will really care about enough to go after.
3) How do you get there from where Pollyanna is?  This path should include no more than three elements.  For example, "down the hall, up the stairs to the attic, and in the wardrobe on the left". Briefly note this on the card, and place the card adjacent to Pollyanna's card in relation more or less to her location.

GOBLIN TROUBLE

The chief goblin will now describe the way in which goblin mischief begins.  He can name one particular fact that will cause Pollyanna trouble, and will put a token on a location working from the point farthest from her.  The troublesome fact can be anything that the devious goblin chooses relating to the location, or something that the Goblin has chosen to bring to the mayhem.  For example, suppose the Goblin places a token on a location noted to be "The Kitchen".  He may with his token declare that he is putting a dead coyote in the stove.  The fact introduced by the token is the dead coyote, and it is in a kitchen so of course there is a stove which requires no token to declare.

AND WORSE GOBLIN TROUBLE

The next goblin to act continues in kind to declare mischief with a token, either making the previous trouble worse, or moving inward to a new location, placing a token on that card, and declaring a new fact.  For example, the second goblin may place a second token in The Kitchen, declaring "...with your birthday cake..." which is a fact that aggravates the first fact.  Alternatively, he may choose to place a token on the next card called, let's say, "The Dining Room", and declare that he has lit all the candles in the room.

After placing a token, the goblin notes the fact briefly on the card (e.g. "dead coyote").

Troubles should can be pretty much anything the goblin chooses from the merely annoying such as defacing the founder's portrait, to the dangerously malicious like knocking over the lit candles onto the table cloth.  Narrative and creative freedom are encouraged.  The only stipulation, is that whatever trouble the goblins create, they cannot harm either Pollyanna, or any of the stakes in an immediate, direct, or permanent fashion.  Anything else goes.

Pollyanna may act as well at this time, if she chooses.  If at any point while the goblins are making mischief, Pollyanna decides that she does not like the fact laid down by a goblin, she can give one of her own tokens to the offending goblin, and modify the troublesome fact with a "...yes, but..." statement.  She cannot nullify the fact entirely, but she can add a condition to it.  For example, if the goblin in the Dining Room knocked over all the lit candles onto the tablecloth, Pollyanna might put a token in and say "...yes, but the table cloth is still wet from spilling all the sun tea on it at lunch".  The wax will surely ruin the table cloth, but it won't be catching fire.

GOBLINS AND STAKES

Goblins may choose to make mischief in a way that potentially threatens the stake, as long as they recall that they may not harm the stakes in an immediate, direct, or permanent fashion.  If for instance, Pollyanna's birthday cake is in the oven, the dead coyote cannot be used to smash the cake directly, nor may they eat it (though licking the frosting with their nasty tongues is just fine), and the rotting coyote carcass inside with it will not immediately ruin the cake, but Pollyanna must certainly act fast or it soon will spoil the cake.

POLLYANNA'S TURN

After each goblin has had a chance to make mischief, Pollyanna gets her turn.  With an indomitable optimism, Pollyanna now has the opportunity to observe and declare ways that any mischief the goblins make is actually helpful to her, and harmful to them.

She gets to make one optimistic declaration for every goblin in play on her turn.  This declaration directly addresses any particular trouble of her choice.  She may declare one optimistic fact for each goblin for free (that is, she does not have to give a token to that goblin).  The new fact is noted on the card below the previous one.  For example, she will begin by saying something like, "well even though the goblins put the dead coyote in the oven with my birthday cake, at least my cake was on the top rack".  This is helpful to her, though not particularly harmful to the goblin cause.

However, just like the goblins, Pollyanna can add facts to facts that she has already declared.  Unlike her initial declarations though, she must give a token to the goblin who made the mischief before she can add a second declaration to the first.  For example, if she noted that her birthday cake was on the top rack, and then decided to add "...and I'm really lucky that the smell of warm chocolate cake is irresistible".  Then she gives the goblin who put the dead coyote in the oven a token.

When Pollyanna makes a declaration that is both helpful to her, and bad for the goblins, she may take that trouble token.  If Pollyanna had declared "...the luckiest part is that now, the goblins are fighting among themselves over who gets to eat the cake..." she will have made a declaration helpful to her ("top rack" because it keeps her cake safe), and harmful to the goblins ("fighting among themselves over cake").  She gets to take the trouble token for her own use, and then mark a line through cake on the card, which now makes it safe from further mischief.

AFTER EVERYONE HAS HAD A TURN

All tokens not in play on cards are now passed to the left, and the player to Pollyanna's left becomes the new Pollyanna.  Play proceeds from the last point as described.

GETTING RID OF THE GOBLINS

On the last round, when the last player to play Pollyanna takes her turn, any tokens in hand can be used to add facts that may conclusively defeat goblins, by spending one token at a time per fact.  The facts must all build on already established facts to be valid.  For example, Pollyanna has previously declared that the goblins are fighting over the cake in the kitchen, so she might now spend a token to declare "...and I sure am glad that all that fighting made the littlest goblin decide to go home!" which effectively removes the goblin from play.

The only way the goblin may counter this at this point, is if he still has a token in hand, and decides to use it to make a "...yes, but..." declaration.  For example, the littlest goblin player may have decided to go home, but spending that token could declare "...yes, I've decided this fighting makes me want to go home, but only after the chief goblin goes first...", or "yes, I've decided to go home in a huff, but not until I've gobbled the cake...".

WINNING

Pollyanna wins under the following conditions:

1) All of her stakes have been lined out of play
2) None of the goblins have any tokens left, and none are in play on cards (all are in Pollyanna's hand)

The goblins win under the following conditions:

1) Pollyanna fails to preserve any of her stakes before all tokens are in play
2) Pollyanna has no tokens in hand, and she has failed to protect all of her stakes

The Henchman - Submitted for the 200 Word RPG Challenge

So I'm running on about 4 hours of sleep at work today (coffee!... oh, beautiful coffee!). The first actual draft, v. 1.1 came in at ~550 words. I wrote in Notepad so I didn't have the word count showing as my editor is far too ready to stomp on my creative brain. That was a good thing. Then the editing process began.  

I edited. Then I edited some more. I spent all day on my day off doing this, and still, down to the wire, I was at 220 words. In flew SuperWife to leap tall paragraphs, and punch out word count in a single bound. We shouted, we kvetched, I explained game design vocabulary, she complained, we collaborated, and here is the very brief version! (NOTE: this game would not have happened, at least on time as a contest submission, without her. Thanks B!)

I will post the original later for comparison.

Several things were ingredients in the final stew. Polaris was the first game I ever read in which the mechanics fed into the narrative and the PCs are assured death in the end. Becoming, is a game that comes close, with the mechanics feeding the narrative of how the PC is changed and what they sacrifice along the way, but the idea of a story about actual character death it turns out, can be just as interesting as a book or movie of the same idea. It is the Kobayshi Maru principle; how we face death is at least as important as how we face life. The notion of making a story about that is compelling.
Another idea that I wanted to play with, was the idea of what is under the face of a story. I love stories with strong face characters, and I won't deny the need for a strong face either in fiction or fact to a movement. The army that defeated Rommel may not have been nearly so effective had it not had George Patton as the face. We remember Patton because he led a victorious army... who was it that Rommel beat first? Unless you are a WW II history buff, you probably don't know. But the army, the men who crewed the tanks did the fighting, and sweating, and bleeding. They were the ones who died. They mattered. That was the second ingredient in the stew. What kind of story can a game tell about the henchmen that follow the face?
Then the other ingredients are the seasonings. While the first two elements form the core of the narrative idea side of the game, the other elements compose the mechanics that have to be married to the narrative. Good design marries mechanics that directly encourage the kind of play that you want the narrative to be about. So I thought about how to do that. I wanted it to be a collaborative game, because the henchmen are the people that back up the face, or they all fail. I also wanted there to be some uncertainty about the outcome to bring the fun and interest of tension to the game. And I wanted there to be some competitive element to push the players to excel as well. Castle Panic is a game that very effectively brings elements of cooperation and competition with uncertainty of outcome. I also thought about game theory and the Prisoner's Dilemma, in which tension comes of rational people trying to weigh self-interest and altruism and failure for everybody all at once. All of this fed into the otherwise simple mechanics for task resolution.
The final ingredient, was trying to find a very simple way of structuring it. I wanted to use a finer grained Hero's Journey a la Joseph Campbell, but settled on a basic three act structure.

Here it is!

HENCHMEN: The Game of the Daring Band that Follows (v 1.5)
Requirements: 4 Henchmen, 1 NP Hero, 4 index cards; 16 Light tokens, 20 Dark tokens, Crucible for Tokens, pencil.
Write name and how you serve the Hero.
ACT1: Four Scenes
Framer vividly describes scene and foreshadows the Dark (Omen, Rumor, Victim, Minion), annotating card. Everyone receives one Dark Token, including Hero.
Narrator then shares meaningful Bond with Hero; annotating card. Hero receives one Light Token. Other players may contribute up to two times during ACT1.  One Light Token per share. Repeat until all Henchmen Frame, and Narrate.
ACT2: Four Scenes
1ST Framer ties foreshadowing from ACT1 and reveals Dark force and fateful Risk to overcome.
Everyone secretly puts 1-3 Tokens into the Crucible. Narrator pulls tokens one at at a time and narrates confronting Risk.  Light Tokens aid victory, Dark Tokens - defeat.
If Dark Tokens outnumber Light, either sacrifice life and keep Dark Tokens as Glory, or retreat, passing Risk to another. If Light outnumbers Dark; defeat the risk. Can use Light Tokens in personal pile. Any Light Tokens gained pass to Hero. Repeat.
ACT3
Place Hero’s Tokens in Crucible.  Take turns drawing one Token, and describe the Hero’s Glorious final confrontation.  More Light = Heroic Victory. More Dark = Glorious Sacrifice.

one plus one