post-human RPG playtest
John Aegard
My pal Wil is organizing playtests of a new post-human, post-scarcity
roleplaying game. We are looking for 2-3 fellow playtesters. No
experience with any kind of game is necessary. This could happen at
a Saturday House, or offsite.
The game is straight out of Stross and Doctorow, and there are
weird echos of Saturday House in it, so I thought y'all might be
interested.
If you already know about D&D, most of that game's concepts
map to this game. But instead of warriors and wizards, players will
play immortal inhabitants of space station. Instead of an adventuring
party, the group forms an ad-hoc collective dedicated to the performance
of some function or the propagation of some idea. Instead of gold and
experience points, everyone is trying to boost their social capital by
doing neat stuff.
The game is by Luke Crane and Jared Sorensen, who are prominent new-wave
RPG guys. The field has seen some neat innovations in the past few
years -- most of it happening in public at sites like www.indie-rpgs.com
and www.story-games.com.
Please drop me a line if you're interested. Thanks!
-zo
Lion Kimbro
I'd also just like to talk with you about RPGs in general.
I talked with Miles once about some ideas:
* "Body Stress" -- wizards collapse after casting powerful
spells, do they not? Magic stresses the body, and that's
why wizards and witches are frail. Toss mana, use
body endurance in place. Are you *really sure* you want
to cast that magic missile? Can your body take it?
* "Connections" -- modeling relationships between
characters (living & NPC) within RPG frameworks.
Characters that are in love, or with good friends, or
with enemies, and so on. Connect, do not divorce, from
real-world situation.
* "Passion" -- an attribute & character score that
is connected (but not completely determined by)
the material world passion/drama/tension experienced
by the player(s), that actively modifies die-rolls,
etc.,.
-- in the positive direction,
states such as: "casual," "positive," "up/elan,"
"high", "extreme", "mythic," and then "cosmic"
-- higher on the scale grants higher control over
character, reminders & notices from the GM,
skill check roll bonuses, greater willingness to
endure suffering, ability to completely sacrifice
character
-- lower scores, and the character simply **won't**
do what is requested by the player
-- illusion magic to lift spirits, but only works if it
*actually* affects players
* "Reframing" -- accounting for player-side reinterpretation
of events, what the story means, "who's actually good
here;" A priest may lose powers if they think / discover
their God is a fraud, etc., discover genuine disagreement.
* "Bridging" -- never-ending-story-like world bridging --
manipulating the game world to reflect narrative events
within our lives out here. ("How was your week?
What happened?") cf Ultima IV, the Tarot Card reading
at the beginning of the game, with Virtue vs. Virtue
judgements.
The general theme here is "embodiment" of the game;
"Connection" with our lives and circumstances, a sort
of holism around the game. Is it a game? Is it therapy?
Is it experimentation? Is it alchemy? And so on.
cf Changling: The Dreaming
http://www.white-wolf.com/Changeling%20Web%20Week/QuickStart1-8.pdf
see also:
The Evolving Storycology Project
http://storyfieldconference.com/SFC-Atlee-Storycology.html
http://www.journalismthatmatters.org/newsecology/ImagineeringJournalismStory.htm
Take care,
Lion {:)}=
Brian Rice
apparently authored some famous early D&D beasts and other items, so
I'm interested.
However, this sounds far too geeky and time-consuming for me to
actually play (I haven't used D20's in anger for about a decade), plus
it reminds me of how ... disturbing Stross' audience was at the SciFi
Museum reading, so I'll limit myself to participating at the level of
discussion/design and observation.
--
-Brian
http://briantrice.com
John Aegard
> actually play (I haven't used D20's in anger for about a decade), plus
> it reminds me of how ... disturbing Stross' audience was at the SciFi
> Museum reading, so I'll limit myself to participating at the level of
> discussion/design and observation.
Hi Brian--
We're not looking at a long-range commitment kinda thing--this would just be a
one-off. And everyone involved at this stage appears to be housebroken, and
a regular bather.
(not sure what other values of disturbing you're anxious about, but those are
the typical gamer ones. My hobby, it can be an ugly one.)
zo.
John Aegard
Yes, we ought to talk about RPGs some day. :)
zo.
milesvp
> My pal Wil is organizing playtests of a new post-human, post-scarcity
> roleplaying game.
As the self appointed economist of the group, I'd just like to point
out that there will *ALWAYS* be scarcity.
Miles