[Supers Chess] story elements in a mechaically focused game
Holywar:
Wow. Wow about using Chess as a system for managing character actions. Its interesting but it requires a certain level of patience and attention to detail in character development that many players may lack. Not doubting the ability of your players, i would probably be among their number haha. Though i'm definitely attracted to the idea of abstracting choices in the form of game. I didn't read the primer you linked because i just joined up today, and for some reason it won't give me access. I must lack the requisite cool points.
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Now I'm definitely not a chess player, but I really like the concept here, and think it can be best for someone like me if you can limit the major chess players' advantage as much as possible, save for a full-board game. Thus exotic board shapes, "special" pieces with odd moves, and small other oddities would be interesting.
Agreed. These limited board set ups could involve as few as 5 or 8 pieces, and certain characters, such as villains who might represent a particular emotion/theme may also have a serious of fairly predictable actions, but have tremendously powerful and overwhelming positions at the start of the "chess" game. Perhaps with a queen already having a king in check, and start the game with the players action. The player can use information gained earlier in the game in a simple role playing session to figure out what the antagonists moves will be, and then counter them before he acts. thus you can link the players interpretation of events with the in-game mechanics, and there buy commit them to not just think about the game in term of chess mechanics, but in terms of character psychology. The players are not as strong as the enemy (because the enemy has better position/pieces available), but they understand the enemy better, enabling them to outmaneuver and defeat them. This adds to the drama, makes the stakes higher, and introduces a narrative element into the game, all without detracting from the rules you probably spent days writing and testing. Its not GM knows best, its an inevitable consequence of the characters personality(both player and NPC)
In all honesty, when you say the game is mechanically focused, i think a chess based system has the ability to be a narrative system in its extreme if employed properly, and if you consider actions to be almost like choices. I think the concept in general is absolutely brilliant, and while i won't use it to resolve combats or anything like that, i shall definitely crib this idea into my lexicon of awesome for use when dealing with things like demonic possession, mind control games, dreams ect. Its an excellent way to represent and abstract conflict, and to illustrate the complexity of something like a parallel universe without resorting to a skill check.
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