[Game Chef Competition 2011] The Tragic Life of Bill Spear
Ross Cowman:
BTW Hellsgate is an old name for Missoula, MT which actualy has a Hellsgate High.
MatrixGamer:
I'll work on a 3rd draft today.
I got the Hellsgate name from the movie "The Gangs of New York". It was the reformatory the hero was sent to. Great movie!
MatrixGamer:
The 3rd Draft
SCREWED: The inner life of an American Teenager
By Chris Engle
7-18-11
Theme: Shakespeare
Ingredients: Daughter, Exile, Forsworn, Nature
INSPIRATION
This is what I thought when I looked at the ingedients.
Shakespeare – tragedy – high school English class – high school
Exile – alienation – teenager
Nature – biology – hormones
Daughter – heroine – object of desire – the girl
Forsworn – forswear – renounce – self – self loathing
Which adds up to a self loathing high school teenager hopped up on hormones who is unable to get the girl – thus tragedy.
Elevator Pitch: Life is tragic especially the life of the average American teenager. This game is all about getting into the brain of Bill Leer. The conflict within is what it’s all about.
Each turn our hero, Bill, is confronted with problems. The players run the voices in his head. Of course they want him to succeed but they don’t agree on how to do that. The game focuses on how they try to keep Bill from doing something stupid as he navigates the soul crushing halls of high school.
He’s screwed.
MEET BILL LEER
Bill Leer is an average 15 year old Freshman. His family recently moved to the suburbs of a major US city. He knows no one, and is about to go to an unforgiving high school. The only resource he has are the many voices in his head and they all think he’s a loser.
What a nerd!
WELCOME TO HELLSGATE HIGH
Hellsgate is your typical middle class suburban high school. Think back to your time in high school. It’s like that. Or if you didn’t go to high school in the US, think about Sunnydale High School from “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”. It’s like that.
Bill may meet a nerd, a jock, a cheerleader, a helpful teacher, a sadistic coach and anyone else the players choose to include.
The game begins on Bill’s first day of school but scenes may jump days, weeks or even months. It’s all up to the game master.
MATERIALS NEEDED
Paper and pens
2d6 per player
30 or so repression tokens
3 to 7 players (best at 5)
2 hours to play
SCREWED – THE GAME ENGINE
Screwed is a game about the battles we all have in our heads. Cognitive theory tells us that we all have a running conversation with ourselves called self-talk. Self talk explains the world to us and creates fantasies about what we hope will happen next. Each of us have many voices all talking at the same time suggesting going every direction at once. Our voices don’t trust one anther which is why most of us are so messed up. The players make up Bill’s thoughts, but the game master (GM) gets to splash them with a bucket of cold, wet reality when they make up what really happens. The next turn grows out of what happened previously.
SCENARIOS
At the beginning of the game the players pick a scenario to play. This is the over arching conflict of the game.
1. Let’s get Bill in trouble
2. Let’s get Bill in a fight
3. Let’s embarrass Bill
4. Let’s get Bill a date
5. Let’s find out how badly Bill’s date goes
6. Let’s get Bill drunk
The GM takes the conflict and makes up an openning problem/scene to confront the players with. For instance: If the conflict is embarrassing Bill, the GM might start off with Bill meeting a pretty girl in the hall. The GM knows that the girl will make fun of him, Bill is a nerd after all. Depending on how he handles this, the next problem might be being taunted by other girls during gym class. Each scene flows from the last scene.
ROLES
The most experienced player takes on the role of GM. Their job is to keep the game moving, to make up problems, and to make up what happens in reality.
The other players play a voice in Bill’s head. Each voice has it’s own personality. The players pick one personality to champion.
ROMEO: Impulsive, shallow, ruled by desire
OTHELLO: Jealous, eternal outsider, paranoid person who trusts no one
HAMLET: Brooding, indecisive, overreacts
LADY MACBETH: Ambitious, wrack with guilt, self loathing/self destructive
KING LEER: Naïve, poor judgment, wallows in self pity
FALSTAFF: Self indulgent, cowardly, buffoon
Each voice in Bill’s head wants to protect him, which often means stopping the stupid plans the other voices come up with! The players do this by explaining what is going on or creating a fantasy plan about how Bill should handle the problem. Some of what the players make up will happen but most fantasies just don’t work out.
ORDER OF PLAY
1. Make up a scene
2. Openning fantasy
3. Add to it, Challenge it, or just say No
4. Consequences
MAKE UP A SCENE
Each turn the GM makes up a problem in Bill’s life. Bill is an awkward teen so the best problems are ones that put him in social peril, like walking into class late, talking to a girl, or being confronted by bullies.
[Example of a GM making up a scene.]
His parents are running behind so Bill gets to school late. He is confronted by the sadistic coach in the hall. “Why are you late?!?”
THE OPENNING THOUGHT
The first player to speak, makes up Bill’s openning though. This can either explain the situation to Bill or makes up a fantasy plan of how he will deal with it. If multiple people jump in, the GM picks which though happens first.
Thoughts should be very short (only a few sentences long if you write them down).
If the players cannot come up with a though within a minute then Bill stands there slack jawed, not knowing what to do. Do not let Bill look like an idiot this way! Any action is better than doing nothing.
The GM jots down a brief summary of the thought on a game summary.
[Example of a player making a thought.]
Othello: “Oh shit! I’m caught. This guy is never going to let me forget this. I’m ruined…”
ADDING TO, CHALLENGING OR SAYING NO!
The other players may now jump in with other ideas. They may add to the fantasy, challenge it with a replacement fantasy, or say NO! to the whole thing. As players do this they may try to suppress one another’s thoughts to save Bill from the embarrassment that the other players plans will undoubtedly cause.
ADD TO THE FANTASY
If a player adds to the fantasy, they accept what has already happened and build on it. This builds Bill’s fantasy of how to deal with the problem. It shows how he explains events to himself or what he adds to his fantasy plan.
The plan is like a script of what Bill thinks will happen so the players are allowed to put words into other people’s mouths.
[Example of a thought]
Romeo: I make an excuse about my parents running late and the coach buys it.
Any player may say “NO!” to an addition, to try and supress the thought. Both the active player and the suppressor get a repression token to use later in the game. The active player then rolls 2d6. If they roll 5 or better they are not suppressed. If no one challenges an addition it is added without a roll.
[Example Add with a no and a roll]
Hamlet: No, I don’t think that will work.
Romeo rolls a 6 on 2d6 so the thought was not suppressed.
Both Hamlet and Romeo get a repression token
The GM then jots down the thought on the game summary.
CHALLENGE
If a player doesn’t like where the fantasy is going they may challenge the whole thing and try to replace it with a different fantasy. They may include ideas already out there but often they are suppressing the whole line of thought.
The players pick sides which side they want to win. Do they want to switch to the new fantasy or not? Each player rolls 2d6. The high roller wins for their side, re-roll ties. If the challenger wins, the GM draws a line through the suppressed thoughts. If the challenger loses the GM draws a line throught their thought and the challenger gets a repression token.
[Example of a challenge]
Falstaff: I think this is a bad plan. I think Bill lies. A lie is better than the truth. “I was mugged on the way to school…”
Hamlet and Falstaff are for suppressing the whole thought. They roll 10 and 6. Romeo, Othello, Lady Macbeth, and King Leer want the hero to tell the truth. They roll 11, 8, 4, and 7. The 11 is the high roll so Bill tells the truth. Doofus!
SAY NO!
If a player can’t think of anything to add the fantasy, they may say “NO!” to the whole turn to try to suppress everything. The player gets a repression token (for later use) and rolls 2d6. If they roll 10 or better, they suppress the whole turn. Bill will end up standing there not knowing what to say – but at least he doesn’t say something stupid!
Players may try to suppress suppression.
[Example of no and saying no to no]
King Leer can’t think of anything so he says NO! to the lot. He rolls 2d6 and gets a 9. This is less that the 10 needed to suppress the whole turn but Leer still gets a repression token
MIXING IT UP WITH REPRESSION TOKENS
The players are in competition over what Bill does. They all want to save Bill from danger and embarrassment, they just don’t agree on how to do that. If they can’t save Bill with their additions and challenges they may make a last ditch defense using repression tokens.
Repression tokens allow players to buy the right to make a re-roll themselves or to force another player to re-roll their roll. This can change everything.
This simulates how repressing thoughts makes them more powerful. When people try to not think something they increase the likelyhood that they will think it. Re-rolling makes that more likely to happen.
Players get repression tokens when they try to suppress a thought, when someone tries to suppress their thought, when they challenge and lose, and when they say no to everything.
[example of using repression tokens]
Hamlet has a repression token which he uses to change a roll in a challenge.
Falstaff tried to make Bill lie to the coach but lost the challenge. His high roll was 10 versus 11. Hamlet makes the 11 re-roll. This time they roll a 9 so Falstaff’s challenge wins.
ENDING THE TURN
The GM decides when the players have said enough, after all Bill only has milliseconds to create the plan before he has to do something. As a rule of thumb give each player no more than three actions a turn.
CONSEQUENCES
After the turn ends the GM tells the players what actually happens. The GM uses the fantasy as a jumping off point but then makes events unfold in a more reasonable way. Bill may dream about being a suave lady’s man but that isn’t realistic. The consequence narration is the GM’s chance to rain on everyone’s parade – especially if they start getting silly.
[Example of a consequence narration]
GM: Bill tries to tell the coach that he was mugged on the way to school but the coach isn’t buying it. “Shut up you little punk! I’m taking you to the office.”
THE NEXT TURN
The GM makes up the next problem that Bill faces. This should be a logical progression from the last turn. So if Bill lusts after a girl, on the next turn he might be confronted with talking to her. Other players may suggest ideas but it is up to the GM to decide.
GM: The next scene happens in the principal’s office. The principal wants to talk, heart to heart, with Bill to decide if he should call his parents…
ENDING THE GAME
The game ends when the players agree that they have taken Bill as far as they want to. Don’t expect a plot driven story. This game is about real life, and real life seldom tells a story.
THE ROLL OF THE GM
The GM has a special role in “Screwed”. One the one hand they have no voice about what happens inside Bill’s brain but they have total control over what happens in reality. They get to be as cruel or kind to Bill as they want. The GM’s other job is just as important. They keep things moving. They do this by encouraging the players to make the move. They say “What is Bill’s openning thought?” “What else does he think?” “Roll!” The GM also hands out and keeps track of the re-roll token and what gets written down on the game log.
It is important to keep the game moving. If the players start slowing down with thoughts end the scene. If one player is being very quiet, try directly encouraging them. At the very least they say “NO!” to the whole turn. When the player’s energy starts to flag, end the game.
TABLES AND PLAY AIDS
Resist Suppression: 5+ resist suppression
Challenge: High roller wins, re-roll ties.
Say No: 10+ to suppress the whole fantasy
Repression Tokens: Pay a token to get a re-roll or force someone else to re-roll
You get a repression token when:
You try to suppress an addition to the fantasy
If someone else tries to suppress your addition to the fantasy
If you challenge a fantasy and lose
If you say no to the whole fantasy
EXAMPLE OF PLAY
The players are sitting around the table: Romeo, Othello, Hamlet, Lady Macbeth, King Leer, and Falstaff. There is also a GM.
Setting the scene:
GM: Bill goes to the school office on the first day of class. The nerd is suppose to guide him around but doesn’t. Bill ends up coming into class late. Everyone (including the cute girl) is staring at him. The teacher asks him why he is late…
Who wants to go first? Hamlet volunteers.
Hamlet: Bill mumbles something and sits down.
GM: Next!
Lady Macbeth: The class laughs at me and I feel horrible. I’m such a loser.
Falstaff: I object. I’m no loser.
GM: Roll!
Lady Macbeth rolls a 5 so her thought is not suppressed. She and Falstaff collect a repression token.
GM: Next!
King Leer: The cheerleader tells the jock to be nice so I think she likes me. I feel good again.
GM: Next!
Falstaff: I try to resurrect my social death by making a smartass remark to the teacher.
Hamlet: Bad move, I don’t want you to turn the teachers on us.
GM: Roll!
Falstaff rolls a 4 so his joke is suppressed. Falstaff and Hamlet get repression tokens. The GM draws a line through Falstaff’s thought.
GM: Next!
Romeo: I try to take to the girl after the class.
Hamlet: Talk to the girl?!? Didn’t you see her boyfriend?
GM: Roll!
Romeo rolls a 12 and wins. He and Hamlet get repression tokens.
Hamlet throws down the repression token he got earlier and demands Romeo roll again. This time he rolls a 6 so his plan is still not suppressed.
GM: Next!
Othello: No! None of this happens. I make an excuse to the teacher and blame the nerd for ditching me.
GM: Pick sides and roll!
Othello and Hamlet are for making the excuse. Everyone else is against them.
Othello 10, Hamlet 6, Romeo 10, Lady Macbeth 7, King Leer 2, and Falstaff 11
Falstaff rolled highest so the challenge is suppressed and Othello gets a repression token that he can use next turn.
Hamlet throws down a repression token and makes Falstaff roll again. This time he rolls a 10 so there is a tie. Othello, Romeo, and Falstaff roll again.
Othello 5, Romeo 8, Falstaff 2
Romeo is now the high roller so Othello is still suppressed.
GM: Next!
Lady Macbeth: The cheerleader was dating the jock but they broke up because he was such a jerk.
GM: Next!
No one steps up. The GM is just about to end the turn when Othello jumps in.
Othello: NO! None of this happens.
GM: Roll!
Othello rolls a 9, just shy of 10 so the objection fails but he still gets another repression token.
No one steps up after this so the GM ends the turn.
Consequences:
GM: So Bill walks into class and is laughed at. The cheerleader is nice to him but when he tries talking to her after class the jock confronts him. “What are you doing talking to my girl? Punk!” The cheerleader doesn’t stand up for Bill this time.
The next turn:
GM: It’s lunch time, later that day. Bill runs into the nerd who makes up for ditching him by buying him a cookie. They get to talking about the social order and how unfair it is. Bill seeths with anger…
Jonathan Walton:
Chris, you're submitting your game right? I haven't seen it pop up yet.
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