Gifted: A contemporary Sci-Fi role playing game
sprightx:
Hello everyone, this is my first post on the Forge forums. I've been reading threads on game design for a bit but I've never posted myself until now. I'm writing because I'd like your feedback on a project I'm working on.
As the title of the post suggests the name of this project is 'Gifted'. Most of you probably have at least a vague idea of what the game is about just going on that. I'll elaborate:
Gifted is a sci-fi/mystery/horror game that has players immerse themselves in what I like to call 'The Backstage', the underside of our reality where conspiracies and all the other things we usually don't believe take place. The Backstage is not a physical location, rather it is a series of social settings and situations that permeate The Frontstage, our every day reality where everything "normal" and "real" exists. These two terms are inspired from the sociological concept of symbolic interactionism.
The idea is that characters will try to solve mysteries and fight evil and all that stuff while navigating the two levels of reality and trying to avoid them spilling over into each other. There is nothing metaphysical about this, it merely means that a character who has a wife and children has to avoid exposing them to the dangers of whatever he has stirred up in The Backstage, and vice-versa, not carry over his inhibitions into a world where things are much more than they seem.
Game outline:
Science-fiction, mystery, horror.
Focused on investigation and interaction with some combat and action scenes.
Takes place in contemporary world.
Revolves around “evolved” humans which have developed a series of Gifts, essentially psychic powers.
Highly socially interpretive and immersive.
Meant to be played long term, in campaigns divided into multiple “chapters”, mimicking the development of a novel or a TV show.
What I wanted feedback on was not on the concept itself but on the 'system'. I still haven't completed it and I'm having some doubts on the main idea I've been working on.
I had thought of tying the concepts of Frontstage, Backstage and Breaching/Deviance into the rewards system. Skill and combat checks in the game would be made using a DX Keep system where bonus dice could be spent from the character's dice reserve. Characters could use any amount of bonus dice they chose on any given roll but they would have two separate reserves, one for their gifts and one for their skills. This means that characters would be able to have a high success ratio on very difficult tasks which would add dramatism and make the game more spectacular while at the same time introducing the factor of bonus dice management. The idea would be to reward players with extra bonus dice for them correctly 'interpreting' their roles in the 'Frontstage' and the 'Backstage'. Players who 'keep in character' would receive bonus dice, replenishing their stock at the end of the scene they did correctly. Likewise, deviant behavior would be punished by reducing or eliminating their potential rewards.
I've never played a system like this before but I find it very appealing and full of promise, however there are some very obvious limitations to it also. The main issues I can foresee are that if players are rewarded for keeping in character the game could end up being too intense, meaning too demanding of players who sometimes just want to relax and do some investigation or some fighting. Second, for the reward mechanic to work there has to be a compelling penalty, if this penalty is deviance it means that players that want to be successful must essentially be 'good', there would be no room for people to be 'bad', or comitt morally ambiguous actions, which I'm not really comfortable with myself because I tend to question moral orthodoxy in my own life.
I look forward to your feedback on this dilemma and any ideas or advice you're willing to share with me, thanks!
As required here's a link to an external document, there isn't much to read yet, just an outline of the Gifts so people can get a better idea of what the game is about: http://www.mediafire.com/?8yg7s0p9ynnlo6f
sprightx:
EDIT: Where it says Symbolic interactionism it should also say 'and dramaturgical theory'.
Sorry for doubleposting, I hadn't noticed that editing is turned off and I'm used to going over my posts and making little corrections once I've finished them. Not very smart, I know, but habits die hard.
contracycle:
Ok, the specific concerns you've expressed look a bit confused to me. On the one hand you want to let players kick back and just gun down some mooks, and on the other hand you're building in penalties for bad behaviours, like say casually gunning down some mooks.Yes?
So, don't do either. There is no point designing for some sort of imaginary audience. You aren't Hollywood, you don't have millions of $ worth of investors money riding on the kind of success which requires appealing to the lowest common denominator. You can afford to write a game that some people will play wrong, but which the people who play it right will really get. Don't fear intensity, and if intensity takes them into "bad" places then so be it. Maybe that means that people, say, only play the game in chunks rather than continuously... so what? Almost all gaming groups will switch games in and out from time to time. Nor do you have any need to be "morally uplifting" or didactic in the manner of a children's cartoon that sees its duty as teaching right and wrong. These are rods you are making for your own back.
sprightx:
Hi. Thanks for your feedback.
I probably didn't phrase my concerns with sufficient clarity. The problem is that I have a system concept which I find very appealing but I don't know how to implement it without the whole 'forcing people to be good' thing. I think the system won't be effective unless there is some sort of penalty but I don't want to put a cap on my players' behaviour. I want to use the mechanic somehow because it has a good feel to it, but I need to find a way to re-orient it so that players aren't forced to follow certain behavioral patterns. The Frontstage/Backstage/Deviance model I exposed was meant kind of as an example, it is the general idea I'm toying with now but I'm very aware of its limitations and that is why I posted here originally, to see if anyone could suggest potential tweaks or modifications which to me aren't apparent.
Essentially, would you be interested in playing a game that used a similar mechanic? Do you think it would make the gaming experience enjoyable? Again, it wouldn't have to be exactly as I described because of the limitations, but do you find the concept appealing in general and if so, how do you think it could be implemented more effectively?
Again, thanks for your input.
-Sam
Callan S.:
Hi sprightx,
Often an 'investigation' framework really revolves around something that is more like a book, ie, classic prerendered fiction, and as much as when one reads a book one travels through the fiction in reading/experiencing it, the investigation is the process of traveling through that fiction.
You don't want to limit character behaviour, but I think it's important to look at what you do want the players to do first. Is it something like that?
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