The Lies of Passage
Lucas 'Tor' Garczewski:
After giving it some thought and sleeping on it, I've decided to write a game about a pack of Young coyotes and their rite of passage – a ritual in which the young pups, sitting around a bonfire, tell the Old One (a quasi-GM) the story of how they lit the fire they're now sitting at. Tradition expects they go through many dangers on their quest but, being lazy and opportunistic, they did it the easy way, and now need to lie to the Old One to complete the rite and be seen as full members of the tribe.
In short, the game is about collectively coming up with a convincing lie about the daring journey of young pups.
Here's the twist: I want this game to be played around an actual campfire, and the rules will be written to support that (there will be an adjusted "home" version for those of you who don't do camping, don't worry – but that might play significantly less awesome, you've been warned).
I like this idea because it's been said here that "Game Chef is, among other things, about writing games you would not write otherwise", and I believe this fits the bill (for me, at least). It also made me think about game mechanics differently (dropping die rolls & possibly even character sheets) and explore the role of GM, taking it in new directions, to accomodate the unusual play environment.
I'm working with the 4 "non-random" ingredients: Coyote, Doctor, Lantern, Mimic.
The Lantern (or Torch, if I'm allowed to interpret it that way?) will be a prop or set of props passed around the campfire to signify who has voice and other effects.
The Doctor, interpreted as a Witch-Doctor, Healer, or Shaman figure, will be a role among the Young (possibly one of a few/many roles).
Mimicking other players will likely be an important way of transitioning narrative control form one to the other. It will also be a shape-shifting "power" within the fiction that the Young will use.
"The Lies of Passage" is a working title, might change by the time I'm done.
Comments & thoughts welcome. :)
jackson_tegu:
So cool!
If i may, i think that you could just have the, uh, campfire count as the lantern, but have some other pass-around thing if you want.
I love that they're ACTUAL COYOTES! Like, no one else is doing that!
This feels hella fun! If it's the game i'm hoping you're writing, it'll be a)easily scalable to only a few or lots of coyote players, and b) easy for new, non-gamer folks to pick up, because no one likes to be excluded around a campfire!
Also, the mimicking other players thing is intriguing.
What a great idea, as we come into camping season!
UserClone:
I am SUPER stoked to see this game. Phenomenal idea. I too love that you play actual coyotes. Tre cool!
Lucas 'Tor' Garczewski:
Quote from: jackson_tegu on April 07, 2012, 05:13:25 PM
I love that they're ACTUAL COYOTES! Like, no one else is doing that!
I'm playing with the idea to go for anthropomorphic coyotes (but still coyotes) – since that's easier to role-play and that's also the form Coyote takes in native american myths (which this is going to be very loosely based on), but it could go either way at this point, or I can end up having both (shape-shifting). Will see along the way.
Quote from: jackson_tegu on April 07, 2012, 05:13:25 PM
This feels hella fun! If it's the game i'm hoping you're writing, it'll be a)easily scalable to only a few or lots of coyote players,
Yes.
Quote from: jackson_tegu on April 07, 2012, 05:13:25 PM
b) easy for new, non-gamer folks to pick up, because no one likes to be excluded around a campfire!
Hell yes! I've got a few ideas on pushing people to participate, too. And the passing-of-voice rules should prevent chaos even with very large groups.
My brother is a scoutmaster, I'm hoping he can play this with his scouts when I'm done.
Thanks for the warm comments, guys!
BlazmoIntoWowee:
I agree with Jackson that the campfire is lantern enough for me. It holds fire within it, so there you go.
If you want to play around a campfire you are correct that dice and character sheets might not be the best idea. In my research for my game I checked out a few Native American games, like Hubbub, that use stones with different patterns on each side for "dice." Also, consider the use of sticks as character traits or counters. I have three sticks, so my strength (or whatever) is at 3. If it goes down to 2, you can throw your extra stick in the fire. How cool! Maybe every time the Old Coyote catches your pup in a lie you lose a stick.
Food for thought, I hope.
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