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Games and Gaming: 1st Transatlantic Setting Design Challenge

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  1.  
    • CommentAuthorFrank T
    • CommentTimeNov 16th 2006
     # 1
    Dear aspiring (or accomlished) designers of role-playing games! We have seen thousandfold how clever rules design can change the game being played. But what about setting, I ask? Now is the time to prove how clever setting design can change the game being played! Therefore, I issue the Challenge to you:

    Design a setting for an already existing game system. To be certain: By setting I mean the elements of the shared imagined space that you, the author, define for the players. You may leave some stuff open, switches, dials and blanks, but you must pre-set a solid amount of content.

    If the game system you want to use is not under some open license, please make sure you have the publisher’s permission to use it.

    Your setting qualifies for this contest if it
    - references the games system it was designed for,
    - is presented in a .pdf or .doc file with no more than 10,000 words of text and
    - is available for download by the end of December.

    I will ask 1km1kt if they can host us.

    Note: You may work together on an entry, but no one may work on more than one entry.

    Everybody who submits a setting will also be involved in the judging. After the entry period is over, I will randomly and publicly distribute four settings to each participant. If you have co-authors, you can either submit a mutual judgement, or name one of yours to judge them all. You may participate in discussion about the entries before passing the judgement. In fact, this is encouraged.

    Each judge has to award to each setting a score between 1 and 10. To award these points, the judges shall especially pay respect to the following aspects:
    - How well is the game system integrated? How well does it seem to fit?
    - How will the game presumably work in play, especially with regard to how the setting facilitates a certain kind of play?
    - How complete, accessible and well presented is the material?
    - How interesting, original, stylish and “juicy” is the setting?

    The judgement has to be passed by January 15th. The scores are collected and made public when they are complete. As all votes will be public in the end, I see no problem with me collecting them even if I participate myself.

    The four entries with the highest added scores then will forego the same procedure once again, this time with all participants judging them until December 31st. Thus, the winner will be determined. Please do not submit a setting if you cannot fulfill your judging duty.

    But enough of words. Who doth accept the Challenge?

    - Frank

    P.S.: Please visit the mother thread at the Forge.
    •  
      CommentAuthorAndy
    • CommentTimeNov 16th 2006
     # 2
    This sounds great! I'll post questions over on the Forge thread.
    • CommentAuthorJ. Walton
    • CommentTimeNov 16th 2006
     # 3
    Damn, I gotta finish designing Solars so I can start designing for the Solar System. This sounds awesome. Clinton R. Nixon, get ready to watch me break your rules over some big fat setting!
    •  
      CommentAuthorAndy
    • CommentTimeNov 16th 2006
     # 4
    I double dog dare you Jonathan.

    You and me, big boy. Mano a Mano. Two men. Two Settings. One Solar System.

    Go!
    • CommentAuthorJ. Walton
    • CommentTimeNov 16th 2006
     # 5
    You're on, Kitkowski. I dare you to have something playtestable by the time I get home for Christmas. RTP will obviously implode as twin suns combine to form a binary system OF DOOM!
  6.  # 6
    Hold on - i assume games/systems which are setting-indeterminate don't count for this contest, right?

    'Cause, y'know, otherwise, i could hand in my work-in-progress stack of "hard science fiction" Burning Wheel lifepaths (if i actually finish them by December)...
    • CommentAuthortadk
    • CommentTimeNov 17th 2006
     # 7
    I am up for this
    But I want more guidelines for the rule set to use
    can i use my own Rule of 5 I made over for a 1KM1KT 24 hour challenge or do I need to use someone else
    Can I use Fuzion cause the 5.?? rules are now back online and so does that count
    Do i need to barter with someone here to use their ruleset
    Can i just go d20 OGL and skip all this ideas

    what what what
    • CommentAuthorFrank T
    • CommentTimeNov 17th 2006
     # 8
    Semp: Forgot an important rule: You must write the thing for the contest. Just submitting already finished work doesn't count.

    Tad:
    Fuzion or d20 are perfectly cosher. Your own 24 hour game system... Well, I would like to limit the choice to fully developed systems, but I leave it up to you to judge whether a system can be called fully developed.
    •  
      CommentAuthorSempiternity
    • CommentTimeNov 17th 2006 edited
     # 9
    Frank, thanks for the clarification! Does it count if i already have a setting planned out, but have yet to adapt it to a specific game?

    (edit: nm, i think you answered this in the forge thread)
    • CommentAuthortadk
    • CommentTimeNov 17th 2006
     # 10
    Thank you Frank
    Just wanted to know in like example format what systems might or might not qualify. In talking to Greg of EABA fame it seems i could potentially reference it but not use it. So still shopping, but I would like to participate in the Setting Challenge.
    • CommentAuthortadk
    • CommentTimeNov 17th 2006
     # 11
    Additionally.....Does the setting need to be brand new, or could i bring to life an idea with a few pages of notes already done for the project.....just curious is all....
    • CommentAuthorFrank T
    • CommentTimeNov 17th 2006
     # 12
    You may of course draw on old ideas. Just write something within the contest, and consider posting about it. I would like to see a spirit of mutual endeavor in this Challenge.
    •  
      CommentAuthorBen Lehman
    • CommentTimeNov 17th 2006
     # 13
    Guys, I don't see why this "new stuff / not new stuff" is hard. It's the exact same situation as Game Chef or 24 hour RPG -- feel free to draw on old material, but the contest is about writing and presenting new stuff, not dusting off your hoary old setting.

    Despite the strong emotional attachment some of us have to our old RPG settings, I seriously doubt anyone is incapable of making up a new setting for this contest.

    yrs--
    --Ben
  14.  # 14
    You're on, baby! Since I'm currently playtesting mechanics for my solar-system inspired game of phlogiston-punk rennaisance Europe, I may as well build the setting for it now and submit it.
    • CommentAuthorJ. Walton
    • CommentTimeNov 18th 2006
     # 15
    What Ben said. Also, arguing about the submission rules to informal, loosely organized contests on the interwebs -- for which there is no reward besides bragging rights and the excuse to get a game written -- seems to be missing the point entirely. Submitting previously created material is just cheating yourself. But I don't really care whether you do it or not, honestly.
    • CommentAuthorthor
    • CommentTimeNov 20th 2006
     # 16
    I'm Thinking the Fall of Atlantis as sword and sorcery using Dogs in the Vinyard.
    • CommentAuthortadk
    • CommentTimeNov 20th 2006
     # 17
    My apologies to one and all for coming across as argueing, combative, what ever you would like to describe it. My apologies but in a creative funk and stuck on ideas I have wanted to do, but not ever done a single lick about. That was all the core basis was for my several posts. Again I apologize for causing a ruckus.
    Have a good day to one and all
  18.  # 18
    I've started posting my thoughts on the setting design challenge over on my blog at the Collective Endeavour.

    Weimar Germany meets Revolutionary Paris meets the Italian city-states. But with wooden automata, windmill powered railways and traction engines with demons in the fireboxes.

    Cheers
    Malc
  19.  # 19
    Ben - Nearly all my new stuff is old stuff de-suck-ified. :) But the point is taken.

    For those who might be interested, Super Console is an open system, and I would not mind at all if someone wanted to use it. In fact, I'll hand out free PDF copies to people who submit games that use it for this contest. Just whisper to me with your e-mail address.

    It's a shame the setting I'm making for Donjon is too large. 8900 words and only half written.
    • CommentAuthortadk
    • CommentTimeNov 27th 2006
     # 20
    Colin,
    Generous of you to offer. How well does it do it in a serious vein. I am already plotting out my SF oriented setting, could I make it work with HUndred Mile long Spaceships and people who turn themselves into Technological Werewolf like beings as a part of their increase in stature in their Society?
    Tad
    •  
      CommentAuthorGraham
    • CommentTimeNov 27th 2006 edited
     # 21
    There you go. Darker. It's a Roach setting.

    Darker

    Not the final entry, but a good first draft.

    Graham
  22.  # 22
    Graham I'm laughing myself out of my chair.
    • CommentAuthortadk
    • CommentTimeNov 27th 2006
     # 23
    Dang Graham

    We all got to step up now
    Sheesh, why not put the bar on the far side of the Moon, I got a chance to hit it with a wrist rocket
    Cool, my first exposure to The Roach
    •  
      CommentAuthorGraham
    • CommentTimeNov 27th 2006 edited
     # 24
    Posted By: Jason MorningstarGraham I'm laughing myself out of my chair.


    Well, there's no need to be rude, Jason. If it's that bad, just tell me.*

    The photographs are by Andreas Beck. He gave me permission to use them earlier today. They're great: and just perfect for this.

    Cheers, Tad, that's very nice of you.

    Graham



    * Joke
    •  
      CommentAuthorMikeRM
    • CommentTimeNov 27th 2006
     # 25
    OK, my first draft: Underground Railroad.

    Fantasy steampunk with lots of powerful magic, dwarf railways, elvish airships, gnome-piloted steam-powered magically-armed mecha - you know, the usual stuff.

    For FATE.

    Also, for great justice.
    •  
      CommentAuthorJosh Roby
    • CommentTimeNov 27th 2006
     # 26
    Posted By: tadkGenerous of you to offer. How well does [Super Console] do it in a serious vein.


    Tad, Super Console can do what you need, assuming you can envision that setting as the setting of a CRPG. It's good, solid stuff.
    • CommentAuthortalysman
    • CommentTimeNov 28th 2006
     # 27

    Well, hell.

    I was going to ask Jared's permission to use InSpectres as a basis for "The League of Super-Science", aka "Venture Brothers: The RPG", but I can't seem to find my copy in all these boxes. I may still try it using Open Wushu or something. We'll see.

    • CommentAuthortadk
    • CommentTimeNov 28th 2006
     # 28
    Joshua,
    Well my first thought was more Space Opera focused on people. I could slide my initial thoughts to you and you see if you think it would work.
    If not, if you would like someone to use Super Console, I can go more CRPG in a heart beat. Actually I might venture into your system for my idea anyway. Time to find your site and look it over some more.
    • CommentAuthortadk
    • CommentTimeNov 28th 2006
     # 29
    egads Superconsole is Colin. My extreme bad there. Gahhh... btw Colin did you notice that http://www.cthuugle.com/ no longer works. The search page comes up broke essentially..page not found...which blows
    •  
      CommentAuthorHoho
    • CommentTimeNov 28th 2006
     # 30

    Man, I started a contest entry, inspired by like the item-collecting/puzzle-solving aspect of games like Zelda or Metroid Prime, and it turned into its own thing 'cos dontcha know, there is no system I know of that has built the precise story structure I wanted...

    •  
      CommentAuthorThomas T
    • CommentTimeNov 28th 2006
     # 31
    I know the feeling. I have an idea for this, but whenever I try and attach it to a system I rapidly build up a list of house rules that start to look like their own game.
    • CommentAuthorJ. Walton
    • CommentTimeNov 28th 2006 edited
     # 32
    Word. My TSOY meta-setting about masks is so confusing that it makes me want to switch to an Agon setting called Gridiron Gods. Roll your linemen in your right hand and your secondary/offense in your left. Bring in the dice for specific players, but exhaust some of their energy until they can get off the field and refresh a bit. The Referee uses his resource budget to buy penalties and other complications (injuries, snow, wind, streakers, the noise of the crowd) in order to keep the game close and exciting. Who wants the Glory now?

    Edit: And the Range Strip looks like this.
    •  
      CommentAuthorAndy
    • CommentTimeNov 28th 2006
     # 33
    Posted By: shreyas

    Man, I started a contest entry, inspired by like the item-collecting/puzzle-solving aspect of games like Zelda or Metroid Prime, and it turned into its own thing 'cos dontcha know, there is no system I know of that has built the precise story structure I wanted...



    Hey Shreyas- It might be a bigger challenge to just throw a dart and choose a system with a "blank mind", then start thinking about the new setting for that game.
  34.  # 34
    FYI, a "mini-supplement" license exists for InSpectres. If you create supplemental material for the game and want to publish it, you just need my blessing (which I'm usually more than happy to give).

    If someone wants to use InSpectres for this challenge, I say go for it.
    • CommentAuthortalysman
    • CommentTimeNov 28th 2006
     # 35

    Cool, Jared. Now I just need to go through a few more boxes and figure out where I put it. I swear I saw it when I moved...

    • CommentAuthorwyrmwood
    • CommentTimeNov 28th 2006
     # 36
    I will likely take you up on that Jared. Why only this weekend I attempted to run an introduction to RPGs using Inspectres, but since my players came from rather different cultures, the resonance of the Inspectres setting was gone. They simply didn't understand the american horror genre well-enough to satrize it. So I hobbled something together with coins (no d6's to be found on the train) and a vaguely Victorian mystery setting.

    I'll probably build a very different setting for the competition than Victorian mystery, but I'm very pleased by the possibilities.

    - Mendel S.
    • CommentAuthortadk
    • CommentTimeNov 28th 2006
     # 37
    Colin,

    May I use Super Console for this challenge
    Going to see if I can Space Opera it with The Wolf, Fox, Owl Clans struggling for survival and dominance against the Iconic Figures and the other unaligned alien and lesser human powers in the greater dark of deep space.
    • CommentAuthorPaul Czege
    • CommentTimeNov 28th 2006 edited
     # 38
    I have to say, this contest is formulated as just the right kind of stretch exercise for me. Intimidating, because setting creation is by far the weakest of my game design skills, but worthwhile for the same reason. So I've spent some time looking carefully over the available open systems.

    And...I'm just not finding one that gives what I need to get me off and running on setting creation, which is mechanics that are granular in hooking the player characters to the setting, but otherwise lean and only concerned with the social architecture of play.

    So I've decided to design the system I'd love to have found for this endeavor and release it under a Creative Commons license. I should have a draft in a couple of days. I'll refine it based on feedback, and playtest using a contest setting if someone uses it.

    The working title is, The Niche System.

    Paul
    •  
      CommentAuthorHoho
    • CommentTimeNov 28th 2006
     # 39

    Andy, it sure might, but I'm not gonna mage a setting for a game I'll never want to play, yanno?

  40.  # 40
    Posted By: JonathanWalton... it makes me want to switch to an Agon setting calledGridiron Gods. Roll your linemen in your right hand and your secondary/offense in your left. ... Who wants the Glory now?

    And the Range Strip looks likethis.


    OMG yes. YES.
    • CommentAuthorFrank T
    • CommentTimeNov 29th 2006
     # 41
    I'm with Andy: Picking the system first and then making up the setting is probably the way to go for this Challenge. I am going to use the Unisystem Lite. Eden Studios did not write me back yet, but I'll just put my money on that they don't let me down once they see the product. I do realize that my email might have sounded like some sex-deprived geek writing some pseudo-game about his dirty little fantasies...

    The setting is kinda cyberpunkish, with lots of sex, drugs and industrial, kick-ass action, and a dash of My Life with Master.
    • CommentAuthorBryan
    • CommentTimeNov 29th 2006
     # 42
    Paul - I'll be interested in what you come up with. I've yet to settle on a game system for the setting I want to make. I can make Wushu work.
    • CommentAuthorPaul Czege
    • CommentTimeNov 29th 2006
     # 43
    Hey Bryan,

    Okay, here's a teaser. It might be enough to help you decide whether to proceed with Wushu or give me a couple of days to finish designing this.

    "As these mechanics are a drama of characters with purposes of moral agency, the requisite setting is one with prominent vacancies of moral authority and disturbing malfeasance. Prior to chargen the gamemaster needs to dig into the larger setting material and focus his interest for the game onto specific circumstances of dramatic social trespass. And then he needs to abstract that situation up for the players as a few thousand words that lay out the whole snarl of stakeholders and social instability. This abstract is called The Circumstances."

    "Then, the gamemaster needs to write two or three tight sentences about the disturbing events that transpire when The Circumstances run their natural course. Write them in the present tense, as if they're the headlines on a newspaper published next day. These two or three sentences are The Conclusion. Some settings will provide suggested Conclusions."

    Paul
  44.  # 44
    I've started working on a setting for Dogs in the Vineyard, crudely entitled Greeks in the Vineyard. It's about the Companion Cavalry accompanying Alexander on his expedition East, with the eponymous Greeks venturing to wondrous new kingdoms and cities and, rather than sorting out the problems, they have to persuade them to join Alexander's burgeoning empire.

    It sounds kinda crazy, but I think it might just work ... Armies being represented by Relationships and Traits, great spears as Equipment, the Weariness at the expedition as Demonic Influence, and Battles taking the prize place as the d10 fallout instead of Guns.
    • CommentAuthorFrank T
    • CommentTimeNov 29th 2006
     # 45
    Keep in mind that only developed systems are eligible, though it is up to you to judge what a developed system is.
    •  
      CommentAuthorDevP
    • CommentTimeNov 30th 2006
     # 46

    For a setting about superpowered bountied criminals who hunt each other down to rack up credit towards buying amnesty, I'm trying to decide between Fastlane and Dust Devils. (I'm not sure whether this is a project to finish in the timescale of this contest, but I'm still thinking it over.)

    •  
      CommentAuthorAndy
    • CommentTimeNov 30th 2006
     # 47
    Dev: If you're looking for peer pressure, I'd totally force you down the Fastlane route.

    -Andy
    • CommentAuthorJ. Walton
    • CommentTimeDec 1st 2006
     # 48
    So do I get bonus points for adapting one indie game setting to work in the system of another?

    Specifically: the example Gridiron Gods team is going to be the Pemberton Panthercats. One of their Unquantifiable traits is "Roached Coach." Maybe the example game should have them traveling to Utah to play the Bridal Falls Vineyard Dogs...
    • CommentAuthorFrank T
    • CommentTimeDec 1st 2006
     # 49
    Let's make something like an audience price for the best indie game pun or something.
  50.  # 50
    Jonathan, that'd be wonderful. The Panthercats could use some good publicity after the disastrous 1919 season.
  51.  # 51
    Tad: A copy of Super Console should be headed your way right now. I sent it to the e-mail listed in your profile.
  52.  # 52
    Bryan, et al.,

    I've posted my first draft of The Niche Engine for dissection, here.

    Thanks,

    Paul
  53.  # 53
    I think it rocks you're using the First Thoughts forum to talk about that, Paul.

    Peace,

    -Troy
  54.  # 54
    Thanks Troy. I was serious on the "How Shall We Criticize" thread when I said I think we need a return to public development, so I'm trying to practice what I preach.

    Paul
  55.  # 55
    Heya,

    Well, I'm going to do my best to join you on that. I agree 100%. I think we all have something to offer by sharing.

    Peace,

    -Troy
  56.  # 56
    I wasn't going to enter this contest, but since I had a neat idea for a setting and since Joe seems to like the idea of this, I'm working on a setting for Contenders.

    Umläut: Contenders for the Throne of Steel

    Vicious Demons.
    Mighty Axes.
    Flaming Skulls.

    These things adorn the covers of hundreds of Heavy Metal albums every year.

    Heavy Metal. The very name itself drips with power, testosterone and hair spray. Warriors on the stage of history, wielding their axes and mics they do battle for glory! Trusts are forged and betrayed, mighty empires rise and fall, the only truth worth living for is Metal.

    Long of hair and tight of pants, you join the ranks of Metal in your quest for babes, booze and glory. Try to Make It Big and hunt down an elusive record contract.

    These are the heroes of an age.

    This is their story.

    Umläut is a pretty light hearted, affectionate and faintly absurd fun-poke at 70s and 80s Hard Rock using the Contenders system.
    •  
      CommentAuthorGraham
    • CommentTimeDec 18th 2006
     # 57
    That's a thing of beauty, Rich.

    Graham
  58.  # 58
    Rich, that's fuckin' metal. I can't wait to see what you come up with.

1 to 58 of 58

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