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Play Advice: Games You'd Like To See People Design

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  1.  # 1
    Heya,

    I am constantly amazed at the actual play reports I read on the Forge and even on RPGnet. I mean, there is some great stuff going on out there, guys. There's a lot of people out there who have years of experience and great improvisational talent. Every time I read read a really good Actual Play report I go, "Wow, that guy could really design a great game around that idea." But I wonder if the thought ever even crosses their mind. I think a lot of potential designers don't believe they have the talent or the ideas to make a game. Anyone else feel that way when they read Actual Play reports? I do. So I wanted to make a list of games I'd like to see made based on some actual play reports I've seen. I'll give mine, I hope that some of the rest of you jump in and give some you'd like to see made too.

    Troy's List:

    -A game dedicated to Play-By-Email play.
    -A game based on the collapse of Atlantis.
    -A game based on Celtic mythology.
    -A game based on Egyptian mythology.
    -A Narrativist supporting game based on Elves.

    I know a few of these sorta exist already. But I've seen some people take an interest in these directions and would love to see them developed further.

    Peace,

    -Troy
    • CommentAuthorSupplanter
    • CommentTimeNov 19th 2006
     # 2
    A big sim-y game based on mythic pre-Columbian America. Full splatbook route. ("Kanawha!" "Tribes of the Huron!" "Potowmack!")

    A sprawling aerobic-nar game of ancient fantasy set in a Greece on the cusp between the bronze and iron ages. PCs choose one of two creation paths - tracing lineage through the heroes of legend (assume PCs are in the same generation as Telemachus' kids) or the NEW thing, a schlemiel basically, without the divine juice but unencumbered by the old ways.

    Misery Bubblegum, about - oh. Someone's already on it.

    A resource-based superhero-game successor to MURPG, genericized and with more wieldy physical manipulation of resources.

    Best,


    Jim
  3.  # 3
    I'd like to see a good game about Mythic Africa. Dealing with, alternately, the distant past, the colonial period, and the post-colonial period. A game that does all three--well, that would be a plus.
    •  
      CommentAuthorGraham
    • CommentTimeNov 19th 2006
     # 4
    Oh, what a fantastic thread.

    I'd like a good comedy game: there are so few. In particular, I'd like a game called "The Gay Recruitment Squad wants YOU!".

    Graham
    •  
      CommentAuthorMikeRM
    • CommentTimeNov 19th 2006
     # 5
    I'm with you, Graham, a good comedy game would fill a void.

    On broadly similar lines: Political satire?
    • CommentAuthorthor
    • CommentTimeNov 19th 2006
     # 6
    Troy - I found a book on atlantis at the used book store this afternoon and took it as a sign. I am going to use it as a setting for the Transatlantic Setting contest as soon as I find a game that fits. Jasper McChesney's Absqva Roma has a cool idea that there is something roman to hold onto; that would be the starting point. The game would be about being from a cultured world and throne into a primitive universe. Conan-y, Steampunk-y, and possibly DitV-y are the feelings I want it to invoke. Would you want a game that was hopeful or filled with the hopelessness of the land? I am for the feeling that we are holding back entropy and someday it will fail,but not on my watch.
    •  
      CommentAuthorAndy
    • CommentTimeNov 19th 2006
     # 7
    I want to see more games fueled by the passion and desire to make a great, awesome play experience into a playable game. Then I want to see that game playtested the fuck out of before it is written and published.

    That's the kind of game I'm looking for.

    -Andy
    •  
      CommentAuthorThunder_God
    • CommentTimeNov 19th 2006 edited
     # 8
    Posted By: AndyI want to see more games fueled by the passion and desire to make a great, awesome play experience into a playable game. Then I want to see that game playtested the fuck out of before it is written and published.

    That's the kind of game I'm looking for.

    -Andy


    What do you do about seeing your wish realised?
    And the others, what do you do to see your games designed?
    • CommentAuthorMcdaldno
    • CommentTimeNov 19th 2006
     # 9
    What do you do about seeing your wish realised?
    And the others, what do you do to see your games designed?


    Guy, the "what are you gunna do about it" question seems a little out of place, considering the original post says:

    So I wanted to make a list of games I'd like to see made based on some actual play reports I've seen.


    My understanding is that Troy is asking us what game potential do we see in the things other people are saying about their own games?
    When someone has a game session of X that focuses on slavery politics and gunfights, it might make a reader go "Wowzers, I'd totally like to see a game focused on THAT, and explicitly about THAT. I want this awesome gamer to take this awesome session and turn it into its own beast."

    I think.
    •  
      CommentAuthorAndy
    • CommentTimeNov 19th 2006
     # 10
    Posted By: Thunder_GodWhat do you do about seeing your wish realised?


    For me? I just try to enhance my patience. There's a lot of awesome stuff coming out. All I have to do is wait long enough and people will hit on games or concepts that I'll love.

    -Andy
  11.  # 11
    A very, very short story-game designed specifically for neophytes.

    And distributed for no profit, via PDF and Lulu.
    •  
      CommentAuthorAndy
    • CommentTimeNov 20th 2006
     # 12
    A game where you play with your regular group either a few times or for a whole campaign. Then, you send your results to a mailing list or forum, and if you're tuned into that forum the game world and scope expands more and more. Kinda like with what TORG tried to do, but more electronic and less forced Metaplot/dumb.

    -Andy
    •  
      CommentAuthorNathan H.
    • CommentTimeNov 20th 2006
     # 13
    a game that non-gamers/writers can play and create a cool varied story. like a multigenre "once apon a time", with cards for (character)action, setting, tone and story.
    either that or a depressingly humorous pirate game. you can't go wrong with a pirate game. seriously. i don't care how many there are.
    -Nate
  14.  # 14
    *a game about WW2 spies.
    *a really good historical game that doesn't let history get in the way of the game.
    *a game about fairy tales in the real world, a la Fables.
    *a game designed to be played over Skype.
  15.  # 15
    Posted By: andrew_kenrick*a really good historical game that doesn't let history get in the way of the game.


    Working on it.
  16.  # 16
    A game that I can play in casual conversation, with anyone who knows the rules, at any point in the day where we happen to be interacting. A game that fits between other sentences, where I can stop by the cafe in the afternoon and write my contribution on the chalkboard. A game that you play the way you hear about people playing chess over the course of months, where one morning I call you up on the phone and without bothering to explain what I am talking about tell you something completely imaginary about a mutual world that we share on our lunch breaks.
    •  
      CommentAuthorThomas T
    • CommentTimeNov 20th 2006
     # 17
    A game about cool powers and being awesome in the style of shonen fighting manga. But one that strikes that awkward balance between stifling creativity with laundry lists, and making everything functionally identical and characterless.
    • CommentAuthorLarry
    • CommentTimeNov 20th 2006
     # 18
    Truly, I would like to see the ultimate, simulationist, historically pseudo-accurate ninja game. I want all kinds of crazy minutiae about ninja tools, ninja training, ninja secret societies, feudal Japan as it pertains to ninjas. Sort of a ninja-centric Lone Wolf And Cub as a game. (If you even thought about Naruto here, I will cockpunch you. Freak.) Clearly, such a thing probably has a lot to do with my vision of what is awesome about "ninja" as opposed to other attempts.

    Also, more games set in the only slightly not-real modern world, that normal people inured in normal people pop culture can relate to. Games about gangstas 'n' thugs, action heroes, normal people in bizarre situations. Default Sorcerer fits the bill here. Contender is right on the fuckin' money.

    Last and perhaps most importantly, I want a good compelling cops game. Police procedurals are just too poorly represented in this medium relative to the awesome stories they can tell. I guess you can do it in PTA, but I'd like to see something that aids me in whipping out a true-to-genre cop story without an encyclopedia understanding of the genre. (Yes, I'm aware this item is encompassed by the previous one, but I think it's worth breaking into its own item.)
  19.  # 19
    Posted By: Jason MorningstarWorking on it.


    I've been inspired to do so recently too, after a truly shocking experience playing Mythic Russia. Do you mean Grey Ranks (which I'm really looking forward to) or is there another super secret historical project too?
    • CommentAuthorMcdaldno
    • CommentTimeNov 20th 2006
     # 20
    A game that I can play in casual conversation, with anyone who knows the rules, at any point in the day where we happen to be interacting. A game that fits between other sentences, where I can stop by the cafe in the afternoon and write my contribution on the chalkboard. A game that you play the way you hear about people playing chess over the course of months, where one morning I call you up on the phone and without bothering to explain what I am talking about tell you something completely imaginary about a mutual world that we share on our lunch breaks.


    Working on it, Daniel! It's my secret other-other project.

    Also, me and friends occassionally burst into random freeform roleplaying. It usually starts on MSN with a line like "Shit, where's the fucking medic? Johnny?!?!!?"
    • CommentAuthorFrank T
    • CommentTimeNov 20th 2006
     # 21
    *A good system for play by forum.
    *A game that incorporates writing short stories about your character.
    *A number of games that are seriously gritty, as opposed to stylish, cinematic or what's the name today.
  22.  # 22
    Grey Ranks, yeah, but I love history. There's other stuff in the queue - I'd love to explore the French and Indian War. First Fleet Australia. Stuff like that.
    •  
      CommentAuthorAndy
    • CommentTimeNov 20th 2006 edited
     # 23
    Posted By: andrew_kenrickafter a truly shocking experience playing Mythic Russia


    Tell me more!!! (new thread it, just drop an incident or two. Namely, "Why it was shocking"). I've been following this game on and off and want to see peoples' experience with it.

    -Andy
    •  
      CommentAuthorMikeRM
    • CommentTimeNov 20th 2006
     # 24
    Posted By: Jason MorningstarGrey Ranks, yeah, but I love history. There's other stuff in the queue - I'd love to explore the French and Indian War. First Fleet Australia. Stuff like that.


    If you're up for first fleets to New Zealand I'd like to be involved - ancestral connections. Imagine: You're a farmer's second son or a small tradesman, looking for opportunities outside the English class structure. You scrape together enough to buy a "town lot" and a "farm lot" from a nice man in London. You have an unmarried sister who's going with you, this gets you a discount on the ticket. You spend SIX MONTHS on a ship, in a "cabin" approximately the size of a modern office cubicle, but a different shape - you can lie down and sort of sit up.

    You arrive and discover that the "town" is a hillside covered with scrub, and the "farm" is another hillside covered with forest that the nice man in London somehow neglected to buy from its current owners, a Maori tribe who don't fancy parting from it.

    What do you do?
    • CommentAuthortimfire
    • CommentTimeNov 20th 2006
     # 25
    Posted By: LarryTruly, I would like to see the ultimate, simulationist, historically pseudo-accurate ninja game. I want all kinds of crazy minutiae about ninja tools, ninja training, ninja secret societies, feudal Japan as it pertains to ninjas. Sort of a ninja-centric Lone Wolf And Cub as a game. (If you eventhoughtabout Naruto here, I will cockpunch you. Freak.) Clearly, such a thing probably has a lot to do with my vision of what is awesome about "ninja" as opposed to other attempts.

    You know, anything close to historically accurate ninjas wouldn't be half as interesting as you think it would be. Ninjas in real life weren't very interesting. Alot of what's attributed to "ninjas" was really just regular ol' samurai soldiers.
    •  
      CommentAuthormisuba
    • CommentTimeNov 20th 2006
     # 26
    More games about the workplace.

    Possibly, more games about sports.

    Almost definitely not a game about the staff at a restaurant, although I personally would be riveted.
    • CommentAuthorLarry
    • CommentTimeNov 20th 2006
     # 27
    My Life With Master is a game about the workplace. Sorta.
  28.  # 28
    I'd like to see something like TSR's Reverse Dungeon or the Dungeonkeeper games that gives the player crunchy tools to design lairs for the world's evil and misunderstood and enact wicked plans that still manages to keep a cohesive narrative. I've tried this a few different ways, and it either becomes too silly or too much like a normal game of whatever the rules are based within. Comedy would be fine, but there are other games for out-and-out silly.

    What I want is a modern justification for the typical D&D impulse to clear out a dungeon and make it one's own. And something that incorporates commonplace books in stronger fashion than Castle Falkenstein.
    •  
      CommentAuthorrrr23
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2006 edited
     # 29
    A game that feels and plays like the Pixies albums Surfer Rosa and Come On Pilgrim

    Short, sharp, full of shouting, incest, weirdness and raw raw rockin' emotion. Featuring fat men who "scream it like they hate that bitch", crazed mexicans and the players being molested in a parking lot. But funny. Real life, but you know, fucked up real life.

    NB: this is not a game about being a rock band. This is a game that should feel like the output of a specific rock band.
  30.  # 30
    I don't mean to threadcrap, and this might sound a bit hypocritical coming from me. But, Troy, do we really need to encourage more people not already thinking about making designs to make new designs? I think John Kim has taken the lead on this one, with the notion that, in fact, myriad new designs may not actually be a good thing. Maybe not everyone should be a potential game designer. The fact that such a large proportion of RPG players become game designers is, I think, a testament to the fact that there are a lot of terrible RPGs out there.

    But there's also a lot of damn good RPGs. Just because game A is broken, doesn't mean we need game B.

    I'm not saying we should stop making RPGs. Or even stop having design competitions and the like. But, "Hey, you there, with the cool actual play - make some rules around that!"... that's where I think you've crossed a line from RPGs as an artifact meant to be played several times, and RPG as something created to be played once, by one group, ever.

    I think that's fine for people to create true "one shot" RPGs (that is played once, ever by one group). But I think that publishing them all could create a situation where to get the game you want to play, you'd have to pour through so many RPGs that finding the good ones might become nigh impossible.

    I think that it's simply too much specialization. Focused design is one thing, but there is something to be said for the fact that I can sit down with a group of people and play Dogs in the Vinyard, because they've all played it before. So I don't have to teach the rules each time to everyone, and so that emergent properties of the game can, well, emerge. Which doesn't always happen if you're alwyas playing a new game each week.

    There are loads of good ideas for RPGs in this thread. But, as I've ranted before, concepts are a dime a dozen. As Andy intimates, the good RPG is one that's been completed, and completed well, because it's been playtested, and the writers have done their homework. Let me be clear - the RPGs that come out of the Iron Game Chef competitions are crap. How could they be anything less than crap, given only a week to construct the game, and no time to playtest? The award is given to the game that sucks the least, and maybe has the greatest potential to be forged into something cool. As, for example, Jason did with Roach, or Tim with Mountain Witch.

    Now, fortunately, this thread may not produce any designs that were not already planned - it's far easier to talk about ideas than it is to work on them. But...I dunno, let's just try to keep in mind that if you want to be a designer to try to set a very high bar for yourself. Only start a design if it's not just a cool idea, but you have a strong vision of what it might be like in the end, and you're willing to really put in the effort to make it not just an also-ran game, but one that really adds something to the constellation of RPGs that already exist.

    I don't know if this'll slow anyone down, but I hope it at least gives them a pause to think.

    Mike
    •  
      CommentAuthorAdam Dray
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2006
     # 31
    Shoulda thought of that before you helped start the indie game design movement, Mr. Smartypants. ;)
    • CommentAuthorJ. Walton
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2006
     # 32
    Mike, I think the anyone-can-create-something-ness is one of the coolest parts of roleplaying. Look at webcomics or DeviantArt or fanfic. There are a ton of mediocre webcomics, but they are all important to somebody. Would it be better if there were only a few webcomics that were awesome? Hell no. That's like saying there should only be a few blogs that are awesome and the rest of us should just shut up. It does suck when you can't find what you're looking for amidst piles of mediocre products, but I don't think creating less games is the answer. Game design is one of the main ways in which you participate in the roleplaying community, what separates the creators from the fanboys (because there are no other differences). Plus, I hold out faith that with more people designing, even if the bulk of them are retreading the same old ground, that some people will stumble on some mad genius, and that we'll all benefit.
  33.  # 33
    Jonathan, but not all people try to sell these, or claim they are finished re-useable products.

    Games are cool, but not all games should be products.
  34.  # 34
    If you don't publish it, well, then no problem. But that's not entirely what I'm on about.

    There's an extra "layer" with RPGs. People get to create using RPGs all the time, even if they never make one of their own. It's not analogous to blogs, it's analagous to everybody making up their own bit of internet posting software, and then hoping that people learn to use it. If even 1% of internet posters made their own software, would that be a viable environment? We're advocating in this thread that a large percentage of folks - everyone who has a good actual play post - make a RPG.

    Adam, I did say that it might be a tad hypocritical, and I meant it. Doesn't make it wrong, however.

    Mike
    •  
      CommentAuthoriago
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2006
     # 35
    Posted By: Mike Holmes
    There's an extra "layer" with RPGs. People get to create using RPGs all the time, even if they never make one of their own. It's not analogous to blogs, it's analagous to everybody making up their own bit of internet posting software, and then hoping that people learn to use it. If even 1% of internet posters made their own software, would that be a viable environment? We're advocating in this thread that a large percentage of folks - everyone who has a good actual play post - make a RPG.


    I think that's a misread of thread intent. What this thread is advocating (IMO) is that designers regard good actual play experiences as sources for ideas -- not necesarily that those AP posters be the designers themselves.
    • CommentAuthortadk
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2006
     # 36
    I thought it was a wish list pie in the sky ideals sort of thread
    •  
      CommentAuthorJosh Roby
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2006
     # 37
    Posted By: Thunder_God
    Games are cool, but not all games should be products.

    Word. I would really love to see a better articulated divide between creating a game to be shared via free pdf download and creating a game to be sold as a product.
  38.  # 38
    Good point, Fred. Maybe better said that the idea is that each AP post might be an idea worthy of pursuing.

    Frankly the number of designers to me is irrellevant, it's the number of designs that are produced and put under our noses that's potentially problematic.

    If somebody gets some wonderful idea here for a game - and then actually produces it, and a wonderful game at that - that's great. But each and every idea doesn't merit construction simply because somebody said it's cool on a thread. Again, simply, persue a design if and only if you can see a path to it being a great game. Don't just put together a game because there's some nifty concept, and idea that such a game "would be" good.

    Mike
    •  
      CommentAuthorAdam Dray
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2006
     # 39
    I dunno. One guy's boring is another man's awesome. I think designers should pursue what they love and sometimes it'll work out in the big scheme of things, and some times it won't. Do you think the inventor of Tetris, if he'd posted in a forum that he was thinking of making "this computer game where you rotate shapes and drop them into the smallest area possible and they crumble when you fill in a whole row!" would have been given the thumb's-up to publish the game?

    So, practically, how do you tell if an idea is gonna be cool or not till you do the thing?
  40.  # 40
    Heya,

    Yeah, we're off track but that's cool. Mike, to respond to your initial question, yes I think we do need to encourage more design. Where are the game designs meant for things like play-by-email, play-by-post, play-by-Skype? Where are the games that follow-up and improve Code of Unaris? What about games that utilize real world phenomonon like Fantasy Football, the cycles of the Moon, or low stakes gambling? How come we have only a few guys like Greg Stolze and myself willing to embrace a different product release and distrobution system? There is SO much room left for us to explore.

    John Kim has a point. Flooding the market is a bad idea. But one has to be careful not to tamp down innovation with that sort of talk. By saying only certain people should become game designers to will only get certain kinds of games.

    Peace,

    -Troy
  41.  # 41
    Adam, love is precisely what I'm talking about. I see a lot of games get developed because somebody thought it would be a good idea, and then didn't really follow through. Because there really wasn't any love in the design.

    I mean I could improve on Unaris with a design I could come up with in a day. But I don't think I should. I wouldn't do a great job. "Better than Unaris" is a pretty low bar (I think it's an innovative idea, but the actual execution is weak). I have ideas for games constantly, but I put them aside because they don't inspire me. I know I could make them, but I know that they'd be weak.

    Troy, I'm only limiting the group of designers to those who are lovingly motivated, and willing to actually see the design through to a certain level of excellence. Only those people who feel it will know who they are. I'm just asking potential designers to, when considering an idea for a game, to ask themselves, "If I make it, do I have the will to make it well."

    I think we're all in agreement, really, I'm just sounding more negative than most.

    Mike
    • CommentAuthorLarry
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2006
     # 42
    Mike, I'm gonna politely say you're crapping the thread.
  43.  # 43
    Mike,

    Having just come into this thread and, as someone who agrees with many (not all) of the points you are making...

    I still have to agree with Larry. You are threadcrapping.

    Now, I think you're threadcrapping with all the best of intentions, but it still comes down to an issue of "I don't think this is what I want to see, so I'm going to moderate/quell/turn discussion in the way I want it to go despite the fact that it is obvious the other members of the community and those who were enjoying the thread do not want that / were not thinking that / and are not doing what I may have initially feared they were doing."

    And, frankly, that's sad because way up on the thread there was some hot sounding shit coming out. Daniel's post, for example, made me happy even if no one ever actually makes a game like that.

    And really, that kind of geek enthusiasm is one of the things Andy has constantly talked about as being the point of Storygames. This is not a place he wanted to be about designing games, it was a place to get excited and talk about games and geek stuff and cool ideas -- even if nothing comes of those ideas.

    So ranting in a thread in which people are having fun on a forum that isn't specifically about game design about how this won't lead to good game design is...

    Threadcrap.

    Sorry Mike, love you, but there it is.
    •  
      CommentAuthorAndy
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2006
     # 44
    To get back on track, I want to see India.

    Any era. Total fantasy overload or smooth historical playing.

    Far out Indian-themed SF would also be something. I'd prefer fantasy, but done right SF might kick it's butt.

    A game that blends traditional with some newfangledness. Perhaps building upon an existing rulesystem while making those rules its bitch.

    -Andy
    •  
      CommentAuthorBrand_Robins
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2006 edited
     # 45
    Andy,

    Yea, I thought the same thing. So I did an Indian setting for 3 AM games. But as it hasn't been published yet I may ask for my MS back from my publisher to do a rewrite now that I'm back from actually living in India.

    Also, did you ever see the Age of Kali post I did on Yud's dice? Because man, I totally want you in that game. Fuck designing it (for the moment) I want to play it with some other folks who are excited about India.

    As for what I want?

    I want a game that you can play at the office without the others in the office knowing they are playing with you.
    I want a game that works to make novel-length and intensity play the way Trollbabe works to make short-story length and intensity play.
    And maybe most of all, I want a game that makes me sexy when I play it.
    •  
      CommentAuthorAndy
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2006
     # 46
    Posted By: Brand_RobinsAlso, did you ever see the Age of Kali post I did on Yud's dice?


    Link me, dude.

    Literally 1/2 of all fantasy roleplaying I've done in the past four years has been India-themed. One campaign was in D&D, the second was Exalted (then later switched to BESM). It's like my game group can't get it up for vanilla fantasy, we always have to set it in a faux India, China, Japan, Middle East, Old Americas, Norse, etc to get into it. Next is Rome, but we're returning to India next year.

    -Andy
  47.  # 47
    Andy,

    http://games.spaceanddeath.com/yudhishthirasdice/53

    And, ironcially, I haven't gotten a lot of non-playtesting play in India in the last little bit. Everyone is afraid to play it with me for some reason.
  48.  # 48
    Well, it might not be a forum about design, but this thread is. So I don't think I was out of line on that account. Further, I didn't say to stop, I just posted a warning I thought was relevant.

    Lastly, I'm done now, so...you know...carry on. Sorry for the crap.

    Mike
    •  
      CommentAuthorAndy
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2006 edited
     # 49
    Posted By: Mike HolmesSo I don't think I was out of line on that account.


    I don't think so either. It's an interesting thread, and I like your warning; I mean, you're just stating a trend, not really ranting or anything. But honestly, even though I don't see bang-bang cappin' going on, it seems like a big enough "relevant side issue" that I'd love to see it in its own thread. Unfortunately this forum software lacks the tools to prune it.

    Feel up for discussing further in a new thread? If so we can copy the first post into a new thread...

    -Andy

    EDIT: Heck, I'll just go ahead and do it.
  50.  # 50
    Heya,

    Another game I'd like to see:

    -One that encorperates a computer

    I don't mean in the MMORPG way or the CRPG way. I mean, surging the internet, DVD ROM, or Microphones used as significant aspects of play. Somehow. There's a lot of technology out there that RPGs aren't encorperating yet. It's a real opportunity.

    Peace,

    -Troy
    • CommentAuthortadk
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2006
     # 51
    I love the idea of India
    I know www.dogsoul.net Dog Soul Press has a d20 Sourcebook that is Indian Subcontinent inspired
    I would be so on reading anything that is inspired with that. Even though I have done none myself.
  52.  # 52
    I saw a lot of laptops at recent conventions - mostly used for record-keeping, I imagine. At one point at MACE there were four people all laptop-enabled at a table adjacent to mine. No idea what they were all doing.
    • CommentAuthorLarry
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2006
     # 53
    "India" is so huge, you could just keep on mining it and getting fresh ideas to blow people's minds. Yes, pleeeease. Indian-themed SF has always been something I've thought would rock on curry.

    Brand, have you done anything with Age of Kali since the original post?
  54.  # 54
    Larry,

    Not a lot that is in shape to be shown in public. You know, unless note that read like "Siv vs Atman via Snowcrash in red-blue shift" are meaningful to you.

    Oh, and I tried to run a game of it with Shock but then I went to India and the game got called due to me being not in home hemisphere.

    When I get it into publically understandable shape I'll post more.
    • CommentAuthortadk
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2006
     # 55
    Siv vs Atman Via Snowcrash in red-blue shift
    hmmm taking a stab

    The AI Lord Shiva working to undermine a foes Atman (Power i would guess in a metaphorical mentality) using a Meme altering paradigm (A Snowcrash) at relativistic speeds (red-blue shift meaning down doppler shift from hot to cold so it is moving away at relativistic speeds)

    I know I am totally wrong but that was fun
  56.  # 56
    Tad,

    Actually... not too far off. Shiva isn't an AI though, he's actually a god. Atman is the PCs.

    Past there...
    • CommentAuthortadk
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2006
     # 57
    Brand,
    thank you for the kind word there. I just jumped to Singularity mode and drew on military experience to fill in a blank. But even being wrong, I hope that someday you do more work to it.
    •  
      CommentAuthorNeko Ewen
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2006
     # 58
    As much as I love Toon, I still want to see what a new cartoon RPG might look like. Something where I could say "[Game X] is to Toon what InSpectes is to D6 Ghostbusters."

    I've always thought Indian stuff was cool, ever since I saw that (loooong) movie adaptation of the Mahabarata.

    Something as wacky and colorful as Katamari Damacy.

    Posted By: Thomas TA game about cool powers and being awesome in the style of shonen fighting manga. But one that strikes that awkward balance between stifling creativity with laundry lists, and making everything functionally identical and characterless.

    I have some ideas for a game I want to call "Nekketsu! Battle Stars," but I have no idea when I'll get around to it.

    (Nekketsu = 熱血 = "hot-blooded")
    • CommentAuthorMeserach
    • CommentTimeNov 21st 2006
     # 59
    * A game that can have a satisying instance of play in half an hour or less.
    * A game that can be played all the way to a satisfying ending in two hours or less.
  60.  # 60
    Since noodlin' in this thread is now state-approved:

    A game that divides the players into roles based on movie-making: Director, Writer, Art Director, Cinematographer, Set Design, Editor, etc. Actors are the source of all opposition and are played as NPCs.

    Games that focus on language, mechanically. A game where I write a stately haiku but just when it's about to let me take the castle you throw down a killer battle-rap and toss my sorry ass into the moat. Where a spell is a sonnet and a ritual is a sonnet-chain; where I counter-spell more successfully the better I spell 'counter'. I'm tired of memorizing rulebooks to be a more effective player -- I want to memorize poems to be a more effective player. When I hear people talk about games built for irc or AIM this is what I think about. (Code of Unaris was kinda crap.)
    • CommentAuthorD-503
    • CommentTimeNov 22nd 2006
     # 61
    Posted By: LarryTruly, I would like to see the ultimate, simulationist, historically pseudo-accurate ninja game. I want all kinds of crazy minutiae about ninja tools, ninja training, ninja secret societies, feudal Japan as it pertains to ninjas. Sort of a ninja-centric Lone Wolf And Cub as a game. (If you eventhoughtabout Naruto here, I will cockpunch you. Freak.) Clearly, such a thing probably has a lot to do with my vision of what is awesome about "ninja" as opposed to other attempts.

    Also, more games set in the only slightly not-real modern world, that normal people inured in normal people pop culture can relate to. Games about gangstas 'n' thugs, action heroes, normal people in bizarre situations. Default Sorcerer fits the bill here. Contender is right on the fuckin' money.

    Last and perhaps most importantly, I want a good compelling cops game. Police procedurals are just too poorly represented in this medium relative to the awesome stories they can tell. I guess you can do it in PTA, but I'd like to see something that aids me in whipping out a true-to-genre cop story without an encyclopedia understanding of the genre. (Yes, I'm aware this item is encompassed by the previous one, but I think it's worth breaking into its own item.)


    A historically accurate ninja game has already been published, one of the supplements for Sengoku, it's called Shinobi, does precisely this.

    Not trying to dampen your ardour, but it seemed worth mentioning that this one is already in print.
  62.  # 62
    Troy mentioned Egypt. That's a personal favorite of mine, and I'd need a game that's very different from the D20 game, where the D&D races are merely renamed. I'd want a game that captures the mysticism, spirituality, and sensuality that I associate with Ancient Egypt. I ran a "freeform" game in an Alternate Ancient Egypt a while back, and while that was great fun, it lacked the push from a few good rules and more setting and situation materials.

    Other people mentioned India. And Atlantis. And if you combine all of those with Egypt, you get another game that I'd love to have and that I've been thinking about: Ancient civilizations, the mythical ones, all at once. Complete with those flying machines (vimanas), air battles, intrigue, magic, and whatnot.
  63.  # 63
    My vote's in for India as well, since I'm most of the way through reading the Mahabharata. I'm now somewhat curious as to what science fiction actually comes out of India these days, as opposed to what the rest of us would shoehorn it into.

    A game set in the wizard's school at Roke (from the Earthsea books) would be very interesting to me. You could have comments about running in the pre-Ged years, and in the years after Dragonfly and The Other Wind.

    I'm sure I'll have more ideas in, say, 15 minutes or so, but that's what's in my head right now.
    • CommentAuthortadk
    • CommentTimeNov 22nd 2006 edited
     # 64
    The closest article I have found on the state of SF In India
    http://www.cyrilgupta.com/contentart_sf_in_india.htm

    On the left hand side there are some SF short stories linked there. I read 2 of them. There is some room there for that author.
    •  
      CommentAuthorMo
    • CommentTimeNov 22nd 2006 edited
     # 65
    Posted By: MeserachA game that can be played all the way to a satisfying ending in two hours or less.


    Don't know if you have yet or not, but you might want to check out this year's crop of Game Chef Games. As one of the time limitations was 2 hours total, you might find a handful that fit your fancy.
    • CommentAuthorLarry
    • CommentTimeNov 22nd 2006
     # 66

    A historically accurate ninja game has already been published, one of the supplements for Sengoku, it's called Shinobi, does precisely this.


    I was specifically thinking along the lines of Sengoku here. I was unaware that a ninja supplement existed for that line. Thanks for the tip!
    • CommentAuthorLarry
    • CommentTimeNov 22nd 2006
     # 67
    Posted By: tadkThe closest article I have found on the state of SF In India
    http://www.cyrilgupta.com/contentart_sf_in_india.htm

    On the left hand side there are some SF short stories linked there. I read 2 of them. There is some room there for that author.


    Neat link, but for my own part, I was specifically not looking for genuine Indian science fiction here. I had in mind unashamedly imperialistic, "Hey, here's some cool stuff from India! Let's stick in in the Cuisinart with science fiction and see what we can make!" stuff. As a refreshing alternative to "White quasi-1950s-Americans colonize the galaxy" and "Anachronistic hodgepodge of feudal Europe and its folklore."
    • CommentAuthorD-503
    • CommentTimeNov 22nd 2006
     # 68
    Posted By: Larry

    A historically accurate ninja game has already been published, one of the supplements for Sengoku, it's called Shinobi, does precisely this.


    I was specifically thinking along the lines of Sengoku here. I was unaware that a ninja supplement existed for that line. Thanks for the tip!


    I believe you can get it in pdf from from rpg.now which makes it a bit more accessible and affordable too.
    • CommentAuthorD-503
    • CommentTimeNov 22nd 2006
     # 69
    Oh, for me, a game focussing on Elisabethan espionage (though you can do this very easily with Gurps or BRP) and a game set in the City States of the Italian Renaissance (ditto) are my main interests.

    Whether either actually needs a published rpg is questionable to be honest, but a solid historical supplement with gamer relevant info would be very handy.
  70.  # 70
    There are two new Indian comics, Deva is one, forgot the name of the other. Sci-fi/fantasy.
  71.  # 71
    In the vein of Indian Sci-Fi: have you looked at River of Gods by Ian MacDonald, which rocks with toast, or Vimanarama by Grant Morrison and Phillip Bond which rocks on toast in a completely different way. Both are white guys doing mostly good by way of brown people (although I'd love to see, say, Brand's reaction to either or both.) On the other hand, neither are RPGs, but both are sci-fi about India.
  72.  # 72
    I want a game made to be played in the stands of
    high school football games, where the ups and downs--
    the improvised drama on the field--
    dictates the dramatic shape of the game fiction.
    • CommentAuthortadk
    • CommentTimeNov 26th 2006
     # 73
    Indian oriennted SF

    The Peshtar Lancers by SM Stirling....Alternate history good stuff
    •  
      CommentAuthorNathan H.
    • CommentTimeNov 26th 2006
     # 74
    i'd love for alot of these new "indie" games to come with an audio visual demo video. it could be as simple as a camcorder recording of the game actually played, and/or it could have shots where the mechanics would be highlighted(cutaway). the pick up and play aspect for alot of these games seem to me to be a bit narrow. i think learning by hearing and seeing the game actually played would be very helpful.
    and pirates.
  75.  # 75
    Posted By: Thunder_GodThere are two new Indian comics, Deva is one, forgot the name of the other. Sci-fi/fantasy.


    For the other one, you may be thinking of Ramayan 3392 AD, which has Alex Ross working on it.
  76.  # 76
    I'd really love to see a mystery/detective game that was narrativist and encouraged player input a lot. Pretty much the only thing I'm missing from games where all players have a great deal of say about what's going to happen in the fiction is the lack of plot surprise. If someone can work roleplaying tech to give me player-authored murder mysteries, and still preserve the joy of uncovering the whodunit, I will be quite excited.

    I don't know if what I'm trying to say above is clear enough; I'd be willing to blather on further in an attempt to clarify if need be.
  77.  # 77
    No, both were indie, by the same company.
    • CommentAuthortimfire
    • CommentTimeNov 28th 2006 edited
     # 78
    Posted By: RobNJI'd really love to see a mystery/detective game that was narrativist and encouraged player input a lot.


    Christoph Boeckle over at the Forge has been working on a no-prep no-GM mystery RPG. It looks very promising.
    •  
      CommentAuthorgreatwolf
    • CommentTimeNov 29th 2006
     # 79
    Posted By: RobNJI'd really love to see a mystery/detective game that was narrativist and encouraged player input a lot. Pretty much the only thing I'm missing from games where all players have a great deal of say about what's going to happen in the fiction is the lack of plot surprise. If someone can work roleplaying tech to give me player-authored murder mysteries, and still preserve the joy of uncovering the whodunit, I will be quite excited.


    I'm working on it. Really! That's my current project. Specifically, I'm working on a noir-style detective game, in the vein of Raymond Chandler and Ross MacDonald, with a player-authored mystery that emerges at the result of the resolution system. Working title is Dirty Secrets. (Aside: if you haven't read Ross MacDonald, you really, really should. Ron used The Goodbye Look as his example in Sorcerer's Soul for relationship mapping. Watching Lew Archer dig through the nasty interconnectness of families all hiding their dirty laundry is seriously intense.)

    I'm still in the alpha phase, but I should have a working draft pretty soon, actually. Whisper me some contact info, and I'll drop you a manuscript for playtest and critique when it's ready.

    Also, as Tim mentioned, Christoph's project has promise as well. We're going to help inspire each other with our respective projects, and I think that both will be enjoyable in different ways.

    Seth Ben-Ezra
  80.  # 80
    Seth,

    It sounds like what you're talking about is a mystery where the players slowly decide what happened? I'm not sure if that's what I'm asking for, though it may be. I think I Have been woefully inarticulate so far so let me try it one more time.

    Traditional RPG: I run through the GM's quest, and at the end, I discover the who/whatdunit. We are all amazed and pleased, mostly because of our surprise, although it was a passive experience, to some degree.

    Heavy-player-input RPG: My friends and I guide the content of each scene, set up conflicts, determine what is real in the world, but cannot experience visceral surprise at the resolution of a mystery, because we're deciding what that mystery is and often know about it before the in-game reveal.

    My wish: A game that has a definite mystery that must be solved, the details of which are objectively true regardless of any player input . . . yet it still retains all the goodness of all-player empowerment, stakes setting with resolution that allows one to declare what happens in the world, and so on.

    I don't know if what I'm wishing for is possible, or if it's so obvious I'm just not seeing it. Seth, is what you (or Christoph) are working on like the above?

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