Shonen Fantasy Game

[benlehman]

The game doesn't have a name yet. It's a fantasy game inspired by http://imgur.com/FNYyK.jpg and http://imgur.com/ntDgG.jpg (thanks Ewen). I call it "shonen fantasy game" in my notes.

Here's some thoughts.
* Fast play as described in my previous post: target 1-hour.
* Long-term play. Target: play once a week for a year.
* A GM who does GM shit.
* Character levels 1-99
* Characters have both background and role. Backgrounds are high color power sets. Roles are thematic roles (hero, buddy, mysterious girl, villain, traitor, loner) and change in play.
* Turn-based play with productive passing.
* Antagonism comes from factions, which are mostly GM controlled but not always.
* A reward system (with leveling) for the GM?
* Backgrounds have three possible contexts (example: for the Light Rebus power, you can choose between being a member of a holy order, the last descendant of a hunted bloodline, or possessed by a mysterious entity.)
* Each context has plot unlocks which reveal more about your background and history (for the "last descendant of a hunted bloodline" above, these are: hunted, another branch of a family has survived?, the lost city of your people, your progenitor and your destiny.)
* Mechanically implicated: Characters, sets, items, factions, desires, mysteries.
* Power pyramids with ways to temporarily unlock higher level powers for big showdown fights.
* Saving your game?

Backgrounds thus far:
Light Rebus (see first link, above)
Chain Warden (see second link, above)
Dark Sigil

There'll be like ten or so.

Credit where it's do: Backgrounds are just Positions from Principia. Several ideas are lifted from Posion'd and Apocalypse World. Shooting the Moon also figures big into all my designs. Power pyramids are all over the place but I was thinking of FATE 2e. Final Fantasy, natch.

Comments

[yeloson.livejournal.com]

A reward system (with leveling) for the GM?

This makes me happy.

[benlehman.livejournal.com]

Help me figure out how it works then.

[yeloson.livejournal.com]

In most games, players are limited to affecting the fiction through their characters, and "leveling up" gives more options and more reliable means of affecting the fiction.

You mentioned mysteries, etc. above. What fiction aspects does the GM get to reveal/add to the game? Perhaps limit those and then the GM gets power to do more with leveling.

Things that can be played with around scene framing:
- The ability to separate characters
- The ability to add characters into a conflict
- Adding a twist/reversing a previously accepted fact ("The holy sword is really the key to Hades? Oh man.")
- The ability to add more NPCs who get a Background and Motivations of their own ("No, see, Medusa isn't just a random monster, she's also trying to free herself of her curse...")
- Scene framing flashbacks, in the form of questions to the characters ("How did Rakkos the Sword and Lydia the Sorceress meet? Were you trying to heist the same thing?")

Those are some possibilities.

[dendarii-pilot.livejournal.com]

I think tying into the plot pacing would be a slick thing as well - the GM can't unveil the massive global conspiracy until he's Xth level (and the characters are Yth level or above, but I'd personally have that be linked to GM level, along with other factors).

[kitsuchan.livejournal.com]

There's something a little like GM leveling in Face of Angels, right? You can create larger NPC entities and you get more special NPCs.

Since this feels kind of like a 16-bit RPG, from what I'm reading, I'm inclined to think about those for ideas. A lot of those are what Chris just said: adding characters, adding more detailed NPCs, adding twists. But there's also adding areas (now you can go to the moon!) and threatening larger things-- when you start playing an RPG, the village is in trouble, but by the end planets are getting destroyed and you end up going to other dimensions to fight the greatest evil ever. So maybe the GM has to be a certain level before she can threaten the safety of the entire world?

[russiandude.livejournal.com]

Maybe the GM also gets a few special things they can do only at higher levels, like "No no no, This is the REAL boss" or "Surpise! I kidnapped your sister!" or "You thought you killed me last time?" etc etc

[benlehman.livejournal.com]

These are all good ideas.

GM feat trees? Improved Deus ex Machina?

yrs--
--Ben

[yurodivuie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, might as well. Although you take gm powers into the meta-level then then it would seem like players were opposed by both factions and the gm. A player might feel like they are simultaneously fighting a boss and the gm, on different levels of play. At that point, I wonder if players might need a similar skill tree, to fight back on the same terms. Perhaps they always have it. You could avoid worrying about it by making gm powers strictly related to the opposition factions, I suppose, but that might be a cop-out.

This is a pretty exciting idea.

[wirednavi.livejournal.com]

(Incidentally: AWESOME.)

Sounds like you need a set of things the GM can't do:
- Can't reverse a fact in your background
- Can't change anything on your character sheet
- Can't kill off an NPC that you have designated as important
- etc. etc.

Then give them powers which allow them, under certain circumstances, to do them anyway. Say the GM just hit level 15, and now he has access to a power that lets him kill off your characters' families.

This is when the tone of the show makes that sudden, anime-style switch from a lighthearted romp with laser swords and shouting your attack names to a serious, playing-for-keeps action/drama (albeit a serious drama with laser swords.) See: Bleach, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, Naruto, etc. etc.

[dendarii-pilot.livejournal.com]

I find your ideas intriguing, and wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

[benlehman.livejournal.com]

Uh ... huh.

I don't really have one. Should I?

:D

[metalfatigue]

This is hot. I'm fanning myself.

[nekoewen.livejournal.com]

I approve. :3 If you want to look at some more of that stuff for inspiration:

Black Rock Shooter Trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GDw74ATcYk)
Touhou Bad Apple Fan Video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sib2L6A6xgw)
Hunting the Elusive: Huke's PICSIX (http://www.pireze.org/blog/?p=13446)
Hunting the Eluside: The Grimoire of Marisa (http://www.pireze.org/blog/?p=13253)

[yeloson.livejournal.com]

Ok further thought:

Instead of assuming the GM has framing power over scenes and conflicts and THEN limiting, what if those were randomly decided (cards, chart whatever) and the GM spends points/resources to influence/alter those?

I mean, conflict/scenes will happen, but the GM gets influence to make it meaningful/tactically fun, whatever?