I am envisioning a game about Piracy.
Scratch that: a game about power and finances through the lens of 25th century space piracy. The fundamental scarcity onboard ship is competency.
There is never enough competency to go around. The playbooks are setup to cover more than you have moves for, such that an important part of what you do cannot be done well.
That is: There's a single playbook for Mechanic/Surgeon. The moves will be designed so you can be good at one or the other, but not both.
Same thing for Master Gunner/Navigator, Master of the Watch / Fence, Caravan Master / Steward.
That is: the playbook select ensures you choose between keeping the ship in good shape or the people, between knowing where you are and how to fire your weapons, between having a good watch and being able to sell stuff readily, and between knowing where other ships are to rip off and being able to feed everyone.
In addition, there are specific positions onboard ship. Officers, which may or may not have the abilities to do this well. These elected officer positions are:
1. Captain, who has unlimited authority during battle. And none otherwise.
2. Quartermaster, who has authority over the crew during non-battle and controls the purse. Major issues are settled through a vote of the crew.
3. Boatswain, who is responsible for the equipment and ship. Basically, the Boatswain is in charge while the ship is docked and/or getting repairs.
Those are the only officer positions, so those three players have additional responsibilities. These come with no additional powers, just responsibility. This may be all the players! Everyone else is a spacer.
I'm very tempted to make this a hack of Dream Askew. In particular, the GMful nature and distributed fronts could hit exactly what I want.
Sound any fun?
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I think it sounds like a LOT of fun, but I love tragic games (or tragedy/comedies). I can think of at least one member of my weekly group who would HATE the idea of competency being scarce.
ReplyDeleteAdam D Yeah, a game where you simply don't have the skills to do the things that need to be done is not for everyone!
ReplyDeleteI like it. Scarcity is a fun constraint.
ReplyDeleteYou seem to return to economies as a window for story/RPGs, and I'm really excited about the novelty of that perspective. I would love to see you pursue a system that embodies that perspective. What if instead of dice or cards, players had coins they could spend/trade to do things?
ReplyDeleteJason Morningstar Thanks! I'll spend some effort actually developing this, then!
ReplyDeleteJay Treat Indeed, this is a lens through which I often view the world. It is ... simpler, while still having nuance.
ReplyDeleteI used finances to lose weight, think my ability to retire is a math puzzle to solve, and am pretty sure that non-enjoyable time can be compensated with money.
As for coins, I've had some not so great experiences. Fate Chips, for example, i find to often be a distraction. Whenever the players need to maintain an inventory, they think about that rather than the players. At least in my experience, etc.
I had to look up fate chips, because I'm like "Fate has chips?" but could only find references to Deadlands fate chips, and I'm like "yeah, duh, but what about Fate Chi... oh."
ReplyDeleteMaybe the GM handles the finances via credit books?
OK, the following is spitballing. Fair warning: today, my brain has not been at 100%.
ReplyDeletePut a bunch of gold coins out, upside down. On the downside are values 0-2. These represent a Prize to be taken. The coins from Drakon would would great. The point is we don't know what they are valued at.
A space battle goes like this:
1. A player (for now, let's say the GM, though i think i want this more distributed. Bear with me.) decides how much of a Prize is at stake -- how much the Crew can get. The coins are put into the middle, face down. The number of coins is also how difficult the battle is. How much damage needs to be absorbed. These coins, currently facedown, represent the Prize.
2. The Captain can choose to either fight or run away. If they fight, the damage must be absorbed by either the Crew, The Ship, or an Officer. For each damage given to The Ship, the Quartermaster distributes a prize instead of the Captain. For each given to The Crew, the Boatswain distributes. For each given to an Officer, the Captain distributes.
(Maybe!)
Damage given to the ship costs money to fix. Harming the crew damages morale -- and maybe kills people! -- and the track is fixable by throwing a party / other things like that. Damage given to an Officer is physical damage -- like a massive burn, losing an eye, or hemmoraging in space.
Then the players are "just" tracking a damage track for themselves and for some portion of the ship. Too much hull damage and the ship falls apart, too much morale damage and they vote in new Officers, and if the Officers die then a PC has died.
Maybe? Does this still sound like a thing?
I guess the PCs are also trackin their gold, and somebody is trakcing it for the ship. Still. Each PC is tracking a positive and a negative for themselves, and the ship has a bunch of stress tracks, and a gold track.
ReplyDeleteSaffire Rainbo The enclave becomes a pirate ship!
ReplyDeleteI adore that DA is queer. I remain skeptical about my ability to write a queer game. If I continue to push this along, I'd want to make sure that perspective is there. To do that right, I'd want to get help from someone who identifies as queer.
Saffire Rainbo Absolutely!
ReplyDeleteI do a lot of design in public, and your voice and perspective would be valued.
I'll add more moves to this later, but here's basically what I'm thinking:
ReplyDeleteThere are three "modes": battle, transit, and dry dock. Captain, Quartermaster, and Boatswain respectively. At the start of each, the player rolls 2d6, where a 10+ has one issue to deal with, a 7-9 has a bunch more, and a 6- is ruination. Maybe some stats, who cares.
There's a sub-system for each, but I'm hopeful they will simplify to one.
Battle: You can gain money, but absorb damage to Crew, Ship, or Officers. Each player choose 0-2 coins facedown. These present the Prize, and we don't know what it is valued at. The Quartermaster decides if the battle is joined, and the Captain rolls. If they run away, take one damage per coin, face down. Otherwise, the Captain rolls. On a 10+, take the Prize and suffer 1 harm. On a 7-9, suffer one harm per coin, and the Quartermaster distributes the Prize rather than the Captain. On a 6-, vote of no confidence.
Transit: You get where you are going. On a 10+, you can gain rapport without difficulty. On a 7-9, just one rapport. On a 6-, there's a vote of no confidence.
Dry Dock: Repair the ship, spend money. It costs as many coins and weeks to fix the ship as there was damage. On a 10+, you can either speed that to one day per damage, or down to one coin. On a 6-, either the ship cannot be healed, or the crew does not return.
Damage from battle hits the following tracks:
-- Hull. Too much, and the ship falls apart.
-- Crew. Too much, and the crew has a vote of no confidence.
-- Officers (PCs). Each damage is will scar, and too much and the PC dies.
I'll do another post soon about how the playbooks factor in. I've got a plan!
Playbooks!
ReplyDeleteWhen you choose a playbook, choose either the front or the back. Each have different moves. That is, the Mechanic is the front and the Surgeon is the back. The looks & names & crap & special moves will be different for each, so front and back are different.
Mechanic / Surgeon
Choose 2: Workspace, Things Speak, Bonefeel
OR, choose 2: Infirmary, Healing Grace, Deep Brain Scan (ala Brainer)
Master Gunner / Navigator
Choose 2: My Other Car Is A Tank, Bloodcrazed, Disciplined Engaged
OR, choose 2: Followers & Fortune, Stellar Observatory, Visions of Death
Master of the Watch / Fence
Choose 2: Lawbringer, Peacemaker, All Are Welcome
OR, choose 2: Contacts, Reputation, Collector
Boarding Leader / Steward
Choose 2: Pack Alpha & Gang, Not To Be Fucked With, Norman
OR, choose 2: Establishment, Everybody eats, Fingers in Every Pie
The idea was everyone's got three moves, generally one that adds to the ship and one to gain information.
Thoughts? This is rough!
Also, Saffire Rainbo ? I always need queer perspectives.
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