Hello hello!

Its been a while since I’ve used my blog, but now I’m back and humming with new ideas and projects to slake my need. I’m not going to get into all of them now, this post is mainly about RPGs that I have been working on.

For the past several years, I’ve been trying to tackle a project that I just can’t quite get my head around, namely Blockbuster. Its a universal,rules light system based on the type of action and experience one would get from seeing a Hollywood movie. While my first go arounds with it turned out OK, there were issues with how to handle unique abilities, such as super powers and magic. The further from normal the story went, the quicker the faults in the game became apparent. I’ve toiled for a while to fix it, but I’m still not happy with it.

So, here is what I am doing. One, I’m shelving it. I’ve pulled it apart and slapped it back together so many times that it just seems like nonsense to me. I need to take a break from it so I can return to it with a fresh perspective. So what am I doing? Working on a bunch of other games!

That brings me to two. Over the past few years, I’ve come up with a bunch of mechanic ideas to implement into a game, but have not really had a chance to test them out yet. They seem fine on paper, but without testing them out, I don’t really grok them yet. So what I have decided to do is make a series of rules light games with these features included and see how they actually work.

My first endeavour is a one shot, horror movie system called Silver Screen Nightmares. The premise is simple. The players all take the role of someone in a horror movie. Like Lasers and Feelings (great game, check it out), there are choices for what the sessions scenario will be, broken up into different categories, the Set Up, Location and Goal. The GM can either select 1 from each category, or roll for each randomly.

When making a character, the player selects 1 Archetype and 1 Role. Each of these provides a choice of bonus to the character and a special ability that can be used once per game.

The Archetypes:

Athlete

Beauty

Pureheart

Thinker

Imbecile

Sentinel

The Roles:

Scholar

Student

Tradesman

Healer

Fighter

Investigator

Now, I have a specific reason why I made Archetypes and Roles part of the character creation process. I’m a large fan of customization in games and I wanted to make sure that anything I make had some amount of customization and added replay value. Want to be heroic each time? Play the Sentinel. You can be plenty heroic playing as that, but have a different set of skills at the same time. I’m big on choice in game, and I want players to feel like they’re not getting stuck with the same options again and again. This is going to be a common characteristic of the games I develop.

After all of this is done, the players select how ever many items they receive through character creation and are ready to go. While they are doing this, the GM is making the villain for the session. They select, or roll randomly, for a type of villain.

Serial Killer

Alien

Spirit

Undead

Mutant

Beast

Each one of these has a unique bonus. For each player, the GM gets to add 1 aspect to the villain. Ex. Shape shifter, Signature weapon, Brute Strength. Each of these augments the villain, making it tougher to defeat. Lastly, the GM selects, or rolls randomly, the villain’s weakness, the thing that is sure to defeat them. I wanted to make sure to include a weakness so the players have something to try and discover and a sure fire way of being able to finally get rid of the thing if the players are doing poorly.

From there the game begins. The players have 4 actions.

Attack – Attack or defend. Each successful attack does 1 damage.

Investigate – Find clues, info or goods.

Flee – Escape a dangerous situation or hide from villain.

Prepare – Repair, heal or setup something the character needs (trap, escape route, etc.). Healing restores 1 point of Composure or Vitality.

Each time one of the players fails one of these actions, the GM gets to make a move, just like one of the “World” games.

Separate characters

Frighten them

Give them a glimmer of hope

Make them lose an item or clue (drop something, run out of ammo, etc.)

Lead players towards clue

Show them danger is close

Expose info on villain (it’s intent, an ability, etc.)

Harmed by environment

Attack character(s)

I’m still refining this list, but for now I think this about sums up what I feel the classic horror movie offers. The GM cannot not make the same move twice in a row, so it forces the them to think creatively in how to drive the story and pester the players. I’m not usually a fan of the GM vs. Players style of games, but this game kinda calls for it.

Lastly, there is combat. The players have 2 types of health, composure and vitality. composure is like their mental health. Anyone who has ever played a Cthulhu will be familiar with this. Anytime the GM wants to frighten a player or the players as a whole, they present the frightening story point, whether it be the villain, something in the location or some other detail, and has them make a fright check. If the player passes the fright check, they are fine. If they fail it, they lose a point of composure. The GM can then either heal the villain 1 point of damage or add an additional ability.

Vitality is a character’s physical health and the only type of health the villain has. On a successful attack, a character or the villain loses 1 vitality. The Villain starts out with 3 vitality, but this can be augmented by different abilities. If a character’s composure or vitality reaches 0, they are considered wounded or in need of aid and cannot complete and action on their own. Another character must do it for them, and the assisting character will be at a -1 to all actions while doing so. If either types of health reach -1, the character is dead.

This is just the general outline of the game and once I’ve further honed it, I’ll be putting it up online for free as a PDF. I would love to know what people think of it outside my players. Expect more updates coming soon. I have more, exciting projects on the way.