Und wo ich schon hinsichtlich des Kulturaustauschs so in Arbeitswut bin, hier der Post einschließlich Zusammenfassung den ich schon mal aufgesetzt habe. Ich würde mich freuen wenn man mich vorweg auf Gedankensprünge und schmerzhafte Übersetzungsfehler aufmerksam macht, da es kein guter Einstieg wäre wenn die Forgies auf den ersten Späher des Challenges mit dem Finger zeigen und "brain damage!" rufen
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I've read in
GroFaFo that some people here at The Forge are interested in the results of the German Grofafo-Challenge (
see this report for details). To make it short, it was a German game contest where you had to write your game within 72 hours and to use at least 2 of 4 key words (cave, law, mother, sensuality - I went for the last three).
What I offer here is a translated version of my contribution "Goochelaar Meisjes". It managed to reach the 3rd rank in the challenge, so it should give you a good insight into the quality of the shortlisted games. It's the original version which was created within 72 hours - the only change I did (besides translation) was clarifying some fuzzy sentences. (A revised version is planned as soon as I get the official feedback of Frank T, who is the jury member responsible for me.)
This game tries to catch and parodize the style of magical girl anime shows like Sailor Moon, and to cooperatively produce funny over-the-top stories.
The characters are Japanese schoolgirls with magical super powers who stick together in a coven and fight the Evildoer Of The Week like a demon queen, Godzilla or a brain-eating math teacher.
The players play their characters and drive the plot by their rights of narration, while the GM introduces the start of the adventure, demands attribute checks, decides when rewards(Kami dice) are given and lays back plot-wise (besides throwing baits and giving impulses in case that it stucks).
Major influences were InSpectres (meta structure, basic dice-roll mechanic) and The Pool (gambling mechanic, reward system), although Risus ("your cliché is your equipment-list", tricky usage of inappropriate traits) and Wushu (coup de grace rule) influenced it a bit as well.
I'm sure that not everyone is eager to read a 16-page PDF, so here is a summary of the mechanics to start with:
Game Prep- define collaboratively the shared environment of the group (school, mentor, HQ)
Character creation- invent name, look and short background
- allocate 4 points between your three attributes, which range from 0-3: Eager-beavery (everything mental), Elegance (everything physical) and Empathy (everything social)
- find a descriptor for each of the following fields: Super Power (a broad key word like "fire" which allows you to do everything with the chosen element), Cliché (hobbies, special interests or unique talents) and Drive (a protégé who you protect or a vow to strive especially eager for a special kind of "goodness")
Checks- simple stake resolution
- roll a number of d6 equal to your attribute
- add 1d6 if either your Cliché or your Drive descriptor fits; add 2d6 if both fit
- look what's the highest result (the higher, the better)
- refer to this chart to determine if you won the conflict, how well you succeeded or failed and who has the right of narration:
* 1 - What a shame! Player narrates.
* 2 - Loss. GM narrates.
* 3 - Scarce loss. GM narrates, but player adds a positive side-effect.
* 4 - Scarce victory. Player narrates, but GM adds a negative side-effect. 1 success point.
* 5 - Victory. Player narrates. 2 success points.
* 6 - Clear victory! Player narrates. 3 success points.
(If you haven't piled up any dice to roll because your attribute has a value of 0 and no descriptor fits, assume that your best result was 1.)
- success points are collected by the whole group; if it gets 15 of them, it
could bring the adventure to a positive end (although nothing prevents from continuing, e.g. to round off the plot)
Kami dice- every player starts an adventure with 3 of them; they have an other color than dice from attributes and descriptors
- you can decide
before the dice roll to use them to boost your roll; this allows you also to roll even if your attribute has a value of 0 and no descriptor fits
- if
at least one of your used Kami dice shows 1, you loose all your
used Kami dice
- before the next adventure, your Kami dice are reseted to 3, what means "use them or loose them"
- you gain a Kami die at two occasions:
=> if you roll a 1 as best result and narrate a disgrace of your character that is either sensual especially accessible (turning extremly red, crying so hard that your tears spray everywhere etc.) or sexually humiliating (lifted skirts, "pleasing" tentacles etc.)
You can do that also if you roll a 3 by replacing your positive side-effect with a disgrace as described above.
=> if you play out kitschily the Romance an
other player has given to you through the course of play.
Story structure- the introduction of the problem
- the gathering
- investigations / complications
- prep for final
- the final
The PDF offers better explanations, advice, examples, more exact mechanics (how to give Romances, what if an adventure is aborted before 15 success points are collected etc.) as well as some crunchy bits (using Super Powers, using Combo Powers, supporting the check of an other PC etc.), but this summary is enough to show the big picture.
If this summary makes you interested in the whole game, you can download it [url =]*here*[/url], but you can give feedback even if you haven't read the PDF yet.
I thank for your time and effort to read and comment, and I really look forward to read your feedback and critic.
- Stefan
