More noodling

Here’s a complete throwaway idea and a design exercise.

Throwaway idea: Situation consists of a set of issues that must be resolved. Characters can’t ignore them, either because of the game premise, or because they’re tied directly to the characters. None should be simple to resolve. In fact, I’d go one further: if you can see a way to resolve the issue, it’s not a game-term Issue. Scene framing involves picking one of the issues and presenting it’s next manifestation. Some kind of time pressure forces brevity in scenes, so the particular problem relating to the Issue may not be fully realized before some kind of action is taken. The next scene related to this Issue will be influenced by how this problem got resolved though.

The idea is inspired by crisis-mode media like Battlestar Galactica and Alan Moore’s Top Ten (in turn inspired by Hill Street Blues and its similars). Specifically, the way that a set of plot arcs interrelate in each episode, and the various situations interact.

Design exercise: first of all, I’m finding that thinking in terms of little RPG sketches is particularly satisfying. I like all these little ideas that skitter around one’s metaphorical ankles. But they won’t get out the door without some development. So, the exercise is to bring to a play-testable state each of these ideas. Or at least some of them. Maybe a Game Chef with myself thing, or if someone else is willing, I’ll do several iterations of this. Could easily be 4 a year, with playtest, seems to me.

In terms of “what is playtestable” I tend to think that the whole thing could be pretty spare. A Game Chef style 15 page splat of sketchy rules, complete with cop-out freeform traits. (As distinct from valid freeform … separate entry.)