Halivar
First Post
I thought of a beer-n'-pretzels game, heavy on role play, and hopefully light on rules and dice. I'd like advice on creating mechanics to handle this.
The premise: Sort of like John Carpenter's "The Thing", set in some remote, isolated location (island, arctic, space station, etc.) where a party encounters a xenomorphic virus capable of consuming and taking the form of any creature it comes in contact with (or a pod-people plant, or mind-controlling parasite, or mitotic doppelgangers, etc.).
The conflict: Fear and mass paranoia set in as party members suspect each other of being "one of them". However, each party member has an essential, unique talent. The infestation/invasion takes place against the backdrop of some other emergency that causes party members to be away from each other for short periods of time. An ideal session would force people to pair up away from the group (thus increasing both viral spread and mutual paranoia).
The resolution: The game ends when the party members successfully return home, whittle each other down to one remaining person (or get themselves killed!), or agree that they have killed all of "them" and they no longer need to worry about each other. The party wins if none of "them" successfully get to civilization (or shore, earth, etc.). "They" win if they can successfully get themselves or the virus (or parasite, doppelganger clone, etc.) to civilization and spread the infection/infestation.
One mechanic that will be essential is that if you are not with the group at large, your actions are written down and handed to the GM. Every once in a while, the GM will call for actions, upon which isolated party members write down their next action and hand it in. People that are paired up away from the group are encouraged to leave the table and play out their actions in another room. The idea is to force limited first-person play on each individual player, so that players must independently choose whether or not to take other party-members at their word.
I was thinking of having each party member be a professional of some sort: a computer programmer, a technician, a biologist, a janitor, a medical doctor, etc. Each one provides an essential role on the station (or island, or spaceship, or colony, etc.).
I'm looking for simple skill check, combat, and conflict resolution rules that don't require "character creation" and allow for a very quick pickup game. Anyone have any thoughts?
PS: I hope this is the right forum?
The premise: Sort of like John Carpenter's "The Thing", set in some remote, isolated location (island, arctic, space station, etc.) where a party encounters a xenomorphic virus capable of consuming and taking the form of any creature it comes in contact with (or a pod-people plant, or mind-controlling parasite, or mitotic doppelgangers, etc.).
The conflict: Fear and mass paranoia set in as party members suspect each other of being "one of them". However, each party member has an essential, unique talent. The infestation/invasion takes place against the backdrop of some other emergency that causes party members to be away from each other for short periods of time. An ideal session would force people to pair up away from the group (thus increasing both viral spread and mutual paranoia).
The resolution: The game ends when the party members successfully return home, whittle each other down to one remaining person (or get themselves killed!), or agree that they have killed all of "them" and they no longer need to worry about each other. The party wins if none of "them" successfully get to civilization (or shore, earth, etc.). "They" win if they can successfully get themselves or the virus (or parasite, doppelganger clone, etc.) to civilization and spread the infection/infestation.
One mechanic that will be essential is that if you are not with the group at large, your actions are written down and handed to the GM. Every once in a while, the GM will call for actions, upon which isolated party members write down their next action and hand it in. People that are paired up away from the group are encouraged to leave the table and play out their actions in another room. The idea is to force limited first-person play on each individual player, so that players must independently choose whether or not to take other party-members at their word.
I was thinking of having each party member be a professional of some sort: a computer programmer, a technician, a biologist, a janitor, a medical doctor, etc. Each one provides an essential role on the station (or island, or spaceship, or colony, etc.).
I'm looking for simple skill check, combat, and conflict resolution rules that don't require "character creation" and allow for a very quick pickup game. Anyone have any thoughts?
PS: I hope this is the right forum?
