Enworld Vs. The Universe - Retrogaming, Music, and Superpowers or Whatever [INTEREST CHECK]

[Jago]

Probably going to be my last game idea for a bit as I'm already involved in a bit, but to hell with it.

I want something lighthearted and fun and not too serious or in-depth, so we're gonna play us some ...

A game focusing on young adults who are at least trying to be adults (whilst more than likely making lots of terrible decisions along the way to said adulthood) while living in a world of Subspace, Ninjas, Garage Bands, 4th-wall Breaks, and Everything Geek. Naturally, we're borrowing a lot from the Scott Pilgrim Universe where pretty much any reference to gaming, pop culture, or music exists and can be worked with, all set amongst people who have superpowers like telepathy or flight, but can't figure out things like a steady job, how to handle roommates, or emotions.

I really have no system in mind for something like this, so I'll be looking at a pretty generic d20 system where 1 die decides everything. I may be open to FATE if it is more pleasing. EDIT: This has been narrowed down to BESM 3rd

But mostly I'm seeing who would even be interested in something like this. Again, as I'm already involved in quite a bit, this will be extremely light hearted, far more about the story and the characters than anything mechanical.


So, show of hands, who wants to be in a band?

 

[Shayuri]

M&M would work for this...system won't be the hardest part of this style of game by any means. Keeping a tone like that going without supreme narrative power over events will be a lot harder.

 

[Jago]

I am actually not familiar with Mutants & Masterminds, I do not own the books though I know the system is pretty simple from what I've heard.

However, what if everyone had that sort of narrative power? Like ... Like everyone is a co-GM or ... something. That PCs can stipulate and control things to a degree?

 

[Shayuri]

Sounds like maybe chaos to me? Who can say? FATE does a little of that, but it's kind of hard to figure out how to use it in my (admittedly limited) experience.

What I meant by my comment is that it seems like it'd be hard to maintain that style of tone not because one person has that narrative power, but because in a RPG, no one has it. It's needed, but can't be delivered. Dice subvert it. Player agency subverts it. In a story, only one person (the author) has to be good at humor. In a game, everyone does. And the dice have to roll right (though theoretically any result CAN be funny, some will be harder to deal with than others ).

For M&M, check this out:

http://www.d20herosrd.com/

 

[Jago]

FATE is more just spending FATE points to be able to affect scenes or characters, which to a degree is narrative control but it is one that the GM can reward players with. I will take a look through some M&M stuff. It generally should not be too hard either way to incorporate the idea of a "Bennies" kinda system where PCs can change or control parts of the game.

It would be a little over the top to allow PCs to just wipe away major antagonists, but allowing them to create say weaknesses to be exploited ("They say she can only invade your mind so long as she never uses social media ever.") or connections between characters ("Wait, isn't she your roommate's brother's ex-girlfriend that you haven't seen since you two spent that year in Korea together?") would be pretty in-line for a project like this.

 

[Shayuri]

Yar. I think if the players and GM had a lot of communication going on in the OOC, it could work. We'd just need to make sure we were all more or less on the same page as we went, so that no one suddenly broke the neck of it trying to do their own thing.

That doesn't mean we wouldn't be able to do things that were unexpected or spring surprises...just that we all would need to make sure we were all on board with the general thrust of each scene, and establish a ground rule up front that if someone goes a bridge too far, that remedy can be sought OOC...be it via a strategic retcon or otherwise taking steps to narratively walk it back somehow.

A small cast is also advisable. The more people there are, the harder it is to keep something like that going. Especially because this sort of story tends to focus in on one character at a time...so sharing the spotlight around makes things tedious if a lot of folks need it.

 

[Nagol]

The older system Teenagers from Outer Space does this sort of thing really well

 

[Jago]

I am not familiar with TfOS as well. That's actually a system? Why have I not heard of this, what is this?


And very agreed on the small cast, like ... 4 people. Tops. Very much a "submit a character and I'll take 4 of you" kinda deal. It also helps a lot of what you were saying, Shayuri, with allowing the narrative to flow much easier despite what may be added/changed/etc. Kinda hard to reign things in and sort everything out when 6-7 people are all trying to do their thing.

But either way! I think this can be done, and I vow to make it an excellent game of faux-hipster grunge, robots, and purses that can carry hammers.

 

[Shayuri]

Hm, I haven't seen it. It's named after a classic terrible movie that I love though.

One thing that might be interesting is to make 'NPCs' available for PCs to play in scenes their PCs aren't in.

 

[Jago]

Ah! A supporting cast played by the PCs would actually be a great idea, like everyone gets your main character, your Hero, but you get an NPC as well for when the spotlight isn't precisely on the group as a whole or your PC. That could be a lot of fun and allows more of that narrative control in scenes where everyone is together.