The Great Conjunction II (RPG Design Contest)

[Wik]

How bizarre. I've been thinking about a character creation/designation and conflict resolution mechanic using cards. The base idea looks somewhat similar to what you posted, Wik, except I've been struggling with how to 'break the scene' as you termed it.

Great minds think alike.

However, the game I'm working on right now (an "unofficial entry") is more like a Savage Worlds variant in how it looks... I guess it looks sort of like a cross between Savage Worlds, Firefly, Omega World d20, and 4th Edition D&D, with a dose of Earthdawn thrown in for good measure. So, I know at least my game won't utilize the cards method.

With a little loose interpretation (such as hazardous tech subbing in for hazardous magic), the film fit into most of the themes for this contest.

The Conjunction is all about "loose interpretation". And remember Arthur C. Clarke: "Any suitably advanced unknown technology is indistinguishable from magic". Or something to that effect.

 

[jdrakeh]

I don't plan on dropping out entirely — but my entry won't be official as there is no way I can make the deadline (I'm busy reading/testing/reviewing Arduin Eternal and that is taking up more time than I planned). I hope everybody else has fun, though!

 

[jmucchiello]

I'm not in. I'm just not inspired by the main theme sufficiently. Sorry. Maybe next time.

 

[Jack7]

Aw, two dropouts in one day! Gah!

I have to admit, this contest has a lot less "oomph" than it did last year. C'mon! Let's jazz it up, people!

And Whisper, I'm all for a Jurassic Park game. That'd rock the caspah.

Wik, to me personally the idea has at least as much oomph as last year, just in a different way.

It's just that there is a lot happening in the world right now which to me requires my time and is a lot more important than would be any game. Gaming is the kind of thing I do in my spare time, and that's about it. I'm not professional or anything, in that respect. Maybe one day if I have spare time I can take it up more or less professional manner, but for now it's just an interesting avocation.

Strangely enough though, I had already decided not to write a game at all with this contest, but rather to write a short or abbreviated version of a book I've been wanting to write for years and years on the "Art of Exploration, Discovery, Investigation, and Vadding." (The longer book, not for this project, but the book that this project is based upon would be a complimentary books to other books I'm writing like Security Training for Missionaries, Priests, Pastors, Ministers, and Laymen Operating in Dangerous Locales, and, Establishing, Discovering, and Employing Intel Networks in Foreign Fields. So the idea behind this project interests me a lot because it overlaps with other interests and projects I already have underway.) Then at the end I'd include a short appendix, or a sort of Coda, with other materials included that told how to apply what was in the book to any RPG, Alternative Reality Game, or Parallel Reality game system one wanted to use (including how to redesign character sheets and the games themselves to take greater advantage of exploring capabilities).

I personally don't like most gaming manuals (though some are far more useful than others) as I consider them far too limited in application and scope, so I was intending to do something entirely different in that respect, with a sort of illuminated real-world book that also has gaming applications, rather than just a gaming manual with no other real usefulness. Or put another way, it would be a real world book with gaming adjuncts, rather than just a game which is a sort of escape from or substitute reality.

In that way the book itself can be used as a basic primer for Vadders, Urban Archaeologists, Explorers of various kinds, and in some respects even Investigators (the investigative and discovery aspects). Then the supplementary materials could be used to apply the same basic principles to various types of gaming, for purposes of both entertainment and simulation exercises.

So the idea is of deep interest to me and I intend to complete it. So I'm not dropping out so much as delaying. I kinda thought my approach would preclude me from winning anyways, but thought the experiment more than worth the bother, as my work in the contest is not geared specifically towards gaming, but gaming is a supplementary aspect of the overall effort. So I was just gonna submit what I had and let the chips fall as they may. Or maybe the dice, though really what I was presenting was diceless. But I still intend to complete the work, it's just that Haiti is a real hell-hole right now and needs whatever help I (and anyone else) can give, and then on top of that my squadron is distributing new projects for the year, and I'm still not sure of what I'll be tasked to do concerning that. Couple that with my normal workload, homeschooling the kids, teaching on occasion, and my writing schedule, and I doubt very seriously I'll compete or complete on time.

But I still intend to complete. I just can't say exactly how long that will take.
So I'm not dropping out per se, just being redirected towards more immediate and urgent tasks.
You just can't predict disaster or the unforeseen. (This reminds me to add a chapter on "preparations for the unexpected during exploration of unknown territories.")

As for the other contestants, perhaps you should consider extending the time-frame, opening the completion window by another thirty days or so. It is kind of a hard time of year with people getting back into the swing of things, and new workloads developing.

Anyways I gotta go.
Get back to work.

Good luck to everybody.

 

[Jack7]

I had a few minutes tonight before hitting the bed. So i thought I'd make a post on some of the materials I've already prepared.

This is the table of contents third draft outline, and the second draft of part of my Introductory remarks, for Traversal.

If you guys, or anyone else wants to comment, then please feel free to do so.


Table of Contents:

Opus Major

How and Why Men Explore
Theoretical and Practical Considerations
Training, and the Advancement of Capability Through Experience
Adventuring (The Enterprising Art)
Discovery (The Terra Incognita)
The Mystery of What is Found (Reading the Unnoticed Evidence)
Process
Secret Things
Secret Places
Secret Lives
The Enigmas
The Invisible Markings
Surveiling and Reconnaissance
Investigating the Obscure
Methods of Exploration
Methods of Discovery
The Infiltrating Vadder
Research and Inquiry
Recording, Mapping, Charting, and Disclosure
Preparing for Disaster
Anticipating the Unexpected (The Unknown Assumptions)
Going Underground


Opus Minor (The Coda)

Play as Exploration (The Vadding of the Mind)
Ultimately What You Discover is What You Know
Lessons Learned by Simulation and Practice
Recreation of the World
Role Play, Alternate Realities, Parallel Worlds
The Fantasy of Being Useful, and the Usefulness of the Imagination


The Addendum: Charts, Graphs, Characterizations, Schemes, Related Matters



Introductory Forward: Traversal is not a game. Nor is is about a game. Those of you expecting to come to this work and discover a game will find yourself inevitably disappointed, if that is your only motivation. As a matter of fact this work is not intended to be about any type of gaming at all, be that Role Play Gaming, Alternative Reality Gaming, or even Parallel Reality Gaming.

What this work is intended to be about is Discovery and Exploration. The Traversal that occurs as one carefully explores and fully examines new landscapes, new situations, new territories, and the unknown hearts of men. The Traversal of the Undiscovered Country. The Frontier beyond which you have yet to pass. Now, that being more or less fully explained and disclosed the ideas and concepts within this work can easily be adapted and employed towards most any type of role play, alternative reality, parallel reality, or even video game design or structure to which one wishes to make application. And I have no objection to doing this, indeed I have included mechanical and supplementary material, which will allow one to do exactly that kind of thing, should one so desire. For I think that both gaming plays and simulation works are very valuable ways of learning new skills and of practicing and more fully developing already existing skills. So if any individual wants to make Traversal into a game, or wants to incorporate the already existing ideas and materials of this work into their already existing game (and that was indeed one of my original objectives, though not the most important objective, in creating this book) then please feel free to do so. Experiment at your leisure, or at your individual inclination.

But that is not the real intention, certainly not the chief intention of this work. This work is intended to show men of all types and of every age that the Art of Exploration is far from a dead or lost art, and that it is far from a desiccated and useless subject of mere academic or fantastical interest. Rather it is as it has always been - an Underground Art - and that is after all entirely appropriate to the nature of the undertaking and endeavor, for it is surely now and ever a vital and living enterprise. Dangerous in nature, rewarding in character, and nearly inexhaustible in open and unending possibilities for the future. For what we fearlessly and intently explore we may soon actually discover, and what we discover is never truly lost, but rather it penetrates through and infiltrates within us, as surely as we infiltrate into, and then penetrate beyond the unsure borders of the wider world we erroneously thought we knew.

 

[GlassEye]

It looks to be a very interesting and educational read and I look forward to whatever parts you decide to post here. You are one motivated (and organized) guy, Jack7.

 

[Abisashi]

<Several good ideas>

I'll definitely keep those in mind. I think my "how to DM this game" section might end up being half the rules if I have the time to write it.

And the resolution sounds pretty cool - I was thinking about how to do something like that in a game, myself. A game where each PC is built as a deck of cards is kind of a neat idea, eh?

I'd like to make so each character is fully described by their deck of cards, but I'm thinking I might need at least a small character sheet. After the contest I'll probably go back and see if I can ditch the character sheet.

Abisashi, did you present the game last Conjunction using Tarot cards?

Yep. I wanted to run all of the mechanics on the Tarot deck but I couldn't figure out how to do it well at the time. This game will be simpler so I think it should be easier.



Unfortunately I've been very busy so I haven't accomplished much yet, but I was planning to be pretty rules-light anyway so hopefully it works out.

 

[GlassEye]

Wow, I had to dig really deep to find this thread again.

Anyway, I'm kinda sad this hasn't gotten a response since the beginning of the month. An explanation for my own lack? I kept banging my head against the wall trying to put together the basic card mechanic I wanted. I couldn't ever get it to work to my satisfaction. And then I kept trying to shoehorn the stated themes into the ideas I wanted to work with. That didn't work either. Now that the contest is over I have had a minor bit of inspiration. Sigh. Isn't that the way it always works? At least I've learned that I am much less organized than I thought and not so hot at motivating myself in the face of difficulties. Now to work on improving that...

 

[Wik]

Yeah, it kind of sucks that there wasn't a single entry, but then, it's a big project. And they can be very difficult, so, ah well.

I'll put together one next year, of course, and we'll see how it goes. Nothing you can really do about it, right?

 

[Stormonu]

Yeah, it kind of sucks that there wasn't a single entry, but then, it's a big project. And they can be very difficult, so, ah well.

I'll put together one next year, of course, and we'll see how it goes. Nothing you can really do about it, right?

I wanted to enter this, I had an idea for some mechanics to try out, but all of a sudden work got rather hectic this month. Would you be willing to try this again, say in the summer months when folks have "more time"? I imagine you'd have to redraw the themes, but you might get more entries.