I remember going to Gen Con when they first were demo-ing Hero Quest. I got some limited quantity black plastic minis. For a 10 year old they were much cooler than the green or gray orc and demon minis that came with the game.
The idea that I have is a sort of 'adventuring party game.' Sort of like Hero Quest, but with less combat and more social interaction, which ups its appeal both as a quick party game and as a game non-gamers might get into. Not quite sure how exactly it would work, but you'd have a box, a 5-page rulebook, a 60-page storybook, a small stack of class cards, another of power cards, another of NPCs, one of monster cards, and a final stack of treasure cards.
The idea is to basically start with "Let's Pretend," and add in just a pinch of RPG mechanics to help first-timers take the step from "following the rules" to "playing a character".
Gameplay goes like so:
The general assumption is that the players are 'adventurers,' who come to a town far from civilization, learn that there's trouble going on, and try to make things right.
One person is the Game Master. She rolls a d20 to determine a random 'plot' (which make up the first 20 pages of the story book), another d20 for a random 'complication' (the next 20 pages), and a third d20 for a random 'antagonist' (the last 20 pages). The GM spends a few minutes reading three pages (large font size) explaining the three beats of the story - beginning, middle, and end.
Meanwhile, the players randomly deal out (or pick) characters. The characters are a nice mix of archetype (angry human barbarian, nimble elf, homely halfling) and oddball (cranky ex-adventurer bartender, tiefling pacifist, dragonborn con artist). The front side of each character card has an illustration and a quick description of your personality. The back side gives your stats - hit points, basic attack, trained skills, and one special ability.
Then the players randomly deal out (or pick) 3 powers. You might end up with a weird mix, like a human paladin who has sneaking powers and magic, or a pirate with holy prayers and telepathy. Powers usually don't require rolls. They just work, to keep things simpler. Probably the only time you make a roll is for a 'save.' Like if someone casts a spell on you, you roll d20, and on a 10 or higher, you avoid the spell. Your own spells and powers almost always work, except against the main foe, who gets to make saves like you.
Say for instance you're the GM. You open the 60-page storybook and roll to determine plot, complication, and antagonist. You get "Find the bartender's kidnapped daughter," "Witch in the swamp," and "Dragon in the boathouse."
The Plot page in the storybook gives you some boxed text to explain the situation, and gives you a short list of NPCs who are involved, and in what way. You pull out those NPC cards, each of whom has an illustration, a quick personality outline, and stats on the back in case they get into a fight. The Plot page also outlines a quick skill challenge.
When you run the skill challenge, it's mostly just narrative. You present a situation, the players explain how they deal with it or roleplay through it. Then you can either award them an auto-success for good planning, or make them roll. They roll a d20, add +1 for each party member who is trained in a skill that can help here, and maybe +2 for a decent but not rock-solid plan. If you beat 10, you get a success.
Maybe for this scenario, your skill challenges are to "investigate the scene of the kidnapping," "interrogate possible suspects," and "follow the kidnapper's" trail.
There might be three different stages to each skill challenge, so the party can get from 0 to 3 successes. Succeeding the skill challenge gets them benefits for the final confrontation, like some clue to the antagonist's identity, or maybe the help of an NPC.
The Complication page is where the plot thickens, and where the GM has to exercise a bit of creativity, in order to connect the opening to here. So in our example, the GM decides, okay, you succeeded the 'investigate the crime scene' so you find a discarded oar that looks like it was used to knock the kidnapped girl unconscious, so the father suggests you check the boathouse. (If they'd failed that challenge, but had instead succeeded 'follower the kidnapper,' the trail might lead there. Or if they'd failed them all, it might be a lie they fall for, or a guess that is a red herring.)
Ultimately, the players reach the boat house. The storybook has a map, and tells you who's here (a dragon), and what they want (to spy on the village in prelude to an attack). Here the GM can look at the bottom right corner of the Plot or Antagonist pages to see suggestions for how the 'complication' is supposed to tie in. The GM might decide the witch went here as a red herring to throw off pursuit, or that the dragon and the witch are allies, and the dragon told the witch when was best to sneak in.
The GM gets out the dragon monster card, and if there's a fight, he uses it to run a combat, or to roleplay a negotiation. Like with the Plot, the PCs have a chance to accrue 3 successes here - they might get 2 for killing the dragon or negotiating with it (or spying on it), and 1 for investigating for clues. When that's all done, the GM dropes a hook to get the PCs to the final conflict.
Then we get to the Antagonist page, the climax. Here it's a witch, and the GM can choose from a few suggested reasons why the witch kidnapped the girl. Maybe to steal her youth, or sacrifice her in revenge, or to appease her demon patron. Based on how many successes the PCs have acquired so far (let's call them quest points), they can get some benefit for the final fight. With 0-2 successes, she knows they're coming and lays a trap. With 3-4 they are on even footing, and with 5-6 they get some benefit.
The combat would be pretty minimalist, since the goal is to get through each scene in about 10 to 20 minutes. But I figure this gives enough balance between "interesting situations" and "ease of play."
What do you think?
