It’s time to hit the music! It’s time to hit the lights!
It’s time to watch Mike leave proper Tabletop RPG Design dead in an alley tonight!
So we have some directions we can carry into now. We can begin going into the individual phases and start answering some questions, or we can take a look at our overall structure and perhaps modify it.
Honestly, at this point, I want to stick to answering my questions. Yeah, it means stuff goes by incomplete, but it also means I follow a structure and not just my own whim. Problems I see can be highlighted for later.
For example, in terms of overall structure, when do those choices get revealed to the players? Is there to be a bonus 13th turn at the end of the game showcasing how the players face the apocalypse?
PLUS! I haven’t even gone into character creation yet.
But there’s something to be said for structure, plus, as I go along this way, you all can just tell me what I’m not addressing as potential consumers of this game!
So for now, the first phase! Godly actions
Our problems were:
- What are the godly actions?
- How do they affect the meta?
- How many can be made per gameplay loop?
Well I had time to come up with some (because this is a post and I can edit things like that):
- Preserve an option for next month
- Generate more tokens to vote
- Stop someone’s vote
- The top two voted options are saved instead of just the top
- Something that aids your odds to survive at the end
- Eliminate an option before the vote
That’s what I’ve come up with so far in terms of possible choices that affect the meta. Now with these choices, each has to be written such that it sounds like a godly action. For example, generating more tokens to vote can be written as:
Perform a Miracle: Describe a divine miracle to the GM that you perform that reassures faith in you, this does not have to benefit your worshipers. (Gain X more tokens).
Keep in mind, this is an example. We certainly don’t have worshipers as a metric for this game (at this time) but by scripting it that way, I’m attempting to code in the player’s mind that a godly smiting is just as viable as a miracle that saves lives. Thus I can hope for a spectrum of player choice.
Now, there’s one thing I’ve noticed, none of the actions as I’ve described them are written as being made in secret, but, by those actions do they benefit from that?
So that’s my first question to you, Should the player’s actions be made in secret?
Second, How do we determine the amount of actions a player can take? Is there just a fixed number, OR do we make it cost voting tokens for each?
Lastly, Are there any actions we should add to those of the players?
Motherfucker count: 0?