1KM1KT Free RPG Community

The Fortieth Annual Meeting of the Subcommittee for Preservation of Planet Earth

This world is rotten. In recent weeks, the Harmonious Congress has been abuzz with the findings from Gaebronius Zaphiel, Concordant Researcher First Class. The Zaphiel Report contains evidence that Earth is a drain on spiritual resources that could be better assigned to developing new planets – ones without such an overabundance of radium and fluorescent lighting.

A certain faction in the Harmonious Congress feels that Zaphiel is being hasty. They recognize that there’s a timetable to keep, but an emergency investigation would be prudent. The purpose of this investigation is nothing less than justifying Earth’s existence to the Committee of Heavenly Reacquisition.

Committee: The Committee of Heavenly Reacquisition can only believe in your efforts for so long. After that, they’ll repossess the spiritual components of Earth, leaving it a monstrous wasteland. Can you win over each member of the Harmonious Congress?

Emotion: Each player is a personification of a specific emotion; Schadenfreude, martyrdom, anxiety, greed, etc. Emotional depth is enough to save Earth, so who better than a bunch of abstract constructs to judge?

One of the players is designated team secretary. The secretary’s job is to keep minutes for the mission to save Earth. The notation is in Cosmos Time; coincidentally, 8 hours of Cosmos Time is equivalent to 8 hours of real time. Even if months pass in game, only 8 hours pass in the Cosmos. After 8 hours have been reached, the game is over. Penalties are assigned based on violation of cosmic law. (On this planet we obey the laws of thermodynamics! 15 minute penalty for violating the laws of physics)

Glass: Steel and glass cities vs. delicate spires. Humanity can be either way… Evidence for the committee is collected in glass spheres. Each character wears an hourglass with the time remaining.

Ancient: The practice of demolishing Earth has a great deal of precedent. The same team could be called on to justify existence in any era, perhaps several times in its career.

My comments so far:

Glass and Ancient seem tacked on. In the final cut, one of them will be excluded.

Apathy and emotional shallowness aren't the most interesting opposition out there. I wouldn't mind adding a competitive element wherein each emotion is trying to obtain the recognition for saving Earth. Then the players could fight over potential sources of emotion, seeking to twist them to their own designs (i.e. Joy would want to subvert the anxious zookeeper to unwarranted happiness. Anxiety would stomp on all such attempts, but not in a way that would leave the target an emotionless wasteland.)

Mechanically, I'm thinking that each potential target would have a pool of beads indicating how much control each emotion had over them. If the players act too overtly, the target will discard beads and become another drudge, unable to connect meaningfully with the world.

This all sounds dreadfully familiar, however. Has it been done before?

How about switching: What if the committee is made up of specific emotions, and the players have to convince them? This will give each session a specific focus, and make each committee member into a unique adventure. (Also, playing a specific, limited emotion might lose its charm after a while).

It's working so far. I had my first playtest with three friends that I grabbed. The biggest challenge will be finding a way to allow the players to narrate a meaty chunk of story, but not 'godmod' it.

The only guideline that I have so far is that whatever anybody says actually happens, but the higher bid can change matters to his liking through the story. After everybody has their turn to speak, the GM dictates the "logical" results of everyone's interference with the target.

1.) What is your game about?

Heavenly beings from the central bureaucracy in charge of Order throughout the universe. More specifically, the struggle of these beings to save the world by proving humans can change from their despairing ways.

2.) What do the characters do?

Tempt, trick, or help humans deal with hopeless situations in order to influence celestial congressmen. At the same time, the players will need to follow their own agendas in order to keep up their own enthusiasm for the task.

3.) What do the players (including the GM if there is one) do?

The GM sets the scene and guides the players through it. They players have a great deal more narrative freedom than I’m giving them, having free reign in certain segments as long as the story doesn’t step on another player’s toes. The players bid chips, and then describe how their actions influence a hapless human being.

After the bid-related narration, the GM determines if the players handled the situation in a manner pleasing to the celestial congressman.

4.) How does your setting (or lack thereof) reinforce what your game is about?

The earthly segment of the game is intentionally abstract. It can take place in any region or time period as long as the potential for unhappy people exists. This underscores the black humor of the players’ situation: despite what they do, the world will constantly need to be rejustified. A single failure results in eternal game over however, displaying the delicate nature of emotions.

The heavens are a strictly regimented system of meetings and cubicles fashioned of cloudstuff, marble, and glass. Large, Gothic clocks often show up in the background. This contrast this causes with the human element to create a place where the characters are at the disadvantage.


5.) How does the Character Creation of your game reinforce what your game is about?

Statistically, the characters are similar. With the exception of one order-dependant bonus, their passions and goals are all that distinguishes them.

6.) What types of behaviors/styles of play does your game reward (and punish if necessary)?
The players need to share their Emotion Counters and cooperate somewhat or else everyone loses when the Earth is cancelled. At the same time, advancement-oriented players have goals to work toward that can end up hindering other players and the group.

Players who take narration to mean “god-mode” can be usurped at any time by higher bidders.


7.) How are behaviors and styles of play rewarded or punished in your game?

Greedy, self-serving players will find themselves isolated from the team. If they continue to act difficult, the team will probably fail and so will Earth.

Working together (while keeping an eye open for personal opportunities) saves Earth while giving you a larger stake in the narration.


8.) How are the responsibilities of narration and credibility divided in your game?

After players bid emotion to influence an earthly target, they have full narration rights until a player with a higher bid stops them.

The GM takes this Earth bound scenario and determines the reaction of the Harmonious Congress. There are also mechanics to ensure that the GM doesn’t have to “just make things up” every time, but they’re optional.

The GM also fills in during any time when the story needs clarification or is lagging. This shouldn’t override what a player has already stated.

9.) What does your game do to command the players' attention, engagement, and participation? (i.e. What does the game do to make them care?)

Competition against their peers and interactive storytelling.


10.) What are the resolution mechanics of your game like?

Players secretly bid Emotion Counters to overcome a target’s Despair Counters. The highest bid gets the credit for saving a target, but the lower bids can introduce story elements that end up benefiting themselves. If everyone bids too much, the target cannot stand the strain. If nobody bids enough, the lowest bid gets a painful taste of the target’s apathy.

Convincing the Harmonious Congress can be accomplished by GM fiat, or by comparing the depths of the target’s despair with each congressman’s preferred emotion and the emotion that saved the target.

11.) How do the resolution mechanics reinforce what your game is about?

The system is as orderly and dispassionate as the heavens, but as vindictive and emotional as the Earth.

12.) Do characters in your game advance? If so, how?

Not in the traditional sense, no. The Harmonious Congress is a strict democracy where everyone gets one vote. The players are always on the lower end of that equality.


13.) How does the character advancement (or lack thereof) reinforce what your game is about?

The players are eternally stuck in the same position. Their best efforts result in stasis – merely the status quo.

14.) What sort of product or effect do you want your game to produce in or for the players?

Friendly competition, amusement, and the willingness to not be so gloomy.

15.) What areas of your game receive extra attention and color? Why?

Time is a more noticeable factor than in many games. In-game actions have results that won’t resolve until a certain amount of Cosmic Time/real-time have passed. This emphasizes that the characters are on a tight schedule, which encourages tension.

Tone is especially important since the setting is fluid.

16.) Which part of your game are you most excited about or interested in? Why?

Being a player and having to balance allies and self-advancement. Most games are either all competition or all teamwork. I’m interested in seeing how it will pan out to have people coordinating bids, but subtly twisting the effects.


17.) Where does your game take the players that other games can’t, don’t, or won’t?

Phenomenal cosmic power, itty-bitty living space.

18.) What are your publishing goals for your game?

A Game Chef PDF. After receiving feedback and doing full run-throughs, I’ll make at least a POD copy for myself that’s packaged with a few other things that I’ve written.

19.) Who is your target audience?

Newcomers to gaming who’re daunted by many-sided dice, longtime gamers who want something to do between extended campaigns, and storytellers.

In an attempt to spice up the inclusion of glass, I've taken what may be a bold step. On the other hand, it may just be contrived. Here's what I have:

The halls of the Harmonious Congress have been shaped by machinations of revered spirits as myriad as the number of grains of sand in the Infinite Hourglass of Central Timekeeping. Once formed of cloudstuff and the purest of alabaster marble, all but the most inaccessible outbuildings and mezzanines have been refurnished with modern materials to avoid hefty scrutiny in regard to health code violation. Cloudstuff is not the firmest of supports in the best of conditions, and marble is notoriously heavy.

After much deliberation, the new look for the physical manifestation of order in the universe was decided upon and promoted with all due haste. Frosted glass was the new cloudstuff. It could support nearly twice as much primal stone, eliminated 32% of the nap-interrupting outside light, and rarely ever erupted in seasonal thunderstorms.

The marble aesthetic had unyielding patrons, but the metaphorical alabaster was decided to be too pure. It offended those who had vested interest in removing powerful concentrations of color from collective perception. Dirty grey veined with black fit the tenants of the most recent revision of the Harmonious Congress mission statement, and was also easily obtainable. The overall effect was more grim than originally planned, but reduced loafing by an astronomical 2%. The changes stayed, not least of all because certain sharp-eyed beings were able to peer through the glass walls into adjacent rooms without being observed.

<hr>

When on Earth, agents of the Harmonious Congress are advised to fit in with the local populace. Past fact-finding missions have indicated that initial displays of a willingness to have meaningful discourse have been met with hostility and fear. In a famous case occurring at the end of the 20th century in the United States of American, several members of the Subcommittee for Preservation of Planet Earth disguised themselves as members of a government agency that used eye-masking sunglasses as part of their uniform. This iteration of the subcommittee had a surprising success rate given their less than subtle tactics.

Later review hinged upon the universal truth that eyes are the window to the soul. The subcommittee, given their burning passion for justice that overwhelmed human comprehension, had highly luminescent souls. To prevent this sense of duty from extending from their retinas like so many laser pistol shots, the team leader decided to block the potentially harmful rays. With sunglasses.

Since (before?) then, most heavenly beings encountered on Earth have had some sort of protective eyewear. While glasses are the most innocuous, they don't work for all regions or periods. Monocles, eye patches, and even wide-brimmed hats have all served their greater purpose at one time or another.

<hr>

Otherwise progress continues. The document is nowhere near as fleshed out as I had originally intended, but the game's focus has shifted somewhat since inception. Will it be complete in time? Here's hoping.