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Okay- here's what I have so far.

3x3 hour sessions.
Ancient, Glass, Emotion.

The players take the role of divinely-inspired chosen of their god, in a land highly reminiscent of ancient Egypt. Each session represents a window into one epoch of the Kingdom' history. Each player is the chosen of one of the gith gods (with no duplicates), although only they know which one. The goal is to ensure that the Kingdom's 'aspects' match your god the closest at the end of the third session.

The aspects are (unsurprisingly):

The Ancient- Respect for that which went before. Embodied in the King, and associated with law, authority and strength.
Emotion- Passion and commitment. Embodied in the High Priest, and associated with love, religion and social interaction.
Glass- Invention and intellect. Embodied in the Chief Architect, and associated with literature, problem solving and mercantilism.

The Kingdom has a meter for each of these, and as the players solve problems facing the kingdom, the way they solve influences these meters. If the solution uses the aspect in a positive way, the meter increases. If it uses it in a negative way, it decreases.

For example, if you have to deal with some barbarians menacing the borders you could:

a) Inspire the troops and display tactical knowhow to defeat them on the field of battle- +Ancient
b) Descend on their camp on the dead of night and slaughter their women and children in the confusion- -Ancient
c) Negotiate with the barbarians and pay them off to leave your borders alone- +Emotion
d) Negotiate with the barbarians, then betray them and kill their leaders during the carousing. -Emotion
e) Fortify a town heavily and install seige euipment so the enemy breaks on it like water- +Glass
f) Send a spy into their camp to poison the well. -Glass

The ultimate decision rests with the GM, although some discussion is encouraged.

The characters are rated in these aspects, which forms their skills. There need not be direct correspondence between the skill used by a player and the outcome on the aspects of the Kingdom.

Also each session offers an increase to one of the aspects for the characters, and within each session each hour offers another. The time limit is strict, so in one sense play is against the clock.

Is any of this sounding interesting?

Here's a question: I'd like to divide the sessions into 3 hours plus 10 minutes cleanup, but would this constitute breaking the theme requirement?

Neat. I too like the use of Ancient and Emotion, and am less convinced by Glass. Using Glass in deception seems contradictory to me, clarity being one of glasses defining properties. Have you thought of using Committee instead?

Uploaded the WIP.




All comments welcome.

I have no idea where this comes from, but it's an interesting thought tool.

1.) What is your game about?
Moulding the history of a fictional river kingdom to match each player's hidden goal.

2.) What do the characters do?
Characters deal with immediate crises facing the kingdom, and attempt to solve them in a way that will change the kingdom towards their goal.

3.) What do the players (including the GM if there is one) do?
The players pick which crisis to deal with next, decide how their characters will attempt to resolve each crisis and whether to help other characters dealing with it.
The GM adjudicates the effect on the Kingdom when the crisis is resolved, narrates the beginning and end of each crisis.

4.) How does your setting (or lack thereof) reinforce what your game is about?
The setting paints a picture of the broad history of the kingdom, to serve an inspiration for the crises and their resolutions. It plants the point of the game firmly in the world created.

5.) How does the Character Creation of your game reinforce what your game is about?
The characters have the same attributes as the kingdom itself, and form part of important society within it. The only goals are directly related to the central premise.

6.) What types of behaviors/styles of play does your game reward?
Characters may co-operate or withhold co-operation within a crisis, or may attempt to undo the change of a previous crisis in another one. Good narrative style and imagination are also rewarded.

7.) How are behaviors and styles of play rewarded or punished in your game?
Co-operation may bring the game closer to the co-operating players' goal, and similarly opposition may prevent it from moving away from your goal. Good narration will encourage the GM to make your tasks slightly easier.

8.) How are the responsibilities of narration and credibility divided in your game?
The GM is responsible for framing and concluding scenes, and players have freedom to narrate their actions within a crisis. The GM ensures that credibility and consistency are maintained.

9.) What does your game do to command the players' attention, engagement, and participation?
Every crisis has the potential to affect the players' goals, so the players have a stake in every scene of the game. The actions of other players might also provide information as to their secret goals so should be monitored. Each player can meaningfully participate in every crisis.

10.) What are the resolution mechanics of your game like?
For tasks, it uses a simple binomial system with a fixed target number. Players have a number of dice and the difficulty of the task is measured by the number of dice that must 'hit' to succeed.
For crises, the GM adjudicates how the tasks involved in the crisis affect the kingdom, based on the actions attempted and which were successful.

11.) How do the resolution mechanics reinforce what your game is about?
The task resolution is simple so as to make the players think about the ramification of their actions rather than their execution.
The crisis adjudication drives the game onward, and is only measured in terms of its affect on the kingdom.

12.) Do characters in your game advance? If so, how?
At the end of the first and second sessions, offices of the kingdom are assigned that provide a permanent increase in attributes.

13.) How does the character advancement (or lack thereof) reinforce what your game is about?
The advancement reflects the aspects of the kingdom and provides secondary rewards for cunning manipulation of the kingdom's attributes.

14.) What sort of effect do you want your game to produce for the players?
A sense of the grand sweep of history for the kingdom together with subtle intrigue as to who is aiming for what goal.

15.) What areas of your game receive extra attention and color? Why?
The history of the kingdom is of particular importance because it forms the world within which the characters solve crises. The game also encompasses three different eras, so the way the kingdom changes is important to play. A vivid world also provides inspiration for the crises and their solutions.

16.) Which part of your game are you most excited about or interested in? Why?
The way that players goals are separated into categories so that players that co-operated in one task might oppose one-another in the next. This means that the players won't form unchanging sides as the game progresses, because for every two players there will be one attribute they differ over.

17.) Where does your game take the players that other games can’t, don’t, or won’t?
The combination of hidden goals and the different attributes related to them makes inference on others' goals more interesting- is he opposing me because he doesn't want the kingdom to have this attribute, or is it because it will cost him the High Priestship for next session? Or is it misdirection to hide his true goal?
Establishing another player's goal is non-trivial even when they are not using misdirection.

18.) What are your publishing goals for your game?
Reaching an audience through the Iron Game Chef, and hopefully scoring highly in peer review.

19.) Who is your target audience?
The other gameheads in the Iron Game Chef challenge.

Hi, Queex, complete brain fart reading you OP so ignore my earlier comment about glass.

The questions you answered are The Power 19, and they come from .

Cheers.

I have something resembling a first draft, now. More flavour text and examples will probably be in order.

Any comments or suggestions will be gratefully received.