Entry: Gods of Olympia

[Warren]

Firstly, I need a good name. I hate "Gods of Olympia" it's so many kinds of awful. Yuck.

Anyway, ingredients: Ancient, Committee and Emotion. Time Limit: 1 session of 2 hours (maybe 4x2hours, but I doubt it). I got the basic idea by Googling various combinations of words and I saw a lot of pages about the IOC (International Olympic Commitee) and the ancient Olympic games. So, without further ado:

The Ancient Greek World, during the Age of Gods and Men: Zeus, father of all the Gods has decided that he wants a new religious festival for the Mortals to honour him. He has declared that it will be known as the "Olympics" and shall be held (in four years time?) in the most worthy City-State in all of the Greek World - anywhere from Iberia to the Black Sea.

But there are more city-states than Zeus can be bothered to remember, so to discover which is most worthy, he has chosen a number of his Godly offspring to do it for him. They will be known as the "Mount. Olympus Committee", and will report back in four mortal years, or Zeus shall rip all of Creation asunder.

Now, each of these Gods has a particular city-state where they are worshipped more than the others, and they want "their" city-state, and by extension, them to receive Zeus' favour. So, to come to an agreement, the Gods each summon a Hero to champion their city-state, and then the champion who completes the most heroic tasks shall win the right for his city-state to host the Olympics.

But Gods cannot stop themselves from meddling in Mortal affairs, and the Committee is no different. They bicker, bribe, lend favours, call in favours and persuade the others to set ever greater challenges in the way of the other champions whilst doing the same to grant Boons to aid their own champion. The city-state to receive the games will have less to do with the exploits of champions in the mortal world, and more to do with the deals happening at Mount Olympus.

[Power 19 to follow]

[Warren]

#1: What is the Game About?
Winning conflicts between Gods and Men by manipulation, deceit and force of will in order to further your own agenda.

#2: What do the Characters do?
The Heroes accept and attempt to overcome challenges to win Renown. The Gods set these challenges and bargain with each other to either help or hinder the Heroes in their quest.

#3: What do the Players do?
There is no GM. Instead, players pick a pregenerated God and create a Hero as the God's agent in the mortal world. Play proceeds in a series of scenes where one player can set (through their God) a challenge for another player's Hero to try and overcome. The other players can offer Influences to influence the outcome of this challenge in the expectation of having their Influences repaid later scenes.

#4: How does your setting reinforce what your game is about?
The setting is ancient Greek, where Gods walked amongst men and often meddled in mortal affairs. And the Greek Pantheon is known as an emotional lot who live to bickering and backstabbing each other.

#5: How does the Character Creation of your game reinforce what your game is about?
The Gods are picked from a pregenerated list, which will automatically provide niches for each player to fill. The city-state that each God wishes to support will provide clashing agendas.
The Heroes are made up of little more than a series of emotional flags which will help in the creation of compelling conflicts during play.

#6: What types of behaviours/styles of play does your game reward?
The game rewards making deals between Gods, but there is always the option to renege later at a cost. It will also reward creating well-balanced and well-targeted conflicts - and overcoming them. It should also encourage narration which addresses the (preset) emotional flags of other player's Gods.

#7: How are behaviours and styles of play rewarded or punished in your game?
The dealing between Gods is handled by the trade of Influence tokens between players which can be used to force another player to support you. If a player denies such a request, they will lose all the Influence tokens they have collected, thus losing influence with the other Gods.
Overcoming conflicts is rewarded by Renown points, which are used to determine the 'winner' at the end of the game. Taking emotional damage provides more breadth to the Hero which helps with later conflicts.

#8: How are the responsibilities of narration and credibility divided in your game?
In any given scene, one player is designated the Hero and another is the Chair. The Chair player has narration rights in framing the scene and presenting the challenge, but the Hero player can narrate the outcome of all conflicts (in accordance with any dice result), and has ultimate authority over their Hero character.

#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?)
The players choose the emotional flags for their Heroes which will get used in the creation of challenges, which should ensure engagement in conflicts. All players are always participating, either as the Hero, a God, or the Chair in any particular scene.

#10: What are the resolution mechanics of your game like?
Generally it will be a simple "roll a pool of d6" style game, based on how the emotional flags of the hero and so forth. During the conflict, the players can offer/demand support from other players (using the Influence token mechanic) for their side of the conflict. This support will have a very significant impact on the final outcome of the conflict.

#11: How do the resolution mechanics reinforce what your game is about?
A large part of determining if a Hero can overcome a challenge is down to the dealing and manipulation that is happening between the Gods. The other part of it is down to the emotions and strength of will of the Hero, rather than anything to do with actual swordsmanship or the like. When the Gods are watching your back, the quality of your shield is pretty irrelevant.

#12: Do characters in your game advance? If so, how?
The Gods are immortal and constant, and as such do not advance. The Heroes can suffer greatly whilst gaining Renown, but they will always survive any physical wounds. Instead, they will accumulate on more and more emotional baggage.

#13: How does the character advancement reinforce what your game is about?
It illustrates that the Gods cannot gain anything except through the actions of mortals. And the Gods are driven to drive these mortals into more and more suffering (no permanent physical damage, but plenty of emotional wounds) in order to get what they want from them (Renown).

#14: What sort of product or effect do you want your game to produce in or for the players?
Enjoyment with making and breaking deals on Mount Olympus. A certain amount of sympathy (but not too much) for the poor bloody mortals who are out suffering on their behalf.

#15: What areas of your game receive extra attention and colour? Why?
Not sure yet. The situation creation mechanic, I think.

#16: Which part of your game are you most excited about or interested in? Why?
I really like that emotional damage is the only kinds of wounds that don't heal. I'm also really pleased with getting the pettiness of the Gods right.

#17: Where does your game take the players that other games can't, don't, or won't?
The players are able to take a PvP-stance at the same time as supporting each other. It can also illustrate the suffering that the petty ambitions of power can inflict on those who serve, although I'm going for a more a grinning "Oh, that's harsh!" perspective rather than "Oh, Woe is me!" angst.

#18: What are your publishing goals for your game?
PDF for the Game Chef '06, and thus a free download for all. Maybe go to Lulu if there is enough demand?

#19: Who is your target audience?
The judges of Game Chef '06. Narrative-leaning Gamists who like subtle "Blood Opera" style games. Those who see the whole thing as a satire of the corruption within the International Olympic Committee (which is what it started out as).