Game designers, design this!

[Groffa]

I just enjoyed reading an about extracting rules from an existing setting, and thought it would be fun to turn it into a little forum game where you monkeys, given a book/movie/comic, either describe what rule system you think fits the setting best - or if you think it would be easier to design a new set of rules.

What ever you choose, please write a short motivation why. (e.g. "I think Five by Five is best suited for 1984 because ...", or "I would design a new system for 1984, using XXX and YYY because...").

After you've answered, you get to select the next "setting" (e.g. a book, movie, or comic).


And since I'm first, the first "setting" is... The Wizard of Oz .

[Onix]

So, not to much combat emphasis needed, aside from throwing a bucket of water and monkeys ripping apart scarecrows. It would almost seem best suited for free form narrative.

Maybe Fate? Even a very stripped down version of Fate might work.

Maybe just relying on the ritual phrases from Archipelago would work.

[Chainsaw Aardvark]

While the first book isn't bad, apparently the starts running its engine on nightmare fuel later on. Even the movies, if not quite on the level of "Alice in Wonderland" are about a stranger in a strange land with witches, magic, people who are frozen in place and other such oddities. A modified version of "Unknown Armies" and its different types of psychological stresses would seem more appropriate.

Incidentally, the book itself has some combative elements, as the witch sends various waves of minions.

Some scholars point out that the story is one about finding confidence in one's self. The scarecrow and other companions did have intelligence/bravery etc. they just didn't acknowledge it at the beginning. Thus leveling up might be a bit like a final fantasy game that lets you advance along a tree or join things together (VIII I think) so you know what your able to, and don't necessarily get stronger/more skilled - you just release your potential.

[Evil Scientist]

This cries for a modified DROOG FAMILY SONGBOOK! We need to reverse it - instead of losing "Favorite things", scenes center around gaining "Virtues" - the confidence in oneself, the meta-theme of the book. So you basically end up with a mash-up of the book and the Judy Garland movie.

[Groffa]

Onix: you need to select the next setting (book/movie/comic)!

[Onix]

Just glancing around, I saw my Apollo 13 VHS tape. How would you play a game like that? Zero combat, all skill tests, characters in various far flung locations (near the moon), enduring cold and oxy deprivation. How to make that all fun?

I'll add a bonus question for this too. Can you play a game where the outcome is historical or otherwise fixed, and you have to end with that while still being fun and interesting?

[GSLamb]

I'm not sure what rules system, but I would start the game in the middle and intersperse the current actions with flashbacks. Certain levels of success in the "now" would allow for varying levels of flashback control. Players would be competing against each other for more flashback and exposition, trying to become fully established and "remembered" by history*.

*While I could rattle off astronaut facts at the drop of a hat in 4th grade, I cannot remember a single member of the Apollo-13 crew without reaching for my DVD copy.

How would you run ?

[Evil Scientist]

[Evil Scientist]

[Evil Scientist]