Red Channels

[pfischer]

OK, I dreamt up this idea yesterday evening, and have been brooding at bit over it while at work today. I don't why I am doing this, but here are my rough thoughts so far: (handle with care)

Red Channels
A roleplaying game about accusing and being accused

Setting: 1950s. American artists, schoolteachers and other publice employees being accused of un-American activities, while American marines are bringing American “justice” to Korea under the UN banner.

Players play two characters at the same time, one at home and one in Korea. The player characters in Korea are part of the same unit. The player characters in the US are all related to one of the player characters in Korea, either family or love relations. The player of a US character plays the relation of another player's character in Korea. This is important.

Simple character generation. Players choose names for characters and agree where in Korea their marine characters are based. It is randomly decided which US player character is related to which Korea player character (except that players cannot control two related characters, player character relations are always between different players). Each player writes down a secret for each of his characters, a secret he thinks might bring the character in trouble. (Examples: member of Communist Party, gay, opposed to the war, liberal, red-haired, Jewish, anything Examples for soldiers: member of Communist Party, gay, opposed to the war, liberal, red-haired, Jewish, stole things from the armed forces, disobeyed orders, killed innocents etc. etc.)

Ingredients:
Accuser.
Invincible.
Companion.

Rules limitations:
There is no character sheet.
Resolution system must use colors
Use a dice based system where at least 3 distinct pieces of information can be derived from a single roll.

Play shifts between scenes in Korea (away) and scenes in the US (home). Your characters end up either being accused or perhaps accuse someone to go free.

[matthijs]

Looks interesting. Has a realistic political feel - which doesn't exactly say "fun play!" (...says the man who's writing We All Had Names...)

Single-session? Campaign? How will you keep the game versatile and unpredictable with such a strong focus on a very specific concept (accusation)?

Perhaps most importantly: How do the relationships between characters at home and in Korea work, mechanically? (Did Vincent hint at something like this in Red Sky AM?)

[pfischer]

[pfischer]

BTW, here what inspired the title:

Red Channels: The Report of Communist Influence in Radio and Television (1950)

[Nikolai Volkoff]

[pfischer]

Comrade, your words are wise.

As far as yet, I chose those rules limitations that appealed to me - I might end up with only one in the end.

But I haven't thought one second about mechanics yet - I want a powerful premise for my game, a purpose and direction for the players and then resolution mechanics that support this.

If Russian designer can do with one limitation only, so can I

[Rossum]

[pfischer]