The Parasite Project
The Parasite Project is a compact RPG following the theme of Technological Horror. It is about normal people who become infected by technological parasitic larvae and gradually metamorphose into biomechanical terrors. The system uses stopwatches to limit players’ narration time as their characters desperately struggle to regain control over themselves.
The Parasite Project is an experiment in making dysfunctional techniques functional. The game supports GM-centered play and heavy Force usage, but without the black curtain. Extremely strong GM’s control is embedded in the rules. Most of the time players have absolutely no control over the actions of their characters. On the other hand, they are given means to take over the narration at any moment – they can literally stop the GM by pushing a button. This “tug-of-war” dynamic between them works towards reinforcing the premise of the game and creates hard choices for the players.
In The Parasite Project real time becomes a valuable resource. Every player is given a certain amount of Incubation Time that can be invested in taking over narrative control from the GM, and is tracked precisely by the use of stopwatches. Efficient management of this resource is vital in saving the infected character from his or her terrible fate. Consequently, the game requires good timing skills, and the ability to communicate one’s intents and ideas under pressure, as clearly and briefly as possible. This “arcade-like” feature helps in producing the feel of impending doom and in conveying the desperation of people having only limited time to save themselves and whoever they care about.
Infection
Before the actual game starts, your group needs to establish some numbers: Incubation Time, Hope Tokens and Deliverance Threshold. For ease of reference write them down on your character sheet.
First, decide how long you want the session to last, at most. Divide that time by three, and then divide the result by the number of Hosts in the game to get the Incubation Time. This is how long, in total, each of the players will be able to keep control over the actions of his or her character throughout the session. Use stopwatches or chess timers to track how much of the time is used. If you?re out of time ? you?re done for.
Next each player, as well as the Parasite Master, takes one Hope Token per every two full minutes of Incubation Time (but minimum five). How they work will be explained later ? everything you need to know for now is that these little shiny things are your only hope.
After everyone has his pool of tokens, calculate the Deliverance Threshold. It is equal to twice the base number of Hope Tokens. Now, this is how many Hope Tokens you want to have, since without them you will never get yourself out of this mess. And face it, not all of you will be saved in this game.
When you have all these numbers, shortly describe how the Hosts got themselves infected by The Parasites. This is the first and the last bit of narration you get for free. The moment it?s done, the proper play starts and you?re on the mercy of the Parasite Master.
- The_Parasite_Project.pdf
Download
Tags: Filip Luszczyk
