You mean like Random Number God?
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.Instead of having the players throw dice, we use a True Random Number generator. All of the other mechanics of the game shall be diceless, and the lottery only comes out in long intervals.
Otherwise, cursing your luck is okay, that's kind of the point of the whole thing. The idea would be that, as the players get used to having every aspect of their lives randomized, they are handed more and more randomness, so as to prevent them from getting comfortable and/or achieving stoicity.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.I'm not sure I understand how to maintain a motivation in this scenario. Unless, of course, the point of the game is to pull a Screw Destiny and take control of their own fate.
I suppose that's a possibility. But... motivation? All RPG campaings I ever read of were about the GM trying to lay down a cool story and his players going out of their way to fuck it up with psychopathic Player Character idiocy. The GM only wants to be the director of the movie in his head, the players only want to hack and slash and loot.
On the contrary, I don't think they could be pissed, because, there being no endgame for their character, and there being a random chance of them dying at any moment, they shouldn't even grow attatched to them. It'd be kind of like Paranoia, except the story isn't rigged against you, it's just completely neutral. So you're not certain that your character will die horribly over and over, but you're not certain they'll achieve lasting awesomeness either.
So the goal would be to do as much awesome stuff as possible before you die. That includes taking advantage of your power when you're being lucky, and working hard to survive if you aren't. Cursing or thanking your luck would be rather pointless, no? Getting shit done is the priority, whether you're in Rags to Riches or Riches to Rags.
By the way, who here read the very short story I linked to in the first post? Just asking...
edited 18th Jul '12 3:29:24 PM by TheHandle
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.You mean like The Hero's Journey kind of story?
And yes, I've played one D&D campaing (I mean, besides video games). Found it rather disappointing. The DM kept giving us extra rolls whenever things went badly, Power Perversion Potential ran rampant, and nobody wanted to actually roleplay.
As an actor, I came in with excessive expectations, I guess: I thought it'd be like an impro play where drama and plot twists and epicness were the the goal. Also, the players had a strange attiude to the game, as if they were ashamed of playing or thought less of themselves. And they could get very petty. I mean, come on, the story making sense and being beautiful and poignant is more important than whether your character gets that super-rare sword. Isn't it?
What I did not expect were those long, tedious "combats" where you roll dice over and over again to find out whether you hit your opponent right, whether they dodged, whether their armor avoided the damage, and whether for some reason you finally still somehow failed to wound. Unless I'm confusing it with Warhammer.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.You don't like rules heavy games, and yet you're asking about Gurps.
Does not compute.
Give something like Fate a shot - much, much less crunchy. Also, find a better group, because what you're describing is pretty much a nightmare scenario.
...actually, Fate might be really, really good for a game like this. Far fewer mechanical changes to deal with + more focus on story.
edited 18th Jul '12 5:34:38 PM by KyleJacobs
Well, it's not for me though. I'm a Genius The Transgression guy all the way: other RPG just don't appeal to me as much.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.Given that certain orifices can have negative circumferences I doubt it.
LOOK WHAT YOU'VE MADE ME DO. D: D:
edited 24th Jul '12 2:04:09 AM by IraTheSquire

The Lottery, which was created by "The Company." It started out like any typical lottery. Eventually, though, it evolved into one which offered not only prizes for the winners, but also consequences for the losers. Further evolution increased the complexity of the lottery; monetary prizes were eliminated, and replaced only with positive experiences (i.e.: being proconsul.) Additionally, lotteries would be drawn upon other lotteries, ad infinitum. Therefore, not only would you be punished to death, perhaps, but your executioner might also be chosen randomly, and the choice of weapon, etc. With the passage of time, everyone participated in the ever-increasingly secret lottery. Inevitably, ever The Company dictates aspect of everyone’s life.
Please picture this. A game that takes dice-throwing to the next level. Your character's social status, their livelihood, their power... their fortunes will randomly change. How do you build a plot in such a situation? How do you choose goals? How do you maintain a moral alignment?
How would one go about implementing this? GURPS?
edited 18th Jul '12 6:57:17 AM by TheHandle
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.