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TheHandle United Earth from Stockholm Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
United Earth
#1: Jul 18th 2012 at 6:56:25 AM

"Like all men in Babylon, I have been a proconsul; like all, a slave. I have also known omnipotence, opprobrium, imprisonment..."

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.
Exelixi Lesbarian from Alchemist's workshop Since: Sep, 2011 Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
Lesbarian
#2: Jul 18th 2012 at 7:15:02 AM

Don't. No, really, don't. Tabletop gamers usually believe in luck as a tangible force, and will get pissed if theirs sucks.

Mura: -flips the bird to veterinary science with one hand and Euclidean geometry with the other-
TheHandle United Earth from Stockholm Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
United Earth
#3: Jul 18th 2012 at 7:22:15 AM

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.
Exelixi Lesbarian from Alchemist's workshop Since: Sep, 2011 Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
Lesbarian
#4: Jul 18th 2012 at 7:37:23 AM

Yes, exactly like that. I've seen gamers go through six sets of dice in a day (they depleted them). I myself submerge mine in salt if my luck is bad, and kiss them before I need a high roll.

Mura: -flips the bird to veterinary science with one hand and Euclidean geometry with the other-
TheHandle United Earth from Stockholm Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
United Earth
#5: Jul 18th 2012 at 8:00:24 AM

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.
Xiphoniii Cheeky son of a.... from Florida Since: Aug, 2009
Cheeky son of a....
#6: Jul 18th 2012 at 9:49:10 AM

No no no no no no no. A Random Number Generator is even WORSE. You play with any serious tabletop players, they're going to get PISSED when that screws them, convinced it's rigged against them.

:smug:
Aldheim Since: Sep, 2010
#7: Jul 18th 2012 at 2:52:47 PM

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.

TheHandle United Earth from Stockholm Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
United Earth
#8: Jul 18th 2012 at 3:26:11 PM

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.
Exelixi Lesbarian from Alchemist's workshop Since: Sep, 2011 Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
Lesbarian
#9: Jul 18th 2012 at 4:24:38 PM

Have you ever actually played an RPG? The horror stories are exactly that. Horror stories. Most players like a solid story.

Mura: -flips the bird to veterinary science with one hand and Euclidean geometry with the other-
TheHandle United Earth from Stockholm Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
United Earth
#10: Jul 18th 2012 at 4:38:56 PM

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.
KyleJacobs from DC - Southern efficiency, Northern charm Since: Mar, 2011 Relationship Status: One True Dodecahedron
#11: Jul 18th 2012 at 5:32:30 PM

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

TheHandle United Earth from Stockholm Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
United Earth
#12: Jul 18th 2012 at 5:36:07 PM

OK. I mentioned GURPS because it's supposed to work for everything.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
KyleJacobs from DC - Southern efficiency, Northern charm Since: Mar, 2011 Relationship Status: One True Dodecahedron
#13: Jul 18th 2012 at 7:29:46 PM

For all I know it does, but it's also loaded to the gills with mechanics and rolls. Even if you find a system that supports the concept you want, if you can't stand the system the point is moot.

TheHandle United Earth from Stockholm Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
United Earth
#14: Jul 19th 2012 at 12:49:36 AM

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.
IraTheSquire Since: Apr, 2010
#15: Jul 22nd 2012 at 2:48:30 PM

Need to be very careful so that you don't end up with a FATAL without the misogyny/other fluff-wise horror we shall not name, ie a game where everything is so dependent on random events that there is no point for players to do anything.

edited 22nd Jul '12 2:49:40 PM by IraTheSquire

TheHandle United Earth from Stockholm Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
United Earth
#16: Jul 23rd 2012 at 1:56:42 AM

Really? Of all the faults of FATAL, this is the one your remember?

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Durazno Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Drift compatible
#17: Jul 23rd 2012 at 2:03:46 AM

It's the, er, "crowning glory" of FATAL: even if you were to rip the game system out of its creator's grotesque worldview, it would still be irreparably broken.

IraTheSquire Since: Apr, 2010
#18: Jul 23rd 2012 at 5:52:44 AM

Actually, that would be the third thing I remember, after the misogyny and other fluff-wise horror. tongue There are more on the list too, right down to the complicated math require for simple actions (solving quadratics is one of them from memory).

edited 23rd Jul '12 5:55:10 AM by IraTheSquire

TheHandle United Earth from Stockholm Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
United Earth
#19: Jul 23rd 2012 at 10:56:20 AM

But solving quadratics is trivial, you can do it with the stupidest of calculators in ten seconds!

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
#20: Jul 23rd 2012 at 12:23:52 PM

I don't know, the stupidest of calculators are pretty stupid:

<><
TheHandle United Earth from Stockholm Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
United Earth
#21: Jul 23rd 2012 at 12:29:30 PM

The supidest widely available calculators.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
IraTheSquire Since: Apr, 2010
#22: Jul 23rd 2012 at 11:29:22 PM

Except for quadratics with imaginary roots. Then you have imaginary numbers in an... imaginary game thingy.

-head explodes-

TheHandle United Earth from Stockholm Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
United Earth
#23: Jul 24th 2012 at 1:39:06 AM

Finding the module and argument is trivial, too. But at least they did take those in account. Right?

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
IraTheSquire Since: Apr, 2010
#24: Jul 24th 2012 at 1:59:10 AM

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

TheHandle United Earth from Stockholm Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
United Earth
#25: Jul 24th 2012 at 2:22:59 AM

Ill assume negative circumference simply means that they are overcompressed: the epsilon is neg...THIS IS RETARDED

edited 24th Jul '12 2:23:57 AM by TheHandle

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
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