Frozen_Feet
2011-07-11, 10:37 AM
So, I'm considering of going to a roleplaying convention (Ropecon 2011) as GM for the first time. Thing is, I can't decide on what kind of a game to hold. I have a lot of ideas floating in my brain, but I need to prune them a bit to get a proper adventure.
General:
The con website suggests premade characters, to spare time. I will likely follow this suggestion.
I'll likely use something rules-light for system to be newbie friendly.
I have four hours per game. I'll most likely run the same game twice or thrice, to score me free entry.
Me as a GM:
My modus operandi is to lay out the rules for a game, then lean back and watch the players cause some chaos.
Instead of premade plots, I rely on logic and karma (ie., action and consequence) to dictate game events.
In addition to random chance, of course; I'm a big fan of letting the dice fall as they may and squeezing drama from the results.
I'm a lazy, lazy bastard when it comes to preplanning, meaning most of the time, I just draw things out of my hat (ie., improvize)
Various game and setting premises I've pondered about:
"Congratulations, you're now dead. How do you feel?" The PCs have just all died in some terrible event, and are now hanging around as ghosts. An odd man with a link of chain hanging from his chest greets them and informs them of the situation. The PCs also have chains hanging from their chests; what is their meaning? Why are they slowly corroding, link by link? Where are they supposed to go now? And what are the masked horrors lurking in the shadows...?
"Time for payback." In the song, they sing "the bell of the church finally pays my debts", but you're afraid this is not the case. In the past, you were offered back your life, with one condition: "One day, you'll save my life just like I saved yours, even if it means coming back from the grave". Now, the sharp pain in your chest has driven you to search the stranger who healed you to fulfill your end of the bargain - and it's lead you, among with several others of the same persuasion, on the doorstep of an old mansion. But just who is it you're supposed to save, from what, and is he truly deserving of it? How far does the compulsion go, and is there any way out without filling its conditions...?
"Project Alphabet." This... well, it's less of a game idea, and more the basis for a setting (actually several short stories I'm writing). But it's been filling my head for a while and I see some potential in it. Based on the below outline, what kind of a game could you make out of it.
Throughout history, armies have strived to create their own vision of a ”super soldier”. Whether through special training, equipment, or both, they’ve wanted to get that special edge over their enemies. As time passed, even breeding and, eventually, genetic engineering were considered for that purpose.
Operation Alphabet was continuation of that very same tradition. It initially started as several disparate projects, in several nations, before being brought together by their alliance at the start of the War. Top-notch military scientists comparing notes brought into existence several innovations of warfare, but they’d truly become remembered for one – Androids.
Before the War, genetic modification of human beings was in strong headwind. Indeed, genetic engineering as a whole, despite not being fundamentally different from breeding that’d been used for thousands of years, was faced with irrational and near-superstitious suspicion most new technologies face. Much of the groundwork was firmly in grey area of ethics in the minds of the public, and the researchers had to contract mostly less-than-ideal test subjects from those with little to lose, such as injured and chronically ill civilians. This made progress slow, and with little returns, funding was slight as well.
With the start of hostilities, influx of willing test subjects increased hundred-fold. It also seemed the Fog of War spread from the battleground to behind the lines as well, conveniently concealing actions of the researchers. As usual, “necessity” and “greater good” began sanctioning projects that would’ve never been allowed during time of peace.
The early projects of Alphabet focused on relatively small and benign changes in adult inviduals. Enhanced Organ Transplants, Inheritable Genetic Correction Therapy and Panacea Glands are the best known examples of technological goals from these times that were perfected for and through the creation of the Homo Syntheticus, and eventually made it into civilian use. IOCT in particular was a major breakthrough – through careful manipulation of existing gamete creation tissue, the researchers found a way to induce genetic changes that would be copied over to any offspring of an invidual.
It was an important step, because priorly, genetic changes in adult inviduals usually remained localized, and thus were not inheritable. Wholesale genetic changes, as experimented with in the infamous Chimera branch of the project, usually ended up with sterile or genetically incompatible results. Isolated cases of genetically engineered supersoldiers were hardly more than a proof-of-concept and glorified special equipment. Simply put, it didn’t pay to alter each soldier invidually. The same phenomenom had kept advanced weapons out of the common infantry men’s hands for ages.
To get the pay offs they desired, the operation heads they’d need to get their subjects to breed.
Despite the visions of science fiction of armies of test-tube babies, such approach to mass production of biological entities was hardly practical; artificially engineering conditions for development and birth would’ve been prohibitively expensive. It was a much easier to turn to Mother Nature for help and use the work force that was already there. Historians say for a reason that if the War had ended then, the operation would’ve been cancelled then and there and its head executives shot. Mass impregnation of fertile young women with children of questionable humanity would’ve surely been out of question.
But to the misfortune of everyone, the War didn’t end. The first generation was born, raised, and fielded for battle – it didn’t take long for second and third gens to follow.
Androids turned out to be a success. To keep up with other weapons technology, armies had priorly had to outfit their troops with increasingly expensive and weighty apparel. Having even some of these grafted to the very make-up of soldiers, with nothing but the cost of food, simplified logistics greatly. At first, benefits were minor, due to likewise small numbers of androids. But the operation heads could see a glorious future before them. If only the War would continue, give them time to prove themselves…
It did. Come the time of so-called “truce”, the War entered a phase of trench and asymmetric warfare. Alphabet received its much needed time. Generations Two and Three proved much longer-lasting on the field than their ordinary compatriots. Proportional amount of androids on the battlefield kept increasing when Generation 4 became fit for battle at downtimes when the absolute numbers of soldiers didn’t need to increase but ordinary troops had to be withdrawn to recover.
When full-scale conflict sparked up again, Generation 5, larger than all previous generations combined, proved their worth in a conflict that had become a battle of exhaustion. Both sides were running out of resources and equipment, which is why it became a deciding factor that androids simply needed less to fight. Towards the end, conventional armies of both sides had been decimated. It was the relentlessness of the androids that finally made the opposition surrender rather than being overrun.
Generation 6 didn't see much battle. It was the penultimate iteration of Homo Synthetica, melodramatically labed Homo Synthetica Invictus. It was started towards the end of the truce, and benefited greatly from actual data of the first three generations, as opposed to much more theoretical patch-work improvements made for generations 4 and 5. Gen 6 androids were meant to be one step removed from their predecessors, just as they’d been one step removed from ordinary humanity. They factored heavily towards the very last conflicts, but overall their effect was less in crushing the opposition and more in sparing the lives of their android kin.
Generation 7 was the last batch. Its difference to prior ones was mainly in training – it was the first one not meant for full-out war, instead geared more towards peacekeeping. Its continued existence was heavily debated – its members were just little kids at the end of the war, and moral concerns that had been thrown out the window during the past decades slowly began to creep back in. Was using child soldiers justified? Even if they were not human, even if they were specifically made for that purpose?
Many head executives of Operation Alphabet went from war heroes to reviled criminals as it started to spread out just what they’d done in the name of victory. Some had their very existence hushed and hidden. From those who weren’t brought before the law, quite a few committed suicide when they just couldn’t live with themselves anymore.
But the androids themselves – could they be held accountable for the horrors needed to create them, or were they just victims as well? What to do after the war – that’s a question each society has had to face throughout history. It wouldn’t have been the first time a society chose to neglect its veterans and choosing to swipe them under a rug when no longer needed.
However, destroying all of remaining androids was deemed too dangerous. After all, with significant portion of remained armed forces consisting of androids, there’d been a risk of them rising up to resist, which wouldn’t have bid well for anyone. In place of genocide, a slow and arduous project to give them proper military and citizenship rights was started. Several other balls got rolling as well, regarding human and animal rights as a whole. H. Sapiens realized that somewhat unwittingly it was no longer the sole voice on the planet, and their standards were no longer sole standards that mattered.
In the haze of battle, the scientists responsible had not been able to properly gauge just how different their creations were from them. Even towards the end of the War, many facets of their being were not properly known or understood, residing firmly in the realm of hypothesis and theory. Time after the war has been one surprise after another as previously unforeseen consequences of tinkered DNA have made themselves known.
At the same time, androids have slowly become obsolete. Many of the things that set them apart from normal humans are no longer as special as fruits of the research that spawned them have reached civilian usage. Soon, it might be there’s no longer place for either them or H. Sapience, as accelerating progress after the war is starting to carry humanity towards new horizons already…
---
So, as a player, which of these would seem the most interesting to you? For those of you who've lead a game in a convention in the past, do you have any helpful advice? What's worked for you?
For character creation, instead of making very long or detailed character sheets, I've been thinking of stealing an idea for one of the GM whose game I played in years ago: lottery draw. Essentially, there's a collection of personality traits, looks, abilities etc. written on coupons, and each player draws a few to complete a character.
General:
The con website suggests premade characters, to spare time. I will likely follow this suggestion.
I'll likely use something rules-light for system to be newbie friendly.
I have four hours per game. I'll most likely run the same game twice or thrice, to score me free entry.
Me as a GM:
My modus operandi is to lay out the rules for a game, then lean back and watch the players cause some chaos.
Instead of premade plots, I rely on logic and karma (ie., action and consequence) to dictate game events.
In addition to random chance, of course; I'm a big fan of letting the dice fall as they may and squeezing drama from the results.
I'm a lazy, lazy bastard when it comes to preplanning, meaning most of the time, I just draw things out of my hat (ie., improvize)
Various game and setting premises I've pondered about:
"Congratulations, you're now dead. How do you feel?" The PCs have just all died in some terrible event, and are now hanging around as ghosts. An odd man with a link of chain hanging from his chest greets them and informs them of the situation. The PCs also have chains hanging from their chests; what is their meaning? Why are they slowly corroding, link by link? Where are they supposed to go now? And what are the masked horrors lurking in the shadows...?
"Time for payback." In the song, they sing "the bell of the church finally pays my debts", but you're afraid this is not the case. In the past, you were offered back your life, with one condition: "One day, you'll save my life just like I saved yours, even if it means coming back from the grave". Now, the sharp pain in your chest has driven you to search the stranger who healed you to fulfill your end of the bargain - and it's lead you, among with several others of the same persuasion, on the doorstep of an old mansion. But just who is it you're supposed to save, from what, and is he truly deserving of it? How far does the compulsion go, and is there any way out without filling its conditions...?
"Project Alphabet." This... well, it's less of a game idea, and more the basis for a setting (actually several short stories I'm writing). But it's been filling my head for a while and I see some potential in it. Based on the below outline, what kind of a game could you make out of it.
Throughout history, armies have strived to create their own vision of a ”super soldier”. Whether through special training, equipment, or both, they’ve wanted to get that special edge over their enemies. As time passed, even breeding and, eventually, genetic engineering were considered for that purpose.
Operation Alphabet was continuation of that very same tradition. It initially started as several disparate projects, in several nations, before being brought together by their alliance at the start of the War. Top-notch military scientists comparing notes brought into existence several innovations of warfare, but they’d truly become remembered for one – Androids.
Before the War, genetic modification of human beings was in strong headwind. Indeed, genetic engineering as a whole, despite not being fundamentally different from breeding that’d been used for thousands of years, was faced with irrational and near-superstitious suspicion most new technologies face. Much of the groundwork was firmly in grey area of ethics in the minds of the public, and the researchers had to contract mostly less-than-ideal test subjects from those with little to lose, such as injured and chronically ill civilians. This made progress slow, and with little returns, funding was slight as well.
With the start of hostilities, influx of willing test subjects increased hundred-fold. It also seemed the Fog of War spread from the battleground to behind the lines as well, conveniently concealing actions of the researchers. As usual, “necessity” and “greater good” began sanctioning projects that would’ve never been allowed during time of peace.
The early projects of Alphabet focused on relatively small and benign changes in adult inviduals. Enhanced Organ Transplants, Inheritable Genetic Correction Therapy and Panacea Glands are the best known examples of technological goals from these times that were perfected for and through the creation of the Homo Syntheticus, and eventually made it into civilian use. IOCT in particular was a major breakthrough – through careful manipulation of existing gamete creation tissue, the researchers found a way to induce genetic changes that would be copied over to any offspring of an invidual.
It was an important step, because priorly, genetic changes in adult inviduals usually remained localized, and thus were not inheritable. Wholesale genetic changes, as experimented with in the infamous Chimera branch of the project, usually ended up with sterile or genetically incompatible results. Isolated cases of genetically engineered supersoldiers were hardly more than a proof-of-concept and glorified special equipment. Simply put, it didn’t pay to alter each soldier invidually. The same phenomenom had kept advanced weapons out of the common infantry men’s hands for ages.
To get the pay offs they desired, the operation heads they’d need to get their subjects to breed.
Despite the visions of science fiction of armies of test-tube babies, such approach to mass production of biological entities was hardly practical; artificially engineering conditions for development and birth would’ve been prohibitively expensive. It was a much easier to turn to Mother Nature for help and use the work force that was already there. Historians say for a reason that if the War had ended then, the operation would’ve been cancelled then and there and its head executives shot. Mass impregnation of fertile young women with children of questionable humanity would’ve surely been out of question.
But to the misfortune of everyone, the War didn’t end. The first generation was born, raised, and fielded for battle – it didn’t take long for second and third gens to follow.
Androids turned out to be a success. To keep up with other weapons technology, armies had priorly had to outfit their troops with increasingly expensive and weighty apparel. Having even some of these grafted to the very make-up of soldiers, with nothing but the cost of food, simplified logistics greatly. At first, benefits were minor, due to likewise small numbers of androids. But the operation heads could see a glorious future before them. If only the War would continue, give them time to prove themselves…
It did. Come the time of so-called “truce”, the War entered a phase of trench and asymmetric warfare. Alphabet received its much needed time. Generations Two and Three proved much longer-lasting on the field than their ordinary compatriots. Proportional amount of androids on the battlefield kept increasing when Generation 4 became fit for battle at downtimes when the absolute numbers of soldiers didn’t need to increase but ordinary troops had to be withdrawn to recover.
When full-scale conflict sparked up again, Generation 5, larger than all previous generations combined, proved their worth in a conflict that had become a battle of exhaustion. Both sides were running out of resources and equipment, which is why it became a deciding factor that androids simply needed less to fight. Towards the end, conventional armies of both sides had been decimated. It was the relentlessness of the androids that finally made the opposition surrender rather than being overrun.
Generation 6 didn't see much battle. It was the penultimate iteration of Homo Synthetica, melodramatically labed Homo Synthetica Invictus. It was started towards the end of the truce, and benefited greatly from actual data of the first three generations, as opposed to much more theoretical patch-work improvements made for generations 4 and 5. Gen 6 androids were meant to be one step removed from their predecessors, just as they’d been one step removed from ordinary humanity. They factored heavily towards the very last conflicts, but overall their effect was less in crushing the opposition and more in sparing the lives of their android kin.
Generation 7 was the last batch. Its difference to prior ones was mainly in training – it was the first one not meant for full-out war, instead geared more towards peacekeeping. Its continued existence was heavily debated – its members were just little kids at the end of the war, and moral concerns that had been thrown out the window during the past decades slowly began to creep back in. Was using child soldiers justified? Even if they were not human, even if they were specifically made for that purpose?
Many head executives of Operation Alphabet went from war heroes to reviled criminals as it started to spread out just what they’d done in the name of victory. Some had their very existence hushed and hidden. From those who weren’t brought before the law, quite a few committed suicide when they just couldn’t live with themselves anymore.
But the androids themselves – could they be held accountable for the horrors needed to create them, or were they just victims as well? What to do after the war – that’s a question each society has had to face throughout history. It wouldn’t have been the first time a society chose to neglect its veterans and choosing to swipe them under a rug when no longer needed.
However, destroying all of remaining androids was deemed too dangerous. After all, with significant portion of remained armed forces consisting of androids, there’d been a risk of them rising up to resist, which wouldn’t have bid well for anyone. In place of genocide, a slow and arduous project to give them proper military and citizenship rights was started. Several other balls got rolling as well, regarding human and animal rights as a whole. H. Sapiens realized that somewhat unwittingly it was no longer the sole voice on the planet, and their standards were no longer sole standards that mattered.
In the haze of battle, the scientists responsible had not been able to properly gauge just how different their creations were from them. Even towards the end of the War, many facets of their being were not properly known or understood, residing firmly in the realm of hypothesis and theory. Time after the war has been one surprise after another as previously unforeseen consequences of tinkered DNA have made themselves known.
At the same time, androids have slowly become obsolete. Many of the things that set them apart from normal humans are no longer as special as fruits of the research that spawned them have reached civilian usage. Soon, it might be there’s no longer place for either them or H. Sapience, as accelerating progress after the war is starting to carry humanity towards new horizons already…
---
So, as a player, which of these would seem the most interesting to you? For those of you who've lead a game in a convention in the past, do you have any helpful advice? What's worked for you?
For character creation, instead of making very long or detailed character sheets, I've been thinking of stealing an idea for one of the GM whose game I played in years ago: lottery draw. Essentially, there's a collection of personality traits, looks, abilities etc. written on coupons, and each player draws a few to complete a character.