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Chainsaw Hobbit
2012-08-20, 10:52 PM
A child rests peacefully, taking comfort in the knowledge that he is safe from the horrors that fester within the darkness. He is guarded by his teddy bears, who plunge into the nightmare realm that hides in every closet and beneath every bed each night, expending themselves and facing nightmares uncounted in order to keep their child-god safe.

These teddy bears gain their life from the child's emotions and imagination. A teddy bear he uses as a pillow, and cries himself to sleep on might have psychic abilities, and a knack for soothing his allies in times of despair. The teddy bear who stands watch on his night-stand might be a fierce warrior, ever-watchful and devoted.

These teddy bears risk death, despair, and insanity every night as they face their deity's darkest fears. They must rely on trust, hope, and willpower if they are to beat back the gathering shadows. They fight and die without hesitation or regret.

You may remember a project called Teddy Bear Heroes (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=231768).

When TBH was still a couple of weeks old, I ran a very early pre-alpha playtest. I had a unique interpretation of the setting, which was much darker and more contemplative that what the general vision was at the time. Since my interpretation was not to be developed, I wished the project well and left to pursue other things, deciding to check out the game when it was finished.

That was never to be.

Teddy Bear Heroes is now dead. I know not why, but it seems simply to have fizzled. Although it is sad to see such a great idea never come into its own, it is also a great opportunity. I would like to turn my vision into a roleplaying game.

You may know me from the flourishing project Magic Sword: Fourth Edition Reborn (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=244768). I have enthusiasm, experience, years of roleplaying experience under my belt, a knowledge and understanding of over a dozen roleplaying systems, and an enduring attention span. I cannot, however, do this alone.

I need your help.

LordErebus12
2012-08-20, 11:00 PM
dibs on the teddy bear race. im working on it now...


sadly i can only give it in pathfinder stats, but you can translate to whatever system, this is just my interpretation.



Teddy Bears

http://i.imgur.com/Zi4GQ.png

+2 Con, +2 Wis, +2 Cha, -2 Dex, -2 Int: The stalwart Teddy Bears embody bravery and wisdom, their abilities make them valuable allies when lost or in trouble. However, they are rather slow and are not always the ones with the knowhow, but they make up for it with an unwavering loyalty and toughness.

Tiny: Teddy Bears are tiny creatures and gain a +2 size bonus to their AC, a +2 size bonus on attack rolls, a -2 penalty to their Combat Maneuver Bonus and Combat Maneuver Defense, and a +8 size bonus on Stealth checks.

Powerful Build: The teddy bear's inner courage and force of charisma lets him function in many ways as if he were one size category larger. Whenever a teddy is subject to a size modifier or special size modifier for an opposed check (such as during grapple checks, bull rush attempts, and trip attempts), the teddy is treated as one size larger if doing so is advantageous to him.

A teddy is also considered to be one size larger when determining whether a creature’s special attacks based on size (such as improved grab or swallow whole) can affect him. A teddy can use weapons designed for a creature one size larger without penalty. His space and reach equal that of a small creature. The benefits of this racial trait stack with the effects of powers, abilities, and spells that change the subject’s size category.

Slow Speed: Teddy Bears have a base speed of 20 feet.

Childhood's Bond (Su): Whenever the teddy bear is protecting its allies, It grants a deflection bonus to all adjacent allies (but not itself) equal to his Charisma Modifier.

It’s What We Do: Teddy Bears receive a +1 bonus on attack rolls against undead creatures or outsiders with the evil subtype due to special training against these hated foes.

Fearless Loyalty: Teddy Bears are immune to all fear effects (including intimidation). These Teddy Bears may be tiny in stature, but they’re packed tight with all the courage of a bear. Teddy Bears receive a +2 bonus to will saves to resist mind affecting effects at might make the teddy bear hurt or abandon their allies.

I Know The Truth: Teddy Bears receive a +2 racial bonus on Perception and Sense Motive skill checks. Teddy Bears are very perceptive, always looking for ways to keep everyone safe.

Languages: Teddy Bears begin play speaking Common, Teddy Bears with high Intelligence scores can choose from any language available.

CR +1

LordErebus12
2012-08-20, 11:01 PM
P.S. The human child should be a cohort of some kind.

Chainsaw Hobbit
2012-08-20, 11:12 PM
Ideas For Mechanics

As a base, I believe that we should use the Storytelling System, which you may know from the New World of Darkness. Its sleek, easy, and consistent, as well as deeply focused on the narrative. It also only uses ten-sided dice, which makes things easier on everyone.

Other roleplaying systems that I think we should potentially draw from include: Savage Worlds, D&D Fourth Edition, D&D Fifth Edition, RISUS, FATE, and Fudge.

I also believe that we should draw from sources other than roleplaying games, most notably video games.

This may sound strange, but it might be interesting if we were to kill God of War and Shadow of the Colossus and take their stuff.

A spiritual manifestation of a child's courage in the form of a teddy bear weaves and slices its way through hordes of skittering, emaciated goblin-things. Once the battle his complete, the bear stands in the middle of the carnage, its eyes closed in a deep trance. The ground shakes and a shadow falls over the battlefield. The teddy bear opens its eyes and looks upwards into the face of a towering Cyclopean giant.

The courageous guardian hefts its blade once again and dashes between the giant's legs. It conjures a grappling hook out of its deity's mind, and then begins to aim as the towering monster awkwardly turns around. The hook flies upwards and latches on to the thing's lower arm.

The teddy bear swings through the shadow-clogged air and lands on the flailing cyclops's shoulder. It plants its bllade it the giant's neck and ascends up its head. Once on the monster's face, it plunges its blade into a giant, unblinking eye.

Chainsaw Hobbit
2012-08-20, 11:23 PM
dibs on the teddy bear race. im working on it now...
Teddy bear race for what? One can hardly make a race if there is no system. And even then, why have a race? Why not just build the game around the bears?


P.S. The human child should be a cohort of some kind.
I was more planning on the child always being asleep, and the game sort (but also not) taking place in the child's subconscious. I certainly wasn't planning on him coming along.

LordErebus12
2012-08-20, 11:51 PM
its called a nightmare, the boy (or some aspect) might come along whether it wants to or not. thus the bears must guard them from the horrors that await them.

Tanuki Tales
2012-08-21, 12:21 AM
I personally like the set up made in Stuff of Legends:

Have the child completely unaware of the secret war going on and/or kidnapped by the shadowy horror the teddy bear/toys must fight. I think the child should only ever enter the story as a narrative piece, so as to not detract from concentrating on the adventure of his "playthings".

Chainsaw Hobbit
2012-08-21, 12:34 AM
dibs on the teddy bear race. im working on it now...


sadly i can only give it in pathfinder stats, but you can translate to whatever system, this is just my interpretation.



Teddy Bears

http://i.imgur.com/Zi4GQ.png

+2 Dex, +2 Wis, +2 Cha, -2 Con, -2 Int: Teddy Bears embody bravery and wisdom, their abilities make them valuable allies when lost or in trouble. However, they are rather fragile and are not always the ones with the knowhow, but they make up for it with an unwavering loyalty.

Tiny: Teddy Bears are tiny creatures and gain a +2 size bonus to their AC, a +2 size bonus on attack rolls, a -2 penalty to their Combat Maneuver Bonus and Combat Maneuver Defense, and a +8 size bonus on Stealth checks.

Powerful Build: The teddy bear's inner courage and force of charisma lets him function in many ways as if he were one size category larger. Whenever a teddy is subject to a size modifier or special size modifier for an opposed check (such as during grapple checks, bull rush attempts, and trip attempts), the teddy is treated as one size larger if doing so is advantageous to him.

A teddy is also considered to be one size larger when determining whether a creature’s special attacks based on size (such as improved grab or swallow whole) can affect him. A teddy can use weapons designed for a creature one size larger without penalty. His space and reach equal that of a small creature. The benefits of this racial trait stack with the effects of powers, abilities, and spells that change the subject’s size category.

Slow Speed: Teddy Bears have a base speed of 20 feet.

Childhood's Bond (Su): Whenever the teddy bear is protecting its allies, It grants a deflection bonus to all adjacent allies (but not itself) equal to his Charisma Modifier.

It’s What We Do: Teddy Bears receive a +1 bonus on attack rolls against undead creatures or outsiders with the evil subtype due to special training against these hated foes.

Fearless Loyalty: Teddy Bears are immune to all fear effects (including intimidation). These Teddy Bears may be tiny in stature, but they’re packed tight with all the courage of a bear. Teddy Bears receive a +2 bonus to will saves to resist mind affecting effects at might make the teddy bear hurt or abandon their allies.

I Know The Truth: Teddy Bears receive a +2 racial bonus on Perception and Sense Motive skill checks. Teddy Bears are very perceptive, always looking for ways to keep everyone safe.

Languages: Teddy Bears begin play speaking Common, Teddy Bears with high Intelligence scores can choose from any language available.

CR +2

I like it. There is some cool stuff in here. Since I doubt the system will be even remotely d20-based, it can't be used directly, but we can certainly borrow concepts.

I disagree with the -2 CON thing. Teddy bears are the stalwart and unflinching guardians of dreams. They can be roleplayed like furry space marines. If we were using d20, I would give them +2 CON, +2 WIS, -2 DEX, -2 INT. No level adjustment.

LordErebus12
2012-08-21, 12:50 AM
I like it. There is some cool stuff in here. Since I doubt the system will be even remotely d20-based, it can't be used directly, but we can certainly borrow concepts.

I disagree with the -2 CON thing. Teddy bears are the stalwart and unflinching guardians of dreams. They can be roleplayed like furry space marines. If we were using d20, I would give them +2 CON, +2 WIS, -2 DEX, -2 INT. No level adjustment.

altered to:
+2 Con, +2 Wis, +2 Cha, -2 Dex, -2 Int

CR/LA of +1, there's no way this build can walk out the door without at least one. id give it a +1 do to the loss of dex and int, both favored for tiny races and stealth classes.

Amechra
2012-08-21, 08:25 PM
You know? The storyteller system actually isn't that good at narrative-based games.

I would suggest either looking at Wushu (for if you want the game to be really, really fast paced when it comes to combat, which looks to be the focus (judging by the original thread)), or at something like Mascot-tan, Magical Burst, or even maybe Black Hole Girls...

A quick run-down of the ones that I think would work:

Wushu- Is very suited for this kinda thing; just rename Chi as Bravery, allocate traits, and bam, you got it down. Not suitable if you actually want the game to be something bulky, really.

Black Hole Girls- I only mentioned this game for one reason. Namely, in BHG, you play as a 12-year-old girl with a pet alien supermonster. The thing is, you roll different sized dice based off of who has more control in the relationship, the girl or the monster.

There is a dice distribution that looks like this:
1d4-1d6-1d8-1d10

When you start, you pick for one side to use 1d6s and the other to use 1d8s. Through-out the game, you adjust the dice sizes along the scale; if you increase one side by one step, then the other drops by a step, and vice versa.

Where am I going with this? You can have a similar mechanical back-and-forth between the teddy bears and the monsters; it would make for a good "oh crap" moment for the players, at least, when the dice they are using drop from d8s to d6s, or worse, when the child they are guarding starts having a nightmare. Or, maybe tie it to the time of night, so that your strategy has to shift through-out the night...

Mascot-Tan: What, it has a rock-paper-scissors based resolution system, and is generally adorable; what's not to love? More seriously, the uses for moe that it has could be mined for the teddies, mainly because it seems like they share a very similar mental space, as it were.

Magical Burst... I mainly like it because it has a very neat monster generation system that can be mined for ideas.

Did I mention that all of the above are free, or have free versions? So, yeah, they are much easier to get a hold of to examine.

And if you would like me to explain why the storyteller system is bad for actual storytelling, I will elaborate.

Chainsaw Hobbit
2012-08-21, 09:12 PM
You know? The storyteller system actually isn't that good at narrative-based games.

I would suggest either looking at Wushu (for if you want the game to be really, really fast paced when it comes to combat, which looks to be the focus (judging by the original thread)), or at something like Mascot-tan, Magical Burst, or even maybe Black Hole Girls...

A quick run-down of the ones that I think would work:

Wushu- Is very suited for this kinda thing; just rename Chi as Bravery, allocate traits, and bam, you got it down. Not suitable if you actually want the game to be something bulky, really.

Black Hole Girls- I only mentioned this game for one reason. Namely, in BHG, you play as a 12-year-old girl with a pet alien supermonster. The thing is, you roll different sized dice based off of who has more control in the relationship, the girl or the monster.

There is a dice distribution that looks like this:
1d4-1d6-1d8-1d10

When you start, you pick for one side to use 1d6s and the other to use 1d8s. Through-out the game, you adjust the dice sizes along the scale; if you increase one side by one step, then the other drops by a step, and vice versa.

Where am I going with this? You can have a similar mechanical back-and-forth between the teddy bears and the monsters; it would make for a good "oh crap" moment for the players, at least, when the dice they are using drop from d8s to d6s, or worse, when the child they are guarding starts having a nightmare. Or, maybe tie it to the time of night, so that your strategy has to shift through-out the night...

Mascot-Tan: What, it has a rock-paper-scissors based resolution system, and is generally adorable; what's not to love? More seriously, the uses for moe that it has could be mined for the teddies, mainly because it seems like they share a very similar mental space, as it were.

Magical Burst... I mainly like it because it has a very neat monster generation system that can be mined for ideas.

Did I mention that all of the above are free, or have free versions? So, yeah, they are much easier to get a hold of to examine.

And if you would like me to explain why the storyteller system is bad for actual storytelling, I will elaborate.

Sorytelling and Storyteller are different systems. I much prefer the former.

Still, I would like to hear your thoughts.

Amechra
2012-08-21, 09:49 PM
I'm really bad at explaining things in detail, but I'll give it a go (I made a typo in my post; I meant Storytelling.)

The thing that makes that kind of system less than ideal is that it is too rules heavy for a narrative-focused game, in my opinion; if you think about it, Attribute+Skills is actually quite rigid, and it does lead to slowdown when you get to certain points. For example, if the system has a lot of Attributes and Skills, you run the risk of "should I use Speaking for this one, or Presence?"; again, in my opinion, if you need to stop to ask yourself which one is best suited, then you are slowing down the game, which eats up precious time.

On the other hand, if you have a very low number of Skills and Attributes, you run the risk of having a single small set of them becoming very, very important.

On the other hand, take a look at Wushu, or (the example that will probably be more familiar) Fate/Risus. There, you pick whichever trait the character has that would be most appropriate to that particular situation; this also has the benefit of role protection, because by simply writing Doctor on your sheet, you are better than someone who did not write Doctor on their sheet.

If you want a better explanation, PM Xefas about it, and he'll give you the low-down.

Sgt. Cookie
2012-08-21, 10:40 PM
dibs on the teddy bear race. im working on it now...

Sadly, you're about a year too late. I made a Teddy Bear shortly after I saw afforeposted picture on the 4th, I think, demotivator thread. It's in my extended signiture if you want to have a look.




Personaly, I support this idea wholeheartedly and can't wait to see more.

ZeroNumerous
2012-08-21, 10:57 PM
If you're using the Storytelling System, then you'd need to flesh out why the bears are able to do what they do. But I don't have any ideas on that. Instead, I've got something about the humanity replacement:

I, personally, like the idea that their child's Imagination empowers them, and the less and less they act like their child imagines them to be, the more and more they move toward Nightmares. Essentially, Imagination replaces the standard Humanity track. At high Imagination, they act extremely close to how their child envisions them acting: Defending the weak, defeating nightmares, being extremely Lawful Good(potentially to the point of Stupid Good?). But that's an untenable position because Nightmares can trick and confuse bears who have such a rigid way of dealing with things.

On the flip side, the lower their connection to their child's Imagination the more and more they act like Nightmares: Lying, stealing, cheating, oppressing the weak, outright murder of Dreams, etc. Ultimately a bear that completely loses its connection with its child's Imagination becomes a Nightmare in its own right.

LordErebus12
2012-08-22, 03:50 AM
Sadly, you're about a year too late. I made a Teddy Bear shortly after I saw afforeposted picture on the 4th, I think, demotivator thread. It's in my extended signiture if you want to have a look.




Personaly, I support this idea wholeheartedly and can't wait to see more.

damnit, and you did it way better. lmao

The Zoat
2012-08-22, 06:03 AM
I, personally, like the idea that their child's Imagination empowers them, and the less and less they act like their child imagines them to be, the more and more they move toward Nightmares. Essentially, Imagination replaces the standard Humanity track. At high Imagination, they act extremely close to how their child envisions them acting: Defending the weak, defeating nightmares, being extremely Lawful Good(potentially to the point of Stupid Good?). But that's an untenable position because Nightmares can trick and confuse bears who have such a rigid way of dealing with things.

On the flip side, the lower their connection to their child's Imagination the more and more they act like Nightmares: Lying, stealing, cheating, oppressing the weak, outright murder of Dreams, etc. Ultimately a bear that completely loses its connection with its child's Imagination becomes a Nightmare in its own right.

How would this work for a teddy bear that the child imagines to be evil?

ZeroNumerous
2012-08-22, 11:19 PM
How would this work for a teddy bear that the child imagines to be evil?

What child imagines their beloved toy to be evil?

Wait, lemme rephrase: What child imagines evil?

LordErebus12
2012-08-22, 11:24 PM
What child imagines their beloved toy to be evil?

Wait, lemme rephrase: What child imagines evil?

we all imagine evil, we usually just have the fear response to imagining evil at that tender age. Sociopathic Children imagine evil, without fear. Often even showing great interest in it.

Doorhandle
2012-08-23, 05:12 AM
Black Hole Girls- I only mentioned this game for one reason. Namely, in BHG, you play as a 12-year-old girl with a pet alien supermonster. The thing is, you roll different sized dice based off of who has more control in the relationship, the girl or the monster.

There is a dice distribution that looks like this:
1d4-1d6-1d8-1d10

When you start, you pick for one side to use 1d6s and the other to use 1d8s. Through-out the game, you adjust the dice sizes along the scale; if you increase one side by one step, then the other drops by a step, and vice versa.

Where am I going with this? You can have a similar mechanical back-and-forth between the teddy bears and the monsters; it would make for a good "oh crap" moment for the players, at least, when the dice they are using drop from d8s to d6s, or worse, when the child they are guarding starts having a nightmare. Or, maybe tie it to the time of night, so that your strategy has to shift through-out the night...

If you're tying it to the time of night, I suggest having the scale start out heavily in the bear's favor, then slowly degrade as the knight wears on, as it's always darkest before the dawn... if Dawn breaks before the child wakes up, the bears should be empowered again I think.

It also allows you to apply time-based pressure, like trying to destroy or weaken an insanely-powerful nightmare before you become too weak to fight it.

Chainsaw Hobbit
2012-09-19, 02:37 PM
I have compiled some possible systems. If you have any you would like to add to the list, please say so, and tell me why they are awesome.

Storytelling System (NWoD)

Pros

Simple and easy.
Very well-crafted core mechanic that helps to tell stories.
Character creation could lend itself well to the game's concept.
The concept feels like something from the World of Darkness, and could perhaps be loosely worked in.

Cons

Would be harder to adapt, since there is no generic system book.
Would need to be adjusted to work with animate stuffed bears.


Savage Worlds

Pros

Dynamic, relatively easy rules.
Generic system book would help to make the process easy.
Flexible character creation.

Cons

The core stats may need to be adjusted.
Use of the system would mean that the game would almost require miniatures.


Adjusted d20 System

Pros

Widely known.
System is open.

Cons

The rules can be rather clunky.
Feels bloated.

NPC White Mage
2012-09-21, 10:17 AM
What about using the Burning Wheel system, or more accurate, a watered down Burning Wheel system (much like how MouseGuard plays)?

It is a simple system that relies heavily on storytelling which might benefit this type of game.

I am really interested in this, and would love to see more of it, sadly because I am a rather new played in any RPG, I am still a learner and don't have much knowledge to provide.

Also this:
http://radbot.net/pix/3609.jpg

The Zoat
2012-10-08, 07:48 AM
The mouseguard system should work, but I just can't resist d20. Hmmm.

Hanuman
2012-10-08, 08:41 AM
http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090908213857/leagueoflegends/images/0/0a/SummonTibbers.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kdmm-h8-Dbo#t=0m35s

zzuxon
2012-10-08, 10:53 AM
This is an awesome Idea. I recommend you incorporate other common types of toys, as weapons(Tops, toy guns) or as PC races (action figures, other stuffed animals, army men). It could make for an awesome system.

Roderick_BR
2012-10-09, 08:52 AM
I'd vote for D&D 4e. The system is simple if compared to others more complete systems (3.x, Storyteller), and the lack of depper simulationist rules won't hurt it too much. The teddy's are supposed to go back to the kid's confort during the day, so they don't need to "spend the night" and full heal the next "night". And lets your heroes go all hollywoodian on monsters with their fancy powers.

Smart_alec
2012-10-09, 11:56 PM
I'd vote for D&D 4e. The system is simple if compared to others more complete systems (3.x, Storyteller), and the lack of depper simulationist rules won't hurt it too much. The teddy's are supposed to go back to the kid's confort during the day, so they don't need to "spend the night" and full heal the next "night". And lets your heroes go all hollywoodian on monsters with their fancy powers.

I was thinking this as well. (However 4e is as close as I get to fanboyism so you should take that with a grain of salt.) It's got four big problems though:

1. Players are going to be creatures that are small at their highest echelons and for the most part tiny fighting through terrain and against monsters (think of all your childhood terrors. I'll bet that the vast majority of them were person size.) that are much bigger than they are.

This at least means that creative terrain and battlefields are easy. (For example) There could be three possible routes that you could use to reach the monster: Hopping onto the floor and attacking the feet in order to bring the monster down to your level, jumping on top of the bookshelf in order to get a decent shot at the creatures eyes or running from bed to toy box to dresser in order to climb onto it's back and scale the beastie.

4e is bad at combat with a marked change in scale between combatants and is worse at large scale movement like that.

2. It's very loot based (as all the D&D versions I've played) and requires a huge amount of magic items in order to bring the players up to scale with the NPC monsters they fight. I really can't see the toy's gearing up for a game like this. A couple of weapons that the kid associates with them but nothing that isn't discrete.

3. It's highly biased towards squad or group combat rather than fighting a single large threat. Which isn't quite a bad thing. There's no reason that say something that threaten's the kid in real life (a bully, the fighting of your parents [That may not lead to divorce but I do think that would be an interesting meta-plot.] the epic level existentialist crisis that comes with the growing realisation that they're time is finite and nothing lasts forever [children who fall prey to this threat grow up to become webcomic writers.]) would shed peices of it's self that move much faster than the actual monster.

Which would play to 4e's strengths. The monster sheds smaller creatures as it comes in through the closet or something and they're what the players fight as you scale up the threats. Finally facing the nightmare it's self when it's shed enough pieces for it to be reasonably fought by the guardians.
Breaking up sections.
On a more construtive note. I've got a couple of ideas (I've looked at the first five pages or so of the previous design thread. I may have cribbed an idea or two [Not sure to be honest.] from there but I doubt it matters much.):

1. There are five types of creatures that can appear in the night. (Ranked in order of threat.)
-Nightmares. The bread and butter of the night's combat/ threats and can appear in any form or can have any source that the GM decides. They make up the cannon fodder of a more powerful attack or are threats in their own right comming in wave after wave after wave.
=Concentrated nightmares. The child has seen a scary movie on TV, heard about vampires for the first time or has simply heard some of the older kids in the playground refer to their teacher as an Evil Witch. These are stronger more powerful nightmares that are given an different form and purpose by the same thoughts that empower the players. (A normal nightmare would merely give the Child a troubled sleep and disrupt the flow of imagination that empowers their toy's to defend them. But with the aforementioned vampire example, if the nightmare reaches it's target it attacks, drawing blood and killing the child if left alone to long.)

-Boogeymen. These are the "real" monsters of the story. The one's that risk actual discovery when the morning comes and the debris aren't cleared away in time. The monster under the bed has been there all along and it's hungry.

They must be destroyed and disposed of afterwards, in order to keep them secret. Because these are the Lovecraft style monsters of the setting. Knowledge of their existence is painful in and of it's self and seeing the corpse is more than enough to send the child mad. Severing the link to his/ her toys and de-animating them forever. (The Boogeymen are not in fact after the child's life. They're after that energy they produce. Even in death they can win.)

However the child doesn't die should that happen. They're going to need years of counciling afterwards but the only thing they really lose is a certain... Spark. Something that makes them special.

-Primal fears (not a good name). These are the greatest of the threats faced by a child with a healthy home life. The collective psychic power of the human race has created a lot of good. It's the source of art and culture, love and the Guardians themselves. But where do the bad things go?

Every sob in the dark fuels them as does every malicious act. When a young man, fighting for freedom and country dies screaming in abject agony from the bullet in his chest or when a sociopath skins somebody in order to finally feel alive. A brother stealing and mauling his sisters dolls. Swearing when getting cut off in traffic or backstabbing the guy in the cubical over from you in order to get ahead is all part of the same thing.

This big ball of hate, pain and loathing resting heavy on the very fabric of the world and reaching out through the dark. Dragging all that is down into the void with it.

-The Unreal Reals. What marks each of the other enemy types are that they're something external. A thought or an image created by somebody else that the child has only tangential contact with. The Unreal Reals are something different. These are the things that make up the very substance of a childs' personality. Their parents are fighting and the kid is worried that they'll break up. The child has low self esteem and feels a need to punish him/ herself and others for it. The kid is falling in with the "wrong" crowd.

These are the things that shape the child and in turn are the greatest threat's against him/ her. (Poorly explained I know.)
Breaking up sections.
2. Mechanically. What if the Guardians levelled backwards?

When they're just starting out as toys they've got a whole slew of different poorly established abilities and powers but as the child grows and individual toys gain a more concrete personality and/ or role in the games that the kid plays and lose the majority of their abilities. (So the Action Man toy loses his magical teleportation and flight powers but his guns start doing more damage and he gains more hitpoints when the kid discovers the joy's of Die Hard.)

Until the toy's reach some kind of optimal balance of imagination and ability. At which point they start going down hill as they're played with less and less. Until eventually they're facing off with the fresh terrors of emergent sexuality and responsibility with a roll of string, a dull wooden sword and their painted on smile.
Breaking up sections.
3. Possible "races":
-Constructables and Packed Toys. (Hero Machines, Bionicles, Legos, Army Men, Polly Pockets. Stuff like that.) A single personality split between several bodies. Each one may only be of one class and may turn various attacks/ abilities into combination attacks via an internal power of friendship. (Maybe three, four or five bodies to a character encompassing the child's favourite members of the group rather than the entirety of the group.) They highly favour DPS and Mezzer type classes (mostly in melee) but are comparatively fragile.

-Dolls/ Action Figures. (It depends on how much the players fear cooties.) I'm not sure what flavour would define these guys. I'm thinking that they would favour tanking roles and would have the largest amount of starting equipment. Ideas?

-Imaginary Friends. Not sure at all.

-Teddys. See above. Love it.

radmelon
2012-10-10, 09:08 AM
Okay, I really like these ideas. A lot of thought has been put into it.

Chainsaw Hobbit
2012-10-10, 12:28 PM
Two things ...

One is that I want the only playable "race" to be the teddy bear. I like the idea of teddy bears gaining different powers depending on their relationship with the child, and I believe that having other races would weaken the concept. I am open to changing my mind.

The other is that I don't want to game to take place in the physical world. I would prefer for the bears to explore surreal dreamscapes and labyrinths within the child's subconscious. It could all be very symbolic.

This solves the monster size issue, and allows for massive and varied adventure sites.

Chainsaw Hobbit
2012-10-10, 01:14 PM
Tell me how this sounds for a system.

We would make a system that uses the d20 SRD as a base, but has lots of Fourth Edition mechanics, as well as bounded accuracy.

What is bounded accuracy? Basically, it means that as characters and creatures level up, they don't gain bonuses to attack rolls and defenses such as Armour Class. Instead, they simply gain more hit points and deal more damage. This means that monsters never become irrelevant, and hordes of weak creatures can take down lone powerful ones.

Think of it as a more natural expression of the minions, elites, and solos mechanic from Fourth Edition.

Hiro Protagonest
2012-10-10, 04:35 PM
I like Cortex. You can download Cortex from DriveThruRPG for five bucks.

Willpower could be renamed Bravery, and Intelligence become Imagination. Alertness, Agility, Strength, and Vitality can keep their names.

Weapons can be based on the toy. Teddy bears could be unarmed, or the kid could give them a small wooden sword and small helmet, which the bear can turn into an actual sword (albeit small enough for the bear to use it), which could be an English Longsword, a scimitar, a katana, or a spatha, and the helmet could turn into a suit of plate, or an iron breastplate and tower shield, or a bronze breastplate and round shield. Army men can have assault rifles, grenades, even a sniper with a sniper rifle, and are well suited to larger parties. Action figures can be like army men, except they're generally better equipped, and can have a wider variety of weapons and fighting styles. An action figure could know kung fu and dual-wield assault rifles, or carry a bolt-action rifle and a rocket launcher.

The scale rules should be tossed, though. It's just not good for the game if the monster deals ten times his normal damage to the toy, and the toy has to deal at least ten damage just to do anything, and then only one actual point for every ten rolled.

I don't have Mouseguard, but I can't shake the feeling that it would be a good fit.

Smart_alec
2012-10-10, 06:57 PM
Well if everybody is going to be the same species how about GURPS or D20 Modern?

Amechra
2012-10-11, 01:05 PM
Or, you could make it a system independent setting book, or something similar.

Chainsaw Hobbit
2012-10-11, 01:12 PM
Well if everybody is going to be the same species how about GURPS or D20 Modern?

GURPS is far too crunchy and simulationist. It wouldn't fit the setting at all.

D20 modern would probably fir worse than D&D, as it is basically the same thing, but with fewer resources that would work with the setting.

Djinn_in_Tonic
2012-10-11, 01:22 PM
This idea SCREAMS Storyteller to me. It's easy to default to a single race (i.e. no need for racial abilities), has a great way to select from a wide variety of skills and abilities, and, through it's associated mechanics (Humanity, Willpower, and so-forth) could be nicely shifted to things like Imagination, Belief, and other things that would give bears power.

It's also a gritty system that does dark and oppressive well (and you seem to like the grim interpretation): D&D and so-forth reach HERO MODE to quickly, and then all sense of grit is gone.

If you don't go with that (and I really think it works here), I'd recommend a Fate derivative. Fate is a really simple and flexible system that rewards player ingenuity, enforces character consistency (through the absolutely brilliant Aspect system), and is a light enough system that narrative flow becomes the primary driving factor in the game, while the Stunt selection can be tailored to really give players cool options (especially if you increase the number of Stunts gained).

endoperez
2012-10-11, 02:17 PM
There already exists a game in which boogie monster is real, the kids are scared and need to be protected by belief-based magic. This one stars the kids, but I assume it'd be easier to tweak change the protagonists than the whole system.

I don't know how good it actually is.

http://www.littlefears.com/

Chainsaw Hobbit
2012-10-11, 04:35 PM
There already exists a game in which boogie monster is real, the kids are scared and need to be protected by belief-based magic. This one stars the kids, but I assume it'd be easier to tweak change the protagonists than the whole system.

I don't know how good it actually is.

http://www.littlefears.com/

I've read both Little Fears editions. In my opinion, the first is pretty mediocre, and the second is solid. They have a very different concept, though.