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View Full Version : Help me design... a Hunger Game!!!



Elvenoutrider
2013-04-10, 11:48 PM
Dear playgrounders, I have decided that the next game I will be writing will be a game designed for a single player and gm. I am not as talented a writer as suzanne collins, but I was hoping that through crowdsourcing ideas I could come close. (I am sure that the members of the playground could find some better writers than her. I dont want to debate the merits of the book or her authorship I just doubt my ability to write a story in her setting greater than her). When my work is complete, or at least my first draft is done, I will pass it on to the playground along with campaign notes.)

My reason for picking this setting is that my girlfriend of one year has asked for me to get her into the hobby. I want to tailor a game specifically to her interests to maximize the chance that she will become attached enough to the hobby to want to play in other games.

A second reason is that if she doesnt enjoy it, the book series is popular enough where if I ever feel compelled to run another single player adventure, then there is a good chance the player in question will want to play.

All that said I want to set the game up using gurps. I have about an average familiarity with the setting. I read the books a little over a year ago an perused the wikipedia page. I have only delved into this long enough to decide what I need to make this run effectively.

1) I need to design 23 different tributes. of these, Half should be memorable and fit in some way with the district they are chosen from. The other half should be interchangeable so I can assign them to any district I see fit as I would allow the player to pick their own district. 3 of the tributes should be more powerful than the player in terms of points. 3 should be decidedly weaker. One of the enemies should be an obvious villain, powerful and detestable enough that the player will have no qualms putting a blade through them. Two groups of tributes should function as a team, forcing the player to use creative tactics, and on of the tributes, the player should have an extreme morale obligation over killing. For this I was thinking a pregnant tribute (only other thing I came up with was a charcter who could in some way help out the player's district though I cant figure that out at this junction)

2) I should at least have an idea for the layout of the map - specifics could come as the game progresses. My idea for this game was to have the game set in an abandoned mining town in a temperate forest - plenty of space for big creatures, underground hazards, an abandoned town - lots of options.

3) SOme ideas for random encounters and randomized loot - because keeping track of everything will probably be too difficult. I am sure at a certain point, it will be easier just to let the dice decide what they player finds, or what horror they run into.

4) Some muttations, traps and other map hazards - currently scouring gurps fan compendiums and the pathfinder and 3.5 monster manuals for ideas. Traps might be hard until I hammer out the setting.



So playgrounders, I think any of us who read the books has probably drea,ed up a character or situation or muttation of their own at one point. This is a lot to figure out...


Help a writer out?????:smalleek:

Zahhak
2013-04-11, 12:52 AM
As much as I'm a fan of the series, I'm not sure The Hunger Games could work as an RPG. This is for a few reasons.

Firstly, The Hunger Games novel, and the games themselves, were designed as a commentary on reality television, full contact sports and our violence filled popular media, as well what people will do if they think there are no better alternatives. You could do social commentary in a roleplaying game, but I don't think a gaming system built around violence will work very well to provide commentary on our violent society.

Now, you could remove the social commentary aspect and focus on the drama of involuntary conflict between untrained novices, but then you just have modified gladiator combat between 1st level commoners, which doesn't make for very good gaming. And, maybe this is just me, but I enjoy gaming for the dynamics of the character interaction, which is very difficult if its the DM and one player. You could reasonably get other people to play and have them running as other tributes, but that could result in some hurt feelings when one of the party has to murder another. But if your group is able to handle themselves, and they're looking for a high drama game, it could work.

Having said that, the idea of using a game similar to a popular work that your girlfriend enjoys is probably the best way to get her to join your gaming group. If she enjoys human driven drama I'd guess she's a fan of The Walking Dead, which would be better because she can get help from a more experienced group, get used to the social aspects of gaming, and you still have mutants/random monsters, traps, random loot and dangers, and having to conflict with other humans.

One way or another, best of luck!