High School Harem Comedy (Game System, PEACH)

[Illven]

Hey, is this thing still on? *taps mic*

So I was thinking back to the big game of this that I was in a few years ago, and how even though it was a blast, the one thing that kind of bugged me about the system was its lack of a blue shell-type feature--how some characters, whether due to better mechanical optimization or just luck, were able to pull into a lead early on and leave others in the dust with little hope of catching up. I started thinking about how I might solve that problem, and came up with this. I have no idea if it would work, or if someone's already tried it, but I'd be curious to hear what y'all think.

Spoiler: HSHC Alternate Rule: Queen of the Heart

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The default scoring system of High School Harem Comedy can produce some undesirable outcomes. Because point totals are tracked continuously throughout the game, characters who are more mechanically optimized or simply lucky from the outset can quickly pull ahead and establish a nigh-untouchable lead, which the rules offer little way of challenging. One could say the game lacks a "blue shell" feature, a way for characters who have lagged behind to get back into the running. This alternate rule is meant to address that problem.

Queen of the Heart

Rather than accumulating Victory Points continuously throughout the game, the PCs instead compete to "capture Protagonist-kun's heart" and hold onto it until the series ends. At the beginning of the first episode, each character has 0 VP, as normal. The episode proceeds as normal, with the PCs competing to earn the most Victory Points. Then, at the end of the last normal scene, whichever PC has the most VP gets a special, one-on-one scene with Protagonist-kun (if this rule is in play, PCs may not make rolls or earn VP in one-on-one scenes besides these ones). Instead of the GM setting this scene, the player does so; they can frame it however they want, narrating any situation they like for their character and Protagonist-kun to find themselves in, as long as it follows reasonably from the events of the episode so far. Then, based on how the player sets the scene, the GM will assign them one final unopposed roll. If the PC wins this roll, they've captured Protagonist-kun's heart, and become his favorite. Then, the episode ends.

At the beginning of each episode after the first, all PCs' victory point totals reset to 0. Then, they play out the episode the same way as the first one, attempting to earn the most VP. At the end of the episode, whoever has the most VP unlocks another one-on-one scene with Protagonist-kun, and has a chance to capture his heart if they don't already have it. Only one PC can be Protagonist-kun's favorite at a time; if someone new captures his heart, they take it from whoever had it previously. If the winner of the episode already has Protagonist-kun's heart when they unlock their one-on-one scene, they don't have to make another roll to keep it; they can just frame the scene as they like and roleplay it out, no risk.

Last Chance

Once the game is near its conclusion, the GM will declare that the episode after the next one will be the series finale. The episode before the finale is the Last Chance. If the winner of the Last Chance episode was already Protagonist-kun's favorite when it started, they've won the game: Protagonist-kun's heart belongs to them. The finale is then devoted to wrapping things up, giving everyone the chance to play out any scenes they'd like and tie up loose ends for their characters, but with the final outcome of who ends up with Protagonist-kun already established.

However, if someone else wins the Last Chance episode and successfully captures Protagonist-kun's heart then, they have a choice to make. They can't win Protagonist-kun over completely--it's too late for that now. If they accept that, they can simply forfeit, letting him stay with whoever last held his heart before they took it. Alternatively, if the entire group unanimously agrees out of character that it’s okay, they can do one of two other things.

The Tenchi Solution

First, they can attempt the Tenchi Solution. During the finale, they and the previous favorite compete one-on-one to earn the most Victory Points, while the other PCs play out the finale normally. If the old favorite wins, their victory is complete, and Protagonist-kun is theirs alone. If the new challenger wins, however, they manage to convince Protagonist-kun that he needs to be with both of them in order to be happy. The two competitors can either agree to share him in a polyamorous relationship, or both walk away, leaving no one the winner.

Unleash Hell

Alternatively, the winner of the Last Chance episode can Unleash Hell. If they can't have Protagonist-kun, no one can.

During the finale, the challenger competes against all other PCs for the most Victory Points. This competition is no-holds-barred, with all PCs free to use whatever tactics they want against each other, up to and including deadly violence. If the challenger defeats all the other PCs, they win completely: Protagonist-kun is all theirs (and almost certainly traumatized for life). However, if any other PC earns more Victory Points, the challenger has failed; the previous favorite wins (if they're still alive), while the challenger gets nothing, and will probably be spending some time in jail or a psychiatric facility.

So I tried a system where it wasn't a "queen of the hill" but instead people who earned more VP in an episode got more "success points"

It ended up with the player that skipped a third of a game, still only losing to a tiebreak of the other player having more total VP, cause when the player showed up. They DOMINATED.

As for your blue shell idea, I'm not sure queen of the hill does anything to fix it. A player that wins one episode is very likely to take another, and another. I'll use Techno's game as an example, after some of the people left, did anyone besides Sakuya and (possibly) Becca ever "win" an episode. How would such a feature help Molly or Jill to win? I mean such a feature in this case helps second or third place, but not the ones distantly far behind.

In addition, I have questions or concerns about your solution.

1) How does the principal rule on DC's for the Protagonist's special scenes fairly. If I won say 5 episodes and my DC to capture the heart was around 8-10, and another player wins and they get 5, I might get upset. And vice versa. In addition malevolent Principals may intentionally set it up like that.
2) Clarification question. How does your system handle tiebreaks in total VP at the end of episodes. Special roll off? Additional scene, special scene becomes opposed if both or more players hit the unopposed DC, What if different players have different DC's? Multiple players can get the heart?
3) While I totally understand the everyone player needs to okay the genre change from Unleash hell, I'm not sure how comfortable I am with EVERY player needing to approve the tenchi solution. I can understand the tying players, but why does PC #3 get to decide what happens? What's to stop them from deciding, "Cause I don't win, no one gets to win even though I'd be okay with it if I were the tying player"
4) Is the last chance episode supposed to be a surprise? Cause that one seems the most important for determining victory. It also prevents game concepts like my first game where their were explicitly 24 episodes.
5) What happens in an unleash hell where the second to last winner is dead, and the (yandere) loses? Does the queen of the hill win? Is the protag considered too traumatized to romance?
6) If another player wins a last chance, and the other player's unwilling to compromise, can they only force a loss.


And a more general thought about blue shells.

I'm not sure blue shells are the solution here. What would have happened in a scenario where in East Marshall Techno employed a blue shell.

Sakuya has quite a few less VP points, Becca maybe has a few less, and it's a competition between Sakuya and Becca and not Molly or Jill.

My thought process is what would probably help out more is sort of rising tide feature where the people in the lower rankings gain additional powers, additional vp on a success, or something to help THEM get VP.