Project C.U.T.E.

[TinSoldier]

I know I'm not contributing much, just butting in from time to time. But what can I say, it's a fun thread with a cool premise.

I keep imagining TV shows like "Muppet Babies" and "Rugrats", and comics like "Calvin and Hobbes", and stuff like that.

When the children are adventuring, they are kind of aware that it's all make believe but their imaginations make it seem very real. It's kind of a dream-like state I'm thinking. And maybe on some level it is real...

[Leperflesh]

Great one, Lep. ;D That is truly awesome.

So, have we decided that our kids are from the modern age and just 'pretend' (to them, of course, it's very very real) to have adventures?

I think in this case death would be a very interesting thing to handle... after all, an imaginary monster can't really kill you, but it could certainly be a traumatic experience to be 'killed' while 'playing' a 'game'.

I think it would be reasonable to assume ALL damage in this game is treated like subdual damage... and is recovered in the same manner. It is incumbent upon every character to 'be dead' when reaching 0 damage, and failure to cooperate causes such a character to immediately puff out of existance, becoming irrelevant and nonexistant to the reality.

Alternatively, you can treat damage like "for reals", and assume that part of the conceit of this game is that everything is "really" taking place, even though (as adult players) we know that it is not.

Or something.

-Lep

[Yuki Akuma]

Hmmm...

Perhaps this game world could have two realities... the 'real' world and the 'imaginary' world. Adults generally have a hard time entering the 'imaginary' world, but kids can do it easily (some, like dreamers, seem to be permanently stuck in it).

The 'imaginary' world is actually a real place, but it isn't exactly a physical realm. It'd be interesting to have this idea fleshed out, but I can't think of anything right now... -_-

For example, adventures could skip between the worlds. You could have an adventure plot, and a sort of real-world metaplot going alongside it. This would make interesting Rugrats-style stories (although the kids would be slightly older and able to talk to adults).

Could even include some obviously fantastic elements into the 'real' world, such as kids sometimes being able to use their imaginary powers, although adults tend not to notice.

[Leperflesh]

Perhaps it's something akin to planar travel, into the ethereal or shadow planes - only, different?

-Lep

[Shiny, Bearer of the Pokystick]

I know I'm not contributing much, just butting in from time to time. But what can I say, it's a fun thread with a cool premise.

I keep imagining TV shows like "Muppet Babies" and "Rugrats", and comics like "Calvin and Hobbes", and stuff like that.

When the children are adventuring, they are kind of aware that it's all make believe but their imaginations make it seem very real. It's kind of a dream-like state I'm thinking. And maybe on some level it is real...

I'm so glad you like it. ;)

I just finished up the Panlid Champion- let me know what you think, everyone. PEACH it up.

As to the setting;
I'd say that the kids are living in a modern world some of the time, but their imaginations have, in essence, run away with them; they've moved from the "real world" we all know to a very similar world with some differing rules, where the things children imagine are real, and can cause real pain and death- or really heal them. I'd say if a child dies in the imaginal world, their real body falls into a coma until their mind is somehow ressurected in the same imaginal plane. Also, I like the idea of a sort of underground world of children that never grow up- a kind of dystopian never-never land.
So, one's character could enter the imaginal world with his friends, and explore a kid society in ancient, dank sewers beneath the suburban streets, where hideous threats await; or they could venture into the darkness of his own house's basement and slowly realize they've stumbled onto a fundamentally different, darker plane of existence.
Essentially the characters were real world children, but they became lost in a fantasy world- and it's possible, though not confirmed, that they had a hand in making it.

@Lep:
I'd say it's more like Astral Travel; your 'real' body might be left behind, and if you're killed you partially snap back (into the aforementioned coma), but you still feel astral pain and are assessed astral wounds.

[TinSoldier]

Hmm. Like Leperflesh said, but more along the lines if someone is "killed" during adventuring, they are kicked out of the fantasy world for some period of time? Then they get "ressurrected" later on?

And of course, some things are truly dangerous...

[Yuki Akuma]

*looks up at his own idea* ... I think I like yours more, Shiny. Can we fuse them? ;)

[Shiny, Bearer of the Pokystick]

*looks up at his own idea* ... I think I like yours more, Shiny. Can we fuse them? ;)

No objections here, assuming you can give me a good way to fuse the two.

[Yuki Akuma]

Hmm...

While 'trapped' in the dark imagination plane, the kids are still in the real world, and are at some level aware of it. Also, they could return fully to the real world at regular intevals (say, Bed Time or School Time, or whatever), but of course get sucked back into the imaginary world when they give their imaginations half a chance.

You could also have the kids running on some sort of autopilot while they 'play', suddenly coming out of it and finding that they've been living life normally all the time they were fighting those trolls.

Characters could, for example, find 'equipment' in their houses and then go into the imagination world. Or even bring equipment from the imagination world into the real one, which I think would be totally awesome...

[Argent]

Hmm. Like Leperflesh said, but more along the lines if someone is "killed" during adventuring, they are kicked out of the fantasy world for some period of time? Then they get "ressurrected" later on?

And of course, some things are truly dangerous...

Or take a page out of the (really old) "Toon" RPG -- when a character's reduced to zero health/HP/whatever, they "fall down", which means they're out of the game for two real-world minutes, at which time they reappear from off-screen.

[Shiny, Bearer of the Pokystick]

Hmm...

While 'trapped' in the dark imagination plane, the kids are still in the real world, and are at some level aware of it. Also, they could return fully to the real world at regular intevals (say, Bed Time or School Time, or whatever), but of course get sucked back into the imaginary world when they give their imaginations half a chance.

You could also have the kids running on some sort of autopilot while they 'play', suddenly coming out of it and finding that they've been living life normally all the time they were fighting those trolls.

Characters could, for example, find 'equipment' in their houses and then go into the imagination world. Or even bring equipment from the imagination world into the real one, which I think would be totally awesome...

That sounds about right, actually; I don't see anything there I wouldn't like to play.

However, I have an alternate idea to that "autopilot". Perhaps the child's imagination is an entirely sentient and seperate entity, and while the child is adventuring in the world the imagination would usually inhabit, the imagination inhabits their body and lives their life for them- sometimes as they would, sometimes not.
The reason the kids get sucked into the imagination world is that the Imagination, the entity, wants to take on a physical form, and is thus pushing them into its realm so it can utilize their bodies for as long as it likes- not that the kids usually mind.

[Yuki Akuma]

I like that idea, Shiny. ;D

Are Imaginations 'evil'? Or are they just bored?

Would it be possible to work out some sort of system for when the kids die? Say, usually nothing bad happens to them, and they just snap out of it. Sometimes, however, their real bodies fall into a coma... or, even rarer, they actually die.

That would be kinda cool, a kid dying in real life and then one of his buddies casting Raise Dead in the imaginative world...

[Shiny, Bearer of the Pokystick]

I like that idea, Shiny. ;D

Are Imaginations 'evil'? Or are they just bored?

Would it be possible to work out some sort of system for when the kids die? Say, usually nothing bad happens to them, and they just snap out of it. Sometimes, however, their real bodies fall into a coma... or, even rarer, they actually die.

That would be kinda cool, a kid dying in real life and then one of his buddies casting Raise Dead in the imaginative world...

I'd say an evil person's imagination is evil, a neutral person's imagination is probably bored, and a good person's imagination is curious.

And yes, not only is that possible, it's a good idea. Remember that for later.

[Yuki Akuma]

Maybe there should be times and places in the 'real' world where the lines between real life and imagination start to blur... this would obviously happen in dark bedrooms, which would be where zombears and monsters under the bed would come from.

[Shiny, Bearer of the Pokystick]

Maybe there should be times and places in the 'real' world where the lines between real life and imagination start to blur... this would obviously happen in dark bedrooms, which would be where zombears and monsters under the bed would come from.

Similar to manifest zones in Eberron, yes;
And we could use some variation of the possession rules from the same setting for when the Imagination takes control of the body.

[Shiny, Bearer of the Pokystick]

Panlid champion inspired me...I had no choice:

I just now noticed this- thanks much, it's awesome.

[Yuki Akuma]

I don't have Eberron... Care to enlighten me?

(I'm posting in this thread a lot. Post count +1!)

[TinSoldier]

I dunno, should the imagination be a separate entity or should there be a single entity like the Sandman or something?

I still see the PCs as single individuals who get so wrapped up in their imaginary world that sometimes it seems pretty real. Real to them, anyway.

Thinking about character death, I remembered stuff like:

"Bang Bang! You're dead!"
"Am not!"
"Are too! I shot you first!"
"Did not! You missed!"
"No, I got you! Now you have to lay there and pretend that you're dead!"
etc.

Another thought was that the character would just wake up in his bed the next day.

I'm still thinking it should be some kind of a time-out. And there should be do-overs.

Only the BBEG and maybe certain monsters like Creature Under The Bed are really dangerous.

Oh, and there should be clowns. SCARY, EVIL clowns.

[Yuki Akuma]

Hm... I think Shiny and I were going for something a little bit darker. Naturally, at times there would be stuff like that, when they're fighting another kid. But when fighting a monster from the imagination world it won't happen like that, even if it isn't actually dangerous, per se.

[Don Beegles]

I just want to say I've been reading this since yesterday, as is evidenced by the fact tha tI have teh second post, and I want to say that I'm terrified to go away for the weekend because by the time I get back there'll be like three threads worth of squidgy widgy adowable (and so so adowable) stuff I have to read.

Keep up the good work.

[Shiny, Bearer of the Pokystick]

I just want to say I've been reading this since yesterday, as is evidenced by the fact tha tI have teh second post, and I want to say that I'm terrified to go away for the weekend because by the time I get back there'll be like three threads worth of squidgy widgy adowable (and so so adowable) stuff I have to read.

Keep up the good work.

Awwww, stop, I'm blushin'.

As to the death debate;
I'd say that I am going for something a little more serious than 'bang bang, you're dead'.
The idea of a massive universal force/being of imagination is a good one, but I prefer individual imaginations, myself.

I'd say that this is how dying might work:
Certain very rare, BBEG type creatures deal damage that effects the child's real body. If they are killed by such a creature, they really die.
Most of the time, most creatures in the imaginal world deal damage to their imaginal body. If they are dealt enough damage to drop them to -10, their imaginal body ceases to exist and they are temporarily catapulted back into the real world; but while their imagination is quiescent and functionally 'dead', they are without a part of their soul and thus very vulnerable to certain forms of attack. To relieve this condition, their imaginal form must be brought back to life.
If an imaginal-plane creature somehow gains physical form, or had it to begin with, it will strike against their imaginal body nonetheless; their physical form is likely to be 'somewhere else'.
While their imaginal body exists (that is, for the purposes of the campaign, while they're alive), their physical body is shunted into a sort of limbo- a half-existence wherein they live life soullessly and unimaginatively. It's likely that from the perspective of the world at large, time spent in the imaginal world is highly accelerated; while you might spend years adventuring in an imaginal body, only hours or days would have passed when you returned to your physical form.
It's not exactly a dream, however. Your imaginal body is formed from the image of your physical body, and therefore affects it. A small percentage of the time, imaginal death results in coma or another adverse effect, such as a curse or magical disease. Even more rarely, dream-death results in death of the brain and thus of the body.
There are do-overs, in the sense that the character naturally regenerates damage to their imaginal body in the real world by dreaming; 2hp for each night of sucessful dream sleep. Once their imaginal body is brought back to 1hp or more in this way, they can naturally begin adventuring again, but until then, they're timed out of the game.

[Yuki Akuma]

I like "imaginal". I'm not sure whether you just don't know the proper word or if it was intentional, though. If it wasn't, we should keep it.

"Imaginal Plane". I like it.

[Shiny, Bearer of the Pokystick]

I like "imaginal". I'm not sure whether you just don't know the proper word or if it was intentional, though. If it wasn't, we should keep it.

"Imaginal Plane". I like it.

Imag·i·nal
Pronunciation: im-'aj-n-l
Function: adjective
: of or relating to imagination, images, or imagery.

And also:
Of, relating to, or having the form of an insect imago.

The Imago is the last stage of development in insects, after chrysalis, larva, etc.

I like the double meaning.

[belboz]

Wow, there's some great stuff on this thread!

I think the issue of real danger and suchlike comes down to an essentially conflicting vision: Is the point of this campaign to be adorable, or is it to be like a small child's imagination?

Because the things in a small child's imagination are not always adorable, not at all. The world is often a scary place for kids, particularly little kids. Their imagination is as full of monsters that want to eat them as it is of talking puppies.

That's why it's usually, for example, a bad idea to take them to scary movies. It's not that they've never thought of anything like that before and that the shock will be too much for them; it's that they're already primed to imagine things like that, and seeing them can turn them into obsessions.

(This is also, I think, why slightly older kids tend to love dark stuff, like Roald Dahl and Lemony Snicket. Once they've gotten to the point where they can convert small doses of harmless fear into an adrenalin rush, poking into those areas of their mind becomes fun.)

[Yuki Akuma]

I think it started as being adorable, then morphed into being like a child's imagination.

On the surface, the game should be rather cute and sweet, and get darker the more it goes on. At least, that's my opinion...

[Shiny, Bearer of the Pokystick]

I think it started as being adorable, then morphed into being like a child's imagination.

On the surface, the game should be rather cute and sweet, and get darker the more it goes on. At least, that's my opinion...

Personally, I'm going for a happy medium.
Since the D&D system revolves around combat, it's reasonable to inject some amount of 'danger' and darkness.

To that end, I'm trying to work in the influence of victorian low and high fantasy; fairy rings, rat-catchers, the supernatural around every corner.
As well as 'modern fantasy' elements, like Neverwhere or Mirrormask (Yes, I like neil gaiman); rat-catchers again, sewer-children, the power of the imagination to create both wonderful, and terrible things.
I think recognizing that a child's imagination can produce terror, but seeing that terror for what it is, terrible from a child's perspective, not exciting or fun, is what could make the game really good.
And the equal capacity of a child's mind to produce, free-form, beautiful, beautiful things should also create a marvelous tension; what's more powerful in a child's mind, darkness or light? Terror or joy? Play, or fear?

Having that dramatic tension, that happy medium, is what interests me.

[Necomancer]

There needs to be a race of good clowns, evil clowns and monsters.

Maby monsters have a -2 to every mental stat and +4 to str with dark vision so they can see in the dark!...Oh wait. Thats orcs...um, also they can be be large to small in size and auras of fear. They should also have a special scare attack.

[Zeal]

Wow...just wow.

From some of the stuff I've seen on this thread, the C.U.T.E project almost needs its own system.

In the mean time, I present a...

New feat

Sore Loser [General]

Prerequisite
Penetrating whine class feature

Benefit

If a character with this feat is reduced to -1 to -9 hit points while using the whining class feature they automatically stabilize and become disabled instead of dying. Also, as long as they are disabled, characters with this feat do not provoke attacks of opportunity for move equivalent actions. Otherwise, the same conditions as the Diehard feat apply.

[chaiyo]

You guys should be in the running for the Nobel Peace Prize for Best Campaign Idea Ever. Is it too late to get in on this?

If so, I think the Imaginal Plane is genius. Children in the Imaginal Plane should be able to get levels in psionic classes, since psionics would be easy to fall back on as an excuse that kids can use their imagination to shape the Imaginal Plane.

Also, I think that a new ability is required for this campaign. Fear (or courage). The lower the score, the more fearful the character is of evil creatures, thus giving them more power in the Imaginal Plane. However, if the score is high, most evil imaginal creatures lose their main weapon (fear, of course), based on a Fear/Courage check. Heck, their could even be a Fear saving throw, completely independent of the Will Save, considering that fear affects kids body (Imaginal body, anyway) and mind on the Imaginal Plane.

[Zeful]

I've got a couple of feats that are kind of dark,

Aberrant Dreams [General]?
Not everything a child comes up with is cute... Sometimes it's just the opposite...
Prerequisite:* Int 13, Dreams made flesh Class abliity
Benifit:Any creatures summond through the Dreams made flesh ability is an Aberration. They have a d10 hit die, a +4 to strength and constitution, and frightening presence. The DC for their frightening presence is HD+1/2 effective dreamer class levels+charisma modifier.
*I was thinking of making Evil a prerequisite but I'm not evil but have thought up some disturbed stuff.

Inflict bodlily Harm: A creature with this ability is so threatning or scary that wounds dealt to the imagenary self manifest on the child. When the imagenary form is killed the child must make a will saving throw. Succeeding on the will saving throw will remove you from the imagenary world for one hour, this time is reduced by six minuets every five points over dc by which you succeed. If you fail the will saving throw you must make a fortitude saving throw or die, success forces the character into a coma. The save DC for the saving throws is Hd+10+charisma bonus(or stregnth bonus for the fort save).

Okay so one feat and one monster ability.