Creative Procrastination
I've been considering inventing my own role-playing game. It would be set in my own mind. By this, I mean the boundaries of the in-game world are my imagination. Every single place I've ever dreamed, from id to superego. The NPC populace would be every twisted spectre that I've ever imagined. The entire point of the game is that the players begin as tiny aspects of my imagination, background characters in fleeting daydreams, who journey through the Mindscape with the intention of becoming greater dreams. Their adventures as they travel would subtly affect the surrounding world. If they tell a happier story, it becomes more of a bubblegum wishes and candyfloss dreams kind of world. If they choose to walk through the darker aspects of the Subconscious, it becomes a much creepier world.
And furthermore, there are no set stats. People won't have a certain number of points to place into a certain list of traits. Instead, they will place their points into whatever traits their minds can come up with. Instead of rolling Intelligence + Politics to see if the Jack-in-the-Box Knights from the Roadapple Kingdom are secretly in league with Dr. Destructo from my adolescent superhero fantasies, they might roll Moxie + Whodunnit. If they had thought to put points into those skills. But once again, there is no set list of traits. The player must make them up. Maybe they want dots in Dramatic Back-lighting, or Disco, or Marmoset Grooming. That's not only acceptable, but encouraged. The other rules of the game will be similarly loose. The reason for this is the reason behind the entire game. The whole point is a creativity excercise. Too many people that I game with do the things they do because they think that's what they're supposed to do. Well, not this game buddy. Moving successfully through my world will come from being able to think on one's feet, get into the paradigm, and use the limits of the idea to create story. Certain things in dreams happen just because you KNOW that they must happen. Sometimes no matter how badly you want to outrun that unspeakably nasty thing chasing you, you can still only run in slow-motion, hearing it get closer all the time. Sometimes you can feel the wind whipping off your face in a flying dream, or smell the stew boiling in the witch's kitchen. Say you're stuck in a daydream about a tea-party with thirteen clowns that taste like lemons (you don't how you know that, but you do know it is true). Instead of doing what so many do, and whipping out pipe-bombs or showering them with the merciless wrath of automatic weapons fire, maybe instead you dance along with them, sit and enjoy an evening of fine conversation, and sated by the good company, you are then allowed passage into the next scene. Or maybe you and the rest of the party perform a play for the clowns, or whatever you decide to do, but that's the point. It's all about the creativity.
I call it Free Association Theatre. Please, write a comment about this, I would like other people's feedback on this.
And furthermore, there are no set stats. People won't have a certain number of points to place into a certain list of traits. Instead, they will place their points into whatever traits their minds can come up with. Instead of rolling Intelligence + Politics to see if the Jack-in-the-Box Knights from the Roadapple Kingdom are secretly in league with Dr. Destructo from my adolescent superhero fantasies, they might roll Moxie + Whodunnit. If they had thought to put points into those skills. But once again, there is no set list of traits. The player must make them up. Maybe they want dots in Dramatic Back-lighting, or Disco, or Marmoset Grooming. That's not only acceptable, but encouraged. The other rules of the game will be similarly loose. The reason for this is the reason behind the entire game. The whole point is a creativity excercise. Too many people that I game with do the things they do because they think that's what they're supposed to do. Well, not this game buddy. Moving successfully through my world will come from being able to think on one's feet, get into the paradigm, and use the limits of the idea to create story. Certain things in dreams happen just because you KNOW that they must happen. Sometimes no matter how badly you want to outrun that unspeakably nasty thing chasing you, you can still only run in slow-motion, hearing it get closer all the time. Sometimes you can feel the wind whipping off your face in a flying dream, or smell the stew boiling in the witch's kitchen. Say you're stuck in a daydream about a tea-party with thirteen clowns that taste like lemons (you don't how you know that, but you do know it is true). Instead of doing what so many do, and whipping out pipe-bombs or showering them with the merciless wrath of automatic weapons fire, maybe instead you dance along with them, sit and enjoy an evening of fine conversation, and sated by the good company, you are then allowed passage into the next scene. Or maybe you and the rest of the party perform a play for the clowns, or whatever you decide to do, but that's the point. It's all about the creativity.
I call it Free Association Theatre. Please, write a comment about this, I would like other people's feedback on this.