Perversions of Game Design
1. Having read Steve Kenson's blog, where he's enthusiastic about narrative cards as an rpg play element (eg. Torg's Drama Cards, Marvel Saga's FATE Deck, the new Gamma World's Alpha Mutations and Omega Tech), I wonder if my Fudge Rifts rules, which continue to evolve even though I've only actually run one session, would benefit from rules that would allow random objects from my toy & game collection (or my overall collection of nifty but nigh-useless things, a designation from which my comicbooks are not exempt) to become story elements. Let's say I had an Odds Box into which I had, pre-game, placed an assortment of pictures, trading cards, figurines, lapel buttons and/or index cards with non sequiturs written on them; said assortment being chosen solely because they match the theme of the game scenario to be played; then, once per scene, say, I draw one out and it can be used by the players to their advantage (if they pay fudge points from their pool and explain how it enters the story) to their disadvantage (in order to gain fudge points for the added challenge) or, if not by them, then the villains may use it (again, giving the players fudge points for an added challenge) or it can just hang there, making the players wonder if the villains are suddenly going to work it in somehow. In Icons terms, it's an Aspect that anyone can tag. If an Odd is used in such a manner that it enters play and then leaves play before the scene ends, (eg. instant spell effects, or a weapon that gets destroyed) then a new Odd is drawn and hung out as a potential story element.
Sample non sequitur for a silly dark future game: "Cannibal Sorority Girls Want to Eat your Brain". Sure, they could be enemies, or contacts you call on the phone from a safe distance, or it's a code phrase for something else. Maybe it's just a bizarre classified ad that acts as a clue to a conspiracy.
1. That one session of Fudge Rifts that I ran? I reworked it into a more elaborate story form and posted it on Facebook, hoping to impress The Girl. (No such luck, but it was worth a try.) You're welcome to a copy of the file if you're interested.
Sample non sequitur for a silly dark future game: "Cannibal Sorority Girls Want to Eat your Brain". Sure, they could be enemies, or contacts you call on the phone from a safe distance, or it's a code phrase for something else. Maybe it's just a bizarre classified ad that acts as a clue to a conspiracy.
1. That one session of Fudge Rifts that I ran? I reworked it into a more elaborate story form and posted it on Facebook, hoping to impress The Girl. (No such luck, but it was worth a try.) You're welcome to a copy of the file if you're interested.