For this game you need 4-6 adult players, sunglasses, a nice park to play in, and sunshine. The game plays in 10-20 minutes.
One player is the stranger
The others are a group of friends
The friends must find some nice and normal names for themselves before the game start. You will all wear sunglasses, throughout the whole game. Try to be social and kind under your chosen name. You have been friends since childhood, and know eachother intimately. If any player say something about your past, then it is true. He/she will know, so trust them. You start the game by reminiscencing about your past, building characters as you go. Have fun making up relationships and mutual memories!
The stranger will use his/her real name, and try to be him/herself in the game (maybe a special version, but do not invent things about yourself). You have no sunglasses! You will sit down close to the friends, but not together with them. Move closer once, so you come within listening distance. If you hear something interesting, you may go over and talk to them. That is when the conflict of the game begins. Your goal is to make friends with some or all of these strangers, so be nice and positive. And be persistent! You need friends!
The conflict will surface when the stranger impose him/herself on the nice outing of the friends. The goal of the friends is to make this stranger go away, or to shut the f*** up, so they can continue reminiscencing. And they will be quite rude about it. No violence is allowed, of course, but you may poke the stranger in any verbal way you will. And you may be both loud and licentious! That stranger is no friend of yours!
The end comes in one of two ways:
- The stranger may end it by starting to cry (real tears, nothing less). Then the game ends immidiately. The stranger may also end the game by walking off. If the stranger walk off the game ends the very second he/she steps out of the park. Either way: the game ends with the friends as winners!
- A friend may end the game by removing his/her sunglasses, and giving the stranger his/her name (the invented one). If this occur the friend may invite the stranger to sit down with the group, or leave the group and sit down with the stranger another place in the park. Either way: the game ends with the stranger as the sole winner.
Afterhug is mandatory! It is only a game, but the stranger may still feel a bit sore afterwards, so give him/her a nice, long group-hug after the game.
Go game!
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This game was brought to you by the Norwegian gamesmith Tomas HV Mørkrid. It is posted here for you to peruse and play. Any comments will be welcome! Actual play reports even more so!
If you have any thoughts about how this may be published and sold in the US, please tell. Or if you think it inconceivable that games such as this may be bought by Americans, please tell me.
Personally I would prefer to see these microgames posted in Other Games Open. I don't think they have anything more to do with the rpg hobby than does Monopoly. Alternatively Ads/Open Promo.
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Arkat: ... the great games you long for are not found in books. They emerge through actual play, over time. The shiny new game you want to buy will not help you. Only focus, dedication, time and good players will.
Tomas, with all due respect, why is this not in Ads/Open Promo? All you're doing is announcing you have a game.
I'd also be more interested if it took more than 20 minutes and didn't play with the risk of someone ending up genuinely crying. I dislike the concept of a game in which a group of participants are encouraged to behave in a hostile and belittling fashion to another.
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Arkat: ... the great games you long for are not found in books. They emerge through actual play, over time. The shiny new game you want to buy will not help you. Only focus, dedication, time and good players will.
The old "what is a roleplaying game"-debate again?
My little roleplaying game fits here, I think. No offense meant.
Seems more like you're confused about "what is a roleplaying game", Tomas. I'm guessing you're trying to be pretty cool, but it sounds like something my teenage nephew would come up with. Now, it's a long old while since I was a teenager, but I don't necessarily mind their company. However, I really would rather cut off my own feet with a rusty saw than hang out with anyone 'cool' enough to try to 'play' something like this - however old they are. As for publishing and selling it? I think you'd be laughed at _on the way_ to market, in America or anywhere else.
I'd also be more interested if it took more than 20 minutes and didn't play with the risk of someone ending up genuinely crying. I dislike the concept of a game in which a group of participants are encouraged to behave in a hostile and belittling fashion to another.
Minor correction... As I read the OP, it's played with the intention of a player ending up genuinely crying, not merely the risk of it. I agree that this makes it rather distasteful, to put things very mildly.
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Can you see the fnews?
Points: 1 Enlightened Laugh, 1 Old School Mainframe Programming Reference
Balb: this was not placed in Ads/Promo of the simple reason that it is far more than a promo: it is a complete roleplaying game. It is a game out of the ordinary, of course, and that makes it interesting as part of a discourse on what a RPG may be and do, in the open forum. You are all discussing this thing, actually, so why are we discussing it here, in the ads/promo-forum??? The fact that it has been moved makes me sad. I hope someone can put it back where it belongs.
Quire: I'm not confused at all. This is a roleplaying game, even though you don't recognise it as such. Try to open up for other ways of viewing the world, and other ways of using the tools we invent to entertain ourselves. And Quire; it is possible to give negative feedback without being disruptive/destructive. This game is about statements like "you'd be laughed at". You are one of the "friends" in this game, Quire, pointing your finger at me, the "stranger", trying to belittle me and make me a laughingstock. Do you see it? This is the gist of the game, Quire: to explore how such mechanisms work.
Nomad: the risk that someone ends up crying is part of the game. Still; it is a game and the players have full control; any player may end the game at any time. If one player cry, then so be it. A few tears are nothing to be afraid of. It's a natural reaction to being under pressure, and this is a game on social pressure (and redemption). And he'll be with friends, actually, so he will be taken care of if the game ends with him crying (or her). It is a game for adults, of course (added to the text now), so he/she will survive. And important: I believe all players will learn something from this, on how easy it is to be a narrowminded and spiteful human. That is a useful lesson.
I believe you are a bit too nervous about the game, but your responses has been useful. Thanks and take care! :-)
(Games like these are considered role-playing games by a lot of people. And, of course, considered something entirely different by a lot of other people. That's not a debate that's ever going to end, so the mods at RPG.net will just have to put this thread wherever they want to - they have the power to define what is and isn't considered an RPG at this forum.)
But with regards to the actual game: I think people are missing out on a major point here. Since all the players know that the game can only end in one of two ways, they have to decide at some point what ending they want to go for. Do you really think every single player will want the "stranger" (who, in real life, is one of their friends) to end up crying? At some point, one of the "friends" is going to take off their sunglasses to stop this from happening - unless they know for certain that the "stranger" is comfortable going all the way into crying mode.
Quire: I'm not confused at all. This is a roleplaying game, even though you don't recognise it as such. Try to open up for other ways of viewing the world, and other ways of using the tools we invent to entertain ourselves. And Quire; it is possible to give negative feedback without being disruptive/destructive. This game is about statements like "you'd be laughed at". You are one of the "friends" in this game, Quire, pointing your finger at me, the "stranger", trying to belittle me and make me a laughingstock. Do you see it? This is the gist of the game, Quire: to explore how such mechanisms work.
Tomas, please do go ahead and publish and sell it. You'll get plenty of 'exploration' out of the process. Quite possibly too much to stomach - especially if you consider "you'd be laughed at" to be disruptive/destructive.
A game in the park (a full roleplaying game)
Linear Mode
