Demiurgent Business 2024-02-04
This weekend is probably going to be a bit of a wash, so I decided to put out some stuff I put on my tumblr a few months ago. See, during my NaNo (which failed for various reasons that I want to think about at some point...), there was a 200-word RPG jam, and I ended up taking some time to strip Demiurgent Business to the barest essentials. I ended up with two versions:
Jam-version-1
Demiurgent Business
For 3+ players
Each player picks 1 [Supernatural] trait and 1 [Character] trait, then names and describes the resulting character.
Example [Supernatural] traits:
- Time-traveling
- Android
- Psychic
- Alien
Example [Character] traits:
- Honor student
- Athlete
- Slacker
- Tech whiz
The group designs the Demiurge: agree on two [Character] traits, then name and describe the resulting character.
One player starts as the Demiurge; pass the role clockwise when a new scene begins.
When a scene begins, set Gnosis to 0. The Demiurge describes the scene's goal. The other players help the Demiurge fulfill that goal.
The Demiurge describes obstacles that arise. The other players describe how their characters resolve the obstacle. For every [Character] trait involved in the resolution, decrement Gnosis to a minimum of 0. Then, for every [Supernatural] trait involved, increment Gnosis. Whenever Gnosis increases to 3, the Demiurge may make 1 mundane change to the setting. Whenever Gnosis increases to 6, the Demiurge may make 1 mundane or miraculous change to the setting. When Gnosis increases to 9, the Demiurge achieves Apotheosis; the Demiurge's current player wins. Otherwise, the scene ends when the other players determine that the goal is completed, or impossible.
Too-long-to-be-jam-version-2
Demiurgent Business
For 3+ players
Each player picks 1 [Supernatural] trait and 1 [Character] trait, then names and describes the resulting character.
Example [Supernatural] traits:
- Time-traveling
- Android
- Psychic
- Alien
Example [Character] traits:
- Honor student
- Athlete
- Slacker
- Tech whiz
The group designs the Demiurge: agree on two [Character] traits, then name and describe the resulting character.
One player starts as the Demiurge; when a new scene begins, the player who relied most on their [Supernatural] trait in the previous scene becomes the Demiurge.
When a scene begins, set Gnosis to 0. The Demiurge describes the scene's goal. The other players help the Demiurge fulfill that goal.
The Demiurge describes obstacles that arise. The other players describe how their characters resolve the obstacle. For every [Character] trait involved in the resolution, decrement Gnosis to a minimum of 0. Then, for every [Supernatural] trait involved, increment Gnosis. Whenever Gnosis increases to 3, the Demiurge may make 1 mundane change to the setting. Whenever Gnosis increases to 6, the Demiurge may make 1 mundane or miraculous change to the setting. When Gnosis increases to 9, the Demiurge achieves Apotheosis; the Demiurge's current player wins. Otherwise, the scene ends when the other players determine that the goal is completed, or impossible.
Commentary
First off, I haven't tested either version of this, so it probably has issues. In particular, there's the issues around the differences between the two versions. I made the changes because I wanted to try to make play more fast-paced and competitive, but I'm worried it could lead to a kingmaker dynamic.
Going forward, I want to try to come up with tables to roll on for [Supernatural] and [Character] traits, as well as the ability to mad-libs together a scene's goal, so that sometimes the players have to figure out what sub-goals and obstacles there may be to accomplish "Film a Website".
And once that's done, there's the possibility of putting together alternative tables for [Character] traits and goals, allowing for supplements that are somewhat analogous to Fiasco playbooks, thus allowing for scenarios like "The Demiurge is Beret Guy from xkcd, and the player characters are employees at his strange start-up."
Anyway, I'll keep that all in mind. For now, I'm actually writing this early and basically banking it against tonight. Maybe I'll add something after we travel, maybe not. We'll see.
Nah, I'm good.
Good night.