jake comments about me on his blog!

i honestly had nothing else to talk about… im sorry i wasted your time.

sleeping city (working title) power 19

here is my new work in progress to the power 19…enjoy!

1.) What is your game about? Sleeping city is an rpg about a world similar to our own where the right to dream is owned by a corporation. everyone is connected to each other through dreams much like we are through the internet. because dreams are something that can be controlled, for a small fee you can choose what you dream about whether its going on a romantic date with the boy/girl of your dreams or getting to be with your favorite dead relative anything is possible through the science of sleep. but of course much like a computer your dreams can be hacked! turning your good dreams into nightmares by ruining your perfect date or finding out that your favorite uncle is a murderer and now he’s out for you! these hackers could even make dreams where you kill yourself or even someone else. as long as your dreaming you venerable!
 

2.) What do the characters do? there is a special police force known as the s.t.u or subconscious terrorism unit. as police there duty is to arrest hackers who commit crimes by using peoples dreams to do there dirty work. 3.) What do the players (including the GM if there is one) do? they will play the s.t.u officers. as s.t.u’s they will be charged to investigate and arrest any hackers along with the over all protection of dream world. because of the nature of there job s.t.u officers have to be under constant mental surveillance seeing as how they are constantly going in and out between the real and dream world the two slowly merge together. because of this most s.t.u officers will either committing suicide or end up in a mental institution by the age of 35.

4.) How does your setting (or lack thereof) reinforce what your game is about? its a very near future setting where everything is pretty much the same, and this helps reinforce the game because everyone knows the insanities of everyday life and would love the idea of being able to go to sleep dreaming about whatever you want, because everyone loves dream control so much the government is afraid to get rid of it.

5.) How does the Character Creation of your game reinforce what your game is about? character creation is still a work in progress but a key part of character creation will be deciding how close your character is from cracking under the stress of the job.

6.) What types of behaviors/styles of play does your game reward (and punish if necessary)? my playing style has always been very light hearted that is why my goal here is to create a hard core cop drama/science fiction. this gives me a chance to try and create something i enjoy even know it is not a style of play i am usually into.

7.) How are behaviors and styles of play rewarded or punished in your game? i would like players to take a serious role in this but of course have  wild imagination so they may add to the dream world. im not sure what i could “reward” for good behavior or styles… tough question. any advice?

8.) How are the responsibilities of narration and credibility divided in your game? the game is technically GMless, everyone shares narration but some have more pull over the story than others will.

9.) What does your game do to command the players’ attention, engagement, and participation? (i.e. What does the game do to make them care?) the game goes in and out between the 2 worlds in the real world you will have all the excitement of an awesome cop drama! and in the dream world you have all the excitement of doing whatever the fuck you want… it would keep my attention…

10.) What are the resolution mechanics of your game like? aahhh…. im still working on that.

11.) How do the resolution mechanics reinforce what your game is about? see number 10!

12.) Do characters in your game advance? If so, how? yes! your character advances in the way that there ability to discern reality from dream slowly disintegrates because of there constant back and forth from world to world. your character will inevitably go insane, its just a matter of when!

13.) How does the character advancement (or lack thereof) reinforce what your game is about? the stress of your work slowly destroys your mind. the game is bout playing dream cops…. im done

14.) What sort of product or effect do you want your game to produce in or for the players? i want this to be taken seriously, now of course its all fun and games but for those who like the serious/ tough situation rpg’s or at least want to try a game like that out.

15.) What areas of your game receive extra attention and color? Why? its tough to say. im not far enough into it that i could give a definite answer

16.) Which part of your game are you most excited about or interested in? Why? its the story…. i love the idea and i sooo badly want to make a game out of it

17.) Where does your game take the players that other games can’t, don’t, or won’t? i have yet to see a dtory like this before… also a question im not ready to answer yet…18.) What are your publishing goals for your game? jake and I want to do a double feature style book for our 2 new games. but as far as dates go i couldnt say

19.) Who is your target audience? i would say 15 up for age and probably a sci fi crowd…well there ya have it…. any q’s comments or anything would be cool.

sea dracula power 19!

a few weeks ago jake filled out the power 19 for sea dracula.

this is what he wrote:

“Nick and I have been working on a small card based rpg called Sea Dracula. This started as a joke, then became a project to see if we could make a game in about a week. We were pretty much able to come up with the complete game in about 48 hours, and we’ll start playtesting it before the end of the month. Our goal is to  get the project finished as soon as possible. Why the rush? Both of us want to see how fast we can do this. Will the rush hurt the finished product? I don’t think so. We won’t release a crappy or unfinished game. I think we can produce a really simple game like Sea Dracula really quickly and have it turnout well.

We started talking about the concept a few months ago, but we sat down to actually work on the game for the first time on may 29th. So now the clockis ticking…

I still don’t want to say too much about the project yet, but I thought posting the Sea Dracula Power 19 would be a fun way to hint at the kind of game we’re making.

1.) What is your game about? Strange animals with weird names (like Sea Dracula) that serve as lawyers in fierce courtroom battles!

2.) What do the characters do? The characters are lawyers that also investigate crimes and protect their city from monsters using their unnconventional dancing abilities, bribery and parties.

3.) What do the players (including the GM if there is one) do? There is no GM. Players build the case that their characters will argue in court by planting evidence and witnesses during the investigation scene. Later, players will improvise a court case using these props. Players are also required to dance.

4.) How does your setting (or lack thereof) reinforce what your game is about? The game is about having silly fun. A town full of animal lawyer that dance and fight crime helps reinforce this.

5.) How does the Character Creation of your game reinforce what your game is about? Again, the game is about silly fun. Choosing a random animal card, giving it a silly name an assigning it stats by coloring it with crayons helps reinforce this.

6.) What types of behaviors/styles of play does your game reward (and punish if necessary)? The game rewards improvisation and dancing skills.

7.) How are behaviors and styles of play rewarded or punished in your game? This is one part we’re still working on.

8.) How are the responsibilities of narration and credibility divided in your game? Everything in the game comes directly from the players, and each player is expected to contribute in every scene. The game starts with an investigation scene where the players create and introduce evidence and witnesses that will be used to shape the court case later on. During the Court scene players can interpret the evidence as they see fit, and assign the rolls of different witnesses to different players. PLayers can break the court scene and frame a new scene by asking the judge for a recess (new scenes can either be a boss fight or a party).

9.) What does your game do to command the players’ attention, engagement, and participation? (i.e. What does the game do to make them care?) The game is broken up into three phases (Investigation, Courtroom, After Party) that play very, very quickly. Each phase is improvised within certain guidlines using information established in the previous scene. We think that this makes for engaging play, but we’ll need playtesting to be sure. If the improvision doesn’t work, the crayons and dancing should hold players attention.

10.) What are the resolution mechanics of your game like? A conflict only happens when one player objects to the action of another. If the player whose action was objected to insists on making that action part of the game, then he must suffer the Sea Dracula conflict resolution rules. The player draws a dance card from the deck and dances the dance illustrated on the card. Some cards have further instructions for special situations. A dance must be danced to the satisfaction of the player who objected to the action. If the objectionable player is satisfied then the action is a success.

11.) How do the resolution mechanics reinforce what your game is about? The game is about being silly. The resolution mechanics are silly.

12.) Do characters in your game advance? If so, how? Lawyers gain “lawyer points” which can be spent on new dance moves.

13.) How does the character advancement (or lack thereof) reinforce what your game is about? See answers to similar questions.

14.) What sort of product or effect do you want your game to produce in or for the players? We want Sea Dracula to be a fun, short experience that players can enjoy with their hot geek girlfriends.

15.) What areas of your game receive extra attention and color? Why? The dancing gets a bit of extra attention. We wanted a conflict resolution tool that was both silly and unique. I was also challenged to make a game with dancing.

16.) Which part of your game are you most excited about or interested in? Why? The dancing and the coloring. Crayons come packed in the box!

17.) Where does your game take the players that other games can’t, don’t, or won’t? I don’t think any other game takes player to a magical city full of dancing animal lawyers. Wait, isn’t that what “Agon” is about?

18.) What are your publishing goals for your game? Cheap cardboard box of 50 black and white cards plus 4 reastaurant-kids-menu-style crayons.

19.) Who is your target audience? I don’t know. I also don’t care.

There. I’m sure that was more confusing then informatve.”

Jake

the 4th

hey everybody happy 4th of july! “woohoo a vampire and an explosion!” if you dont know what thats from i feel sorry for you…

holy handjob batman!

that’s right panty explosion shirts! when Jake showed them to me i almost cried…        heres the sexy link!

I’m gonna get this one:

go play NW!

so i got back from go play nw about a week ago and i think i can truly say it was one of the best expieriences of my life. between the amazing people and the great games there wasn’t a moment when i felt left out or unwelcome.

Saturday: my first day started with Perfect (Joe McDonald) which Joe ran for us. im just going to come out and say it…joe is the shit he’s a complete badass, between his games which amlost feel like a performing art and his overall personality there is no way you could resist his total awesomeness. Perfect is a game about a  fictional victorian sociaty that has stricked laws that even wearing the wrong color could get you killed or brainwashed, and you play a member of this society who doesnt follow the rules. besides the great premise joe does an amazing job GMing his game, he put it upon him self to make perfect an amazing experience by pacing around the table and adding so much emotion to all his characters that it makes you forget the others around you and focus intirely on role playing.

After playing Perfect i didnt think i could find a game that could be half of what it was… then i played Kin (kirk mitchell)… kin is the game of family drama and holy shit did are group do that well, everyone played passionately and no one was left in the dark. having met kirk earlier that day i had no problem getting into the game and playing my character. thanks kirk it was tons of fun!

later that night joe had asked me and jake to play another one of his games called cheap… i can’t tell you about it but i think it was the best game i played the whole time… thanks joe….portland i.e. jake and I love you!

coming soon! what happened to nick on sunday! did sea dracula kill!? did he not get breakfast!? was the woman at the cash register hot!? found out next time i post on! HIDING IN THE SHADOWS OF GIANTS!

my crusade

for those of you who dont know me the names Nick Smith. I live in Portland, Oregon. im a student and i write indie game…

I have co-wrote/created: classroom deathmatch and sea dracula with Jake Richmond.

I also have a few solo projects that are still a work in progress: project C.H.A.I.R., Fiction 1942 and ghost town lyena are just a few of them…

as a indie game designer i know what its like to be overshadowed by a larger more impressive designer. as a single person there isn’t much that can be done to prevent this, but as a community we indie game designers/players i.e. Jake Richmond, Matt schlotte, joe McDonald, kirk Mitchell, John Harper, Travis Brown, Clinton R. Nixon, Tony Dowler, Vincent Baker, Jason Morningstar and so, so many more are rising up in the gaming community and taking the credit and role we rightfully deserve.

the focus of this blog will be on my adventures as a indie designer, going to cons, playtesting games, hanging out with other designers, really just having fun and watching are community grow as are role playing games and story games become more and more mainstream and the “next big thing”