Toying with a You are Mad Scientists game inspired by Girl Genius and whatnot. Players take on the role of mad geniuses with the Spark of Creation, seeking to impose their will upon a world threatened by the excesses of mad science. Will you be a bulwark against chaos and war, or the visionary who gives civilization that final push into the darkness? A scientist seeking ways to new worlds or a conqueror bent on subjugating the dim masses under their enlightened rule? Will you serve, or be served?
I'm using some unholy amalgamation of the RTD rules and Blades in the Dark's system for this. This is still a bit under construction, but anyway. The RTD system is perfect for the volatile and dangerous nature of Mad Science! - indeed, I ran an RTD on that same premise way back in 2010 here. Without going into the specifics, the system leans towards success in actions, usually a success with consequences. Mad Science! is not a clean and reliable method, after all. Your inventions and unholy creations are largely abstracted, governed by their Potency and their Tags - descriptors which help me adjudicate actions when relevant. You could have the Tag of Fire for your scorch gun and have greater effect when burning down a wooden clockwork army, for example. They're just there to help, and I might play in any logical effects from your inventions even if they're not represented by a defined Tag, too. Living creations additionally have a Loyalty and Intellect stat.
Based on their creation, inventions may also get various Quirks and Flaws, so they may not end up just as you intended them. Your death ray might become a death sword instead, or your coal-chugging monstrosity ends up powered by thoughts. The Overshot result inherent to the RTD system ensures that things can go horribly right, as well - perhaps you conjure up a doom machine to destroy a rude small town, but it becomes powerful enough to destroy the entire valley instead! Or maybe your new robotic servant proves so intelligent it takes over your lab and completely supplants you!
Your Genius gets a few traits in character creation: Strong Spark, increasing Potency across the board, Radiant Spark, helping you gain minions and increasing Loyalty, Volatile Spark, making the Flaws of your creations even worse, Unique Spark, ensuring your creations cannot be replicated or mass produced, and so forth.
The setting is our own, but with a point of divergence somewhere in the 1600s - resulting in a much changed world by the game's time of the 1800s. It's not quite as broken and dangerous as the one in Girl Genius, mind, with plenty of old states still recognizable and existing... for now, at least. Powerful states offer a new Genius funding, materials and support, so there's plenty of incentive to go into their service... but, then again, don't you deserve a mad empire of your own that'll finally show those fools at the university the true heights of your genius? And they called you mad! Mad!
Thoughts, interest?
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Topic: Gaming Block (Game Discussion Thread) (Totally Not Roller's Block) (Read 417296 times)