Memory and Ideas as a twist on inventory, yes. Although I am unsure whether Items also impact Memory or not.
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Cave Goons's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Vote for your favorite | #25 | 3.846 | 3.846 |
Ranked from 13 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Comments
I snagged this without reading the description first and my brain expected neolithic stuff - then was pleasantly surprised to find that I could use this game to mimic coffee house discussions or as a subsystem for factional stuff in other games (turning agents, convincing a patron to take you on as a client, etc).
The list of items and ideas is pretty kitbashable too!
I'd love to see a revised edition maybe with some altered layout for the top half, especially around the Disheartening Actions / Setting Ideas flow. And I think this could have a really great character sheet!
Submitted
Canal GoonsWow! I'm super impressed how literally swapping a few phrases from the Tunnel Goons rules somehow changes the entire focus and flavor of the game. And into something I feel more personally invested in, as a player and a DM. (It's the first jam entry that I actually want to run for TRPG newbies who have philosophy backgrounds.)
I like the implied caveat -- that the Action Rolls are not a test of the Player Characters' beliefs/philosophies/ideologies, so much as their ability to win over hearts and minds.
Some actions seem intuitive enough:
- detective work = Explorer + Logical deduction + Pen & Paper
as opposed to...
- forensic science = Philosopher + Empiricism + Pen & Paper
And others actually help to make useful rhetorical distinctions:
- proselytizing = Cultist + Religious Faith + (Holy) Book
vs.
- evangelization = Philosopher + Religious Faith + (Holy) Book
That said, it feels like some of the Ideas are conceptually tied to specific Classes, which goes against the spirit of the original rules.
For instance, I'm not entirely sure how Solipsism can benefit a Cultist roll unless perhaps the PC is a LaVeyan Satanist.
Likewise, if a player choose Falsifiability as an Epistemic Principle, can that be used with an Explorer roll while hunting a Dire Black Swan? (Especially if the other party members are convinced that it's a hoax, and we're on a wild goose chase.)
Suggested alternate Settings:
- Agora
- literal Desert of the Real
Suggested alternate play modes:
- Cartesian rules - roll under the DS for the action to succeed (calculate damage based on the difference)
- Buddhist rules - losing all Certainty is the win condition
Suggested Items:
- Map (for illustrating semiotics, among other things)
- Pocket watch (mechanical)
- Armillary sphere
Suggested encounters:
- Laplace's Demon (DS12 with resistance to Explorer actions and Empiricism)
- Descartes' Demon (DS10 with resistance to Philosopher actions)
- Neo-Zarathustra (DS10 with resistance to Cultist actions; will eternally recur at DS10 after being defeated unless all party members climb the rope of self-mastery above its abyss)
- Anti-Oedipus (DS8) + Bodies Without Organs as minions (singular formless rhizome but represented as a variety of discrete oozes/jellies/gelatinous blobs for mechanics; DS6 per cellular element)
Submitted
Goon FighterI'm so glad!! Haha, it's nice to know there are other philosophy friends out there :^). Thank you so much, and I love all of your suggestions! The wild swan chase has given me a stupidly wide grin, and all your example scenarios are brilliant! I think your comment that not all the ideas are universally useful too is very insightful, and not something I had considered very much - do you think the "problem children" like solipsism would be better off replaced by more widely applicable ideas?
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