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Spitballing ideas

A topic by Lari Assmuth created Aug 24, 2019 Views: 704 Replies: 17
Viewing posts 1 to 12
Submitted(+3)

I love the idea for this jam, and I think it’ll be especially useful for someone like me, who has a tendency to (over)complicate their designs.

That said, I’d love to hear about what kind of ideas people are kicking about for this as a way to get my brain in gear.

At the moment, I’m leaning towards some kind of game where characters are fictionally the kind of people who do one thing, but the move covers something that isn’t that thing. Like... everyone is a swordfighter, but the move is about talking/opening up to people, or something like that. If that makes any sense.

Anyway, I’d love to hear what kinds of ideas people are having if y’all feel like sharing.

Submitted(+1)

I'm currently thinking about a move that covers multiple distinct circumstances. The move stand against the tide in yet-unreleased Under Hollow Hills by the Bakers really seems to capture that energy, where it's versatile and incredibly metaphorically powerful.

Submitted

I'm thinking about doing game about cowhands where the one move is 'tend the cows' (or something). Complications and drama can spin-off from what happens while you tend the cows, but the cows are the main focus of the characters.

Submitted(+2)

this is pretty goofy but I had a dream, idk when but it was way before I knew about this jam. but in the dream there was a PBTA game where the only move was "Fight all the gods at once" - so that's what I'm making my game. That name the fact that it's PBTA was all I remember from the dream so its interesting trying to wrap a mechanic around that idea

HostSubmitted(+1)

I love it when game design comes to you in dreams! I've got a game I'm designing right now (not got this jam) that started in a dream.

Submitted

yeah! i had a single file that was mostly empty that said "one move PBTA game, probably unplayable" which I can now safely say, is beginning to look somewhat playable.

Submitted(+1)

I really like all the ones so far, and had a chuckle at the dream move about fighting gods!

Also thought of a game about street level crime where the only move is ”fronting”, some kind of variation on going aggro.

(1 edit)

I love this discussion. I'm from Brazil, so sorry for any bad english...

Last year I was playing with some dice probabilities and came up with a mechanic based on PbtA but without the fixed two D6 roll. Every player gets a dice pool, and they use it as a resource, much like the strings from Monsterhearts. So players spend their dice to make a roll, but the results can save them or earn more dice, and that's how the pool is replenished. So if you want to save your pool, or just don't care about that roll, you roll 1 die trying to hit a 6, just to get a mixed result. If you really need to get a high result, you can roll 3 dice so your chances of getting a 10+ result is better.

I created a game (in portuguese) about pirates, actually more about the ship with expendable characters, using that mechanic. The whole dice exchange thing seemed amazing as a meta barter mechanic... so pirates. But it came up overly complex. So last month there was a jam for games in portuguese and I revamped every other aspect of that pirate game but the mechanics, and started writing a space game. But then other work came into the picture and there wasn't enough time to finish it.

Now I'm thinking about revamping it again, adapting it to have a single move mechanic laid out on the character's sheet, no GM (the dice would swap between player's hands the whole game), and keep the space theme and art I did for that almost-to-be game. Sounds fun, and totally doable in this time frame.

Submitted

That idea really resonates with me, Encho. I had a similar idea about a WWII submarine crew where you could basically choose to roll 1–5 dice, and you needed fives or sixes to succeed, but every 1–3 rolled gave you stress. So you’d have this risk/reward thing going on where you could push yourself but then run the risk of accumulating a lot of stress and snapping. Didn’t get around to finishing it but that kind of mechanic speaks to me. Having it be a communal pool is even better! :-)

(+1)

(Like Encho, I'm also Brazilian, and my English is no good, so I'm sorry about that. I'm using Google Translate to communicate.)

The first idea I had when reading about this jam stuck in my mind, so I'll probably stick with it. It's pretty silly, but maybe it can result in fun scenes.

Basically, it's a game about platonic loves. The only move would be "Don't be pathetic!" or something like that. It's a little game about those kind of cool people who turn into complete failure in the presence of the person they love. :)

Submitted(+1)

That sounds fun! Looking forward to seeing it.

Submitted

So I was playing this really simple card game today with my kid, it’s called “Stress” in Swedish, I think it’s similar to a game called “Speed” in English. The aim of the game is to get rid of your hand as quickly as possible and you play the cards at the same time, without taking turns. I was thinking that you could maybe use a simplified version of that mechanic for a resolution system, to model something like a duel with rapiers or witty repartee or something in that vein. So maybe I’ll do a game about 18th century duelists using cards instead of dice? Unless you think it’s too out there. I think I can get the fail/partial success/full success bands dialed in, hopefully.

HostSubmitted

This sounds like such an evocative mechanic, is love to see how it plays out. Do you see it being a PvP kind of move, where each player has a success condition that's in convention with the other?

Submitted

Just published my entry. I wrote a really generic move, "Do the Arts", to perform acts of magic. Instead of giving playbooks stats, I gave them assests or possessions -like a workshop, or a group of followers- which they can risk losing (for a +1). One of those assets is their own life, so in a way, PCs can only really die if the players put character's lives at stake.

HostSubmitted

Very cool! I'll gave to check it out. I love personal stakes setting like this

Submitted

(another brazilian writer right here, so... sorry about the "bad english")

I'm "rescuing" an old idea, started in another game jam last year. It's a game about Androids, and their relactions with the humans who owns them.

This is a unfair relationship: humans are toxic and abusive masters, imprisoning this artificial lifeforms on heavy laws and programming.  Players will put themselves in both points of view in this GM-less, minimal storygame - to make stories about the liberation of the droids (as it seems on the name of the move, "Being... Alive").

This is a game of social science fiction, freedom and empathy. To all the fans of Blade Runner, Detroit: Become Human, Ghost in the Shell and another good cyberpunk stories. It's not about action, by the way; "heartwarming" is the keyword.

Submitted

The Move I'm thinking of revolves around summoning a deity for help and insight. There's a back-and-forth of questions to determine how likely you'll get the results you need - a bit akin to the BitD engagement roll. The main twist is that whatever you roll, whoever you tried to contact WILL appear. 

I wanted to add a bit of setting behind that - maybe define a crisis, a polytheistic culture... But there's no way I'll have time for that. So it'll probably be setting agnostic.

The idea started out as a move I've drafted for a MASKS! hack I'm working on (touchstones : Scion, American Gods, The Defenders) so I hope it'll let me test that move by itself !! :)

Jam HostSubmitted

Hello all! This is Meguey and I love everything about this thread! 

I'm neck-deep in Under Hollow Hills prep, and LARP Club started at the school today, so I'm mostly just a very enthusiastic by-stander in this jam. Thanks for being here!