The Gaming Den

[Lokathor]

From the other topic about the New School Manifesto, the poster of that linked to a blog about games and how to do business with selling games. Naturally, part of this is having good ideas for games that people will spend money on. There was a contest apparently, and he talks about the winners in this post

http://yourbusinesssucks.wordpress.com/2011/12/21/brain-full-of-games-contest-winners/

One of the two grand-prize co-winners was this idea:

Trapped in a Dream (TriaD)

TriaD is a party game RPG inspired by Everyone is John and the like, but fixes the major problem with EiJ. In TriaD, everybody plays. Since seeing this picture http://i.imgur.com/DbEP9.jpg I wanted to play it.

One player is the dreamer and the others collaboratively make the environment, essentially one PC with several GMs. The protagonist is a person caught in a dream, trying to escape to consciousness. Before playing every player writes down events, thoughts, and people from their day, (at least one each) and puts them in a hat. The first ‘player’ is chosen and two others draw slips for the setting and antagonist of the scene. If the setting is Grandma, be allegorical and run with it! You’re dreaming! Other players are encouraged to draw a slip and add wrinkles, or portray things the first two introduced from theirs. The current protagonist narrates how they overcome or escape the situation, and anything straining the dream reality requires a coinflip of heads to succeed. Notable creativity is rewarded with the used slips balled up as counters that can buy re-flips. Players can give any counters they have to one another freely, eventually encouraging a cascade of reality-breaking. Play rotates until there are one or fewer slips remaining, at which point the current dreamer must overcome all undefeated antagonists. TriaD lets you play anything from Inception to David Lynch and beyond, and can be played anywhere. It’s exactly what you make it, just like your own dreams.
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A young man stands in his bedroom. It just so happens that today, the 13th of April, is this young man's birthday. Though it was thirteen years ago he was given life, it is only today he will be given a name!

[FrankTrollman]

This sounds pretty cool. Definitely a one-shot party game, along the lines of Munchhausen. I don't understand how the reflip counters are supposed to work - it seems like an unnecessary complication.

Only one player actually needs counters because only one player is the dreamer, right? So anyone getting counters just gives counters to the protagonist at some point. And while we're on the subject, if it's one player and X MCs, who the heck is actually awarding those counters anyway? The more I think about it, the less I understand why the counters exist at all. Seems like simply having the Munchhausen mechanics where players RPS against each other if they have a disagreement would be a simpler and more effective resolution system.

-Frank

[Lokathor]

I think you pass along your counters as you switch who's the active dreamer. But, the game isn't clear on when you switch who the active dreamer is.

Or, a GM could potentially add a reality-breaker against the dreamer, in which case they'd need to do a coin flip and they could use a counter then.
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A young man stands in his bedroom. It just so happens that today, the 13th of April, is this young man's birthday. Though it was thirteen years ago he was given life, it is only today he will be given a name!

[shadzar]

DALLAS already did this dream shit when they were on CBS... i doubt they will do it again when they come back on TNT this year.

i would rather play How to Host a Murder than something about a dream personally.
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Play the game, not the rules.

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Swordslinger wrote:

Or fuck it... I'm just going to get weapon specialization in my cock and whip people to death with it. Given all the enemies are total pussies, it seems like the appropriate thing to do.

Lewis Black wrote:

If the people of New Zealand want to be part of our world, I believe they should hop off their islands, and push 'em closer.

good read (Note to self Maxus sucks a barrel of cocks.)