In moving forward with the idea of using Tarsos Theorem's Concept Crafting for the basis of my Mecha Gear system in Maximum Recursion Depth 2, I have run a series of "Mock Session 0 Playtests", discussing the setting, game mechanics, and character creation with people as if we were going to run a game (and in one case, it actually is going to be an ongoing IRL Campaign!).
I've been pleasantly surprised the extent to which people have responded really positively to the Playtests- it feels like I have demonstrably learned from MRD1 and have gotten better at conveying information and setting expectations, and also in game design itself. One of the playtests was with the first group I ran the earliest version of MRD1, and they said they liked the idea of MRD2 even better and were interested in playing it with me for real some time! Granted there's a sampling bias here obviously- the people who participate in the playtests are necessarily people who are at least somewhat interested in the first place, but even so.
That all said, one consistent issue I've run into, which I knew would be an issue, is that Players felt like it was difficult to come up with a Golem (the MRD2 version of Mecha) Core and three pieces of Gear, without any word lists or spark tables or whatever to jumpstart things.
I had avoided doing it, because at least for me, putting together the tables themselves seemed more difficult and daunting than just free associating on the spot, but I realize that's not viable for the game. But, of all the words in the English language and however many more outside it, how can I create a finite and manageable table? If I make not one table but several tables based on different themes, how do I decide the themes?
After discussing with the Players in my upcoming Campaign during the for-real Session 0, an idea we had was that I should create a set of tables that are Weird, and meant to evoke the kinds of Golem one might not normally consider, the kind of stuff that I most enjoy and that best reflects my own sensibilities, with maybe one or two general tables for comparison, and then point people to other sources for inspiration (such as the many spark tables in Between the Skies).
Here is my first pass at doing exactly that. Some of them might seem mundane but have unusual associated words, there will likely be some repeats across them, also I'm fairly inconsistent about part of speech- so it goes (and actually I don't think these inconsistencies are necessarily a bad thing anyway). Generators were created in part using Slight Adjustment's List to HTML Generator.
Element: Words based on traditional elements or words more unique than that but reflecting the fundamental nature of things in some way.
Distribution: Words relating to a Mecha that is not one thing but rather a distribution of things. Can be literal like a collection of smaller Mecha, gear like Gundam-style Funnels or autonomous missiles, multiple AI systems, or things weirder or more abstract like a business or organization or some kind of superorganism.
Weird: Words that are weird, abstract, psychedelic, pareidolic, dadaic, uncomfortable, grotesque, sexy, unexpected, euphoric...
Using these tables, I'll create a handful of MRD2-appropriate Golem. Players will not be expected to be limited to these tables, and can combine them freely, but for the sake of example I'll only use the words in these tables (but still combine them freely). Other than rejecting repeats, these were otherwise entirely random.
Golem 1 (Element + Weird tables)
CORE: (HEAT + LOSS)
Entropy Elancer
Ballerina Golem, bands of heat and dissolution stream behind its steps. A component of a yet to be written opera of the story of the universe from beginning to end in the form of a dream or psychotic break like one's life passing before their eyes in their final spark of awareness before death.
GEAR1: (LIGHT + DREAM)
Phosphene Slippers
Entropy Elancer darts between physical spacetime and Tehom like a myoclonic jerk in the moment between consciousness and sleep, creating its liminal stage. The phosphenes it produces are like spotlights, and so long as the show goes on, that which is not in the spotlights fades out of conscious awareness.
GEAR2: (MUSIC + DEATH)
Discordant Curtain
When Entropy Elancer or its Nazarite near their destruction, the Discordant Curtain falls for Curtain Call, veiling them momentarily behind death in the form of an eerie tone. But fret not! They will return for a final bow, and perhaps even an encore. Of course, by then much of the audience will have already filed out.
GEAR3: (TIME + PSYCHEDELIA)
Tessellating Zoetrope
Entropy Elancer pirouettes counterclockwise, like a gear, turning the Tessellating Zoetrope existing just outside of time. The animatics of the Zoetrope are profound, but only to the extent they are catered to their audience.
Golem 2 (Distribution + Weird tables)
CORE: (WOLF + BLOOD)
Lycaon Strain
Disembodied circulatory system of a mutant wolf pack of Tehom like an elastic wire mesh network of monstrous beasts sliding and undulating and spurting.
GEAR1: (PACK + CYBORG)
Coagulant Gland
Injects a hormone into the Lycaon Strain, creating steel-hard Lycaon Skins of coagulated blood. The Lycaon Skins are genetically encoded with simple instructions, but otherwise act autonomously from the Lycaon Strain, and have a finite lifespan before drying out entirely.
GEAR2: (COMBINATION + SEX)
Eldritch Incubator
A sub-strain nested inside the Lycaon Strain, where sexual materials are injected to rapidly incubate a litter of Lycaon Spawn. The Lycaon Spawn are more powerful than the Lycaon Skins of the Coagulant Gland and can survive independently. However, they are more prone to unintended mutation, require more time and energy to produce, and will turn hostile before inevitably running off.
GEAR3: (COMPANY + SURREAL)
Lycaon LLC Certificate of Status
Encoded in the Lycaon Strain is a sub-organism that is both the legal document certifying the existence of the Lycaon LLC (an otherwise undocumented and unknown corporation), and the mechanism of a howl-like fear response propagation system that serves to propagate the will of the corporation in others as a memetic thought virus.
Golem 3 (Element + Distribution tables)
CORE: (COLD + GOVERNMENT)
Hibernating Hyberia
Cold-storage encryption superorganism of the prehistoric civilization Hyberia, preserved at its peak just before stagnation and eventual societal ego-death (ascension?). Hibernating Hyberia takes the form of anomalous market trends, commodities futures, and doomsday cults. Although some astute observers may perceive around its edges, only its Nazarite (or more accurately, their Shamir) can effectively conceive of it and compel it, serving like a Head of State.
GEAR1: (NULL + TRADE)
Knights of Solomon Nuclear Football
A Nuclear Football that can be used to activate the collection of sleeper agents; bureaucrats, spies, soldiers, mecha pilots, and all sorts across the world and Tehom who unwittingly serve Hibernating Hyberia. They sabotage trade routes and information networks, perpetrate insider trading, engage in piracy, or whatever else, to disrupt the supply chain of a given commodity as assigned by the Nazarite in short order.
GEAR2: (NEUTRAL + ECONOMY)
Shofar of the Invisible Fuchsia Fist
A shofar used to summon the Invisible Fuchsia Fist, a mythical kaiju of Tehom seeking to stamp out all economic inequality. For the short duration that the Invisible Fuchsia Fist is summoned, all laws in any society that empower the rich or suppress the poor are invalidated, and this is consciously understood by all in its presence, and so ensues the market purge.
GEAR3: (UNHOLY + MULTIPLICATION)
Twilight Talmud
A mistranslation or lossy decryption of the holy book of Hibernating Hyberia. The doomsday cult of the Twilight Talmud maintain the necromantic rituals and preparations necessary to raise corporate brands from the dead. The clever new slogans and focus tested logo redesigns can bring the brand to rapid ubiquity, but can only mask the utter lack of product or profit for so long before once again going defunct.
No comments:
Post a Comment