Here’s the alpha of Love Over Gold that I wrote last week, inspired by some “movies” of the Uncharted video game…

Here’s the alpha of Love Over Gold that I wrote last week, inspired by some “movies” of the Uncharted video game…

Here’s the alpha of Love Over Gold that I wrote last week, inspired by some “movies” of the Uncharted video game series that Christian Griffen posted links to. It’s a game of modern treasure hunting inspired by Uncharted, Tomb Raider, Three Kings, Indiana Jones, National Treasure, Into the Blue, etc.

We playtested it this weekend and it needs some tweaks, but there are few interesting things about it that I wanted to share with other AW-based designers.

1. Fixed characters, ala Lady Blackbird, but with open-ended Hx/Bonds things that create triangles.

2. Core moves are halfway between AW and WoDu. There’s one core move for rolling, but then it’s adapted for different purposes by the “stipulations” you make, which are very much like picking things off lists in AW or games with multiple core moves.

3. Question moves and action moves are unified. Two sides of the same coin. The exact questions and stipulations need some tweaking, but the concept works, I think.

4. A “module/adventure” is just a bunch of random documents that the players have to sort through and interpret to determine what to do next. Players pick where and what the next scene is about, then the GM describes it.

5. Mysteries are thus sandboxes, not pre-determined things you uncover, and the surprising stuff you find along the way is generated by drawing scraps of paper with interesting imagery written on them, ala Sign in Stranger and Roguish. Need to tighten this up a bit, but I mostly love it.

6. Harm is an interesting but pretty loose thing right now. The ideas will probably stick around, but the principles need tightening a bit.

In any event, hope it’s thought-provoking at least. Not sure when I’ll have a chance to revise and update it following the initial playtest but hopefully soon.

http://corvidsun.files.wordpress.com/2013/06/loveovergold_draft-062913.pdf

9 thoughts on “Here’s the alpha of Love Over Gold that I wrote last week, inspired by some “movies” of the Uncharted video game…”

  1. No. 5 there was definitely one of my favorite things about it as well. One could maybe have a couple of different piles (everyone makes 2 artifacts, 2 locations, 2 events, etc.), but I don’t know if that would be worthwhile. It seems like you managed to incorporate everything just fine on the fly.

  2. I already gave Jonathan Walton my playtesting notes. But sufficed to say this game has legs. And there’s a lot (good) to learn from the design work he has already done.

    The love triangle between the characters is similar (but much tighter) than Lady Blackbird. And as a result, it propels the gameplay above and beyond the normal action/shoot-em-up story.

  3. Christian Griffen Yeah, I’m thinking about multiple piles too. Not sure exactly what yet. Also thinking about how you add images to the piles during or between sessions. So, if you’re looking for a specific thing, you’ll eventually find it — though maybe not where you expected.

  4. I remember an interesting pacing mechanic I saw for D&D/DW/DCC where the GM makes a list of 10-12 things, that get more important/closer to the end as the numbers go up. 

    When it’s time to encounter something new or switch scenes, the GM rolls d6, crosses out what is there and uses it for the scene. This ensures that the endgame locations eventually gets used, but not until at least 1/2 way through the game.

    Does that make sense? Or did I butcher the description too much? 🙂

  5. Makes sense to me, Chris Bennett.

    One broader change I’m thinking about: it’s possible that you can just “do” stipulations up to your STAT and only have to roll for each stipulation beyond that. This would let you, for example, parkour across a few gaps and obstacles, but then roll for a big jump or something when you use Traverse. Would work similarly for Infiltrate and other things. I think it would make things more free-flowing. Yeah, you can shoot 3 dudes without thinking about it, but what if there’s 6 of them?

  6. That’s fine, Jonathan. Just remember that it will up the ante for the fiction. No more “this looks a little risky” or “one diver swimming towards you”. As long as you are fine with ratcheting up the danger, seems cool to me.

  7. Yup, totally, but the danger was fairly tame in our session, so having an excuse to ratchet it up (especially if I provide better means to do that) should be a-ok.

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