Originally shared by David Rothfeder
So I finished my 24 hour rpg challenge with about an hour to spare and a whopping 9,641 word count. I like the game I wrote (given the limited time available to edit and test), but I don’t think it will be popular with the RPGgeek community. Why, because it is a not a happy game about exciting things. It’s about mundane and yet troubling/depressing problems that student face. Take that fun! In any case, I used a lot of the AW framework, but tried some new things. You can take a look at it here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B511-yaR3CdxN1dPb1FpVDA2T2s/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B511-yaR3CdxN1dPb1FpVDA2T2s/view?usp=sharing
What’d you discover mechanically about Hope?
In the writing process? I’m not sure. My main goal was to make a play experience that felt like how some students get caught under these terrible situations and how it triggers difficulty in school. I also wanted the game to demonstrate why kids often ignore the elements in their life that are harder for them. I haven’t playtested it, but running through some math estimates it should work out that a student who gets on a roll and can get multiple stats up has a decent chance to secure their future despite their wants, while a student who gets a lot of want triggers will likely be stuck in a cycle of losing hope. I did not intend for this to be a fun or fair set up, but hopefully an illuminating one. I think the part of the mechanic I find most interesting is how a small change to a roll (+1 or -1) has a deceptively huge effect on the probability of different outcomes. To me, that’s the lesson of the game, a seemingly small event can have a huge effect on a student in both the short and long term.