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| City of Ghosts cover image by Jef Cox |
Core Principles
The game is about exploration and interaction with a fictional world that emerges in the shared imagination of its players: while maps, character sheets and other audio-visual cues all contribute to the construction of this world, the “core mechanic” is dialogue
Mostly this dialogue occurs between the GM and the other players, but OOC (out of character) discussion between players is actively encouraged.
Dramatic role play is appreciated but is not essential to play the game: 3rd person description is equally valid
To paraphrase Frank Menzer: Pariah is a game that is FUN! However player safety is paramount and we will work together to establish the lines and veils defining the boundaries to that fun
This does not absolve character(s) from consequence! It is assumed that a big part of the fun is witnessing the consequences of character actions play out in the game world, both positive and negative
The weekly, one hour voice chat games focus on exploration of the apparently abandoned Neolithic *City of Ghosts*, an expedition and will aim to return to camp by the end of the session, though sometimes the party will be unable to do so…
in the latter case, the following session will pick up where the last left off, with changes to the PC roster handwaved…
If PCs return to camp at the end of the session it is assumed “in-world” time between expeditions passes at the same rate as real world time between sessions
Players can have pariahs carry out downtime activities between expeditions: this will be done in text chat between sessions, if desired
Player-facing mechanics are taken from pariah vol 1 with some modifications, as outlined below
Lines & Veils
In the past I’ve stated that I prefer to run a PG-13 game: while running a game of Heart: The City Beneath I reflected on that statement, and think it’s probably truer to say that my games have a “15” certificate in that there is likely to be strong language, risky behaviour, violence (though not extreme injury detail) and strong themes of threat & horror
Within that context, I offer the following lines and veils as starting points and invite players to add to this. I encourage players to do this via private message if anonymity is preferred.
LINE: sexual assault
VEIL: violence against children (not expected to be a feature of the game)
VEIL: extreme injury detail (horrible injuries might occur, but we need not dwell on it)
VEIL: sex “scenes” will fade to black, if they occur (not expected to be a feature of the game, this is basically a dungeon crawl but who knows)
Player facing rules
Players generate characters using PARIAH volume 1, with the following amendments:
Attribute modifiers are reduced as follows:
3-5: -1
6-15: -
16-17: +1
18: +2
The previous DC/target number system for skill/attribute checks is jettisoned: I’ll probably start off flitting between D20 saving throws and a World of Dungeons-esque 2d6 #
Outside of the voice sessions the downtime/community building aspect can be explored in text chat: this area represents a WIP and I’m interested in what the players want to contribute to this.
Player Quorum
I’m happy to play games 1-1, especially if the player is running multiple characters, but I think it’s important to allow players to opt out of this without any consequences if they’d prefer not to be the only one running a PC.Regarding maximum number of players… I’m not sure. I’ve run fairly large face-to-face games before but I’m not so happy to do this online, as the inter-player conversation really suffers: it can turn into a host of players communicating with each other through the GM. But for now I’m not setting a top limit on it, I’m just keen to get as many people on board as possible!
Miscellany
First session is next Friday (15th December), I'll aim to get a report up before the following session. I'm quite keen to discuss the meta-elements of running the game in this series of posts: this is a first for me in a number of ways and I'm looking forward to sharing the discoveries made along the way.Links
Pat Eyler's Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/mountainfoot/posts
are you running games via discord? would love to be able to playtest if it's feasible with timezones etc
ReplyDeleteI tried a lunchtime (UTC 1200) session but it was very poorly attended and it proved impossible to get any momentum going. The nature of these things is that you need a large group to make drop-ins viable, and perhaps a little more drama than I was providing.
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