I should preface this by saying that I love the concept of stupid challenges undertaken by a group of mates. I think it's to do with the (generally) male bonding involved or something.
Anyway, my fevered brain last night channeled whatever sick muse it was listening to create in my mind's eye the Chuck Norris Memorial Hard Man (or Woman) RPG Challenge.
What this clash of the titans involves is five (lets say five) GM who all agree to run a three to four hour session over the course of a weekend away somewhere. The kicker is that these GMs will only know what games they are running two (lets say two)days before where they are randomly provided with a system and a time slot over the weekend. The GMs would then have a couple of days to digest the rules, write a short adventure(or if they are lucky adapt one from the game they are given) and create pre-gens (if need be).
And these just wouldn't be any old games. This would be five games covering different genres and different systems, usually obscure and well out of date. No Storyteller System or GUMSHOE here. It would then be a challenge of the GMs skill and ability to create and convincing and enjoyable game out of a foreign system with a short time to prepare (for the record, my nomination would be Star Frontiers).
If the GM really hated their randomly selected game, then they could swap it for the MYSTERY GAME which they would have to keep, which could be either completely awesome or completely arse.
I was also thinking (yes I've given this quite some thought over the day) that scoring would be done by the four players in each game and the GM with the highest score would win an AMAZING prize*.
I've still a little undecided on how long the GMs should have between receiving their system and running their game. Two nights (if they are on the first day of the weekend) doesn't seem like much, but then again a week sounds like too long. But I guess it's meant to be a challenge. Also those going in the latter session would have a slight time advantage in preparing, but would probably be more fatigued, so it might balance up in the end.
I think a lot of fun would be finding the games, as there are some classics floating around out there. Of course, all this would be accompanied by beers and ideally a nice out-of-town location.
Sadly I don't think it is something that would see the light of day easily, but what do you guys think? Any thoughts to add?
* Warning: prize may not actually be amazing.
Why just old systems?
ReplyDeleteI'd also like to see not just old but maybe some indie or interesting new systems? Because this is just screaming for me to toss Simon's 'Dungeon Fuckers™ ' into the hat.
ReplyDeleteChoice idea man, but mostly cos I hate assimilating new rules.. it made me think of this: Play that game where you pass a paper round the group and everyone writes a part of plot synopsis on it without seeing what the others wrote. When youve generated four plots, give your GMs the rest of the day to drink and scheme, then use a game you all know to run them. Mark GMs on how well they used the material given.
ReplyDeleteI'm totally fine with new or indie systems in the mix. I guess what I was driving at more would be systems which are 'new' to the GMs involved, as part of the novelty and the challenge of the experience.
ReplyDeleteIf you included some of the really well known ones, it's likely to unbalance the process by giving one GM an unfair advantage. So I don't think it matters if the game was published 20 years ago or 2 months ago, as long as it's new the GMs involved.
I hit upon old or out of date system because those would probably be the most unfamiliar to those involved, but you could totally include either less known new or indie systems as long as you avoided the really well known ones. In fact, I think it could only add to the experience.
I guess a guiding principle would be to have the games a reasonable similarly level of complexity in order to give everyone an even playing level.
Nice idea Calum and one I might have to steal for an ongoing campaign. I hate learning new rules too, but I think that would be part of the challenge. Like I said on my LJ to Mark, you could just choose to go lightly on the rules and concentrate you effort on the story.
I say hell-yes!
ReplyDeleteAnd then my beard-fist gives you the finger.
If you set out a series of judging criteria so that the 'markers' could assess on a range; including ability to assimilate, adherence to the rules/setting, getting into the 'spirit' of the game genre and quality of story etc. Obviously such judgements are going to be subjective, which is why we want a few judges, just like boxing!
There can be only one...