Really, everything’s better with Cylons.

So I like House of Cards, but it’s the kind of game I don’t really know if I have the experience to design.  I’m thinking of actually fleshing out a game idea I’ve been pondering, that fits into the Intrigue theme.  This is like last year when I came up with a very high concept game, Gnosis, and then switched gears a few days in and came up with Escape From Tentacle City.  Honestly, I’m glad I did.

But here’s a finished game for you.  Are You a Cylon?

Well, these aren’t looking romantic at all.  Maybe a few of them.

For all the ones that say “Pick a Character” I think that might involve drawing a random card.  Or it might involve choosing someone.  Random cards might generate really strange or uncomfortable relationships.  On the other hand, they might generate randomly awesome relationships.  And picking will likely lead to popular people being the center of attention, and wall flowers not getting much love at all.

The Affair

You are having an affair on your significant other. Pick a character to be in a romantic relationship with. Inform them of this. Pick another character to be your clandestine lover. Inform them of this. Try to keep your relationship intact while cheating behind their back!

Courtship

You are vying for the affection of another character. Pick a character of equal or higher rank to be courting. How will you win their love?

Dirty Laundry

You have an embarrassing sexual history. Strange fetish? Check. Compromising photos? Check. Pick a character from another faction. Reveal your dark secret to them. Give them 3 Favors, with your name and Dark Secret written on them. Good luck getting those photos back.

The Divorce

You’re divorced from another character. Pick the character, and decide the circumstances. Do you want to make up with them? Are there financial assets involved?

Domination

You have a burning desire to sexually dominate others. Especially higher ranking characters. Look for opportunities to forge relationships with such characters, and get them under your power.

The Estranged Marriage

You’re married to another character, and it isn’t going terribly well. Inform them of this. What is driving the two of you apart?

Hypersexuality

You just can’t get enough of it. To what lengths are you going to go to get what you want?

The Psycho-Ex

That would be you. You used to be in a relationship with another character. Pick a character, and inform them of this. They broke up with you. Ask them how they broke up with you. The two of you are meant to be together. You hate them with all your passion. But also love them. How will you reconcile this?

Seduction

You want to seduce another character. Do you desire them, or is your seduction simply a means to an end? Pick a higher ranking character. Get them to form a relationship with you.

Sleep Your Way to the Top

You want power, and lots of it. You’re good in bed. Put the two together, and use your wiles to get what you want.

Star-Crossed Love

You’re tragically in love with a character from another faction. Pick such a character. Inform them of this. They are tragically in love with you as well. Put your love above all other concerns.

Submission

You have a burning desire to be sexually dominated by others. Especially lower ranking characters. Look for opportunities to forge relationships with such characters.

Unrequited Love

You have a terrible crush on another character. Do not tell them! Who knows what they might do? No, secretly and shyly work to get them to maybe notice you someday.

So my working title is House of Cards.  I like it since cards themselves will play a role in the game, and the idea of a kingdom being a House of Cards about to fall down is evocative.

So, you get a card pull for your position in society.  You get another card pull for your secret agenda.  The suits for this correspond to various things- romance, greed, power, something else?

There’s an economy of sorts.  You’ve got resources (cash) and Favors, which come from a specific person.  You can spend a favor to make them do certain kinds of things for you.  (What’s the price for refusal?)  You can also trade them.  The faction agendas and secret agendas had better be grabby!

Characters get keywords.  That’s the extent of character abilities.  These tell you what kinds of conflict actions you can do.

Factions have different abilities.  Royalists can issue orders to anyone (not just Royalists) or lower card rank.  The Architects (Masons) can treat themselves as being part of another faction- they infiltrate anyone and everyone, and this has important stuff for conflicts.  (What do the Rebels and the Seabirds (Church, maybe?) get to do?)

AConflict works like this:  I want something, you want something.  We get our possees- up to five people total on each side.  Take the card rank of each involved character- and use that to make a poker hand.  You can flip cards from a deck to bring your total up to five, but this is unreliable.  Most conflicts are group conflicts.  Consequences are based on the keywords the winners have.

Straight Flush is high- so the best posse is a variety of people from the same faction.  However, Straight beats Flush.  (And Architects can have their Suit be wild, remember!)  One thing I want to do is front-load the high-ups of each faction to be at some odds with each other, so you won’t necessarily have juntas of Royal Flushes doing everything.  And I don’t want the 2-3-4-5-6 to just be able to waltz everywhere, killing everyone, because the Royal Court happens to be dispersed at the time.  But I think this is a sweet core for a mechanic.

My first thoughts for Game Chef 2009 are as follows: a LARP.  A frickin’ LARP.

After all Intrigue and LARP practically go hand in hand, or so I’m told.

My initial thoughts are a LARP that involves buttons you wear that show your faction status.  Everyone draws a card from a deck of cards- suit determines faction, value determines rank.  Factions are Royalists (FDL), Masons/Conspirators (Divider), ??? (Seabird), and Revolutionaries (Star).  Setting is modern day Constitutional Monarchy.  Play in your hometown.  Have an organized meeting place where people can expect to meet up, but then use social networking amongst your factions to have your own meetings.  Wear your button in public and bump into people.  Have Con events where you wear it and play intermittently througout the Con.

You get another card pull for your secret agenda.  Essentially an Oracle of Intrigue-y things.  Conflict is all talking to people, making deals, and getting them to do things for you.  How do you get things done?  What resources are there?  Can you kill people?  (Hose them down with Silly String to do it, but should the rules support that?)

Game Chef ingredients are posted.  I like the do-it-yourself method.  It’s a refreshing take on the Game Chef thing, and I think the use of the blogosphere is a good formatting twist- I hated the Vanilla forums of last year.

The ingredients are interesting.  I like Intrigue, though have no idea how to use it.  Courtly graces and politics?  Fleur-de-lis implies noble houses and France, Dividers is apparently some sort of compass thingy, though the word itself could be interpreted to be divisions, or even divider tabs in a folder.  Seabird- WTF?  Star?  That could be easily used.

Some random ideas- suits of cards, 3 player games- I have trouble finding ones I like to play- don’t really want to make a boardgame.  Reprise my Arabian politics game idea, but how do the other ingredients fit in?  Star could lead to scifi.

This is Chez Willow, my site for the 2009 Game Chef event.  If you like my posts or my games, you should check out my normal blog.