Antagonistic Keys:
Key of Vampiric Assassins, Key of Troll-Thing, Key of the Savant Guard, Key of Ribbon Fox, Key of The Torches.

Bold stuff, I wrote today.
Yay!

There are stories.
 

• A lover, who would sacrifice her own life before casting aside her forbidden courtier.

• A fighter, willing to shake the foundations of the earth in the pursuit of truth.

• A schoolteacher, sharing with her students the secret, dangerous history of their nation.

• An arsonist, given over to his twin obsessions of fire and beauty.

• A power-hungry merchant, who takes vengeance into his own hand.

• An insomniac, who must murder before he can find the peace to sleep.

These people are criminals. They are the last remaining spot upon our perfect nation.

They will be hunted down, and they will be fixed.

Don't think we don't know that you're one of them.

Introduction

Perfect is a story game about fighting for what you want. ( Read the introduction here. )

Thoughts? I'm noticing that the 3XP and the 5XP bars would likely chain together a lot of the time, which might provide balance issuse.
Maybe I want to change the 3XP bar to "whenever you introduce an attack by the vampiric assassins into a scene"?

Regardless, I really like this idea. The rule is that the GM cannot introduce a monster/enemy/threat into the game more than once, unless someone has it as a key. And they can't take it as a key unless the GM has introduced it into the narrative. So, there's a feedback loop, where the GM throws a bunch of cool enemies out there, the players latch onto some, and are then rewarded with XP for complicating their own stories with these enemies.

Hey all,

These are the events I'm running at Weathertop (part of Vancouver's Trumpeter's Salute con) from march 13-15. Come check it out!

Perfect
Friday Block 1 - Fri, Mar 13th/2009 - 7:00pm to 11:59pm
Perfect, 2nd Edition
Type of Game: Roleplaying Game
You are a criminal in a Victorian-Dystopic society. You are driven, by something, to commit crime in a world where the consequences might mean brainwashing and the loss of loved ones. What are you willing to do to achieve your goals? Will you still be willing to do it after inspectors have chased you down and wreaked havoc upon your world?

Join the designer for this introductory session.



Perfect
Saturday Block 1 - Sat, Mar 14th/2009 - 9:00am to 12:00pm
Perfect, 2nd Edition
Type of Game: Roleplaying Game
You are a criminal in a Victorian-Dystopic society. You are driven, by something, to commit crime in a world where the consequences might mean brainwashing and the loss of loved ones. What are you willing to do to achieve your goals? Will you still be willing to do it after inspectors have chased you down and wreaked havoc upon your world?

Join the designer for this introductory session.



Mist-Robed Gate
Saturday Block 3 - Sat, Mar 14th/2009 - 7:00pm to 11:00pm
Mist-Robed Gate, by Shreyas Sampat
Type of Game:  Roleplaying Game
Sometimes, your feelings are more important than you. So you allow yourself to be hurt in pursuit of your emotion, and when you’re caught between conflicting feelings, you end up manufacturing crises in order to make decisions about yourself. This is emotionally tempestuous arthaus wuxia, in the vein of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, House of Flying Daggers and Hero.

There is a knife. When the knife is on the table any player can take it. When it is in a player’s hand, it cannot be taken; it must be given.



Mist-Robed Gate
Sunday Block 2 - Sun, Mar 15th/2009 - 1:30pm to 5:00pm
Mist-Robed Gate, by Shreyas Sampat
Type of Game:  Roleplaying Game
Sometimes, your feelings are more important than you. So you allow yourself to be hurt in pursuit of your emotion, and when you’re caught between conflicting feelings, you end up manufacturing crises in order to make decisions about yourself. This is emotionally tempestuous arthaus wuxia, in the vein of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, House of Flying Daggers and Hero.

There is a knife. When the knife is on the table any player can take it. When it is in a player’s hand, it cannot be taken; it must be given.

So, I just submitted my list of events I'll be runing at Gamestorm. Behold, my info:

 
[Indie Hurricane] Ribbon Drive
Friday, 10am-2pm
Ribbon Drive
Type of Game: Roleplaying Game
Players: 2-6
You, me, this highway. This mix tape. Ribbon Drive is a slowburn game of self-discovery and letting go upon the open road. Inspired by Everything Is Illuminated, Wristcutters, Little Miss Sunshine, y tu Mama Tambien, Thelma & Louise and Two Lane Blacktop. Bring to the session a titled, themed mix CD (40-80 minutes in length) with a printout of the lyrics for the first two songs. Be prepared for a pretty experimental play experience.
 
 
[Indie Hurricane] Perfect
Friday, 2pm-6pm
Perfect, 2nd Edition
Type of Game: Roleplaying Game
Players: 2-4
You are a criminal in a Victorian-Dystopic society. You are driven, by something, to commit crime in a world where the consequences might mean brainwashing and the loss of loved ones. What are you willing to do to achieve your goals? Will you still be willing to do it after inspectors have chased you down and wreaked havoc upon your world?

Join the designer for this introductory session.
 
[Indie Hurricane] Perfect
Saturday, 1pm-5pm
Perfect, 2nd Edition
Type of Game: Roleplaying Game
Players: 2-4
You are a criminal in a Victorian-Dystopic society. You are driven, by something, to commit crime in a world where the consequences might mean brainwashing and the loss of loved ones. What are you willing to do to achieve your goals? Will you still be willing to do it after inspectors have chased you down and wreaked havoc upon your world?

Join the designer for this introductory session.

For those not yet in the know: Perfect, a story game about criminals in a Victorian dystopia. 1984 meets Quills, A Clockwork Orange meets Pride & Prejudice. My biggest design project ever. I first published it in 2006, took it off the market to rework it, and am currently doing just that.

Now you know.

The current-est version is available at joepub.fileave.com/Perfect v2.5.pdf, and the character sheet is available at joepub.fileave.com/Perfect Character Sheet v2.5.pdf

As December comes to a close, so does a game design contest I've been working on.

The Game Design Company Game Design Contest (9 points to whoever disambiguates that title correctly first) was initiated by Jared Sorensen. His challenge: create a team of four (one developer, one designer, one writer, one artist) and create a game by month's end. Sell it throughout January (for precisely one dollar). One award goes to best game. One award goes to highest sales.

My team deserves both awards. By damn it, we're going to earn them.
Our breakdown: Me acting as developer, Lance Allen (Wolfe on S-G) acting as system designer, Johnstone Metzger acting as writer, Tony Dowler acting as artist.

Our product: Sexy Deadly, a game about the world's deadliest (and sexiest) female assassins coalescing upon The Complex on the same night, and the betrayal, emotionally-charged flashbacks,  and bloody combat that ensues.

What I wanted to write this post for in the first place: Behold! Tony Dowler has finished our cover.