Steppenwolf wants YOU: A Magic Carpet Ride

[Brian]

Somehow, the concept of the system has really resonated with me.  I know there isn't a system for the proposed game idea.

Yet.

Okay.  'nother open-source community project--  Kinda.  This time instead of relying on volunteers, I'm planning on doing it solo (but would welcome help).

First off, my thoughts are making a system that could work with a d20 game as well as a 2nd edition D&D campaign.  Effectively, a sub-system you'd slap into any game engine you ran.  There's two basic models for races, and I think the general design should cover both:

The Fionavar 500: Your rug, type-R chrome-tassels and all, goes around an established track for a set number of laps or whatever.  This is basically the Indianapolis 500 or F-1/NASCAR.  With flying carpets.

The Rugged and the Flurryest: You 'race' between scenes of dramatically telling your former crime-boss that 'you don't do that anymore', and his reveals of holding your family hostage unless you steal 500k rupees worth of carpets before the deadline.  The race segments aren't connected realistically, but instead are short stretches between (other flavor) action that the GM mixes in for narrative.

In either case, the goal is that the 'racing' system adds something interesting to gameplay.  Because I'm obstinate, I'd like to design this as a turn-based system that would work in PBP, just to show that it can be done.  Inspiration should be taken from board game, with simplifications to do away with the irritation of needing visual reference.


I'm thinking that to make things simple, carpets should generally have a consistent speed with one-another (barring the use of turbo-cusions), or the like.  One would actually roll stunts/tricks to pull ahead of other contestants.  I'll fish for some feedback before going too much further -- thoughts?

[Jon]

I feel there should be a Top Gear mode where three carpet enthusiasts take some of their patron's money, hire a long-suffering bard to chronicle everything, and do a road trip on whatever three high-end carpets they think are the most amusing.

Also a rally mode where you have to go cross-country across multiple days. First team to arrive at the checkpoint is the first allowed to leave in the morning, etc.

I'll port this to FATE and BESM 3rd.

[Brian]

Those are respectively a campaign kit (for three players), and the second should fit in the 'race/adventure' setup.  Ideally, the player gets a mechanical reward for finishing the race segment.  In the 'jacking carpets' scenario, the GM gives the players something as a direct reward (not being captured by police, time to heal before the next job, a tidbit of information for the next leg of the race, etc).  In your scenario, the adventure is significantly downplayed and the mechanical reward is a simple bonus in points/starting time for the next round.

Alternately, the Top Gear thing is a background element, and the players keep crossing paths with this savvy(?) trio. >.>

[Jon]

In your scenario, the adventure is significantly downplayed and the mechanical reward is a simple bonus in points/starting time for the next round.

Oh, there can still be adventure. I remember this British movie called Diamonds on Wheels.