[PRIMETIME ADVENTURES] T.V. Roleplaying: New season starting up!
robotsunshine
regular
regular
PRIMETIME ADVENTURES
Coming this Spring...
Primetime Adventures is a roleplaying game about a television show. It's completely made up - the players all make up a premise and schedule out a season, and make characters for it. You can make anything from cartoons to HBO dramas to Fox sitcoms.
Wolfgun: A troubled band of monster hunters in the Wild West find a town with too many demons to tame...
Dumpy & Co.: Follow the adventures of Dumpy the shrimp as he tries to make it today's fast paced (and failing!) economic market!
Occupation Occultation: Pulp-style Victorian era England, with psychics and dark elder gods. Matilda leads the O.O. offices as they search for the missing chalice to Ing'gloroth's dread tomb.
The rules are simple: roleplay out a show as if doing it scene by scene. I play the Producer of the show, using the Budget of the production to increase challenges for the characters. Everyone else is a Character, who goes through the five-episode season, show by show. Characters can get Fanmail (donated by other players when they do something really cool), which can be spent in conflicts.
A conflict is any area where two different parties are in conflict with one another. It is the heart of drama. Conflict is solved with a deck of playing cards, with whoever has the most red cards winning, and whoever gets a certain card getting FULL NARRATION RIGHTS, meaning even if you win, someone else might get to decide exactly what happens.
A sneak peek at the first season...
Don't have the rules? Once again, I am a charitable man and will re-produce all necessary rules to all needy parties. All you need is your character and a deck of cards (or some random card generator thing you can find online). The rules, like in most things I play, are super easy. It's practically freeform.
Everyone as a group collaborates on the show as it's happening. In turn, everyone gets to pick the next scene, and if you're not involved, you can use Fan mail to enter a scene. You decide what a scene is all about and what has to happen for it to end.
There's also Audience Participation rules - we can pick, for each episode, one non-player to be the audience. He gets a card that he can choose to contribute to a certain conflict, if he wants. All this is optional though.
Scenes with a big Budget tend to be flashier, with special effects and the like. Narration is spoken through camera instruction and traditional roleplay talky-stuff. So, you can say, "The camera cuts to the front door. There's footsteps, and then a loud BANG! as it falls over, John standing behind it, foot outstretched. He's wet and dirty, bloody, clothes torn - he's breathing hard and wild, staring at everyone in the room. Definitely not dead, like everyone at the party assumed.
Close-up on John. 'Miss me?' he grins, then proceeds to kick a bunch of ass."
If there's any interest, I'll have all applicable rules up for all to see.
Behind the scenes...
To make a character, called a Protagonist, you do all this:
- Make a concept for your character, a quick statement summarizing who he or she is.
- Pick your Issue. This is the big problem that your character has and that is being explored throughout the show. "Doesn't really fit in," or "Looking for her father." It's your most defining characteristic, what you struggle against the most. Grief, temptation, fear, you name it.
- Screen Presence. For each episode, your character gets a 1, 2, or 3 for Screen Presence, which is how much screen time he gets. It's a measure of how important he is to this episode. Don't be afraid of having low SP: it just means, this time, you're helping the star of the show explore their Issue while still getting a little of the limelight. It plays out naturally.
- SP 1: a minor role in this episode, with little influence on scenes
- SP 2: a supporting character or secondary role
- SP 3: the star of the episode! It's mostly all about you and developing your character
For a five-episode season, two episodes are at SP 1, two at SP 2, and one at SP 3. So you write it out like this:
Episode 1 - SP 1
Episode 2 - SP 2
Episode 3 - SP 2
Episode 4 - SP 3
Episode 5 - SP 1
This way, you can see the story arc of the character: they start and end weak, but the bulk of their drama is filled in the middle of the season. How you assign your SP to which episode is completely up to you. No more than two protagonists can have a SP of 3 in a given episode. Such an episode is a two-part cliffhanger, and exceptionally dramatic or relevant.
- Edges: these are special skills and traits your protagonist possesses. Include a brief story behind them to flesh things out. For example, "strong" is sort of bland and vague, but "bodybuilder" implies so much: discipline, training, maybe touring around in shows? You can either have 2 Edges and 1 Connection (see below), or 1 Edge and 2 Connections
- Connections: a connection with another character. Just like Edges, they should be chosen for maximum story potential
- If you want a Nemesis, that's cool. Two people can even share a Nemesis.
- Sets: sets are locations where the scene takes place. Your character can have a personal set, such as a house or a bar or anywhere else really, that the audience connects with your character. Sort of a way of saying, "When we are here, we are dealing with you." This is optional, however.
- That's it! Of course, you gotta know what the premise of the show is before making a character.
- Pick your Issue. This is the big problem that your character has and that is being explored throughout the show. "Doesn't really fit in," or "Looking for her father." It's your most defining characteristic, what you struggle against the most. Grief, temptation, fear, you name it.
- Screen Presence. For each episode, your character gets a 1, 2, or 3 for Screen Presence, which is how much screen time he gets. It's a measure of how important he is to this episode. Don't be afraid of having low SP: it just means, this time, you're helping the star of the show explore their Issue while still getting a little of the limelight. It plays out naturally.
- SP 1: a minor role in this episode, with little influence on scenes
- SP 2: a supporting character or secondary role
- SP 3: the star of the episode! It's mostly all about you and developing your character
For a five-episode season, two episodes are at SP 1, two at SP 2, and one at SP 3. So you write it out like this:
Episode 1 - SP 1
Episode 2 - SP 2
Episode 3 - SP 2
Episode 4 - SP 3
Episode 5 - SP 1
This way, you can see the story arc of the character: they start and end weak, but the bulk of their drama is filled in the middle of the season. How you assign your SP to which episode is completely up to you. No more than two protagonists can have a SP of 3 in a given episode. Such an episode is a two-part cliffhanger, and exceptionally dramatic or relevant.
- Edges: these are special skills and traits your protagonist possesses. Include a brief story behind them to flesh things out. For example, "strong" is sort of bland and vague, but "bodybuilder" implies so much: discipline, training, maybe touring around in shows? You can either have 2 Edges and 1 Connection (see below), or 1 Edge and 2 Connections
- Connections: a connection with another character. Just like Edges, they should be chosen for maximum story potential
- If you want a Nemesis, that's cool. Two people can even share a Nemesis.
- Sets: sets are locations where the scene takes place. Your character can have a personal set, such as a house or a bar or anywhere else really, that the audience connects with your character. Sort of a way of saying, "When we are here, we are dealing with you." This is optional, however.
- That's it! Of course, you gotta know what the premise of the show is before making a character.
To resolve a conflict, try doing all this:
- A conflict is about want and need, and about tough choices. Most scenes present an obvious conflict. If you see it and no one else does, speak up! Present it, push the scene towards it. A conflict is any dramatic situation between two characters
- Decide which characters are involved in the conflict. If you're not in the scne, you can spend a point of Fanmail to enter the scene and thus get involved.
- Decide the Stakes. The Stakes are what your protagonist wants from the situation. Each character involved names their Stakes. "I want to get into that warehouse," or, "I want to show him he's wrong".
- Action: declare what you're doing to achieve those Stakes.
- The Producer then gets 1 card when involved in the conflict. If I want to get more involved, I spend more of the show's Budget. This gets me more cards.
- Next, each Protagonist gets a number of cards equal to their Screen Presence for that episode. They can spend a point of Fanmail for an additional card, or use one of their Traits to get an additional card (you can use a Trait only three times per episode)
- Anyone outside of the conflict can spend a point of Fanmail to not get involved, but give a card to either a character or the Producer (whoever they think should win)
- Whoever has the most red cards wins. Whoever has the most hearts win ties.
- Also, whoever has the single highest card gets to Narrate the entire thing. They have to use common sense and can't make a character do something they wouldn't do. They have to use all applicable traits used and reveal how the conflict was won, and how they got their Stakes.
- Decide which characters are involved in the conflict. If you're not in the scne, you can spend a point of Fanmail to enter the scene and thus get involved.
- Decide the Stakes. The Stakes are what your protagonist wants from the situation. Each character involved names their Stakes. "I want to get into that warehouse," or, "I want to show him he's wrong".
- Action: declare what you're doing to achieve those Stakes.
- The Producer then gets 1 card when involved in the conflict. If I want to get more involved, I spend more of the show's Budget. This gets me more cards.
- Next, each Protagonist gets a number of cards equal to their Screen Presence for that episode. They can spend a point of Fanmail for an additional card, or use one of their Traits to get an additional card (you can use a Trait only three times per episode)
- Anyone outside of the conflict can spend a point of Fanmail to not get involved, but give a card to either a character or the Producer (whoever they think should win)
- Whoever has the most red cards wins. Whoever has the most hearts win ties.
- Also, whoever has the single highest card gets to Narrate the entire thing. They have to use common sense and can't make a character do something they wouldn't do. They have to use all applicable traits used and reveal how the conflict was won, and how they got their Stakes.
To give someone Fanmail, just say, "What you did was neat. Here is some Fanmail." You can only award 1 point of Fanmail per scene.
Stay tuned for the pilot episode...
Join with a nice, big, colorful Sign up!, and also post a show premise idea. Even if you don't sign up, post a premise idea. A quick concept for a TV show, any channel, any genre (No gameshows or Reality TV or talk shows - they don't make good games for this.) Anything from a three paragraph synopsis to, "a show about a talking magic turtle that lives in california," or whatever. Make it up!
Actors on contract:
1. mightyspacepope
2. Malkor
3. Zellpher
4. Dac Vin
New Show Submission ends FRIDAY.
Voting ends SATURDAY.
Possible shows:
Mummo on susi (My grandma is the wolf): Low-budget finnish sitcom very loosely based on the story of the Little Red Riding Hood. Widely panned by critics as being utterly fucking tasteless.
- VOTES: 0
Oedipus X: The tragedy of Oedipus, told 1000+ years in the future.
- VOTES: 0
Just Another El Paso Clinic: Drama that was canceled early in it's prime, yet retains an amazing cult following in DVD sales. About surgeons who provide a free health care clinic in Southern Texas by hopping the border and hacking up Mexican stragglers and either using their organs in the clinic or selling them on the black market. Noted for tackling controversial issues in the world of medicine.
- VOTES: 0
Lights, Camera, Action!: A show within a show, about actors playing actors in a TV show. Mindfuck comedy, known for its Escher-like imagery and sometimes formulaic situations. Both stories are told: the actors themselves, and the actors they play on TV.
- VOTES: 0
Oshiitae, Endless Fairy Tale: Translated anime about robots living in a homeless slum community, attempting to understand human nature.
- VOTES: 0
Leeches : a soap-opera set at the height of the Black Plague. They hang out at the local watering hole burying their noses in the drinks after burying their friends... Unfortunately all the main characters are suffering from the affliction. The show is all planned out though, with a killer ending. So everyone knows that it will end, but not how it will end.
- VOTES: 1
High School is Hell: Stereotypical high school drama, UNTIL THE FOUR MAIN CHARACTERS FIND OUT THEY'RE THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE.
- VOTES: 4
Folkland: A small city in Pennsylvania, which is actually inhabited by faeries and goblins and elves. Explores the lives of the fantasy inhabitants attempting to deal with the death of the town's Wize Sage, who kept the town hidden from the rest of the world with powerful magic. Now open to the public, the creatures must deal with the weirdest beings of all - humans.
- VOTES: 0
Daisy Belle: a quirky cartoon about flower-people living in perpetual springtime.
- VOTES: 0
Time-sub: Two Russian submariners are the only survivors of a crash deep underwater. They think they are doomed to die at the bottom of the ocean, only to discover the ship's engine is capable of time travel. The show chronicles their adventures as they try to figure out how to get back home while avoiding the henchmen of the mysterious Dr. Arzt.
- VOTES: 0
My Three Dads - A dramedy about a girl, her mom, her dad, her dad... and her dad. Her biological father was a scientist and cloned himself, then cloned his clone with GHENGHIS KHAN!!!!!!!!!!!! Can nurture overtake nature? Tune in and find out!
- VOTES: 0
Gavel - A drama set in a TV courtroom. 'Judge' Janie is a strong, loud woman that needs to balance her home-life with her work life. Her husband's a real judge who looks at her job as a hobby at best. Her daughter is on the track to being a life-long criminal. AND HER SON IS GHENGHIS KHAN!!! (Except that last part is not true because it is dumb and for stupids)
- VOTES: 0
High School is Hell is our new show!
robotsunshine on
0
Posts
First idea, might post some more later.
High School is Hell: Stereotypical high school drama, UNTIL THE FOUR MAIN CHARACTERS FIND OUT THEY'RE THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE.
oh my god that sounds awesome
Leeches is a soap-opera set at the height of the Black Plague. They hang out at the local watering hole burying their noses in the drinks after burying their friends... Unfortunately all the main characters are suffering from the affliction. The show is all planned out though, with a killer ending. So everyone knows that it will end, but not how it will end.
Lights, Camera, Action!: A show within a show, about actors playing actors in a TV show. Mindfuck comedy, known for its Escher-like imagery and sometimes formulaic situations. Both stories are told: the actors themselves, and the actors they play on TV.
Oshiitae, Endless Fairy Tale: Translated anime about robots living in a homeless slum community, attempting to understand human nature.
Also our target number is four players. We can go with three or five, but we're trying oh so desperately to hit four. That'll ensure variety yet hopefully not keep us waiting on stragglers when it's someone else's turn to post a scene.
Completely omnipotent and omniscient, except for a huge disconnect with humanity . Think Dr. Manhattan from the Watchmen, except a robot.
Oedipus X: The tragedy of Oedipus, told 1000+ years in the future.
I'll come up with something better soon I hope.
The name makes me giggle
It's not bad, actually. Though I'd maybe make it cover a wider range of Greek and Roman mythology. There's a lot of good ones that would be well exploited by a time shift.
Maybe I'll get something awesomer when the lack of sleep kicks in.
Dac Vin
Zellpher
Malkor
mightyspacepope
All we need to do now is agree on a show so we can get things ready. What this means is, everyone post a bunch of different ideas for shows as they come to you, and then on Wednesday we will pick one by group consensus. Everyone's ideas so far have been excellent, so just keep it up!
I'll update the OP with a list of shows, so check there if you want to see all of them.
That's obvious.
Now, I'm fine with giving lip-service to all the other shows, cause I'm a cool guy. I'll even start. Zellpher's ideas are awesome and not at all the worst thing to be typed since typing was first typed out! Dac Vin sounds like he has some kind of talent. mightyspacepope definitely had an idea of some sort.
Time-sub: Two Russian submariners are the only survivors of a crash deep underwater. They think they are doomed to die at the bottom of the ocean, only to discover the ship's engine is capable of time travel. The show chronicles their adventures as they try to figure out how to get back home while avoiding the henchmen of the mysterious Dr. Arzt.
Three main reasons:
1. My username is far cooler than anyone else's.
2. The pajama pants I'm currently wearing have robots on them. Old 1950s style sci-fi metal toy robots.
3. I had the sheer titanium testicular fortitude to throw my hat in first on the game.
For reals, I like my idea (Four Horseman in HS), the robot anime in the slum, and a modified version of Folkland (I think it'd be awesome if instead of reverting back to being human, the town itself was becoming or had become part of the human world, and its inhabitants had to deal with human-folk creature relations).
Totally digging into the themes of racism and xenophobia, there, with the changed Folkand
Tomorrow, we'll have everyone pick a favorite contender (your's or someone else's) and we'll put it up to vote / group persuasion.
Gavel - A drama set in a TV courtroom. 'Judge' Janie is a strong, loud woman that needs to balance her home-life with her work life. Her husband's a real judge who looks at her job as a hobby at best. Her daughter is on the track to being a life-long criminal. AND HER SON IS GHENGHIS KHAN!!!
Adding a votes thing to the OP. Post your vote in something colorful!
High School is Hell because only good can come out of a handful of forumer's interpretation of a script that any anime maker would reject as too wack.
no that is madness
There's some really good ones up there, so it's tough. But try to just go with one. Then we'll have some sort of pretend Producer meeting and pick one. Let's extend voting until Saturday. I'm planning for us to actually start next week., by Tues. or Wed.
We can still add more shows, if anyone thinks of any good'uns. Our goal is to just pick a show we want to do, that'll be fun and interesting and make a good story.
So, to make it official: All votes will be tallied Saturday, and any ties will be dealt with by group consensus. The end-date for Show submissions is Friday. If anybody not participating wants to submit ideas, that's cool too.
I know almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, but... Folkland a close second, then Oshiitae.
I'm not sure what this means for you guys.
*Edit: I have no idea what the hell is going on here. I've read the rules and I've still yet to understand what an audience members actually does or what the mystical entity deity referred to as Card actually is. In summation, I can't fucking wait.
In a tabletop setting, an Audience Member is somebody over at your house who isn't playing but is kind of interested and watching, someone too shy to really get involved. This Audience Member then gets dealt a card they keep secret, not even looking themselves. Then, whenever they want, they can contribute it to a conflict.
What this means here is, if somebody's up for it, someone who isn't playing this play-by-post can be dealt a card and whenever they want, just pop in and play it. They can do this once, though.
And cards are like, regular playing cards. Hearts, diamonds, clubs, spades.
My train of thought was, "I like a lot of these. But if I had to pick... it's out of Leeches, Folkland, and Oshiitae. Wait, two of those are mine. I'll look like a dick if I do that. Maybe just Leeches and Osh? I mean, I like the idea, that's why I posted it."
And now, over all, I really really am starting to like Folkland :?
I'm pretty sure it's going to be High School is Hell, though. If I knew what I was doing, I'd make advertisements for it and an opening theme song. We'll keep voting open and all that, unless Mal comes in and votes for HSIH also, in which case it's unanimous and I switch my vote and we'll do characters.
THE Khan or just about anyone with that name is acceptable?
My vote doesn't really count but I vote for HSiH. :P
- Make a concept for your character, a quick statement summarizing who he or she is.
- Pick your Issue. This is the big problem that your character has and that is being explored throughout the show. "Doesn't really fit in," or "Looking for her father." It's your most defining characteristic, what you struggle against the most. Grief, temptation, fear, you name it.
- Screen Presence. For each episode, your character gets a 1, 2, or 3 for Screen Presence, which is how much screen time he gets. It's a measure of how important he is to this episode. Don't be afraid of having low SP: it just means, this time, you're helping the star of the show explore their Issue while still getting a little of the limelight. It plays out naturally.
- SP 1: a minor role in this episode, with little influence on scenes
- SP 2: a supporting character or secondary role
- SP 3: the star of the episode! It's mostly all about you and developing your character
For a five-episode season, two episodes are at SP 1, two at SP 2, and one at SP 3. So you write it out like this:
Episode 1 - SP 1
Episode 2 - SP 2
Episode 3 - SP 2
Episode 4 - SP 3
Episode 5 - SP 1
This way, you can see the story arc of the character: they start and end weak, but the bulk of their drama is filled in the middle of the season. How you assign your SP to which episode is completely up to you. No more than two protagonists can have a SP of 3 in a given episode. Such an episode is a two-part cliffhanger, and exceptionally dramatic or relevant. You could also say,
Episode 1 - SP 3
Episode 2 - SP 1
Episode 3 - SP 2
Episode 4 - SP 1
Episode 5 - SP 2
to represent a pretty notable character that takes the backseat only to fleshing out secondary characters, but from the start, is obviously pretty important.
- Edges: these are special skills and traits your protagonist possesses. Include a brief story behind them to flesh things out. For example, "strong" is sort of bland and vague, but "bodybuilder" implies so much: discipline, training, maybe touring around in shows? You can either have 2 Edges and 1 Connection (see below), or 1 Edge and 2 Connections
- Connections: a connection with another character. Just like Edges, they should be chosen for maximum story potential
- If you want a Nemesis, that's cool. Two people can even share a Nemesis. There's no special rules besides that now you've got a Nemesis.
- Sets: sets are locations where the scene takes place. Your character can have a personal set, such as a house or a bar or anywhere else really, that the audience connects with your character. Sort of a way of saying, "When we are here, we are dealing with you." This is optional, however.
( if anyone wants to change anything about it, just say so. but some of these things are obvious, given the genre)
The Four Horsemen are typically personified as Pestilence, War, Famine and Death, at least as far as pop culture is concerned.
War could be a reincarnated Genghis Khan of some sort. Maybe he's the class nerd? Gus Caan?
Perhaps the principal could be either the Antichrist or Satan?
I'm liking war as the class nerd. Death could be the weird kid who no-one likes, famine could be some really popular kid, and pestilence heads up the school's christian club. Leaves a lot of room to work with, they all have different problems fitting in, and pestilence is quite conflicted once they figure out who they are. Was mainly just going for something out of the most general of cliques. Also don't really have genders sorted yet.
The kids shouldn't figure it out until probably the end of the first episode or later.
How are they the four Horsemen? Like, what's our explanation here - just born of it from the family, possessed, what's the deal?
Initial concepts for some characters:
Premise - four average high school students discover that they are really the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. They must contend with not only school and teenage pressures, but also with being the Four fucking Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Everybody pick one and make a Protagonist out of him / her. Satan has hatched a plan, luring the Four Horsemen out and into the bodies of four high school kids, whom he has secretly watched over for some time now. His goal is to draw the Horsemen out and have them take over the four students' bodies. The students (after the first episode, anyway) understand only that they possess incredible power and what their origin is, not what Satan's intended plan is. They each have Horsemen-esque abilities and powers, and each subsequent use allows the Horsemen more and more hold over them.
- Death
- War (TAKEN)
- Famine (TAKEN)
- Pestilence (TAKEN)
I expect nothing less than at least one friend or love interest per each of you.
Supporting cast: (help i am running out of colors)
- Satan is now the creepy janitor. He has dark red skin and horns, but only the four Horsemen can see this. He goes by the alias of Bubba, and is known by the student base as Lucky. Everyone seems to like Lucky - he's always there to lend advice, which always goes bad for the asker (though they never seem to attribute this to Lucky). He likes to sow chaos and dissent among the Horsemen, trying to win them over one by one through subtle manipulation and promise. He bides his time preying on the vulnerable student base, especially the Goth kids.
- The angel Gabriel is also at Taylor West High School as the librarian, and spends his time attempting to undo Satan's tight hold over the student body. Gabriel's mission is to convince the Four Horsemen it is not time for their arrival
- Principal Andrews, a man struggling with his own faith and recent turn to atheism. He discovers that the Four Horsemen kids are somehow "otherworldly", and finds hints and signs to their true nature. He is slowly becoming an unwitting pawn of Satan.
- Cody Chambers and the Jocks. A bunch of grade A dicks who like to pick own some or all of the Horsemen, depending on who they are.
- Jane Chambers, Cody's twin sister. Best friend of War, or as she knows her, Samantha Grecco. Knows just how much of a jerk her brother is. She's cheerleader captain and knows most of the star athletes in school.
- Laura Hanley, the new girl, spends her time hanging out with Famine, Milos Ewen. Their relationship has advanced by bounds, and she's always nervous about taking it a step further - just a step, where she knows they need to be - but thinks about it often. He's just got this charisma.
- Lester Emerson is Milos' neighbor and good friend. He envies his buddy's ability to get pretty much anything done, but he'd never say that out loud. Lester also has a thing for Laura Hanley, but chooses to keep that silent as well - he knows he's no competition for Milos. There's a friction growing between the pair, something that won't see the light of day until it's too late.
- Sarah Carter, the private school kid, is a friend of Peter Thorn's. She is adventurous and playful, a big departure from the posh, strict life she's been groomed into, and is always trying to get Peter to help her do something stupid just for fun's sake.
- Will Hadley is a Thorn family friend who's always been there for Peter when he needed advice. Recently, he's noticed a change... something subtle that he can't quite place. He assumes drug use, but secretly knows it's much more than that.
I'm digging what we have so far.