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Scoring mechanic for a story game about making monsters.

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Level27Geek
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So, I decided to enter the 200 word RPG challenge this year. I am pretty happy with the game, especially as far as "200 word" games go. I have received some good feedback and would like to expand and tweak some things.

The game is a collaborative monster creator, with some boardgame mechanics on top. Instead of writing about it, I will just post it here as it is only 200 words.

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Liber Monstri

You are scholars writing a guide to monsters. You have travelled for months collecting rumors about different beasts. Now, you meet again to write up your findings.

Rumors: on scraps of paper write monster aspects: looks, abilities, origins, weakness, etc. Combined, all players should have at least 30 rumors. Mix them into single pile.

On your turn draw a rumor. Narrate it, recount the tale of the person who encountered the monster. Put the rumor in the center of the table. Play continues clockwise.

All new information should build on what is already established. Contradicting information needs to explained. Other players vote, majority wins. If vote is against you, the monster is proven not real. Discard all the current rumors. Next player starts a new monster.

After narrating you can declare the monster complete by naming it. Collect all the current rumors and put them in front of you. Next player starts a new monster.

After the rumor pile is empty, roll a d10 for each monster in front of you. Roll equal or lower than the number of rumors in this monster to score a point. Most points wins.

Feel free to write down and share your creations. #LiberMonstri
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I am happy with the core of the game - narrating randomized rumors and making up stories to add up to creation of a monster. Since the contest, I have tweaked the rules a bit, the biggest tweak is that each player draws 2 rumors each turn and chooses which one to play.

During the game, players would create multiple monsters together. The problem I run into is knowing when to finish a particular monster. I tried to solve this with this basic scoring mechanic, but it is not working well.

As it is now, the only group that does not have problems with the game rules are "story gamers." This is thanks to their "knowledge" of story and narration centric games. I would like the game to be accessible to traditional roleplayers and maybe even curious boardgamers. This is where some clear, boardgame-like, rules would come in handy.

What kind of scoring would you recommend so each player wants to add to a monster, but also there is an incentive for "finishing" a monster?

Basically, I am happy with the core mechanic (play random rumor, narrate it), but I need clear rules that encourage people to finish monsters when they have at least few rumors attached to them.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

andymakespasta
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Interesting concept. Since

Interesting concept.

Since you want players to incorporate rumors successfully, you should be rewarding points based on that.
And since adding rumors becomes successively harder, maybe you should also give more points as there are more rumors in the pile.

From a rules perspective (I know RPGS don't work like board games), since only the guy who completed the monster gets points, people are incentivized to complete the monster on their turn. Perhaps make it difficult to complete (have to narrate both rumors) to name a monster?

Another suggestion, if the monsters could cross reference, basically, a player could incorporate completed monsters in their narration, this would make the world more interesting. Perhaps reward players with "proof" tokens, that can be used to sway a vote, if they can reference a completed monster and get that passed.

Good luck!

Level27Geek
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This is awesome advice

This is awesome advice andymakespasta! Thanks! This actually changed my thinking about how scoring can work, because I was stuck in that single mindset for days now!

We can turn the scoring around. Earn points not by finishing monsters, but adding rumors and narrating them. After all this is what the game is about, so players should be rewarded for that!

Finishing a monster can be the random aspect of the game. Because if you finish a monster, you can stop the next player from gaining extra points. To check if the monster is finished, you roll a die. If you roll equal or less to the number of rumors, the monster is finished. Otherwise it stays in play and the next player will have a go.

I think this could solve the issue I had. I will need to test it a bit. The amount of points should be the deciding factor here. 1 point per rumor doesn't change anything (the next player will get 1 point no matter if the monster is finished or not). One point for the number of rumors in this monster (so you get 5 points for adding the fifth rumor) might be too math heavy and open to some game breaking strategies. Any ideas how to make that balanced?

I am curious what other ideas are there to solve the scoring/finishing of the monster problem.

Tedthebug
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I was confused, so this may not work

This sounds fun, & a simplified version for kids would be interesting to see.

I was confused about how the monster is completed so this may not work, but what if players could steal a completed monster of less than x-rumours from another player if they can successfully add another attribute/rumour to it?

This would stop players from completing them too soon. They also can't add a rumour to a monster that they already own. You could keep the random aspect by making them roll a d10 > the number of rumours in the monster they want in order to deactivate it, but if they fail the roll the next player gets that rumour that had been drawn plus the new one they draw to use which means that those 2 rumours may help that next player complete a monster that was still being built in the centre of the board.

Level27Geek
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I like the stealing idea, it

I like the stealing idea, it would solve the problem...but I am not sure if it will fit within the narrative. After all you are a group of monster researchers...

...but then again, it is not unheard of one researcher claiming someone's else findings. Still not sure if I want to include stealing , I will need to think about that a bit more.

I am glad you like it. I know it is a bit confusing right now, it assumes the reader is familiar with concepts from story games. I think once I will write it all up without the 200 word limit it will be easy enough for kids to play as well.

Tedthebug
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Stealing

You are right, researchers can try to steal other people's work but researchers are also often working on the same thing at the same time, or they do additional research to find out more information about something someone else researched. Adding the dice roll to unlock the monster for additional research would minimise how often it happens if the safety tier was high enough that the dice roll needed was harder & harder.

Once you set a scoring target & lock monsters in players will naturally aim for the minimum required to win knowing that the monsters are safe at that point so you could end up with a player advantage for whoever gets the first turn at making the monster at that safe point.

Could you add a wound mechanic where the researcher plays the wound they got, as a part of the narration, to then help prove the monsters existence? If the wounds were silly enough, like losing both arms, any future monster they then try to claim needs to also account for having no arms, e.g. Lying on the ground I held the rifle up with my toes&, using a hooked stick between my teeth, leaned back & pulled the trigger.m the blast took off 3 toes in my left foot. Etc etc. the wounds could have a score based on how ridiculous they are but also have tiered scores for the value they add to each subsequent monster the player proves exists whilst taking into account that previous injury.

Level27Geek
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I like the idea of wounds a

I like the idea of wounds a lot and I think I will incorporate it in some way. I like how it works on both narrative and mechanical fronts. I think that incorporating it each time you play a rumor would be an overkill, but as a punishment, maybe for stealing monsters?

What I think of the game, I think concentrating on a single monster at a time would make the game more streamlined and avoid confusion trying to remember multiple facts about multiple monsters.

Maybe change the game flow a bit? One player starts a monster by playing a rumor and narrating. Once this player has finished he can pass the play to the next player OR declare the monster finished. Then, any other player can declare that they think they have more information about it. They roll. If it is above the current rumor count, they can take over this monster and add to it. If the roll is below or equal to the current rumor count, they take a wound?
...I think this might be something.

Tedthebug
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Wounds

Yeah, that sounds good. Maybe the wound mechanic can only be played in conjunction with a steal & additional rumour as well so it isn't to easy to do but is possible? That way stealing can be done but not to often, & once a monster has a wound played on it it can't be stolen again?

I think this is sounding really interesting, simple & yet has plenty of room for variation from game to game. Well done, I'll be interested to see the final cut.

ElKobold
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You could have every player

You could have every player go clockwise, drawing n rumors and adding one to their monster. If there's a contradiction, the rumor is discarded, but the monster remains. Next player gets a go. Play continues, until there are no more rumors left to draw. At that point the player with the biggest monster (most rummors) wins.

That way you will have a finit number of rounds and clear winner, without dice rolling (not sure if dice are needed in a game like this).

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