Director Awards: The Game

You can find the basic idea for the game here: RPG board game with shifting GM

Here is the list of cards.

Set up: every players picks a Director. Currently they are just called Two, Three, Four, Five and Six. (Use normal playing cards.)

Now every player picks three random Profession cards, plus two Advantages, two Disadvantages, one Item and one Connection. //Gender card??///Motivation card??//

He places one Profession in each of his three Cast areas: Protagonist, Support and Antagonist. The player puts two of the other cards in each of the three areas, whatever way preferred.

Example: Players gets Scoundrel / Rogue, Gun Nut and Prostitute. Also: Advantages: Tough, Rich, Marksman; Disadvantages: Slow and Phlegmatic. Item: Secret File Connection: Mafia //Stud, Girl, Female//The player goes for: Protagonist: Gun Nut, Tough, Phlegmatic Support: Prostitute, Rich, Secret File Antagonist: Scoundrel, Marksman, Mafia

Next he picks 2 Location cards and plays one in the centre of the table. The 2nd one the player keeps in his hand.

Example: Laundry, Motel. The player puts Motel in the centre of the table.

After every player has set up their cast, each player picks a Relation card. And plays it to one of the players' Cast members on his right. He decides who of his cast is related that way to whom from the other cast. And keeps the card next to his cast member that it relates to.

Example: 2nd players gets Ex Asylum Inmate, Detective, Soldier; Charismatic, Fighter; Short Fused, Brainwashed; Map; Corporation 

The player goes for: Protagonist: Ex Asylum Inmate, Short Fused, Fighter; Support: Soldier, Charismatic, Short Fused; Antagonist: Detective, Map, Corporation; He also got the locations Police Station and Prison, and decides to play Police Station. 

Now both players pick a Relation card: Player one gets _______________ has been a friend to me when others were prejudiced. He decides to play it from his Protagonist to player 2's antagonist (the Scoundrel). Player gets _______________ saved me from certain doom, and I must repay them. and plays it from his Protagonist to player 1's Support (the prostitute).

After this set up phase, the director for the 1st Act is decided randomly, by picking a card with the Number of the director.

The aim of the game is create the most exciting story with the current set up (and hopefully not pissing off any of the players). After every Director directed an act, the game is over and an anonymous voting for the best director and winner takes place.

The director picks specific antagonists and their connections as well as Moves! to attack the Protagonists and Support. He sets scenes at locations and sets the Motivational or Drama Framework that lures the Cast in.

The Director also decides at this point, which Locations (from all the players' played out cards) will be featured in which act/phase (one per each of the three phases) and what Characters and Events are featured there. The Director does not need to note this down or prove it by card. He should be able to change and improvise during the game, if he comes up with a more stringent development. But having a set up before the game really starts gives a good framework as starting point.

The Non Directors of the Act play their characters and get (or spend?) points for invoking their cards.

Protagonists have plot immunity, but can lose cards while support characters can potentially die, as can villains. But the role of a character can shift. Still someone is always gonna be the a protagonist.

Example: A Move! card played by the the Director can have the outcome on Actor failure that the protagonist has to shift role with antagonist or support, or that the support dies.

All three roles can be banned for the rest of the act. For example through injury or imprisonment.

The Director plays all the Support and Antagonists, he can also play his own Protagonist. Support and Protagonist of the same player have a special Bond that gives a bonus on reaction rolls (card picks??) to each other. Antagonists collect bonus points (experience or spotlight points) that make them stronger, by showing up / foreshadowing.

Romance scenes gives bonus points?

Savage Synnibarr: Cloudpuncher's Secret Chamber

After having entered Captain Cloudpuncher's house in the giant's city of Ship's Home, Trush - in giant baby form -, Dita and Douro chat with Cloudpuncher's mother and her niece. The mother asks Dita who was the woman with whom he had the child, but Dita is able not to spill the beans and just giving vague answers. Douro decides to leave the house in the meantime to check the surrounding streets.

Dita releases Cloudpuncher's ghost from her Ghost Lamp. She asks him to float upstairs and retrieve his slave trade journal. But while he at first promises help, he does not return from upstairs - even after 20 minutes. But as soon as he is free he starts mocking her, calling her a stupid b for taking him to the place that he wanted to spend his afterlife and that he knew making her survive as a kid could pay off one day. He tells her that upstairs in his realm, he is nearly invincible. Then he disappears floating through the door.

Dita decides to send more ghosts upstairs after him: three dead soldiers, a creepy girl and a winged unicorn. One of them returned after some time, telling that Cloudpuncher's ghost disappeared behind a secret door upstairs - in a room that is protected from any magic or supernatural interference with magic traps.

In the meantime the young women decided to bring giant baby Trush to bed in the other room downstairs. Cloudpuncher's mother joins her. Dita has asked before, if she could stay one night in the house and is offered a sleeping place in the kitchen.

The two female inhabitants sleep soon and baby Trush sneaks out of the bed he shares with Cloudpuncher's mother and meets Dita in the hallway. They ghosts have told them to take care of a trapdoor on the staircase and that way they are able to overstep the wire activating it.

Upstairs they know to pick the left door and while it is locked, Dita can open it easily with her Amazon's Toolkit. She and Trush enter Cloudpuncher's bedroom. The ghosts told Dita about the secret passage under the panels, but she does not know the password. Trush is able to find a microphone though and  computer system that controls the secret door. With his Computer Domination ability he easily takes full control of the system and opens the wall.

He and Dita are able to enter Cloudpuncher's secret chamber: a room with a desk and many maps as well as a stuffed Winged Giant Grizzly that is five meters tall. The bear is standing on a box that seems to contain Cloudpuncher's secret slave trade journal. On a second glimpse the grizzly actually looks too lifelike - especially in the eyes - to be stuffed. Dita lifts the giant bear with her telekinetic powers and Trush steps towards the box that seems to be glued to the bear's feet. But as soon as Trush touches it, the bear comes to life and shoots laser beams from his eyes at Dita. She gets hit and barely is able to dodge in a way that her shoulder is only superficially burnt. She is still holding the bear with telekinesis and Trush is pushing away the box. She releases a chi shout but the bear is not even registering. She realises that Cloudpuncher's ghost has manifested in it.

Dita comes up with a plan. She tells Trush to leave the room as fast as possible and follows him. As soon as they are out, she lets Trush lock the secret door via the computer system. With all the anti magical barriers in place, Cloudpuncher should be locked in his secret room forever.

Dita and Trush look at the content of the box: there really is the journal in it. The big leather bound notebook contains all slave trade related business transactions written in ink. Dita is able to find her brother: he was sold to a person called Lady Strahd. It seems Cloudpuncher has a bimonthly meeting point with her a mountain range not to far from Ship's Home. She is buying young boys at all these occasions.

Next to the journal there are shackles in the box. Dita is able to feel that those are not ordinary shackles, but some made out of Venderant Nalaberong, the only power being able to withstand gods. These Venderant Nalaberong Shackles of Eternity are able to bind even a god for time neverending.

As the fight with the bear  - especially the chi shout - made some noise, even with closed magic barrier doors, Trush decided to return to his baby role. He steps back on the stairsteps crying. Actually Cloudpuncher's mother really woke up and came to the halllway. Trush pretends to stumble down the stairs and right into her arms. She is relieved and brings him back into her bed.

Pen and Paper RPG Actual Play List (English)

This list collects Actual Plays of pen and paper roleplaying games session that actually were entertaining for me to listen to.

The Dark Eye - Im Spinnenwald (Spider Forest)
This game literally takes 15 two hour sessions to take off, but once it it starts following the adventure, it gets fun. I link to that specific session.

An RPG Board Game: Everyone has a turn as Gamemaster

I have never in my life encountered a board game that was able to simulate the open structure of an RPG. Lately I came up with a new approach that maybe can solve this issue.

One of the problem those games encounter is that they require preparation of a GM not to stay very static. While in an RPG being the GM is the reward in itself, this breaks down in a board game simulation of an RPG.

My approach is to make every player the GM in each session of the game.

My basic idea was: elements are randomly shuffled around before the (sub)game starts and the GM of that section tries to create a story/ an adventure based on this card.

After half an hour his turn is over and the next player, becomes the GM. There are two different ways for it to play out: a completely new story starts, or the new GM continuous the current one.

At the end of the game - after everyone took turns - the winner is the one who gets most votes for his or her adventure. This voting process should be anonymous. And it should be split in to multiple categories. Additionally voting for best "normal" player can take places. Even splitting it up, for best actor, strategist, etc.

A potential title would be: Storyteller Power Hour, although something based on the theme of the cards could also make sense.
"The Oscar goes to" would be a title if you want to make it more mainstream. In this case creating a random title for the story/ movie would also be fun. Another option would be "Director Awards".

Actually you don't even need cards: a set of tables should do the job as well.

Categories for cards or tables could for example be:
Profession
Strength
Weakness
Location
Items

Here you can find a list of attributes for random generation.