a game about gossip
I want to share my thought process on a gossip themed game.
The initiating question, that got me going was: what if the elements of a Charactersheet weren't static, but interchangeable? Usable by any person at the table.
You ask: "But why would anyone want to do that and how would that even make sense thematically?"
Hold my hand, we will figure this out together.
In order to define the elements that make up my character, I first was thinking about, what is there about other people that can be used to our advantage, without having to take control of them directly...
Spoiler: INFORMATION
...uuuh, yeas- information is the key. Information isn't static and can be shared, or kept secret, it can be taken and at the right circumstances, be used to anyone's advantage.
There is also potential for shenanigans, by spreading secrets and creating false statements, that might latch on to you like an icky, hot piece of gossip.
how would this look like?
Let's start defining a character with a couple of descriptors:
Sam - beautiful nails (looks), soccer-jock (social standing), fancy car (material), gullible (personality), in love (secret).
As we can see, information could be anything. //And even though I like the idea, that everyone might have a secret they try to keep, I also think a fun aspect could be, to try to come up with ideas, of how to make the "boring" information work to your advantage as well.
give me some movement
First we need to setup a scene. One person will set a scene with at least one other character present. Whenever the character chooses to use a descriptor to enhance the scene, one of the following things will happen:
a) that piece of Information will be passed on to either the person narrating the scene, or to another person, with whom the character has interacted within the scene. Information is being shared.
b) if you want to use one of YOUR descriptors, that has been passed around already, you can claim it back. If you do so however, the person that was holding on to it, will add Information and people will be talking about it...
the effect
The ideas of the players become the base element of the game, bouncing around and interacted with directly.
We will witness during the course of the game, how information will travel, connect and distort over time and how a narrative will take shape.
We can also see movement within the amount of information that you own and gain during the course of the game. Due to "the threat" of running low on information and thus, playable elements, the players will intrinsically feel encouraged to set a scene and share the spotlight.
At least I hope that would be the case.