[Ghost Bike Club] A more complete draft of the game

The idea behind Ghost Bike Club is twofold. The first goal is to create a game targeted to appeal to Portlanders instead of gamers. The second goal is to create something that's easy to learn and play, doesn't require any set up, supplies or props and can be played anywhere. I've completed the first super rough draft of the game and I feel like I'm getting to where I want to be. Right now the text is messy, unorganized and really needs examples. The ideas are a little stiff and need to be more clearly articulated. But I think it's getting there.

I posted the first half of this first draft last week. You can see it here. here's the second half, with all the rules and stuff.

Feedback is welcome.

jake

The mystery of the ghost cyclist

The ghosts of cyclists trapped in the Ghost World rarely have the power to assume a human shape or communicate with the Ghost Bike Club. Instead, these ghosts leave cryptic messages and images that act as Clues to their true identity and place of death. It’s up to the Ghost Bike Club to gather these strange Clues and bring them back to the Real World.

In the Real World the Club Members will use their Clues to find out who the ghost cyclist was and where he was killed. We’ll try to puzzle out our ghost’s identity be interviewing witnesses, searching public records and examining police reports. If we read our Clues right we’ll be able to turn them into Facts and unravel this mystery, putting our cyclist to rest once and for all.

How do we play?

A game of Ghost Bike Club is a story we all tell together. We have rules that help us tell this story, and dice to make sure things don’t always go the way we want them to. Because really, what story is fun when the characters always get their way?

During the game each of us will be acting the part of the Club Member we created. We’ll be addressing each other as if we were those Club Members. It’s easy to think of this game as a group exercise in improvised acting. If we want to we can act out all our lines, throwing in voices and accents. That’s a lot of fun. But we can also refer to our Club Members in the 3^rd person if we want. That’s fine too.

Our story will be broken up into several scenes. We’ll all work together to describe what’s happening in each scene and where each scene takes place. There’s some simple stuff we’re going to want to describe at the beginning of each scene. First off, we want to decide where we are and what we’re doing. Are we eating breakfast at Kornblats in NW Portland? Are we standing in line for tickets at the Clinton Street Theatre? Are we riding dinosaurs through the swamps of the Ghost World? Let’s go ahead and set the rest of the scene as well. How’s the weather? What time of day is it? Is there anyone else important around?

Mechanics get to describe scenes that take place in the Real World, while Psychics describe scenes that take place in the Ghost World. But this doesn’t mean that other players can’t contribute as well. Feel free to make suggestions any time you have a good idea.

These are the scenes we’ll play through during the game:

The Opening Scene

Into the Ghost World

Back to the Real World

Investigations (we’ll probably do a few of these)

Placing the ghost bike

The Opening Scene: Our opening scene starts with all the Club Members gathered together in one place. We’ve been contacted by the ghost of a dead cyclist, and it’s time for us to spring into action!

What do we describe?: Go ahead and set the scene by describing all the basic stuff. The place where we’ve gathered during this scene is probably the Ghost Bike Clubs home base. Is this someone’s house, a favorite restaurant? A park? We can all decide this together. Maybe we meet up after work at our favorite Korean place? Or maybe we have a super secret hideout in the basement of PSU!

What are we doing?: During this scene each of us will describe how the ghost of the cyclist called out to us. Some of us might have experienced only a slight chill and the certainty that someone needed our help. Possibly we received cryptic messages from phantom cell phones or email accounts. Maybe the ghost of the cyclist manifested itself to one of us late at night. The experience will have been different for each of us, and each of us gets to describe our ghost story in our own way. We all know that we must help put this cyclist to rest by honoring him with a ghost bike. Once we’ve each shared our stories we’ll be ready to step into the Ghost World and search for Clues.

Into the Ghost World: There’s a ghost cyclist who must be put to rest. Our psychic will guide us into the Ghost World, where we will try to find our fist clue to the cyclist’s identity.

What do we describe?: We’ll start by letting the Psychic describe our transit into the Ghost World. Once there we’ll be constantly inventing that world’s unique shapes and settings. The psychic gets to describe what happens in the Ghost World, but that doesn’t mean that the rest of us can’t suggest weird and crazy stuff as well!

What are we doing?: We’re going to explore and search for Clues! Think of the Ghost World as a giant puzzle that we have to unravel. As we explore the Ghost World we’ll get to describe the strange things we’ll encounter. We’ll also run up against challenges that we’ll have to overcome. Fail a challenge and one of us will likely be injured or killed! We’ll have to work together to find the Clues we need and escape the Ghost World

unharmed.

Back to the Real World: We’ve escaped from the Ghost World with a clue. Now it’s time to search for answers in the real world and turn that Clue into a Fact!

What do we describe?: We’ll start be describing the place where we exit the Ghost World and enter the Real World. We’re going to continue to describe everything we encounter in the Real World, including friends and strangers, our homes and anything else. Remember, the Ghost World will be trying to trick us back. We’ll get to describe the elements of the Ghost World that seep over into our Real World as well!

What are we doing?: We have our Clue, now it’s time to use it to find the truth! But doing so won’t be easy, and we’re certain to run up against challenges that we must overcome. We’ll keep working at the puzzle of the cyclist’s identity, and if we make the right connections and ask the right questions we may be able to put all the pieces together and lay our ghost to rest! But we’ll have to be careful, because the Ghost World has had a taste of us and wants us back. The more we struggle and fail the more it will try to take hold of us!

Investigations: It may take us more then a single trip to the Ghost World to gather the clues we need to uncover the cyclist’s identity. And it may be that we have to ask a lot of questions and follow a lot of leads before we can apply those clues in the Real World.

What do we describe: Investigation scenes can take place in either the Real or Ghost World. We’ll be describing the same kind of things that we did during the previous scenes. Keep in mind that each trip to the Ghost World should be more bizarre and involving then the last!

What are we doing?: During the Investigations scenes we’ll be struggling against challenges to put the pieces of the puzzle together using Clues from the Ghost World and research in the Real World. If we obtain Clues from the Ghost World and overcome our challenges in the Real World then we’ll uncover the cyclist’s identity and can move on to placing the ghost bike!

Placing the ghost bike: This is the end of the journey. We’ve discovered who the mystery cyclist was and where he was killed. Now we’ll place a ghost bike on that spot to put his spirit to rest.

What do we describe?: This is the final scene of our adventure, and we should make sure to make it as dramatic, emotional or memorable as possible. We should each take turns describing our feelings and reactions as we place the ghost bike and finally put the spirit to rest.

What are we doing?: This scene is the emotional capstone of our game. Let’s take a moment to allow the members of the Ghost Bike Club to reflect on what they’ve been through and see how the experience has brought them together or drove them apart.

Challenges and “the Ghost Die”

Besides this book and some players, the only thing we need to play this game is a normal 6-sided die. We’ll call this “the Ghost Die”.

During each scene our Club Members will be working through a series of challenges to achieve a goal. In the Ghost World these challenges are imagined and described by the Psychic, and our goal is to escape the Ghost World unharmed with a Clue. In the Real World these challenges are imagined and described by the Mechanic, and our goal is to turn our Clues into Facts and solve the mystery of the ghost cyclist’s identity.

Each scene will start with a simple challenge, and if we can overcome this challenge then more difficult obstacles will be put in our way. The closer we get to reaching our goal the more difficult our challenges will become!

How does this work? The Mechanic or Psychic will describe a challenge. One of the Club Members will roll the Ghost Die to try to overcome the challenge. If the roll is a success then the challenge is overcome and we can move on to the next one. If the roll fails then we’ll have to try again. Perhaps we need to approach the problem from a different angle?

To succeed at a scene’s first challenge we must roll a 2+ on the Ghost Die. Which is pretty easy. But it will get tougher after that. To succeed at the second challenge we must roll a 3+. The third challenge requires a 4+. And so on. To beat the scene and reach our goal we must pass 5 challenges, on the last one rolling a 6.

Success: If we beat all the challenges then we’ve reached our goal! In the Ghost World this means we’ve escaped back to the Real World unharmed and discovered a Clue. In the Real World a success means that we’ve used our Clue to discover a Fact about the ghost cyclist.

Failure: Overcoming challenges isn’t easy. If we fail three rolls during a scene then we won’t reach our goal and we’ll have to suffer the consequences.  Losing a scene in the Real World means that we are flung back into the Ghost World, where we will start a new scene. Losing a scene in the Ghost World is even more dangerous. When we lose a scene in the Ghost World one of us is hurt either mentally or physically. The shock of this injury will send us back to the Real World, but the damage will linger. For the next scene the Club Member who was hurt will roll the Ghost Die twice to overcome challenges, always choosing the lower result.

Clues: Whether we succeed or fail in the Ghost World, we’ll always be able to learn something important and return to the Real World with a Clue.

Facts: You’ll need to turn Clues into Facts to beat this game. Before the game starts you should decide how long you want to play. If you want a short game then you’ll only need one Fact. If you want a longer game then you’ll need two Facts. Once we gather the required number of Facts we’ll have solved the mystery of the Ghost Cyclist and can move on to the “Placing the ghost bike” scene.

Club Points: If we successfully beat a scene in the Real World, instead of turning a Clue into a fact we can choose to gain a Club Point. Club Points can be used during any Real World scene to allow one of us to re-roll a failed die. Club Points can also be saved till the end of the game to buy Traits.

Ghost Points: If we successfully beat a scene in the Ghost World, instead discovering a Clue we can choose to gain a Ghost Point. Ghost Points can be used during any Ghost World scene to allow one of us to re-roll a failed die. Ghost Points can also be saved till the end of the game to buy Traits.

Traits: During our game we may acquire some Ghost or Club Points. If we have any of these after the game is over we can use them to buy Traits for our Club Members.  A Trait allows a Club Member to re-roll a failed during a challenge under certain circumstances. Investigators and Cyclists can already do this if they are asking questions or moving fast. Buying a Trait allows your Club Member to do this under other circumstances as well. Choose a Trait from this list or invent one of your own.

Liar, Joker, Lover, Faithful, Compassionate, etc

Traits each cost one point. These Traits will come in handy if we decide to play the game again.