Making Art Pieces
Before you run this with anybody, it's very important that you have them MAKE some artistic creations. Preferably a handful of different things, the more the better. It doesn't really matter what medium they are in, but everyone making a variety of things is also good.
Don't worry about the quality, just use whatever time and skills you have. Using things you've made for a purpose other than this game is in bad taste. What matters is that it's creative, and that you made it yourself. Oh: and that the creator gives each piece it's own title.
Beyond this: only tell players that this is for a game you're running. The less information or knowledge they have beforehand, the better.
If possible: providing the art supplies & the structured time to do all this before the game is ideal.
Okay, all set?
Now give everybody a chance to share and discuss their work :)
Okay, all set for real now?
Character Creation
Each piece of art that the players have created is not only one of the many pieces in the art exhibition that the game takes place in, but it will also be one of the player characters they may control for this game.
Each player may select one Piece created by themselves or another player to be their character. If this Piece were to be destroyed or otherwise defeated during the course of play, they may simply select another one of the unchosen pieces to roll up as their next character.
Each Piece has four characteristics for the sake of play:
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It's Title, which acts as your name of course.
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It's Appearance, which is what you generally look like. Feel free to anthropomorphise Pieces however you wish, such that they generally have the capabilities of your average person.
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It's Medium, which one of your abilities is based on from the list below. In the case of mixed media, pick whichever feels the most appropriate.
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If this Piece is a sculpture, crafted piece, or another form of tangible object: your presence is more solid and tactile compared to many other Pieces. As such: only another Piece which shares this Medium may directly harm you through physical violence. Other Mediums may still harm you indirectly through the use of traps, hazards, gravity, etc. There's also nothing stopping them from doing other things like imprisoning you, cursing you, etc.
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If this Piece is a painting, photograph, or another form of 2D art: then any optical illusion that you arrange may be treated as real and interacted with, as long as all observers immediately present are viewing it with an angle and lighting that would make the illusion seem real. For example: a black smudge painted on a wall may be a real hole when viewed directly from the front, or you may lift an entire building in one hand if the perspective makes it look tiny. All it takes is one observer stepping out of line to prevent this though.
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If this Piece is a film or another piece of "moving" content: you have a Runtime of about 100 Minutes, give or take an additional 3d6 Minutes. This is a timer, that ticks down for every real-life minute that passes once play starts. Once it hits 0, you rag-doll and drop dead on the spot. You may also spend your Minutes to manipulate time using any of the options below:
- (10 Minutes) Montage: Anything that would be possible through good old manual labor, you can achieve by yourself in a quick montage.
- (10 Minutes) Transition: You can fade, jump cut, wipe, etc. to instantly move your party to any location in the exhibition they have been to before. No explanation is needed for how you got here or how you got out of the situation you were in before- like a dream you're all just there. When you arrive, an Encounter happens and the pot resets (see below).
- (10 Minutes) Slow-mo: Everything slows down into bullet time- until either you release it, you leave this area of the exhibition, or you lose consciousness. During Slow-mo: stop your timer. You can dodge and outmanoeuvre anything that moves. You can take as much time as you want to think on a problem, even in the middle of danger. You have perfect clarity, with all the time you need to process any emotions you're experiencing. You are in control.
- (X Minutes) Time Lapse: For every Minute you choose to expend, you may age whatever you are touching by one whole Year.
- (10 Minutes) Montage: Anything that would be possible through good old manual labor, you can achieve by yourself in a quick montage.
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If this Piece is a poem, song, or other written work: you can speak any of the words or phrases that make you up in order to force a target to experience a specific sensation, emotion, or question they must seriously consider. You may use your words as written, or you can feel free to remix them on the spot.
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It's Message, which your main ability is based on. Write this out Cottonmouth-style with your play group, as a single simply phrased Law of reality which is uniquely True for your character. You can base this purely on the content of a piece, but feel free to also go for as deep an interpretation as desired.
Rules
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Regardless of what they are made of or how they are shaped, every Piece is assumed somehow capable of doing anything a typical climbing, swimming, rope-swinging adventuring type is capable of unless specifically stated otherwise.
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Similarly: the constructions of their bodies offer them no special properties compared to an average human, unless stated otherwise by their Medium or Message.
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Characters don't have Inventories per se; just what they can immediately carry on their person or drag around.
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How do humans interact with sentient Pieces of art? They won't, don't think so hard about it. Focus on the mood and feeling of it, don't make a YouTube Video Essay about how this is actually all a dream happening in the mind of a dying artist.
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Don't worry about Food, Sleep, etc. The game takes place in one dream-like night. Also you are pieces of art.
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A Piece may only harm another if:
- A.) they possess a weapon of some sort, even just a blunt object
- B.) there are no obvious obstacles or other impediments at play preventing them from using that weapon (e.g. distance between them and the target, the target wearing armour, target is behind cover from bullets, etc)
- C.) their victim is unable or unwilling to put up any resistance
if all of these are true, then a Piece may declare whatever damages or injuries are inflicted on their victim as they wish.
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If Initiative were to be required, the party all goes first on a single turn; followed by any NPCs present all acting on a single turn; and so on.
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Whenever your party does something attention-grabbing or enters an unexplored room/keyed area, add 1d6 to a central pot and then roll all dice currently in the pot. On 20+, an Encounter occurs and the pot empties.
When in doubt, the GM shall provide any other necessary rulings.
Scenario
You are all Pieces of art within an exhibition that's been touring for a couple years. In that time, countless thousands of faces have sneered at you like a sea of stippling dots before shuffling and shifting on.
The droning docents with their sharp uniforms and polished buttons must have delivered the same speeches about you to every half-asleep school child in the country. All of the little yellowed notecards read the same:
The same circus prancing in front of your cages, day in and day out.
Only... today is different. Instead of being packaged up in neat little boxes with bubble wrap and packing peanuts to be moved on, some pieces were left on display as normal. Others were taken and just heaped up in great piles in the backrooms. Many were taken and just tossed about the place as part of a game, with a few even being destroyed beyond repair.
As the staff laughed and played, they talked of a great speech which will happen in the morning. A speech, which will be followed by a great conflagration.
But that is then, and for now it is still the night before.
And by whatever mercy can be found in this world, you and your fellows all have found will enough to try and escape however you can.
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| This little game will be set in contemporary time and place, but I hope the inspiration for it is very clear. |
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