System: A Suburban Apocalypse
The Game
A floating blue holographic screen that appears when you say “status.” Monsters that spawn in your neighborhood. Electronics have suddenly stopped working, and your neighbor Frank is carrying around a sword the size of a door. It appears reality has been replaced with some sort of System, and it is leading to some sort of Apocalypse.
What I Like About This One
The idea of a ‘system apocalypse’ is intriguing to me. It suggests that, given an alternative set of values (survival, understanding of gaming tropes), different people would end up being particularly successful. It skirts objectivism in much the same way that superhero stories do. But it’s also just kinda fun to think about - what if reality was suddenly governed by Final Fantasy rules? What if the world was suddenly a reality tv show run by aliens and the challenges often resulted in mass murder? What if there was a weekly competition where you could fight to get your resources instead of having to go to a job you hate and do work for people you barely tolerate?
What I’d Do Differently Next Time
This idea really, really wants to be a much bigger game. Like, a 4E style powers-based game or a PbtA game or something. It wants cronch so goddamn bad. Out of all the games I’ve made this month, this is the best candidate for expanding into standard publication size.