[Closed] PSI*RUN

Whoever’s after you, you know one thing: they will stop at nothing to capture you and you’ll stop at nothing to stay free. The holes in your memory vie for attention with your startling abilities - stay one step ahead of the Chasers long enough to answer your questions
They took your life.
You got away.
They want you back
Run!
and hope your psychic powers don’t go wild.

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A Collaborative, story-telling, one-shot game using the Psi*Run system about amnesiacs with dangerous superpowers, on the run, slowly remembering who they are. Player-characters are the Runners. The GM controls the world and the Chasers.

Predicted Play Length: 4-6 Months.
Posting Frequency: 3-4 Posts per week.
Players: 2-3

Setting:
Near future with sci-fi, mutant, and/or mystical powers
Inspirations - The Fugitive, Heroes, The Bourne Identity etc…

Tone:
Serious action-adventure drama, with minor comedic elements-- but nothing goofy and wacky. Characters will encounter tough choices.

Playstyle:
Players will get to say meaningful things about the other character. Things that define them.
Improv/Collaboration comes first. Players often get to say what happens, not just the GM. Everyone is encouraged to contribute input-- then the group agrees on what happens.

The Rules:
Psi*Run’s main mechanic, the RISK SHEET, presents a set of reliable, specific procedures. Familiarity with the Risk Sheet is recommended, but learning it is not hard.

The Risk Sheet and Character sheets have everything you’ll need to play. A copy of the game is recommended, though not required.

Rated PG/TV:
Plan to match the content as if the game would appear on network television. Though destruction and ruin are possible, no gore or graphic depictions of harm. Before play, we will go over lines and veils. There is potential for exploration of deep philosophical and dramatical themes, but in this case-- we’ll try to keep it basic. Focus on action and adventure.

Resources:

http://nightskygames.com/pdfs/PsiRun-sheets.pdf

https://lumpley.itch.io/psirun

https://lumpley.games/2022/03/14/otherkind-dice/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmwiJ5-KFg8

Just trying to get a new game off the ground myself, Rabbits, or I'd pitch in here. If folks don't know Psi*Run, it's cool and works well in a PbP format.

Good luck rounding up interested parties!

Heartily agree.
Really, you think so? I keep coming back to it but then backing off because of PbP, were I playing in person it would be near the top of my list. There is a tactile element of picking up and placing the dice that is lost when not in person (though I have made it work clumsily in Roll20 and similar). It also has pre- as well as post-roll negotiations that can slow things down (but Psi*Run itself has less --and more obvious-- pre-roll choices than the other Otherkind Dice games I have made). I have done it PbP, and it works OK, but it is a little more PbP-clunky than other games by the Baker's (not counting Dogs, of course:).

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I highly recommend the Otherkind Dice article linked above to get a glimpse into the workings behind many things.

I don't think I have time to join, but don't hesitate to give me a shout if you need any help or advice.

I was thinking of making every roll its own thread.

The structure would have the In Character flow, then when the dice hit the table-- move it to the Risk Sheet thread, have a conversation there. Then I'd write a summary back in the IC thread. It would also make it easier to track the "you can't roll twice in a row rule."

And limited to maybe 3 questions per character to make for a faster game. (For those who've never played, once one character answers all of their character's questions, the game goes into an end phase.)

Any other suggestions.ideas on how to manage the Risk Sheet?

There is indeed some fuss around the rolling, but I'm thinking more along the lines of how each roll means a *lot* and drives all kinds of narrative. Only played it once over PbP and the rolls were momentous, but rare. Seemed to work okay.

They are indeed. :)

Before the dice come, really, since you first need to decide how many dice and which Risks are part of it, then deduct dice due to injuries and then roll and place.
That seems a bit extreme, but something needs to be done to manage the conversation, and that can work.

At first there may be a lot of discussion, but that should tamp down once players become familiar with how the rules work. It should boil down to "are you using your powers?", but even that becomes obvious when the player picks up the Psi die. You may need to discuss what they are trying to achieve with the roll, but that should become clear from the fiction that lead to the Significant Action (you only roll for Significant Actions).
I might be lenient on this rule in PbP, waiting for someone else to roll first can slow down play. It is about being fair and letting everyone get a chance, so, so long as that principle is maintained, I might allow double rolling. "can't roll twice in a row" does not protect you from two players alternating and dominating the conversation, just try to be fair on average and it should all work out. (Unless I am forgetting some other reason for that rule, it has been a while since I read the rules:)

In PbP you always have a written record of who rolled last and when last someone rolled, so a separate thread does not add much to that.

This also, of course, depends on ho often you end up rolling, which can be quite spaced out in PbP.

Remember that the way to end the game is to unlock memories, so rolling is needed to make that happen.
Sure, that keeps things neat. Heavy pre- and post-roll discussions in the IC thread can end up being messy.
Coming up with Questions is hard --the hardest part of this game-- though PbP does give more time to do so. Starting with 3 has seldom been a problem.

I would maybe think about changing how many questions need to be answered rather than how many questions need to be asked. Maybe let the players come up with all 6, but set the end condition at "answered 3". Having more questions gives more realm for thought, and more opportunities for something interesting to come up in the answers. Only asking 3 questions might require you to change the types of questions you suggest.
A visual representation of where dice have been placed can help the player decide --this part of the physical game design-- and I thought about incorporating On the fly Battle Maps or something like that into PbP, but am not sure it is worth it, and fiddling with such a tool might end up just distracting the player from what they are doing. If a player thinks it will help they can print the sheet and arrange the physical dice on it themselves, or place dice on a tablet showing the PDF or something.

It is also quite viable to just run through the sheet assigning dice by order of how important a thing is right now. Sometimes dice can be rearranged for better outcomes at no loss (4 Psi, 3 Harm can be changed to 3 Psi, 4 Harm with no change to Psi and a better Harm outcome, for instance), so some rearranging is helpful, the GM can point that sort of things out to the player if they can not immediately see this without a visual aid.

Thanks, Vague. Quite helpful.
I've used Owlbear Rodeo in the past to help place dice.
I would have to dust that off and see how best to integrate into PbP, probably a screenshot of some sort.

I prefer Owlbear Rodeo to Roll20, but Owlbear requires the GM's browser to be open at the time the player wants to (first) check the game. This is a bit of a problem with the asynchronous nature of PbP.

Each player can make their own rodeo so they can place dice (they would merely need the image of the Risk Sheet and images for the dice faces), but they can also, just as easily, use their preferred image editing program to do this, but Owlbear is probably easier to teach if they don't know any image editor.

It is also possible that the players can freely use the rodeo the GM set up after they have connected the first time, at least for a while. But that does mean they need to coordinate that first connection.

Roll20 and most of the other VTTs store the resources on their own servers (Owlbear has no servers) so, once the GM has uploaded a map and tokens, the players can connect anytime.

Chiming in to mention that Google Drawings offer a way to collaboratively edit and display a continuously-updated dice tray / sheet.