And Now Over To You

[Pete]

For immediate release.

You're running.

Your destination: the arcology headquarters of the Topps Guinness megacorp. Your goal: the fat injection vats of Project Canabalt. In your way... an alien invasion; the savage slums and gibbering mutants of the irradiated Undercity; the glittering ramparts of the David Morrissey sector block; the relentless Judges of Mega City One's Justice Department.

All you have are your wits, your Vibram Five Fingers, a massive VO2 max capacity, a heart pumped full of tiger blood, and an unstoppable drive. You also know kung-fu. Winning will not be enough; you'll need to be Bi-Winning to stand even half a chance.

You're running. You'll only stop when you're dead.

Canabalt is a tabletop role-playing game that fuses together emerging trends from the indie hippie role-playing scene with the innovation and energy of the indie video game scene.

• just the one character - Canabalt - shared among 2-40 players
• revolving GM-ful play
• just one scene in the game, played repeatedly, In A Grove style
• mashes up greasy pub dominoes with the hit video game Canabalt
• games are ~20 minutes long
• a Mega City One classic along the lines of The Song of the Surfer
• noir-parkour that Empire never said "ranks up there with Brick and District 13"

Canabalt will be released in Q4 2011, probably at Furnace.

It's the best work I've never written.

[Magus]

I feel even less organiser-like when it comes to this event. I have posted on Story Games asking for some tips but an idea I did have was to design an RPG that could be played within a time-limited period, such as 15 minutes, 30 minutes or an hour. It was based on this post of John Harper's which shows how to explain dirty hippy games to neophytes.

I was asked at Dragonmeet last year if we wanted some space to have an indie games section (dunno whether the offer is still there). I like the idea of having games to seduce people normally used to playing longer more trad RPGs into the hippy ethic. Also I rather like the idea of a game you can play in your lunch break or while you're waitning around of an evening for all the members of your regular play group to pitch up.

Thoughts?

[ncmreynolds]

I was asked at Dragonmeet last year if we wanted some space to have an indie games section (dunno whether the offer is still there).

There was chat of this again on Saturday, do we want to pursue this?

Do we want to have a go at the 'design day'? I've got the bloody dominoes now.

[Magus]

I was asked at Dragonmeet last year if we wanted some space to have an indie games section (dunno whether the offer is still there).

There was chat of this again on Saturday, do we want to pursue this?

I've e-mailed Neil Ford about this but haven't heard yet. Perhaps I'll start a thread in the Dragonmeet section.

Do we want to have a go at the 'design day'? I've got the bloody dominoes now.

I'm not sure - I set up a thread about a design event and not had any interest. **sobs** :"(
I was wondering if this is a bit too ambitious or that we should organise a specific design day, separate to the London Indie RPG meet. We could have a playtest day though. Everything that gets run is something that has not been published. Game Chef 2011 is on soon. We could run some of that stuff.

[ncmreynolds]

I'm not sure - I set up a thread about a design event and not had any interest. **sobs** :"(

I must have missed that. I was quite enthusiastic about the 'design day' talk further back up this thread. I had in mind to use dominoes because it narrowed focus down to "let's do something interesting with this" from "let's do something interesting".

I've got a bit of a resurgence of enthusiasm for this and have been thinking idly about mechanics that use dominoes since the last meetup.

[Avatar]

I've got a bit of a resurgence of enthusiasm for this and have been thinking idly about mechanics that use dominoes since the last meetup.

I was going to think about it but seem to have drawn a double-blank!

[w00hoo]

In that case you're either dead, or a god. It's difficult to tell as we don't have any systems written yet

I was interested but I've been busy every Saturday that has come up so far (that's what I get for having a son going to Uni next year, it's worse than weddings!) so not being able to contribute in person means I've been less involved.

I think it'd be a good thing to try. Like the Fiasco day it'd be better done as part of the Indie event rather than completely seperate to it. It embodies some of the whole Indie ethic and will be an interesting challenge even if it all falls apart. Having stuff like that is a nice difference for the Indie meet up but considering there are only 12 meets a year doing it more than 1 in 6 is probably too much and possibly 1 in 12 could be the better ratio...

But it all depends on what the anarchosyndicate really fancies at the end of the day

[NimbyDagda]

I would still be up for the design day most definitely.

[Magus]

But it all depends on what the anarchosyndicate really fancies at the end of the day

OK - there are 4 of us expressing interest in some sort of design event. I'd like to call it "Nick's Wonky Domino Design Challenge" if you have no objections, Nick. We could split into teams of two or three and every team gets one or two sets of dominos that have to be used in the game in some way.

In terms of when we could do it I'd like to make sure that w00hoo can get to it and I appreciate his time is limited. I'm away in September - I'd like to be a part of it and if I'm not about I'd be contributing less to the event. October is a possibility and it's also our first birthday!!! I'm planning on a lower key event than 'Crystal Spires and Togas' The other thing I thought about was a Christmas Party/meal. Much more informal than the two slot sessions we have. Anyways I'm derailing now.

Nick - do you want to take on the lead as far as deciding what the parameters of the design day?
w00hoo - are you likely to be free soon? I know Saturday is not too hot for you.
Ash - do you want to get involved in this?
Also, what would you like me to do?

The anarchosyndicate has spoken.

[w00hoo]

The anarchosyndicate has spoken.

It's always about you, isn't it!

w00hoo - are you likely to be free soon? I know Saturday is not too hot for you.

I don't have a list of the dates in my calendar, but it's second Saturday of the month isn't it? That makes August and Septembers maybes, October a no as it's Furnace, November and December maybe but pushing it a bit (I'm busy most of December and adding a day out might be pushing it too much, likewise I'm gaming the first and third Saturdays in November so adding the second might be taking the piss). Having said that, if a decision is taken early I'm willing to push things so I can turn up...

[ncmreynolds]

I'd like to call it "Nick's Wonky Domino Design Challenge" if you have no objections, Nick.

That's far too sensible, maybe it should be the "DJ MC Icy Ice Reynolds Domino Deathmatch Beatdown"

Nick - do you want to take on the lead as far as deciding what the parameters of the design day?

I love wielding brutal authority.

[Graham W]

Do it in August, while you're all still excited about the idea.

[Magus]

Nick and w00hoo, do you want to do this in August? If so I can start publicizing.

[ncmreynolds]

Nick and w00hoo, do you want to do this in August? If so I can start publicizing.

Actually, I don't think I can do this in August, or probably September either.

[BigJonno]

That's far too sensible, maybe it should be the "DJ MC Icy Ice Reynolds Domino Deathmatch Beatdown"

If you're going for excess, you need to go all out. Super DJ MC Icy Ice Reynolds Domino Deathmatch Beatdown 5000: Ultra X-Treme Tournament Edition: Part Deux: The Funspongening: Redux.