A toy game from the 2016 game design advent calendar.

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At first I saw that picture and thought "Sci fi? On a moon? Or something?"...but then I saw the road. And then I thought how beautiful that scenery must be for motorists on that road. And then I remembered Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

You know that scene on the beach, where Caractacus Potts is telling Truly Scrumptious and his kids this grand story of their car, and the evil Baron Bombhurst wants to steal it? They go on this grand adventure, telling this marvelous story of magic flying cars and child catchers and toymakers. That's this game.

Requires:

• 3 or more players
• A car
• A source of music (iPod, cassette player, excellent humming skills)
• Something to represent points held by each player; cards, tokens, or potato chips
• A road trip

Rules:

Each player plays themselves on a fantastic adventure with the other players. Everyone will take up the GM's traditional responsibilities in turn, but you are also always yourself.

The driver of the car is Driver; the person sitting shotgun is the Shotgun, and the other players in the car are the Passengers.

Begin the adventure in exactly the situation you find yourself: in the car, on a road trip, with people you like. The Driver will go first, and describe what strange and unforeseeable event shakes up the expected monotony of the trip.

On your turn as GM:

• Set the scene. Say what other players are in the scene, describe what is there, what NPCs do. You're the GM for your scene.
• Help the other players be kickass and awesome. Turn the mundane into the fantastic.
• Say "Yes, and", to everything. Accept what is given to you, and add to it.
• Accrue points

On someone else's turn:

• Be yourself.
• Engage the adventure
• Accrue points
• If you like, pay a point to seize control and become GM yourself. The current GM may pay a point to counter you, but if they don't they gain the point you spent.

If you are the Driver, gain a point for using the world outside your car as inspiration for your descriptions of world you adventure in.

If you are the Shotgun, gain a point for playing music appropriate to current action of the adventure. You are also responsible for doling out points to the Passengers and holding the Driver's points. Additionally, you are responsible for calling out Bad Form.

If you are a Passenger, gain a point for asking interesting questions about the adventure; what secrets hide behind the surface, who is wicked and why, what Grandpa Potts is up to.

The Shotgun should call Bad Form when a Passenger is asking boring questions at the expense of kickass adventure, or if the Driver offers unnecessary description at the expense of the same. If the Shotgun calls Bad Form on you, lose a point. However, the Shotgun loses a point if everyone else agrees that their calling of Bad Form is in Bad Form.

Additionally, any player may narrate the actions of the car itself at any time, should you decide it has the ability to act.

Whoever has the most points at the end wins, and probably gets a prize or something. At least a coke.

Notes:

This is mostly an experiment in gamifying some of the dialogue that comes up in the classic musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang; the kids react to the story being told and undoubtedly embellish, and the adults tell most of the story, informed by what they see and know. Note that, while everyone can and should take a turn GM'ing, it's incentivized for the Driver to do so and disincentivized for the Passengers to do so (it being easier to describe as a GM, and ask questions as an ordinary player).

Definitely informed heavily by Hillfolk and Fate's point economies, and what little I've yet read about Fiasco.

--Karaktakus Potts

Prompt/cover photo: Wikimedia Commons
Baron Bombhurst: Villains Wikia