A toy game from the 2016 game design advent calendar.

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The idea in this game is to, essentially, play two separate games simultaneously and see how they affect one another. One is normal, mundane, real, while the other is fantastic, castle-y, and epic. This game experiments with dual narration from two GMs, and makes them work off one another. The rules are pretty ordinary for players, but I suspect the simple transition of authority from GM to GM will create some really interesting dynamics at the table.

Requires:

• A d6 per player

Rules:

Play takes place in two worlds. During play, the players attempt to destroy, corrupt, or topple someone from their lofty perch. Maybe a political leader, a mean high school teacher, or a demon overlord. This is their Mark. They'll interact with them in the real world, doing whatever they think is necessary to accomplish their objective. However, their efforts are reflected in a world of metaphor -- the mindscape of their Mark. In this realm, the players' attempt to take down their Mark in the real world is reflected as an attempt to gain access to a great fortress (their Mark's representation), and destroy or conquer it. Whatever happens in the real world is reflected in the mindscape, and whatever happens in the mindscape is reflected in the real world. The players are basically psychonauts.

There are, in essence, two GMs. One (who we simply call the GM) is responsible for the action and people in the "real" world, where the PCs would ordinarily act, and where they interact with the Mark's character. The other GM is this Mark; he is responsible for narration in his mindscape.

When a player attempts something unsure, they roll 1d6, +1d6 if they're an expert, and +1d6 if they're prepared. Judge by the highest roll: 3 or less is a miss, and things get complicated; 4 or 5 is a mixed success, and a 6 is a resounding success.

If the player's narration of their action took place in the real world, the Mark will narrate the result in the mindscape, and continue narration until the next roll. If their action was in the mindscape, the GM will take over narration, beginning with the outcome of the roll.

When narration switches between GM and Mark, they should begin as if they had been narrating the whole time. If the players succeed at sneaking past the space-raptor bodyguards to get into the space-emperor's palace-ship, the Mark will pick up narration in the mindscape, where the players have just succeeded at climbing the castle walls unseen. After progressing through the castle, the castle cook realizes they're intruders (they failed to convince her otherwise), and the GM picks up narration in a service tunnel of the palace-ship, where the players have just failed to hack the security system. The GM never narrated the group's voyage from bodyguards to service tunnel, but it happened nonetheless.

The characters exist in both worlds simultaneously, but we only see the action in one at a time.

GM and Mark:

The GM's job is fairly ordinary, except that they essentially only act in the real world. The Mark does the same job as the GM in the mindscape, but they also play the character of the Mark in the real world. Each has authority over their respective worlds, but they should work together to maintain consistency. Each time they switch narration, they'll have to build upon and translate what the other has recently done; as long as each is being a fan of what the other is doing, it should go well.

Notes:

We could probably get away without having the GM and Mark be separate people, but it's kinda neat. That interplay between feuding authority must produce some interesting dynamics.

We also needn't imply that the PCs are actually traversing the Mark's mind; the parallel adventure there could just as easily simply be a storytelling device, or a fantasy in the minds of the heroes. The important thing is that the two separate fictions interact, that action in one creates action in the other.

--Karaktakus the Autopsychonaut

Prompt/cover photo: Wikimedia Commons