Reflections on Fluid

The form that Fluid is taking is, not surprisingly, fluid. I've realized that I was actually trying to write two (possibly mutually incompatible) games into one, and I have to make some choices if I'm going to make this work. So, I'm going to think out loud here about what exactly I'm trying to achieve, to clarify it in my own mind.

First off, I'm trying to achieve simplicity. I want Fluid to be a game that people can understand and be able to play with only a few minutes of explanation at most. The story should progress almost as quickly and easily as people can speak. I want fight scenes as fast and furious as an action film. I don't want lengthy and complicated character sheets or rules. And yet, the characters should have depth and real differences between one another, as much as in any piece of fiction.

Secondly, I want to give more narrative power to the players than they have in most RPGs. This is for two reasons. One reason is that I believe a group of people will have more interesting ideas than any single GM. Another reason is that the more power the players have, the less preparation should be necessary on the part of the GM (selfish, I know, since I'm usually the GM). The players should also be more invested in the story if they have personal input rather than just reacting to what they're given.

There are some indie games that give players narrative power, but most of those have left me with an empty feeling, and I really hadn't pieced together what could be wrong with players describing how a scene plays. This is sometimes referred to as "author's stance", as opposed to the player describing his actions from a first person point of view. It distances the player from his character, and to me, there's an important tension that's lost when that happens. And yet, I want players to be able to add to the setting and contribute plot elements of their own. I want to work toward a situation where the GM and players can all contribute on the fly to some degree, which should put that tension back in, since nobody will know with any certainty what to expect next.

So, I'm going to take another run at the rules, and I'd like to give copies to all of the players this time, so they'll have a better grasp on what we're doing, and perhaps help me work out any remaining bugs. I have another session scheduled for 8/12. The character sheets, unfortunately, will be changing since the last session, but the good thing is that they'll actually be far simpler than the original version, due to the influence of the Unistat session at DexCon. I think I have a better grip now on what I'm trying to do, and hopefully that will show.