For @prokopetz on Tumblr’s 2023 Game Jam
For two players. Requires a set of dominoes.
You are mech and pilot.
Mech, you perceive the world somehow humans cannot. Describe how. You have a bias borne from your nature. Describe what.
Pilot, you differ from the expectations of pilots. Describe how. You have a goal kept from everyone. Describe what.
Place dominoes face-down in a pile. Each player draws five. Look, but don’t reveal. Place one domino face-down with each end facing a player. Flip it over. The lower number goes first. (Redraw doubles.) Stand it up with the lower number on top to start a row.
On your turn, play on any standing row where your play matches a number on the last domino in that row, or start a row. Orient it so the matching number is in the same place, bottom or top.
If you must start an eighth row or cannot play, you die unresolved. Partner, describe your mourning.
Otherwise, continue the row’s scene. If you played a double, act in unison, and knock down that row. Otherwise, describe conflict. If the higher number is on top, you have the upper hand. Otherwise, your partner does. Draw.
When all dominoes are played, win together.
This is my first 200 word RPG, and I wanted to make something story focused while still using an interesting game-mechanical tool. I saw people making RPGs using playing cards, tarot cards, dice, and other common game pieces they had around the house, so why not dominoes? The structure of a domino suggests a tension between two sides, so I chose a genre that’s all about tension and balance–giant robots! The back-and-forth between something distinctly inhuman and something that can’t be any more or less than human feels ripe with possibility for a two player collaborative RPG with a hidden information structure. At any point, you could lock your partner out of a move and lose them forever–but you must move forward regardless, as best you know how.
This tabletop RPG, minus the author’s blurb, is exactly 200 words.