Teddy bear heroes (creating a system)

[Xiander]

Seeing this, in the Demotivator thread on the general role-playing sub forum, instantly made me want a system tailor made for playing Teddy bears and dolls which defend innocent children from the monster under the bed (or in the closet if you prefer).

I could just work out something myself, but i would really like to tab into the creativeness of the playground to make sure this becomes as awesome as i would like it to be.

What i would like the system to be:

- A game describing how unlikely heroes can beat impossible odds through Bravery, Cunning and friendship.

- A horror game with a twist of whatever it is that makes children stories about living toys so special.

- Focused on the toys, not the children, though the children should of course play some role.


My own thoughts this far:

- I have thought about making Bravery, Cunning and Friendship actual stats in the system. Possibly resource stats like willpower in World of darkness.

-There is a bond between a child and its favorite toy, this bond is different from child to child. I would love to let the nature of a characters bond to his owner have actual system effects.

- I like the idea of making the game night focused. The monsters come out at night, so that is when the heroes wake to protect their charges.

-There is a world of monsters and horror, the entrance is under the bed, in the closet or in any shadow deep enough. Sometimes the brave protagonist will have to enter this world to make sure it does not threaten their loved children.

- There should be a reason that only children are in danger.



That is all i have come up with yet. Now I would like any input you can give me, be it cool original ideas or suggestion for existing systems which can be redone to support what I envision. Any help is appreciated





Edit: what is above here is my original post left untouched. The spoiler below holds everything we have discussed and decided until now.

Spoiler

Show

Eyes and teeth in darkness gleaming
While you lie asleep and dreaming
Monsters underneath the bed
Come to feed on fear and dread

Unnamed terrors in the night
Ghosts and ghouls and things that bite
Darkness lends your fears form
Nightmares all around you swarm

Yet sleeping children need not fear
For we, your staunchest knights are here
Standing firm 'gainst horrors vile
Sanctuary for every child

Tirelessly we vigil keep
Guardians of your peaceful sleep
Ghosts will touch not hide nor hair
While we remain - your teddybears

setting intro poem by Heliomance


Terms

Guardians:
The brave toys defending their children from the horrors of the night. (generally these will be plushy toys, but there is nor hard rule against other types of toys)
(Imaginary friends may be included later.


Horrors:
The antagonists. Monsters formed of darkness and imagination, come to take all the energy they can from the hapless children.
They come in all sizes and shapes, but always take frightening forms and always hunger for Imagination.



Stats

Bravery:
This is the hit-point stat. Being hit by a monsters attack, or scared by its terrifying roar will drain your bravery. When you run out you are to afraid to fight.
Some abilities might have a bravery cost to activate.
Actual physical damage is unlikely to be a big factor, but it might be incorporated in some form.


Friendship:
The “mana” stat. Friendship will power most abilities. Some roles may also be able to spend friendship to gain certain advantages.
Perhaps we could come up with something every Guardian could spend friendship on. Is this necessary?


Imagination:
This will function as XP, but also be usable to influence the narrative more directly. The uses we have discussed are:
Increase your characters' stats or attain new roles or abilities.
Spend to alter the scene to include something specific, or to influence yet unmentioned details. (for example, spending imagination to decide that there is a mirror on the inside of the closet door.)
Possibly, some abilities will be fuelled by this. If so they will be rare and powerful.



Power/agility/smarts
These will be the abilities used to determine success or failure at any given task. The mechanic will be something like this: Any time your character takes an action which might fail or succeed depending on his skill, one of these are chosen to govern the activity (power for lifting and pushing stuff, agility for coordination based activities and smarts for any mental activity). The player then rolls a number of d6 equal to his stat (possibly with a bonus for any role fitting the action). 5 and 6 gives a success, the GM decides how many successes are needed to succeed based on the difficulty of the task.



Traits
Each character has three traits, which describe his physical appearance, and any special boons granted by his shape. Typically a trait will be positive, but at times it might be a hindrance (for example, a very big toy has an easier time reaching stuff and looking around, but will be hindered if he needs to pass through a narrow passage.
This is basically our take on races. Races in the for seen in DND is not going to be part of this game.



Roles
These describe what roles the toy takes in the games of his child. It is possible to have any number of roles, but one role is designated the primary role, and gives an extra benefit.
All roles gives access to abilities linked to the role in question (my take is that every point In a role gives one ability linked to the role. Abilities will be stronger the more points you have in their linked role, but abilities linked to the same role, will tend towards the same effects, giving a reason to branch out. A role might also give bonuses to some actions which fit the role particularly well.
Roles are out take on the concept of classes, classes in the DND sense will not be part of this game.


Character creation

25 points to be distributed on bravery, friendship, power, agility and smarts. Each point buys 2 bravery or friendship or 1 power/agility/smarts.
Three traits, chosen freely.
Three points distributed between no less than two roles. (This is a suggestion, up for discussion).




Antagonist stats

Horors will be represented by the dificulty of avoiding their attacks, hitting them or interacting with them. I essence the stats of any horror will be a number of difficulties, which the players roll against when dealing with the horror.
We have also discussed the possibility of giving the horrors a trio of stats similar to bravery/friendship/imagination. Best suggestion yet is Fear/viciousness/imagination.

If you disgree with anything in the spoiler or have something to add, speak up. I have filled it in by memory, and I know i probably forgot something.

[Heliomance]

The trouble with the bond idea is that it implies that each toy belongs to a different child. In my opinion, it makes far more sense for all the characters to belong to a single child - otherwise why would they be in the same bedroom together? And if they're not together, then you don't really have a party, you have a bunch of individuals with no relation to each other.

Also, the soul and centre of the setting should be this famous quote:

Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.

Mild horror, maybe, but the overall feeling should be one of hope and triumphing over the darkness.

Eyes and teeth in darkness gleaming
While you lie asleep and dreaming
Monsters underneath the bed
Come to feed on fear and dread

Tirelessly we vigil keep
Guardians of your peaceful sleep
Ghosts will touch not hide nor hair
While we remain - your teddybears

[Xiander]

The trouble with the bond idea is that it implies that each toy belongs to a different child. In my opinion, it makes far more sense for all the characters to belong to a single child - otherwise why would they be in the same bedroom together? And if they're not together, then you don't really have a party, you have a bunch of individuals with no relation to each other.

I thought of that. I recognize it as a problem, and i see several possible solutions.

1) Drop the bond. This is the simplest, but also sacrifices some flavor.

2)Each toy has a bond to the same child. Different bonds for different toys, perhaps based on what role the child has given the specific toy. Watch toystory for inspiration.

3) Siblings. Might take a little more work but nothing prevents there from being more children in the same house, or even the same room.

4) The same underbed dimension which gives the monsters acces might give the Heroes an opportunity to meet and work together, even if they live in separate bedrooms in separate houses.

Personally I am torn about these options, I would like for the mechanics to be simple, but it feels thematically correct to give the heroes a reason to care for the children.

In the end I guess it depends on whether this should be a "were all on the same toy shelf here"-style of game. Alternatively it could be shaped as mor of an "unlikely heroes and unexpected friends" game.

As said I am torn, but open for suggestions.

Mild horror, maybe, but the overall feeling should be one of hope and triumphing over the darkness.

Eyes and teeth in darkness gleaming
While you lie asleep and dreaming
Monsters underneath the bed
Come to feed on fear and dread

Tirelessly we vigil keep
Guardians of your peaceful sleep
Ghosts will touch not hide nor hair
While we remain, your teddybears

I cannot agree strongly enough with this sentiment.

[Heliomance]

So, I wrote the setting intro ^^

Eyes and teeth in darkness gleaming
While you lie asleep and dreaming
Monsters underneath the bed
Come to feed on fear and dread

Unnamed terrors in the night
Ghosts and ghouls and things that bite
Darkness lends your fears form
Nightmares all around you swarm

Yet sleeping children need not fear
For we, your staunchest knights are here
Standing firm 'gainst horrors vile
Sanctuary for every child

Tirelessly we vigil keep
Guardians of your peaceful sleep
Ghosts will touch not hide nor hair
While we remain - your teddybears

[Tanuki Tales]

Have you ever read the graphic novel series called Stuff of Legends by any chance?

[Xiander]

Have you ever read the graphic novel series called Stuff of Legends by any chance?

Nope? Worth a peek?

[Tanuki Tales]

Nope? Worth a peek?

Definitely. It concerns a group of toys (specifically a Teddy Bear) going to fight a strange evil to protect their boy while he sleeps.

[Balain]

I like the bond with the child, and it gives some sort of game effect.

You could leave how each teddy bear party is formed to each GM, with various possible examples. like, one child many toys, each teddy bear meets in land uner the bed, siblings, etc.

[SamBurke]

BADASS in the most adorable way. I will follow this eagerly, and post a few ideas later.

[Tingel]

There was an rpg where you play teddy bears that was released in Germany about 15 years ago. It's called Plüsch, Power & Plunder.


I really like that "demotivator" picture.

[Xiander]

A taste of what I imagine the protagonists will be up against. (this is one of the weakest and most common foes, I imagine):

Spoiler

Show

Unwelcome visitors: The nightmares

These are some of the most common horrors, which might emerge from under you bed or from the shadows outside your window. No child comes of age without having at least one visit from a nightmare.
While most nightmares are small and not particularly harmful, they are all frightening and malicious in nature. They like nothing more than screams an sobbing, and so they usually only scare children enough to make them make these noises, which the nightmares then hungrily ingest.
Children never see the nightmares, but to the watchful guardian, they look like creeping shadows, often sporting glowing red eyes or gleaming, sharp teeth.
Nightmares are physically weak, but devilishly clever. They favour traps and foul play over direct confrontations, and will almost only fight if backed into a corner, with no other way of escaping.

Powers:
Get inside your mind; A nightmare which comes upon a sleeping or otherwise helpless person, can creep into his mind through the mouth, ears or even the nose. Once inside the nightmare can cause hallucinations, which will be seen as bad dream by the nightmare infested child. A nightmare will typically torment a child with evil visions until the nightmare has satisfied it's thirst for screams, and then move on.

Weaknesses:
Nightmares like all horrors are weak to sunlight. But for nightmares the weakness does not stop there. Any source of clear white light repels the nightmare. Naturally leaving the night-light on is the basic defence against these horrors.

Now for some questions:

1) Do we expect all players to be teddybears or are other toys also an option?

2) Should players have unique powers or should they have to rely only on their raw stats?

3) Are the player characters alone against the world, or can we dream up some allies, apart from the unknowing children they defend?

[shaddy_24]

It could be where each different type of toy is a different "class," with abilities based on how children typically use them. Teddy bears would probably be the leader types, action figures more aggressive and dangerous, etc. I think that all their attacks should be some sort of magic; I can't see them being able to wield any actual weapons, so they rely on some sort of magic to make their toy weapons actually dangerous or similar.

[Yitzi]

I'd second the "magic attacks" approach; it fits with the idea very well.

For basic combat mechanics, I'd say you probably should avoid the normal sort of hit points. Instead, most monsters are killed by one hit (but they come in sizable numbers.) Instead of more powerful attacks, more offensively powerful characters would have area-effect attacks (either via beams or more conventional ball-like areas.) There'd also be the opportunity for positive or negative enviromental effects (as per the night-light in the case of the example monster.)

Bosses would probably be different; rather than being killed by one hit, each boss has a specific weakness and the characters have to get that weakness applied (possibly via trickery.)

Characters would have a sort of "hit points" in terms of courage, with some more powerful monsters being able to frighten the characters directly. Such attacks always do courage damage, but more martial and "brave" characters have a higher courage value and something equivalent to DR (while more "leader" characters can provide healing-like effects as well as a DR aura.) Physical attacks are right out; after all, that sort of thing shows, and this is supposed to be a secret war.

Monsters are stupid, and humanoid dolls need a role, so trickery should be a possible approach for many threats.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Bosses would probably be different; rather than being killed by one hit, each boss has a specific weakness and the characters have to get that weakness applied (possibly via trickery.)

Don't do this. You either get Legend of Zelda, where you might as well have made this a video game, or you get an impossible challenge that requires the ability to read the GM's mind.

[The Bandicoot]

I like this idea a whole lot, though I don't have any ideas to add at the moment. The second I do though I'll post them here. Until then I'll just lurk and watch.

[alchemyprime]

Consider the following "Races" of toys:
Action Figures - Made of flashy plastic, they have access to skills like "Alternate Form" and "Karate Action", they are easily one of the two bravest toys. Robots, superheroes, cowboys, police men, knights, they all fall under Action Figures. However, they are most likely to fall victim to the flaw of Gold Plastic Syndrome.
Baby Dolls - Known for being the quintessential girl's toy, they are not very brave, but do tend to have a stronger Bond to their child.
Block Men - These small cousins of the Miniature, they have the best ability of Imagination due to their connection to their blocks. When a Block Man is near blocks, he can do anything: in fact, as long as his head is intact he can change outfits my mixing and matching parts of bodies. They are the best Jack of All Trades for the toys.
Dinosaurs/Great Animals - A special classification of Action Figure, these are based on fierce beasts from years past. Be they mammals like Andrewsarchus or a gorilla, dinosaurs like Gigantosaurus Rex or Diplodicus, they are great to have around for the fierceness they show. Some are actually both Action Figures and Great Animals, being a dinosaur or beast that turns into a robot or is a robot.
Fashion Doll - When it comes to Outfit Powers, look no further! A fashion doll just needs to change her clothes and she has a new role in the party! Need a race car driver? A doctor? A dog walker? She's ready for anything!
Horsies - To dolls what Dinosaurs are to Action Figures, the Horsies are not only rides for other toys, they can be close friends. Some horsies can speak, some cannot. Some are magical unicorns or alicorns, some are flight ready pegasi, others are simple horses, but they are all fast friends for any toy or child who will accept them.
Miniature - The toys of bigger kids normally, this includes the Smurfs Schnilts, those cute little orange gnomes, Troll Ogre dolls with their crazy hair, and army men, as well as role-playing minis. Their small size means they can reach places only matched by the Block Men, and they tend to have the powers of the things they are based on. These little guys are known for Cunning, normally being tied to strategy war-games or board games.
Plushies - Cloth filled with fluff, they tend to have the highest Friendship scores and have a certain optimism to them all. Bunnies, doggies, kitties, they all are Plushies, and the most recognizable, and the leader of the Plushies are...
Teddy Bears - Named for President Theodore Roosevelt, teddy bears seem to have absorbed some of his courage. They are amazing inspirational leaders and have amazing Friendship and Bravery scores. Teddy Bears are known to fight right alongside action figures, grab a stethoscope to help Doctor Outfitted Fashion Dolls and Block Men, and then get their little swords made of toy blocks or wood and rally the troops against beasts from the Nightmare Realms.

And a special race

Invisible Not-So-Imaginary-Friend - Sometimes, when the daylight hits a Nightmare, it doesn't burn up. It doesn't die. The Grown Ups can't see these friends, as their Imaginations are normally too low, but these Nightmares see the day, they see the child there were sent to scare or kill and realize "This is why the toys fight us... who could harm such a sweet creature?" This revelation, called a Turning by toys and Going Native by the Nightmares, turns a Nightmare into one of the staunchest defenders of children, the Invisible Friend.

[Maquise]

This looks very interesting. I'm watching this.

[SamBurke]

I got chills, sir, when I read that last one.

BAD. ASS. TOYS.

Personally, I would avoid "hidden weakness" things a ton: people hate riddles. If it's obvious (IE, being made of salt, telling people to keep water away from them), then I *guess* that'd be OK. Personally I think trickery would be better, and some sort of epic speech/loyalty power system.

[Yitzi]

Personally, I would avoid "hidden weakness" things a ton: people hate riddles. If it's obvious (IE, being made of salt, telling people to keep water away from them), then I *guess* that'd be OK. Personally I think trickery would be better, and some sort of epic speech/loyalty power system.

I see I wasn't clear. I wasn't really thinking of a hidden weakness, but rather a weakness that's hard to pull off (e.g. perhaps the monster is invulnerable to attack, but if it can't see its target for a certain amount of time it fades away into nothingness.)

[DracoDei]

I know a few games and other resources that would work to draw inspiration from...

Fuzzy Heroes:
Started out as fantasy wargaming with children's toys (and meant for children to play with eachother or their parents). Latest edition (which I own) added roleplay rules and simplified the language so that the kids could actually READ the rulebook instead of having their parents explain it to them. A marvelous idea, but not EXACTLY what you are going for. Some of the supplements may add some world-building you could springboard off of.

Monsters and Other Childish Things:
Pairs children with Lovecraftian horrors as their "imaginary friends". As I hear it, the children can be anything from targets/authorities over the monsters to the ones who need to protect the monsters from the mad scientists who want to dissect them, depending on the scenario. Sample for game-master equivalents PDF download

Little Fears:
Just going to LINK to the wikipedia page.

Puppet Land:
Children are probably completely absent from this game, but given that it is about Pinocchio-like puppets, and the highest goal for a "good" character would be to use the last tear that fell from the eyes of the Maker when a traitorous puppet killed him to bring him back to life, I am seeing certain similarities. Link seems to go to the full rules, as posted by the owner.


Other stuff:
Monsters Inc. (of course)

Little Monsters (Rent it or something?) No animate toys, but the main non-human character is very close to your definition of an imaginary friend. Light is a weapon, and sawing the legs off your bed so that the monsters under it can't get you is a valid tactic. The portals to the "under-bed" are only open at night. Relates to "Little Fears" in that I have described it to a guy who just finished running a "Little Fears" game as an Epic Level campaign of "Little Fears" (IE one in which you can actually kill one of the seven big bads).

Irrational Fears Free webcomic (now complete... at least for the moment), second chapter*, leads to the second of the two chapters, which concerns an venture to track down the monster under the bed. The only piece of equipment our hero takes along is a blanket to hide under (since that is assured protection from said monster). She meets Dustbunnies, which the monsters prey on. Did I mention this is by Ursula Vernon (author of Digger and Dragon Breath) and the main character is a Chupacarbra?
*Which I HOPE the link will take you to. If not, then page forward through the intro and the first chapter (which I think is about 3 or 4 pages long).

Don't do this. You either get Legend of Zelda, where you might as well have made this a video game, or you get an impossible challenge that requires the ability to read the GM's mind.

It can be hard to pull off correctly (I have had personal experience with how hard), but it is NOT impossible. Research and leg-work (while running away) are key.

[Xiander]

So, I wrote the setting intro ^^

Eyes and teeth in darkness gleaming
While you lie asleep and dreaming
Monsters underneath the bed
Come to feed on fear and dread

Unnamed terrors in the night
Ghosts and ghouls and things that bite
Darkness lends your fears form
Nightmares all around you swarm

Yet sleeping children need not fear
For we, your staunchest knights are here
Standing firm 'gainst horrors vile
Sanctuary for every child

Tirelessly we vigil keep
Guardians of your peaceful sleep
Ghosts will touch not hide nor hair
While we remain - your teddybears

You wrote this yourself?
It seems oddly familiar. But at any rate, I love it!

It could be where each different type of toy is a different "class," with abilities based on how children typically use them. Teddy bears would probably be the leader types, action figures more aggressive and dangerous, etc. I think that all their attacks should be some sort of magic; I can't see them being able to wield any actual weapons, so they rely on some sort of magic to make their toy weapons actually dangerous or similar.

While I agree that the wooden sword on the picture in itself should not be very threatening, I don't know if i want to stamp "magic" on every effective strategy.

I'd second the "magic attacks" approach; it fits with the idea very well.

For basic combat mechanics, I'd say you probably should avoid the normal sort of hit points. Instead, most monsters are killed by one hit (but they come in sizable numbers.) Instead of more powerful attacks, more offensively powerful characters would have area-effect attacks (either via beams or more conventional ball-like areas.) There'd also be the opportunity for positive or negative enviromental effects (as per the night-light in the case of the example monster.)

I don't really agree with this. I want Horrors (the name i use for the bad things) to be diverse and interesting. While the nightmares I used as an example probably should go down after one or two hits, i also want ogres, snake-monsters and even dragons, who should be much tougher.

Also, I do not want a game about teddy-bears with fireballs and lasers, even if they are magical. So I would like to avoid to many blast-attacks, unless they really make sense.

Bosses would probably be different; rather than being killed by one hit, each boss has a specific weakness and the characters have to get that weakness applied (possibly via trickery.)

I intend to give all monsters weaknesses. As mentioned in the example text, sunlight is bad for all Horrors. But all horrors should have other weaknesses as well. However, I do want everything to be beatable without exploiting weaknesses, only weaknesses make it easier. (Not necessarily easy, just easier).

Characters would have a sort of "hit points" in terms of courage, with some more powerful monsters being able to frighten the characters directly. Such attacks always do courage damage, but more martial and "brave" characters have a higher courage value and something equivalent to DR (while more "leader" characters can provide healing-like effects as well as a DR aura.) Physical attacks are right out; after all, that sort of thing shows, and this is supposed to be a secret war.

Monsters are stupid, and humanoid dolls need a role, so trickery should be a possible approach for many threats.

I like courage or bravery as the hitpoint stat. I am thinking about making bravery a resource you can expend to avoid having to retreat. The idea is that death is not a big part of the game, instead loosing a battle means retreating or cowering with fear and letting the baddies do what they want.

The second stat I am considering is indeed the trickery stat. Wits i am thinking, possibly cunning. I would like to make it a resource to be expented in order to get ideas or make plans... I don't want to make it to restrictive. Nothing like: you cannot think if you cannot expend a point of cunning. But something like: If you spend a point of cunning the ledge and big rock you need for your plan happen to be nearby...

Third is the friendship stat (thinking about calling it Heart). I don't know exactly how to use this, but the idea is to use it to calm and encourage others... Ideas are welcome.

Don't do this. You either get Legend of Zelda, where you might as well have made this a video game, or you get an impossible challenge that requires the ability to read the GM's mind.

While I like the idea of weaknesses, I am well aware that these two extremes should be avoided.

Cool stuff!

I like a lot of these ideas. Especially i like your descriptions of teddies and imaginary friends.
I would like to include a lot of this in some form, please keep on giving these sort of ideas

I see I wasn't clear. I wasn't really thinking of a hidden weakness, but rather a weakness that's hard to pull off (e.g. perhaps the monster is invulnerable to attack, but if it can't see its target for a certain amount of time it fades away into nothingness.)

I like these sort of weaknesses. And i really want to implement weaknesses in some form. It sort of seems fitting to me that some gruesome monsters areso tough that you need to cheat to get to them.
Also I like the thought of having to travel into the dark realms to discover the weakness of the Dragon Draubnir who has set his mind on devouring little Emma.

[Admiral Squish]

Okay, for some reason it didn't post the first time...

I think the baddies should be difficult, but not quite impossible to defeat in the traditional fashion. The thing I really want to emphasize is the fact that you're fighting big, scary monsters, things that eat adults for breakfast, and you're tiny. You should be easy to throw around, but tough to really do DAMAGE to. You can only really win by being clever, quick, and brave.

Also, I like bravery as HP, but not quite enough for it to be the only source. Maybe there's bravery as your main HP, which can be restored by your friends and other such abilities, and an actual HP score which is about how tough your toy is physically, and can only be fixed by the child or their parents. Lose all your actual HP, and you're dead forever. Bravery returns over time.

Also, I'm thinking race/class should be based on the kind of toy and how the toy is played with. Like, an action figure is more likely going to be a fighter, but if the child plays with it, pretending it's a doctor, he's going to be more of a medic-type character.

[Symmys]

No love for the porcelain doll? They could make good casters.

I think that all their attacks should be some sort of magic; I can't see them being able to wield any actual weapons, so they rely on some sort of magic to make their toy weapons actually dangerous or similar.

I'd like to disagree with this idea. Magic is all well and good, but I don't think it should be necessary just to make 'normal' attacks work. Looking at this from a childlike perspective, it doesn't matter if the sword is made of wood, because it's still a sword, and that's what matters.


What other kinds of monsters might there be? Just to throw some names out there- ghosties, ghoulies, creepies, and spookies. From a rhyme I used to say, when I was a kid.

[SamBurke]

I'd say as whimsical as possible: magic and laser beams isn't whimsical, it's fantasy.

When you're a kid, you *could* equip your toys with fireballs and cannons and stuff. I know I did. And when they used a fireball, things. WENT. GOOD-BYE. Forever....

So I have no real idea how weapons would work. Maybe three categories? (Magic/Ranged/Melee...)

[Xiander]

I'd say as whimsical as possible: magic and laser beams isn't whimsical, it's fantasy.

When you're a kid, you *could* equip your toys with fireballs and cannons and stuff. I know I did. And when they used a fireball, things. WENT. GOOD-BYE. Forever....

So I have no real idea how weapons would work. Maybe three categories? (Magic/Ranged/Melee...)

I don't really know how to deal with weapons and attack. But I fell that maybe standing and fighting should not be the go-to response. I would rather see the cute guardians protect the children against much stronger opponents through wit and bravery. This leaves me to think that fireballs and lasers might not fit the theme of the game.

[Yitzi]

I don't really agree with this. I want Horrors (the name i use for the bad things) to be diverse and interesting. While the nightmares I used as an example probably should go down after one or two hits, i also want ogres, snake-monsters and even dragons, who should be much tougher.

Ok.

Also, I do not want a game about teddy-bears with fireballs and lasers, even if they are magical. So I would like to avoid to many blast-attacks, unless they really make sense.

The example I was thinking of is a futuristic action figure with some sort of laser; obviously, most characters won't have that sort of thing.

I like courage or bravery as the hitpoint stat. I am thinking about making bravery a resource you can expend to avoid having to retreat. The idea is that death is not a big part of the game, instead loosing a battle means retreating or cowering with fear and letting the baddies do what they want.

That was the idea I had in mind; when out of courage, you run away. As I said, physical damage doesn't really make sense if you want this to be going on without the children and their parents knowing.

Third is the friendship stat (thinking about calling it Heart). I don't know exactly how to use this, but the idea is to use it to calm and encourage others... Ideas are welcome.

Maybe spend it to fuel "class" abilities that restore or boost the stats of allies.

[SamBurke]

I don't really know how to deal with weapons and attack. But I fell that maybe standing and fighting should not be the go-to response. I would rather see the cute guardians protect the children against much stronger opponents through wit and bravery. This leaves me to think that fireballs and lasers might not fit the theme of the game.

I totally agree... perhaps have a separate module or add-on rules or something for action figures...

I'd limit the basic game, if no rockets and stuff like that, to stuffed animals and similar toys.

[Xiander]

I totally agree... perhaps have a separate module or add-on rules or something for action figures...

I'd limit the basic game, if no rockets and stuff like that, to stuffed animals and similar toys.

My first thought was actually teddybears and simple cloth dolls. Not that i want to discard all other sorts of toys, but theme is very important to me, and so I think we need to consider exactly how broad an assembly of toys we want to be fighting the baddies.

[Gensh]

My first thought was actually teddybears and simple cloth dolls. Not that i want to discard all other sorts of toys, but theme is very important to me, and so I think we need to consider exactly how broad an assembly of toys we want to be fighting the baddies.

Perhaps separate the different types of toys into entirely separate books like White Wolf? Go ahead and get the game running with just stuffed animals (perhaps limited to those from Winnie the Pooh, for example) then once you've got the game running the way you want it, do additional releases by character type. Have a book dedicatd to describing how it's different being an action figure than a teddy bear - you're made of hard plastic and not quite so huggable, not to mention that your child is more likely to be an older boy, rather than just anyone, as is the case for teddies.

[Absol197]

My first thought was actually teddybears and simple cloth dolls. Not that i want to discard all other sorts of toys, but theme is very important to me, and so I think we need to consider exactly how broad an assembly of toys we want to be fighting the baddies.

I actually think that this is the right call. I remember my most cherished toy from my childhood - a stuffed dragon named Flappy; my sister had a stuffed lamb named Lamby; just about everyone I know who has shared their childhood protector with me had a stuffed toy of some kind. I'm thinking that ther's something special, not just about those types of toys, but with the act of a parent giving it to their child. The parents give children these toys, because they subconsciously remember their own stuffed toys protecting them from the darkness.

Trying to get down to actual mechanics, the most important part is the system base. There are a bunch of options, but I think (as I believe has been suggested) that, for a game like this, simple is better.

Some options are:
d20 + other dice: Basically the D&D system.
Sole d20: Only use d20s.

Serenity: Like the Serenity roleplaying game, instead of having a number for your stats and skills (like Strength 16), you have a die size (like Strength d10). Total results are ability + skill added together.

d10: There are two ways to do this, either a success base (like World of Darkness) or by actual value (the numerical result).

d6: I've never actually read a d6 system, so I don't know how they work, but I know they're out there. If someone with a bit more knowledge could come forward, I think we'd all appreciate it.

Fate: Probably similar to d6, but you have two dice, with the sides -, -, 0, 0, +, and +, you add them together to get results of -2 to +2.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm of the opinion that a success-based system would work best. We could go with something like the World of Darkness, but I actually want to try seeing if I can come up with something like a combination of Serenity and WoD. I think it might work well.

As for the "HP" discussion, something like Mutants and Masterminds might work well; the gist is that you don't actually have a "Health" stat, instead you essentially make saves whenever you are hurt, and the more saves you fail, the harder it becomes to make more saves, until you fail by a certain amount.

Hopefully that's some food for thought. I like this idea, I will be participating!