BowenLei

Tabletop role playing Game: Freshmen Challenge

This is one tabletop role playing game. The game story based my first semester experience of university life. There are three players who can select three different roles randomly. Three roles are students who come from different majors: Computer Science, Sociology, and Business major. Different major students can have one special quality that can provide advantages in game. There are six chapters in the game and every chapter represents two weeks in the semester. In every chapter, some events will happen and players should make some choices for these events just like they make decisions when facing some situations in the university. Every player will have five attributes including health, grade, friendship, happiness and scholarship. Every event has one rule and decisions made by players will make them gain points for these attributes or lose points. Player should utilize their major advantages and try to balance their attributes. When each event happens, players do not know rules of event until after making choices.

Attributes of characters:

Health Level: serious ill (1), disease (2), uncomfortable (3), sub-health (4),  common (5 – 7), health (8 – 10)

Grade Level: Fail (1 – 2) Poor achievement (3 – 4),   Good achievement (5 – 6),                        Satisfactory achievement (7 – 8), Outstanding achievement (9 – 10)

Friendship Level: unknown to public (1 – 3), sociable (4 – 5), glamorous (6 – 8),  popular (9 – 10)

Happiness Level: grieve (1 – 2), depression (3 – 4), dull (5 – 6), happy (7 – 8), excited (9 – 10)

Scholarship: Every month, when players’ grade level is higher or equal to 7, they can obtain one happiness and one friendship point.

Attention: If any score of four levels is too low, you will face some serious consequence.

Original Status:  Health: 5   Grade: 3   Friendship: 3   Happiness: 5

The characters of the game

1. Business students:

Special characteristics: Every month (two chapters) you can gain one more friendship because you have good communicative skills and social ability. But you will lose one grade because you spend much time on social activities.

2. Computer Science Students

Special characteristics: Special characteristics: Every month you can gain one more grade point because you have good learning skills. But you will lose one friendship every month because you are not family with communicating with others.

3. Sociology Students:

Special characteristics: Every month (two chapters) you can gain one happiness point because you can analyze some social activities and enjoy them, but you also will lose one grade point because you did not spend much on professional courses.

The first-semester life in the university

Many main events and every event you can make different decisions

Every half of month is one chapter:

The first chapter:

1. Student Orientation: Introduce yourself to other players:

• Discussed with other fresh students: Gain one friendship point
• Just leave and prepare for the upcoming learning: Gain one grade point
• Just leave and play with your old friends: Gain one happiness point

2. Because new semester is coming, many clubs invited you to join:

• Choose to join one club: Every chapter, you can get one friendship and one happiness point, but every month you will lose one grade point
• Do not join any club: Every chapter, you can get one grade point but every month you will lose one happiness

3. Now, you should make one new plan for your semester, you are considering whether choose to do fitness every week

• Do fitness on weekends: Every chapter gain one health point
• Study in the library on weekends: Every chapter gain one grade point
• Play with your friends: Every chapter gain one friendship point, you must make friends with at least one player

The second chapter:

4. Because there are many assignments in this week and due day is coming, the tutoring time is in dinner time 6 pm, now you need to make some choices

• Ask tutors for help and do assignment, but do not eat dinner and put off dinner time to midnight: gain one grade point but lose one health point
• Enjoy your dinner and decide to solve problems solely: gain one health point and lose one grade point

The third chapter:

5. There is one group project you need to finish, now you have some choices to do:

• Find some students you are not family with to make one group: Gain two friendship points: throw one coin: head side gain two grade points, tail size lose two grade points, because you did not know your partners are good or not, maybe they are good at studying, but maybe they will do nothing in the group assignment

• Find your friends in this class to make one group: Gain one friendship point and one grade points.

6. The midterm exam is coming:

Any player whose grade is higher than 6 can gain one happiness point, and others lose one happiness point

The fourth chapter:

7. The winter has come:

Any player’s health is lower or equal to 5 will get one sick: lose one grade points, one friendship and one happiness point.

8. Your classmates organize one activity and invited some people to join:
   Any player’s friendship is lower or equal to 5 cannot take part in this activity: If players take part in it successfully, they can obtain one friendship and one happiness. Players who did not take part in it will lose one happiness point because they felt disappointed with it.

The fifth chapter:

9. Thanksgiving holiday and make decisions:

• Study at home: gain two grade points
• Stay with your family gain two happiness points
• Take one trip with your friend: gain one friendship and happiness point

The final chapter:

10. Final Exam is coming:

Any player whose grade is higher than 6 can gain one happiness point and one friendship because they want to study with you, and others lose one happiness point

In this game, we should learn to adapt the new environment, learn to have to give up something because we have limited time and energies. It monitors real situations happened to me in the university.
 

Artist’s Statement:

From the Schrank’s Avant-garde Video Games book, I understand the avant-garde art game is not just one game, more important essences show they contain some cultural forces and other meaning ideas which makers want to express through games. In fact, I found purposes of four assignments we designed and created are not only for creating something for entertainment, but also, they inspired our creative, critical and artistic ideas and inspirations. The process of creating taught me a lot. Hence, in this final assignment, I want to combine these elements and created one independent and special game.

Firstly, after experienced the Friday independent and art game activity, I obtained much ideas about my game. Because that activity asked players to choose different status card, make groups and cooperate with each other, finish one project together and compete with other groups. The whole process included social status, communication skills, group work, competition and many conflict human nature problems. Therefore, I wanted to create one game that also can reflect some social problems or something we should learn for our future life. I wish my game not only can provide happiness for players, but also can affect them, bring some new deep thinking about their actions and decisions they made in their life. My original idea is about using my common school life elements to construct my game, especially for my American University. Because I found many events happened in my university life, especially for first year, told me how to confront some difficulties, control our motions, how to adapt unfamiliar environment, how to communicate and collaborate with others. Experiences in university have many related and important elements of our future social life.

Later, I saw the Cost of life game and played this Avant-garde Video Game. I found some elements I like and want to use, such as different characters for players, some attributes that can show results when some events happen and help player to judge something in the game, some special events will bring exciting points in the game and so on. In my game, attributes related to students including health, grade, friendship and so on. Roles are students who come from different majors. Because game should provide colorful elements like strategy, advantages, drawbacks and decisions made. Hence, I gave different roles special characteristics but also include disadvantages.

For considering this point, because in our first chapter “Score”, I know the game originated from life and when unity of art and life become part of game, this game will be endowed unique values. Elements in game indeed are representatives of some situations in life. The game is fair just like life is unbiased. In my game, computer science student is good at studying but are not familiar with communication. Business students focused on social skill because they want to run business and cooperate with people. For corresponding problems, they cannot spend much time on studying. Another point was random, because sometimes we have to rely on our luck in life. Score work taught me accidents hidden in life can create something beautiful and interesting result. I added this element in my game. For one event in my game, players can choose to work with strangers and friends. Choosing friend means they do not want random result and wish to get expected consequence. Choosing strangers means they want to one random result and do adventures. Random result can bring us more surprised but also maybe one depression.

Furthermore, the concepts of intervention promoted me to obtain more inspirations. Because intervention wants help people get rid of problems even dilemma that sometimes they did not feel. My game also wants to help students, especially for freshmen in the university to escape from nervous and confused conditions when they came to university first time. Hence, in this game, I picked up some meaningful and important college events happened to me and added some cooperating, competitive, and communication elements. The goal of this game is not gaining higher attributes. I wish players can experience, learn, and enjoy the process of making choices for their life. Because these events changed my mindset, improved my abilities and affected me a lot. I wished to provide my first-year university life experience for them and intervene them from dilemma that first time to go into university. I consider some problems I faced and freshmen will also face.

In conclusion, this game contains my university life experience, my story, feelings, and my harvest. I wish players can obtain my feeling and experiences from this theme game and simulated events. Winning is not always the final goal of one game. Experience can teach you a lot in the game, especially for the Avant-garde game.

My intervention game name is “less digital product, more paper books”. I went to the cafe house and looked for some people who used phones or computers for long time and did not take a rest. I invited them to take part in my activity, put electronic equipment down, and read one passage to show they supported my ideas and activity. This activity is one intervention that interrupted people who were using phones or computers and reminded them of avoiding for depending on computers, phones or other electronics overly. For reading material, I chosen several paragraphs in one book “Mindset, The New Psychology of Success” and made participants to read. Because I wanted participants to read some materials about their mindset and had some thinking about their mindset. I think paper books is a good method for people to escaping from digital world, calming down, relaxing their minds and learning something they cannot obtain from digital world. Because the purpose of using electronics always represented people have busy work on computers, competitions in game, finish assignments and other tense and fast-paced activities. Few people can think deeply and calmly in digital world. Their goal is often finishing something instead of thinking about something when using computers and phones. Reading book is able to allow people to relax minds, especially for non-work-related books.

My ideas origins from several places. In the article “Spacewar” by Stewart Brand, when I read some sentences mentioned “computers, Threat or menace”, “computer technicians are out of their bodies, locked in life-of-death space combat”, “ruining their eyes, numbing their fingers” and so on. Although this article mainly described the Spacewar game, but I started to consider in our modern life, many people overusing and relying on computers or phones also ruined their eyes, numbed their fingers, even damaged bodies. I wanted to intervene this event for some people. Although I cannot prevent all people from it, I could intervene some people, reminded them, and expressed my opposed opinions to current situations about overusing computers and phones.

This intervention game is one challenge for us, because you need have courage to interrupt people using electronics, talk with them, invite them to read books and make them support this intervention. We also can invite more than one people to play this game. Players can compete with each other and winner who should invite most people to take part in this intervention. If several people invited the same number of people, they can compare lengths of reading paragraph in the book.

Furthermore, in the Jejune Institute Films, I saw people navigated some remote places and seek their spiritual destination that they cannot find in the fast-paced cities. Hence, using electronics for working, studying and doing other busy activities make people no time to involve in deep thought and relax their minds. Intervening them lived in digital world and utilized book to help people for returning back to the real world and think deeply.

Another idea of my intervention comes from the “Tactics vs Strategies” course. Because I learnt our intervention is one tactical practices in the society. It will critique some social phenomenons, interrupted something we do not want to see. All intervention tactics is one short term activity. And I found intervention is not stopping people from actions directly, rather than used a special way to remind people, made people avoid for taking part in negative events or something we thought terrible and need to be prevented. An innovative and special advocacy opposites something that caused negative effects to society is a successful intervention. This kind of intervention shows the tactics and skills, like some Anti-War Game, non-violent protest, and so on. So, my intervention is not stopping people from using electronics directly, I used book and my ideas to remind them and help them to escape from digital world. I believed people are more willing to accept my ideas through this tactical way. The experience in my video proved it.

Battle of fighters

4 Players

Materials

Two decks of 52 playing cards

Aeroplane Chess

One 6-sided dice

Rules:

Players: Four colors represent four different players. Every player can own 5 planes(fighters) entering the air war. Four colors also matched four suits of playing cards. Red fighter means the heart suit, yellow matches the diamond card, blue is the club suit, and green represents the Spade suit.

Starting: Four players own their own fighters on their bases that match their color, located at the corners of the board at the beginning of game. Each player takes a turn by rolling the dice and according the numbers of dice to draw the same numbers of cards from card pile of game which contains shuffle players cards (104 cards– two decks). Player can follow the rule of cards to use their hands, enter, move, or do other actions for their fighters. Each try to use their fighters to shoot down all other players’ fighters.

When the fighter arrives the flying space that fit fighter’s color, this fighter can jump to the corresponding space.

The plane can hide in its color plane port, but this plane can just stay in the port for three turns.

Every turn for every player, each can just use two cards including common number cards or special skill cards.

Shoot Down: when player A’s fighter lands on another player B’s fighter, B’s plane will be shot down and never enter the game.

The Rule of Using cards: Move of Fighters on the board clockwise around the track, the number of moving spaces indicated by the number of using court. The courts (number card) are just 1 to 10. And J, Q and K only can be used for players make their fighter enter the track and join the battle from the base. Fighters on the base cannot enter the war. If the suit of K matches the color of player’s fighter, this fighter can use the special skill of this suit’s K. Otherwise, K can just be regarded as the card that makes fighter enter the war.

Heart K: Make one plane has one more live. (when this plane was shot down, it can enter its base and enter the war again)

Diamond K: Draw three cards from card pile.

Club K: Choose one number from 5 to 10 as steps to move one fighter on track.

Spade K: Make two fighters enter the war

Limitation: if after starting game 5 minutes, players still do not once send at least one their fighter for entering war, these players will lose, quit the game and other survival players continue the game.

Artist Statement:

Taking advantage of appropriate pieces game to create a new game was the main idea of my game. Not only I used the appropriation on materials and rules of two games, but also combined some cultures of two games. Learning this art of appropriation was in lecture and the first impression of appropriation for me is Dada. Dada represents producing a new art by transferring the readymade arts. My idea was inspired by some ideas from Dada book and lectures.

Zurich Dada shown a kind of freedom feeling in their productions. Because the origin of Dada was launched in here during the World War I. As one neutrality country, many different kinds of refugees escaped to here from the War. Hence, many blends of the cultures prompted the birth of Dada culture. Hence, in my game, I consider the war element, especially for air war. Later, I wanted to combine two cultures together in this game, and I utilized the Chinese Aeroplane chess game and European playing cards to transfer a new game. This new game contains the characteristics of Asian and European elements. Chess represented the historical battles and many subtle strategies used in the chess also shown in the Chinese historical war stories. Playing chess can be regarded as one mock war to develop our thinking ability. Playing cards’ K and Q can be regarded as the European royalty’s King and Queen. Different card represents a variety of status for different people, like social classes of Middle ages in Europe.

For the artwork of Marcel Duchamp, there is one meaningful production, which is the Duchamp Fountain. The Fountain breaks the understanding of art by people. The Fountain was a porcelain urinal, which was submitted for the exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists. This artwork represented Duchamp wanted to challenge the current art in New York and wanted to break the limitation of art. Hence, in my game, I also want to show something I want to break. The rule of cards did not follow the rules of playing cards. Level of cards will not show in my game. The card will not be judged by their values like people in Middle Ages European society judged by their status. I want to break this rule not only for the game, but also for the implication behind different of cards. Every number of cards just means the steps of moving fighter. Any step in some situations can play a decision role in the game. Because sometimes, you need Ace card to move one space and shoot down the enemy fighter closed your fighter. Although the value of the Ace is one, but it also can be more important than K.

In the Zurich Dada chapter, I found most dada artworks were constructed by different components from other different readymade artworks. So, in my game, I use the readymade chess pieces, chess board, dices and cards in playing cards. I did not create some new products in the game and just change some rules and add some new rules to form my new game. I choose the basic rule of Aeroplane chess including four players and move the chess pieces. And I added some new rules: like rolling dice to decide how many cards to draw and use cards to move chess pieces instead of original rule of chess that rolling dice to decide how many steps chess piece should move. Furthermore, the cards will be not judged value by their numbers rather than the game situations.

In conclusion, my game combined the cultures of Asian and European elements, some rules and materials of two games, changing rules of cards represents my ideas that I did not want card like people in society judged by their values or status. Choosing readymade games’ components to form my new game not only for using their materials, but also more important one is creating new concept and understanding to the readymade games.

Cards War

Four players:

My game combines elements of werewolf game and standard 52 card deck game.

Materials:

1. 2 decks of standard 52 cards
2. Four roles card, which can be made by four small pieces of cardboard

Rules:

Background: the werewolf and the vampire prepare to attack human city, and the hunter and knight decide to protect the city. Hence, there is one war between two camps.

Basic roles

There are two camps (evil and justice) represented by Black and Red. Four roles are Werewolf (the Club Card to represent – evil), Vampire (the Spade Card to represent- evil), Hunter (the Diamond Card to represent-justice), and Knight (the Heart Card to represent- justice). Every role has four lives initially. (if possible and have enough time, I will give different lives for different roles, or different skills and so on)

The Use of Cards

Four suits card and every suit has 13 cards. Ace, 2, 3 to 10, there are ten cards represent the numbers of soldiers. Three face cards J, Q and K represent generals who can lead some numbers of soldiers to attack. J can lead 2, Q is 3 and K is 4. When one camp player takes one card that its suit shows this card belongs to its opposite camp, this card can just be used for representing numbers of soldiers basing on value of this card. If this card suit shows it belongs to its camp, and this card is regarded as double numbers soldiers basing on value. If this card is face card and its suit fits the suit of player’s role, the player can use this card special skill on its camp.

Special Skill of Face Card:

1. Red color card:

J: obtain three soldiers to use

Q: add one live for one player

K: resurrect one player live

2. Black color card:

J: make one player cannot do anything when his turn

Q: obtain one general who can lead three soldiers

K: if attack success, can make opponent lose two lives

Start play:

Four players sit in a circle and there are two shuffle decks (104 cards) on the middle. Four players picked up four role cards randomly. All players can choose to expose their role and hide identities. Game start from one player and take turns clockwise. When it is one player’s turn, the player can pick up two cards from the deck and have two choices: first one is sending troop to attack one of other three players and soldiers must be led by generals. Second choice is using their special kill card once if they have valid special skill card. Player can choose to do both. When he chooses to attack one player, that player who is attacked can choose to lose one live or send troop to defend. Now, attacker and defender should show their sending soldiers and generals at the same time. Attack is successful when attacker send more soldiers than defender, others means fails. When attack succeed, defender will lose one live or two lives due to special skill card. All cards that be used will go to one place and after all cards in deck are used, these used cards will be shuffled and start to be picked up again if the game is not over.

Game Over:
When one camp players kill all opposite camp players and survive, the game is over and winner should be survivors.

Flying Fruit Juice Score

1. Prepare four kinds of paper: One yellow menu of chick, one white blank draft paper, one white blank notebook paper and one 8.5*11 blank paper

2. Prepare four fruits: casaba, Hami melon, purple and green grapes

3. Put one paper on the floor and draw one circle on the center

4. Knead, eat or throw fruits, stand straight and spill juice

5. try to make juice fall on the shape of paper

Others:
I tried several combinations and show them in the pictures

Artist’s statement:
My idea was inspired by the opinion that game and art are originated from the life. More details are when I was eating grapes, I remembered the article “Grapefruit” by Yoko, one sentence in it left an indelible impression on me, which is imagine one thousand suns and make them bring us the sunshine. I can smell the soft flavor of nature when I read it. She recorded the impression of nature. Hence, I also want to use another way to leave the fruit in my impression by different views and ideas. Like my score, fruit juice not only means the delicious taste, but also can imply other things.

In fact, at the beginning, I want to make some more serious and technical scores, however, later I found the flexibility and special is the key idea of the score in the Fluxus. And Fluxus is not a moment in history and should be one way of doing things. The unity of art and life is the best choice for the score. In the lecture, the professor mentioned someone broken the glass and made the art. This make failure and broken things become the process of art and game.

Hence, I consider the process of enjoying fruits and use its juices can create something new. Because the process of eating is more important than eating result. Furthermore, the juice was regarded as the dye to draw the nature picture. The process of enjoying fruits can be regarded as the happening of this score.

What is more, because crashing the fruits and falling of juice will fall on the paper randomly. The randomness is another key idea of the score because I remembered in the outdoor course, every score wo chosen is random happening. This was the whole initial idea. Later, for adding more elements to the score, I thought this action can create one implicativeness, which mentioned in the “Fluxus and essential question of life” book – laboratory of ideas. Hence, I drawn one regular circle on the paper and I tried to spill the juice in the shape on the paper when I stand up. The implicit meaning of this shape is the rule in our life and juice means actions we made in the life. Although in life we always try to avoid breaking up rules, we have to do something wrong accidently and inevitably. For instance, in my one of assignments in my one computer course, I tried my best to read the description of assignment carefully and want to avoid for violating the rules and lose points. Unfortunately, at the end I still lose points because I misunderstand the meaning of instruction and did not add the name of our group members on the top of the assignment paper. I got 10 % points for penalty. By comparing this failure and my score, I can find it was same that I tried to avoid for violating the rule, however, the result was less than idea.

I tried four different papers and four kinds of fruits. The mixing of juice color is interesting. Indeed, in my previous try, I just used one fruit and one paper. However, after the course and professor’s suggestion, I understood the iterations can make my score more colorful and rich. Four papers can represent four different situations I met and with four rules corresponding to them, four fruits are four actions I did for facing these situations and tried to avoid for violating those rules. The flying juice score implies my life and show one special happening for me.

The whole process connected the life, game and art together. Because the exquisite corpse mentioned the different collaborations can be constructed a new thing. I tried it and enjoy the beautiful of it.