Candycreeps: Part 3 - Mechanics

This is third part in an ongoing series on Candycreeps. Part 1 and Part 2.

The first two parts featured the history and the primary location of the setting, respectively. This entry will focus to the mechanics of Candycreeps, including an example of character creation.

The basic system is simple: for any given test you will roll 1d8 and apply your modifiers (typically -1 to +3) against either a difficulty set by the GM, or a contested roll. If you roll an 8, you keep rolling until you do not get an 8, adding up your results (also known as exploding). The difficulty for a "pretty easy" action is 4, "doable" is 6, "hard" is 8, "really hard" is 12, and "pretty much not going to happen" is 16. What this means is that even for easy tasks, the die result is going to be very important. That high degree of variability may, or may not, be a feature, particularly given the genre (I'm going to put this in "school games" for now).

Every Candycreeps post will have this.

Combat, as usual, gets the bulk of the rules, but that isn't saying much in this case. Combat also has some of the only codified attributes: Close Attack, Close Defense, Ranged Attack, Ranged Defense, Reflexes, Nasty and Tough. The first four do what they say: provide a bonus to your attack or defense for the appropriate range. Reflexes are your initiative and everyone with the same Reflexes goes at the exact same time. When you succeed at an attack, you will cause a Hit of damage (characters can take six Hits, but can get more). If you have Nasty after you have succeeded at an attack roll, you then roll with your Nasty rating as the difficulty. On a success you cause an additional Hit; you never get to cause more than two Hits total. Tough is the defensive version of Nasty; when you take a Hit (or two), you roll against your Tough and on a success reduce the Hits by one. This can reduce it to 0, but you can never have a Tough more than four.

There are some more specifics, such as putting off your action (you get to know what everyone slower than you intends to do before you act right before them), and further details on Hits. Each of your Hits is tied to a location on your body (each limb, torso and head). When you take a Hit, you choose which limb to assign it to and when you run out of uninjured limbs, your torso takes the Hit and that's when the penalties start; -2 for each Hit on your torso, to be exact. A Hit on your head means that you're out of the fight at best, or, if you weren't a Creep before, you might be now! Two optional rules are also given, one for handling less important NPCs (who get less Hits than normal, two is suggested), and the other giving penalties for using a limb that has taken a Hit.

The other pieces to the system are Features, Roles and Aesthetics. Features are physically distinctive things about you, which can include items. Roles are what you do, e.g. cheerleader, athlete, nerd, mad scientist, etc. They are very simple and provide some small bonus or a special ability. The text gives clear guidelines for building your own and there are a lot of examples. We'll get more into those when we make a character below. 

Aesthetics are what you are and what you like, divided into Creepy and Cute. Your rating in each of those will improve through your Features (though never through your Roles), and also choose how you feel about Creepy and Cute (like or dislike; yes, a dislike option). You can feel the same or different about each of them. These function in the game through social interaction, and you have a number of points in each equal to their rating. You can choose to employ your Creepy or your Cute on any attempt to influence someone by spending a point of the appropriate Aesthetic, but you will have to guess (well, ideally you'll know, but that may require experimentation) what route to go. The goal is to match the result you want from your influence (positive or negative) to how they feel about a given Aesthetic (like or dislike). 

For example, if you want to convince your teacher to let you get away with smacking Billy for whispering at you (he's creepy and you dislike that), you'll have to guess if what she likes best, Creepy or Cute, since you want a positive interaction. Or, perhaps you know that Ms. Bitters dislikes everything so you aren't going to get far with that, instead you decide to intimidate Billy with your Hello Kitty pencil case because you think that he dislikes Cute things. You spend your Aesthetic point and if you match correctly get a +2 to your roll. If you don't match correctly you get a -1 to your roll. Turns out that Billy was whispering at you because he likes the fact that you're cute and wants to know more about your Hello Kitty pencil case...

There are a few optional rules for Aesthetics as well and an example of these optional rules: Normally you get your Aesthetic points per session, but one option allows for players to regain them through appropriately saccharine sweet or spine-tingling roleplay. There is a warning to prepare for players spending time engaging in these antics to regain said points. This may or may not be a feature (I think this would be a feature; I like engaging the setting with initiative like that and also less work for me). 

Now lets make a character, Lance. He's a pretty normal older brother in the 6th grade that had a nasty run-in with a duck Pop during a Renaissance Faire jousting tournament gone pretty wrong. Now he's adjusting to being a Creep, and finding that things aren't as different as he feared. Besides the big hole in his chest, but that's what his letter jacket is for.

Now we have to draw a picture. Yes, everyone (even me, who isn't so good at this). I prefer the medium of Crayola, so this is going to be good. I pay special attention to important features; he's a jock and since he was in the Ren Faire, he likes fencing (not so good at the jousting, though), and has a letter jacket. Also, he's dead, but he hides his chest wound, so that's not particularly important right now.

From this picture we need to figure out what makes Lance stand out and what he's into. We have 15 points to make a character: each Feature costs 3 points, and each Role costs 6. Well, like all Creeps, he's dead, so he has to take Dead which gives Lance +1 Creepy. He'll want to pack around that sword for reasons that have nothing to do with seeing a particular Pop in the halls, so he has Pointy Thing which gives either +1 Creepy or +1 Cute based on how it looks. Lance isn't really into Slayer, but he does like the idea of rescuing an open-minded damsel, so his sword is fancy and has a rose on it. That makes it Cute. The Letter Jacket that Lance wants requires him to have the Jock Role, so we get that and the Letter Jacket which gives +1 Cute. Jock doesn't provide any Aesthetics because it is a Role.

Next, what does Lance like and dislike? Well, Lance is a pretty affable guy and he likes girls mostly. He's also not really afraid of anything, which may have something to do with his current state and has only gotten more open-minded about things since he died. Lance likes both Creepy and Cute. Summing things up, Lance has 1 Creepy and 2 Cute. He ignores wound penalties to his torso (from Dead), gets +1 to interactions with everyone except the socially outcast and chronically disaffected (from Letter Jacket), gets +2 Nasty for Close Attacks (from Pointy Thing), and +1 to athletic prowess and Close Attack (from Jock). Normally Jock gives you +1 to Close Defense, not Close Attack, but since Lance is explicitly a fencer (who might not be super great a defense), we change it a little for him. And that's it, Lance is good to go.

The mechanics for Candycreeps are fast and simple, and serve to make it easy to represent whatever you might need in the setting. They are not likely to provide any depth or character on their own. Hopefully I will be able to playtest this soon and have a good idea of how it actually runs.

Candycreeps: Part 2 - The Pembrigan Academy

This is the second part in an ongoing series on Candycreeps. Part 1 and Part 3.

The first entry in this series on Candycreeps primarily discussed the history of the setting, while this will focus on the primary stage for the setting: The Pembrigan Academy for Gentlemen, Ladies and Creatures of Good Breeding.

Founded by Louis H. Philiford (an old boxing partner of Teddy Roosevelt) as a west coast boarding school in response to the east coast and British schools that had snubbed him earlier in life. From its origins it has a strong focus on agriculture and physical activity. Agricultural activities include farming, livestock, fish-farming, and the academy's own private national park (care of T.R.) complete with a lake. Sports in all forms, from rodeo to fencing, are a source of school pride and any student that expects to be popular would be well served to be athletically talented, particularly a well-attended one like crew, basketball, fencing, or football.

That's Louis H. Philiford and Teddy Roosevelt

The events leading up to the contemporary Pembrigan Academy have produced to a very different school than it was when the all-important alumni attended, but court decisions are court decisions until they are successfully appealed. Even the founder, Louis Philiford, has risen from the dead to take stock of what was once his. A mere matter of his death didn't deter him in trying to take back the school, no matter what side the law was on (clearly not the right side). Towards this end he waged an ever escalating guerrilla war against the morale of the administration (with the support of the student body) until it caved and offered him the brand new position of Dean of Cappadocian Affairs. Which has turned out to work well for everyone as the administration has someone with insight into Caps from their perspective and the Caps now have someone with clout looking out for them.

As part of the settlement with the Creep orphanage/school (P.S. 187) that was crushed by the academy's athletic field, FarneyCo has ensured that there will forever be a divide between the Cap kids and those that are, well, still alive. That would be the mandatory work-study program, a special "diversity education development initiative." What this means is that Cap kids can be pulled from class, hallways, their beds in the dead of night, bathroom, wherever, for some testing. Generally of the illegal, ill-advised, with extra side-effects variety that FarneyCo has specialized.

Academics are diverse, including all of the sciences that you may dread (for very real reasons) and all of the humanities that bore, or move you to tears (even robots cry when reading Where the Red Fern Grows). Of particular interest to the science nerds are the old, kinda exploded, a little collapsed FarneyCo labs (creatively referred to as the "Labs") with dodgy gravity. Turns out that there is a lot of stuff down there that could be described as horrifyingly dangerous to humanity at large. So, it's a popular destination for unsupervised children with a bright future in the mad sciences, and those that succumb to peer pressure. The Labs also serve to weed out the children that... didn't wear the proper personal protective equipment? Run faster than the other kids? Recognize that not all buttons exist to be pressed and sometimes the people that install buttons don't have a lot of foresight into their use? Look, some kids don't make it back.

For those with some interest in fashion, or the lack-there-of when it comes to school uniforms, the school colors are maroon and navy (dark red and blue, guys). The old style boys' uniforms consisted of a maroon jacket, navy slacks, and a maroon and navy striped tie. Girls got a navy blazer, maroon A-line skirt and navy pumps. More recently the jackets have been traded for maroon and navy argyle cardigan sweaters. Currently the uniforms also represent a subtle division between the haves and the have-nots of the school since only those of considerable means can afford the official uniform and wear their status without fear of reprisal from any of the administration.

Most of the students are from the local area (around 70%) and only students 7th grade and up can board at the school. The remaining 30% are all shipped to the academy from their parents and naturally at least 12. Boarders can leave school grounds whenever they want, but the gates close (regardless what side you are on) at 10 pm sharp and lights are out at 11 pm. It isn't widely know, but there are ways back into the school from the underground through the Labs. It's generally recommended to be back on time, but it's virtually guaranteed that any group of PCs will be caught out after dark at least once.

There are three notable dorms (or "dorms" as appropriate) described for the Pembrigan Academy: the Chicken Coops, the Playpen and the Kennel; there are no co-ed dorms: this is a school for good breeding, not plentiful. 

The Chicken Coops originated from when the school first went co-ed (during WWII) and there were not enough dorms to house the incoming female students. The only available buildings were the cluster of defunct large-scale poultry breeding sheds, which were spruced up and stuffed with bunk beds. Currently, with a significantly more equitable female-to-male ratio, there are new girls' dorms and the Chicken Coops have been converted into premium apartments for junior and senior girls. Ostensibly they are assigned by housing lottery, but in reality those with influence and affluence get to live there with the occasional lottery winner to ensure that it isn't completely rigged. The atmosphere in the Coops is a pre-Sorority with lots of social activities and a dance party/mixer once a term (the book assures us that the Chicken Dance is played).

One of the only surviving buildings from P.S. 187 is officially known as Morton Hall now, and it has the dubious distinction of being the only underground dorm, dubbed the Playpen, at the Pembrigan Academy. It has a lot of color, like the 12 degree tilt, occasional sketchy gravity, and the littered remains of the Cap daycare that was once there. It's not all bad, there is a 30% discount on rent and some enterprising residents have invited nearby Cap children to come play with the leftover toys and children's books. It is still considered the least desirable dorm, with additional long walks to the surface and back each day, and the residents skew heavily to the Cap population (whether this is due to socioeconomic factors or true rigging of the lottery is unknown).

Within the national park on the grounds holds the last "dorm" that is described. The Kennel (as it is know to everyone but the inhabitants) is home to the Pops that want to get back to nature, or perhaps away from everyone else. Unsanctioned by the administration, this outdoor village spans from the ground to the trees and allows the Pops to sleep outside and hunt for their own food. There are no rules and an community meetings are the only real organization. Most of the residents also have special permission slips and waivers to remove the school from any liability regarding what the students do out there. Those that don't generally have secret dorm rooms if they feel an animalistic need for a hot shower or pizza.

The Pembrigan Academy also has its share of traditions (often informal) including the Head Boy and the Tail Boy (not restricted to boys). How they currently function is that two of the best students will be approached and offered these prestigious positions. Each boy will take turns, alternating at the semester. All punishments for the Head Boy will be suffered by the Tail Boy. The idea is that since they will trade places, they will maintain their best behavior and lead the other students by example. It even works, unless the two hate each other. In which case it plays out more like open war as the student body takes sides and assails each other.

Another unofficial tradition is the Running of the Dogs. It has made its return with Philiford, much to the administration's chagrin. The students will round up the 7th grade boarders through subterfuge (punch and pie maybe) and then subject them to a stampeding mass of very excited (also slightly vicious) corgis in the school's own version of the famed event in Pamplona. 

Black stars, nooooooooo!

This is really just a sampling of the flavor regarding the Pembrigan Academy and there is plenty more to discover, such as the cold war (verging on hot) between the drama and choral departments over wrangling talent and funds for the plays and musicals. The punishment system (with dreaded black stars) and various underground extreme sports (including the Cafeteria League, headball and a dueling club). There are places of interest, and not just the Labs, like the cafeteria and library where gravity is unpredictable. The library has predictable, though nonsensical, gravity which allows for truly epic games of assassin with airsoft guns. Also Pembrigan's very own "superhero", the Detentioner!

Candycreeps: Part 1 - Setting History

This is the first part in an ongoing series on Candycreeps. Part 2 and Part 3.

Candycreeps is a game about playing kids in school, potentially from Kindergarten through graduation from high school. All kinds of kids. From cute kids, to creepy kids, magical kids, dead kids, robot kids, half-forgotten experimental kids. Well, you get the idea. All kinds of kids, at a unique school for this diverse student body: the Pembrigan Academy.

The setting of Candycreeps is quirky and darkly amusing. Everything centers around FarneyCo, a conglomerate that exists somewhere between Disney and the Umbrella Corporation (there may not be much distance between those two). The origin of the mascots lay in synergy between the FarneyCo theme park and genetic engineering divisions.

After numerous lucrative lawsuits from parents of children that were disturbed to see their favorite characters remove their heads during mandated breaks, an enterprising executive came up with the brilliant idea to remove the need for all of this removing of clothing. Instead FarneyCo would modify people that no one would miss into Permanently Outfitted Park Personalities (POPP, or Pops, for short). In the classic fashion of mad science meeting economics, it all went horribly wrong. When the Pops started to breed children that carried their unique traits, they staged a full-scale armed revolt against what were effectively their overlords, FarneyCo. Pops are now a familiar sight (circa 2032 CE), though they still suffer from some discrimination and stereotyping.

The next society altering event, unintentionally caused by FarneyCo, was the introduction of creeps. A government mandated inspection of a FarneyCo facility containing abandoned secrets (read as: horrifying crimes against humanity) went a little sideways. None of the folks staffed there at the time aware of the secret labs beneath the Crowley City facility, and the man brought in to supervise the inspection, the one man who knew about the labs, decided that some secrets were better left unknown. Or perhaps to end his 90 years with a bang. Really, no one knows, but he did detonate the facility and much of downtown Crowley City. A consequence from this explosion was unknown and experimental compounds from the secret labs (which were not completely destroyed) leaking out. Which in turn lead from that is the return of the dead to society, known as creeps.

Luckily for everyone they aren't after brains, but many did want their things that had previously been distrubuted to relatives back. It was clearly ruled that unless you specifically make provisions in your will regarding your returning from beyond the grave to keep your things, then they were not your things anymore. With a sudden influx of population that wasn't really picky about where they live, accommodations had to be made. The advent of functional, though remarkably bulky, anti-gravity technology gave some mad engineer/city planner a fantastic idea: hollow out the area under a city, install anti-gravity, then construct a city underneath the original city to allow for shared utilities, just with the orientation of the populace and buildings a little reversed. It was a success(ish) and those that lived underneath became known as Cappadocians, or Caps, for short. Even some of the living moved down there to enjoy the benefit of significantly lower rents.

It didn't take long for these significant changes to the great patchwork quilt of humanity to attract those who had spent most of history hiding in the shadows to come out. Since the dead had returned and anthropomorphic animals were a thing, it wasn't too much of a stretch to accept boogeymen, vampires, werewolves, witches and whatever else have you. What I'm saying is these times, they are a changin'.

In the middle of all of this, almost quite literally, is the Pembrigan Academy. Founded in the early 20th century by an eccentric tycoon that was spurned by the elite boarding schools of the East coast, the Pembrigan Academy was an amalgam of elite boarding school and manly finishing school (what with the steer roping and general outdoorsiness). It served as an alternative to those schools for quite a while. Named after a particular corgi crossbreed created by the founder, the Pembrigan (a portmanteau of Pembroke and Cardigan), the corgi features prominently in school activities as the mascot (the Fightin' Corgis), hazing rituals (the Running of the Dogs) and apparently just being everywhere and possibly a little vicious (and adorable! But mostly vicious).

The history of the Pembrigan Academy intersects with the rest of the setting during the explosion in Crowley City, where the Pembrigan Academy also happens to be situated. Pretty much adjacent. It didn't go so well for the Academy. Through generous donations by FarneyCo, that had nothing to do with some desperately need good PR, the school was able to rebuild and reopen. A small engineering snafu regarding the construction of the sports arena on top of the Cap school underneath for orphans lead to a newly diversified student body. The Prembrigan Academy was forced to accept all of the students that would normally attend the now rather crushed school.

Descriptions of the Pembrigan Academy give a colorful look at the life within the hallowed halls, with descriptions of the student body and social groups (including sample students and secret societies), sports and clubs, traditions, classes, locations, etc. Even with this detail, it doesn't ever feel like there isn't any white space to fill with your own ideas. Just a presentation of strong themes to build from and give a solid foundation of what life is like. The expectation for the PCs seems to largely be The Breakfast Club, but with tails, magic and dead people. It is clever and cute, without ever taking itself too seriously or getting too caught up in how clever it is.

Next week: the Pembrigan Academy.