Well, a friend of mine will be celebrating a month of sobriety with a drinking binge at the start of February and I accidentally volunteered to design an RPG that runs on shots of rum. Someone mentioned the idea in a thread on this forum on talk like a pirate day and how to design a pirate RPG, to the tune of "there's your d6; there are your shot glasses; roll me a seven." I paraphrased the hell out of that, but you get the idea. Anyway, I mentioned that in passing and was immediately asked to run it. I thought this place had some good, fun-loving GMs and designers who might have either tried something like this or would be willing to help.

I think the thing would work best if we had two teams of players racing to get the treasure. Character generation wouldn't give bonuses or penalties or any kind of math, but would just be some neat trick or other. Anything more difficult than Player: "I wanna play as a monkey!" GM: "Okay!" is a bad idea. Combat would just consist of rolling damage (d6 no matter what pretty much) and having your opponent drink as many shots. Players who pass out, throw up, or otherwise stop drinking are dead. I wanna have minimal GMing (which is why we have it set up all player vs player). This mostly because any GMing will be done by me. Which would mean having to keep my wits about me. Which is just no fun. Other mechanics might use cards or such.

I've got no idea how to put a game like this together. Please help!

Quote from: beejazzCombat would just consist of rolling damage (d6 no matter what pretty much) and having your opponent drink as many shots.

Are 6 shots in a row really a good idea? (ADDED: Depending on what you are putting in the glasses.)

Quote from: John MorrowAre 6 shots in a row really a good idea? (ADDED: Depending on what you are putting in the glasses.)

Yeah... might be a bit much. d4s a better idea then?

Have combat roll opposed dice, with the lower having to drink as many as the difference between the rolls. If it's a tie you roll again and the loser drinks and extra to make up for the tie. Either combatant can quit at any time by not rolling their opposed die (and hence auto-losing with a 0).

Sounds good to me.

Now, I kind of wanted a map on the table and more than one kind of conflict (not just combat, but trying to figure out which of maybe five islands the treasure's on, bluffing against your opponents related to what cards are in your hand, runing away, etc.).

What do you think would be good ways of handling stuff like that?

EDIT: Any wagers or whatever would also be welcome in the mechanics. Or auctions for face down cards. Any kind of craziness.

For one of them you need a pissing contest (assuming everyone's a guy and you've got access to a yard or some sort).

Well they ain't all guys (for once I think it's an even 50-50), but that is a thought.

Could throw in something strip-poker-esque.

Quote from: beejazzYeah... might be a bit much. d4s a better idea then?

You know your players better than I do.  It's fairly difficult to drink beer quickly enough to kill yourself before you pass out but what kills people with hard liquor is high quantities at high speed such that the person drinks enough to kill themselves before they pass out.  So you might want to look at how much it takes to kill someone and make sure your players never drink that much if you are using hard liquor for your shots.

Quote from: John MorrowYou know your players better than I do.  It's fairly difficult to drink beer quickly enough to kill yourself before you pass out but what kills people with hard liquor is high quantities at high speed such that the person drinks enough to kill themselves before they pass out.  So you might want to look at how much it takes to kill someone and make sure your players never drink that much if you are using hard liquor for your shots.

How does one figure what'll kill a person, exactly? I drink some but I don't generally make a habit of binges or drunkenness.

I just know someone's going to suggest something like everclear... I at least know well enough to shoot that down. How about something where you roll opposed and the loser takes one? It would take forever to kill anybody in the game, but I'd rather not kill anybody IRL.

EDIT: As said before, this'll prolly be rum.

Invite some folks over to playtest the game the night before. If any of them keel over, lower your die type.

Quote from: beejazzHow does one figure what'll kill a person, exactly? I drink some but I don't generally make a habit of binges or drunkenness.

This might be a good place to start (found by Googling '"blood alcohol level" toxic death shots'):

http://www.princeton.edu/~oa/safety/alcohol.shtml

...and a chart that relates Blood Alcohol Level to body weight and drinks per hour here...

http://www.factsontap.org/factsontap/naked_truth/blood_alcohol_levels.htm

The first page contains this text for a .35% blood alcohol level:

"This blood alcohol level also happens to be the level of surgical anesthesia. You may stop breathing at this point. In February 1996, a second student, age 20, died of alcohol poisoning with a BAL of .34% after drinking six beers and twelve shots in two hours."

Please note that people have died with even lower Blood Alcohol Levels and you can die at lower levels still if you pass out and choke on the vomit (that means, keep an eye on your friends if they pass out).  You probably shouldn't cut it too close with that weight and drink chart, especially if you are going to keep drinking for more than an hour (you don't reset after each hour -- it can build up).  I'm not a doctor and this is not professional medical advice.  It's simply a friendly warning because I'm sure you don't want to accidentally kill anyone and, sadly, a few people each year do die playing games like that.  You should probably consult a doctor if you really want good official medical advice on this subject.

Thanks for the tip. Dead people are hard to clean up after, and won't participate very well in future games.

EDIT: Hoie! It'll only take ten drinks to get me to .28? Yeah, this'll take some revision. A downgrade to beer might not be such a bad idea.

Quote from: beejazzThanks for the tip. Dead people are hard to clean up after, and won't participate very well in future games.

Yeah, and the last thing the hobby needs is MADD and BADD joining forces against role-playing.

As entertaining (in the short term, and minus my involvement) as that would be, I'd have to agree.

Quote from: beejazzI've got no idea how to put a game like this together. Please help!

I'd run it as a series of minigames.

+Spoons, targets and marshmellows to settle broadsides.
+Musical chairs to settle boarding parties.
+Striptease to raise morale
+Telephone to work as a team
+Toast wars to settle munitions explosions
+Egg tosses to work out the effects of swinging on lines
+Knot tying contests to set sail
+etc...

Just put the physical stuff at the begining of the game. No sense getting hurt in a three legged race.

Wrap the whole thing in a Survivor style game, and plenty of chances to backstab and you're all set. Matey!