“Fleur-de-lis” and “star” inspired the term “starflower”, which worked out fairly well as a deliberately vague springboard. Also, as I discovered in playtesting, it can easily inspire sci-fi settings as well as fantasy.
“Dividers” suggested defining characters by what makes them different from each other. If everybody is a good fighter, you don’t really need to have “fighter” on your character sheet, now, do you? It has nothing to do with the compass tool, but I’ll take what inspiration I can get.
“Intrigue” suggested the idea of using a struggle for dynastic succession as the basic premise/situation.
So, that’s how I got from the ingredients list to “The Starflower Throne”, basically.
Awardwise, I’ll be gunning for each of the submission deadlines (with playtesting and revision based on it), the Al Gore Award (for being designed for internet use: simple mechanics that don’t use dice for easy pick-up play in a medium where player availability can be so transient), and the Brevity Award.
A bit more on how playtesting went down, and my thoughts and reactions to it (as well as some of the playtesters’ comments), in my next post.
Tags: al gore award, brevity award, dividers, fleur-de-lis, intrigue, star, the starflower throne
