Game Design By Lucian Smith, Character Sheet by Paul Czege. Written for the Reverse Engineer Game Design Contest. Version 0.2
In Dangerous Ideas, you and your friends will portray competing philosophies, vying for control of a familiar story. As a group, you will re-tell the story from your different perspectives, and when the story ends, one philosophy will win out, and the moral of the story will be revealed.
The Character Sheet: The success and failure of your philosophy will be tracked on your character sheet as you play the game as you gain (and spend) power, and create new memes. The more power your ideas represent, the better able you are to affect the course of the story. The more memes you have, the closer you are to winning the game.
Power: The power of ideas is represented by stones. Ideally, each person would have their own color of stones they could use for the game. Barring that, the players should use two colors of stones or tokens: one color for the players, and one color for bonuses. When a player earns a point of power, they place a stone on a node (one of the five of "Think", "Probe", "Defend", "Connect", and "Create"), or on an active meme branch (a branch with a meme written on it).
Setup: Everyone chooses a Dangerous Idea to play. Dangerous ideas should be broad enough to encompass several specific truths (or truisms), which will enter the game as 'memes'. For example, one player might play 'Manifest Destiny', with memes of 'one area should have one ruler' and 'white men are superior'. Another player might play 'Man is the Measure of All Things', with memes of 'a tree that falls in a forest makes no sound' and 'science should be funded in accordance with its usefulness'. If the group wishes, everyone can play the same kind of thing--different religions, the perspectives of different animals, or different management philosophies.
The group should also decide on a story to re-tell through the lens of these competing ideas. Good choices for stories are fairy tales or nursery stories: 'Little Red Riding Hood', 'Sleeping Beauty', 'Puss in Boots' and so on. For a longer game, players may wish to re-tell the plot of a movie everyone has watched. Everyone should be familiar (or be made familiar) with at least the basic plot of the story at the beginning of the game.
Everyone then gets 7 stones, which they distribute to the five nodes on their character sheets ("Think", "Probe", "Defend", "Connect", "Create").
Everyone sits in a circle. Whoever's idea it was to play the game goes first.
The Setting Round: Going clockwise around the circle, everyone tells a piece of the setup to the story. A key feature of this setup is to state something that one of the characters in the story believes and (if it's not obvious) how it relates to their own Dangerous Idea. They then write down that belief and which character holds it as a meme on their character sheet on one of the branches provided, and gain one stone which they place on that meme. (There are three different types of branches: leaf, coiled, and dwarf; this meme and all other memes can be created on any type of branch. More on the types later.)
For example: Manifest Destiny, The Attitude of Cats, and German Efficiency are re-telling the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Manifest Destiny begins:
"Once upon a time there was a little girl named Goldilocks. Goldilocks knew that one day she and her family would own all of the dark forest that grew next to their cottage at the edge of the field." She writes down 'Knows the humans will one day own the forest - Goldilocks' on a branch on her sheet.
Then it's Cats turn. "In the forest lived three bears: Papa Bear, Mama Bear, and Baby Bear. Papa Bear had built their house on a high hill, far away from the river that ran by the edge of the forest." He writes down 'Hates water - Papa Bear' on his sheet.
Finally, it's German Efficiency's turn. "Papa Bear knew that exercise was healthy, so every day at exactly 9:00 in the morning, he would gather his family together and they would go for a walk." He writes down, 'Punctual exercise is an important part of the day - Papa Bear' on his sheet.
The Story Rounds: The story is told in a series of chapters. In each chapter, everyone will get a turn, and on each person's turn, everyone else will get a chance to help or hinder that person. The person who started announces the chapter and a one-sentence synopsis of what actions will happen during it ("Chapter 1: In which Red Riding Hood's mother discovers Grandmother is sick, and sends Red off with a basket of goodies.")
Then, starting with the person to the first player's left, each player gains two stones which they may place anywhere, and may attempt two actions. Possible actions are:
Power actions:
Meme actions:
You may additionally attempt to replace someone else's meme with one of your own as part of a Create or Probe action. If you are successful, the other player must cross their meme off of their character sheet when you write down your new meme on your own empty branches.
Meme actions don't happen in a vacuum--all the other players will have an opportunity to help you (Connect) or hinder you (Defend) in your attempt.
Any of these actions may be performed in any order, and the same type of action may be attempted twice. The player may not, however, attempt to perform the same action with the same memes twice in a row if the first attempt fails. You may also not attempt to replace the same meme twice.
During a Power action, the narrative does not advance. Meme actions, however, are accompanied by the players narrating something happening in the story. The action in the scene may not advance beyond what was previously announced in the chapter title, but the given actions can be expounded upon, and there is plenty of room for dialog, asides, internal musings, and incidental actions.
Phase 1:
To begin any meme action, you announce what meme you wish to create or spread, and which character will hold it. A newly created meme must not yet exist on your sheet, and you must have a meme at least once on your sheet already before you can spread it. If you are attempting to replace a meme, you must announce which meme you are attempting to replace (note that a dwarf meme may not be replaced). A meme may not spread to a character who already holds it.
You then spend stones to help your action succeed by placing them in the center of the table. The more stones you spend, the more likely your action is to succeed: you will roll 2d6, trying to get less than or equal to the number of stones you and your allies have spent, less the number of stones any opposed players have spent. You may spend stones from the 'Probe' node when spreading a meme, or from the 'Create' node when creating a new meme. You may also spend as many stones from your central 'Think' node as you spent from the 'Probe' or 'Create' node.
You may also choose to involve other memes on your sheet. A 'Create' action may be assisted by any coiled meme you own, while a Probe action may be assisted by any leaf meme you own. (Characters who hold coiled memes tend to be more introspective about them, which fosters new ideas, while characters who hold leaf memes tend to hold them on display for others to see, making others more likely to pick up those and related ideas.) Because a Probe action will duplicate one or more of your existing memes (if successful, you will end up with a duplicate meme on a new branch held by a different character) these memes may also be involved, regardless of type.
Any meme you involve in your action gives you one bonus stone, and you may spend stones currently sitting on that meme. Each meme may contribute its bonus for only one of your two actions, but you may involve the meme and spend stones from it for both actions, if it is legal to do so. It can be helpful to place a stone of a different color next to any meme that has contributed its bonus as a marker, so you don't accidentally contribute its bonus more than once.
Each time you spend stones from anywhere or gain a bonus from an involved meme, you must narrate what's going on in the story. Since at this point we don't know whether the action will succeed or fail, the narration should be speculative in nature. It wouldn't work to say "Goldilocks walked by the river, and decided she didn't like water." Instead, say something like, "As Goldilocks walked by the river, she saw how the nearby rocks were very slippery, and thought about how cold she would be should she slip and fall in. She wondered to herself if water was really as wonderful as she had been told." When involving a existing meme, that meme (and its owner) must be brought in as part of the narration. If Attitude of Cats was trying to spread 'hates water' from Papa Bear to Goldilocks, he would spend stones from that meme, gain his bonus stone, and say something like, "She thought about the great stone cabin she had seen high on the hill in the middle of the forest. 'Whoever built that home certainly liked heights more than he liked water,' she mused. 'Perhaps he had a point.'"
Phase 2:
Now other players may choose to involve their own philosophies in the musings of the target character. Like the main player, they spend stones and gain bonus stones when they do this. They may choose to either Connect with the new meme, or Defend against it. When they spend stones to connect, they add their stones to the total in the center of the table. When they spend a stone to defend, they take their stone and a stone from the center of the table, and discard both of them. Any player may either Connect or Defend, but may not do both.
Players spend stones from their Connect or Defend nodes, and may supplement with an equal number of stones from the central 'Think' node. They, too, may also involve memes from their own sheet. If they are connecting, they may involve coiled nodes, as introspection reveals previously unrealized similarities between the two philosophies. If they are defending, they may involve leaf nodes, as the displayed memes serve as a warning to the characters to not fall under the sway of erroneous philosophies. As in the player's case, involved memes contribute a one-stone bonus (for one action), and any stones on it may be spent.
A player whose meme has been targeted to be replaced nevertheless may still choose whether to Connect (should they feel it's a hopeless cause) or Defend. Should they defend, the targeted meme and any other meme held by the target character may be involved, regardless of meme type. In addition, any stones spent from the targeted meme counts double (remove an additional stone from the center of the table for every stone spent).
All players (including the player whose turn it is) may spend more stones and involve new memes in any order during this phase of the action. Every time they do, they add to the story, explaining why the target character feels more or less inclined to adopt the new belief.
Phase 3:
Once everyone agrees they do not wish to spend any more stones, we determine whether the action succeeded. Add up all the stones left in the center of the table: this is the target number. You then roll two d6's. If the total is 11 or 12, the action fails. Otherwise, if the total is equal to or less than the target number, the action succeeds.
If any player is unhappy with the results of a die roll, they may spend one of the red seeds shown on their character sheet to force a re-roll of one die (that player's choice). The die is re-rolled, and they must cross off one of the seeds from their sheet. This can continue as long as people have seeds left.
If the action is successful in the end, write down your new meme on any empty branch on your character sheet, put one new stone on it, and transfer any number of stones from the adjoining node to the new meme. If you successfully replaced another player's meme, that player crosses that meme off of their own sheet and moves any remaining stones from that branch to the adjoining node. That branch is then empty, and new memes may be created on it as normal.
Any player who connected with your successful action (even if only to contribute bonus stones) receives two stones which are placed on their 'Think' node. Players who assisted a successful defense against your action gain nothing more than the satisfaction of knowing that your heretical ideas have failed to spread.
Whether you succeeded or failed, you then narrate what happened in the character's mind to cause them to accept or reject the new idea.
Finishing up:
At the end of your second action, you pass the dice to the person on your left, all players remove all bonus markers, and the next person takes their turn.
The player who announced the chapter title will be the last person to make their actions in that chapter. If the actions described in the chapter title have not been completed by the time it is their turn again, they get an extra two stones to place on their 'create' node, and may narrate any remaining plot at the end of their turn.
The story should be divided up into about 5-10 chapters: if playing with 3-4 people, everyone should start a round twice, and if playing with 5-10 people, everyone should start a round once (decide before you begin the game). You may want to divvy up the plot into sections before you start, or you can just wing it and lump any remaining plot into the last chapter.
At the end of the story, everyone totals their score to see who won. Points are awarded as follows:
If there is a tie, the person with the most red seeds left on their sheet wins. If there is still a tie, it's a tie.
The winner (or winners) then get to announce the moral of the story! They should feel free to incorporate any memes from their sheet, and to belittle any memes from others.
[It is technically possible in a game with a lot of chapters that someone will fill up their sheet with all twelve memes before the end of the story. If this happens, tally up everyone's points, and the winner gets to narrate the end of the story as well as the moral.]
And now you know what the story is really all about.
Optional rule: New choice! At some point during the game, you may decide that someone's narrated justification for spending stones was weak. Or you may just want to see what else they can come up with. If this is the case, you can call out 'New Choice!' and the player must back up and re-narrate the reason why their stone-spending was justified. This has no mechanical influence on the game--just have fun with it.