Interest Check: Making it in Hollywood (Small Group 3-4 people)

Started by Uebelator, July 28, 2015, 03:37:55 AM

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Uebelator



Im currently thinking about setting up a game, where a small group of people - possibly friends - want to become famous actors in Hollywood. They might have just finished their acting-classes, if they had visited any at all, and are now trying to get invited to auditions and to make a name for themselves.

There will be high hopes, big disappointments, pride, envy, possibly drugs, strippers and everything that´ll be good to create a lot of drama.

While I imagine the game to be freeform mostly, I think it could be fun to have some sort of mini-system underneath, when it comes to the castings and to see who will get the job. Im not entirely sure about the system yet and what Im writing here isnt by all means set in stone. Im just kicking around a few ideas here and id be happy to hear what you think.

One important thing for every character is money. Everyone will start with a certain amount of it (say... 2.000 bucks), but they need to pay for rent, their food or their car, if they have one. They can find day-jobs like being a waiter in a diner or packing bags in a supermarket, which will earn them a bit of money. And of course, if they get hired as an actor, they will get paid as well.

Then, every character might have several stats, which affect how well he does in certain castings. Those stats could be:
Attractiveness - It never hurts to be good looking. Thats how Megan Fox got most of her jobs.
Personality - You might not be the best actor in the world, but when youre on screen, people just love you, because you just have that certain special something. Jack Nicholson might be an example for that.
Acting Skill - Its not always needed to be a perfect actor, to get a role, but if it is, youre up for the task. You can think your way into every character and just become that person, like maybe Daniel Day Lewis or Natalie Portman do.
Humour - Youre basically just a funny guy and people love you for it. Kevin James, Will Ferrell and Seth Rogen probably fall into that category.
Physicality - Sure, you can do a lot of stuff with CG nowadays, but some movies just demand you to train very hard. This goes for many action-roles, where you need to run and jump a lot, but also for other physical roles like maybe Natalie Portmans role in "Black Swan".

Characters will have a certain amounts of points (lets say 8 for now) they can spend on those stats.

To score a role in a movie, you will need casting-points.
In each casting, the GM (myself) will decide what skills will be necessary for the movie (If its "Guardians of the Galaxy", youd probably need Physicality, Humour and Attractiveness). The character with the highest point in those stats will get 2 casting-points, the character with the second highest stats will get 1 casting point.

And to have a bit of randomness to it and to reflect the personal preferences of the auditioners, I will have every player give out 3 casting-points to any other character but their own.
Then we´ll just add it all up and whoever has the most casting points wins. Of course that might be an NPC as well, as your characters wont be the only ones applying for a role.

I will put up a thread with casting-opportunities and every character can decide, which auditions they wanna visit and if they might wanna skip their day-jobs, if it interferes with an especially interesting audition.
The actual castings will happen once a week (real time) on a certain day (friday?) and on that day the GM will announce, if any of the players have scored any roles.

Depending on how long this game is going, Id love to see your characters work their way up from starring in a cheesy soap opera to becoming big stars in the movie business, while others might end up in the gutter just looking for the next shot.

Does this make any sense at all? If it does to you, please drop me a line or two and dont hesitate to share your ideas.

Ixy

I like the core concept of the small group of friends and the changes in their day-to-day lives, but I see this being a LOT of micro-interactions with NPCs as the various auditions transpire, and the system would probably work better as guidelines rather than in a video-game type format?  I'd like to see where this goes in the planning stages and what kind of scenarios you'd expect to see.
______________________
The big print giveth, the small print taketh away.

Uebelator

Hey, thanks for your reply.
What if the auditions wouldnt actually be played out, but basically just one thing to give the PCs something to talk about and to keep them busy and to possibly stir up some conflict among them?

Another option would be to open the game up to many more players, scrap all the system stuff and make it a freeform slice-of-life game set in Hollywood, where people can play aspiring actors and actresses as well as the guys who call the shots like producers, casting directors and the like...

mia h

You mean make it something more along the lines of The LA Complex?
If found acting like an idiot, apply Gibbs-slap to reboot system.

Uebelator

I don't know the show, but after looking it up, I'd say yes. That seems pretty much spot on.

mia h

To be fair I only made it through a couple of episodes before bailing on it but the basic idea stuck
If found acting like an idiot, apply Gibbs-slap to reboot system.

Darkleather

Looks as though this could be interesting - I'd like to give it a go :)

JamesSureWould


Uebelator

Oh hey!

Thanks for your interest. What kind of game would you like better? The small-group-GMed game, or the more open slice of life freeform thing?

A Painter

Sounds interesting.

I could go with either the freeform or the GMed version.  I honestly prefer a bit of structure, myself. 

Darkleather

Quote from: A Painter on August 20, 2015, 01:12:33 AM
Sounds interesting.

I could go with either the freeform or the GMed version.  I honestly prefer a bit of structure, myself.

Same here - though doesn't have to be a huge amount.  Just enough to let us know we're not just flailing around :)

Uebelator

So what about the little system I described in my first post? Would that be enough, or would like to see more?

A Painter

I like the idea of it.  Maybe we can try it out and tweak it as we progress in the game if we need/want to change anything.

oops I see it on the title never mind xD

Uebelator

Yes, we can change anything, if we encounter some problems or dont think its working how it should.

One thing I think we´d need to put in the system is another value for something like Fame or Reputation. I think it helps, if you can tell the auditioners "Hey, Ive been the second victim in the remake of Scream 2". So, if you´re at least a bit of a star, that might you help score more roles, right?
So every won job doesnt just give you the monetary bonus, but also in increase in your fame value, which then again serves as a bonus in future casting calls. makes sense?

Shall I put up some sort of character sheet, so you guys can just get creative, if youd like to?

A Painter

So Fame would be like Connections of Networking?  Maybe some new parts and auditions open up for people who have a certain level of Fame?

Or is that too complicated? xD

Yes please to the character sheets!

Darkleather


Uebelator

Yes, connections and Networking is certainly part of what I think Fame is supposed to be. But also the fact, that the worldwide audience has seen your face already and hopefully likes to see more.

Uebelator

So, you wanna make it in Hollywood? Just fill out this little form:

Personal info:
Name: This is where your name goes. Duh!
Alias: Is your real name so terrible, that you chose to pick another?
Age: You´re over 18, right?
Sexuality: Straight or gay or bi or whatever else you think you can get away with
Physical Description: How do you look like? What do you like to wear? Pics are nice (but please no pics of real actors), but a little description is always welcome too.
Personality: What makes you tick? How are you perceived by others?
History: How and why did you end up here? What does you family think about it?
Likes: Things that´d make your life a lot less pleasant if they were missing from it.
Dislikes: Stuff you just cant stand.

Stats: (8 points to spend)
Attractiveness:
Personality:
Acting Skill:
Humour:
Physicality:

Fame: 0 (unless you have a good explanation, why youre already famous)

Money: 2000 Dollars (unless you have a good explanation, why you have more.)
Job: Do you work to earn some money? What do you? Little side jobs (like waiting) earn you 500 Bucks a month.
Lifestyle: Low, Normal or high

Uebelator

Im not sure how to handle this.... I assume you all live somewhere and that place is gonna cost you. Do you wanna live in some sort of larger appartment together? Then Ill just tell you what it´ll cost. If you wanna live in your own places or maybe your car, Ill tell you the individual costs.

Same goes for something I call lifestyle, which describes the kind of food you eat and the clothes you wear.
Low: Youre eating CupNoodles and shit like that. No fancy clothes. (50 Bucks a week)
Normal: Just your average meals. Sometimes fresh, sometimes from the microwave. Some fancy clothes. (100 Bucks a week)
High: Caviar, Champagne and only the freshest of the fresh. Only designer-clothes. (200 Bucks a week)

Darkleather

Personal info:
Name: Christopher Samuelson
Alias: Kris Smith
Age: 24
Sexuality: Gay (though that's not what he told his agent)
Physical Description: Kris is 6ft tall, neat dark brown hair which is medium length and deep brown eyes.  His face is not unattractive, but also not striking - until he smiles when his face is transformed.  He is quite well muscled from years of practising martial arts and working out.  Kris isn't a fashion nut - luckily as he can't afford much!  Most of his money goes on gym gear, so that's also what he wears when not in work.  He does have one threadbare suit that he uses for auditions, but the jacket is too small for him, so he just carries it.
Personality: Kris is quiet and a bit of a loner.  He tends to listen before he speaks and those who don't get to know him often think he is slow or stupid.  In fact, he has a pretty good brain - he can pick up information very quickly & is a good debater if given time to think.  He knows that his bulk can intimidate people, so he tends to talk fairly quietly - until drunk, when he gets loud, boisterous and usually ends up shirtless.
History: Christopher was brought up in Romford, Essex (UK).  His future was cemented when his dad took him to his first action film.  As he watched Bruce Willis ride a flaming motorbike through the window of the White House just before it exploded, he knew that was what he wanted to do.  Unlike most other 11 year old kids, he did something about it.  He pestered his parents until they enlisted him in martial arts classes - first ju-jitsu, then karate, then boxing.  By the time he was 20 he was familiar with 8 martial arts.  He also put the physical work in necessary to do well in them.  As a result during his school years he was lean and fit but as he grew through his teens he put on more muscle until he gained his current somewhat "square" physique.  His school work didn't suffer - he just worked harder though managing that along with his martial arts made him quite a loner.  At the age of 22, he had an average degree in Drama and he saved up enough money to head for Los Angeles.  Kris (as he was now known) knew that this was going to be tough, but he figured that if he worked hard enough, he would get what he wanted.  His parents supported him as much as they could.  But after his dad had an accident at work and couldn't work any more, they had enough financial worries of their own and couldn't really help Kris out much.
Likes: Kris loves his action films.  While still scraping by, he makes sure to get to a cinema at least once as week - even if it's an old one.  He loves his friends and works hard to keep them - he doesn't make friends easily, so he cherishes the ones he has
Dislikes: Hates bullies - saw some bad bullying at school (though he wasn't the victim after he started martial arts), and reacts very badly to it. 

Stats: (8 points to spend)
Attractiveness:  1
Personality:       1
Acting Skill:       1
Humour:            2
Physicality:        3

Fame: 0

Money: 2000 Dollars
Job:  Kris cleans for his local gym - the pay is rubbish, but he gets to workout for free after hours.
Lifestyle: Low (Kris always tries to send some money home.  The rest gets spent on gym gear and protein)

A Painter

Personal info:
Name: Donella Niven
Alias: Bella Niven
Age: 24
Sexuality: Omnisexual
Physical Description: Bella teeters on the line between average and below average height at 5'3.  Without her makeup she's more adorable than she is sexy, but a little attitude goes a long way.  Her long years of dancing and performing have given her a lot of practice with projection, so she knows how to strike a pose and emulate feelings with more than just her face. She's very fit and has been getting a bit of arm and shoulder definition over the recent years.  Her look of choice is vintage or pinup girl looks, which means she's happy shopping at thrift stores then altering whatever she finds. 
Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide



Personality: Bella is serious, determined and competitive.  She's social and can be charming when she feels she needs to be, but her default setting is distant, at the worst of times, abrasive.  There are times for fun, but she's been out of the habit so long she doesn't quite know how to do it anymore.  She is happiest at work or training.  When you catch her in a good mood you will catch a glimmer of a dreamer in her.
History: Bella's life has always been eventful, but not unique.  From what she could remember family was well-off at the start.  Parents ran a small but successful flower shop in San Fransisco.  Her father was the heart and soul of the operation and his death was the turning point in all their lives.  Her mother was a co-dependent woman and flitted from husband to husband and their lifestyle slowly declined.  By the time Bella's youngest sister was a prepubescent they were living in a hole.  In the next few years Bella's older sister would run away, and Bella herself was trying to find scholarships in to good art schools and would later take on jobs to help send her youngest sister to school. 

Now that her sister graduated some years ago and Bella is focussing on herself.  To be honest she never even thought of herself as an actress until recently, but not having to worry about her sibling suddenly opened so many new doors she may have made a hasty decision.  Bella saved up some money, cut ties with her mother and her eldest sister and moved to Los Angeles to become a star. 
Likes: Theater, training and performing dance and pole, clubs and cats.
Dislikes: Lazy people who squander their potential and resources, soda and litter.

Stats:
Attractiveness: 2
Personality: 1
Acting Skill: 2
Humour: 0
Physicality: 3

Fame: 0

Money: 2000 Dollars
Job: Bella has a lot of odd jobs, the most flexible (aka doesn't happen often) is her job as a model, but she also teaches pole fitness at both a gym and does little events and house calls for curious but shy groups of ladies.
Lifestyle: Low, but she manages to get guys to pay for fancier stuff every now and then.

Darkleather