Quartz 4

One page RPG jam 2024

5 min read

Brainstorm

  • Names
    • Ultimate Rideshare
    • Rogue Rideshare
    • Rideshare Rundown
    • Transit Tales
    • Fare Play
    • Turnstile Tycoon
    • Rideshare Renegade
  • Duet game: one player plays the rideshare “driver”, the other plays the passengers
  • Car breaks down, but they need to continue getting fares
  • They decide to get people where they’re going by taking them on public transit
  • Various reasons a connection is missed that can be mitigated by various attributes skills
    • Transfer bus is pulling off when you arrive: speed can get you there
    • Transfer is confusing: pathfinding can ensure you will make it
    • Next bus driver is taking a break: charisma can talk him into putting it off and getting back on
    • Next bus is not on time: luck can mean another bus arrives at just the right time
    • Bus breaks down: luck another bus is behind it
    • Person is causing a scene on the bus meaning the bus will have to stop for the transit cops to handle them: charisma can talk them down
  • Skills can have persistent effects:
    • speed: ?
    • pathfinding: every route is 1 transfer shorter
    • charisma: riders’ patience is less of a factor
    • luck: might be so powerful in terms of mitigating missing connections that it won’t need a persistent effect
  • Conversations
    • Drivers have an affinity for or against conversation
      • Correctly interpreting and delivering the desired level and depth of conversation could result in a good review score, which may increase number of fares or pay from fares
  • Progression
    • per route (rapport with driver)? Will I even define the routes?
    • skill progression? Second-level abilities on top of the existing skill abilities
    • Money?
      • Transit pass to give you options besides the bus: rail, streetcar
      • Regional transit pass so you can get people from town to town
      • Micromobility options like motor scooter or ebike

  • The RPG itself will be a fake email from the rideshare company instructing people to please stop fulfilling ride requests via public transit and offering a free one-page RPG the company created so they can satisfy this urge at home within the safety and comfort of their imaginations.

Game

Intro

You want to make some of that sweet rideshare cash on the newly launched HytchHyk app. There’s only one problem: you don’t have a car.

You won’t let that stop you though. Your town has public transit, and you fancy yourself a… Rideshare Renegade!

Rideshare Renegade is a one-page duet game created for the One Page Jam 2024: one player plays the role of the rideshare “driver” and the other plays the roles of all the passengers. The “driver” does not have a car, so they will need to use public transportation to ferry passengers to their destinations.

Stuff You Need to Play

To play, you will need a single six-sided dice (d6). A few more of different colors can make things move faster.

Before Playing

First, decide which person will take on which of the two roles. The driver will experience long-term character progression and might be referred to as the “player” in a lot of RPGs. The passengers will pass in and out of the story, so they should be a played by a player who is interested in telling a lot of different stories and facilitating the long-term progression of the driver. This role is similar to what other games might refer to as a GM, referee, or facilitator. Both players will have fun, but they will be different kinds of fun.

Characters

The “driver” player should decide on a name and background story for the “driver.” In particular, two questions are very important in defining the “driver:” why do they “drive” and why don’t they have a car?

The “driver” starts on HytchHyk with a single star rating. This can increase up to five stars. It can also be reduced back down as low as one depending on how good you are at getting passengers around.

The passenger player can start by creating the first passenger. You can do this by rolling against the passenger player tables or by crafting a character by hand. Each passenger needs a name, a destination, and a disposition.

Names

11- Zephyr 12- Indigo 13- Orion 14- Freya 15- Bodhi 16- Zahra 21- Kai 22- Rumi 23- Ezra 24- Inez 25- Silas 26- Willa 31- Atticus 32- Zadie 33- Cassius 34- Anouk 35- Arlo 36- Farah 41- Cyrus 42- Zelda 43- Milo 44- Aya 45- Jasper 46- Kiran 51- Rowan 52- Leila 53- Nico 54- Noor 55- Luca 56- Esmé 61- Finn 62- Amara 63- Theo 64- Kaia 65- Levi 66- Zara

  • Gender-neutral names (Zephyr, Bodhi, Rowan)
  • Names with unique spellings (Anouk, Esmé, Zahra)
  • Names of celestial/nature origins (Orion, Indigo, Aya)
  • Names with international/multicultural influences (Rumi, Farah, Kiran)
  • Names that are less popular in mainstream US culture (Atticus, Cassius, Nico)

Dispositions

1- Shy 2- Bubbly 3- Weird 4- Quirky 5- Inquisitive 6- Demanding

Graph View