{"id":978,"date":"2019-02-17T10:00:49","date_gmt":"2019-02-17T10:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/?p=978"},"modified":"2021-11-16T00:39:07","modified_gmt":"2021-11-16T05:39:07","slug":"five-or-so-questions-on-jinkies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/2019\/02\/five-or-so-questions-on-jinkies\/","title":{"rendered":"Five or So Questions on Jinkies!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Today I’ve got an interview with Toby Strauss on the new game Jinkies! Jinkies! is currently on Kickstarter<\/a> and is very Scooby-inspired, so I’m excited! I hope you like what Toby has to say below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

—<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tell me a little about Jinkies! What excites you about it?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

First\noff, I was beside myself with happiness when you spelled Jinkies! with the\nexclamation point.  During my research, I was amused that the original\n1969 \u201cScooby Doo, Where are You!\u201d used an exclamation point, and not a question\nmark, on the title card.  Isn’t that odd?  But I love it. \nThere’s a certain energy to the (incorrect) punctuation that I find kitschy and\ncharming.  I couldn’t not use it for the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jinkies!\nis a powered by the apocalypse adventure game based on the Hannah-Barbara\ncartoons from around 50 years ago.  If you’ve ever seen Scooby\nDoo, Josie and the Pussycats, Jabberjaw, or Dune Buggy<\/em>, you’re on the\nright track.  Like Monsterhearts or Dungeon World, the players can choose\nfrom playbooks based on the archetypes from the shows.  These characters\ngo on adventures, unmasking bad guys and ne’er do wells pretending to be\nnefarious monsters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One\nof the things that I’m especially excited about is how Jinkies! handles\nclues.  Visual clues and puzzles are really hard to do right in tabletop\nRPGs.  Most of the time, the GM drops the “path critical” clues\nin the laps of the players just to move things along.  I really puzzled\nover how to handle clues until I realized something important: Hannah Barbara\ncartoons aren’t about the mystery.  The mystery is just a setting. \nThe cartoons are really about the adventure, the creepy suspect, and the wacky\ngang.  Jinkies! approaches clues with the mindset that it is the\nadventure, not the clue, that’s important.  This means that the bad guy\nfor a given module can change from playthrough to playthrough, but I think\nthat’s ok.  This is why I used PbtA for my mechanics.  Players and\nGMs in Jinkies! are just playing to find out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another thing that I love about Jinkies! is that there is no combat in the game.  Interestingly, combat was in the very first draft of the game . . . and it was a disaster.  The playtesters overwhelmingly rejected it; the genre is nonviolent by design and combat just didn’t feel right.  Instead of swords and hitpoints, Jinkies! turns on scares and “fear” points.  Its a great system that makes the world feel scary and dangerous without misplaced violence.  I’m proud of how it turned out! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do the mechanics work to result in scares and fear points, and what do those do?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you watch one of the old\nHannah-Barbara mystery cartoons, you’ll notice that no one gets hurt. \nInstead, there’s a sort of asymmetrical nonviolence between the protagonists\nand the antagonist.  The protagonists act through ensnarement and logic–capture\nthe bad guy and explain the crime.  The antagonist acts through fear–if\nthe kids are scared enough, they’ll run away and let the bad guy finish his\nmisdeeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I tried to mirror this in\nJinkies!  The player characters “assault” the bad guy by 1)\nfinding clues, and 2) setting and triggering a trap for the bad guy. They\ncannot inflict fear points on the bad guy, but the bad guy can inflict fear on\nthe player characters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fear works a lot like HP, but it is\nonly inflicted by the bad guy, and it leads to fainting from fear, not physical\nharm.  So let’s say the ghost pirate flies right through Joe the Leader.\n   That’s pretty scary!  Joe takes a point of fear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are a number of ways that\nfear can be mitigated.  Several playbooks have the ability to avoid taking\nearned fear points (“Joe, using his inner strength, shrugs off the ghostly\nattack!”).  The “weird one” playbook (think Shaggy from\nScooby Doo) not only gets fear mitigation, he can use fear to fuel unique\nabilities.  The weird one in these shows is always <\/em>afraid–I\ncouldn’t help but give him fear fueled powers!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it all comes together, its a surprisingly seamless experience.  No one seems to miss combat and the asymmetrical nature of the game is almost invisible when the game is played.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Purple Pandalot, the mascot for Jinkies! by Lil Chan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What was playtesting like for this game, with the elements of it being so cartoonish?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lot of my inspirations are\nobscure and probably unknown to many of my players–but almost everyone has\nseen something with Scooby Doo in it.  The original cartoon aired way back\nin 1969 and there have been dozens of spin-offs, movies, and sequels–not to\nmention the lasting power of syndication.  That ubiquity has made Jinkies!\naccessible to almost everyone who has played the game.  The vast majority\nof my play testers have very naturally leaned into the cartoony roots of\nJinkies! with little prompting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can only think of a single play test where the game didn’t feel like a cartoon.\u00a0 The players decided play the game really straight.\u00a0 They even decided that their animal mascot was not magical and could not talk!\u00a0 It felt like Dragnet, or maybe a Nancy Drew mystery.\u00a0 It wasn’t a bad <\/em>experience, but it also wasn’t a funny <\/em>one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That play test was early in my process and I did a bit of\u00a0soul searching to try and figure out how to “fix” what had gone wrong.\u00a0 It just didn’t feel<\/em> right.\u00a0 In the end, though, I didn’t change very much.\u00a0 Most people who sign up to play Jinkies! are looking for a light-hearted, cartoony mystery adventure.\u00a0 My game isn’t going to be\u00a0all things to all people, and that’s ok.\u00a0 Better to focus on making it the best at what it is! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How are you changing PbtA fundamentals to suit the different tone and themes, like rewriting basic moves and so on?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interesting\nquestions!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If\na player came to Jinkies! from another PbtA game they would find the mechanics\nfamiliar.  Jinkies! is still very much a “play to find out”\ngame.  There are basic moves, playbook moves, and animator moves. \nJinkies! uses 2D6 for its randomizer.  Very PbtA in the fundamentals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\ndiverge pretty heavily in the moves themselves.  PbtA was developed for a\nvery blood-thirsty setting, after all–and Jinkies! is based on a\nfamily-friendly cartoon!  I excised ALL combat moves and added heavily to\nthe investigative moves.  I also changed the Animator moves, hewing closer\nto the genre than Apocalypse World moves could.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also break with most PbtA on principles.  One of the guiding principles of Dungeon World, for example, is “think dangerously.”  The world of Jinkies! is sometimes scary, but it is never dangerous.  I’ve rewritten the principle as “think comedically.”  Another principle I changed is saying your moves out loud.  This is a big no-no in most PbtA games but I actively encourage it.  The Hannah-Barbara formula practically requires naming your moves.  When Velma tosses Scooby a treat, she doesn’t just give him a knowing nod, she inquires “will you do the task for a Scooby Snack?”  Scooby snack, in this case, is TOTALLY a move, and the verbal component is a very important (and cartoony) part of creating the feel the game is after.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are you doing in regards to guiding table content safety, since there’s a lot of ways this could go a little gonzo or maybe just hit an unseen button of discomfort?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To the safety question: every RPG carries risks (bleed, content and trauma triggers, etc).  Jinkies! is no different.  In fact, I would argue that the risks of things going sideways are greater in Jinkies! than in D&D.  First, it’s a comedy game.  Comedy is, by definition, transgressive–and those transgressions can cut in surprisingly deep ways.  Second, there is a certain subtext to the “teenagers with a wacky sidekick solving mysteries” genre that is off-color.  The “Shaggy Busted” episode of “Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law” does a great job of poking fun at this subtext, if any of your readers are curious.  Its fun and its funny, but it is also emotionally dangerous waters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve\nattempted to have my cake and eat it too by baking in two presets for content\ncontrol, “normal” and “Behind the Music.”  I certainly\ndon’t object to sex or drugs being in the game–so long as everyone at the\ntable is comfortable with it.  This way the players must actively choose\nthe “blue” version of the game, and it prompts a lines and veils-type\nconversation.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, I recommend the use of an X card system.  Even in a game where boundaries have been drawn ahead of time, things can get messy fast.  I find that X cards are indispensable safety tools.  Finally, I explicitly instruct against gameplay that I find to be irredeemably offensive, like racism or misogyny.  For example, a common trope in 1970s Hannah Barbara cartoons is the villain kidnapping a woman.  This is lazy storytelling, its sexist, and it makes the game suck for the player who has been removed from gameplay.  Bigotry has no place at my table or in my game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

—<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks so much to Toby for the great interview! I hope you all enjoyed the interview and that you’ll check out Jinkies! on Kickstarter today<\/a>! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today I’ve got an interview with Toby Strauss on the new game Jinkies! Jinkies! is currently on Kickstarter and is very Scooby-inspired, so I’m excited! I hope you like what Toby has to say below. — Tell me a little about Jinkies! What excites you about it? First off, I was beside myself with happiness … Continue reading “Five or So Questions on Jinkies!”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[390],"tags":[20,10,4,17,25,8,15,12,26,23,18,105],"class_list":["post-978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive","tag-five-or-so","tag-game-design","tag-games","tag-gaming","tag-interviews","tag-roleplaying-games","tag-rpg","tag-rpgs","tag-story-games","tag-tabletop-games","tag-tabletop-rpgs","tag-vintage"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paHOcG-fM","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":133,"url":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/2017\/11\/boy-band-the-game\/","url_meta":{"origin":978,"position":0},"title":"Boy Band: The Game","author":"Beau J\u00e1gr Sheldon","date":"November 2, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Hi All! Got an idea today, so I wrote it down. Check out Boy Band: The Game, which will get a fancier version at some point, but until then, get ya grabby hands on it.Boy Band: The GameThis post was supported by the community on patreon.com\/briecs. Tell your friends! To\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Archive"","block_context":{"text":"Archive","link":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/category\/archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":80,"url":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/2018\/06\/five-or-so-questions-on-champions-now\/","url_meta":{"origin":978,"position":1},"title":"Five or So Questions on Champions Now","author":"Beau J\u00e1gr Sheldon","date":"June 2, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Hi all!I did an interview with Ron Edwards on his Kickstarter project, Champions Now! Ron prepared our audio recordings and edited everything into a video, so you get to hear the interview on the following video. 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To leave some cash in the tip jar, go to http:\/\/paypal.me\/thoughty.If you'd\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Archive"","block_context":{"text":"Archive","link":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/category\/archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/978\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}