Visits and Hits (Work the Line)

Ok, so here's how it'll work. After any hand in which Prestige drops by 1 or more, every PC gets a "visit" from an enforcer. If that PC's Respect is above 1, the visit is non-life-threatening, it's just stressful. Increase Exhaustion by 1.

On the other hand, if a player's Respect is at 1, it's a "hit". Increase Exhaustion by 1 (The PC pushed himself and managed to escape), and then, if Exhaustion is at the max (undecided now) the PC dies (He's too tired to run anymore).

When a PC dies, split his money equally amongst all other PCs. Some PCs may wish to force down another PC's Exhaustion and Respect and then force a loss of Prestige, in order to get that player killed (and thus make more money). Cool, huh?

Basic Mechanics for Work the Line

Here's some basic ideas for Work the Line.

Play should be relatively simple and hopefully portable. No dice. Two decks of Game Cards and a deck of regular playing cards, and a few coins. Easily remembered rules, perhaps with a reminder card or two.

So people can play whenever or wherever, even in (say) a restaurant.

What do you think?

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Clubs: +Prestige -Exhaustion

Diamonds: +Money -Respect

Hearts: +Respect -Prestige

Spades: +Exhaustion -Money

Each player draws 10 cards.

Flip a card off the deck face up.

Each player must play a card of the same suit or a cards totaling a higher amount (aces equal 1).

The player that plays the last card (or the first king played) gains and loses Stats as shown above. Exhaustion and Respect affect only the player, while Money and Prestige affect the whole Restaurant.

A player who ends the hand with a face card or ace gains the benefit but takes no penalty from the hand.

Each player who has cards left in his or her hand must reveal that hand and determine which suit he has the most of. He flips a coin. On a result of tails, he loses a point from that suit.

The rank of the top card at the end of a hand must equal or exceed the difficulty of the meal. On a success the restaurant gains Money, but on failure they lose Prestige.

Players get game cards (not playing cards, special cards yet to be designed for the game) to create events and change things in a hand. They also get abilities to use during a hand. In addition, each position in the Kitchen has a

different special ability.

If Prestige gets too low, the PCs get "visits" from musclemen to "encourage" them to work harder.

At the end of each session, subtract (undetermined) Money from the Restaurant's pool of Money. This is the Family's cut. The rest (if any) is split by the PCs. This is used to pay off debt or otherwise work towards the Character's goals.

If Respect gets too low, there might be an argument or fight. If Exhaustion gets too low, the PC either Faints, Gets Sick, or Snaps. If Respect gets high enough he can gain more abilities. If Prestige gets high enough, all the players get more Game Cards.

The "GM-Figure" is The Don. He gets his own deck of Game Cards.

Cool Work the Line Idea

Get this: They aren't just chefs. They're members of the Mafia, fallen out of favor (or into debt). Now they need to work in the Family's restaurant to work their way back up (in favor) or make enough money (to get out of debt).

This allows for side missions from the family, as well as a source of inter-character drama.

Whatdya think?

Work the Line (Or, Put the Pan on the Ring of Fire)

Crazy idea for a game. Every player is a chef in a busy restaurant. They work long hours in difficult conditions, requiring skill and speed under pressure.

Players would have stats like Exhaustion (The effects of heat, stress, and sleep deprivation. Goes down at breaks, end of shift, and when positive things (?) happen.) and Respect (How the other employees and PCs view your character. Higher amounts lead to better positions/raises and better teamwork, while low amounts can lead to arguments, fights, and trouble working as a team.).

In addition, the Restaurant would have stats of it's own.

I'm thinking of a fast paced, easy to use system... Maybe using cards in a trick-based game. The suit of the winning card determines what stats go up or down. Chefs would have stations or positions, and each one would have a special ability that could be used once a game...

Maybe money is required for the PCs. PCs have debts or goals that can be accomplished with more money. This ties into different dishes. More complex dishes give more money, but require more work and are harder to complete (and thus risky).

Character interaction would happen mostly off duty or on breaks, but occasionally could happen in the kitchen.

Go to Chef on Wikipedia for more information on chefs and the different positions. There are fancy titles and everything. Also, my apologies to the ghost of Johnny Cash.

Anyhow, this is very rough but... All ideas are welcome, I think this could be cool!