Experimental Games

Experiments:

Genius Loci: Mammon Machine

MAMMON MACHINE is a mod of the tabletop pen and paper RPG Genius Loci: while in Mammon Machine, you still play small gods, these gods are the oft-predatory and petty gods of retail malls in the early 2000s.

For Quickstart (using d6 dice) rules, refer to Genius Loci, and use the following mod. A transcript will be available soon, as well as a d10 ruleset, optional rules, and campaign prompts. Like this? Want to support me? Buy me a coffee or a pint using Paypal.

Character Creation:

(Roll a d6 OR choose)

You are a/an

(Attribute):

  1. Old
  2. New
  3. Glittering
  4. Vibrant
  5. Dangerous
  6. Beautiful

(Store Type:)

  1. Food Court Booth
  2. Department Store
  3. Music/CDs/DVDs/media store
  4. Movie Theater
  5. Souvenir Shop
  6. Self-proclaimed “edgy” T-shirt Store

You are Scared of (Your Fear):

  1. Strangers
  2. Your customers
  3. Being forgotten
  4. The Internet
  5. Crime
  6. Under-18s

You Love, to the Point of Addiction:

  1. Under-18s
  2. Technology
  3. Christmas music
  4. Top 40 pop music
  5. Pop culture/memes
  6. Over-40s

Faith System:

The Faith System is new to Mammon Machine, to try and capture a mall that once was robust, but is slowly dying.

Each Player starts with 10 Faith.

Faith comes through actions throughout your game.  (Think of it as experience.) Faith can be used to make Alliances and to mitigate Conditions. However, at the start of each session, all players lose -1 Faith.

To mitigate Conditions using Faith:

  • To pay off 1 Condition one time only: 10 Faith
  • To pay off 2 Conditions one time only: 15 Faith
  • To pay off 3 Conditions one time only: 20 Faith

If you reach -10 Faith OR reach 3 Conditions on a single track, see removal rules of Genius Loci.

If you want to support Genius Loci itself, here’s the Patreon for that which goes to the original creators, not me.