I'd like to run Journey on the Heath; it's an incredibly creepy space after dark, it's easy to control, and there's no risk of death by car. Who'd like to help build it?
PLAYERS WILL GET LOST Possible fixes for this would be:
* Make every checkpoint in sight of the previous and next checkpoints. Put beacons at the checkpoints. There's still a risk that, while being pursued, players will scatter.
* Put a gmap online. Smartphone-wielding players (60%) won't get lost as long as they have signal (50%?).
* My new favourite: Split players into squads of about four as usual. Now assign a crewmember to each squad as a playing "team leader", responsible for getting the squad through the course alive. They also inject energy and acting into the scene. Advanced players who finish a run can come back as leaders for a second go.
PLAYERS WILL GET HURT The other issue is that, as usual, it has running-fast-over-rough-ground-in-the-dark. I think this is much less dangerous than running-fast-across-roads-in-the-dark. Particularly if we keep the course largely on the paths and don't do prolonged pursuits.
PLAYERS WILL GET COLD Not if they're running. (Unless it's raining. Then everything will suck).
This game design presumes slightly more hardcore players than usual, based on the survey.
BASIC MECHANICS Assemble squad at start point. Meet leader. Put on armbands. Wait for timeslot (1 squad every 5 minutes?). Briefing: Get to every checkpoint, in order, within the hour. If you're touched once you'll be Marked; if you're touched a second time you'll be Doomed (able to continue playing, but unable to win).
NICE BITS One player per squad gets a gun and a couple of nerf darts. Monsters are stunned by nerf hits as usual.
One player per squad gets a box with a few matches. Monsters don't like them. (ever tried striking a match while your hands are shaking? :> )
POSSIBLE MONSTERS Rather than continuous danger, it'll be a set of predefined encounters - although the players won't know where all of them are.
(Monster bios can be given to players).
Grunt: Straight out of Night Watch, these are easy to spot, follow predictable routes, and are rather stupid. If they do spot you they are very fast. Found everywhere.
Stalker: Intelligent and stealthy, stalkers create tension by toying with the players before going for a kill. Found in forests.
Cyborg: Borrowed from Nightstalker, cyborgs are alert and capable but can't see stationary objects. Found in open areas.
Witch: Stationary, easy to spot, but the course requires players to sneak past her. If angered she is fast, relentless, and bulletproof. (Bonus: attempt to cr0wn her!). Found in narrow passes.
Repeating some stuff I said at the pub last night, but:-
Assigning a Team Leader seems very difficult to balance correctly - you need lots of "we need to go here next" authority, but you shouldn't hand-hold players through the interesting survival bits. It may make more sense to have the crew member being a feeble "VIP" who has to be escorted safely through the game, and who runs on a very simple behaviour script. Both of these sound less fun that standard fend-for-yourself Journey, though; this definitely takes it towards the "theatre" end of the spectrum.
I don't think smartphones will save you. It was bad enough trying to meet up on the Heath when we had maps, radio contact and broad daylight - mediocre GPS in darkness is going to be horrible, even without a Grunt chasing you down.
Beacon checkpoints might work if there were a lot of them, to the extent that there was no place on the Heath where you couldn't see or hear a single beacon (even if most of them were specifically designated as non-checkpoints; if you're lost but can see a blue light, head towards it, and you'll be able to see a yellow checkpoint light from there). I have no idea how feasible this is, though.
Not sure about getting hurt, I've lost my footing a few times on the Heath - mostly slipping on mud, rather than tripping. The big issue with getting hurt is that if you get hit by a car on Tottenham Court Road, you'll get immediate help; if you break your ankle on a side route in the undergrowth of the Heath and have no idea where you are, you'd better have a loud voice.
The Heath is going to be occupied by other people. Keeping players in teams of four mostly fixes this, but you don't want people reacting to a violent drunk by mocking them as if they were a fictional monster, or nerf-gunning a dog walker. (Similarly, you don't want chasers hassling the public, or - perhaps more critically - ignoring players who are cleverly pretending not to be playing.) I suppose colour-coded necklace glowsticks would make it clear who's in the game and who isn't.
Right. I've done a lot more running out there recently. There are a surprising number of very well-defined paths, including some narrow channels with fences on one or both sides.
I think it would be possible to set up a highly visible, fairly intuitive route. If we timed the course for 30 minutes, it'd need to be about 4km long, which means that with 100 glowsticks we could have one every 40m.
I'd like to have enough player saturation that a player would pass a given point every minute or so anyway. You'd only be in danger if you wandered more than yelling distance from the path - which is quite a long way. It would be possible to hand out cheap whistles to players who want them.
If we do it at sundown (so there's still some light, but it's dark enough to be creepy) there are very few people out there. I'm a fan of Big Visible Player Identifiers. If you pretend not to be playing, you're going to get the crappy experience that you deserve.
This is sort of turning into "Adventure racing. With zombies." - a big part of it will be sustained athletic performance, with occasional game-y encounters. I don't know if there's a market for that but I think there might be.
Oh, and the plot? "The undead roam the world, our position has been compromised, we're moving the safehouse. We have to go _now_ since we won't make it to dawn. The scouts have marked out a safe route (do _not_ deviate from the path!), and we'll go two at a time to avoid too much concentration of psychic energy."