Mission: ImPAWsible Design Retrospective

I recently released our latest game: Mission ImPAWsible, in which players take on the role of three raccoons in a trench coat posing as the globe’s greatest super spy and try to save the world. Designing it was a lot of fun, and I thought I’d put some ramblings about the design process here for anybody bored enough to read them. If that’s you, then thanks.

Rules-Light Games For The Win

I adore rules-light games. A well honed set of simple mechanics that can carry an entire game are just… chef’s kiss.

However, like many, I often struggle with the lack of guidance for actually running games of this style. Whether it’s a lack of setting details or a lack of guidance for how to run them in general, or both… The general consensus online is that rules-light is not great for inexperienced GMs and Referees.

When I wrote Space Aces, it was originally because I enjoyed Lasers & Feelings a lot, but needed a more help to run the game. So I created a suite of tools and tables to make improv space adventures easier for me. Eventually, that evolved into an entire galaxy of adventures in SA:VOY that all hang on some very simple mechanics and some very robust tools.

I think it worked pretty well. If you are reading this… you probably (hopefully) agree. =)

Heist Movies For The Win

I also adore heist movies. So, when I’m not running Space Aces, my favorite game to run by far, has always been Honey Heist. The simple rules can be easily grasped by everybody and silly theme encourages shenanigans and light hearted good time. But, as with most ultra-light games, it can be hard to run for new GMs.

Running a heist in a game is always great fun. We all love the heist episode, but they come with some pitfalls… The biggest challenge is for the GM who often feels pressure to fully and deeply prep the heist location like a dungeon, stocking it room by room, which can be a daunting task. The other pitfall is for the players who will often get stuck in planning mode and end up spend 3/4 of an evening planning for the heist, leaving next to no time to actually pull it off.

In designing M:I🐾, I wanted something that was light enough to teach in 2 minutes, got straight into the action, and also had enough depth to run over and over again, while also providing the GM with a full “quiver of tools” they could pull from as needed to run a great game.

If Space Aces is my take on “Lasers & Feelings deluxe”, I like to think of Mission: ImPAWsible as “Honey Heist deluxe”. It takes all the things I adore about Grant Howitt’s masterpiece, combines it with the principles from John Harper’s Forged in the Dark, and mixes in some push-your-luck fun from Cezar Capacle’s awesome game Push, to create something that is (in my opinion at least) quite special.

Challenge Number One: Generating Locations

The main challenge of designing M:I🐾 was coming up with a process to generate locations that didn’t require tons of prep work on the GM’s side of things, and that could be easily improvised on-the-fly, as needed.

A heist isn’t a dungeon crawl. Players aren’t exploring a location room-by-room, they are trying to find the quickest path to the target and then the quickest way to get the heck outta dodge.

The simple “three-layer fortress” structure described in the rules is the result of lots of play testing, and I think it strikes a good balance between having enough prepped so a GM can feel relatively confident to run a location without taking more than 5 or 10 minutes of concerted thought on their part.

It provides the players with three specific challenges to overcome: 1. Infiltrating the perimeter defenses, 2. Navigating the interior security, and 3. Finding the target while avoiding a death trap). It also encourages the GM to think of a few points of interest to explore on each layer, which is more than enough to fill a couple hours with hilarious hijinks. If things run too smoothly, the GM has a handy “Totally Unexpected Twists” table to make things interesting for the crew.

Challenge Number Two: Avoiding Player Planning Mode

The other challenge I wanted to solve was ensuring that the pace of the game would never stall out, either from players getting stuck in planning mode, or not able to decide what to do next. So, the game always starts with an Opening Caper followed by receiving a mission that is always urgent. Giving the players mere minutes to prep before traveling by map to the cinematically dramatic location and being thrown straight into the action.

Additionally, every minute the players spend discussing amongst themselves what they should do next during the mission, the Gaze Master can flip a coin to see if they get unceremoniously interrupted or not. Combine this with the fragile nature of the raccoons who can’t handle a lot of Stress without Flipping Out, and managing the general level of Suspicion during the mission, and it creates a fun environment of constant tension and will have the raccoons continually trying to do “human things” and searching out snacks and digging through trash.

One tip that works great to keep players moving along at a break-neck speed: Set a timer on the table as soon as the Opening Caper starts, and place it so that everybody can see it. I run out of gas around the 2 hour mark, so you can guess what my timer is always set at…

Mechanics: Risk & Reward

I love the Position & Effect concept in Forged In The Dark games, but not all the tightly entwined mechanics that are tied into it. So I made a simple Risk & Reward chart for the GM to keep on the table to quickly and easily show players the level of danger they would be taking on with an action and the benefit they might get if they succeed.

I find having this on the table and marking the risk and reward of each action facilitates clear communication with all parties. It also encourages players to use Leverage in the world itself to mitigate risk and maximize reward. Players feel good when they think of a clever solution, and the GM moves that marker up or down accordingly. Additionally, players won’t feel blindsided by consequences because they agreed to the risks before taking the action.

Lastly, this chart also encourages players to try to “Push Their Luck” when they may not have quite enough Leverage to achieve the desired reward they are aiming for.

Mechanics: Push Your Luck

I am particularly proud of the “push your luck” coin flip mechanic for players. It provides an interesting, and nerve wracking, choice every time they take a risky action. Do I keep this result, or do I try to improve it while risking making things worse? The choice is always there, tantalizing, tempting, looming…

Similar in spirit to Cezar Capacle’s genius PUSH system where players can roll their D6 as many times as they like, totaling the number to try and get the result they want without overshooting. However, with a coin flip no math is needed ever, and everybody intuitively understands how to do it. Flip once for a straight success or failure. Optionally, flip again and combine the result to get an enhanced success (Triumph), an even worse failure (Catastrophe), or a mixed success (Troublesome Success).

This mechanic shines especially brightly when two raccoons decide to work together to perform a complex action. The “Helping Paws” rule states that they must both flip a coin and combine the outcomes. This means that when raccoons work together there will never be a “middle ground” outcome. It will either result in a Triumph, Catastrophe, or a Troublesome Success.

I love giving chocolate coins to the players for them to flip. It provides a tasty treat after the game is over, and lets them threaten the coin with being eaten early if it fails them. =D

The GM Advice

It was a lot of fun putting down in writing every piece of advice I could think of or find to run an improvisational caper. The words “Yes, but…” and “No, but…” in particular are incredibly powerful tools for a GM when they run low on energy and need ideas from the players. It lets the players offer input and ask for what they want during the game, while also making them work for it and feel like they earned it.

These are all hard-learned lessons and tips I’ve collected over the years, and I hope they help take the stress off a new or nervous GM who is running a rules-light game like this for the first time.

Wrapping It All Up

The included Bingo mini-game is also a blast. It turns failures into exciting moments that let you mark off a square on your bingo sheet, and pushes players into even more shenanigans just for the fun of it. (I may or may not have gone on Temu and bought a bunch of raccoon-themed prizes for my players who manage to score a bingo during a mission… don’t tell my wife.)

Working with Johann (Tuna Ceti V) again on the art was a real delight, and our visions gelled perfectly for what this game should look like. He has some serious talent, and I’m sure it’s not the last time we will be working together!

It was a blast writing Mission:ImPAWsible and filling it with campy tropes, dramatic locations, over the top macguffins, death traps, twists, and little jokes throughout. I hope it brings lots of joy to lots of tables. =)

If you made it to the end of this, thanks so much for reading my ramblings, and may you have many happy adventures!