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DIRECTORY
HOW THE GAME WORKS
CREATING A CHARACTER
For gameplay, you will be given 31 "Talent Points" at the beginning of the game, which can be distributed to the following "Traits":
VOCAL RANGE TRAITS
PERFORMANCE TRAITS
NON-PERFORMANCE TRAITS
The traits defined:
VOCAL
HIGH (1-5): When tackling a highly-pitched note, does your character sound
as sweet as a bird, or does his voice crack like Peter Brady's? VOCAL
LOW (1-5): Will your character succeed in tackling that Crash Test Dummies
song, or will she just end up coughing and sputtering? ENERGY (1-10): Can
your character make it through "Livin' La Vida Loca" without breaking
a sweat, or does he get winded even when trying to sing something from Jack
Johnson? LYRICS (1-10): Your
character's memory. The lower this number is, the more likely it will be your
character will be stuck on stage trying to remember the words to that Beck song
she's trying to work through. RISK (1-10): Yeah,
everyone wants to hear yet another take on "My Heart Will Go On," but
what your character really want to do is sing "Sweet Dreams
(Are Made of This)." The Marilyn Manson version. RHYTHM (1-10): Refers
to your character's ability to keep to the beat and hit notes at the correct
times. SINCERITY (1-10): Your
character's touching performance of "Streets of Philadelphia" won't
go over that well if he doesn't wipe that smirk off his face. TEMPO (1-10): The
speed of a song. A higher rating allows your character to keep up, no matter
how absurdly fast it gets. CHARISMA
(1-10):
Your character's "It Factor" STYLE (1-10): Who
cares if no one wears armbands anymore? If you have a high style rating, you
could wear one as an earring, and millions of tweens will be sporting them by
the end of the week. HEALTH (1-10): Keep
your character well and don't overdo it on the No Doze and Sudafed, lest she
finds herself carted away in an ambulance due to exhaustion and dehydration. Each
traits starts at 1, and your very first task will be to spend Talent Points to
increase your character's traits in any distribution you choose, though the
Vocal High and Vocal Low categories may not reach higher than 5, and the other
nine traits (Energy, Lyrics, Risk, Rhythm, Sincerity, Tempo, Charisma, Style,
and Health) may not ever exceed 10 points. For
instance, you may choose to spend 4 Talent Points to increase your character's
Tempo rating from 1 to 5, then spend an additional 6 points to increase her
Style rating from 1 to 7. This leaves you 21 points to distribute among the
remaining 9 categories. Choose
wisely which traits you distribute points to. Though you will get chances as
the game continues to increase your ratings, once submitted you may never take
points out of any one category to move to another category For information
of what the ratings mean and how they influence the results, please see scoring below. At
the beginning of each round, the GM will announce to the remaining contestants
the theme for the upcoming round (may be a style, era, artist, or any other
connection of the GM's whimsy), and post a list of songs which "the
producers have cleared" for the upcoming show. In addition to the titles
and original artist, each song will be given a rating between one and ten in
each of the following categories: VOCAL
RANGE CATEGORIES ¬… VOCAL
HIGH ¬… VOCAL
LOW PERFORMANCE
CATEGORIES ¬… ENERGY
¬… LYRICS
¬… RISK
¬… RHYTHM
¬… SINCERITY
¬… TEMPO Each
rating is the minimum skill level required of your character to perform the
song flawlessly. For instance, if you gave your character 7 points in Energy
and 5 in Lyrics, he will likely nail a song that has a rating of 2 and 4 in
those categories, respectively. If your character is given a song with an 8
rating in energy, he will tire out and lose audience votes in the process. NOTE: Pop Icon will be using the
names of actual songs for the performances. However, the GM is the sole arbiter of which
songs will be made available and what their levels will be. ¬…
If you want to choose a song that has a higher difficulty rating than
your character can handle in one (or more) trait, you may still pick the song
and throw one die for the Trait (see Scoring),
however, your character will receive a penalty in her Performance Score, based
on the following formula: 5 * ((Song
Difficulty Level) - (Trait Level)) EXAMPLE: Charles wants to perform a song that has a
5 in Energy, exceeding his Energy level of 3. He may perform this song, but
will receive a 10 (5*(5-3)) point penalty for doing so. ¬… There will be more than enough songs
each round for each singer to perform a unique song, but it is not against the rules for two player to perform the same
song. The repetition will annoy the audience, however, and both players will be
penalized 5 points from their performance scores. If more than two players
perform the same song, each will be penalized 5 points for each other player who is also performing the song. So if
four people sing "Smooth," each will lose 15 points (5 pts. x 3 other
performers). For information of what the points mean and how they
influence the results, please see scoring below. In addition to giving interviews, learning dance
steps for their group sings, filming cheesy video fillers, and attending
Hillary Duff movie openings, the Pop Icon finalists will be given time to
rehearse their songs for the upcoming performance show. As good as they were
already, the experience will do wonders to make them even better. At
the opening of each round, each player will be given 4 points which can be
added to any of her character's traits in any way she sees fit
(e.g. add four points to Vocal High; add one point each to four different
traits; add three to Charisma and one to Tempo, etc.). When
adding Rehearsal Points, remember that no trait may exceed 10, and neither of
the vocal traits may exceed 5. All points must be spent as integers, so there
is no giving "two-thirds of a point" to one category,
"one-third" to another. For information
of what the ratings mean and how they influence the results, please see scoring below. When
the performers take the stage, they will perform not just to entertain the
studio and television audience, but also to sway the three Pop Icon judges, who sit
front and center, scrutinizing every note. The judges are notoriously difficult
to impress, and the few singers who have managed to do so find their praise so exulting, the joy
can drive them even harder to improve their skills even more. Let's
meet them: ¬… Rodney has produced many
of the best-selling Funk, Disco, and New Wave records of the 1970s and '80s,
and is a singer in his own right (1985's Just... Rodney). A
"lover of the technically-superb singer," he listens for anyone who
masters the Rhythm and Tempo of a song ¬… Donna
Greer had fame in the early 1990s with hits such as "Long Heart, Slow
Touch," and "Touch the Bottom of My Heart." She "just melts
at a well-performed ballad" and has a strong appreciation for Sincerity and Lyrics. ¬… Dweezil
Farner is a former contestant on MadHouse and Celebrity
Saboteur, and well as a guest judge on the British version of Pop
Icon.
Having grown up in the toughest neighborhoods of London, Dweezil "has Punk
in [his] blood," and always gives credit to those who expend tons of Energy
and take Risks. Each
judge is looking at two traits in every performance, and will highly praise the
contestant who earns the highest combined Performance Roll scores in the two
categories. As a reward, this contestant will earn one bonus Rehearsal Point at the beginning
of the next round, added to the four automatically given. There is no limit to
the number of bonus points a contestant can earn in a round; if she sweeps the
praise of all three judges, she will earn three Bonus Points, giving her a
total of seven for the next round. Your
character will earn a bonus Rehearsal Point if he finishes highest in any of: ¬… Rhythm and Tempo, combined (praise
from Rodney) ¬… Sincerity and Lyrics, combined (praise
from Donna) ¬… Energy and Risk, combined (praise
from Dweezil) If
a contestant qualifies for a Bonus Point, but is eliminated that round anyway,
the point is lost with the contestant, and may not be transferred. (Note: All dice
rolls for Pop Icon will be performed using Ten-Sided Dice (1-10), except
where noted). You've
selected your character's song for the round (and choose Embellishments, if any, to perform), and now it's
time to determine how well the audience responds to the performance. The traits
Energy, Lyrics, Risk, Rhythm, Sincerity, and Tempo are all Performance
Traits. For each category, the GM will
roll a certain number of dice determined by the following formula: DICE ROLLED
= (CHARACTER'S TRAIT LEVEL) - (SONG'S DIFFICULTY LEVEL) + 1 EXAMPLE: Your character has a 6 in Tempo, and the
song she is performing is rated 4 in that category. Result: Three dice (6-4+1)
will be rolled for your character's score in that category. Each contestant will get six
rolls like this, each representing a different Trait. The six rolls will be
added together to get your character's Performance Score. EXAMPLE: Kimberly performs. How well she performs are
based on the following dice rolls: ¬…
Energy - 2 dice rolled
for 14 pts. ¬…
Lyrics - 1 die rolled
for 3 pts. ¬…
Rhythm - 2 dice rolled
for 9 pts. ¬…
Risk - 3 dice rolled
for 17 pts. ¬…
Sincerity - 4 dice
rolled for 23 pts. ¬…
Tempo - 2 dice rolled
for 15 pts. Result:
Kimberly earns 81 points for her Performance Score, before accounting for any
Embellishment Bonuses or Penalties. Sometimes,
there is that something about a performer that makes the audience want to
forgive any misstep or flaw he displays, and has led to some inexplicably long
careers. In Pop Icon, your character's Charisma rating allows her to
perform Embellishments and
performance-assisting Charisma Rolls. If the GM rolls any 1's or 2's
during your character's Performance Scoring, they will be set aside and
re-rolled, and that result will be
included in the Performance Score, if higher than the initial roll. However,
your character's Charisma rating (minus twice the number of Embellishments he
performs) will limit how many low dice may be re-rolled. So, a higher Charisma
rating equals more chances to correct a misstep. The GM initiates "Charisma
Rolls" automatically as long as the character has the Charisma rating to
cover it. They have no effect on your Charisma rating afterward; if you begin a
round with 2 Charisma points, you will go into the next round with at least
that rating, even if you had to re-roll multiple times that round. EXAMPLE: You got to roll four dice for your Risk
score and got the following: 1, 2, 5, 8. If your character's Charisma rating is
2 or higher, both the 1 and the 2 will be thrown out and re-rolled. If your
Charisma is 1 (or, say, the Charisma Level is 3, but the character performed an
Embellishment), only one die will be re-rolled; the other stays as-is. NOTE
#1: If you roll 1's or 2's in multiple categories, and have more than you have
the Charisma rating to cover, which categories get re-rolls will be determined
randomly by the GM, with the lowest dice getting first priority. NOTE
#2: A Charisma point may be spent to perform an Embellishment or to do a Charisma Roll, but not both. In other words, the combined number of
Embellishments performed (multiplied by 2) and Charisma Rolls made for a
performance can not exceed your character's Charisma rating. The
audience is a shallow and fickle entity, and will make a snap judgment in a
fraction of a second on whether your outfit and accessorizing will give more
credence to and lift your performance, or else completely undermine it. Before
rolling for Performance Scoring, the GM will commit a "Style Roll"
for each player, which will then be compared with that player's style rating: ¬… If
the Style Roll within +1 or -1 of the character's Style Rating, nothing changes. ¬… If
the Style Roll is 2 or more lower than your character's Style Rating, the audience will
approve of -- maybe even love your outfit! As a result, the
threshold for Charisma Rolls will increase by one, allowing re-rolls for any
3's rolled during performance scoring. ¬… If
the Style Roll is 2 or more higher than your character's Style Rating, the audience will
hate her outfit and won't be shy about letting you know about it. If this
happens, the GM will set aside a certain number of your character's highest
scoring dice (after Charisma Rolls) and re-roll them. The number of dice rolled
is based on the following formula: DICE RE-ROLLED = (STYLE ROLL) - (CHARACTER'S
STYLE RATING) - 1 If
the new roll is lower, it will count towards your character's Performance Score
(otherwise, the original roll stands), and may not be recovered by a Charisma
Roll. EXAMPLE: Jon has a
style rating of 2, much lower than his Style Roll of 7. Thus, after the GM has
made all original and Charisma Rolls, 4 (7-2-1) of Jon's highest-scoring dice
will be re-rolled and counted if lower. Whichever
of these three scenarios occur, it will affect only that performance. Each
performance will get its own Style Roll. At
the beginning of each round (except for the first), before the song list is
posted, the GM will roll a "Virus Roll" that applies to everyone in
the game. Then, the GM will run a separate roll for each character (using a
six-sided die) that determines how strongly the virus attacks that character: ¬… A
1
or 2 increases the Virus Roll by one. ¬… A
3
or 4 changes nothing. ¬… A
5
or 6 decreases the Virus Roll by one. The Modified Virus Roll is then compared with the
character's Health Rating: ¬… If
the Modified Virus Roll is equal to or lower than the Health Rating, the character
remains healthy and nothing happens. ¬… If
the Modified Virus Score is higher than the Health Rating, the character
gets sick, and must spend rehearsal time recuperating. If
your character gets sick, you lose Rehearsal Points (which can not be made up)
based on the following formula: LOST REHEARSAL POINTS = (MODIFIED VIRUS ROLL) -
(HEALTH RATING) If
you do not have enough Rehearsal Points to meet or exceed this difference, your
character must perform sick, and will suffer decreases in his performance
traits until the difference is made up. In that situation, the GM will
determine randomly which trait is affected. Any decreases in performance traits
are temporary and will be reset for the next round. EXAMPLE: At the
beginning of the current round, the GM rolls the Virus Roll, which comes up as
6. The individual roll for Clay is 5, which decreases his Modified Virus Score
to 5. His Health Rating of 7 beats the MVS, and he remains healthy; nothing
happens to him. The individual roll for Tamyra comes up as 2, increasing her MVS to 7. As her
Health Rating is 2, she gets sick by a factor of 5. She permanently loses all
four rehearsal points and will temporarily lose one point from
a Performance Trait. Dance
a little, give props to your boys in the 650, show 'em your index finger, and
watch the audience go wild! But! The more contestants perform an embellishment, the
more bored the audience will become. And if too many contestants perform a
single embellishment, the audience will revolt. Beware. When
choosing which song to perform, each character may also choose to use two
points of Charisma to perform one of five Embellishments. The Embellishments
are: ¬… Dancing! ¬… Eye
Fuck! ¬… Glory
Note! ¬… Pointy
Pose! ¬… Shout-Out! Performing
an Embellishment will add a certain number of bonus points to that contestant's
Round Score, depending on the total number of contestants (including yours) who
perform the same embellishment: ¬… 1
Person - 15 pts. ¬… 2
People - 8 pts. each ¬… 3
People - 5 pts. each ¬… 4
People - 1 pt. each ¬… 5
People - 0 pts. ¬… 6
or More People - 10 pt. Penalty each In
addition, if all the contestants except for one perform
the same Embellishment, the holdout will
earn a 40 point bonus, while the others will still each receive the 10
point penalty. EXAMPLE:
Bo decides to perform three embellishments: Dancing, Eye Fuck, and Pointy Pose.
Corey decides to go with a Dance, Eye Fuck, and Glory Note. Ruben chooses two
embellishments: Eye Fuck and Glory Note. The remaining nine contestants all
Dance!, but do nothing else. Scoring is as follows: Only one person did a Pointy
Pose, so it is worth 15 points. Two people embellished with a Glory Note, which
makes it worth 8 points to both of those performers. Three people did an Eye
Fuck, which makes that embellishment worth 5 points. Finally, all of the
performers except for one Danced, losing 10 points for everyone except for the
lone holdout (Ruben, who gets 40). So, Bo has earned 10 bonus points (15 + 5 - 10) for
the performance. Corey has earned 3 points (8 + 5 - 10), and Ruben earns a
whopping 53 points (40 + 8 + 5)! One
Embellishment costs 2 Charisma Points, deducted from the number of Charisma
Rolls that may be done for the performance. Though a contestant may not perform
the same Embellishment more than once in a performance, he may perform as many different
Embellishments as he sees fit. EXAMPLE:
Ryan has a Charisma Rating of 7. This means she can do one of the following: ¬… Do 3 different Embellishments (of her choosing) and
have 1 Charisma Roll, if necessary. ¬… Do 2 different Embellishments and have up to 3
Charisma Rolls. ¬… Do 1 Embellishment and have up to 5 Charisma Rolls. ¬… Do no Embellishments and have up to 7 Charisma
Rolls. Here
are the reasons your character may be penalized in Pop Icon, and how each
affects you: ¬… Song
difficulty exceeds character's rating in category (5 point penalty
for every point the rating falls short). ¬… At
least one other performer has picked the same song you have (5 point penalty
for each other performer). ¬… Your
character is sick (lose one Rehearsal Point per point your Health
rating falls short of the Modified Virus Roll; if severe enough, points will be
temporarily deducted from one or more Performance Traits). ¬… The
audience did not like your character's outfit (A number of the highest-valued dice
rolled during Performance and Charisma Rolls will be re-rolled and counted if
lower). ¬… Five
or more of the other performers did the same Embellishment your character did (10 point
penalty). Once
all the decisions have been made and the dice have been rolled, the audience
reaction to the performance will be determined by the Weekly Performance Score,
based upon the following formula: (PERFORMANCE SCORE) + (EMBELLISHMENT BONUS)
- (PENALTIES) At
the end of each round, each Pop Icon contestant will receive a score
based on the following formula: 2 * (ROUND SCORE) + (WEIGHTED AVERAGE OF
ALL PREVIOUS ROUND SCORES) The
Pop Icon contestant who finishes with the lowest score from
this formula at the end of each round will be eliminated from the
competition. The remaining contestants will be allowed into the next round to
compete further. There is no immunity in Pop Icon, so the
leading favorite last week could be eliminated this week. You just
never know. NOTE: The
weighted average takes into account the contestant's reputation with the
audience up to the current point, with the scores from more recent weeks
counting more than the scores from the first or second week. If interested,
please e-mail the GM for the exact formula. After
eleven hard-fought rounds, only ONE performer will remain standing: the POP ICON!
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DISCLAIMER: This site describes a private
interactive online game in which the players assume the roles of characters on
a fictitious "RealiTV Show". This site and game have no affiliation
with any actual television show. The characters in this game are entirely
fictional and are in no way intended to represent actual people or actual
events. Participation in this game is free and for entertainment purposes only.HOW THE GAME WORKS
CREATING A CHARACTER
PICKING YOUR SONG(S)
PENALTIES
REHEARSAL
THE JUDGES
BASIC SCORING
CHARISMA
STYLE
HEALTH
EMBELLISHMENT BONUS
SUMMARY OF PENALTIES
ROUND SCORE
ELIMINATION
Pop Icon is a dice-based role-playing game in which you will take on the role of one of twelve contestants in a simulated talent competition. Each round, you will get to decide how your character invests his or her efforts into creating the best performance possible. Make the right choices, and watch the "audience" support your run to the end. Make the wrong choices, and the fickle "public" will not likely respond in kind
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When you create a character, please feel free to create a whole biography, personality, and style for him or her. None of it will have any effect on how far you progress in the game, but will be useful for the extracurricular (but two-thirds of the fun) "In Character" threads.