VHS Fury

Welcome anonymous designer,
VHS Fury is a game that aims to emulate the terrible/amazing straight to VHS movies of yesteryear. We will steal a bunch of cliches, mash them together and experience the bad movies that never been. As it is now, the game is loosely based on the powered by the apocalypse system.I was toying with FATE and an original system, but time constraints forced me to take the route of least resistance and basically give you system-less idea for a game. Feel free to put whatever mechanics you think work best. I am looking forward to see what you will make out of this silly idea for a silly game.

The titular VHS Fury is a small, but kick-ass b-grade film studio, famous for its outrageous plots, over-the-top action and a total disregard of Hollywood's rules on gore and titulation. Their usual fare is blending action, horror and sci-fi into an almost unrecognizable mess that somehow turns a profit. Players are the fresh blood at the studio, bunch of people from all walks of life, who decided that they want to be actors. Throughout their career they will play different characters in a wide selection of movies and will even have some input into the movie production process.  

First and foremost, Actors have four Stats that correspond to the types of scenes popular with the VHS Fury films: Action! (Fighting and Acts of Physical Awesomeness), Drama! (Charisma and Persuasion), Mystery! (Cleverness and Figuring out Stuff), and Suspense! (Being Stealthy and Perceptive). Those work on two levels, representing their actual skill and, more importantly, their acting ability. Because of that, Director/GM can sometimes call for a roll based on a scene type, instead of skill needed (e.g Suspense instead of Action, when running away from a monster). As in other powered by apocalypse games, they are rated from -3 to +3 and their starting rating depends on the Actor’s background.  

Background is what the character did/does outside of acting. Mundane occupations like pro-athlete, politician, writer or park ranger would work best. Those give you the starting Stat ratings and a special ability available only to that background. While the player will portray the same actor throughout the campaign, they will play different characters as they take roles in various movies. 

Roles work like a class/playbook, but are discarded after each adventure (unless we are making a sequel). They come in a form of cards, that each player will choose two (or more) from a set presented by the Director before each adventure. The Director will choose roles based on the movie script he has prepared. Role cards are a selection of character tropes and cliches known from movies. For example:
Loose Cannon, Comedic Relief, California Valley Girl, The Nerd, Good Cop, The Foreigner, Dumb Jock, The Unattainable Hottie, The Stoner, Sent from the Future, etc.
Each role card would have a selection of moves/powers and drawbacks/limitations. Basically, a mini ruleset that would guide the play and give way to earn EXP/ Plot Points. The fun would come out of the silly combinations of roles, who wouldn’t want to play a Loose Cannon Valley Girl?

We can also make plot/movie cards, that would represent important aspects, tropes and cliches of the adventure. Every player (maybe even the Director) could use the abilities on those cards. This might be a bit too much for this challenge though, but it is a fun idea that would push the game into cliche filled extravaganza even more.

The cards is where most work and research would have to be done. Maybe for the threeforged challenge we can create a 10 or so cards connected to a demo adventure (movie script). You know, VHS Fury presents… [Your title here].

Plot Points are the meta-game currency. Seen in plenty of games nowadays, spending those would allow you to break the rules in one way or another. You can earn those by doing something really cool or funny (One Liners and Puns included), or by roleplaying the drawbacks of your role. You can spend plot points to: 
*Level Up in-game by narrating a montage (maybe some moves should cost more plot points? This one definitely should)
*Reroll your dice by taking another “take”
*Take an extra turn thanks to the “bad cut”
*Introduce a small element to the scene by discussing it with the “in-game” Director.
Etc. 
Most of the cooler options should be limited to what is on a role card and should be thematically applicable. For Example:
Loose Cannon
*”I had enough of this shit” Use Action!, instead of Drama! during Persuasion.
*”He’s a loose cannon, he can’t help it” Spend a Plot Point to avoid consequences from attacking someone during a non-hostile scene.
*”Rrrrealy Loose It” Director to takes over your character for a number of turn/actions of your choosing. Gain a Plot Point for every turn.

Hopefully I had given you enough stuff here to make a cool game. I am going to bed now, as it is 2PM. Have fun, and I will see you at the end of the challenge.