The Galactic Hegemony's ships encircled Earth, annihilating their military in minutes. Within a few hours following surrender, the terms came, telepathically broadcast across the minds of every man, woman and child on the planet:
"Entertain us. Forever."
Earth was repurposed, its continents moved around, its landmass filled with strange artefacts. Its population was augmented by sentient nanites, turning everyone into ultra-fit swole muscle-men and women, dreamy-looking socialites or mutated fantasy beings, ripped straight out of a fantasy novel, endowed with strange abilities, powered by unknowable technology.
They fight and die and perform their overacted bits of drama for the pleasure of their alien overlords, seeking sponsorship and greater power.
Some seek to simply become kings of this new, shifting Hell. Others look for a way out. No matter the choice, one constant remains:
Flex. Fight. Flaunt. Or Die.
So what's Doomsday Drop?
Doomsday Drop is an all-purpose setting, where OERTH (formerly Earth) has been repurposed into the greatest production studio in the history of the universe, its continents reshaped and the entire planet divided into 'show zones', for the viewing pleasure of the Galactic Hegemony's thirteen trillion citizens.
From superpowered wrestling leagues to 24/7 soap operas to fantasy dramas to localized horror marathons, mankind's sole purpose is to now perform for the viewing pleasure of their unseen, alien audience.
Highly performing participants are rewarded with Klout, a measure of their popularity and personal influence on OERTH and the audience. Higher Klout also draws in advertisers and sponsors from across the Universe, who will shower the player with praise, power and the occasional high-powered gift that might help them along the way or throw their show out of balance.
By gaining Klout, players become capable of increasingly far-reaching and interesting feats. Using up Klout allows them to do the impossible, which is represented by a loss of interest in the viewing public, that players must make up for.
But the masses are fickle and the players must always come up with a way to keep them occupied all the way through the season. Besides their Season Goal, all players must also act out their Arcs, personalized dramas which they determine at the beginning of the season, to keep their audience engaged. Achieving the Season Goal grants the players temporary immunity from Arcs, but that's not meant to last.
Whether the players use their power to achieve their season Goals in a row and become the most renowned creatures on Earth, choose to leave OERTH and seek refuge in the vastness of the Universe or try to break the chains put up by their alien masters is up to you but there is one thing you must keep in mind:
Keep your audience engaged or die trying.
The Goals Doomsday Drop
Doomsday Drop requires that the bulk of storytelling and audience engagement doesn't just fall on the GM. While they need to set up an interesting Season Goal and to actually put in the work of putting in interesting antagonists and high enough stakes, the players also need to keep their alien audience engaged with their Arcs.
A Season Goal is a goal which need to be completed until the end of the Season, within 4 to 12 sessions. A Season goal needs to be a straightforward Goal that can be defined in 20 words or less, such as:
DEFEAT THE HEADS OF THE LOCAL GANGS
or
STOP MARIPOSA AND HER JOCK FANS FROM BECOMING PROM LORDS
Like Season Goals, Arcs need to be easily defined goals that need to be completed within the Season. Examples include:
CHALLENGE AND DEFEAT YOUR SIFU IN HAND-TO HAND COMBAT
or
GET YOUR CRUSH, STACY THE MOON SPIDER, TO NOTICE YOU
Failure to complete a Season Goal results in a permanent Klout reduction for the entire Team, limiting their Season prospects. Failure to complete an Arc hurts the player's Klout, forcing them to work harder to increase it next season.
If a player's Klout reaches 0, they are then immediately Cancelled, whisked away to toil at the Factory, a secret work camp hidden on the dark side of the Moon.
Klout is determined by the Gm and the players, on a scale of 1 to 10. Higher Klout allows for more outlandish scenarios (super sentai dramas, wrestling soap operas) while lower Klout allows for scenarios where little to no powers are factored in (slasher flicks, high school dramas).
Players can use Klout by simply burning it within the session. Burning Klout grants them a circumstantial boost for the remainder of the session (episode). Antagonists can also burn their personal storage of Klout but any Klout used by players is also added to the antagonists' pool.
While players might feel encouraged to hoard their Klout for a rainy day, they should keep in mind that an audience is a fickle thing and doesn't settle easily. At the beginning of each session, players must roll a ride against their Klout. Rolling under their Klout score allows them to maintain it as is for the episode. Rolling over their Klout reduces their score by 1.
Players can increase Klout by:
-Doing something cool
-Doing something funny
-Coming up with a character-specific catchphrase
-Product placing their sponsor into the session
-Letting the GM have the last slice of pizza
-Achieve a noticeable milestone toward their Arc or Season Goal
NEXT UP: A CAST YOU CAN CALL YOUR OWN!