I've been thinking about whether to reboot Spaceship 47, and even though I am not there yet (I want to actually play test the latest iteration as I put a lot of effort into it), I have been thinking of what other form Spaceship 47 could take. I went back to this post where the ideas revolved around some kind of shared Choose Your Own Adventure experience. My original thought was to have each player have their own book for their specific character. However, I have realised that even if the books intersect, essentially you will lots of time where there is silence as people are just reading their own books.
One Book, Multiple Character Decks
My newish idea is that there is one choose your own adventure book and each player has a deck of cards - each character would have their own deck of cards. One person reads the book and when they get to a paragraph where you would choose the direction of the story, then each payer finds the card in their deck that corresponds to the paragraph that has just been read. The card has two options for the character's action with a number associated with each choice. You would then add up all of the number from each character and that would be the paragraph that you would read next. The obvious downside to this is that you would need all of the character to be played otherwise the numbers won't add up to the correct paragraphs.
Skill Checks
Not all paragraphs would branch the story in this way, some would call for each player to make a check (Vision to notice new clues, Physique to break things etc.). If half or more of the group succeed then they go down one branch in the story, but if less than half succeed, then they go down the other path.
Talking of skill checks, no matter what paragraph you are currently on, then you can make a Vision, Physique or Intelligence check to see if you can get any more information. If you succeed on the check then you would add a certain number to the paragraph you are reading (for example, +5 if you went for Vision, + 10 if you used Physique and +15 if you chose Intelligence) and see if that paragraph exists. If it does then you would read it and play on from there with more information to help you make your choice.
Last Words
Unless I continue to grind to a halt with the current direction of Spaceship 47, I probably won't pursue this, but I wanted to write it down before I forget and see what other people make of it., would it be fun, etc?