Crossposted on BGG:
http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/955360/robot-escorts-vs-constructobots
A few months ago, I made a comment in response to a kickstarter project that featured an 'hilarious' game about the fun-loving world of pimps and hos, to the effect that it wasn't particularly funny. I suggested that it might make it okay if the game featured ridiculously unsexy sex robots, like in this SMBC Theatre video:
The idea floated in my head for a while, and eventually overflowed and started oozing onto paper as 'Robots of ill repute', a game set in a future where countries had developed powerful battle robots to wage war against each other. And then sorted out their differences without having a massive fight after all, leaving the robots surplus to requirements.
Players compete to collect the former war robots from scrapyards, reflash them with poorly written escort software, slap on a bit of makeup and pair them up with a variety of clients. Power fluctuations (2D6) then determine which robots fall asleep and which ones go berserk. Clients may out depending on whether their preferences are met, and how many injuries the robots deal to them (of course, the masochists pay out more if severely beaten). They pay out even more if they are injured to death, but then there's a chance of losing money and robots to the authorities.
Winner is the player with most money at the end of the game.
I think it's an hilarious theme that avoids trivialising a serious issue by being absurd, though I felt a little uncertain about whether others might feel it went a bit far. My wife thinks it's dreadful :)
Anyway, this morning it occurred to me that I could tweak the theme to be about using war robots to do construction instead, keeping all the same mechanics. Clients would be replaced with contracts (masochists would become contracts for artificially-damaged looking buildings - the latest ripped-jeans-style fad), and demolishing the building and legging it with the refurbishment budget would replace killing off the client and rummaging through their pockets.
My question (at long last!) is which theme people would prefer - and which they would be most comfortable bringing to a game night?
