I would like to see a game based on the Powered by the Apocalypse ruleset by Vincent D. Baker (of Dogs in the Vineyard quasi-fame). Monsterhearts would be fairly simple to transition to a MU* environment given the emphasis on romance and interpersonal drama. It would be pretty neat to see something like Uncharted Worlds as well.
Inherently, Apocalypse World itself would be a good analog to a WoD game, given that you could use playbooks like Hardholder or Chopper in the same way that characters with lots of Allies/Contacts/Retainers work in WoD.
Setting-wise, I'd want to do something set around a colony in the Jovian or some far-flung system where the characters would be attempting to survive in an incredibly hostile place and have chargen built based on colonial waves. So, the first open (or beta open) would be the original colonists (engineers, chemists, scientists, etc.) trying to carve out a small holding in the planet/moon. Full open/release would have incentives for the second wave of colonists to be laborers, non-PhD scientists (botanists, ecologists, social workers, etc.), then additional waves of colonization focusing on where the fiction is going. All humans, no complex alien life. I wouldn't be adverse to adding in alien intelligence if the players wanted it, but I think it's important to focus on the human drama. The theme would very much be "where will we go and what will we bring with us" in a political, social, scientific, and spiritual way.
In this sort of setting I would also push for joint ownership of the game itself, where the players have some ability to speak to where the overall plot and story line of the planet/moon winds up going which could be done with voting softcode and tailored events run by volunteer STs. If, for example, people want to go for an automated luxury gay space communist utopia, then there would be stories to further that goal with the colonists pushing back against the governance of whatever entity brought them to the moon/planet and attempting to establish an AI revolution (as an example) that allows people to live within a post-scarcity society. If, on the other hand, the players think it would be more interesting to play characters under tyrannical rule and explore the stories involved in that, there could be stories and scenes played out showing the tightening grip of the home office. Admin-wise, no one would be a head-honcho. It would, for all intents and purposes, be a co-op.
Stories would rotate in a system similar to the Legacy style of games in the PbtA line. We'd run a countdown of, say, 6 months where a story plays out and the PCs work to figure out how to play within it, then the basic structure of story line changes. So, using my example above, you could have your tyrannical rulership and through a series of scenes, the players manage to go through a soft revolution, turning society into a liberal moralist democratic republic that has to deal with outposts of extreme views peppered throughout the planet/moon. The game advances a number of years by consensus and the drama begins anew.
Small map, largely abstract and conceptual rather than a full on grid. Much of the space would be liminal, with rooms like "Wilderness" or "Colony Center," with a command that allows for breaking out into private sessions. I would personally be opposed to private permanent rooms; it would be preferable to have +temproom code with locking capability if people want to bang it out.
You could use Apocalypse World's rules to create playbooks that allow for characters that have more stake in the creation of the world's elements. For more granularity, one could also use the Uncharted Worlds or Impulse Drive playbooks (albeit not the alien ones), which would allow for more specific functions with each character. Since XP in this system is handled by failing rolls, you could have a fairly easily automated system where an individual sets a flag on a room indicating an active scene that requires +rolls to be made, which would auto-provide XP upon a fail.
If you're not familiar with Powered by the Apocalypse, it is based on a 2d6 system where 6 or lower (6-) is an absolute failure, 7-10 is a success with cost (you shot the pirate but they managed to get you in the ribs with a throwing knife), and 11+ means you get exactly what you want. You utilize a series of moves based on four stats (in Apocalypse World they are...
Cool: cool under fire, rational, clear-thinking, calm, calculating, unfazed. (Roll 2d6+cool to perform under fire.)
Hard: hard-hearted, violent, aggressive, strong-willed, mean, physically and emotionally strong. (Roll 2d6+hard to go aggro on someone.)
Hot: fucking hot, attractive, subtle, gracious, sexy, beautiful, inspiring, exciting. (Roll 2d6+hot to seduce someone.)
Sharp: Sharp-witted, clever, alert, smart, perceptive, educated, skilled, trained. (Roll 2d6+sharp to read a person or read a situation.)
...And I would probably not include Weird: weirdo, psychic, genius, uncanny, lucky, strange, prophetic, touched. (Roll 2d6+weird to do some kinda supernatural ability)
Everyone selects a suite of stats from their playbook that allows them to spread their stat points around with a variance of -1 to +3. Each playbook also has a suite of Moves that allow them to do things that other character types cannot.
Anyway, if you made it this far, thanks for reading. So, my friends, this is my heartbreaker game. I doubt I will ever make this or work on something like this, but I've been thinking about this question for about 2 years now and wanted to answer.
