I thought this up a couple years ago in a twitter thread, lost when I deleted my account. So I've recreated it! Better than before, with a pretty simple and straightforward way of solving successes and failures. It's about 1 page long, like my last game! No dice required.
If you have thoughts, I'd be happy to hear them. If you PLAY it, I would REALLY be happy to hear about that!
Powers for Algernon
By Shaker
a GMless game for 3-5 players
You are roleplaying as mice, rats, or other small animals. You may have been a captured wild animal, or maybe you were specifically bred for science. You have been the subjects of experiments at a private or government laboratory. Each of you has been altered by the testing, and possesses a unique superpowered ability (on a mouse's scale). You can each read and write human language, and speak the shared language of small animals. And you are determined to escape.
Creating a Test Subject:
Name/serial number:
Distinctive feature: Color, a spot, a scar, no tail, etc.
Special Power: Telepathy, telekinesis, flight - think creatively, but remember - mouse scale!
Your goal is to escape the facility in which you are being held prisoner. Each player will also make up an Obstacle as well as where it is found- a guard posted outside the lab door, a security device watching the vents, a guard dog prowling the grounds - some sort of barrier to escape which has to be overcome. Additionally, make up a Complication - some way that things can go sideways, making the escape more perilous than it would have been before. Share the obstacles with each other so you can plan the escape, but keep the complications a secret.
Gameplay is broken up into Scenes. Each Scene unfolds in a different location as the Test Subjects move and explore through the facility, and each Scene culminates in reaching and overcoming (or failing to overcome) the Obstacle in that area. The player who supplied that Obstacle takes on the role of Narrator for that Scene, describing what the Test Subjects find, taking on the role of other animals they might meet or humans they might encounter.
When the Test Subjects reach an Obstacle, the players describe how they attempt to overcome it, and each one flips a coin. If the majority of the coins come up heads, the plan succeeds without a hitch. If the majority fail or there is a 50/50 split, they can try again, but this time a Complication arises - the Guard at the door calls for assistance, etc. The players describe how they'll do it this second time, and on this second attempt every player MUST succeed - any who don't are recaptured or killed. If only a single Test Subject remains, they have to flip twice and succeed each time no matter what - they don't have anyone else helping them, after all.
If a player wants to guarantee their success, their Test Subject can utilize their special power. Describe how their unique ability allows them to succeed. This success comes at a cost, however. In the following Scene, any player whose Test Subject used their powers will automatically fail their first coin toss, exhausted - these unnatural abilities put a strain on a tiny body.
Play through each Scene until at least one Test Subject escapes to freedom or all of them have been returned to captivity or killed. Those who are retaken can try again with new companions. The security of the facility will change with each game, however- think of new obstacles, reflecting the new precautions the lab is taking.
Any Test Subjects who escape can play out a small epilogue - what do they do with their newfound freedom?
The setting can be tweaked for other scenarios. So the Test Subjects escaped the lab. What are their new goals? What new obstacles lay ahead? Play it out the same way.
Inspirations:
Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, by Robert C O'Brien
Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes
Pinky and the Brain, Warner Bros