I know I should be working on NESLife V, and I kinda am^^. But I had this fun idea for another low-budget NES around Halloween time. Based on my brother's home-made card game, but played more like a Chat NES.
Basically, its all about paranormal adventures. Players try to gain Investigation Points (IP) by travelling to Investigation Locations that crop up around the world. Locations are divided into escalating levels of danger/wierdness. Enemies, traps, NPC's and items may be encountered at each level. At the heart of each location is some form of resolution that offers up a load of IP's, usually guarded by some kind of 'boss'. But players may choose to run away at an earlier stage, as enemies and items may also be salvaged for IP's.
IP's come in various flavours. There will be Aliens, Mysterious Creatures, Cultists, Metaphysics, and the New World Order to investigate. 10 IP's in any one of these categories will be enough to publish your research and win the game, if you can survive an additional turn of NPC's (and potentially other players) trying to kill you first.
Locations occur in North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and the Pacific. Players have a home base on one of the continents. Travelling within a continent is instant, but players need to spend a turn 'in transit' when using jet travel between continents.
Players will also be able to visit a hospital to recuperate, visit the black market to buy new items/weapons, and do research to look up new Investigation Locations or gain Secret Cards.
As players gain IP, they may also gain Prey Points (PP) as they leave evidence of their existence. The more PP you have, the easier it is for other players to discover your location, especially when using public hospitals and libraries. They could also attack you at home, and/or steal items and IP. NPC's can also attack players with high PP.
There is also Sanity, which can decrease after encounters with weird things. Insane players gain IP at a slower rate, and may find themselves in unexpected locations as they begin to lose touch with reality.
Finally there is Money ($). Certain items, such as heavy weapons and explosives, need to be carefully smuggled to Investigation Locations by spending $1 a time. Players can also hire private transport to rush them to any location instantly, with as much gear as they like, for a lump sum of $5. Items on the black market usually cost money to buy. Private medical care can be bought for a donation of $x.
I will be rolling a lot of dice to decide combat and etc; player characters can have unique skills and modifiers at my discretion. Players can of course meet and team up, if they chose to do so. Some ideas:
Ex Cop
Ever since you saw that 'thing' tear apart your partner of 10 years on a routine street patrol, you've been out for justice... No way in hell are you going to buy the official line that it was a sewer crocodile...
- Has skills with handguns, and tends to gain extra IP.
Ex Special Forces
After being sent to remote parts of the middle east, central Asia and South America, you've seen one to many strange things... And lost one too many friends along the way... Now you owe it to them to blow this whole thing wide open...
- Has skills with all firearms and explosives, bonus strength, melee skills and stamina. Starts with some Prey Points, but tends to avoid gaining extra PP.
Rich Girl
Daddy disappeared after refusing a business deal with some mysterious foreigners. Now you're going to put his allowance to good effect... And maybe those body combat sessions are going to pay off...
- Starts with additional money, melee skills. Low strength.
Pyscho
The voices guide you... You do what must be done...
- Starts with low Sanity, but it can never decrease to complete insanity. Bonus strength.
Tribal Guardian
The prophecies of the elders spoke of this time of darkness. You will help restore the light...
- Bonus melee skills and strength. Resistance to losing Sanity and gaining Prey Points.
Hacker Kid
Your parents disappeared when you were young. Disillusioned with society, you found how to live outside the system... All it takes is a few ones and zeroes... But, along the way, you stumbled across secret government documents...
- Can spend a turn hacking to gain money, remove random PP's from any character, steal or copy random IP's from any character, or attempt to locate any character. Mad computer/mechanical skills. Low strength.
Pagan
In olden days you would've been called a witch. You'll do what it takes to bring about a new age of peace and light.
- Resistance to losing Sanity. Bonus perception ability. Can spend a turn to heal yourself or any character in the same location.
Well I mean, there could be opportunities to investigate metaphysics. There will be cross-overs, such that an 'Alien' centred adventure could also offer up evidence of the New World Order and advanced Metaphyiscal trans-dimensional technologies 
