You're an obscure band on a very important cross-country tour. This is your shot. Unfortunately, you're all quite thoroughly cursed.
Each player invents a backstory and selects 2 curses:
Pain - Everything hurts.
Fear - Everything is terrifying.
Gab - Must keep talking.
Honesty - Can't lie.
Speed - Must keep moving.
Curse counters start at 2.
When a musician does something important or stressful, roll 1d6. If the roll is equal to or under their highest curse counter, they stumble: increment either curse by 1 point.
If a curse is at 3 or higher, it flares whenever the musician stumbles. When it reaches 6, it remains in effect until dropped to 3.
To drop a curse counter, a musician can cope or remember. Frame a scene and roll. If they don't stumble, subtract 1 from either curse. Alternatively, they can seek comfort: another musician rolls instead.
Each player defines the nature and location of at least 1 gig on the tour. Hold a band meeting after a gig is defined. The last, most important gig is defined collaboratively (everyone adds at least 1 detail). Every gig presents each musician with a major task or challenge. Take turns framing scenes until the tour ends.
Almost everything I make is a loose, imperfect metaphor for mental illness. This is an attempt to give my morose preoccupation a fun (more so than usual, at least), community-focused spin. It’s about a group of people who are each forced to live with a difficult condition that directly impacts their ability to function, and it’s about those people working together to achieve something meaningful, or at least make some art in the attempt.