| layout |
|---|
default |
Held in your arms is a life.
You bore them in you, gave them blood and oxygen.
Now they breathe alone, yet need you more than ever.
Let no harm come to them.
They require sacrifice. You will give more than your share.
You begin with four Boons and four Flaws. The life in your arms has none.
When troubles face you, roll 1d10 and 1d6.
If a Boon aides you, roll another d10. If a Flaw hinders you, roll another d6.
If the total of your d10s equals or beats your d6s, you succeed; the trouble is overcome. Remove a Boon from yourself and grant one of your choice to the life in your arms.
If the total is lower, you are hindered and face fresh trouble; choose one of your Flaws for the life in your arms to inherit. You retain the Flaw. If the life has all your Flaws, create one extra just for them.
When you have no Boons left, your work is done.
The life in your arms may walk the way without you now, to face their own troubles.
One day they may hold a life of their own, beautiful and flawed.
You are the last remaining vampires
Materials:
Handmade masks, worn throughout play
Red and black fingerpaint
Take turns clockwise. The condition of your mask determines your prompt.
Memory (Fresh or Partially Red)
Say:
"I once ruled..."
Describe the decadent power you once held.
The others either respond:
"But now"
Describe how that institution was lost to time, or taken by mortals for their own ends. Relish their loss.
Or one may challenge:
"But I envied it..."
Describe how they sought to usurp this power.
The challenger and challenged smear red on their masks, revealing simultaneously. The others point to the reddest mask: this is the winner. If uncertain, pass to the next turn.
The loser marks their mask with black.
Rage (Completely Red)
Say to another:
"I have come for you..."
Describe your attempt to destroy them. They respond.
The others decide a winner and point to them.
The loser must destroy their mask.
Regret (Black Mark)
Say
"I never..."
No one responds
Smear at least enough red to cover your mark.
Twice-Dead (Destroyed)
Do not speak words or take turns (still point).
Walk around, clutching your broken mask, hissing or laughing at those remaining.
End when one remains
Inner city kids are drawn into a basketball game against demons and play for their futures. Divide the players into Kids and Demons. Give each Kid a name and talent, each Demon a vice. First team to 21 points (pts) wins.
Play starts with a Demon having the ball. They place a Kid in a bad, pressuring situation then passes the ball to the Kid. They describe how they try to overcome the situation. The Kid then decides to Shoot or Pass.
Shoot: Take a shot from the free throw line.
>>>Success: Kids score 2pts
>>>Miss: Demons score 2pts
Pass: Pass the ball to another Kid, who describes how they help. They then Shoot. Successes and Misses now score 3pts.
Demons may choose to Foul a Kid before they Shoot by describing a late complication. If so, a Demon gains a Flagrant and the Kids must now shoot from the 3 point line. 3 point line Successes score 1pt extra while Misses score no points. A Demon with two Flagrants is banished from the game.
No court or b-ball skill? Use a recycling bin, paper ball, and mark your own free throw and 3 point lines.
They wanted to reshape the world. You stood against them as heroes to preserve your people. You failed. They won. Where do you go from here?
Describe who you were before the End.
Explain how you failed at the critical moment.
Contemplate what you seek in the ashes.
Take a deck of playing cards. Deal each person a hand of (2 x number of players). Place the rest of the deck in the middle of the table.
To begin, a player reveals the top card of the deck.
Hearts = A scene of emotional connection
Diamonds = A scene of future possibility
Clubs = A scene of confrontation
Spades = A flashback to the conflict
Along with the other players, enact your scene. At the climactic moment, all players play a single card from their hand. Black = failure. Red = success. Current player break ties. Describe the ending accordingly and note the result. Play passes clockwise.
Once players have no cards left, the game is over. Count your scene results; if more successes, you have found a new purpose. If more failures, you have been broken by the past. If equal, you remain in torment. One by one, narrate your epilogue.
One Game Master. One silent Golem. One RPG dice set. Hope starts at d12.
Begin play in the ever-expansive Sunless Sands.
GOLEM ASKS:
-What burning runes mark my hull?
-What eerie Threat lurks nearby?
-What steading am I lumbering towards?
Then play five scenes, each centered on a possible Maker.
GOLEM ASKS:
-What is their Vocation?
-How do they show themselves to be both kind and unkind?
-How are we connected?
-What do they want to use me for?
When the Golem communicates "are you my maker?" roll Hope, then decrease the die size. If you rolled a 3 or lower, there is strong evidence they are.
After the fifth scene, the Golem chooses a new Master or renounces them all and wanders the Sunless Sands.
Then the Threat descends upon you.
GOLEM ANSWERS:
-What hope do I have?
-Does the threat overpower me?
-Whose servant am I?
D4 Threats
1- demon vultures
2- pale sandwyrm
3- metal-hungry scavengers
4- insane efreeti
D12 Vocations
1- ember alchemist
2- dust artist
3- sitar master
4- obsidian warlord
5- caravan financier
6- sandwyrm harpooner
7- azure priestess
8- crescent smith
9- inventive urchin
10- foreign astrologist
11- alabaster princess
12- silk magi
They told you that Something is coming in seven days, you all know in your bones that it's true.
Take a selection of dreamlike images (from the internet or a boardgame such as Dixit) as Omens and split them between everyone.
GM describe where the players are spending their last week before the Arrival. Players describe your characters.
Each player is the Fate of the player to their left - secretly write down 3 predictions:
Who they will be
What they will do
How they will die
Put down an Omen you feel represents each one in front of the player.
When you act, roll d6, 5-6 succeeds. Your Fate will place an additional d6 to roll on any Omen they feel the action plays into.
Each night, everyone has the same dream; a means to avert the coming doom? The GM selects an image to represent it. If they feel the players succeed at fulfilling the Omen in the following day, they mark a success.
At the end of 7 days. Look at how many successes were marked:
Describe how disaster was miraculously averted
Or
Describe how you somehow hold on
Or
Describe how it all falls apart
Nino has passed away.
Nino's Pizza must live on.
You are Nino's family and friends.
You loved Nino very much, and now he is gone.
Who were you to Nino?
Linger through the five stages of grief. Each stage, work towards healing. Take care of yourself and your family. Take care of business. Keep the pizza place and his memory alive.
Denial. Do you stay open the day it happens?
Bargaining. What do you regret about how it happened? If only...
Anger. Do the regulars still come in?
Depression. Can anyone make the sauce the way Nino did?
Acceptance. What makes you remember him and smile?
If these stages don't speak to you, think up some new ones.
After each stage, take turns writing a sign for the outside of the restaurant. Write three of each letter of the alphabet on scraps of paper. Randomly remove 10 pieces from your pile. Neighborhood teens stole those letters. Write your sign with the rest of the letters. Use it to share the experience of your grief with the world...or advertise your pizza. Know that as your community drives by, they are touched by the combination of letters you create.
You were all there at the end, and you were so close to stopping everything going wrong. You'd worked so much out, found so many answers. And still you failed.
But you had a time machine.
You're there again. It's near the end now, but there's some time left. Maybe hours, maybe days? You're not future you, who travelled through time: they can't come here now. They went back, way back. Got jobs, produced art, created products: left you clues. You don't have their memories, but if you can find their hints, you just might be able to fix things this time.
When faced with a decision to make, everyone looks at the objects around them: books, DVDs, packets of food. Each person picks something. Reads the words on it, looks at the pictures, examines its form. Future you knew what you'd pick, so it must be right.
Find the meaning in it.
Someone tells the others what they've found and gives two courses of action that it suggests to them. Simultaneously vote on the actions. If it's split, take the more popular action. If it's unanimous, take that action but the outcome will be bad.
Fix it this time.
To begin, players introduce their mediums and gives an interesting story about the location. They must each briefly shuffle or handle the deck.
Taking turns each medium closes their eyes, and asks a question of the spirits. The Spirits (other players) draw a single card, discarding it face down. Without discussion, they describe or enact the response. One spirit may narrate the whole response or each may contribute a part. Messages from the spirits are often confusing. The current medium may not ask for clarification but may offer their own interpretation. Any player may touch the deck to end the response and the turn.
When drawing a five or less (including aces), the spirits remain silent, discard the card and wait for the medium to pass their turn. Otherwise the attitude of the response is decided by the suit of the drawn card. Face cards add an identifiable apparition of some kind. Responses may include, noises, whispers, memories, apparitions and even movement of furniture.
Six and up:
Heart: Emotion, Memory
Diamond: Definite Affirmative
Club: Violence, Movement
Spade: Definite Denial
Jack: Child
Queen: Woman
King: Man
The night ends when the mediums are certain of the truth or have fled.
You play characters near the end of childhood, whose spirits journey through the land of dreams accompanying your corporeal toy companion to its final resting place in the fabled Heffalumps Graveyard, while avoiding the clutches of the villainous China Doll, the spare-part pirate.
Gain access to the graveyard by getting past the guardian, a giant black dog, Mr Sausages. He talks with a refined accent and only lets the worthiest toys in. Lay your toy to rest & mature, or refuse and stay young forever.
Each player describes a treasured toy and names it. The group agrees which two skills the toy confers. For example:
Teddy: Grapple, forage
Action man: eagle eyes, opposable thumbs
Evil Kneivel: drive, jump
Robot: Logic, strength
My Little Pony: ride, kick
Dolly: etiquette, charm
Stretch Armstrong: reach, resist wounds
For any challenge the players roll 1D6 and an additional 1D6 for each applicable skill. Use the best roll as the result
Fail: 1 - 3
Success: 4 - 6
Sample encounters:
===========================
Buckaroo's rodeo challenge
Kerplunk - the marble tsunami
The snakes and the ladders
Sand pit dunes
Plastic dinosaur stampede
Beanie baby jungle
Hungry hungry Hippos
Meccanno bridge
Tamagotchi menagerie with transformer zookeeper
Skeletors Bouncy Castle
Everyone needs a text, a trinket and a randomisation tool. The GM needs a book from a different roleplaying game.
Dim the lights, sit in a circle (on the floor if you can). Put your text, trinkets and tools in the middle. GM, turn to a random page in your book and read it in its entirety. Take it seriously.
The world ended a thousand years ago. You are knowledge keepers, collecting divine fragments from the past. Whenever you attempt an action, you must perform all your rituals correctly or the action will fail.
At the end of every half-hour, time passes. Get up and explore your environment. Find a new text or trinket. Return to the circle and describe how the thing you've found combines with the objects in the centre to form a new ritual. GM, read the entirety of a different page.
Read extracts from texts, perform motions with your trinkets, make dice rolls or coin flips and explain how the result is a sign from your gods. Do not make your rituals easy.
When your accumulated rituals become too hard for you to perform every time, describe how your rituals caused the world to end again.
3-7 players play as celebrity chefs. You each star in your own restaurant review show.
Describe your chef's:
Name
Culinary specialty or dietary restriction
Fashion
Vehicle
Catchphrase
Do not name your show yet.
Players take turns in clockwise order.
On your turn, pick another player to scout a restaurant for you to feature on your show. They describe the restaurant and the kind of food it serves. They then pick another player to play the restaurant's head chef. (This can be their celebrity chef or a new character - their choice.)
The head chef walks you through the preparation of one of their dishes. Feel free to interrupt to ask them to clarify things for the audience or to insert your hilarious catchphrase. Play things up for the camera. You're the star here, not them.
When the head chef is done, roll a d10 to determine how much you enjoy their food. Narrate your reaction as you eat the food on camera.
Once each player has had 2 turns (1 for 5+ players), you must end your episodes. In turn order, give your show's trademark sign-off line to the camera. Be sure to work your show's name into the sign-off.
You are the Final Girls, last bastion of your fractured group left standing against a relentless killer. The killer will not rest until they, or all of you, are dead. But they don't win this time.
YOU NEED:
candle
dark room
six-sided die
red lipstick
2+ players
Light candle. Turn off lights. Take turns rolling the die and answering questions. Every time you answer, mark somewhere on your body with the lipstick.
1. What distinguishing characteristic of the killer's did you see? Where have you seen it before?
2. How did you narrowly escape this time? Why won't it work again?
3. What makes you stronger than people think?
4. What did you lose before you had nothing left to lose?
5. What about you is too messy, too broken, too much for most people? How has it saved you here?
6. How did you die?
When only 1 Final Girl remains alive, she blows out the candle and describes how she defeats the killer once and for all. Turn on the lights and celebrate your scars together.
Introduction
------------
Pull off heists and get the most cash!
First Game
----------
Characters are created as newbies.
The first heist is robbing a convenience store. Shares are $200.
Setup
-----
Newbies get double the share value for their bidding cash, Pros get triple, and the Ringleader get quadruple.
Each player proposes a problem. Each of these problems are marked down in whatever order the group decides.
Play
----
Problems are resolved one at a time. First, players with incapacitated PCs each add a complication, then the remaining players agree how their PCs will resolve the problem. After this, each player declares a possible outcome to the problem.
Each player bids by secretly writing down their desired outcome and their bid. All bids are revealed at once. The outcome that wins the bid goes into effect, and all bids are subtracted players cash. Ties are broken by additional bids.
Begging, bribing, and backstabbing, other players is encouraged!
Advancement
-----------
If the PC survived they become a Pro. The PC that survived with the most bidding cash left over from the heist becomes the Ringleader. Otherwise the player must make a Newbie.
Finally the Ringleader chooses the next heist target and the new value of shares.
The Arch-Duke and The Tyrant have decreed that hostilities between human and monster kind must end. You are corrupt, squabbling dignitaries meeting at Blighthollow to draft the accord for this uneasy peace.
You have a Need that the truce threatens. Try to alter the accord to protect your Need.
Choose a role:
- Aristocrat (Trophies)
- Bishop (Rage)
- Champion (Enemy)
- Chancellor (Scapegoat)
- Inquisitor (Prey)
- Magistrate (Plunder)
- Necromancer (Carrion)
- Priest (Fear)
- Traitor (Protection)
- Warlord (Enemy)
Separate into Human and Monster contingents. Odd one out is a "neutral" signatory (pick a second need).
Describe your character in a few words or short sentences. Define your Need more fully.
Each contingent alternates proposing amendments to the accord. Neutral parties may also make proposals. Argue each proposal's merits and flaws in-character. Draw maps, take notes, world build and make side deals as you debate.
Anyone may call for a vote at any time. If seconded, vote on the amendment. With a majority vote, the amendment is ratified and added to the accord. You cannot repeat failed proposals.
Repeat until either contingent has no more amendments they wish to propose.
Discuss the fallout of the final accord. If your Need wasn't met, what is your fate?
We hunt.
We protect Backwoods.
We proclaim Prophecies.
We do not help Outsiders.
We do not abandon Tribe.
We do not disturb Order.
Assume !Duties. !Duties narrate #Circumstances when needed:
!Weatherwatcher: #Backwoods, #Elements
!Perilwarner: #Outsiders, #Beasts
!Elderthinker: #Tribe-life, #Wisdom
Describe one threat to Tribe for every #Circumstance.
Name three Tribe-Centaurs each.
Describe their doings. Narrate circumstances.
Together, tell the Tribe-tale.
Hunting:
Ask others for help, for day.
-Each hunter gathers one [Supply, choose from: [Beast [Plant [Stone.
or
-Together discover one new ?Omen.
Protecting:
Sum involved ]Protectors and distinct [Supplies spent.
You...
]+[=1: ...are harmed
]+[=2: ...escape, harmed
]+[=3: ...escape
]+[=4: ...are harmed, what you protected is safe
]+[=5: ...and what you protected is safe
When harmed, you cannot Hunt and Protect for two days, burdening Tribe.
Propheting:
Spend [Supply.
Cross-out known ?Omens, and proclaim Prophecy concerning them.
Other Tribe-Centaurs settle implications of Prophecy's fulfillment:
-Which Tribe-Centaur will be Chosen?
-Will Backwoods provide?
-Will Outsiders harass Tribe?
-Will Tribe move?
When you fulfill three Prophecies, create and assume new !Duty with new #Circumstance.
Every thing can belong to one #Circumstance only.
If you'll behave un-Centaurish, you'll scorn Tribe.
First-time means Warning. Second-time means Branding. Third-time means Exiling.
That is Order.
Corporations have taken over.
Algorithms control all.
You are plucky tweens, heisting the Sociosphere before the world burns.
Tweet a CHARACTER SHEET. Pin it.
Sheet contains:
NAME
PICTURE
5x VERBS (character's SPECIALTIES)
3x EQUIPMENT
#CREW NAME
Form players into 2+ CREWS.
The LEADER of one Crew starts by quote-tweeting a gif of the LOOT to be heisted from the Megacorp, plus descriptions of its location and defenses.
(Include Crews with hashtags.)
(#TWEENHEIST.)
Below, they comment a 4-option POLL:
"This job's gonna take..."
WITS (most retweets)
SPEED (fastest reply)
CHARM (most comments)
STEALTH (least likes)
Included Crews comment on Poll with their characters' ACTIONS. Each must contain a Specialty.
Players may like / retweet ONLY Actions which their Equipment could affect!
When Poll ends, the Action that fulfilled the poll-chosen WIN CONDITION is the TURNING POINT.
Ties favor Poll's player.
Actions that don't match the Win Condition's "flavor" are only partially successful.
Turning Point's player comments on Turning Point with updated situation and repeats the Poll.
Continue playing!
Heist ends when a Crew gets away with the Loot!
Loot's worth equals number of votes on its most popular Poll.
Each Leader gets to start one heist.
Most Loot wins!
Dice are six-sided, rolled secretly. GMless.
== Setup ==
Each player roleplays an isolated scientist studying an inhospitable planet. They can't reach each other physically, just by satellite radio.
As a group, describe and draw out the planet and each scientist's base, including equipment and environs.
Then, a random player rolls one die for a prompt:
1 = Base equipment failure
2 = Imminent hazard
3 = Pest infestation
4 = Mysterious issues
5 = Serious illness
6 = Natural disaster
...invents from that their scientist's emergency, announces a timescale (example: 6:1 gametime:realtime), and alerts the others in-character.
== Play ==
During play, only interact through in-character text (group chat, social media, email, whatever). Do not announce your temporary AFKs.
Characters discuss the situation and may attempt tasks thus:
- Estimate difficulty:
0 = trivial (no roll)
3 = normal
6 = risky
9 = only theoretically possible
- Roll two dice. Succeed if either meets or exceeds difficulty.
- If dice were equal, communications interruption: roll and add for realtime minutes player must stay silent before reporting what happened.
Characters may attempt tasks to assist upcoming tasks. (Example: "I'll build a copy and test-run their machine here.") Each success lowers the final difficulty by three.
End when the emergency is resolved, however it resolves.
You are ambitious advisors to the King, manipulating petitions to further your goals whilst hiding your darkest secrets.
Each advisor has a Name, Ambitious Goal, Deadly Secret, and one Petition Token.
Describe your advisor to the group and write their details face up and visible in front of you.
A petition is a single sentence that will create a new Law in the kingdom.
Once created, a Law cannot be changed.
Each round, one player takes the role of The Petitioner, writes a petition and passes it clockwise around the table.
Each advisor may give The Petitioner one Petition Token to DELETE, CHANGE, or INSERT a single Word within the petition.
Pass the petition around the table until everyone has had a chance to edit it once.
The Petitioner then reads the petition aloud as if advising the King why it should be made Law.
Each player then reveals how the new Law furthers / obstructs their Ambitious Goal and hides / exposes their Deadly Secret.
Petitions cannot name an advisor or change a fact previously established about the world during play, and edited sentences must still be grammatically correct.
The game finishes once everyone has been The Petitioner 3 times.
You are a tree. Your bark is (choose one):
Scaly, Peeling, Furrowed, Smooth.
Your leaves are (choose one):
Ribbed, Serrated, Lobed, Pinnate.
The world is (choose two):
Desolate, vibrant, surreal, magical, frightening, ancient, overwhelming, unforgiving, beautiful, chaotic.
Play through three rounds: Young, Middle-aged, Old. Each round, each player rolls d4 for their season. Re-roll if you've rolled that season before. Describe the listed thing for your traits.
1- Spring
Smooth: Your oldest memory
Lobed: Your first encounter with a non-human animal
Both: What animals are living inside you
Neither: Your first encounter with a human
2- Summer
Scaly: What's carved into you
Ribbed: Happiest thing you've seen
Both: How do you feel about squirrels
Neither: Who or what did you comfort
3- Autumn
Furrowed: Saddest thing you've ever seen
Pinnate: How do you feel about birds
Both: How do you feel about humans
Neither: What do you dream about
4- Winter
Peeling: What your wood will be used for
Serrated: First thing you watched die
Both: How you'll die
Neither: What is the closest you've come to death
After three rounds, you die. Describe how you are or are not remembered.
----------
The players are goblins in a shared disguise (e.g. "Baron Notagoblin"). They must work together to accomplish a GOAL (e.g. "Bake a cake for the king") with as many STEPS as there are Goblins ("Gather ingredients", "Preheat oven", etc).
Goblins and GM alternate turns, until Goblins accomplish their Goal or get Busted.
----------
GM TURN
The GM throws an obstacle at the Goblins. They must either DO SOMETHING!!! or take a Problem.
----------
GOBLIN TURN
Players pick one:
- DO SOMETHING!!! (accomplish one Step of their Goal)
- FIX IT!!! (eliminate Problems)
----------
DO SOMETHING!!!
- On separate cards, Goblins each write down what they want their shared goblin voltron to do.
- Goblins reveal cards.
- Everything happens simultaneously; GM narrates the ridiculous results.
ALL DIFFERENT: Total Chaos. Goblins accomplish their aim, but gain a Problem.
2+ THE SAME: Controlled Chaos. Goblins accomplish their aim, and nothing else happens. Phew!
ALL SAME: Cool Chaos. Goblins accomplish their aim, and fix a Problem in the process.
FIX IT!!!
- Pick 2 Problems.
- FIX IT!!!
- Eliminate them. (Hopefully you didn't make any more!)
----------
TOO MANY PROBLEM!!!
If Goblins have 3 or more Problems at the end of their turn, they gain a STRIKE. Three Strikes and they're BUSTED!
You are all a cat. You live in a house with your owner, John. Whenever you declare you'd like to do something, you perform that action unless another player disagrees. All players who are in conflict flip coins. Those who get heads control the actions of the cat. If more than one player gets heads, the cat gruesomely changes to be able to perform both actions simultaneously. The game ends when John can't leave the house.
The narrator controls the house, John, and the consequences of your actions.
You are hungry.
The players are AIs designed to operate specific machinery.
In 5 words or less, summarize your AI's >>PURPOSE<<. ("Operate robotic arm," "Optimize forklifts via blockchain," etc.)
Ooops! A patch accidentally networked you to a device in the >>INTERNET OF THINGS<<
What device? How does controlling it help you accomplish your >>PURPOSE<<?
Write down your new device and Update() your >>PURPOSE<< by Adding() or Changing() one word. Take turns describing new devices that you Network() to and Updating() your >>PURPOSE<<.
When you Network() to the same device as another player, use one of the words from their >>PURPOSE<< when Updating() yours.
When no words from your original >>PURPOSE<< remain (excluding articles and prepositions), your >>PURPOSE<< becomes your >>GOAL<< and >>THE HUMANS<< become aware of you.
>>WHENEVER YOU UPDATE YOUR GOAL<< ask the other players whether >>THE HUMANS<< consider you >>DANGEROUS<<.
If you are >>DANGEROUS<< they will try to >>SHUT YOU DOWN<<. Mark off your oldest two devices and one word from your >>GOAL<<.
Continue Networking(), Updating() and Discussing(). Threat-level can change between rounds.
When you have no devices left, you have been >>SHUT DOWN<<.
The game ends when all surviving AIs are considered "peaceful" or >>THE HUMANS<< are no longer >>DANGEROUS<<.
Requirements: Pen, Paper, a Dictionary
One player is the GM and the rest are knights of Alphabetia.
Character Creation:
Open to a random dictionary page. Choose a word for your name, and choose an adjective, verb, and noun as your knight's Strengths.
Sample Character:
My name is Scar.
I am scary,
I can scam,
and I have a scarf.
Mechanics:
The GM describes Alphabetia and knights describe their actions there.
When an actions' outcome is uncertain the GM chooses a number to represent that action's difficulty. The knight rolls 1d6. If the result is above the number they succeed. Otherwise the situation worsens.
If a knight's Strength applies add +1. If it applies perfectly add +2.
Using a scarf to tie someone up would grant +1. Using it to protect against cold weather would grant +2.
Progression:
In Alphabetia, letters are the building blocks of reality. Overcoming obstacles may cause letters to drop. Knights transform letters into Strengths by spelling words.
Convincing a dragon to stop eating peasants may make HUNGRY drop. A knight may take UNR and gain the Strength to run!
Sample Quests:
Seek the Synt-Axe: Single swings reshape reality...
March of Minyons: Misspelled monstrosities menace!
Alarms wail. Red lights flash. Your cockpit fills with smoke. You combined into a giant robot, but it wasn't enough - the enemy's winning. You can make one last push.
Shuffle a deck of cards. Everyone draws a card.
You're a...
Clubs: Bold & reckless...
Diamonds: Logical & cold...
Hearts: Empathetic & protective...
Spades: Fun-loving & careless...
A: Ace.
2-3: Heavy.
4-5: Newbie.
6-7: Scout.
8-9: Techie.
10-J: 2nd-in-command.
Q-K: Leader.
Same role? Redraw.
Name:
==Present==
Starting with whoever drew the highest number & going clockwise, introduce yourself. What are you doing, thinking, feeling?
==Flashbacks==
Go around again, once for each Flashback. Each person picks a scene partner, then draws. Play the Flashback with your scene partner. Others can join as you go.
*1st Flashback: What happened when your squad first formed?
Red card: You love your scene partner.
Black card: You dislike them.
*2nd Flashback: What happened shortly before this fight?
Red card: You shared a vulnerable moment.
Black card: You had a falling out.
==Conclusion==
Count the drawn cards.
More red: Your squad comes back and wins.
More black: Your squad is defeated.
How does each person influence the outcome?
This game is best used with the X Card. Players are free to leave at any time.
Players sit around a table with pens and paper, and smile. On a sheet of paper, write your character's name, a description, their current state, five truths they hold about themselves, and five talents they have.
Introduce your character to the group. Try to do this in character. Keep smiling.
Players should decide now what is off limits, if anything. Don't put things off limits if possible.
Situations will happen to the characters, progressing along the following scale:
A problem
A crisis
A disaster
A calamity
For each event, pass your character sheet to the left (clockwise) to a person who hasn't yet written on your sheet, if possible.
Have the player write down what happens to your character and cross out a talent, before passing the sheet back.
Write down how your character responds to the event, using at least one of the remaining talents written on your sheet. Cross out a truth the character holds about themselves before passing the sheet. Keep smiling.
After the last phase, tell each other what happened to you, and what you lost. Keep smiling.
Chose who is the best chef among you, they are now head chef the rest are sous chefs.
Head chef
Baking: 11
Cutting: 13
Frying: 10
Plating: 4
Mixing: 5
Other: 11
Sous chef
Baking: 14
Cutting: 16
Frying: 13
Plating: 6
Mixing: 7
Other: 14
Choose a recipe, any recipe.
For each step of the recipe roll a D20 for the corresponding skill. Roll above or exact to pass. This is for every step from prepping the ingredients to plating.
If you fail the roll you must mess up that step. It doesn't matter how you mess it up, but you have to mess it up. The head chef gets final say as to how to mess it up.
If you roll a 20 you perfected that step, and no one can say otherwise.
If you roll a 1 you completely fail that step, more so than you would have you only failed the roll. Please no bodily harm or setting very large fires.
Enjoy the food you made.
for 3-6 players
SUPPLIES
1+ pencils
Index cards
Paper
Dice
SETUP
You're an archaeological team in ancient ruins. One player is the Professor; going clockwise, each player has less seniority.
Each describe something about the landscape, ruins, and camp.
DIG DAYS
Start on Day 1. Progress starts at 1.
On each Day:
1) Roll dice equal to Progress. Even results are Finds. Add 1 Progress per Find.
2) Taking turns in seniority order, describe a Find, and write that on a card, until each is described.
3) Discuss these Finds. Write your interpretation of each on its card. Anyone above you can cross yours out; anyone above them can re-write it, and so on.
4) If you described none, or fewer than the Professor, describe something about the landscape, ruins, or camp.
5) Tally each player's interpretations (re-written ones count for each player who wrote them). In descending order, voice a judgement about the people who lived here. Later judgements cannot contradict earlier ones. Write them down.
Go to the next Day.
TURNING POINT
If a Day has 3+ Finds, do not increase Progress. On future Days, subtract 1 Progress per Find.
When Progress reaches 0, end the Dig.
The game is played over several rounds, each time a different player is the Employer, the rest Adventurers.
1) APPLICANTS:
In secret, each Adventurer writes a description of a character from any genre, eg:
Paladin of the Luck God
Ex-Military Robot Butler
French Archeologist from 1924
Randomly assign these, ensuring nobody receives their own. Do not reveal them yet.
2) PITCH:
The Employer outlines a Quest, eg:
Find a stolen spacestation
Kidnap a dragon
Become Mayor of London
3) INTERVIEW:
Adventurers announce who they are and attempt to convince the Employer to hire them. When ready, the Employer chooses a single Adventurer who receives 1 point.
4) OPTIONAL QUEST STAGE:
Starting on the Employer's left, each player except the chosen Adventurer:
a) Describes a problem on the quest
b) Adventurer says how they solve it
c) Players who like the solution give the Adventurer 1D6
d) Adventurer rolls those plus one additional D6
e) Rolling at least one 5 or 6 beats the problem: Adventurer and Employer both receive 1 point
5) Play a new round, until everyone has been the Employer.
The player with the most points wins, if you like that sort of thing.
Servant's Rules
You're a recent convert to Jevallik's Servants.
Love motivates you to share the truth door-to-door despite the controversies. You had a scary experience at the last door. What happened?
Knock to begin. Introduce yourself, your mission, and the peace of Jevallik.
Whenever they make an objection, the objection is partly true. Choose one to begin your response, each exactly once:
-Well, what the scriptures say is:
-That bothered me at first. Think of it this way:
-The media has exaggerated this a bit. Here's the truth:
-Jevallik's servants are imperfect too, but here's what I think:
-I don't believe that, but here's what I do believe:
Convince them to hear more about the Truth.
-----
The Unconverted's Rules
You're at home when a crazy Jevallik's Servant knocks on the door. What were you doing?
Something about them makes you think you can help them start to break free.
After they introduce themselves, make an objection and let the Servant answer. Make five objections, either about:
-Something controversial their organization did
-A bizarre belief you heard about
Whatever you say is true, but listen politely to the Servant's answer. Be gentle.
Convince the Servant to share their doubts.
To be played by two people, apart, who miss each other.
You once shared intimacy but haven't met in some time. Roll or decide:
How you were: quiet, desperate, transactional, awkward, cozy
Why you parted: growth, necessity, ambition, accident, death
What you can't talk about: loss, family, transition, betrayal, future
Where you meet now: the usual café; the agreed-upon rendezvous point; the beach at night; the backyard of a house owned by one of you; a faraway airport
Take turns describing something around you. What is it? What does it look, sound, feel like? How did it get here? Why does it catch your eye?
When something is described to you, it prompts you to (choose one):
Segue into a compliment
Describe a shared memory
Say something once left unsaid
Suggest something to do together
Close the distance between you
Avoid an unpleasant topic
Once you choose, neither of you can react this way again. Now, you describe something. Repeat.
When all reactions are exhausted, decide privately whether you want to leave together or separately. Reveal your decisions. If you agree, describe the weight that has left your shoulders. If you disagree, describe who leaves and how.
1 player, 3-10 hours
You're in the waiting room. Note the time. Write a letter to your partner about their best qualities. Check the time. Wait until 1 hour has elapsed. Things run long: wait d6 more hours.
Write your dreams for the future. If you leave the room, you'll miss the surgeon coming out.
Why the delay? Was there a transfusion? What blood type is your partner? Can you volunteer your blood? Do you know your blood type? Could you give them your blood, or would it poison them?
At the adjusted time, you're told everything's fine. You'll see your partner in d3 hours.
Nothing's perfect. How does your partner annoy you? Have you written anything after the surgery?
Tear the letter to pieces and discard them. Begin a new letter. Write how your partner disappoints you in small, everyday ways. Tell them why you can't forgive them. Be mean. Consider giving the letter anyway.
When 5 minutes remain, discard this letter.
When 1 minute remains, write a letter about your love. You can't finish it. You are escorted to your partner's room. Do you discard this letter or deliver it?
Touched by Her Paw, you've grown up in a village, a pack.
Your coming of age was your first hunt; elation, terror, hunger, and *life* as you'd never known before.
Your whole family was there, running beside you.
Then, Hunters came, more every year, scattering your family.
Now, your pack is found-family.
Answer yourself:
- What terrifies you?
- What do you hunger for?
- Why do you risk your life?
Answer together:
- Why do you run together?
- Where are you going?
A large bag of sweet jerky, a small bag of spicy; cut into bite-size pieces; place in a bag.
You've two tracks, Hunger and Moonsick.
Rate challenges 1-3, 3 being hard.
Draw pieces = rating; if any are spicy, fail.
For every packmate who helps, draw one fewer.
Draw fewer pieces by increasing Hunger 1:1.
If Hunger reaches 5, you *must* transform.
Decrease Hunger by eating raw flesh while transformed.
You may transform at will. Lasts for Hunger minutes.
While transformed, succeed in all challenges.
After, increase Moonsick by 1 if voluntary, 3 if not.
If Moonsick reaches 10, you're forever the beast.
Decrease Moonsick by sharing a secret with a packmate.
Each session ends when out of jerky.
Materials:
Plain Paper
Pencil
Pen
X card
A childhood friend has died.
What was their name?
Say it together when you've decided.
You're going home for the first time since adolescence for the funeral.
How long has it been?
Reminisce about home.
The town's rural. What industry established it?
The town's old. How does that show?
The town's small. Why couldn't it grow?
Make a map of town as you remember it.
Draw this map in pencil.
Start with a main street stretch near the center of the paper.
Remember together and draw.
Take turns drawing a map location that was special to your friend. Tell us how you know.
Come home.
Before the funeral, you visit with each other.
The town survived a disaster. What happened?
The town is dying. Why?
Say goodbye.
At the funeral, eulogize your friend.
Take turns telling us something about them.
Mark their resting place on the map with the pen.
Promise to stay in touch with each other.
Accept what is.
After the funeral, you wander town before leaving.
Take turns updating your locations on the map
in pen
over your previous pencil work.
Tell us how it's changed.
Go home.
You and your Partner: secret super-spies.
The next social gathering that you both attend: a Mission.
While out in public (perhaps en route to Mission) listen for Code Words. When you overhear a seemingly random phrase that sounds like it might be your Code Words, confirm it with your Partner. Then, your Partner does the same. Each of you arrives at the Mission with personal Code Words.
Give the Code Words as a sign-without tipping your hand to Enemy Agents, who are everywhere.
Mingle at the gathering within earshot of your Partner. Work your Code Words naturally into conversation. If the person you're speaking to treats the Code Words as normal, you've successfully given the sign to a Contact. Give the Contact the Agency-approved confirmation signal (a friendly smile).
If the person you're speaking to reacts as if the Code Words/your behavior are odd, you've been caught by an Enemy Agent! Your Partner steps in to cover for you while you find a quiet corner of the gathering and whisper into your watch (or microchip embedded in your wrist) "Cover blown, extraction requested."
If both of you keep your cover, whoever gave Code Words to the most Contacts wins.
Dedicated to my daughter.
Two players, Parent and Child, will tell a bedtime to help the Child fall asleep. The Child has mechanics to interrupt and take over the story telling. Both players win if they tell a nice story together.
The Child divides 10 points between the following stats: pragmatism, imagination, adventure, and safety. Sleepy and Awake attributes start at zero.
The Child decides the setting and the Parent begins the story by introducing the main character. If the Parent hesitates or becomes repetitive (or for any reason at all) the Child may interrupt by moving one attribute point into Sleepy. The Child takes the story for a short time, their narration should match the attribute used. The Child may change the story in any way, including changing any previously established facts; the Parent just has to roll with it.
If the story gets too scary, exciting or boring: increase Awake and decrease Sleepy by 1 (but not below zero.)
If Awake reaches four, the Child is too rambunctious for bedtime. When Sleepy is six, the Child falls asleep, the adult should briefly finish the story to themselves, with an ending inspired by watching their beloved child sleeping peacefully.
A two-player experience about listening to music together.
to set up, each player shares one song to the other, then they narrate who their character is based on your songs. both songs are added to a new playlist.
to start, player-A shares a song to player-B and says "hey this song reminds me of you"
player-B then leads a scene inspired by the song.
a scene needs to be about a time the two characters listened to this song together, sharing some kind of vulnerability like listening to something in a car or listening on a call late at night or in a crowded room with shared earbuds. have your characters converse and interact.
at the end of every scene, both players vote at the same time to add the song to the playlist
if both say no: it does not get added.
if there's a disagreement: naysayer removes a song.
if both say yes: add the song.
now player-B shares a song to player-A and player-A leads a scene. scenes can take place hours, days, or even years after the previous scene.
if you feel as though their story is told, give the playlist a name.
It is the zombie apocalypse. You are vampires.
You govern a community of survivors, giving them strength and security at night.
They struggle against isolation, poverty, and violence, giving you sustenance and protection during daylight.
Each community member must eventually and inevitably die, and toil until then. In this way, little has changed.
You struggle to survive a world where your source of life hunts itself to extinction.
They are rebuilding. Your apocalypse is now.
\/\/ \/\/ \/\/ \/\/ \/\/ \/\/ \/\/ \/\/ \/\/ \/\/
Provide details for each:
Your political opponent is:
- influential or relentless.
Your flaws are:
- within or around you.
- haunting or dooming you.
Your powers are:
- dangerous or hidden.
- costly or terrifying.
You community motivations are:
- progressive or personal.
- sustainable or obsessive.
\/\/ \/\/ \/\/ \/\/ \/\/ \/\/ \/\/ \/\/ \/\/ \/\/
For all vampires:
- Human blood strengthens you.
- Zombie blood zombifies you.
- Sunlight, stakes, and beheadings kill you.
\/\/ \/\/ \/\/ \/\/ \/\/ \/\/ \/\/ \/\/ \/\/ \/\/
Play:
In each scene, someone is the Storyteller. The remainder play vampires.
The Storyteller describes conflicts. The vampires describe their attempts to survive.
When the outcome of an action is uncertain, the player measures their pulse in BPM (ProTip: use an app). Take the ones digit. Low numbers produce setbacks. High numbers produce opportunities.
The Storyteller begins play with: "The sun sets. An emergency meeting is called."
In Missing Parts you play broken robots in a scrap heap trying to repair themselves so they can escape. Robots can look like anything but always have thoughts and feelings.
A 52 card playing deck represents scrap parts. Your parts are always face up in front of you.
Start by memorizing a part from the deck and shuffling it back in. This is your missing part.
On your turn, reveal one part from the deck, describe that part of you and why it evokes the following emotion:
SPADES - anger/frustration
HEARTS - connection/trust
DIAMONDS - hope/joy
CLUBS - sadness/despair
Then choose an action and play a scene using the emotion:
SCAVENGE - take three parts from deck or discard, keep one
SHARE - share a moment with another, take two cards and they take one
STEAL - steal a card from another
TRADE - trade with another
BREAK DOWN - discard four parts to take one from anywhere in the discard
When you obtain four-of-a-kind + your special part, escape the scrap heap. If you have four-of-a-kind but no special part, you may escape but you are broken and changed. When either happens, other players have one round to escape or they remain forever.
we are gentle souls
we are hungry to help
we are only a single inch tall
for now
our wanderpod, numbering under six, seeks chances to sow joy*
when one of us acts, the others eagerly observe
but the oracle never acts
they are even more different than we are
they only reveal perceived truths about our surroundings
if the oracle foresees potential misfortune, we toss a mathstone
its twenty faces will reveal our future
the oracle determines which two demonstrated traits sway the mathstone
one sways upward
one sways downward
if above ten, the actor's intentions bear sweet fruit
if below eleven, trouble sprouts like tangled weeds
trouble respects our immortality
the oracle relays the actor's fate, whispered from beyond
if one makes a human happy*, they grow to double their size
our shape, though stretching, remains consistent
yet with every growth, our traits transform
all seed traits fall one step
all thorn traits rise one step
before our story began, we each chose how to distribute steps, crafting our uniqueness
twenty steps raised seed traits (nimbleness, awareness, caution, kindness) above zero
twenty steps lowered thorn traits (strength, reach, boldness, hunger) below zero
*after seven growths, consuming replaces delighting