Untitled RPG

December 8, 2020

by yuu

i should have a snazzy line for this... maybe someday...

Chapter 1 / what is ???

half a page of fluff maybe?

sfskdfsfs

What is an RPG?

(information on gaming, ttrpg-ing in particular, talk about the art of table talk, essentially condense my panel into at most ⅓ a page of writing once layouting happens)

What is ?

(explanation)

(Explain common terms such as PC, FT, NPC, etc)

What do you need to play?

4d12 per player; Deck of cards

(Things you need to play, at least 5d12 for the FT, ideally 4d12 for all players, one or more deck of cards – standard or minor arcana. Ideal to have but not necessary, major arcana for use in character creation and playing sans GM/Solo)

The Basics on How To Play

goal is to get the LOWEST scores possible/roll under

Inspirations

lots of inspriations from a lot of places

Chapter 2 / How to Play

Stats

♤ Mind (Swords) – Intelligence, Dexterity, the ability to work out problems and find solutions.

♢ Might (Pentacles) – Physical Might and Haleness, Vitality

♡ Mood (Cups) – While Charisma plays a part, this is also one’s Resolve, their determination

♧ Magic (Wands) – Aptitude with magical arts and knowledge; someone who is learned

Might (Pentacles / Diamonds)

PHYSICAL wealth, material things

Magic (Wands / Clubs)

MAGIC will, determination

Mood (Cups / Hearts)

EMOTION emotion

Mind (Swords / Spades)

Mind, sneaky ness, change, crossroads *mental fortitude?

Hands

(PCs have a hand of cards, which represents both their health and their ability to do impressive feats. Hands replenish after no less than 8 hours rest.)

(First level PCs have a hand of 3. As they level up – at the FTs discretion – they gain more cards in their base hand, representing their ability to do more and take more hits)

Cards

Performing Actions

Bets & Contests

(The name of the game is to provide the lowest number, both in Bets and Contests.

Contested Roll – roll (Stat)d12; lowest number wins. Ties are a re-roll. Winners of a contest can cause the loser to burn a card and whatever action the winner wanted goes through.

Bet – a player bets a card on an action. The bet is Stat * Card (+Aversion -Inclination, if applicable).

The goal is to make a bet that matches or is lower than the target or rolled difficulty. If the Bet succeeds, the player draws a new card to replace their Bet. If the bet fails, they’ve burned the card and they have one less action until the character has a chance to recharge.

Once out of cards in their Hand, your character is Exhausted and cannot make any actions until they have a chance to Recharge and Replenish. A character who is attacked while Exhausted runs a risk of dying.

When to Bet and When to Contest? Bets are often match ups between Players and the FT or environment. Contests are often issues between players or NPCs.

Boons & Penalties

Rules of Aces

Ace is always a win.

However, playing a card knowing nothing can trump it comes with a cost. How that penalty plays out depends on what your character was doing.

Rule of Faces

Face Cards are worth 11. Any win with a Face Card becomes absolutely epic.

Leveling Up

Depending on the FT, characters level up after surviving a session – denoted by having a larger hand to play with.

chapter 2 / character creation

Making a Character & Randomization

(everything can be done via random dice rolls on tables or pulling cards from the major arcana in the case of class)

(or you know, just picking what looks interesting to you)

(Magic + Species + Calling + Fluff = Character)

(In Species you get your Inclination – a stat that you are better at and thus provide a -1 to all Bets and Contests – and your Aversion – a stat you’re poor at which adds +1 to all Bets and Contests)

(In Calling, you receive your Vital – the stat you favor most readily and are skilled at (rank of 1) – and your Fault- the stat you’re more meh about (rank of 4). Your other stats can be ranked as you see fit.)

Magic

(R.O.Y.G.B.I.V.)

(Magic is an intrinsic part of life on the planet as magic is its soul)

(There are seven elements, in order: Fire, Earth, Wind, Life, Water, Metal, Darkness and Light. Each element is as powerful as any other.

Mechanically, your preferred magic doesn’t matter, it just means how you do things (a Green Mage might control plants or wildlife in battle, while a Red Mage uses fireballs).

Your color is your source of your magic and what you do with it is limited only by your own imagination and the willingness of your FT to put up with zany bs)

(No seriously, magic has no mechanical benefits. Magic is just flavor. Yes, you can have more than one. In universe though, having more than one and using it can be detrimental)

Species

See Chapter 2.1 / Species

(Most species have a stat that they are more naturally inclined to, called their Inclination, and a stat that they’re disinclined to, their Aversion. Some species may have one or the other. Most have both)

(All species can crossbreed and the resulting offspring is often a mix of the parent species. They take the Inclination from one parent and the Aversion from the other. On occasion, this can cause their Inclination and Aversion to cancel out. There are two special species – Humans and Undead. If a Human breeds with any other species, the resulting child is of the other parent’s species. Undead create hybrids of other species through something called The Turning. This creates a new vampire/zombie/lich/wight/ghost/what have you. Undead is the only species that can be created at a later age (however some Undead can reproduce in… uh… more normal ways?).

Humans are actually the newest race on The Planet, as they are the culmination of cross breeding within the other species to the point where a new species of near limitless potential was created. That’s why humans can have any Aversion or Inclination.)

(Certain crossbreeds are impossible, a child of that union will be one parent or the other)

Calling

See Chapter 2.2. / Calling

(This is sorta like your Class in more traditional RPGs but, in this case, it’s not your specific class but what moves you to become it. Some Clerics are __, the Healers, but others are fierce warriors ready to defend the town from rogues and corrupted.)

(Defines your passive abilities, such as stats Vital ability (stat of 1), your Lacking ability (stat of 4) and both your passive abilities (things thyour special ability. Vaguely like a move in PBTA)

(With one exception, total stats should always equal 10. Calling provides your possible stats and no more than two requirements as to how they are placed. The other stats can be placed at your discretion. Unless otherwise noted for the Calling, stat blocks are 1/2/3/4.)

all the other fluff

(This part needs to get renamed but. Give your character a name, a basic history, what they were doing to end up here in the first place. Maybe you don’t want to give it all away at once, or even know it all when you first play, but you want to make sure you’re playing a character you’ll enjoy!)

(maybe have this before you do the number crunching?)

Chapter 2.1 / Species

unknown

-Mood, +Might

unknown

-Mood, +Magic

Unknown, used to be fae

-Magic, +Mood

Avian

-Mind, + Might

Maybe change name of Avians to Garuda (mythos – pinoy/sea)

Centaur

-Might, + ???

Dwarf

-Mind, +Magic

Elf

–???, +Mood

Entomper

-Might, +Mind

Entompers – bug people, would include stuff like spiders

Fishpeep(? name will likely change)

-Mood, +Mind

Fishpeep stays fishpeep, make the rep a boops boop? Includes crabs, eels

Gnome

-Magic, +Might

Harpy

–???, +Mind

Homunculus

+Magic, –???

Homunculus = any artificial lifeform, i.e. dolls, golems, given life. They tend to be effective users of Magic because their magic is literally keeping them moving

Humans

+/– ???

Humans are versatile but also the youngest of all the species.

Lagartijian

-Mind, +Mood

Lagartijian Drake / Wyvern = reptilepeep?

Naga

-Mind, +???

Orc

-Might, +Magic

Siren

-Mood, +???

Siren = selkie like

Shifter

–???, +Magic

Shifter (need a new name) = human like appearance with minimal animal-like traits (i.e. tails and ears and horns, sometimes claws or wings).

Skogsra

-Magic, + Mind

Nymph or Dryad or Skogsra = plantpeep

Therianthrope

-Might, +Mood

Therianthrope = Mammalpeep

Undead

–??? +Might

person can become undead, whether it be vamp or ghost or whatever. Need a catchier term for undead

Crossbreeds

??? / + ???

Passive:

Active:

Chapter 4 / lore

world of ???

Fantasy realm,recently rampaged by an extraterrestial threat twho used all kinds of magic; since the wars people vie wthose with more than 2 magics with security

(one day i’ll figure out a name for the planet)

(8 large continents or countries, only two of which are defined, leaving the others as sandboxes for groups to use if they want something with a different flavor but not that different)

(In the not so distant past (last two or three centuries), the planet was plagued by a being from the stars that was the master of all 7 magics. While the threat was eventually neutralized, the scars are still ingrained in the planet’s collective memory. )

(Bandits and ne’er do wells are common of course but since The Threat From The Stars, monsters, creatures corrupted by The Threat’s dark presence, have appeared and attack unsuspecting people on the roads between settlements. The Adventurers Guild actually came into being to combat monsters. Occasionally, beings will be corrupted by The Threat’s dark presence and become what is known as ____.)

(insert name of base continents)

(info about base continent)

Telling Other Stories...

(talk about how other places are open to interpretation)

chapter 5 / fortune teller section

how to run a game

(This section is geared more towards people running the game than playing it. Players are free to read the first half of this section however

Some Staring NOtes

The best words of wisdom about running games I’ve ever heard originally comes from Shadowrun’s core rulebook:

PLAYERS WILL BE PLAYERS

No adventure survives contact with the players. NO matter how well the scenario is planned out, the players will always find a hole in the story.

Essentially, be ready for your nice and tidy plot to get blown to smithereens! THat’s not necessarily a bad thing — it can make a game rather fun if things don’t follow a straight path, but it does mean that the FT must be on their toes and ready for anything.

idea plots

some basic ideas of plots and things

chapter 6 / misc and hacks

solo and gm-optional play

how to play on your own or with a group of friends without a FT – using major arcana to spur the story on

using for other settings

how to play a scifi game or stuff

Creating Other Speices

fshacks and stuff

link to SRD

talk about how you can create your own game based on (whatever the heck we call this system)

credits & othert things

credits and other things

Hey there have been a lot of people who helped make this game what it is.

The fine boobies of BobaBoard and The Pack for the random feedback, encouragement and reminders to not fuck myself over while working on this.

The Character Consultancy – a great project plan and it was awesome to talk to someone about this project

The peeps at work who were surprisingly interested to talk tabletop games with me

Ralph DiSylvestro for the encouragement, feedback, and ideas!