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The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
[shock: social science fiction] All Protags: everyone can now just post
summeryclept
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
shock: social science fiction is an indie role-playing game created by Joshua A. C. Newman. You use it to tell sci-fi stories with a social or philosophical theme. On the sci-fi scale, it's more Star Trek than Star Wars (if that makes sense), and more Soylent Green or Blade Runner (or even Minority Report) than either of those.
Rules And Concepts
CONFLICT
Each scene has to have one conflict. Each turn is a scene.
For a conflict, either two *tagonists (the game's catchall term for Protags and Antags) are in disagreement, or two players are in disagreement. In the first, you're risking something and want the result to be unexpected - drama! In the second, you and your teammate disagree over what would be the most interesting or coolest direction for the story to take, and you vie for control of the narration.
STEP ONE - Declare your Intent.
Say what you want. "I want to steal the spaceship." "I want to convince her to join our army." The Protag states his Intent, and then the Antag states hers.
Rules here:
- You can't harm or affect another Protag unless they're in the conflict.
- Don't create static, defensive Intents. Not allowed! Your Intent must get something done. "I don't get hurt," for example, won't work. Ignore defending yourself for now, and think what else you'd like to do in this conflict (in that same conflict, "I want to open all the hatches so the prisoners can escape" would work.)
- Intents can't be mutually exclusive. If you both want to gain control of a powerful alien weapon, you both have to find a way to phrase your Intents - think why you want what you want. Maybe the Protag just wants the enemy fleet to fear him and his awesome megaweapon, and maybe the Antag wants the actual structure itself for whatever reason.
STEP TWO - Choose one of the ends of the two Praxis scales.
You pick one, and so does your Antag. You can pick the same one or different ones. You can pick any one you want. Choose what's most appropriate, not necessarily your strongest. You can change which option you pick by changing how you act in the conflict - fighting with brute force over stealth, for example.
STEP THREE - Dice!
When you roll, if your result is larger than your Fulcrum, the top action succeeds. If you roll below your Fulcrum, the bottom action succeeds. You can remember this since the scales are written vertically:
Warfare
Diplomacy
Since Warfare is on top, then rolling higher makes Warfare win. Diplomacy, lower. A nice visual aid.
Pick as many dice as you have Features, in any combination of d10s and d4s. Pick at least one d10. d10s help you achieve your Intent, d4s act against your opponent.
Antags, you'll do the same thing, but you'll also spend from a pool called Credits. Each Antag has Credits unique to them. Spend between 3 and 6 Credits, your call, depending on how much you want to win this Conflict. However many Credits you spend, that's how many dice you roll this time.
Keep your amount of dice a secret! Put it in a spoiler tag with "DICE SELECTION" above it, and we'll run on trust that nobody will peek until both *Tagonists have posted their selection.
STEP THREE - Results
Roll your dice. Check your d10s. Did one of them land on the side of the Praxis you chose? Great! Take your best result there.
Look at your d4s. Take the largest and discard the rest.
Each *Tagonist now alters their opponent's chosen d10 by whatever result is on their d4, away from the Praxis scale they chose. So if your d4 has a 3 on it, and your opponent rolled a 7 in favor of the higher end of the scale (meaning they want larger numbers), you'd subtract 3 from the 7. Use your d4 to push your opponent's d10 away from the result they want.
STEP FOUR - The Audience
Each member of the Audience who wants to now rolls a d4. Whoever has the highest result gets to do something - the others are powerless! If there's a tie, roll to break it. The winner gets to grab an existing Minutiae (or create one!) and say how it alters the conflict for or against one the *Tagonists, their choice. Use the d4 you rolled to further push their d10 away from the end of the Praxis they chose, just like in Step Three. You can suggest and decide whatever you want, but if anyone has an objection to it, you have to pick something else.
STEP FIVE - The Results
Look at your now altered die. Did it land on the side of the Fulcrum you wanted it to? You gained Intent! Describe what happens. Did you fail? Your opposition describes what happens. If an Audience Member caused you to lose, they get to narrate what happens.
- Did your result land exactly ON your Fulcrum? Things get dicey - more exciting, more dangerous. Your opposition states what will happen if you fail this time, and you alone reroll your d10 and your opponent rerolls their d4s. Audience Members do nothing, unless they didn't use their d4 the first time around, and now they can.
- If you lost, increase your Features by +1 and add a new Feature.
STEP SIX - A Second Chance
If you as Protagonist really, really hate the result, you can try it again by risking one of your Links. Start a new conflict with the same Intent, but the Audience can't get involved. If you lose this one, the Link you risked becomes forever twisted by the result. Maybe a close friend dies or a contact betrays you and leaves you stranded. You can regain a lost Link, but the new relationship with them still stands.
When you lose a Link, you can refill it as soon as you want with a new one.
- A Link can only be risked for one side of the conflict.
- If you lose again, you get yet another +1 Feature.
For a conflict, either two *tagonists (the game's catchall term for Protags and Antags) are in disagreement, or two players are in disagreement. In the first, you're risking something and want the result to be unexpected - drama! In the second, you and your teammate disagree over what would be the most interesting or coolest direction for the story to take, and you vie for control of the narration.
STEP ONE - Declare your Intent.
Say what you want. "I want to steal the spaceship." "I want to convince her to join our army." The Protag states his Intent, and then the Antag states hers.
Rules here:
- You can't harm or affect another Protag unless they're in the conflict.
- Don't create static, defensive Intents. Not allowed! Your Intent must get something done. "I don't get hurt," for example, won't work. Ignore defending yourself for now, and think what else you'd like to do in this conflict (in that same conflict, "I want to open all the hatches so the prisoners can escape" would work.)
- Intents can't be mutually exclusive. If you both want to gain control of a powerful alien weapon, you both have to find a way to phrase your Intents - think why you want what you want. Maybe the Protag just wants the enemy fleet to fear him and his awesome megaweapon, and maybe the Antag wants the actual structure itself for whatever reason.
STEP TWO - Choose one of the ends of the two Praxis scales.
You pick one, and so does your Antag. You can pick the same one or different ones. You can pick any one you want. Choose what's most appropriate, not necessarily your strongest. You can change which option you pick by changing how you act in the conflict - fighting with brute force over stealth, for example.
STEP THREE - Dice!
When you roll, if your result is larger than your Fulcrum, the top action succeeds. If you roll below your Fulcrum, the bottom action succeeds. You can remember this since the scales are written vertically:
Warfare
Diplomacy
Since Warfare is on top, then rolling higher makes Warfare win. Diplomacy, lower. A nice visual aid.
Pick as many dice as you have Features, in any combination of d10s and d4s. Pick at least one d10. d10s help you achieve your Intent, d4s act against your opponent.
Antags, you'll do the same thing, but you'll also spend from a pool called Credits. Each Antag has Credits unique to them. Spend between 3 and 6 Credits, your call, depending on how much you want to win this Conflict. However many Credits you spend, that's how many dice you roll this time.
Keep your amount of dice a secret! Put it in a spoiler tag with "DICE SELECTION" above it, and we'll run on trust that nobody will peek until both *Tagonists have posted their selection.
STEP THREE - Results
Roll your dice. Check your d10s. Did one of them land on the side of the Praxis you chose? Great! Take your best result there.
Look at your d4s. Take the largest and discard the rest.
Each *Tagonist now alters their opponent's chosen d10 by whatever result is on their d4, away from the Praxis scale they chose. So if your d4 has a 3 on it, and your opponent rolled a 7 in favor of the higher end of the scale (meaning they want larger numbers), you'd subtract 3 from the 7. Use your d4 to push your opponent's d10 away from the result they want.
STEP FOUR - The Audience
Each member of the Audience who wants to now rolls a d4. Whoever has the highest result gets to do something - the others are powerless! If there's a tie, roll to break it. The winner gets to grab an existing Minutiae (or create one!) and say how it alters the conflict for or against one the *Tagonists, their choice. Use the d4 you rolled to further push their d10 away from the end of the Praxis they chose, just like in Step Three. You can suggest and decide whatever you want, but if anyone has an objection to it, you have to pick something else.
STEP FIVE - The Results
Look at your now altered die. Did it land on the side of the Fulcrum you wanted it to? You gained Intent! Describe what happens. Did you fail? Your opposition describes what happens. If an Audience Member caused you to lose, they get to narrate what happens.
- Did your result land exactly ON your Fulcrum? Things get dicey - more exciting, more dangerous. Your opposition states what will happen if you fail this time, and you alone reroll your d10 and your opponent rerolls their d4s. Audience Members do nothing, unless they didn't use their d4 the first time around, and now they can.
- If you lost, increase your Features by +1 and add a new Feature.
STEP SIX - A Second Chance
If you as Protagonist really, really hate the result, you can try it again by risking one of your Links. Start a new conflict with the same Intent, but the Audience can't get involved. If you lose this one, the Link you risked becomes forever twisted by the result. Maybe a close friend dies or a contact betrays you and leaves you stranded. You can regain a lost Link, but the new relationship with them still stands.
When you lose a Link, you can refill it as soon as you want with a new one.
- A Link can only be risked for one side of the conflict.
- If you lose again, you get yet another +1 Feature.
Boo-ya! Them's the rules for conflict. Everything else is just storytelling. But there are some concepts you need to know about storytelling, or else it will not work. Easy stuff, though! Take a look.
CONCEPTS:
These are not suggestions, these are rules. You must follow them.
Playing an Antagonist.
- Push the Protagonist's buttons. When the Protag says what they want, threaten something they want more. Or make something happen that they want to avoid.
- Remember that you're the Protagonist's player's partner, their team-mate. You're acting against them in character, but really, you're just trying to push for interesting, difficult, and fruitful choices.
- Every chance you get, threaten one of your partner's Links. Make them the Antagonist for the scene. If not, use another player's Link (invite their Protagonist into the scene!)
- Your Intents in conflicts do not endanger, they do.
- If you don't not what to do next, look at your Protag partner's Story Goal, Issue, and Shock.
- When you have five or fewer Credits, you trigger endgame. Directly confront your Protag partner's Story Goal, and the story is done with!
Your Scenes As A Protagonist.
- Start your very first scene by describing where you are normally and what you are doing.
- Static vs. Dynamic situations: a static situation can stand forever. You can literally let it exist forever. "I am a detective solving crimes" is static. Nothing's going to change there. A dynamic situation is one that can't possibly exist much longer the way it is. "I'm a sick scientist, resorting to murder for a cure." See the difference? Your first scene, create a static situation. Your Antagonist is tasked with using your Story Goal to create a dynamic situation for you.
- Each turn, start by answering the question, "Where are you now and what are you doing?" and go from there.
- Your Story Goal will be confronted in your final scene. Whether or not it's addressed positively or negatively, whether you win or lose, is up to you and your Antag, based on your Intents.
General Rules
- Always push for dynamic situations. Since each conflict gets you closer to the end scene, you literally don't have time to dick around. Get stuff done, or else your story will suck. The only time you make a static situation is at the beginning or ending of your story.
Playing an Antagonist.
- Push the Protagonist's buttons. When the Protag says what they want, threaten something they want more. Or make something happen that they want to avoid.
- Remember that you're the Protagonist's player's partner, their team-mate. You're acting against them in character, but really, you're just trying to push for interesting, difficult, and fruitful choices.
- Every chance you get, threaten one of your partner's Links. Make them the Antagonist for the scene. If not, use another player's Link (invite their Protagonist into the scene!)
- Your Intents in conflicts do not endanger, they do.
- If you don't not what to do next, look at your Protag partner's Story Goal, Issue, and Shock.
- When you have five or fewer Credits, you trigger endgame. Directly confront your Protag partner's Story Goal, and the story is done with!
Your Scenes As A Protagonist.
- Start your very first scene by describing where you are normally and what you are doing.
- Static vs. Dynamic situations: a static situation can stand forever. You can literally let it exist forever. "I am a detective solving crimes" is static. Nothing's going to change there. A dynamic situation is one that can't possibly exist much longer the way it is. "I'm a sick scientist, resorting to murder for a cure." See the difference? Your first scene, create a static situation. Your Antagonist is tasked with using your Story Goal to create a dynamic situation for you.
- Each turn, start by answering the question, "Where are you now and what are you doing?" and go from there.
- Your Story Goal will be confronted in your final scene. Whether or not it's addressed positively or negatively, whether you win or lose, is up to you and your Antag, based on your Intents.
General Rules
- Always push for dynamic situations. Since each conflict gets you closer to the end scene, you literally don't have time to dick around. Get stuff done, or else your story will suck. The only time you make a static situation is at the beginning or ending of your story.
Got all that? See, it's not that much. Mostly, just make sure stuff happens. Drive action, no matter who you are. Don't sit still!
Players and Characters
THE PLAYERS
Egos - http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showpost.php?p=11731189&postcount=109
ProfMoriarty
Reynolds - http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showpost.php?p=11737966&postcount=122
Here's our grid:
Egos - http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showpost.php?p=11731189&postcount=109
Anon Sommer
Features
Face you can Love- Very Attractive yet Approachable , allows for doors to be opened.
Can Scan Androids- Has the ability to scan androids and collect their visions.
City Hunter- Capable of Tracking Down Prey and Taking them Down if need be.
Links
Ron Sommer- Father (late 60s) and Kathy Sommer - Mother (mids 60s)
Jonathan Brand(39, thin and clean cut but rugged. Think Daniel Craig but thinner and with dark features)- Handler of Elite Clientele
His Death Vision- Is oddly vague, he is isolated or at least seemingly so. In an art deco-esque white room, wearing full Hound armor. He falls to the ground and see his hand clench for air for only a few moments. The armor is different from any standard protocol, and the location is both non-descript and alien.
What I want
Anon is seeking the unknown. What I want from him is to trend a very morally grey line yet have it be clear that he has good intentions (e.g. good intentions lead to hell). Ultimately I would like for him to find the answer behind the visions or realize the impossibility of that.
At his best I hope he helps inform other characters, and they help inform him.
Authority
Rebellion
7
Humanity
Spite
4
summerycleptFeatures
Face you can Love- Very Attractive yet Approachable , allows for doors to be opened.
Can Scan Androids- Has the ability to scan androids and collect their visions.
City Hunter- Capable of Tracking Down Prey and Taking them Down if need be.
Links
Ron Sommer- Father (late 60s) and Kathy Sommer - Mother (mids 60s)
Jonathan Brand(39, thin and clean cut but rugged. Think Daniel Craig but thinner and with dark features)- Handler of Elite Clientele
His Death Vision- Is oddly vague, he is isolated or at least seemingly so. In an art deco-esque white room, wearing full Hound armor. He falls to the ground and see his hand clench for air for only a few moments. The armor is different from any standard protocol, and the location is both non-descript and alien.
What I want
Anon is seeking the unknown. What I want from him is to trend a very morally grey line yet have it be clear that he has good intentions (e.g. good intentions lead to hell). Ultimately I would like for him to find the answer behind the visions or realize the impossibility of that.
At his best I hope he helps inform other characters, and they help inform him.
Authority
Rebellion
7
Humanity
Spite
4
ProfMoriarty
Reynolds - http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showpost.php?p=11737966&postcount=122
Features :
Stand back, I'm going to try SCIENCE!
We're from the Government, and we're here to help.
I have a cunning plan.
Links :
Central Android & Precognitive Technology Organization : Research & Recovery Subdivision or CAPTORRS
Marjorie Lee Kennedy or MRGLK-35-Jf-K, an android in the shape of a young girl.
Story Goal :
Save lives and finally gain proper recognition...at the cost of his own life.
Bogart- http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showpost.php?p=11746070&postcount=127
Stand back, I'm going to try SCIENCE!
We're from the Government, and we're here to help.
I have a cunning plan.
Links :
Central Android & Precognitive Technology Organization : Research & Recovery Subdivision or CAPTORRS
Marjorie Lee Kennedy or MRGLK-35-Jf-K, an android in the shape of a young girl.
Story Goal :
Save lives and finally gain proper recognition...at the cost of his own life.
Features
Multiple IDs - has a handy stash of identities she can use. Has been burning through them recently since Kane got on her tail.
Persuasive - Years of conning people means she can work out how people tick in a short space of time and have them dancing to her tune.
Phobia of medical facilities - Will not under any circumstances willingly enter a hospital or ask for help from medical personnel.
Links
Jersey Kane - A government agent she conned in Philadelphia who's tracking her across the country, utilising his authority over androids to use them in his search.
Melissa Weathering - A partner in many of her best cons, whose help Hannah may well rely on in an emergency.
What I want - close shaves, hair's breadth escapes, and a final confrontation with the renegade agent who's chasing her.
simonwolfMultiple IDs - has a handy stash of identities she can use. Has been burning through them recently since Kane got on her tail.
Persuasive - Years of conning people means she can work out how people tick in a short space of time and have them dancing to her tune.
Phobia of medical facilities - Will not under any circumstances willingly enter a hospital or ask for help from medical personnel.
Links
Jersey Kane - A government agent she conned in Philadelphia who's tracking her across the country, utilising his authority over androids to use them in his search.
Melissa Weathering - A partner in many of her best cons, whose help Hannah may well rely on in an emergency.
What I want - close shaves, hair's breadth escapes, and a final confrontation with the renegade agent who's chasing her.
Protags are in green, Antags are in red.
TEAM ONE - Egos and summeryclept
our audience is ProfMoriarty, Reynolds, and Bogart
TEAM TWO - summeryclept and ProfMoriarty
our audience is Reynolds, Bogart, and simonwolf
TEAM THREE - ProfMoriarty and Reynolds
our audience is Bogart, simonwolf, and Egos
TEAM FOUR - Reynolds and Bogart
our audience is simonwolf, Egos, and summeryclept
TEAM FIVE - Bogart and simonwolf
our audience is Egos, summeryclept, and ProfMoriarty
TEAM SIX - simonwolf and Egos
our audience is summeryclept, ProfMoriarty, and Reynolds
TEAM ONE - Egos and summeryclept
our audience is ProfMoriarty, Reynolds, and Bogart
TEAM TWO - summeryclept and ProfMoriarty
our audience is Reynolds, Bogart, and simonwolf
TEAM THREE - ProfMoriarty and Reynolds
our audience is Bogart, simonwolf, and Egos
TEAM FOUR - Reynolds and Bogart
our audience is simonwolf, Egos, and summeryclept
TEAM FIVE - Bogart and simonwolf
our audience is Egos, summeryclept, and ProfMoriarty
TEAM SIX - simonwolf and Egos
our audience is summeryclept, ProfMoriarty, and Reynolds
Here's our grid:
Minutiae
Death Visions:
Censorship:
Fanaticism:
Racism:
Condemnation:
Surveillance:
Sexism:
- "The Death Visions occured about three months ago, in a world similar to ours but with a dozen sci-fi additions, including androids."
- "The Visions give you a colorful, specific flash of how you'll die, but they don't say when or go under any complex circumstances. Every so often, you get tiny little flickers of it, barely noticeable."
- "Only two people have died so far from these visions, although technically one committed suicide."
Censorship:
- "Androids can feel your pulse and provide you longer, more vivid flashes of your death. The government has ruled against this and has made androids illegal, rounding them up into concentration camps."
- "Law enforcement and government overall like to keep the event hush-hush - speaking of someone else's visions, should you learn them, is a punishable offense."
Fanaticism:
- Some who have seen of a violent end or heard of a love ones'; have become adamant in taking up arms against whatever group was responsible. This can take many forms from a young man joining a terrorist organization in order to avenge a future loved ones death or his own- to a husband patrolling his neighborhood for gangs after he heard about his wife will meet her demise. Some become activists others become terrorists.
- Terrorist attacks have spiked as a result of the death visions. Some leaders are aware of their inescapable fate and have hastened their plans, others have seen they will live long prosperous lives and attack with impunity.
- A number of Death Cults have arose in the wake of the Visions. At best they help people cope with the situation, at their most extreme they advocate killing-actively to bring about the End of the World they see as near.
- Several Religious Figures have taken a strict stance that the visions are lies and meant to test Humanity. They uphold that the visions are meant to lure humanity into sin and depravity. Some go so far as to kill extremely vocal "Visions as Truth" theory supporters.
Racism:
- "Shortly after the death visions incident, the Klan was strengthened by a new subset of members who believe it is up to them to make the visions come true for 'lesser races.'
- "There are some who approach the imprisonment of androids with a rather religious fervor, believing that androids are not only dangerous by function but by form, being comparable to animated abominations."
Condemnation:
- During the brief time where death visions were legal to speak of, the prison system became vastly overcrowded as anyone who professed their death could be seen in a dubious light - being shot by a police officer, suicide bombing - was immediately thrown into jail, without trial.
- Victims of heinous "pre-crime" such as rape suffer much of the same mental damage and social stigma as those who have actually experienced the crime.
- Vigilante groups have been rising in number to pursue people who have been "identified" through the visions as future murderers, rapists, etc. The government has been turning a blind eye to these actions, though the official stance is that vigilantism is still illegal.
Surveillance:
- The government's greatest weapon for tracking down rogue androids? A worldwide network of AI-driven surveillance technology, that has a particular grudge against their more mobile brethren. The only downside? Beyond androids, the AIs pick and choose what they want to report in on. They seem to have a particular fondness for watching vigilante activity.
- Some citizens have learned to escape watch by being particularly boring and nondescript. On the opposite end of the spectrum, some particularly flamboyant actions can act as good distractions. Or simply draw enough interest to escape timely report.
Individual dwellings (and sometimes larger chunks of civilization) have been swept clean of equipment by their inhabitants. These could be dens of resistance to authority, or simple lawless "no man's lands" filled with criminal activity. - Many have gone to great lengths to avoid having their actions recorded. For a price, full-body suits that show up invisible on camera can be found. Of course, eyewitnesses can still be a problem. Public concerts have also become a hot spot for avoiding audio surveillance. Still others manage to hack or simply befriend the local AI, and have it do their bidding.
Sexism:
- As a symbolic symbol of continuing life in the face of the death visions, pregnancy and pregnant women have taken on a mystical significance for part of the population. They are lauded for their condition, and women are encouraged to become pregnant repeatedly, causing a population boom in some areas and semi-religious cults based around fertility starting in others.
- The visions have predictably been used by various groups as proof of divine intervention and disapproval of the modern world, leading to sizable portions of the population demanding that the relative equality enjoyed by women in first world societies be withdrawn. Religious fervour mixes with good old-fashioned sexism in public displays of approbation for women not reverting to traditional homemaker roles.
(images pilfered shamelessly from some decent deviant art galleries)
summeryclept on
0
Posts
I'll just leave this here.
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
Egos
summeryclept
ProfMoriarty
Reynolds
Bogart
simonwolf
I mixed these up randomly. The person under you is your Antag. simonwolf, Egos is obviously your Antag. You and the person under you are now a team, and you're in more than one team. When it's your turn, you and your Antag take the stage and no one else. The three people directly below your Antag are your audience. Here, I'll do this:
TEAM ONE - Egos and summeryclept
our audience is ProfMoriarty, Reynolds, and Bogart
TEAM TWO - summeryclept and ProfMoriarty
our audience is Reynolds, Bogart, and simonwolf
TEAM THREE - ProfMoriarty and Reynolds
our audience is Bogart, simonwolf, and Egos
TEAM FOUR - Reynolds and Bogart
our audience is simonwolf, Egos, and summeryclept
TEAM FIVE - Bogart and simonwolf
our audience is Egos, summeryclept, and ProfMoriarty
TEAM SIX - simonwolf and Egos
our audience is summeryclept, ProfMoriarty, and Reynolds
Cool? Cool. Teams will go in sequential order. So Team One, first (the best team, whose only possible rival is Team Two). During that turn, your Audience chimes in during conflict, helping sway things in someone's favor. The other two people can relax, as their services are not needed at this time. Just enjoy the show.
Here I'm going to post all the juicy mechanical bits. There's not a lot here, as this game is mostly concept over rules, and I'll get to the concept and how to function as a team right after. You need a firm grasp on both to play, trust me! Don't worry, it's short. After that, we'll talk about creating a character and a game world.
CONFLICT
For a conflict, either two *tagonists (the game's catchall term for Protags and Antags) are in disagreement, or two players are in disagreement. In the first, you're risking something and want the result to be unexpected - drama! In the second, you and your teammate disagree over what would be the most interesting or coolest direction for the story to take, and you vie for control of the narration.
STEP ONE - Declare your Intent.
Say what you want. "I want to steal the spaceship." "I want to convince her to join our army." The Protag states his Intent, and then the Antag states hers.
Rules here:
- You can't harm or affect another Protag unless they're in the conflict.
- Don't create static, defensive Intents. Not allowed! Your Intent must get something done. "I don't get hurt," for example, won't work. Ignore defending yourself for now, and think what else you'd like to do in this conflict (in that same conflict, "I want to open all the hatches so the prisoners can escape" would work.)
- Intents can't be mutually exclusive. If you both want to gain control of a powerful alien weapon, you both have to find a way to phrase your Intents - think why you want what you want. Maybe the Protag just wants the enemy fleet to fear him and his awesome megaweapon, and maybe the Antag wants the actual structure itself for whatever reason.
STEP TWO - Choose one of the ends of the two Praxis scales.
You pick one, and so does your Antag. You can pick the same one or different ones. You can pick any one you want. Choose what's most appropriate, not necessarily your strongest. You can change which option you pick by changing how you act in the conflict - fighting with brute force over stealth, for example.
STEP THREE - Dice!
When you roll, if your result is larger than your Fulcrum, the top action succeeds. If you roll below your Fulcrum, the bottom action succeeds. You can remember this since the scales are written vertically:
Warfare
Diplomacy
Since Warfare is on top, then rolling higher makes Warfare win. Diplomacy, lower. A nice visual aid.
Pick as many dice as you have Features, in any combination of d10s and d4s. Pick at least one d10. d10s help you achieve your Intent, d4s act against your opponent.
Antags, you'll do the same thing, but you'll also spend from a pool called Credits. Each Antag has Credits unique to them. Spend between 3 and 6 Credits, your call, depending on how much you want to win this Conflict. However many Credits you spend, that's how many dice you roll this time.
Keep your amount of dice a secret! Put it in a spoiler tag with "DICE SELECTION" above it, and we'll run on trust that nobody will peek until both *Tagonists have posted their selection.
STEP THREE - Results
Roll your dice. Check your d10s. Did one of them land on the side of the Praxis you chose? Great! Take your best result there.
Look at your d4s. Take the largest and discard the rest.
Each *Tagonist now alters their opponent's chosen d10 by whatever result is on their d4, away from the Praxis scale they chose. So if your d4 has a 3 on it, and your opponent rolled a 7 in favor of the higher end of the scale (meaning they want larger numbers), you'd subtract 3 from the 7. Use your d4 to push your opponent's d10 away from the result they want.
STEP FOUR - The Audience
Each member of the Audience who wants to now rolls a d4. Whoever has the highest result gets to do something - the others are powerless! If there's a tie, roll to break it. The winner gets to grab an existing Minutiae (or create one!) and say how it alters the conflict for or against one the *Tagonists, their choice. Use the d4 you rolled to further push their d10 away from the end of the Praxis they chose, just like in Step Three. You can suggest and decide whatever you want, but if anyone has an objection to it, you have to pick something else.
STEP FIVE - The Results
Look at your now altered die. Did it land on the side of the Fulcrum you wanted it to? You gained Intent! Describe what happens. Did you fail? Your opposition describes what happens. If an Audience Member caused you to lose, they get to narrate what happens.
- Did your result land exactly ON your Fulcrum? Things get dicey - more exciting, more dangerous. Your opposition states what will happen if you fail this time, and you alone reroll your d10 and your opponent rerolls their d4s. Audience Members do nothing, unless they didn't use their d4 the first time around, and now they can.
- If you lost, increase your Features by +1 and add a new Feature.
STEP SIX - A Second Chance
If you as Protagonist really, really hate the result, you can try it again by risking one of your Links. Start a new conflict with the same Intent, but the Audience can't get involved. If you lose this one, the Link you risked becomes forever twisted by the result. Maybe a close friend dies or a contact betrays you and leaves you stranded. You can regain a lost Link, but the new relationship with them still stands.
When you lose a Link, you can refill it as soon as you want with a new one.
- A Link can only be risked for one side of the conflict.
- If you lose again, you get yet another +1 Feature.
Boo-ya! Them's the rules for conflict. Everything else is just storytelling. But there are some concepts you need to know about storytelling, or else it will not work. Easy stuff, though! Take a look.
CONCEPTS:
Playing an Antagonist.
- Push the Protagonist's buttons. When the Protag says what they want, threaten something they want more. Or make something happen that they want to avoid.
- Remember that you're the Protagonist's player's partner, their team-mate. You're acting against them in character, but really, you're just trying to push for interesting, difficult, and fruitful choices.
- Every chance you get, threaten one of your partner's Links. Make them the Antagonist for the scene. If not, use another player's Link (invite their Protagonist into the scene!)
- Your Intents in conflicts do not endanger, they do.
- If you don't not what to do next, look at your Protag partner's Story Goal, Issue, and Shock.
- When you have five or fewer Credits, you trigger endgame. Directly confront your Protag partner's Story Goal, and the story is done with!
Your Scenes As A Protagonist.
- Start your very first scene by describing where you are normally and what you are doing.
- Static vs. Dynamic situations: a static situation can stand forever. You can literally let it exist forever. "I am a detective solving crimes" is static. Nothing's going to change there. A dynamic situation is one that can't possibly exist much longer the way it is. "I'm a sick scientist, resorting to murder for a cure." See the difference? Your first scene, create a static situation. Your Antagonist is tasked with using your Story Goal to create a dynamic situation for you.
- Each turn, start by answering the question, "Where are you now and what are you doing?" and go from there.
- Your Story Goal will be confronted in your final scene. Whether or not it's addressed positively or negatively, whether you win or lose, is up to you and your Antag, based on your Intents.
General Rules
- Always push for dynamic situations. Since each conflict gets you closer to the end scene, you literally don't have time to dick around. Get stuff done, or else your story will suck. The only time you make a static situation is at the beginning or ending of your story.
Got all that? See, it's not that much. Mostly, just make sure stuff happens. Drive action, no matter who you are. Don't sit still!
Before we make characters, we need to make a Grid. The Grid forms the foundation of our crazy sci-fi world. To start, we need a single shock. A shock is simply a way in which our game world is different from the real world, with a sci-fi twist. "Androids" is a shock. "Mind transfer" is a shock. "Deep-space exploration is a shock." Some sort of sci-fi element. We need just one shock, so let's all brainstorm and come to an agreement on the shock. The first super-cool one wins it. Anyone can suggest one, and you can suggest more than one. Here are some examples:
- Apocalypse
- Alien Invasion
- Underwater Society
- World-Spanning Conspiracy
- Time Travel
- Thought Police
- Artificial Life
Everyone come up with some. Also, when someone says one you think is fuck awesome, say so.
ProfMoriarty & Reynolds
Reynolds & Bogart
haha, holy shit, I don't know what happened. sorry about that!
I'm on an iPod right now - will fix it tonight!
Some shock ideas:
Superpowered beings as common-place vigilantes
Portal Technology (a la Valve's Portal)
Isolated Moonbase
Celestial Beings (Angels and such) actively influencing Earth/Humanity
Human ability to reproduce... ceased!
Cyborgs
Precognition-Oriented Law Enforcement
I'm sure it's quite clear. I'm reviewing it and getting a better understanding. I was only trying to express that the excitement was so great, it was showing prematurely. :P
Neanderthals created prehistoric 'futuristic' civilization
Telepathic android detectives
Book unwrite themselves as history is erased
All technology becomes sentient (most are pretty laid back about it)
Mirror universe randomly swaps 1% of the world's population out every Midnight
Worldwide installation of hologram technology malfunctions
The last 25 years keeps repeating, world becomes used to it
Fulcrum - a number chosen by a player between 3 and 8 and written down by a specific Praxis. Acts as a guide to whether your rolls succeed or not, as determined by a d10
Minutiae - little bits of detail and information about the game world, written by the players.
Features - a list of traits, belongings, and resources a character has. The number of Features you have indicates how many dice you roll.
Link - a connection between you and a person, place, or thing - something significant and meaningful.
I'm digging Isolated Moonbase and Books unwriting themselves, most of all. Look, I made some too!:
-- a world where the population is seperated according to what mental disease they have
--the internet becomes a material landscape (see trapped in the internet)
--An office building with an elevator that opens to a new world one each floor
-- The world is now run by SuperVillains
--Age of Cthulhu or the Evil God
Ideas:
The sole survivor on a sabotaged ship that's losing altitude and will inevitably crash into a planet hunts the saboteur through the ship's interior.
Undercover cop whose cover includes a full memory-wipe and replacement personality as a hired killer is ordered by the man he's been sent to take down to kill a cop who is actually himself.
Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion.
C-beams glittering in the dark near the Tannhauser Gate.
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The example Praxis Scale is Warfare VS Diplomacy. Warfare is 'on top' and therefore gets the 'higher' roll. Diplomacy gets the 'lower' rolls. You get to pick your Fulcrum, between 3-7, which determines which you prefer. A solider might have a 3 or 4 (leaning heavily towards Warfare) while a politician might have a 6 or 7 (leaning heavily towards Diplomacy).
You want to roll above your Fulcrum if you want the higher scale (Warfare), so you choose a lower number. And the opposite. Sometimes your soldier might want to try Diplomacy anyways, but it's going to be hard for him to roll under a 3. Looking back at the numbers, 3-8 or 4-7 would make more sense, since it'd leave an equal number on either side of the highest/lowest number. 1-2/9-10 or 1-3/8-10. Maybe that was just a typo.
If I had to pick a favorite from each...I like the idea of memory wipes and double identities, Portals, and the building full of alternate dimensions.
Here's a good example: the shock is Aliens Are Among Us. Make the issue Apartheid, and you get District 9. Make the issue Paranoia, and you get "The X-Files." Make it The Death of the American Dream, and you get "ALF."
Of the ones listed, I really like Mirror Universe, Portal Technology, World-Spanning Conspiracy/World Run By Super-Villains, and Massive Spaceships Over Earth.
Relocation of Earth to different solar system by unexplained forces.
One third of the population just ups and disappears without explanation.
Massive spaceship over Earth that has been there for ten years and that never does anything.
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I agree , though the specific one I really like- is the Book one.
Jesus returned as an extraterrestrial... 5 years ago
Everyone on Earth simultanously had a vision of their own death
A++, would play in an RPG
I tried coming up with ideas on the plane ride, but I got very little. I'll sleep on it, see if I can work up a few good, simple concepts in the morning.
You start with three Features, and you get to pick what they are. They're just descriptors and abilities your character has.
During conflict, you roll as many dice as you have Features, whether they're applicable or not to the situation. If you have five Features, say, you roll five dice, no matter what. What the Features actually are, be they, "I'm a member of the SFA," or, "Telepathy", is simply for color and tells about your character. No mechanical benefit there.
See, the game's concerned with how many Features you have, not what they are. Hence, when you lose a conflict, you gain a new Feature, and it can be whatever you'd like. It doesn't change or upgrade existing Features - it's just a new aspect of your character that wasn't explored in the story before now. He's always been a math genius - it just wasn't applicable until now. Of course, if you WANT your new Feature to represent what happened during the conflict, that's cool too.
It was a typo. It's 3-8 for your Fulcrum. I fixed that in the post above. And you've got in exactly right in your example.
Each Praxis, each pair of words, will have its own Fulcrum. So when you're writing up your character sheet, you write down a different Fulcrum next to each Praxis. I was trying to say that each scale has it's own Fulcrum
Truth! I should have specified - yes, we want them to be general enough to be applicable to everyone, even those who might be in different situations.
Hey, you're back!
I like that. I'm conflicted between throwing my vote between this or Telepathic android detectives. You guys can pledge your undying loyalty to any you think are cool, though I admit, the competition is rough. Really good ideas so far!
The death visions could be cool. Everyone could be scrambling to avoid the situation they see, only for it to (of course) turn up in the most bizarre way possible no matter what they try.
Books being unwritten has two interested so far, yeah! That was one small side-effect in a sci-fi book I read with a *lot* of weird shit going on in it. Telepathic android detectives...I just thought of three amusing words. I tried to somehow explain it to myself, come up with a reason why...and just figured the phrase looked so cool I'd let you guys figure out how it works.
I like any of the ones where people are struggling to deal with crap they can't alter at all.
E.G. So people might try a bunch of crazy crap (potentially illegal) if they are already foretold they won't die from it..no matter what
Whoever suggested the shock can revise it to say for certain, or we can leave it to chance and see what the eventual owner says.
Now, unfortunately, these next few steps require me to post something, get some input, wait, post something else, more input, etc. So in an effort to streamline this, I'm going to dump it all in one post, clearly organized. Follow the instructions listed.
COMPLETING THE GRID
As an example:
"We'll use the death penalty again. Me, as a person behind this computer screen, in real life, I have opinions and concerns with the death penalty. I've engaged in debate about it and I know my stance on it. It's not personal to me, it affects a lot of our society (I'm posting from America, your mileage may vary), and many people may feel many different ways about it.
"I could NOT use, for example, illegal immigration, because I don't know much about it to have an investment in it, and to be honest, I don't particularly care. That disqualifies it. I also can not use shenanigans at my family reunion and how they made me feel, because that affects only me. I can't use anything that affects a small group of people. I need to think bigger. Not necessarily globally, but not excluding that either. A lot of people should be able to relate to it."
Yes, you DO have to care about the issue you pick. Anything that you might read in the newspaper that would make you happy, sad, or angry is a good example. None of us care how you feel about the issue, and you probably won't even talk about that. We just need to know that you do, in fact, feel some way about it.
There. Everyone pick exactly one and state it. Don't try to make it fit the shock or anything else. Just say the issue: "abortion. organized religion. sexism."
STEP TWO OF TWO
The rule is, if you own something, you get to call all the shots for it - you're almost the GM for it. If anyone says, "I wonder how long the telepathic android detectives can operate before needing to recharge..." we have to defer to its owner, and he will make the call. We can suggest things, we can discuss it, but he gets final say. The other rule is, if you own something, you CANNOT CONFRONT IT IN STORY.
What that means is, either you own something or you play something. You either make all the rules for the death penalty in our game, or you actually interact and roleplay around it. The owner is left out in the cold, and must play OTHER issues.
Someone will also own the shock. Don't worry, the above rule does not apply to the shock, since we only have one. Shock owner, you get to play at it and make all the shots, lucky you. One person will own both an issue and the shock.
Everyone must own an issue.
When you see one you like, say you want to own it. If someone else also calls it, come to an agreement on who will get it. You don't have to own something you suggested. Once all the issues and the shock are owned, we will proceed.
THE GRID
STEP TWO OF TWO
As an example:
"The portals require a machine on each side to operate."
"The euthanasia machine accepts donations, and actually is more painful if you don't donate beforehand."
"No one knows what the aliens look like, and there are several different rumors."
If you own an issue or a shock, you are the only one allowed to make minutiae for it. If someone else wants to make a minutiae for your shock or issue, they have to tell you their idea, and you get to revise and re-word it and make it official.
You can make minutiae at any time. To do so, say New Minutiae: (insert issue or shock here) and then whatever it is.
We need some to start with, though. First, whoever owns the shock makes 2-3 of them. At least one should define a little of the setting: what year is it, what planet are we on, what kind of people?
When those are done, everyone then posts 2-3 minutiae about their issue (including the person who posted those shock minutiae just a second ago). Worry about your own for now - don't make any suggestions for other people until we start play. We just want a foundation right now.
MAKING *TAGONISTS, PART I
STEP TWO OF THREE
Some examples include:
"I want my Protag to learn what emotions are."
"My Protag should fall in love with another player's Protag."
"My Protag, I hope she betrays her whole family and spirals into depression."
"I want my character to realize his errors a fraction of a second too late."
"I want my Protag to become Emperor of Earth."
PRAXIS
CREATING *TAGONISTS, PART II
It must be a number 3-8. Pick three or eight if you want to have a lot of impact on the world. Pick four or seven if you want a character to have a change of ways some point in the story. Don't pick five or six - you won't get much accomplished, and your rolls will fall entirely to chance.
What should you pick, though? Look at one of the Praxis. One word is on top, the other is on bottom. The one that's on top - when you roll a d10, if you roll higher than your Fulcrum, that action succeeds. If you roll under your Fulcrum, the bottom word succeeds. In conflict, you'll pick one of two words (technically one of the four words, since you have two scales and you can pick either of them) and then roll. If your d10 result is a success (higher or lower, as described above) with what you picked, you win.
Write a Fulcrum next to each Praxis (remember: a Praxis is a pair of words, like
RED
BLUE
- that pair together, one over the other, is ONE PRAXIS. Make a Fulcrum for BOTH Praxis.)
STEP TWO OF TWO
As an example:
"My wife, who wants to end my career so she can get her husband back."
"The shadowy corporation, spanning the globe and watching my every move."
Now tell this to your Antag, your team mate. It is now his job to create that character (or group or whatever).
For your Antag character sheet, write down our two Praxis from above, and give the antagonist its own Fulcrum for each. Also give it 13 Credits, and keep track of how many you have, turn to turn (your responsibility, not mine!).
Guess what? Antags get minutiae too! Whenever you decide something about them, write it down as minutiae on your Antag character sheet. The very first minutiae you create for them has to be their name. After that, free roam!
Remember: you're not making the Antag for your character, you're making the Antag for your team mate's character!
See? Not a lot! It's divided up like it's a lot, sure, but it's not that much at all. For now, do the Completing the Grid part. If you check back and see it's all set up and I haven't said anything, go on ahead and do The Grid.
Not much to it, really. Ask questions if I wasn't clear (or if I just spoke nonsense). We can be ready to actually start playing by tomorrow, or the day after, I predict.
MINUTIAE
Death Visions:
Censorship:
Fanaticism:
Racism:
Condemnation:
Surveillance:
Individual dwellings (and sometimes larger chunks of civilization) have been swept clean of equipment by their inhabitants. These could be dens of resistance to authority, or simple lawless "no man's lands" filled with criminal activity.
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what we have so far is pretty rockin'.