Instant Game Corebook, Podreczniki RPG, Instant Game, pobierz pdf

Home Fowles, Fitzgerald, r04 06 (9) R 22MP (3) 45 (3)

Linki

[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
Instant Game is copyright © 2007 by Animalball Partners. All rights reserved. Users may print and copy this document for
personal use only.
The Instant Game document was created entirely with Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat. All graphics used herein are
either clipart used under the MS Office terms of usage or else are believed by the document’s publishers to be within the
public domain in the United States.
Authors: Animalball Partners
Supplemental writing: Cazmonster, DMDarcs, Eliahad, FlameBlade,
Jeff Hauze, Konsaki, Nicephorus, Thorn, Threadbare, Todd Zircher
Editing Assistance: FlameBlade, Nicephorus, Thorn, Todd Zircher
Playtesters: Brasky, Cazmonster, Eliahad, FlameBlade, Kai, Mike,
Pdyx, Reika, Roblogic, Serious Paul, Silverwolf, Tahlvin, & Thorn.
And special Thanks to Caz Granberg for having the brass ones to run a
“Random Zombie Game.”
If you like Instant Game (or if you don’t), please provide feedback, either at our forums:
http://www.animalball.com/forums
or by email at
instantgame@animalball.com
. We’re not doing it for the money, but we do appreciate the attention. Thanks.
A note on cultural bias
Instant Game is intended as a tool with which to build whole worlds and stories on very short notice. As such, it relies heavily on specific genre conventions,
cultural archetypes, and a pool of “common knowledge” that we hope gives all of our players a common frame of reference to start from. In order to pack in
all the information we want, we often take rather glib shortcuts in our descriptions, trusting that the gentle reader will divine our intent from context, and we
certainly don’t sacrifice conciseness and expediency for the sake of political correctness.
For example, in the example of the glossary entry for “Ocean going ships,” we describe them from a specifically Western and European viewpoint in the
context of when double-masted caravels came into use. We fully recognize that other cultures also traversed oceanic distances in more primitive craft.
However, to explain such a concept within the confines of a glossary entry would entail far more effort than we, the lazy partners at Animalball, are willing
to invest. So just take everything with a grain of salt. And enjoy.
Table of Contents
Introduction
2
Possessions 21
Other Traits 22
Game Balance & Power Levels 22
Action Resolution
Appendix II: Sample Settings
88
Sample Game: The Rail
4
Sideworld
88
Instant Game Barebones
5
Belching Black Smoke
89
The Instant Tables (Tables)
7
23
Cronodelphia
89
The Instant Tables (Descriptions)
12
Declare Action
23
Her Majesty’s Cleaners
89
Using the Instant Tables
13
Assign modifier
23
Rockefeller Fortress
90
The Cold Start
13
Roll Dice
24
Blood & Iron
90
The Instant Challenge
14
Interpret Results
24
Fantasy Depopulated Earth
91
Not-So-Instant Game
14
Action Sequences
25
Pacifica
91
Theme Games
15
Opposed Actions
26
Firewire
92
Instant Gaming
16
Status, Fatigue, and Injury
26
Dust to Dust
92
Instant Characters
16
Combat & Injury
26
Machine & Myth
93
Character Creation
16
Situational Rolls
28
Prison Planet Earth
94
On-the-fly Development
16
Instant Karma
29
Prehistoric Mutants
94
Traits
17
Appendix I: Instant Glossary
30
The Flight of Angels
94
Skills
18
Clan Baravel
95
Attributes
19
Titans of Pangea
96
14
th
Century London Plague
Powers
20
96
Introduction
What is Instant Game?
Instant Game is a tool for creating and playing new RPG settings on the spot. With the Instant
Game charts and our flexible Instant Game rules set, you can roll up a completely original setting and plot, create and
develop characters “on the fly,” and be ready to roleplay in just a matter of minutes. We know that seems incredible on its
surface, but it is also a wonderfully real possibility. Instant Game is painless, as well as being some of the most exciting and
challenging gaming you’ll find.
2
How does it work?
The steps to creating an Instant Game are simple:
1) The Gamemaster (GM) rolls on the Instant Charts provided to get Instant Setting rolls and Instant Plot rolls.
2) The GM (usually with help from the other players) then puts the Instant Setting elements together to create a coherent
world.
3) The GM assembles the Instant Plot elements into a workable storyline.
4) The GM explains the setting and any needed character guidelines to the players.
5) The players create Instant Characters based on our simple character creation rules.
6) Then play.
We’re not kidding about this. Get your gaming group together with no preparation whatsoever ahead of time. Throw some
dice, consult our Instant Tables, and in 30 minutes or so, you can have a complete and novel roleplaying setting ready to roll,
with a plot and characters and everything. It’s surprisingly a lot simpler than you think.
But what is an RPG?
For the most part, Instant Game assumes that most of its players will be persons who have at least
some roleplaying experience. As such, much of the text assumes that participants already have a working knowledge of basic
gaming conventions and terminology. However, this doesn’t have to be the case. For those who may be new to the industry…
a very brief primer:
On his website,
www.darkshire.com
, John H. Kim characterizes roleplaying games by the “My Character Wouldn’t Do That”
test:
In many games you have a character which is really a token without personality. For example, in the
boardgame
Clue
™
your token is a suspect in a murder mystery. In a video game, your token might be a
fighter pilot.
In my opinion, the difference between a token and a role-played character is this: Hypothetically, a person
watching the game looks over your shoulder and suggests a move, and your reply is "No, my character
wouldn't do that." If this happens, or is capable of happening, then at some level you are playing a role-
playing game. This simple distinction puts a world of difference between RPGs and other games.
And that’s just it: while Instant Game does have rules and guidelines for how to run the game and settle disputes, the heart of
it is the players assuming the roles of characters and acting within the game/story as they feel their characters would act. It’s
like a childhood game of Let’s Pretend, but with codified rules so that every altercation doesn’t have to end with, BANG—I
got you!...
No you didn’t!...
Did too! You’re dead now!...
Am not! It just grazed me!...
etc.
How roleplaying works:
In Instant Game, one player assumes the role of gamemaster or GM, while all the rest are players
who take on the role of a single character within the game (a “player character” or PC). It’s up to the GM to act as guide,
narrator, and referee. While everyone at the table helps put the story together, the GM is the final arbiter of what is or isn’t a
part of a particular world or setting. The GM narrates the setting and describes the actions of all characters not controlled by
other players (these “non-player characters are also referred to as NPCs.)
Working together, the GM and players use the Instant Tables on pages 6-10 to create a world in which to set the story. Then
the GM uses the tables to further create a basic storyline or plot while the players each create a character for them to play
within this world. As gameplay progresses, the GM will describe the setting and what is going on. The players will each
describe how their own character acts within the story, and the GM provides the responses of the environment and NPCs.
Whenever conflict arises, it may be required to roll dice and follow the action resolution rules on pages 23-25.
Using the dice:
Instant game uses two types of dice, six-sided (d6) and ten-sided (d10). The six-sided dice are always thrown
three at a time (3d6) and then added to get a total result ranging from 3 to 18. Most 3d6 rolls will also include some sort of
modifier, such as -5, +1, or +6. Simply apply the modifier to the 3d6 result. This can result in a negative number.
You must have two ten-sided dice, and they must be unique so that it is easy to tell one from the other—usually just using
two different colors is sufficient for this. The ten-sided dice are used in pairs to generate results from 1 to 100. The first die
represents the tens digit, and the second die the ones. Thus, if you roll a 7 and a 4, the result is “74.” A result of double zero
equals “100.”
3
Sample Game: The Rail
No bull, I just took out my randomizer and rolled up a new Instant Game to use with the introduction. These are the rolls
exactly as they came out, followed by my development process for those rolls over about 30 minutes of work:
Setting/Tone: Lost Civilization/Gothic
Things: Special Ops, Mass Transit
Tech Level: Galactic Empires
Place: Orphanage
Opposition: Spies
Plot Action: Steal (Religious) Alliance
Plot Action: Discover (Alien) Soldier
Enter our players: They are an elite team of Rail Service
Special Investigators. They are now riding the Rail,
carrying the first Olivan-inbound request in four
centuries. Their status is encrypted, so if there really is
anyone planetside at Olivan, they will have no idea
anyone is coming.
I was good with Gothic Lost Civilization, but then I get
SpecOps and Mass Transit? OK, I have no idea how to
work those in. And the optional tech level and place don’t
help at all. I decide it's a mess and I go to reset the
randomizer... WAIT! At the last second, before I can push
F9, something in the back of my head says, "I think this
can work." I've learned to listen to that voice, so I'm
patient with it:
What they will find is an abandoned Rail station, but with
signs that someone has been there. Some investigation
will lead them to a frenetic and intense priest who has
been traveling to the station every few days to renew the
outbound request. She claims she has been working for
years to reactivate the station to help take the orphans in
her care away from this primitive and battle-torn planet.
She has no idea how people came to Olivan, but can relate
legends of an angry God smiting Olivan centuries ago, the
chosen people who hid underground for 1,000 days and
nights being the only survivors. Olivan now is a primitive
place of subsistence living ruled by local warlords.
A massive, automated subway-like system that spans the
stars and makes regular stops at subway stations on
various planets to carry cargo and passengers of all sorts.
Now a world that was thought to be abandoned
reconnects to the system and...
…and what? The orphanage. I thought that was a
throwaway, but maybe whatever civilization has survived
there is brutal or twisted, and someone is trying to save
the orphans by putting them on the train out. That's overly
dramatic, but I think it's starting to come together.
There are two ways to handle this from here. If you want
to play it straight, the above plot can be taken at face
value. The orphans are in immediate danger. The players
can call for backup, but it will take almost a week to get
here. In the meantime, the players with their limited (but
advanced) equipment must travel into the midst of a
primitive war zone to find and free the orphans. Local
warlords will try to kill, kidnap, blackmail or otherwise
terrorize them in their efforts.
Imagine a civilization that spans 10,000 stars. A galactic
empire of enormous proportions. And connecting all of
these worlds is The Rail. Gargantuan railships travel
automated routes throughout the Empire. They punch
through hyperspace at trans-light speeds, and at each stop,
they drop shuttles to the Rail stations planetside, swap
cargo and passengers, and then they're off again to the
next stop. In a sprawling and rigid galaxy-spanning
bureaucracy, the Imperial Rail Service is one of the most
rigid and dogmatic among them.
Option two leads the players to believe that this is what
they are doing, but the truth is much scarier. Four
centuries ago, the planet was discovered by an unknown
and sinister alien race. Rather than adapting planets for
their own use, these aliens live parasitically by adopting
hosts already suited to the world. Human physiology was
completely new to them, and the transition period was far
longer than usual. The human hosts fell to a primitive
state and lost most of their civilization. It has taken the
aliens this long to finally fully master their human bodies
and minds, and they are tentatively trying to test the Rail
so they can meet other humans and find a way off Olivan
to see what the rest of humanity is like, and if invasion
and domination is viable. Unfortunately for them, not all
of their number on Olivan is in agreement, and their
primitive human natures have led them to base warfare
amongst themselves.
The planet Olivan has been long considered abandoned.
Rail service discontinued 400 years ago, and investigation
showed it to be a ghost planet. Utterly empty. Or so we
thought. Without warning or explanation, Olivan's Rail
station has been reactivated. The Rail has been making
regular stops at Olivan to fill requests for refugee
outbound travel. However, there is never anyone or
anything boarding at the Olivan stops, and somehow the
refugee request is always renewed. The most likely
explanation is a system glitch, but the Service cannot
simply deactivate a station with refugee requests without
investigating.
The plot is already starting to write itself, but I’ll make
the plot rolls anyway:
4
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

Jmcweb.org Booking

Darmowy hosting zapewnia PRV.PL