Professional Documents
Culture Documents
by
Brian Engard
ROUGH
CUTS
ROUGH CUTS
Writing
Brian Engard
Layout
Mark Richardson
Art
Cover
Three draft sketches in sepia for an equestrian monument,
by Leonardo da Vinci
Jury Duty
Courtroom sketch, by Butch Krieger
Jury by Luis Prado, Thumbs Up by Pearlyn Chiam from The Noun Project
Runners
Photo of a parkour athlete, by Stuart Bryce
Runner by Dillon Arloff, Target by Laurent Patain from the Noun Project
Snakegrinder
Photo of the New York Dolls, by AVRO
Meter by Ruud Smitt, RockNRoll by Hum from The Noun Project
The Wicked World
Screenshot from The Big Combo (1955), by Allied Artists
Icons by Thomas Tamblyn
I Hit It With My Axe
Two Vlusp Dwarves, by Lorenz Frlich
Comfort Zone
Sir Galahad, by George Frederic Watts
To the best of my knowledge, all art in this book is either Creative Commons or
public domain. If Im wrong, please tell me at engard@gmail.com and Ill remove
the offending piece.
What This Is
This PDF is a collection of micro-games that Ive created over the years. A microgame is a self-contained game (a roleplaying game in this case) that takes up very
little space, has very few rules, and is designed to accomplish a specic thing.
There are six micro-games in this PDF, presented in the order in which I designed
them. Jury Duty is a game that seeks to emulate the social dynamics of the
jury deliberation process. Runners is a game about parkour action in a postapocalyptic world full of monsters. Snakegrinder is a game about an 80s hair
band that travels through time, solving problems and getting into trouble. The
Wicked World is about angels who give up their angelic power in exchange for
free will, so they can become PIs and ght the demons on Earth. I Hit It With My
Axe is about dwarf barbarians making great boasts and then going on quests
to fulll those boasts, for glory and . . . well, for glory. Comfort Zone is a settingagnostic framework for fast, rules-light, hand-wavy games.
Rough Cuts
These are rough cuts because none of them have been edited or playtested.
This PDF is a bit of an experiment. Im putting it out there in the hopes of getting
people to read it and play the games. If you do so, and you nd issues in the
games, feel free to give me feedback. This is an evolving document; as I get
feedback, Ill update it. Send me feedback at engard@gmail.com, with the subject
line ROUGH CUTS FEEDBACK.
JURY DUTY
Social Dynamics of a Jury
JURY DUTY
SETUP
What Youll Need
Elect a Foreperson
Before you start play youll need a Foreperson. The Foreperson acts as
facilitator for the game, bringing structure when its lacking and calling for
votes when theyre warranted.
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JURY DUTY
A defendant
You can come up with a single defendant or multiple defendants, depending
on what the table wants. This is determined by group consensus, and should
involve a discussion. Take an index card and write the defendants name on
it, along with a high concept. A high concept is basically a short descriptive
phrase that sums up who the defendant is.
Example: Jeb Mallory, out-of-work car salesman.
Charges
What is the defendant charged with? Come up with as many charges as you
want to, but the more charges you levy against the defendant, the longer the
game will take.
Example: Jebs charged with Aggravated Assault.
Once youve done both of those things, put those index cards in the middle of
the table where everyone can see them.
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JURY DUTY
DELIBERATION
Structure
While deliberating over a case there are a few things you can do:
Spend inuence chips
Talk about the case
Calling for Votes
Establish a fact
You can spend an inuence chip to the table pool to establish a fact about the
case. This fact can be testimony you heard, evidence that was presented, or
even observations about the defendant or the attorneys. When you establish
a fact, you write it down on an index card and put it in the middle of the table.
Write your name on it somewhere too; its important to keep track of whose is
whose because, whenever someone cites one of your facts in an argument,
you get an inuence chip from the table pool. Once a fact is introduced, its
there for good. That doesnt mean that contradictory facts cant be introduced,
though.
Inuence a juror
Any time youre arguing the facts with another juror, you can choose to offer
one or more inuence chips to that juror. If he takes them, the next time a vote
is called you get to vote for him. That is, you write your own vote down, then
you write his vote down and hand that in too. Once youve voted for him once,
theres no further obligation on the other jurors part to let you keep doing so
(unless you give him more inuence chips).
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JURY DUTY
is going to be a lot more potent than buying their votes with inuence chips
because its a more lasting change.
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NOTGUILTY
NOTGUILTY
NOTGUILTY
NOTGUILTY
GUILTY
GUILTY
GUILTY
GUILTY
NOTGUILTY
NOTGUILTY
NOTGUILTY
NOTGUILTY
GUILTY
GUILTY
GUILTY
GUILTY
RUNNERS
Post-Apocalyptic Parkour
Were not sure what. We just know that there are monsters everywhere, that
theyve taken over the world and that were an endangered species. Nobody
alive now remembers the time before the monsters, though there are still
records of it all over the place.
They infest the cities; the streets are teeming with creatures out of nightmare,
hiding just below the fog that permeates everything out there. The rooftops
and the sewers are the safest places, but even those are starting to get
dangerous.
RUNNERS
The countryside is worse. See, in the cities at least we have places to hide,
buildings and sewers we can barricade ourselves into to keep the monsters
out. Out in the country, in the suburbs, youre exposed. You can barricade
yourself for a little while, but what if you have to get somewhere? What if you
need supplies, or need to get a message to someone who isnt in the same
building? No, the cities as dangerous as they are are the safest places on
Earth.
Speaking of supplies and messages, thats where we come in. Were Runners.
Weve trained all our lives to be the ones who go out there, who outrun and
outwit the monsters, who get the stuff we need and deliver messages to and
from other enclaves. Without us, the whole thing falls apart.
Without us, everybody dies.
How to Do Stuff
Runners is a game about parkour, action, and monsters. You play couriers in a
post-apocalyptic setting where monsters are everywhere.
As Runners, youre competent. Extremely competent. You have three skills,
each a broad area of expertise; if you set out to do something related to one
of those areas of expertise, youll succeed. Its that simple.
Of course, that doesnt mean its a cake-walk.
Any task that the GM decides is important enough for a roll is going to come
with a number of consequences attached to it. Youll succeed, but youll have
to deal with those consequences. Those consequences will be Clumsy, Slow,
Obvious, or Hit.
Clumsy, Slow, and Obvious are narrative license for the GM to get you into
more trouble. A Clumsy jump knocks a chunk of the ledge off, making it
harder for the next guy. Being Slow when breaking into a building makes it
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When you complete an action, you can choose to simply take it as is and
deal with the consequences, or you can roll for it. When you roll, youre
rolling between 1 and 4 fudge dice (dF). Each + you roll gets you a benet
(this can allow you to turn a consequence into a benet); the benets are
Stylish, Fast, Elegant, and Upper. Stylish opposes Clumsy, Fast opposes Slow,
Elegant opposes Obvious; these are narrative license to put yourself in an
advantageous situation, or pass off an advantage to an ally. Upper is, again, a
special case (more on Uppers later).
RUNNERS
more likely that the automated security system will nd you. If youre Obvious
when climbing over some rubble, you might attract the attention of some
nearby monsters. A Hit is a special case (more on that later).
Uppers
Uppers are special points that help you do things better. Its best
to represent these with some sort of non-edible token so you dont
have to keep erasing on your sheet (and so you dont, yknow, eat
them). You dont start with any Uppers, but youll get plenty of them
during play.
Every + you spend on the Uppers axis gets you an Upper. You spend Uppers
to invoke your tags. You can invoke any tag you want (it doesnt have to be
tied to the skill youre using), but it has to be relevant to the action youre
performing. Invoking a tag costs 1 Upper and allows you to treat one die that
you rolled as if it had come up a +. You can invoke as many tags as you want
to on a single roll, but you can only invoke each tag once.
Hits
Hits are the counterpoint to Uppers. You take Hits when you have
extra - on your dice after rolling for an action and spending the
others on consequences. Each Hit you take gets written down in
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10
Whenever you perform an action that one or more of your Hits would make
harder, you roll a pain die for each Hit that applies along with the dice you
normally roll. Each pain die is a dF (it helps to use a different color, or roll them
separately), though only the - count for pain dice; + and blanks are ignored.
RUNNERS
one of the slots on your body (take a look at the character sheets). You get to
decide where your Hits go, and you get to decide what form they take. Hits
are narrative justication for things to get harder for you, and they make things
harder mechanically too.
Hits increase in severity from Minor to Major to Severe. Minor Hits represent
transitory things: getting the wind knocked out of you, getting a sprained wrist,
getting your bell rung, and so forth. Also, whenever youd take a Minor Hit,
you can choose to cross off one of your gear tags (thats a tag that represents
some piece of equipment) instead. Its lost until you can recover it. Minor hits
go away as soon as you get a chance to rest up and recover.
Major Hits are pretty serious injuries. Maybe your leg is broken or youve got
a bullet in your gut. These require medical attention before you can recover
from them.
Severe Hits are things youre unlikely to recover from without severe
intervention, like replacing that severed arm with a cybernetic prosthesis, or
getting major surgery to remove all those bullets.
If you ever ll up your last Severe Hit slot, youre dead.
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11
Runners are highly competent individuals. They know what they're doing, and
they're really good at it. Things that fall under the purview of their skills are
usually routine. The time when this is not the case is when drama, tension,
or opposition are in play. These things should take center stage. If someone
opposes what the Runner is doing, call for a roll. If calling for a roll would
create drama or tension, then you'll want a roll.
RUNNERS
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12
In this sample situation, the Runners have been tasked with making their
way across 'Ton (the city they're in), which is infested with monsters and rival
gangs. There's a neutral gang on the other side of town that's agreed to barter
information with the Runners' gang. The Runners have to deliver information
from the Stonewall Gang (their gang) to the Locust Street Boys (the neutral
gang), negotiate the trade, then (if all goes well) bring the newly obtained data
back to Stonewall.
RUNNERS
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13
They're willing to trade, for the right price. This is best handled with pure
roleplay, but if you want to force a roll, it's Slow and either Obvious or Clumsy.
Also, once you have it you have to get back.
RUNNERS
Someone else wants your data. Running from them is Fast, but is also Clumsy,
Obvious, and requires a Hit.
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14
Slow
Obvious
Medic
Hit
HITS
Scientist
RESOLUTION
Your skills and tags allow you to accomplish tasks. You always succeed.
The GM will tell you what the default consequences of a task are.
Roll between 1 and 4 dF (Your Choice).
Each + allows you to get one Benet.
Each - allows you to get one Consequence.
Blanks are ignored.
You can choose each Benet or Consequence once. They are mutually exclusive.
Hits and Uppers can be chose multiple times, and not mutually exclusive.
UPPERS
You start with no Uppers.
You can spend + you toll to get Uppers.
You can spend Uppers to invoke Tags on rolls.
Invoking a Tag allows you to treat 1 Die as a +.
HITS
You can buy off - you roll by taking Hits. Each Hit buys off one -.
Each Hit you take forces you to ll in a slot on your body.
When a Hit on your body would apply to an action, roll a Pain Die.
Pain Dice are additinal dFs, but only the - side counts.
Instead of taking a Minor Hit to your body, you can choose to cross off a Gear Tag.
Minor HIts go away when you get a chance to breathe and recover.
Major Hits go away after treatment.
Sever Hits dont go away without signicant justication (like a replacement limb).
ARMS
Minor ______________
Major ______________
Severe ______________
UPPERS
+
+
BENEFITS
Stylish
Fast
Elegant
Upper
HEAD
Minor ______________
Major ______________
Severe ______________
TORSO
Minor ______________
Major ______________
Severe ______________
LEGS
Minor ______________
Major ______________
Severe ______________
Slow
Obvious
Infiltrator
Hit
HITS
Tech Whiz
RESOLUTION
Your skills and tags allow you to accomplish tasks. You always succeed.
The GM will tell you what the default consequences of a task are.
Roll between 1 and 4 dF (Your Choice).
Each + allows you to get one Benet.
Each - allows you to get one Consequence.
Blanks are ignored.
You can choose each Benet or Consequence once. They are mutually exclusive.
Hits and Uppers can be chose multiple times, and not mutually exclusive.
UPPERS
You start with no Uppers.
You can spend + you toll to get Uppers.
You can spend Uppers to invoke Tags on rolls.
Invoking a Tag allows you to treat 1 Die as a +.
HITS
You can buy off - you roll by taking Hits. Each Hit buys off one -.
Each Hit you take forces you to ll in a slot on your body.
When a Hit on your body would apply to an action, roll a Pain Die.
Pain Dice are additinal dFs, but only the - side counts.
Instead of taking a Minor Hit to your body, you can choose to cross off a Gear Tag.
Minor HIts go away when you get a chance to breathe and recover.
Major Hits go away after treatment.
Sever Hits dont go away without signicant justication (like a replacement limb).
ARMS
Minor ______________
Major ______________
Severe ______________
UPPERS
+
+
BENEFITS
Stylish
Fast
Elegant
Upper
HEAD
Minor ______________
Major ______________
Severe ______________
TORSO
Minor ______________
Major ______________
Severe ______________
LEGS
Minor ______________
Major ______________
Severe ______________
Slow
Obvious
Martial Artist
Hit
HITS
Pathfinder
RESOLUTION
Your skills and tags allow you to accomplish tasks. You always succeed.
The GM will tell you what the default consequences of a task are.
Roll between 1 and 4 dF (Your Choice).
Each + allows you to get one Benet.
Each - allows you to get one Consequence.
Blanks are ignored.
You can choose each Benet or Consequence once. They are mutually exclusive.
Hits and Uppers can be chose multiple times, and not mutually exclusive.
UPPERS
You start with no Uppers.
You can spend + you toll to get Uppers.
You can spend Uppers to invoke Tags on rolls.
Invoking a Tag allows you to treat 1 Die as a +.
HITS
You can buy off - you roll by taking Hits. Each Hit buys off one -.
Each Hit you take forces you to ll in a slot on your body.
When a Hit on your body would apply to an action, roll a Pain Die.
Pain Dice are additinal dFs, but only the - side counts.
Instead of taking a Minor Hit to your body, you can choose to cross off a Gear Tag.
Minor HIts go away when you get a chance to breathe and recover.
Major Hits go away after treatment.
Sever Hits dont go away without signicant justication (like a replacement limb).
ARMS
Minor ______________
Major ______________
Severe ______________
UPPERS
+
+
BENEFITS
Stylish
Fast
Elegant
Upper
HEAD
Minor ______________
Major ______________
Severe ______________
TORSO
Minor ______________
Major ______________
Severe ______________
LEGS
Minor ______________
Major ______________
Severe ______________
Slow
Obvious
Shot-Caller
Hit
HITS
Fighter
RESOLUTION
Your skills and tags allow you to accomplish tasks. You always succeed.
The GM will tell you what the default consequences of a task are.
Roll between 1 and 4 dF (Your Choice).
Each + allows you to get one Benet.
Each - allows you to get one Consequence.
Blanks are ignored.
You can choose each Benet or Consequence once. They are mutually exclusive.
Hits and Uppers can be chose multiple times, and not mutually exclusive.
UPPERS
You start with no Uppers.
You can spend + you toll to get Uppers.
You can spend Uppers to invoke Tags on rolls.
Invoking a Tag allows you to treat 1 Die as a +.
HITS
You can buy off - you roll by taking Hits. Each Hit buys off one -.
Each Hit you take forces you to ll in a slot on your body.
When a Hit on your body would apply to an action, roll a Pain Die.
Pain Dice are additinal dFs, but only the - side counts.
Instead of taking a Minor Hit to your body, you can choose to cross off a Gear Tag.
Minor HIts go away when you get a chance to breathe and recover.
Major Hits go away after treatment.
Sever Hits dont go away without signicant justication (like a replacement limb).
ARMS
Minor ______________
Major ______________
Severe ______________
UPPERS
+
+
BENEFITS
Stylish
Fast
Elegant
Upper
HEAD
Minor ______________
Major ______________
Severe ______________
TORSO
Minor ______________
Major ______________
Severe ______________
LEGS
Minor ______________
Major ______________
Severe ______________
Name:
Runner
Tags (5):
Obvious
Primary:
Hit
BENEFITS
+
+
+
+
Stylish
Fast
Elegant
Upper
Tags (6:
HITS
Secondary:
Tags (4):
RESOLUTION
Your skills and tags allow you to accomplish tasks. You always succeed.
The GM will tell you what the default consequences of a task are.
Roll between 1 and 4 dF (Your Choice).
Each + allows you to get one Benet.
Each - allows you to get one Consequence.
Blanks are ignored.
You can choose each Benet or Consequence once. They are mutually exclusive.
Hits and Uppers can be chose multiple times, and not mutually exclusive.
UPPERS
You start with no Uppers.
You can spend + you toll to get Uppers.
You can spend Uppers to invoke Tags on rolls.
Invoking a Tag allows you to treat 1 Die as a +.
HITS
You can buy off - you roll by taking Hits. Each Hit buys off one -.
Each Hit you take forces you to ll in a slot on your body.
When a Hit on your body would apply to an action, roll a Pain Die.
Pain Dice are additinal dFs, but only the - side counts.
Instead of taking a Minor Hit to your body, you can choose to cross off a Gear Tag.
Minor HIts go away when you get a chance to breathe and recover.
Major Hits go away after treatment.
Sever Hits dont go away without signicant justication (like a replacement limb).
ARMS
Minor ______________
Major ______________
Severe ______________
UPPERS
HEAD
Minor ______________
Major ______________
Severe ______________
TORSO
Minor ______________
Major ______________
Severe ______________
LEGS
Minor ______________
Major ______________
Severe ______________
Snakegrinder
Misadventures through Time
Snakegrinder
But why are the members of Snakegrinder traveling through time? Who the
fuck knows? Something chose them and now they get dropped off in some
time period where theres some big problem that needs solving. Theyve
gured out that theyre supposed to try to solve the problem and, once they
do, they move on to somewhen else. They all hope theyll get back to their
own time someday (the 80s are fucking awesome, after all) but, again, who
the fuck knows?
They also know that theyll move onto another time zone when they really
fuck things up on a catastrophic level. Which happens from time to time.
Chronic Fuck-Ups
Snakegrinder was never a popular band, probably because its members
never could get their shit together. Its not that theyre not talented, and its
not that they dont love the music but . . . well . . . music is hard. So is being
responsible. And helping people. Its all just such a goddamn hassle.
So yeah, Snakegrinder gets sent places to help people out, but the often
fuck things up and leave a time zone worse than it was when they got there.
Sometimes a lot worse.
Yeah, its that kind of game.
What this means is that youre going to fuck shit up more often than you make
it better. Youve got a task to perform that youre ill-suited for, and youre going
to fail. A lot. In fact, the default assumption is that youre going to fail most of
your rolls.
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22
Snakegrinder
However, it aint all bad. See, the more you fail, the more you learn from your
failures (oughta be pretty goddamn smart by now, right?), and the more karma
seems to balance things out a bit. Every failure brings you closer to getting
a little bit better, and every time you get a little bit better youre closer to
actually doing something right. In practice itll look a lot like: fail, fail, fail, fail,
fail, HOLY SHIT I FUCKING DID IT!
You get one Awesome Thing at the start of the game. This is
something youre good at, something you consistently do right. It
might be playing killer guitar solos, or a way with the ladies (or the
guys), or the fact that you know fucking krav maga. Anything you
want. Awesome Stuff will allow you to roll Awesome Dice, which are good.
You also start with three pieces of Bullshit. Bullshit is the stuff that
gets in your way, that fucks you up, that makes your life such a
goddamn hassle all the time. Maybe youre always drunk, or maybe
you tend to shout at people a lot, or maybe you just cant stop saying really
stupid things to people who could easily beat the shit out of you. Bullshit is
optional; it both helps you (with Fuck Yeah Points, page 24) and hurts you
(with Bullshit Dice).
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23
Then you roll your dice. Every Awesome Die that comes up a 4, 5, or 6 allows
you to reduce the value of one Problem (check out page 25 for Problems) on
the table by 1. Rock on!
Every Bullshit Die that comes up a 4, 5, or 6 forces you to add a point to one
Problem on the table, or create a new Problem with a value of 1. Thats not so
good.
Snakegrinder
You also get a Bullshit Die (also a d6; maybe black or red) for every piece
of Bullshit that you willingly narrate into the action. Thats right, Bullshit is
entirely optional. However, you also get a Fuck Yeah Point (FYP) for every
piece of Bullshit you narrate in, and those things are important (more on them
later).
Every Bullshit Die that comes up a 1 forces you to take on one piece of
Temporary Bullshit (page 25). It also increases your Bullshit-o-Meter by 1
(also page 25).
FUCK
YEAH~
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24
Snakegrinder
Temporary Bullshit
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25
Snakegrinder
However, tensions are high during the Big Finale, and hair bands are big on
drama. Everyone has to invoke at least one piece of Bullshit. The good news
is that Bullshit counts double: you get twice as many FYPs for invoking your
Bullshit.
The bad news is that Bullshit counts double: Each 4, 5, or 6 adds 2 points to a
single, existing Problem (no creating new ones). Reading the aftermath of the
Big Finale goes as follows:
If all Problems are at 0, well hot damn! Youve gotten the best
possible ending. Theyll be singing your songs and erecting statues
for years to come.
If the main Problem is solved but youve got one or two other
problems still around, things are still pretty good. The people
youve helped are grateful, even if you screwed up a bit. Youll be
remembered fondly.
If the main Problem is solved but youve got more than two other
Problems in the works, youve left things a bit worse than they were
when you got there. Youll be remembered as those fuck-ups who
came in and fucked everything up.
If the main Problem isnt solved but youve only got one, two, or three
other Problems, people hate you. Theyll actively badmouth you when
youre gone. Your name is mud.
If youve got ve Problems still in play, boy have you ever fucked up.
Youre the most reviled, hated, despised motherfuckers ever to visit
that Time Zone. God help you if you ever have to come back here.
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26
When alls said and done, regardless of the outcome of your little visit, the
timestream picks you up and drops you in a new Time Zone. When this
happens, follow these steps.
1.
Erase all the Awesome Things you earned during the Gig.
Get rid of all your Fuck Yeah Points. You dont get to keep them.
4.
If you got the best possible ending, write down two new Awesome
Things on your character sheet. If you got a good ending (but not the
best), just write down one. These represent the things you learned
during the Gig.
Snakegrinder
Moving On
5. If you left any Problems still in play, add a piece of Bullshit to your
character sheet. This represents the hang-ups that came out of your
little adventure.
6. If you got the worst possible ending, erase all Awesome Stuff from
your character sheet except for the one you started with. Add two
pieces of Bullshit (in addition to the one above). You done fucked up,
and it shows.
7.
Pick a new Gig (or make one up) and start playing again!
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27
FUCK
YEAH~
FUCK
YEAH~
FUCK
YEAH~
FUCK
YEAH~
FUCK
YEAH~
FUCK
YEAH~
FUCK
YEAH~
FUCK
YEAH~
FUCK
YEAH~
FUCK
YEAH~
FUCK
YEAH~
FUCK
YEAH~
GIGS
PROBLEMS:
Main Problem: War is Brewing (10)
__________________________
__________________________
__________________________
__________________________
__________________________
PROBLEMS:
Main Problem: One Bride, Two
Grooms (10)
__________________________
__________________________
__________________________
__________________________
__________________________
PROBLEMS:
gig:
CAST:
_________________________
_________________________
_________________________
_________________________
_________________________
_________________________
_________________________
PROBLEMS:
Main Problem (10):____________
__________________________
__________________________
__________________________
__________________________
__________________________
Tommy Cabbot
Lead Singer
AWESOME STUFF
Snakegrinder
Misadventures through time
BULLSHIT
Two Seconds from a Stupid Decision
Secretly Obsessed with Folk Music
Adrenaline Junkie
+1 Bullshit Die and +1 Fuck Yeah Point for each piece of Bullshit you invoke.
Each Bullshit Die that comes up a 4, 5, or 6 adds 1 to a Problem.
Bullshit Dice that come up as a 1 adds a Temporary Bullshit and increases your Bullshit-OMeter.
Bullshit-O-Meter
M
k,
3T
his
is B
ull
t th
sh
it!
1N
ig
oB
De
a
Wh
c
Fu
4
5 Are you Fucking
6 I Kidding Me?
m
the Frea
Fu king
ck
Ou
tH
ere
!
2 : Guitar Solo!
+1 Awesome Die for this roll
4 : Awesome Shit Happens!
+1 Awesome Thing.
FUCK
YEAH~
Darren Darryl
Lead Guitar
AWESOME STUFF
Snakegrinder
Misadventures through time
BULLSHIT
Bad Timing
Almost Always Drunk
What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
+1 Bullshit Die and +1 Fuck Yeah Point for each piece of Bullshit you invoke.
Each Bullshit Die that comes up a 4, 5, or 6 adds 1 to a Problem.
Bullshit Dice that come up as a 1 adds a Temporary Bullshit and increases your Bullshit-OMeter.
Bullshit-O-Meter
M
k,
3T
his
is B
ull
t th
sh
it!
1N
ig
oB
De
a
Wh
c
Fu
4
5 Are you Fucking
6 I Kidding Me?
m
the Frea
Fu king
ck
Ou
tH
ere
!
2 : Guitar Solo!
+1 Awesome Die for this roll
4 : Awesome Shit Happens!
+1 Awesome Thing.
FUCK
YEAH~
Susan Wu
Bass
AWESOME STUFF
Snakegrinder
Misadventures through time
Musical Prodigy
BULLSHIT
Nobody Recognizes My Talents
Troublemaker
In Everybodys Business
+1 Bullshit Die and +1 Fuck Yeah Point for each piece of Bullshit you invoke.
Each Bullshit Die that comes up a 4, 5, or 6 adds 1 to a Problem.
Bullshit Dice that come up as a 1 adds a Temporary Bullshit and increases your Bullshit-OMeter.
Bullshit-O-Meter
M
k,
3T
his
is B
ull
t th
sh
it!
1N
ig
oB
De
a
Wh
c
Fu
4
5 Are you Fucking
6 I Kidding Me?
m
the Frea
Fu king
ck
Ou
tH
ere
!
2 : Guitar Solo!
+1 Awesome Die for this roll
4 : Awesome Shit Happens!
+1 Awesome Thing.
FUCK
YEAH~
AWESOME STUFF
Snakegrinder
Misadventures through time
Rythm Savant
BULLSHIT
Not Too Bright
Perpetually Stoned
In Love with Allison
+1 Bullshit Die and +1 Fuck Yeah Point for each piece of Bullshit you invoke.
Each Bullshit Die that comes up a 4, 5, or 6 adds 1 to a Problem.
Bullshit Dice that come up as a 1 adds a Temporary Bullshit and increases your Bullshit-OMeter.
Bullshit-O-Meter
M
k,
3T
his
is B
ull
t th
sh
it!
1N
ig
oB
De
a
Wh
c
Fu
4
5 Are you Fucking
6 I Kidding Me?
m
the Frea
Fu king
ck
Ou
tH
ere
!
2 : Guitar Solo!
+1 Awesome Die for this roll
4 : Awesome Shit Happens!
+1 Awesome Thing.
FUCK
YEAH~
Allison Alvarez
Backup Vocals
AWESOME STUFF
Snakegrinder
Misadventures through time
BULLSHIT
Tommys Hot. So is Darren.
Fiery Temper
Stubborn as Fuck
+1 Bullshit Die and +1 Fuck Yeah Point for each piece of Bullshit you invoke.
Each Bullshit Die that comes up a 4, 5, or 6 adds 1 to a Problem.
Bullshit Dice that come up as a 1 adds a Temporary Bullshit and increases your Bullshit-OMeter.
Bullshit-O-Meter
M
k,
3T
his
is B
ull
t th
sh
it!
1N
ig
oB
De
a
Wh
c
Fu
4
5 Are you Fucking
6 I Kidding Me?
m
the Frea
Fu king
ck
Ou
tH
ere
!
2 : Guitar Solo!
+1 Awesome Die for this roll
4 : Awesome Shit Happens!
+1 Awesome Thing.
FUCK
YEAH~
AWESOME STUFF
Snakegrinder
Misadventures through time
Tools Speak to Me
BULLSHIT
Inferriority Complex
Darrens a Fucking Asshole
One Bad Eye
+1 Bullshit Die and +1 Fuck Yeah Point for each piece of Bullshit you invoke.
Each Bullshit Die that comes up a 4, 5, or 6 adds 1 to a Problem.
Bullshit Dice that come up as a 1 adds a Temporary Bullshit and increases your Bullshit-OMeter.
Bullshit-O-Meter
M
k,
3T
his
is B
ull
t th
sh
it!
1N
ig
oB
De
a
Wh
c
Fu
4
5 Are you Fucking
6 I Kidding Me?
m
the Frea
Fu king
ck
Ou
tH
ere
!
2 : Guitar Solo!
+1 Awesome Die for this roll
4 : Awesome Shit Happens!
+1 Awesome Thing.
FUCK
YEAH~
Snakegrinder
Name:
Role:
AWESOME STUFF
BULLSHIT
+1 Bullshit Die and +1 Fuck Yeah Point for each piece of Bullshit you invoke.
Each Bullshit Die that comes up a 4, 5, or 6 adds 1 to a Problem.
Bullshit Dice that come up as a 1 adds a Temporary Bullshit and increases your Bullshit-OMeter.
Bullshit-O-Meter
M
k,
3T
his
is B
ull
t th
sh
it!
1N
ig
oB
De
a
Wh
c
Fu
4
5 Are you Fucking
6 I Kidding Me?
m
the Frea
Fu king
ck
Ou
tH
ere
!
2 : Guitar Solo!
+1 Awesome Die for this roll
4 : Awesome Shit Happens!
+1 Awesome Thing.
FUCK
YEAH~
This work is my own. Parts of it, recovery and the mystery map, were inspired
by Jeremy Kellers Technoir.
That's where you come in. God's always been all about the power of free
will, he's always wanted mortals to sort things out for themselves without
interference. Here's the thing though: the demons interfered rst. He let it go
as long as it could, but sometimes an inhuman problem needs an inhuman
solution.
You're an angel, but you're special. You haven't fallen per se; more like
descended. You live amongst the mortals. You've lost your wings and most
of your powers, you move at the speed of your legs rather than the speed
of thought, and you no longer hear God's song. You're still immortal though,
and you've got free will now. Your job is to help the mortals ght the demons.
Once they're pointed in the right direction, mortals can be formidable. They
need someone to do that though, and they need someone to nd and stop
the strongest of the demons. That's your job.
You're an angel PI who hunts down demons. Welcome to The Wicked World.
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and also gures out what the mysterys all about, and whos at the center of it,
so the investigators can hunt them down and take them out.
Setup
Setup consists of four phases.
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39
Scary Motherfucker
Empathetic
No Hesitation
Greased Palms
Do Whats Right
Thousand-Yard Strare
Escape Plan
Kind to Animals
Always Efficent
Justied
Brawler
Generous Spirit
Demonic Ally
Well-Connected
Apply Pressure
Headshot
Unappable
Never Surrender
Do What It Takes
In Vino Veritas
Iron Will
Traits:
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The last thing youll do is take the free will token and put it on the icon in the
center of your free will bar. The free will token looks like this:
[Icon of a stylized human gure standing inside a bar, with an arrow
pointing up and one pointing down.]
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Conicts
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42
Further Scenes
In each scene after the rst, an investigator is going to establish the scene.
The rst investigator to do this is the one to the Arbiters left; the privilege
then passes to the left amongst the investigators for the rest of the session.
When establishing a scene, investigator, youve got three things to look to.
The icon from the conict in the previous scene provides inspiration for your
scene. The arbiter will shuffle all of the NPCs again and draw a new one. That
NPC is central to the scene in some way.
Once youve looked at the icon and the NPC, youll ask a question. The
question should be both what you want to learn from the scene and what
your investigator learns from the scene. Leading questions are good, and a
question can establish facts.
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For example:
Keep playing the scene until you reach a conict, then run the conict and end
the scene. Play then proceeds to the left.
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44
At some point the map will suggest whats happening and whos at the
center of it. Thats what the map is for. Once youve gured it out, feel free to
stop using the mystery map (though you dont have to). Youre ready to start
steering the case toward its conclusion though.
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You can spend 1 scar to add 1 token to your Essence. Theres no limit to the
number of Essence tokens you can have.
You can spend 2 scars to replace one of your traits with a new one. The new
trait has to incorporate one of the scars you spend in some way.
You can spend 3 scars to write an entirely new trait. The new trait has to
incorporate one of the scars you spend in some way.
Once youre done with the recovery scene, continue with normal play.
During a recovery scene, you spend your scars to improve your character as
follows:
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For the visually impaired, the following sheets of cut-out tokens consist of
these icons.
For the arbiter: three each of the skull icon, the maggot icon, the shirt icon,
and the lantern icon, all with a gray border.
For the investigators: one icon of the human gure in the up/down arrow
symbol, and four each of the skull, maggot, lantern, and shirt icons. There are
four sets, each with a different colored boarder: red, yellow, blue, and green.
What Follows
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ARBITER TOKENS
INVESTIGATOR TOKENS
INVESTIGATOR TOKENS
INVESTIGATOR TOKENS
INVESTIGATOR TOKENS
TRAITS
SCARS
TRAITS
ESSENCE
IDEAL:
CORRUPTION
First, choose a name. Its got to be a good dwarven barbarian name, like Rock
Hammercleave or Argyle Stonecod. Your name is very important; it sets the
tone.
Next, look at your two stats: Axe and Not Axe. At the beginning of the game,
youre going to get 15 tokens to divide between Axe and Not Axe. If you put
tokens in Axe, theyre red tokens. If you put tokens in Not Axe, theyre blue.
Finally, choose one of these Vigors. When you full your Vigor, do what it says.
Bloodlust: When you murder something in spectacular fashion, get a red
token. Put it in Axe.
The Thinker: When you overcome an obstacle through sheer wit, get a blue
token. Put it in Not Axe.
Characters
Overcoming Challenges
A Challenge is going to be rated in dice. Weak Challenges are 1d4; the most
powerful Challenges are 2d12 or even higher. 2d12 would be like killing a
dragon or something. A d4 is like jumping over a small gap in the terrain
maybe. I dont know, its easy.
When you seek to overcome a Challenge, spend tokens from your stats. If
youre ghting something, use Axe. If youre doing anything else, roll Not Axe.
Spending a red token from Axe gets you a d6, while spending a blue token
from Not Axe gets you a d6. If you spend red from Not Axe or blue from Axe,
its a d4 instead.
Each additional token you spend, regardless of color, steps the die up by 1:
d4 to d6, d6 to d8, d8 to d10, d10 to d12. If youve already got a d12 and you
spend another token, add a d4.
You can step that up as usual. You can spend as many tokens as you want,
because youre totally a barbarian dwarf that kicks ass.
When you spend a token from one of your stats, it goes to the other stat. It
does not change color.
Then you roll your dice, and the player who put the Challenge in front of you
(the Challenger, naturally) rolls the dice for that Challenge. If your roll is higher,
you beat the Challenge and get the Glory from that Challenge. Ill get to that in
a second. If you roll equal or lower, you havent yet beaten the Challenge; lose
a token permanently and try again.
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Boasts
Before anyone does any killing or not killing, those at the table must put forth
Boasts. Pick someone to start off; maybe you just roll some dice or something
to gure it out. Maybe you choose the person with the most magnicent
beard, but thats kind of sexist if there are women at the table.
Anyway, the rst player boasts about what hell do, writes it on an index card,
and puts 1 Glory on that index card. Then the next person to the left raises the
Boast or concedes. When you raise the Boast, you either put another Glory on
an index card already on the table, or you add another index card (with a new
Challenge to overcome) and put 1 Glory on that. When you concede, youre
admitting that, yeah, you probably cant do better and you let that guy go
ahead and try to complete the whole Quest.
If you run out of tokens, youve failed and must turn back; lose all of your
Glory. It goes back in the middle of the table.
Quests
So, whoever got saddled with completing the Quest is going to be the
actual dwarf barbarian doing the killing and not killing. Everyone else gets
to narrate shit. So, the dwarf barbarian chooses the rst Challenge shell try
to overcome. A Challenge with 1 coin on it starts at a d4, and each additional
Glory coin on it steps that up. This works just like spending tokens to get
bigger and more dice, so really tough challenges will be lots of dice of varying
sizes. There is no maximum.
The rst player to the dwarf barbarians left is the rst Challenger. He gets
to narrate and roleplay back and forth with the dwarf barbarian, and gets
to present the Challenge. The Challenger gets to inuence what kind of
Challenge it is (Axe or Not Axe), but ultimately the dwarf barbarian gets to
choose how to respond. Its got to make sense in the ction; if the rest of the
table thinks it doesnt, the dwarf barbarian only earns half (rounded down) of
the Glory for that Challenge. Be fair about this.
Then the next person becomes the Challenger. This continues until one of
three things happens:
The dwarf barbarian chooses to turn and run like a coward. She loses
half her accumulated Glory for this Quest, but gets to bank the rest.
Round down.
The dwarf barbarian completes the nal Challenge successfully. She
gets to bank all of her Glory for that Quest.
The dwarf barbarian is defeated, having lost her last token. No Glory
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Once the dwarf barbarian is done, go through another round of boasts. Keep
going as long as you want to.
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RED TOKENS
BLUE TOKENS
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
THE THINKER
When you overcome an obstacle through sheer wit, get a blue token. Put
it in Not Axe.
AXE
NOT
AXE
COMFORT
ZONE
Setting Agnostic Roleplaying
COMFORT ZONE
Character Creation
Take a blank piece of paper. Write your characters name at the top, and
maybe a high concept or brief description. Now draw a circle in the middle of
the paper. It should be big enough that you can write a decent amount inside,
but small enough that you can write a decent amount outside too. Inside that
circle, write ve things your characters good at. These are her Comfort Zone.
Hotwiring Cars
Legal Knowledge
Cardio Kickboxing
Oration
COMFORT ZONE
Interviewing
Shooting
Film Trivia
Task Resolution
When you have to accomplish a task for which there might be consequences,
youre going to gather a dice pool. First, look at the stuff thats inside the
circle. If any of that applies to what youre trying to do, add a d6 to your dice
pool for each. If there are things you can think of that are part of the task that
arent inside the circle, write them outside of the circle and take a d4 for each
of them.
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COMFORT ZONE
Done? Now roll your dice. Assign each die to one of the things that was part of
the task. When you assign a die to something outside of your Comfort Zone,
its value cant be higher than 5. Heres what they mean:
1 - Hard consequence.
You dont get anything you want from this element of the task, and something
pretty bad happens.
2 or 3 - Soft consequence.
You get something you want from this element of the task, but not everything.
Something bad also happens, but not too bad.
4 or 5 - Minor accomplishment.
You get most of what you want from this element of the task and suffer only a
minor setback.
6+ - Major accomplishment.
You get everything you want from this element of the task. Nothing bad
happens insofar as its concerned.
Now narrate what happens, based on those results.
Learning
For every d4 you rolled, put a hash mark at the bottom of your paper. For
every 1 you rolled, put another hash mark. These hash marks are your
experience points. You learn by pushing your limits and attempting things
outside your Comfort Zone, and you also learn from your failures.
You can spend 10 experience points to get either of these:
New Skill - Take one of the things outside your Comfort Zone, erase it, and
put it inside your Comfort Zone.
Expertise - Circle something inside your Comfort Zone. When you use it, roll a
d8 instead of a d6.
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COMFORT ZONE
Character Name:
High Concept:
COMFORT
ZONE
Experience: