QuickDraw | Character Creation | Action | Directing | Index

QUICKDRAW
Introduction
Welcome to the exciting world of QuickDraw roleplaying.
QuickDraw is a third generation roleplaying game
designed to offer a loose and practical guide to the art
of narrative roleplaying. Through the use of this book,
and a bit of your own creativity, you will unlock new and
intriguing worlds, rife with possibility and adventure. You
will develop distinct and interesting characters to set
them loose upon these worlds, and enjoy an experience
unlike any other. Even if you are a seasoned veteran of
roleplaying, QuickDraw will still have something to offer
you and hopefully fan the fires of your imagination.

What is Roleplaying?
Roleplaying is a narrative art form that has been around
hundred of years. It is first developed in our childhood,
when our youthful imaginations make anything possible,
and it is evidently redefined in our maturity in how we
interact with our peers.
We have all of us roleplayed in some form or another,
even if we were unaware of this enigmatic term. From our
youthful experiments with “Cops and Robbers” to our
more practical approach of rehearsing conversations,
roleplaying forms an important part of our growth.
At its heart, roleplaying is the act of make-believe, of
pretending to be something other than we are, and
enjoying the thrill and excitement that this alternate
persona gives us. It is a narrative art form that allows
us to “experience” a story rather than simply tell it, as
we become the characters in the story, and imagine
ourselves in the situations they are faced with. As
a roleplayer, you will be able to create an alternate
character for yourself. This character will be your eyes
and ears, and sword and fist, in a make-believe world.

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QuickDraw | Character Creation | Action | Directing | Index

Through your character, you will experience a story and

interact in its telling. Unlike traditional books or movies,
you have the ability to change and shape the story.
Together with a group of friends, you will undertake
perilous adventures, execute daring rescues, and
ultimately have a great time in the process.
Most of you will become a member of the Cast, and
create your own character that you will tell a story with.
This character can be as similar to you, or as different
from you as you desire. For a few hours, you will
become this character - their loves, hates, and dreams
will become yours, and you will experience story telling
at a new level.
One of you will become the Director. The Director is
responsible for the construction of the imaginary setting
and the events that happen within this setting. Unlike
a member of the Cast, the Director will play many
characters, called Extras. These Extras are the other
characters of the setting that the Cast interacts with. From
noble nights, to villainous space pirates, the Extras run
the gamut of all those the Cast are likely to encounter.
As the Director, you will also be responsible for
designing the initial plot, the opening hook and relevant
events that gets the Cast into the action and moves the
story along. The actions of the Cast will ultimately affect
the plot, and provide an entertaining experience.

What is QuickDraw
QuickDraw is a set of guidelines that will help you to
tell a story through the art of roleplaying. It provides
information on how to create characters, and how to
use these characters to interact with the setting. It is
primarily there to act as an adjudicator. For example, if
you ever played “Cop’s and Robbers”, this might sound
familiar to you;
‘Bang! I shot you.’

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QuickDraw | Character Creation | Action | Directing | Index

‘No you didn’t. I’m bullet proof.’

‘What?! You can’t be bullet proof.’
QuickDraw helps to resolve these sort of conflicts by
presenting a series of rules that define what a character
can and can not do within the narrative context of the
story.
QuickDraw is designed specifically to create a very
“narrative” approach to the roleplaying experience. The
rules are there as a guideline, and act as an arbitrator
of actions, not a list of restrictions. As such, the rules
are very fast and loose, and can be interpreted in any
number of ways. We encourage you to find the way that
best suits you and your gaming group, and that you
value your enjoyment of the game above the rules. If
you feel the rules are too detailed, simplify them, if they
are too basic, expand them until they suit your needs.
QuickDraw has also been designed primarily to simulate
the high-action drama depicted in action movies and
novels. Characters will often execute daring manoeuvres
that may well fall outside the realm of realism. This is
intentional. If you are after a “gritty”, realistic game, we
suggest that you modify these rules and encourage
your gaming group to limit their character’s actions to
what is humanly possible.

The Rulebook
This book is divided into four sections with an index at
the back for easy reference. The first section is what
you are reading now and is almost at an end. After
reading this section, you should have an understanding
of roleplaying, and the premise behind QuickDraw.
The second section covers character creation and
will illustrate how to develop an exciting and in-
depth character for use with the QuickDraw system.
The third section covers the action of the game, and how
your characters can resolve their actions within the game.

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QuickDraw | Character Creation | Action | Directing | Index

The fourth section is reserved for the Director of the

group and will offer advice and guidelines for running
a QuickDraw roleplaying game as well as how to use
other resolution systems such as dice or resource
management.

The QuickDraw Design Methodology

The QuickDraw rules have been designed to incorporate
terminology and ideas found in action movies. We have
done this because we feel that many people can relate
to and understand movies, and that the two story telling
formats are closely related, except that movies lack the
interactivity that roleplaying games exhibit.

Welcome to the exciting world of QuickDraw.

- The QuickDraw design team.

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QuickDraw | Character Creation | Action | Directing | Index

CHARACTER
CREATION
QuickDraw • The Art of Roleplaying • 7
 QuickDraw | Character Creation
Character Creation
Example
Let’s design a
character called
Marcus Steele, a
night watchman who
was once a Captain
of the Guard but
was demoted after
a woman under his
protection was killed
by a serial killer.
This character will
hail from a Victorian
Gaslight setting and
be our example
character to help
illustrate the character
creation process. You
can follow his creation
by looking at these
side bars throughout
this chapter.
8 QuickDraw • The Art of Roleplaying •
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CHARACTER CREATION
Introduction
Welcome to the QuickDraw character creation guide.
In this chapter, you will be introduced to the art of
character creation using QuickDraw’s EGO system, a
unique method of character creation that allows you to
design a believable and individual character to roleplay
within the fascinating world of your choice.
These guidelines are expandible and adaptable to a
variety of settings and character concepts. They can
be used to create Cast members and Extras, and can
consume an hour of your time, or five minutes of your
time, depending on the amount of thought and effort
you wish to put into your characters.
Character Concept
The first thing you need to think about when creating
a character is the Character Concept. The Character
Concept is the blue print of your character, a design
guide that helps you to make decisions about your
character in regards to the character creation rules.
Your character concept can be as simple as “a soldier”
or as complex as “a member of the Foreign Legion who
escaped persecution from Lord Duval after courting his
daughter”. The more detailed your character concept,
the easier it will be to adapt the rules to this concept and
create your character.
EGO
EGO is a character creation system designed to be
easy to use and allow almost unlimited possibilities.
Everything can be customised to create the character
that you most wish to play, while maintaining game
balance and simplicity.
QuickDraw | Character Creation | Action | Directing | Index

An EGO character is created using Facets that plug in

Example Jobs
and adapt to each other. There are 9 core Facets that
describe an EGO character, with a host of others that Scholar
can be “plugged” into the character to represent various Cop
embellishments of the setting. For example, in a setting Lawyer
that requires magic, you could plug a “magic” facet into Investigator
your character, allowing them to harness the impossible Soldier
forces of magic. Pilot
Teacher
Facets Martial Artist
Engineer
The nine core Facets of EGO are Jobs, Qualities, Aristocrat
Knacks, Quirks, Trademarks, Contacts, History, Guts, Actor
and Glory. These Facets help to define a character within Adventurer
the mechanics of QuickDraw, and allow for an endless
variety of concepts. Each facet will be explained in detail
in the following paragraphs.\ Marcus’ Job
As Marcus’ concept
Jobs already details that he
Jobs define the occupational and lifestyle training of a was once a Captain of
character. They are a general description of a character’s the Guard and is now
capabilities and provide a stereotypical set of skills and a Night Watchman,
knowledge relevant to that job. For example, a character we have two obvious
with a Job of Cop, would be able to use firearms, employ choices available for
hand to hand combat, drive, possess a knowledge of his job. We decide
basic forensics, evidence collection, crowd control, the to pick his current
law, and police bureaucracy. See the Jobs side bar for occupation as he is
a list of sample jobs. rather disheartened
by his failure in his
When making a character, you can choose one job previous job, so
for your character. we give Marcus the
following job;
Qualities
Night Watchman
Qualities are what define and shape the basic abilities
of a character. They describe their inherent physical and Such a job would
mental abilities and are generally quite broad. A Quality allow Marcus to deter
usually consists of no more than a one word description criminals, control
such as; strong, fast, agile, perceptive, wise, educated, crowds, and observe
criminal activities.

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 QuickDraw | Character Creation | Action | Directing | Index

Example Qualities beautiful, and charismatic. Each Quality allows you to

perform a task where that quality would be useful, far
Strong more easily than if your character did not possess it.
Powerful For example, a character who possesses the “Strong”
Fast Quality will be able to lift a heavy rock far easier than a
Quick character who does not possess such a Quality. See
Agile the side bar on this page for an example list of possible
Nimble Qualities. Note that it is possible to describe almost the
Dextrous same Quality using another descriptor. This is quite
Coordinated acceptable as it allows a character to be even better
Perceptive at related tasks. For example, to make a very strong
Aware character, it is quite possible to take the Qualities,
Smart Strong and Powerful.
Clever
Wise Qualities can be broken down into the following
Knowledgable categories;
Educated Strength Strong/Powerful/Forceful - covers physical
Charismatic strength and tasks that involve muscular strength such
Charming as close combat, climbing, and swimming.
Likeable
Handsome Dexterity Dextrous/Precise/Steady - covers precise
Beautiful physical handiwork like repairing items, picking locks
and pockets, and surgery. Applies to close combat,
thrown combat, and ranged combat.
Marcus’ Qualities Coordination Agile/Nimble/Coordinated covers the
coordination of the body like acrobatics, dodging, and
Marcus is a soldier
contortions. Applies to close combat.
with excellent fighting
skills. He is bright Perception Aware/Perceptive/Acute - covers perception
and quick, and gets and awareness. Includes finding hidden things. Applies
on with people from to ranged and thrown combat.
all walks of life. For Speed Quick/Fast/Speedy - covers speed of movement
his Qualities, we will and can be applied whenever a character wishes to do
choose; anything quickly.
Perceptive Intelligence Intelligent/Smart/Educated - covers
Quick thinking and processing information. Includes
Charismatic remembering facts and details and generating a
solution to a problem.

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Charisma Charismatic/Likeable/Suave - covers Example Knacks

social aspects such as persuasion, leadership, and
seduction. History
Geography
Toughness Tough/Resistant/Hardy - covers physical Forests
resistance. Includes physical pain, poisons and Hide
disease. Stalk
Appearance Attractive/Sexy/Good Looking - covers Brawl
physical attractiveness and how others respond Fence
to the way you look and helps to make good first Martial Arts
impressions. Acrobatics
Climb
Qualities are one of the most used Facets of a QuickDraw Swim
character, so think carefully when choosing them. Heal
When making a character, you may choose three Ride
Qualities. Drive
Sing
Knacks Dance
Seduce
Knacks are the specific skills and knowledge that Lead
a character possesses. These can range from the Investigate
basic to the complex and can be stacked to provide
a stronger chance of success in related tasks. For
example, a character could possess the Knack, “Sword
Marcus’ Knacks
Fighting”, and also possess the Knack “Fencing”. This
is perfectly acceptable. Knacks are usually listed as As Marcus is a Night
verbs, something your character can do, or in the case Watchman, and an ex
of knowledge, something that your character knows. Captain of the Guard,
he possesses a range
Knacks can be divided in to the following categories;
of useful skills. As
Close Combat involves knacks that allow the character such, we choose the
to attack another with their own body or a melee following Knacks;
weapon.
Lead,
Thrown Combat involves knacks that allow the Investigate,
character to throw a weapon at a distant opponent. Sword Fighting,
Interrogate,
Ranged Combat involves knacks that allow the
Brawl.
character to fire a projectile at a distant opponent.
Persuasion involves knacks that allow a character to

QuickDraw • The Art of Roleplaying • 11

 QuickDraw | Character Creation
Example Quirks
Nervous
Afraid of snakes
Shy around women
Clumsy
Hard of hearing
Short sighted
Marcus’ Quirk
As Marcus was
demoted as a result
of a woman in his
care being killed, he
has adopted a painful
code of chivalry,
going out of his way
to help women, even
at the cost of his life.
This can get him
into a lot of trouble,
especially when the
women don’t need
his help. So we give
Marcus the Quirk of;
Painfully Chivalrous
Quirks
12 QuickDraw • The Art of Roleplaying •
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persuade another character to do something in their
favour, whether by seduction, leadership, intimidation
or coercion.
Movement involves knacks that allow a character
to manoeuvre within their environment by running,
climbing, swimming, and jumping.
Driving involves knacks that allow a character to
drive or pilot a vehicle such as a car, boat, plane, or
submersible.
Knowledge involves knacks that provide a character
with information about a particular subject such
as geography, history, psychology, biology, and
mathematics.
Technical involves knacks that allow a character to
operate and repair technology, such as computers,
electronics, and mechanics.
Stealth involves knacks that allow a character to steal
from others and to bypass security, such as sneaking,
hiding, lock picking, and pocket picking.
Medical involves knacks that allow a character to heal
themselves or another, such as first aid, surgery, and
medicine.
Perceptive involves knacks that allow a character to
notice things in their environment, such as searching,
investigation, spotting, listening, and tracking.
See the Knack side bar on the following page for a list
of sample Knacks.
When making a character, you may choose five
knacks for your character to possess.
Quirks are the little idiosyncrasies that help to make
your character unique and add more depth. They are
usually annoying habits, physical disabilities, or social
QuickDraw | Character Creation | Action | Directing | Index

stigmas that enhance the roleplaying experience and

make your character more than just a list of traits. In
general, a Quirk should come into play at least once a
game session, and should inhibit the character in some
way. For example, your character may be extremely
nervous around firearms and will refuse to use them
and may get jumpy when someone uses them around
him. The Quirk should limit your character and provide
plenty of roleplaying opportunities.
Quirks can generally be divided into the following
categories;
Phobias are things that a character is especially
frightened of such as heights, spiders, guns, and closed
spaces. Such a character is likely to try and avoid the
subject of their Phobia at almost any cost.
Disabilities are things that inhibit the physical or mental
performance of a character such as being colour blind,
hard of hearing, lame, stuttering, bad memory, no depth
perception, and offensive body odour. If you decide to
take a severe disability such as being blind, or deaf,
your Director may award you an extra History point, as
long as you roleplay this Quirk well.
Social Stigmas are things that restrict your character to
acting in a certain way such as severe chivalry, always
sticking up for the under dog, never backing down from
a conflict, and being arrogant or honest to a fault.
Allergies are substances that cause your character
discomfort such as rashes, constricted breathing,
migraines, and even unconsciousness. The substance
should usually be something fairly common, or it can be
a specific time of day or season.
Dependencies are things that your character has
developed an unhealthy need for that often land your
character in trouble such as alcohol, drugs, and sex.
See the Quirks side bar for a list of sample Quirks.

QuickDraw • The Art of Roleplaying • 13

 QuickDraw | Character Creation
Marcus’ Trademark
Marcus possesses his
Father’s battle-stained
longsword, the only
remnant he has from
his childhood. So his
Trademark is;
Father’s Longsword.
Marcus’ Contacts
Marcus has the
following Contacts at
his disposal;
Araman: his old
sword instructor
Mouse: a street kid
he once saved who
provides him with
inside knowledge on
criminal activities
Jarrod: the local
blacksmith who has
taken a liking to the
night watchman.
14 QuickDraw • The Art of Roleplaying •
| Action | Directing | Index
When making a character you must choose one
Quirk.
Trademark
A character’s Trademark is an item that they are tied
to in some way and that makes them recognizable.
For example, imagine Indiana Jones without his trusty
whip, or Dirty Harry without his gun. A Trademark is
usually very personal to the character, and is often a
weapon, book, item of clothing, or vehicle. A character
can perform activities with their Trademark much better
than they could with a similar item. Their familiarity and
emotional ties to the item make it seem far superior in
their capable hands. When designing a Trademark try to
give it a history and a personality of its own.
When making a character you can choose one
Trademark.
Contacts
A character is not an island unto themselves. They
interact with a variety of colourful characters, and
usually have friends near to hand who can help them
in their time of need. Each character in QuickDraw
possesses a variety of Contacts. These Extras are
personal friends, allies, or submissive acquaintances
of the character, and can often provide useful services,
information, and equipment when the character is in dire
need. For example, a Contact of “Joe the Blacksmith”
may offer to repair any damaged equipment of your
character for a reasonable price, or even for free if you
complete a small task for him. While Contacts usually
won’t jeopardise themselves for the character, they will
try to aid them as much as possible. Try to give each
of your Contacts a bit of a background and define their
relationship with the character.
When making a character you can choose three
QuickDraw | Character Creation | Action | Directing | Index

Contacts.
Marcus’ Extra Info

History Marcus also notes

down that he has
A character’s History is a dynamic Facet that does not the following Facet
need to be decided during character creation. The team numbers;
at QuickDraw know how difficult it can be to design
fully-fleshed characters and how such a character History: 3
can have their concept changed once the game starts Guts: 5
and the rest of the Cast interact. So to make things a Glory: 3
little easier, we include the History Facet. History is a
number of undefined Facets that can be brought into
the game on the fly and allow for more dynamic and
interesting characters. For each point a character has
in History, they may add a Knack or Contact to their
character during the actual game. For example, let’s
say that the Cast is chasing a band of villains who have
kidnapped a close friend of theirs and have taken the
last available boat in the village to a nearby island. It
would take days to travel to the next coastal village and
find a boat, and their friend may expire before they can
get there. However, one of the characters spends one
of their available History points to create a new Contact
“Geoff the Pilot” who just happens to live in this village.
The characters quickly run to Geoff’s place where
they convince him to fly them to the island for a very
reasonable price.
Another example involves a Cast member stuck in a
locked room. There appears to be no way out and a
fog of poisonous gas is rising slowly into the room. The
character quickly spends one of their History points and
gives themselves the Knack “Lock picking” saying that
in their youth, they ran with a group of petty thieves in
the mean streets of New York. They then proceed to
pick the door’s lock with a hair clip and escape to safety
without a second to spare.
Once a History point is spent, it can only be regained
through experience.

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 QuickDraw | Character Creation | Action | Directing | Index

The Knacks and Contacts gained through the

Marcus’
expenditure of a History point are added to the character
Characteristics
and become a permanent part of them.
Qualities:
When making a character you start with 3 History
Perceptive
Quick points.
Charismatic
Guts
Jobs:
Night Watchman Guts are a powerful commodity used in QuickDraw
to simulate the heroic force of will and bravery of
Knacks: characters, and their capacity to take the hits and keep
Leadership on ticking. The use of Guts is explained in the Action
Investigation chapter of this book. For now, just note the following;
Sword Fighting
Interrogation Your character begins with 5 points of Guts.
Brawling
Quirks: Glory
Painfully Chivalrous Glory is a narrative device used within QuickDraw to
Trademark: simulate some of the amazing and cinematic feats
Father’s Longsword performed by heroes in movies and novels. It is what
separates the hero from the bystander. A character can
Contacts: use Glory to leap from a burning building to safety, or to
Araman balance on a quivering rope while they take aim at an
Mouse escaping villain. Glory is explained in detail in the Action
Jarrod chapter of this book. For now, just note the following.
History: 3
Your character begins with 3 points of Glory.
Guts: 5
Glory: 3 Conclusion
And that is all that is required to make an EGO character
for use with the QuickDraw system. Simple isn’t it? But
remember, the more thought you put into the design
of your character, the more colourful and unique it will
be. Your character should be someone special to you,
someone you would wish to portray over a period of
time. In some cases, you may design a character you
dislike, just to see how it would develop over the course
of the plot. This is fine, but please remember that others

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QuickDraw | Character Creation | Action | Directing | Index

are playing the game too, and if you constantly create

History Cost
conditions that their own characters find distasteful, you
may need to change your character or create a new The following
one. Overall enjoyment is the key to any QuickDraw numbers indicate
game. how many History
Points it costs to add
Character Creation Quick Start List a new facet to your
character;
• Choose one Job
New Job: 3
• Choose three Qualities
New Quality: 3
• Choose five Knacks
New Knack: 1
• Choose one Quirk
New Trademark: 1
• Choose one Trademark
New Contact: 1
• Choose three Contacts
New Guts Point:
• Note down that you have three History Points Current Guts Rating
• Note down that you have five Guts points. (5 for starting characters)
• Note down that you have three Glory points. •••
The following
Character Development numbers indicate how
During the course of the game, your character will many History Points it
undertake many tasks, facing adversity from both costs to make a facet
without and within. Over this time, your character will solid;
gain in experience and mature in his abilities. At the Solid Job: 9
end of a game session, the Director will award you with
a certain amount of History points. These points can Solid Quality: 9
then be used to expand the history of your character by Solid Knack: 3
allowing you to upgrade his capabilities. At the end of a
Solid Trademark: 3
game, but before the next session, you have the option
to spend History points in order to buy new facets or
upgrade old ones. Each facet costs a different amount
of History points to purchase as indicated in the History
Cost side bar on this page. You can also pay extra
History points to make an existing facet solid. A solid
facet never needs to be checked for, it automatically

QuickDraw • The Art of Roleplaying • 17

QuickDraw | Character Creation | Action | Directing | Index

adds its bonus to anything you attempt that uses that

facet. This will be further explained in the Action chapter
of this book.
When purchasing new facets, think about how and
why your character has gained that facet. The following
list gives some examples of what to consider when
developing your character with History points.
Jobs are usually developed differently from other facets.
While you can certainly add a new Job to a character it
is often far more interesting and logical to give your
character a promotion in their Job. A promotion adds
detail to an existing Job, usually refining the Job’s
capabilities and expanding on what they can achieve.
This is usually done by adding a word to the beginning
or end of the existing Job. For example, let’s say that
you have the Job: Detective. This Job allows you to find
clues, interrogate criminals, drive a car, shoot a gun,
fight hand to hand, and work within the bureaucracy
of the law. Now you decide that you want to purchase
a promotion for this Job. You decide to add the word
Narcotics, to the beginning of your existing Job to create
the new Job: Narcotics Detective. This means that you
have been promoted to a narcotics detective and gain
all the extra abilities associated with such a Job such as
being able to detect and distinguish between various
drugs, identify drug users, go undercover to detect
buyers and sellers of illegal drugs, and a variety of
other related abilities, as well as making the abilities you
already possessed as a Detective better. Usually you
will try and work a promotion into the story, perhaps by
saying that you did so well on your last mission that your
boss promoted you, or that you had enough money to
buy extra training, or a variety of other reasons.
Of course, there is nothing to stop you from buying an
entirely new Job, as long as you can work it feasibly into
the story.
Qualities are usually developed through practise

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and great personal expense. Your character can not

suddenly become faster or stronger just because you
purchased the Quality Fast or Strong, but because
you spent time training and developing that Quality.
Often, you will purchase a Quality that your character
could have used during the game if you had possessed
it. For example, if your character undertook a lot of
Strength related tasks, it would be logical to purchase
the Quality Strong, representing that the in game tasks
strengthened your character.
Physical Qualities tend to be the easiest to purchase
logically, as it is fairly easy to train the body. Intellect
related Qualities such as Perceptive and Intelligent,
are a little harder, as they require extensive study and
practice, and the results are often not as immediately
tangible. But remember, if you can work it into the story,
it can be done.
Knacks are by fair the easiest facet to purchase. When
purchasing a new Knack, you are saying that your
character has undergone extra training, been studying
in their spare time, or has simply gained experience
from working in the field. For example, if your character
had to climb during the game, it would be perfectly
reasonable to purchase the Knack Climb, at the end of
the game, representing how your in the field experience
granted you a higher level of ability.
Trademarks are a facet that can only be purchased
through time and familiarity. A Trademark is an item
that your character has become attached to and grants
them confidence in related tasks. Generally, you should
have used the item throughout most of a game session
before you can declare it as a Trademark. But be careful
of what you Trademark. Remember that if you lose the
item, you lose the Trademark and the bonus it grants
you.
Guts are an expensive facet to raise and for good
reason. Gaining a point of Guts allows your character

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QuickDraw | Character Creation | Action | Directing | Index

to survive longer and achieve greater things. Usually

no explanation is needed to purchase a point of Guts.
Simply being in the field and undertaking tasks is
enough to boost a character’s confidence in themselves
and steel them against adversity.
Solid Facets are facets that you have trained in so well
that they have become the peak of human performance.
You are the best that you ever can be with that facet, and
it will show. Usually this just means that you have spent
most of your waking moments training and developing
that facet until you feel that you have reached your
utmost best. A Solid Facet never needs to be checked
for during the game, it automatically adds a bonus to
any task you perform. This will be explained in detail in
the Action chapter.

Conclusion
Developing your character is an important process of
QuickDraw and one of the most rewarding aspects of
the game. Watching your character grow from their
humble roots to personal power is something that most
players really enjoy. Think carefully about how you want
your character to develop and why you want them
to develop in this way. Often, the nature of the game
sessions will determine the direction that your character
grows, but don’t let it over rule your character’s concept
or you’ll quickly be playing a character that you don’t
feel a personal attachment to.
QuickDraw is designed to allow you to create and
develop a character in any direction you desire, so let
your imagination run free and you’ll be surprised with
the results.

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ACTION

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QuickDraw | Character Creation | Action | Directing | Index

ACTION
Introduction
Now that you have made a QuickDraw character, it is
time to figure out what all that stuff means, and how
it is used to simulate the cinematic experience of a
QuickDraw game. Please note that the QuickDraw
system is designed with simplicity, speed, and narrative
roleplaying in mind. It does not have a rule for how much
damage a backhanded wall flip punch with a knuckle
duster does. It does not need to. Rather, it presents a
series of guidelines for resolving the action that will crop
up in a game, and gives you the knowledge you need to
improvise, create a good story, and have a great time.

Units of Time
Time is measured abstractly in QuickDraw in order
to cater for various situations. There are essentially 4
measures of time as explained below;
Scene is a measure of time that encompasses the
entirety of the action in a single location whether it be
a room, a building, or the skies above a city. Once the
action moves to another location, the scene is over and
a new scene begins.
Encounter is a measure of time that encompasses a
sequence of action within a scene. It usually begins
once the characters interact with the object of the
encounter, and ends when they have either overcome
the obstacle of the encounter, or are forced to retreat
from it.
Sequence is a measure of time that encompasses a
single action taken by each character in an encounter.
Once all characters have taken an action, that sequence
ends and a new one begins. Often called a round in
other roleplaying games.

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Shot is a measure of time that allows a character to do

one action. A character may only take one action per
shot unless they have spend a point of Glory to go Slow
Motion. This will be explained later. A shot begins when
a character begins their action and ends when they
have resolved it. Then the next character may take their
shot. Often called a turn in other roleplaying games.

Distances
Distances in QuickDraw are also measured rather
abstractly. Essentially, there are four distances as listed
below;
Close Combat is a distance that allows a character to
engage in close combat with another character. If you
can spit on someone, or hit them with your body or a
melee weapon, you are in close combat distance with
them.
Throwing Combat is a distance that allows a character
to throw something at another character. If you can
throw an object at a character, you are in throwing
combat distance with them.
Ranged Combat is a distance that allows a character to
shoot at another character with a ranged weapon like a
bow or a gun. If you can shoot another character, you
are in ranged combat distance with them.
Line of Sight is a distance that allows you to see
another character, but not interact with them.

Tasks
Throughout the game, your character will make decisions
and perform tasks that will affect the environment, other
characters, and the plot. When the success of such a
task is in doubt, or it is being resisted or opposed by
another character or force, you will need to initiate the
QuickDraw rules in order to determine the outcome. For

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 QuickDraw | Character Creation | Action | Directing | Index

Example Hands example, if you choose to shoot a corrupt police officer,

and he chooses to avoid your shot, who wins? The
These example hands QuickDraw rules help to determine the winner of such a
are taken from the conflict in a way that is both adaptable and quick. The
sample character steps below illustrate how this is done.
Marcus, detailed
in the Character The Cards
Creation chapter of
this book. QuickDraw uses decks of standard poker cards to
simulate chance within the game. Each player including
Sword Hand 4 the Director will need a deck of their own, and an extra
Quick, Night central deck. The player’s decks are referred to as “Hero
Watchman, Decks”, The Director’s deck is known as the “Director’s
Swordfighting, Deck” and the central deck is called the “Action Deck”.
Father’s Longsword
The cards are considered to follow this order from
Search Hand 3 lowest to highest;
Perceptive, Night
Watchman, Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King, Joker.
Investigation The important cards in the game are the ten, jack, queen,
Interrogation Hand 3 king, and joker, of any suit. These cards represent a
Charismatic, measure of success and the ability to play one of these
Night Watchman, cards improves your character’s chance of success.
Interrogation The other cards provide no measure of success unless
they happen to have the same value as the Wild Card.
This will be explained shortly.
At the beginning of the game, the players and Director
shuffle their decks and place them face down before
them. The action deck is also shuffled and placed faced
down, usually where everyone can see it.

Guts Hand
At the beginning of the game, after your deck has been
shuffled, you may draw a number of cards into your
hand equal to your Guts points. This is usually equal to
five. You may look at these cards. These cards represent
your character’s ability to push themselves and perform
heroic deeds at a time of your choosing. This will be

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QuickDraw | Character Creation | Action | Directing | Index

explained shortly.
Difficulty Numbers
Performing Tasks Challenging 1
When you wish to perform a task, the Director may ask Hard 2
you to play some cards. The amount of cards you can Very Hard 3
play is equal to any facets relevant to the task that your
character has. So if you wished to fire a pistol and you Overwhelming 4
possessed the Quality “Accurate”, the Job “Soldier”, Impossible 5
and the Knack “Pistols”, you could play three cards as
each of these facets would aid that task. However, you
must narrate the use of your Facets so that the Director
knows which ones you are using, and how many cards
you can play. The amount of cards you can play (how
many facets you can use) is called a Hand.

Hands
A hand is a number of cards you can play equal to
any relevant facets for the task you are attempting. For
example, you could have a Pistols Hand, which would
include any facets you could use to fire a pistol. It is
often a good idea to note down a variety of hands on
your character sheet for tasks that you think you will be
attempting often. These hands are different to your Guts
hand.

Playing Cards
You may play cards from two places, your deck, or your
Guts hand. When playing from your deck, you simply
flip up the top card of your deck so everyone can see it.
When playing from your Guts hand, you choose a card
to play from your Guts hand and place it face up before
you where everyone can see it. You may play cards
from either place in any combination. For example, if
you could play three cards, you could play all three from
your deck, all three from your Guts hand, one from your
deck and two from your Guts hand, or one from your
Guts hand and two from your deck. How you decide to

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QuickDraw | Character Creation | Action | Directing | Index

play these cards is up to you.

Once all characters have resolved their actions, you may
draw cards from your Hero deck into your Guts hand up
to your current Guts points. So if you had 3 cards left in
your Guts hand, and 5 Guts points left, you could draw
2 cards from your Hero Deck and place them into your
Guts hand so that it equals your current Guts points.

The Wild Card

At the beginning of a conflict, the Director flips up the
top card of the Action Deck. This card is known as the
wild card and adds another layer of randomness. The
value of the wild card has a special function. Normally
only the cards ten and above award a measure of
success when played. However, if you play a card
whose value is equal to the value of the wild card, that
card also provides a measure of success. For example,
if the card was a 4, playing a card equal to 4 gives you
a measure of success.
If the wild card is equal to 10 or above, playing a card
equal to the wild card grants two successes instead of
the usual one. These extra successes are added to your
success total as explained below.
If the wild card is a joker, playing a joker allows your
character to automatically succeed at their task.

The Joker
Playing a joker actually counts as three successes
rather than the usual one. These successes are added
to your success total in addition to any other successes
played, as explained below.

Measures of Success
Each card played that equals 10 or above (10, Jack,
Queen, and King) or equal to the current wild card,

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QuickDraw | Character Creation | Action | Directing | Index

awards you a measure of success. These successes

are tallied to create a total. If this total exceeds a number
set by the Director, you get to narrate the outcome of
your action. It is a success and you may wallow in
lavish details as you describe what happens. If it is
below the number set, the Director instead narrates the
failure of your attempted task. If the two numbers are
equal, a compromise is struck between yourself and the
Director. For example, let’s say you wish to climb a wire
fence. The Director determines that this will require a
success total of 2. You play your cards (10, 10, Jack, 3)
and generates 3 successes. This allows you to narrate
your character scaling the fence, possibly flipping over
it dramatically to the other side. If the success total was
1 or 0, the Director gets to describe the failure, possibly
allowing you to climb to the top of the fence, only to slip
and fall from it, possibly injuring yourself. If the success
total was equal to 2, a compromise would need to be
struck, more than likely you would be unable to find a
solid grip on the swaying fence.

Failure
When you fail at an IMPORTANT task, you suffer a blow
to your Guts. What this essentially means is that you
must subtract one from your current Guts points and
by extension, your Guts hand. So if you currently have
Guts points of 5, they would drop to 4. You must then
immediately discard a card of your choice from your
Guts hand, and may only redraw your Guts hand to this
number until you have a chance to refresh your Guts.
This will be explained later.
An IMPORTANT task is usually determined by the
Director and is a task that could result in injury or
setback to you or your comrades.

Guts
Guts is a mixture of your character’s daring-do and heroic

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QuickDraw | Character Creation | Action | Directing | Index

poise. If all of your Guts points drop due to failure, you

have one of three choices. You may either drop to the
ground unconscious - whether from a blow to the head
or through fainting, run away from the item that caused
you to loose the last point of Guts until you reach safety,
or submit to the item in shame. Which one of these
choices you choose is usually relevant to the situation.
For example, falling from a fence, would probably leave
your character unconscious from the physical impact
of the ground, failing to convince the village council
to take immediate action would leave your character
shamed and willing to submit to the council’s decision,
and failing to save a fellow comrade from being killed by
a bandit would cause your character to faint in horror or
run away as fast as you can.
When your character has retreated to relative safety,
you may gain back a point of Guts for every hour you
can stay in that safe situation.
You may also spend a point of Guts to gain a
single success to add to your total. However, you
must immediately discard a card from your Guts
hand and can only redraw to your new lower Guts.
Guts is a precious commodity to be used wisely.
Once the outcome of a task has been resolved, you may
redraw cards from your deck into your Guts hand equal
to your current Guts points. You can also play cards
from your Guts hand that don’t grant successes just
to clean out your Guts hand and make room for better
cards. However these cards must be included in the
number of cards you could play to complete an action.
So if you could play 3 cards and wanted to discard two
bad cards from your Guts hand, that would only leave
you one card to play from either your Hero Deck or your
Guts hand.
Your character also regenerates a point of Guts at the
end of every successful encounter.

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Tests of Courage
Sometimes your character is subjected to experiences
that shake them and test their resolve. Things like
seeing a loved one injured, watching your dreams burn
to the ground, and being confronted by a hideous sight.
We call such experiences Tests of Courage.
When undertaking a Test of Courage, the Director will
set the difficulty of overcoming your fear of the situation.
This number is usually kept hidden from you. You
must then play cards from your Guts hand as though
you were undertaking a normal task, but you may not
play cards from your Hero deck. You can play as many
cards as you like from your Guts hand until they are all
gone. Each card that is equal to or over 10, or equal to
the Wild Card grants you a success. These successes
are compared to the difficulty set by the Director. If your
number of successes equal or exceed the difficulty, you
overcome your fear and may act however you wish. If
they are lower, your courage fails and you will react
to the situation accordingly, whether it be to cower in
terror, run away screaming, fall to the ground weeping,
or faint dead away.
The higher your Guts hand, the more likely it will be that
you will overcome your fear. The lower your Guts hand,
the more likely it will that your courage will fail.

Glory
The real measure of a hero comes from their Glory. You
can use Glory to complete tasks that would normally be
extremely difficult or even down right impossible.
There are a few ways to do this which are listed below;
Powering Up occurs when you spend a point of Glory
in order to make all your cards succeed. Rather than
playing a hand as normal, you simply spend a point of
Glory and declare that you are powering up. You then

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QuickDraw | Character Creation | Action | Directing | Index

add up all the cards you could have used. This number
is the number of successes you automatically gain.
Thus, if you could have played 4 cards, but decided to
power up instead, you simply spend a point of Glory
and declare 4 successes.
Overpowering occurs when you spend a point of Glory
in order to improve the hand that you just played. Your
number of successes are raised by 2. So if you had just
played 3 successes, but felt that you needed more, you
could declare that you are Overpowering, spend a point
of Glory, and add 2 to your 3 successes for a total of 5
successes.
Stunts occur when you spend a point of Glory to
execute daring manoeuvres. Simply spend a point of
Glory and narrate an appropriate outcome for your
action. This could include things like leaping from one
building to another, or running up a wall, dodging flying
bullets and flipping over the heads of your attackers to
land behind them, weapon at the ready. There are a
variety of stunts as detailed below;
Slow Motion is when the action around your character
slows to a crawl, but your character acts at normal
speed. Simply spend a point of Glory and you may take
a number of extra actions equal to your Glory before
you spent that point. For example, your current Glory
is 3. You wish to go Slow Motion so you spend a point
of Glory, allowing you to take 3 extra actions on top of
your normal 1.
Wire Work is when your character leaps about
performing acts of incredible acrobatics. Simply spend
a point of Glory and you may execute a number of
acrobatic manoeuvres equal to your Glory before you
spent that point. For example, your current Glory is 3,
you wish to do some Wire Work so you spend a point
of Glory. You may now execute 3 acrobatic actions such
as running up a wall, leaping across buildings, or cart
wheeling across a swaying rope.

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Stunt Double is when an imaginary stunt double takes

all the damage inflicted on your character in that shot.
Simply spend a point of Glory, and any damage that
your character would have taken, is instantly negated.
Regeneration is when your character spends a point
of Glory and instantly regenerates 2 Guts points up to
their maximum. So if you only had 2 Guts points left,
you could spend a point of Glory and regenerate 2 Guts
points to leave you at 4 Guts points. Any healed Guts
points allow you to redraw cards into your Guts hand up
to your current Guts points. Any Guts points regained
that exceed your maximum are lost.
Players gain back Glory at the end of a successful
encounter in which they used their Glory, or when they
witness a fellow hero using their Glory to attempt an
heroic feat. Note that only one point can be returned
per encounter.

Movement
At some point during the game, you are going to want
your character to move from one place to another.
Generally, it takes your character 1 sequence to move
from one range to the range either above or below it.
So to move from Close Combat to Throwing Combat
range it would take your character one sequence. Your
character may defend themselves while moving, but
may not attack.
If your character has a speed related Quality, they may
use that to move from one range to the range either
above or below it in addition to their normal action for
that shot. They may not use that Quality for anything
else in that shot. So if you had the Quality Fast, and you
wanted to move from throwing combat range to close
combat range, and then attack someone, you could
so as long as you didn’t use your Fast Quality for the
attack.

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QuickDraw | Character Creation | Action | Directing | Index

Combat
Combat in QuickDraw needs to highly narrative by
default. The rules don’t stand on their own, they need
to be elaborated by sweeping descriptions and derring-
do. Think of all the fight scenes in movies and novels,
how intense, fast, and spectacular they were. These
are fuel for your imagination and the potential of your
characters.

Initiative
At the beginning of combat the players each flip up the
top card of their Hero deck. For every speed related
Quality or Knack, they may add 1 to the value of the
card. The Director flips up a card from his deck for each
group of Extras involved in the encounter. Characters
act in order of cards from highest to lowest.

Edge
QuickDraw uses an Edge system to simulate combat.
Basically, at the beginning of combat, all characters
begin with no Edge. If one or more characters are
suprising/ambushing other characters, they begin the
combat with Edge. If the Cast are attacking Extras that
aren’t important villains, they also begin the encounter
with Edge.
The Director then flips up the top card of the Action
deck. The number on this card becomes the wild card.
This means you can play a card equal to this as if it was
a success, even if it is below 10. See the wild card entry
above for further explanation.
Characters face off and play their cards using relevant
Facets as described in the Performing Tasks entry
above. Whoever gains the most successes gains the
Edge and the loser loses a point of Guts. Once all Guts
points are gone, a character usually loses the will to
fight, and will either give up, faint, or break and run.

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If a person who already has Edge wins again, they may

remove one of their opponent’s Qualities, describing
how this happens. For example, if an opponent has
the Strong Quality, the attacker could say that they
slice the tendons from their opponent’s arm, removing
the Strong Quality. Once all a character’s Qualities are
gone, they are considered to be out of the picture for the
combat. For Extras, this usually means they are dead,
for the Cast and Villains, this usually means they are
knocked out.
If a character with Edge loses, their opponent gains the
Edge and the character that lost loses a point of Guts.

Weapons
QuickDraw uses no standard weapon statistics. This
is to allow players to customise their character to fight
and injure how they like. For example, if you wish your
character to use throwing knives instead of a gun, they
receive no penalty. The character is considered to have
enough skill with those knives to be as effective as a
gun. This may not be realistic but it is certainly narrative
and exciting, and that is the point of the QuickDraw
rules.
However, some weapons may be of such exceptional
quality that they provide a bonus to the attack of the
character using them. In such circumstances, the
Director will inform you of the bonus. Such bonus
cards are drawn randomly from the Action Deck. This
is illustrated in detail in the Director chapter. Some
weapons will also be able to affect multiple opponents
such as the spray of bullets from a machine gun or
shotgun, or the explosive area of a grenade or rocket.
The most important thing to consider when using
weapons are their narrative impact on the game. Firing
a rocket launcher at a group of opponents will likely
destroy any nearby structures and blow the opponents
into smithereens. Throwing a rock at the same group

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QuickDraw | Character Creation | Action | Directing | Index

however, will likely only strike one opponent and

knock him out, leaving the other opponents and the
surrounding structures intact. Also, some weapons
will run out of ammunition, jam, break, fumble, and
otherwise cause setbacks for the character wielding
them. This will be detailed in the Director chapter.

Armour
Armour works very simply in QuickDraw. If you are
wearing armour, you are essentially considered to
have an extra Quality of Tough. This means that the
first physical damage done to you by someone with
Edge will remove this Quality, leaving you with your
normal Qualities intact. Basically, you can take one
extra “wound” before going down. However, once the
character attacking you loses the Edge, the Tough
Quality returns until they can gain the Edge back and
remove it. Armour is explained in detail in the Director
chapter of this book.

Vehicles
In some games, you will be driving, repairing, and
attacking with vehicles. Some vehicles will give you
a bonus card drawn randomly from the Action deck
when you undertake certain actions with that vehicle
depending upon the vehicle and the situation. Your
Director will inform you when such a bonus occurs.
Vehicles are explained in detail in the Director chapter
of this book.

Conclusion
And there you have it. The entire rules of QuickDraw
are now at your disposal. As you can see, they are very
simple, but do afford a wide range of possibilities. Feel
free to expand and develop these rules as you see fit.
The Director chapter will expand upon these rules and
offer alternate ways of resolving tasks.

34 QuickDraw • The Art of Roleplaying •