Boby Bob (Order #17977365)

the irresponsible hero

The Irresponsible Hero is an experimental
roleplaying story game where players are secret
agents in a poorly-written action film doing
things that don’t make any sense… and would
certainly lead to their death.

first
Select someone to be the gamemaster. The
gamemaster frames scenes, sets challenges,
and acts out the NPCs who all die because of
the heroes.

Decide which agency you work for and what

secret threat is… well… threatening the world.
Next, you’ll need to make agents. Agents need
names and cover identities. Each of you should
have a specialty that no one else has. Guns
are a boring specialty. Each player starts the
game with one hero token and six countdown
tokens.

That’s it. You’re just about ready to play.

The Irresponsible Hero © 2014, 2017

jim pinto and Post World Games
graphics and silhouettes by jim pinto
playing
There are four kinds of scenes in Irresponsible
Hero: Action, Drama, Exposition, and
Negotiation. With the exception of Action,
a scene type can not appear two times in a
row. A scene is defined as a single location
featuring at least one of the player characters.
The gamemaster is responsible for determining
which scene is being played.

Boby Bob (Order #17977365)

 countdown tokens
Countdown tokens reflect how close the heroes
are to the final confrontation. It wouldn’t be
a crappy action film without a bunch of filler
blocking the hero from getting to Act III. The
heroes cannot confront the final villain until
they’ve spent all of their countdown tokens.
hero tokens
Hero tokens are used to steal the spotlight.
A hero may elect to spend one at any time.
They aren’t worth anything at the end of the
game, so don’t wait to spend them.
conflict resolution
The gamemaster decides what you can and
cannot do. Players roll 2d6 for everything,
except their speciality which is 3d6. Dice are
totalled together. A roll of a 2 is a critical
failure. A roll of 6+ is a success. A roll of
12+ is an outstanding success. During
conflict resolution, if any die comes up ‘1’, a
complication occurs.
complication
In addition to any other effect being
produced, the hero’s action has an unintended
consequence or complication. Being an
irresponsible hero, this means that someone
innocent is hurt, an entire city energy grid goes
down, or something exacerbates the problem
in a dramatic way. A hero token may be spent
to stop a complication.
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critical failure
The hero fails miserably. In addition, he gains
one countdown token.
success
The hero gets what he wants.
outstanding success
The hero gets what he wants in a fantastic way.
In addition, he gains one hero token.
wounds
Irresponsible heroes do not die. They get hurt
in superficial ways, but they keep fighting on.
They do stupid things that get other people
hurt though. The gamemaster may want to
keep track of what happens to others.
Bad guys go down in one hit. Henchmen take
two hits before they die. Major villains take a
lot longer to put down.
scenes
The gamemaster sets a scene for the players.
Each scene (except exposition) has a conflict in
it. The next page lists the scene types and what
goes on in them. The gamemaster decides when
a scene is over and whether or not it costs the
agents additional countdown tokens.
 action
Action scenes are the meat and potatoes of
The Irresponsible Hero. Action scenes fall into
three types. Active, reactive, and fiddling.
Active Action scenes involve the heroes
doing things to the bad guys (or innocent
bystanders). Active Action scenes may or may
not be the result of a plan, but there must
be some kind of strategy in order for it to
be active, otherwise it is reactive or fiddling.
Defusing a bomb is actually an Active Action
scene, because the hero is doing something to
the bad guys’ plans.
• The cost of Active Action scenes is always 1
countdown tokens.
Reactive Action scenes involves the bad guys
doing things to the heroes. They are always
the result of the heroes doing something in
a previous scene. The bad guys cannot do
anything to the heroes until the heroes start
doing things to them.
• The cost of Reactive Action scenes is always
2 countdown tokens.
Fiddling Action scenes involves the good guys
doing things to the scenery. They are cutting
barbed wire, turning valves, shooting down
satellites, or otherwise adjusting things that
shouldn’t be adjusted.
• The cost of Fiddling Action scenes is always
1 to 3 countdown tokens, based on just
how bad things get.
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drama
Drama is boring. But sometimes it’s necessary.
Meeting the bad guys’ girlfriend for the first
time is dramatic. Dramatic scenes should be
limited, but each story needs at least one. Let
each agent get a chance to shine.
• The cost of Drama scenes is up to the
gamemaster, but never more than 1
countdown token.
exposition
Exposition is boring. An NPC tells (or
otherwise gives) the agents something they
need — gadgets, information, permission
to kill, and so on. Exposition scenes should
be limited and followed up with action or
negotiation.
• The cost of Exposition scenes is always 0
countdown tokens.
negotiation
Someone has something the agents want:
codes, information, keys, another piece of the
puzzle, etc. In a negotiation scene, the agents
cannot kill to get what they want but anything
else is up for grabs. Intimidation, punching,
seduction, torture, and so on.
Negotiation scenes involve NPCs or inanimate
objects. Either way, something stands between
the agents and what they want. Conflict is the
key here. The gamemaster needs to make it
interesting by defining why the NPC or object
is opposed to the agents, but the scene cannot
end until the agents succeed.
Of course the agents get what they want, but
the gamemaster must determine if the scene
leads to further problems or not (it most
certainly will). If it does, the next scene must
be Action.
• The cost of Negotiation scenes is always 1
to 3 countdown tokens, based on just how
close to the bad guys the scene takes the
heroes.
The gamemaster needs to be inventive here.
Make up another bread crumb in the trail that
leads to the villain. It doesn’t need to make
sense. The irresponsible heroes will interpret it
however they like, or just brush it aside as they
race to the finale.
Do not turn negotiation scenes into
exposition.
 Act iii
Once the agents are out of countdown tokens,
they enter Act III. In Act III, the heroes finally
confront the villain, usually in some impossible
fortress that eats up half the movie budget.
This is especially true in films where the writer
has done nothing to complicate the plot.
Remember the bread crumbs?
In the final confrontation with the villain,
things go to hell quickly. Explosions rattle the
base, bad guys run in every direction, and the
heroes race against time to save one hapless
victim from a previous drama scene.
At this point, the gamemaster gives each
hero an objective based on how the story
has progressed so far. These objectives
require three successes to solve, which means
numerous steps must be taken to overcome
them.
Boby Bob (Order #17977365)
countdown tokens
It is possible to earn countdown tokens during
Act III. Poor die rolls can create complications
and so on.
An agent who earns countdown tokens in Act
III is wounded. He cannot act as quickly as the
others and no longer gains a benefit from his
specialty. The agent may spend one hero token
to fix this, but a short scene should be played
out explaining how the hero overcomes this.
Don’t forget about complications.
He’s getting away
Once the objectives are completed, the
final chase of the villain begins. It is the
job of the gamemaster to make catching
the villain difficult, but not impossible.
Keep them guessing. Take turns
describing the action of what happens
next. Think of the boat chase in Face/
Off — that thing goes on for days.
 final finale
The villain is cornered now. He’s going to die.
It’s always that way. But how do the heroes do
it? Do any PCs have hero tokens left? Do they
steal the spotlight and fire the flamethrower
into the 5’ x 5’ room filled with compressed
hydrogen? This is where the irresponsible hero
shines. If you want to be the one to fire the
final, destructive shot… save that Hero Point.

shock ending
Is the hapless victim rescued? Does the villain
get up one last time? Can the heroes land the
plane before its too late? Sounds like one last
die roll is needed.

Don’t you think?

conclusion
I wrote this game in two hours based on a
facebook conversation with John Belding and
Paul Caughell. I was working on The Last 12
Hours (another game design of mine) when
something I posted made them think I was
writing a secret agent roleplaying game.

I wasn’t.

But now I am.

It’s done.

Enjoy.

Boby Bob (Order #17977365)