Event RPG

EVENT - Version 1.2.
181020-EN - Licensed under C

C BY-NC-SA 4.0

Valerio De Sanctis
2018

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EVENT - Version 1.2.181020-EN - Licensed under C
C BY-NC-SA 4.0

"System (including but not limited to 'the rules') is
defined as the means by which the group agrees to
imagined events during play".

Lumpley Principle
Vincent Baker and Emily Care Boss

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SUMMARY
SUMMARY 3
INTRODUCTION 4
SETTING 5
EVENT 6
STORY 8
CHARACTERS 8
WHO AM I? 9
WHAT DO I LOOK LIKE? 10
WHAT CAN I DO? 11
VETO 13
ACTIONS 15
SUCCESS AND FAILURE 17
INTERACTIONS 23
OPTIONAL RULES 26
ABILITIES AND BOOSTS 26
TALENT 26
OPEN-END 26
ADVANCED SHOWDOWN 27
CHARACTER PROGRESSION 27
N-SIDED DICE 27
SESSION POOL 28
TRIGGER 28
RECKLESS ROLL 29
RECKLESS DIE 29

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INTRODUCTION
EVENT is a game system designed to collectively manage the actions
and interactions of a variable number of characters played by the
players and / or the gamemaster from a given event. The combination
of these factors will lead to the natural definition of a story within the
context of reference, which is called the s etting.
This manual contains the main rules that allow you to start playing.
None of these should be intended as mandatory or mandatory and
each one of them can be modified or reviewed by mutual agreement
between the gamemaster and the players: it is however advisable to
play at least one or two games (we’ll call them sessions from now on)
with the standard rules in order to fully understand the basic game
mechanics.
At the end of each paragraph you’ll find a text box containing a
concrete example (actual play) of the rule explained above.
In order to play Event you’re going to need a group of friends, a
handful of 6-sided dice, some paper sheets and at least one pencil.
One of the players, known as gamemaster or simply master, will take
care of the core elements of the story, while the others, to whom we’ll
refer as players, will play the role of a single character apiece.

Joey, Dawson, Pacey and Jen decide to spend the evening playing Event. Joey, the only

one who has played before, offers to be the master and starts to explain the minimum
amount of rules and definitions needed to get started.

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SETTING
The setting, or campaign setting, is the environmental context in
which one or more stories will be set. It can be fantasy, historical,
science fiction or any other type; it can either be an original work or
something strictly or loosely inspired by a book, a movie, another
role-playing game or anything else. The campaign setting should
never be confused with the story, as it’s not meant to tell facts,
describe events or introduce characters; it serves as background for
all that - or, to put it in other words, it defines and depicts the
historical, geographical, social and cultural context that will serve as
background to one or more stories.
Victorian England, Middle-Earth, The Dark Ages,today’s New York
and Neuromancer's Chiba City (William Gibson, 1984) are all good
examples of a c ampaign setting.

Joey is a fantasy enthusiast, so she proposes to her friends one of her favorite
campaign settings: the Third Age of Middle-Earth, home of the whole Lord of the Rings
saga. For Dawson and Pacey, however, such choice is a no-no: they would rather go
for a low-fantasy setting, such as Westeros, the England-inspired continent where The
Story of Ice and Fire by George RR Martin takes place. Jen doesn’t care much about the
choice: “either of them is fine, as long as we play!” Joey willingly accepts the
suggestion and announces that she’ll arrange a story set in the Flea Bottom, the
poorest and most degraded district of the capital city of King's Landing: the events will
take place during the early stages of the war between the Lannisters and the Starks.
Everyone likes the idea: the campaign setting was chosen!

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EVENT
The event is something of great importance that has occurred within
the campaign setting, which also arguably brings together the
Characters at the beginning of the game. It’s the only narrative aspect
outside the story: for that very reason, it could likely be seen as the
premise, cause and/or engine of the story i tself.
The event can be conceived and defined by the master, by the players
or by a joint work of both, keeping in mind these general guidelines:
1. It must be a single episode or group of episodes closely linked to
each other and sharing the same origin, cause or pattern.
2. It must have already happened, meaning that it should have hit
the c ampaign setting timeline before the first s ession s
tarts.
3. It must be relevant and widely known: each character should have

been influenced by it in some way or at least have heard about it.
The guidelines above are not mandatory: the master and the players
are free to create the event in any other way. Furthermore, there is no
obligation to decide, establish or document the event details, what
caused it, the actual severity and long-term effects.
This shouldn’t be surprising, at least for experienced RPG players: all
of these stuff can either be determined before starting the game or
while playing, depending on the players tastes and playing styles. The
event can be described and/or explained in its entirety or by keeping a
halo of mystery, such as revealing only the most obvious and decisive
aspects; it can be introduced to the players with a detailed description
or using few concise words, such as a newspaper article’s headline; it
all depends to the player’s willingness to have these details
determined and/or well-known at the beginning of the story or to
create and/or disclose them during the game sessions, i.e. throughout
the s tory.
There are only rules that should be strictly respected regarding the
event: A) the shared acceptance between all players that such event
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actually happened, and B) the fact that either the campaign setting and
all the characters have been hit or influenced by it in some way:
everything else can be set in stone ahead of time or postponed by the
master, who will have the honor and the burden of defining all the
missing details & additional info, as well as communicating them to
the players at the start of the game - if they wish to be known to all -
or during the course of the s tory.

After a lot of thinking, Joey comes out with the following event:

As the war rages in the northern territories of the continent, unprecedented military
leverage is proclaimed in the capital. All men and women who are able to fight are
required to present themselves within a large recruitment camp organized near the
Rhaenys Hill, around the Dragon Pit. The proclamation throws the inhabitants and
refugees of the Flea Bottom into a panic, which will certainly be destined for the
humblest and lowest sections of the city's military forces, those who will receive the
most miserable compensation and, above all, the most risky missions ...

The event pleases everyone. Dawson and Pacey begin to talk about the characters
they could create: two brothers who work in a blacksmith’s workshop within the slums:
the event could be a great chance of redemption for both of them. Jen caresses the
idea of giving life to a female thief born in the slums that will try her best to avoid the
recruitment... or at least to not end up fighting on the front line!

In the short discussion that follows, the players agree on some further details to better
describe the event:

The officers appointed by King Joffrey to recruit the inhabitants are running city
patrols with the intent to capture those who try to escape the military lever,
bringing the fugitives to Rhaenys by force; anyone who tries to refuse or resist will
be sentenced to death. Moreover, there’s a strange rumor spreading between
taverns and brothels: something related to a mysterious alchemical compound that
is given to the soldiers that seems to make them more resistant to pain; there are
even those who swear that they have seen soldiers being able to develop some sort
of superhuman abilities, such as a tremendous amount of strength and stamina...

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STORY
The story is nothing more than the record of the events determined
by the various actions and interactions pulled off by the players - or
rather by the characters they play - and by the master; in other words,
it’s the narrative result of the activities put on stage by the shared
efforts of the players and the master. Each one of them will play a role
in the development of the story depending on their acting skills,
creativity and personality.
As we’ve already said before, the story is also influenced by the event,
which could be its premise or background, affecting the environment
in various ways depending on the master’s choices and will.

CHARACTERS
The Characters, or Playing Characters, are the main protagonists of
the story. Each player is assigned the tasks of creating, controlling and
interpreting a single character: all the others (usually called NPCs)
will be managed by the master.
The process of creating each character goes through three questions:
Who am I? What do I look like? What can I do? In turn, players will have
to give their answers aloud, on behalf of their respective character,
starting with the player sitting on the left of the master and then
proceeding clockwise. The questions must be addressed one at a time.
When all the players have answered the first question, it will be
possible to move on to the second one, and so on. In addition, both
the master and the players will have the opportunity to challenge any
individual answer they find inadequate or out of context by exercising
av eto (see below).
All the given answers for each character will be recorded by its player
on a sheet of paper, which we'll be referring to as c haracter sheet.
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WHO AM I?
The first thing to do is to establish the known identity of each
character: to answer this question, each player must use a single
sentence to communicate the identity information he intends to
share with other players and with the master. In most cases it could
be wise to include the full name and a brief description - real or
presumed - regarding the character job, skills and personality. Here
are some examples of what would be a good answer:
● Armand Foster, a molecular biologist with a strong expertise in
infectious diseases.
● Armadillo, bouncer and occasional dishwasher at “The Three

Knives” tavern.
● Amanda Laravel, currently unemployed - yet damn good at cooking.
● Slab, police informant with and former drug & weapon dealer.
It is also possible not to give any information and just go with a
unfathomable or evasive sentence such as the following:
● I do not want to share any information about who I am.
The only rule to follow is that each player must give a reasonable
answer, condensing the info they want to share in a single
meaningful sentence: everything else can (and most likely will) be
disclosed throughout the game, i.e. during the course of the s tory.

It's time to create the playing characters. Dawson is sitting on the left of Joey, hence
he’ll be the first one answering to the first question: Who am I? He tells that his
character is “Khan Balor, a merchant’s assistant who wants to become a knight”. Then
it’s Pacey's turn, which proudly presents his creation: “Gorton Balor, also known as
Gorton Three Fingers, a blacksmith's helper until the day he lost a couple fingers
repairing a hunting knife - and Khan's brother”. Then comes Jen’s turn, who introduces
her “Valy, apprentice of the great Igor Lysk called Fog Hand, known and feared as an
expert burglar and cutthroat master until the day of his death”. "Who’s dead? Valy or
Igor?" promptly asks Pacey, causing a burst of laughter. Jokes aside, everyone has
given a proper answer to the question: time to move on to the next one.
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WHAT DO I LOOK LIKE?

The next thing to do is ascertain how each character looks like from an
observer’s point of view. Again, each player must answer with a single
sentence: such rule should prevent the players from providing an
excessive amount of information, thus forcing them to focus on the
most distinctive aspects of their character. As for the answer, it would
be advisable to mention the age (actual or presumed), a brief physical
description and possibly a hint about the style and/or clothes. Here
are some examples:
● 35 years, short black hair and green eyes, always wear a dark jacket.
● Indefinable age, grim face, always looking around and seemingly
eager to make an argument out of (almost) anything.
● He wears a plate armor and a full-face metal crest, to the point that
is nearly impossible to see who -or what - lies beneath that
threatening outfit.
Again, keeping the answer simple is a requirement by design: this
rule is here to emphasize the importance of narrating most of the
character’s distinctive elements throughout the player’s actions and
interactions, thus limiting the initial amount of info to the bare
minimum required to start playing.

This time Pacey is the first to answer, describing is Gorton Three Fingers: “28 years
old, long black hair gathered in a tail, tall and well planted, common clothes”. Not bad!
Jen does the same with her Valy: “19 years old, about one meter sixty tall, ash blonde
hair that comes up behind her: seeing her in the face is not easy, since she always
wears a dark green cape with hood and pulled flaps on”. Pacey objects that there are
two sentences, but Joey and Dawson disagree: Valy’s answer might have been a bit
too long, yet it’s good enough to be accepted. The torch is passed to Dawson, who
promptly describes his Khan Balor: “32 years old, tall, strong and muscular, shaved
head, always wearing dirty and worn out clothes”. "How could Khan shave his head in
the Flea Bottom?" Pacey asks: "I doubt he can even afford a razor… they should be
expensive!". Dawson explains that the razor is a precious legacy of their father. "And
why our father should have left it to your Khan and not to my Gorton?" Pacey insists.
"Because if he did that your Gorton would have cut at least two more fingers!" Dawson
replied, causing a burst of laughter.
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WHAT CAN I DO?

The last (but not least) thing to do is to establish the physical, mental
and social abilities of the Character. This question, unlike the previous
ones, will require multiple answers, which players shall give
following the steps described below for each one of them:
● Each player throws 3 dice: the one with the highest sum will go
first, while the others will follow in clockwise order.
● The first player chooses and says aloud a single ability, i.e. a
skill, talent, power or any other physical, mental or supernatural
feature that he would like to assign to his character. Some
examples: painting; climbing; fencing; casting “lightning bolt”;
and so on. Each ability counts as an answer, so it can be vetoed
(see below).
● If the ability is not present on the character sheet, the player
writes it using a new line, otherwise it applies an boost to the
existing one by adding a "plus" sign (+), up to a maximum of 6.
● The turn goes to the player to his left, which shall perform the
above steps unless he has already written 6 abilities and/or
boosts to his character; if that’s the case, that player will be
skipped and the turn will go to the player to his left, and so on
until all the players will have chosen and written 6 abilities.
Players are free to choose abilities of any kind: natural or
supernatural, generic or specific, relevant or marginal. It is also
possible to argue, discuss and/or set up house rules about the abilities
before starting with the Q&A phase or during the phase itself: for
example, players might agree to spend their first two answers on
supernatural powers, such as telekinesis, telepathy or flying, and the
remaining four on standard skills like l ockpicking, h unting, dodge.
In this phase the veto (see below) plays a decisive role, as it can
prevent overpowered or out of context abilities from coming into play.
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Joey explains that the “What Can I Do?” question is the longest and most complex
thing to do within the character creation phase: each player will have to answer six
times to that question, one for each ability they want to assign to their character.
Dawson says he understood what to do and that he’s ready to start with the first
answer: "Fighting". "Sure, but… With what weapon?" asks Joey. "With any weapon!"
replies Dawson boldly. Since no one has anything to say, Dawson writes Fighting on
his card. The turn goes to Pacey, who chooses "Intimidate". Then it's up to Jen, who
has no doubts: "Lockpicking". Everyone writes the chosen ability on their character
sheet: this concludes the first round of answers.

The second round starts again with Dawson: since he was impressed by Pacey’s pick
from last round he also chooses "Intimidate"; it’s Jen turn, who opts for
"Pickpocketing", followed by Pacey who picks "Sword fighting". Nobody has anything
to object, therefore all these abilities a re written on their respective cards.

Jen is the first to talk in the third round: she opts for "Brawling", followed by Dawson
who chooses to boost "Fighting" and ending with Pacey, who also goes for a boost of
his previously-choosen "Sword fighting": Jen writes the third ability to her character
sheet, while Dawson and Pacey add a "+" sign to the right of their previously written
one.

And so on, until ...

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VETO
During the whole Characters creation phase the players and the
master are given a chance to oppose any answer by saying aloud the
word "veto!" immediately after it has been given. If an answer gets
two or more vetoes, it will be considered invalid and the player who
gave it will be forced to pass the turn, thus ending up last: he will be
able to answer again after all the other players.
The reasons behind a veto can be many, however they will be mostly
due to incorrect, inappropriate or out of context answers, depending
on the chosen campaign setting. There is no limit to the number of
vetoes or to the consecutive answers that can be vetoed: the only
important thing to remember is that it takes at least two vetoes to
negate an answer, otherwise it will pass.
To limit abuses or unequal judgements, the players and the master
are strongly suggested to adopt the following guidelines:
● Any answer that is identical or comparable to a previously
approved one should not be vetoed by any means.
● Any answer that is identical or comparable to a previously

vetoed one should always be vetoed as well.
A veto can (and often should) trigger a debate between players and
should always be seen as a good chance to better explain or clarify the
player’s different point of views regarding the vetoed answer, the
campaign setting, the event and/or the story. A given veto can always be
withdrawn by the player who called for it: if this happens, that veto
will disappear - just like it never happened.
Before starting the fourth round, Dawson asks his teammates if it’s ok to add some
supernatural power to the loop. Joey and Jen agree: it’s beef time! Pacey would rather
not, but he has no problem following the majority’s will… As long as it will be a single
ability for each character, without the chance of boosting it. The compromise seems
fine and everyone agrees.
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Dawson announces that the fourth round of answers will be dedicated to supernatural
abilities and then proceeds to choose his own: "Regeneration". Joey asks how it will
work and Dawson explains that, in his intent, it is a talent that will allow his character
to heal much more quickly from any physical wound, just like Wolverine from the
X-Men. Pacey promptly calls for a veto, explaining that such a faculty would be
completely out of context with the chosen campaign setting: nobody has
"Regeneration" in A Song of Ice and Fire, therefore Dawson’t character would be one
of the strongest warriors of Westeros. "That’s exactly what I want!" Dawson exclaims,
chuckling. Unfortunately for him, Jen and Joey reiterate the veto, as they both agree
with Pacey: Dawson is thus forced to forget about "Regeneration" and pass the turn.

The next to talk is Pacey, who says "Healing x3". "What does it mean?" asks Joey;
Pacey explains that such skill would allow his Gorton to heal from wounds three times
faster than a standard character: a nice advantage, that’s for sure, yet certainly not as
powerful as Wolverine’s regeneration! Jen calls again for a veto, explaining that she’s
against any form of regeneration or accelerated healing. However, this time no one
reiterates the veto, therefore the answer is valid: Pacey writes his new ability on his
character sheet and the round can go on.

It’s Jen’s turn: she chooses "Shapeshifting", explaining that she would like to give her
Valy the same skill of the Faceless Men of Braavos, who can change their physical
appearance at will. Dawson immediately calls for a veto: “that’s too powerful!”, he
replies; Valy ask him to elaborate more, and he explains that no character should be
allowed to impersonate other identities in a setting where ID cards do not exist: Jen’s
character would be able to impersonate anyone, which would definitely be a
tremendous advantage. Jen shakes her head no, making it clear that the ability she has
in mind would not allow his Valy to impersonate anyone: “it would be just a trick to
temporary alter her face traits to avoid being recognized”. After such explanation
Dawson withdraws his veto: however, both Pacey and Joey oppose their veto, because
there are no apparent reasons why an apprentice thief such as Valy should be granted
with a high-level skill that only the Faceless Men of Braavos are able to achieve. Jen is
then forced to pass the turn, ending up after Dawson.

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ACTIONS
All the characters activities triggered by their player’s will or required
by the master are called actions. Here are some common examples of
actions: collecting an object, opening a door, ordering drinks at the
inn, asking for information, unsheathing the sword, trying to seduce
someone, and so on. Actions are arguably the most important aspect
of a Role-Playing Game: we could say that the story is nothing more
than a sequence of actions performed by the various actors -
characters and NPCs - who are part of the story itself.. And their
consequences.
Every time an action occurs, the master is asked to put it into one of
the following complexity levels: trivial (1), easy (2), average (3),
challenging (4), tough (5), toughest (6). The number between
parentheses is the complexity level’s difficulty value, which we’ll call
difficulty f rom now on.
Trivial actions are those that, except for unforeseen events or rare
occurrences, should have a negligible chance of failure. Some
examples: hair combing, walking, opening a door, drinking a glass of
water, taking an object from a backpack, unsheathing a sword,
cooking a basic meal, and so on.
Easy and average actions are those that require a certain amount of
skill, practice or experience to be carried out without a minimal risk
of failure. Some examples: climbing over a gate, busting a locked
door, horse riding, driving a boat, and so on.
Challenging, tough and toughest actions are those that require a good
mix of skills, practice and experience: these actions have a
non-trivial chance to fail even when carried out by experts. Some
examples: climbing a mountain, lockpicking a security door, walking
on a suspended rope, defusing a bomb, and so on.
It goes without saying that the complexity level of an action depends
not only on its intrinsic hardness but also on various variables
brought in by the environment and context: taking an object from a
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backpack might be classified as a rather easy action; however, if a
character is forced to do that in a hurry, or with a broken arm, or
while riding a bicycle, its difficulty could reasonably be raised to
average, challenging or more. Defusing a bomb would most likely be a
challenging or though action, but if the character has been provided
with a detailed set of instructions explaining what to do and how to
properly cut the wires, its difficulty could become average, easy or
even trivial.
Assessing the complexity level of any action is part of the master’s
job, as well as choosing when the possible outcome - full success,
success, failure or critical failure - can be determined using a narrative,
diceless approach and when it should be checked by throwing the
dice. Whenever the master goes for the latter, he should do that
following the rules described in the next paragraph.

The new recruits of the Army of King's Landing have been ordered to reach the lands
around the Red Fork, the southern border of the Trident that runs along most of the
River Road: the area is already crowded with the troops commanded by sir Gregor
Clegane, who is about to launch a decisive attack against the remaining forces
defending the House Bracken of Stone Hedge. The task assigned to the "newbies" -
that’s the recruits’ squad name, according to the veteran soldiers - is to stop any
fugitive from crossing the river, preventing them from reaching the village of
Fairmarket or escaping through the northern territories.

The officers would like the “newbies” to reach the Inn at the Crossroads within three
days: that’s not an easy task, especially considering these rainy days: mud and wet
boots will definitely be a living hell for those not used to forced marches. For this very
reason, despite "marching" can be considered a trivial action, Joey choose to raise its
difficulty to average.

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SUCCESS AND FAILURE

Whenever the master wants to check the result of an action
performed by a character using the dice, he must declare the number
corresponding to the difficulty he did choose for it, from a minimum
of 1 to a maximum of 6.
Right after that, the character’s player must take a single die (1d6),
and also:
● Another die if his character has an ability directly related to the
action he intends to play.
● Another die for each b

oost applied to that ability.
If the character has two or more skills to choose from, the player can
choose the one with the highest number of b oosts to get more dice.

Dawson asks Joey if he can take 2 additional dice (in addition to the standard 1d6)
because his Khan has Resistance + (the Resistance ability with a single boost), which
should be directly related to the action of marching. Joey agrees, therefore Dawson
takes a grand total of 3d6. Neither Pacey’s Gorton nor Jen’s Valy have any ability
directly related to the action of m arching, hence they take a mere 1d6 each.

If the action’s difficulty is less than the amount of dice that the player
is entitled to get, the player automatically gets a full success; if it is
equal, the player can choose between achieving a partial success or
throwing the dice; if it’s greater, the player can choose between
achieving a failure o r t hrowing the dice.
The act of throwing t he dice will be referred as roll f rom now on.

The players must face a marching action with a complexity level of 3. Dawson’s Khan
has 3 dice, hence he could get a partial success without doing anything: however, he
chooses to go for a roll, hoping to get a full success. Pacey and Jen, having only single
die each, can either choose between achieving a failure or going for a roll, which could
bring them a s uccess… but also a c ritical failure!
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The roll is executed by throwing all the dice at the same time and
comparing their results with the following conditions, stopping at the
first matching one and putting it into play:
● If two or more dice have scored a number equal to or greater
than the action’s complexity level: f ull success.
● If a single die has scored a number equal to or greater than the
action’s complexity level: partial success.
● If all the dice have scored a value of 1: critical failure.
● In all other cases: f ailure.
Dawson rolls his 3 dice and scores 2, 4 and 6, thus achieving a full success (2 results
equal to or greater than the action’s complexity level). Pacey scores a 3, obtaining a
partial success. Poor Jen is not so lucky: she scores a 1, which is a c ritical failure!

As we can see, each action can have four possible outcomes which will
most likely have a different impact to the story:
● Full success: The character manage to carry out the action and
the player acquires the right to narrate the details, describing
what will actually happen and how (with some limitations - see
below).
● Partial success: The character manages to carry out the action,
but the master will take care to narrate the details, describing
what happens and, most importantly, how it happens.
● Failure: The action fails without aggravating side effects: the

master will take care to narrate the details, describing what
happens and how it happens. The overall outcome can be trivial,
serious or even fatal, depending on the amount of risk involved
in the action itself.
● Critical failure: The action utterly fails with a dramatic outcome,
beyond what could be expected from a standard failure. The
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master will take care to narrate the details, describing what
happens and how it happens.
The resolution of the results of the actions starts from the character
who scored the worst result and continues until the one that has
obtained the most satisfactory result.

Jen is the first to know the consequences of her Valy’s critical failure, which is narrated

and described by Joey in the following way:

The Inn at the Crossroads is just a few miles away, yet you realize you'll never get
there in these conditions: your feet are cold as death, to the point that you do not
feel them anymore. Suddenly, you feel the earth failing under what once were your
boots and fall miserably to the ground, covering your face, your hands and your
whole body with that nasty wet and cold mud. “Get your ass up, newbie... Or I’ll
bury you there!” Yells the officer behind you. When you find the strength to do as he
says, you realize that your feet are now covered by nothing more than scraps of
leather. Your demise is immediately noticed by your drill sergeant: you can feel his
gaze on you as he slowly turns his face towards your direction, shaking his head.
"Alas, I knew it: here’s what happens when you’re forced to recruit these useless
brats! Now I shall give you a good reason to be sorry, little lazy b... "

Joey then stops, turning the lights on Pacey/Gorton and his p artial success:

You're tired, but your legs still hold you: you can not wait to be at the inn and to put
something warm in the body. Who knows if there is a way to take a bath...

It’s now time for Dawson to stage his Khan’s full success:

Thanks to my good training I manage to reach the top of the column. As soon as I
get there, I turn to my fellow soldiers to utter the following: "Onwards, scoundrels!
You heard the sergeant, didn’t you? Let's try to reach that hovel of inn before those
clouds will crumble to our heads!" My words please the drill sergeant and manage
to get his attention away from Valy, leaving her be.

Jen breathes a sigh of relief, thanking Dawson for having used Khan’s full success to
help Valy. She then asks Joey to perform an athletic action to get up: Joey is ok with
that, yet she gives a difficulty of 4 to such attempt due to the fact that Valy is
exhausted after her critical failure. Nonetheless, Jen gets 4d6 because Valy has
"Athletic ++" (two boosts): she then choose to avoid taking further risks and playing it
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safe, gladly getting a partial success without performing any roll. The narrative duties
are therefore given once again to Joey:

By collecting all your energies you eventually raise from the mud and manage to get
back on your feet. Luckily enough, the sergeant doesn’t seem to be interested in you
and your misfortunes anymore: you’re out of trouble, at least for the time being...

As we can easily see, the full success allows the player to temporarily
take control of the narrative aspects of the story, allowing him to get
not only the expected result, but also to inject important aspects and
details that could also play a distinctive role.
The action’s outcome can affect the character and also any other
actor directly or loosely involved, including those who are close
enough to the scene such as spectators and bystanders (if any): that’s
very important to understand, as it gives the narrating player the
chance to determine how his character’s action can impact, influence
or relate with the surrounding world.
It doesn’t take a genius to understand that the full success is
undoubtedly a powerful feature: and we all know that with great
power comes great responsibility. For this very reason, while
narrating and describing the resolution of a full success, the player
must always observe and comply with the following limitations:
● Principle of Minimization: It’s not possible to cause damages or
other negative (or positive) permanent consequences to other
playing characters and NPCs, unless they are a direct and
reasonable consequence of the action’s outcome; it is allowed to
create minor threats, troubles or positive effects as a secondary
outcome, provided that the actors involved (and/or their
opponents) will be given the chance to react or fix them with
another action.
● Principle of Integrity: It’s not possible to roll-back or rewrite
the past, such as re-telling something that has already
happened, modifying the outcome of previously resolved actions
or altering in any way a part of the story that has already been
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told. Any further detail must blend within the story without
issues or it cannot be added.
● Principle of Accuracy: It’s not possible to go outside of the
context by narrating something which is not part of (or strictly
related with) the action’s description or resolution, such as
describing other people’s actions, impose physical or mental
behaviours to other characters (including judgements, reactions
or points of view), resolve different actions and so on.
At the beginning of the game, masters and players can decide to adopt
the rule of veto even to the full successes, using the same set of rules
and mechanics provided for the character creation phase: doing that
will greatly help to prevent honest mistakes by inexperienced players,
and also potential abuses by more savvy (and greedy) players.
Whenever the full success resolution gets two or more vetoes the
player will be allowed to either try to defend his point or reformulate it
once: if he keeps getting vetoes after doing that, the full success will be
downgraded to a partial success and will be resolved by the master,
preventing the player from having a negative impact to the s tory.
Gorton, Pacey’s character, is about to face a dangerous clash with Horace Glaston, a
veteran soldier who once served in the Riverrun Army: after deserting he joined a
group of stragglers who make a living attacking caravans and travelers passing
through the Ruby ford. Joey describes Horace as a rather old man, yet still able to give
a hard time to rookies such as Gorton.

Horace, through Joey's mouth, is mocking his opponent: Throw away that stick, young
boy, and maybe I'll just empty your pockets and let you live.

Pacey / Gorton has no intention of being intimidated by Horace's words: You surely
talk big, oldie: let's see if you can still use that sword. Right after that, he draws his
weapon and informs the master that he would like to try and scare Horace using
Gorton’s Intimidate ability. Joey informs him that the difficulty of such action would be
5, as Horace is confident in his skills. Pacey takes his 2 dice and goes for a roll. He’s
lucky enough to get a pair of 5: f ull success!

Therefore, he’s entitled to narrate the action’s outcome by himself, filling it with any
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detail he feels like to add. Here’s what he would come up with:

Horace becomes pale, while a drop of sweat falls down his cheek… as if he'd seen a
ghost! He starts shaking, then he quickly turns and runs off his legs, leaving behind
his sword and much of his equipment, including his money bag...

Joey shakes his head: "Veto!" She promptly exclaims, explaining that Pacey's
resolution is not acceptable: the action’s outcome cannot transform Horace into a
coward, nor can it make him perform illogical and irrational actions such as throwing
away valuable objects… especially the money bag, which seems no less than a
preposterous detail which serves the sole purpose of giving Gorton an extra benefit.
Jen agrees and also gives a V eto.

Pacey then chooses to defend is point, trying to better explain why he went for such
resolution: in his opinion, it would be perfectly logical for a terrified man to feel the urge
to abandon all of his stuff to escape from an immediate danger! As for the money bag
drop, it’s clearly an attempt to drive the attention of his pursuer away from him or
slowing him down enough to escape.

Pacey’s defence don’t seem too convincing to anyone: Horace isn’t facing a dragon or a
group of bandits, therefore he has no reason to overreact. Joey and Jen confirm their
Vetoes: since Pacey chose to defend his point rather than reformulate it, Gorton’s full
success is downgraded to a partial success, which Joey describes in the following way:

Horace seems very impressed by your words: he’s most likely thinking about the
risk of being defeated by the hands of a soldier much younger than him. "Fine
enough", he tells you after some time, sheathing his sword. "You and your friends
can pass: but I’m telling you, the next time I’ll see your faces I shall not be so
merciful..."

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INTERACTIONS
All the actions that require a contest between two or more characters
are called interactions: some common examples would be a fight, a
showdown, a race, a competition, and so on. Unlike standard actions,
which have a fixed complexity level and a corresponding difficulty, the
result of an interaction is determined by a given mechanism called
showdown, which works in the following way:
● The players take the number of dice belonging to their
characters following the action standard rules: 1 die, plus one if
they have a directly connected ability, plus one for each boost.
● All players secretly split their dice pool into their hands, then
point both their fists in front of them, pointing the left hand
towards their opponent(s) and keeping the right hand close to
their own body.
● When they’re ready, all players open their left hand: the player
with most dice wins the showdown. In case of a tie, the players
must roll the dice in their hand, keeping only the single highest
score: whoever obtains the highest number wins the match. In
case of further tie, the interaction will end up in a draw.
● After resolving the left hand, the players open their right hand:
the player with most dice will be granted the right to narrate the
showdown’s outcome- even if he’s not the winner; such task
must be done by following the same set of rules valid for
narrating a full success. Again, in case of a tie, the players must
roll the dice in their hand and confront the single highest
number to determine the winner, i.e. the narrator. In case of
further tie, there will be a shared narration: the narrative duty
will be split in equal parts among the tied players, with the help
of the master in case of doubts, debates or disputes.
It’s important to notice that each interaction comes with two key
aspects: who wins the showdown, and who will be able to tell what
actually happens. Each player will have the chance to grasp one of
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these aspects, or even both, depending on the number of available
dice and what they do want to achieve.

While searching a shelter for the night the group makes a grim discovery: the corpse of

a man hidden inside a thick bush of blackberries. There’s no doubt about the cause of
death: a deep cut in the throat, most likely made with a sword. "It looks like a
professional's job", says Valy. Gorton nods, pointing to the corpse: "let's pull it out:
maybe he was carrying something he no longer needs, but that can still be useful for us
...". The group agrees: within a few minutes, the poor man’s corpse is laid down on the
ground, ready for the scavenging hunt: the master tells each player to perform a search
action with a difficulty of 3 to determine what will be found and by whom.

Pacey scores a 2, which is a failure. "Damn!" Exclaims his Gorton, shaking his head:
"this poor being here had nothing, just like us ...". Jen and Dawson both roll a single 4,
which is enough for a partial success: "bingo!", They exclaim with a greedy note, when
Joey reveals the presence of a velvet bag lying in one of the corpse’s pockets. Then the
two players look at each other: who, between Valy and Khan, gets the chance to take
it? The question is asked to the master, who quickly replies: "... Isn’t it obvious? It will
be the first one to grasp it!".

The competition between Valy and Khan triggers an Interaction. The master explains
that the required ability will be Dexterity: therefore, Jen and Dawson are asked to take
the appropriate dice. Jen reminds the master that his Valy has the Pickpocketing ability,
which definitely seems related to the context: the Master agrees, thus allowing Jen to
take two dice; Khan has no usable skills on his character sheet, hence Dawson will take
a single die.

The players must now split their dice pool into their two hands for the showdown. Jen
wants her Valy to take over that bag all the costs, therefore - knowing that Dawson
has only one available die - he chooses to put all her dice in the left hand, leaving the
right hand empty. Dawson knows he can’t possibly win the showdown, hence he
chooses to try and seize the narrative aspect of the showdown, leaving his left hand
empty and putting his single die in the r ight hand.

Once the players says they’re ready, the master asks them to open their left hand: Jen
wins the showdown for 2-0, meaning that Valy will grab the bag. However, the facts
and the details will be conceived and told by Dawson, as he wins the right hand clash
for 1-0.

Dawson, before proceeding, asks the master to reveal him the contents of the bag:
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Joey accepts the request, since it’s a required info for Dawson to pull out the narrative
part: the bag contains 10 gold coins. Dawson lets out a greedy smile, then starts telling
what happens:

Valy makes an impressive movement, quickly grabbing the bag before Khan can do
anything. But the poor girl doesn’t notice that the bag’s laces are loose, therefore
most of the coins slip out and fall to the ground, right in front of ...

"Veto!" exclaims Jen, explaining how Dawson’s story would be completely
preposterous: since Valy won the showdown, the outcome should be a success for
her… certainly not the failure described by Dawson, which is also kinda disrespectful
for Valy as it makes fun of her pickpocket abilities!

Joey agrees with Jen and raises a veto as well, thus forcing Dawson to choose between
defending his point and reformulate. Dawson thinks about it, then goes for the latter:

Valy makes an impressive movement, quickly grabbing the bag before Khan has any
way of doing anything. The bag’s laces are loose, but the girl has enough experience
to prevent the content from falling to the ground... with the sole exception of a
single coin, which slips out and fall to the ground.

The new outcome is accepted by everyone: Jen is happy, since Valy got nine coins out
of ten; Dawson is also happy and tells the master that Khan is about to take the fallen
coin, which is still better than nothing...

"One moment", Pacey exclaims: "Gorton would also like to get his hands over that
coin!" Joey shrugs, pointing a finger to the dice pool: time for a new i nteraction...

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OPTIONAL RULES
Below is a list of advanced or alternative rules that can be applied in
addition or in place of those described in the previous chapters and
paragraph: masters and players can choose or vote on which ones to
use and which not. It’s advisable to avoid them in your first game, as
they do require some experience with the core system.
ABILITIES AND BOOSTS

The Players and master can choose to alter the maximum number of
available abilities and / or boosts, which is set to 6 by default. The new
number may be higher or lower, depending if the playing group
tastes: the higher it is, the more the story will be influenced by the
characters.
TALENT
At the end of the What Can I Do? whole set of questions, each player is
allowed to put a distinctive mark on one of their chosen abilities. That
single ability will be their character’s talent. Whenever the talent is
used for a dice roll, the player will be able to re-roll a single die - thus
getting a second chance to get a good score. The latter result must
always be kept, even if lower than the previous one.
OPEN-END
Whenever a die scores its maximum score (6 for 6-sided dice), the
player or master can roll an additional die, adding it to the total
number of rolled dice. The rule can be either applied to all shots of the
game or only to the Actions a nd / or I nteractions.
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ADVANCED SHOWDOWN
Whenever there’s a tie during a showdown, either for the left hand and
for the right hand, the contending players roll their dice: however,
instead of simply taking into account the single highest result as
stated by the standard rules, they will compare all the results, one by
one: the highest with the highest, the second with the second and so
on, just like it happens in the Risk! board-game; each player will score
one point for each single comparison they win: in case of a
single-result tie, all tied players will score a point. The player with
the most points will win the clash: in case of a point tie, there will be a
draw (left hand clash) or a shared narration (right hand clash), that will
be resolved according to the standard rules.
CHARACTER PROGRESSION
At the end of each session or session group (at master’s discretion)
each player will get the chance to choose a new ability or boost and add
it to their character sheet: this will ensure a steady progression of
each character’s skills throughout the whole s tory.
N-SIDED DICE
N-sided dice will be used instead of 6-sided dice throughout the
whole game. N can be 8, 10, 12 or any other number, as long as there
are compatible dice available. When changing the number of sides,
the action’s difficulty values will need to be changed accordingly:
here’s an example for 10-sided dice: 1 trivial, 2-3 easy, 4-5 average,
6-7 challenging, 8-9 tough, 10 toughest. It goes without saying that
this rule will greatly impact various aspects of the game, such as the
chance of getting a critical failure or an open-end (see below): for this
very reason, the players are strongly advised to understand and
evaluate all the various implications before adopting it.

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SESSION POOL
At the start of each session the master places a certain number of dice
in a dedicated spot, such as the middle of the table: such space will be
known as the session pool. During the course of the session, whenever
a player has to build his personal dice pool - such as to face an action
or interaction - he can choose to take a single die from the session
pool; the die counts just like any other die and gets discarded after
that one-time usage (it doesn’t come back to the session pool). The
players are free to debate and discuss before taking dice from the
session pool: they could even agree upon enabling the veto rule to have
the chance to prevent fellow players from taking too many dice
during the session.
TRIGGER
At the start of each session each player secretly writes down a single
sentence into a piece of paper, hiding it under his character sheet. The
sentence must contain a specific situation that will most likely trigger
a specific response action (or interaction) from that player’s character.
The trigger is basically a defensive mechanic that can be used by
players to prevent a potential threat (or any event) that they think
could hit their character during the session and should be written in
the following form: “someone does something (or something happens)
to me at a certain time and / or in a specific place”. The syntax may vary,
as long as most of the components defining the context (who, when,
where, what) are there. The trigger could either happen or not,
depending on the development of the story; as soon as it does, the
target player reveals the trigger and ask the master to give it a value,
from 0 to 3, that will correspond to the additional (bonus) dice he’ll
get to take the triggered response action. The master should give the
trigger a higher or lower value depending on how narrow, relevant and
contextualized it is. Some examples: “someone attacks me” will most
likely get a value of zero as it’s way too broad; “someone attacks me in
the tavern” will get a value of 1, yet will also have more chances to
trigger; “Robert attacks me from behind during dinner” will get a 2 or
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even a 3. The trigger value can be discussed between players and
master, but the latter always gets the last word on it.

RECKLESS ROLL
ROLL
Each time a player is not satisfied with the result of a dice roll, such as
experiencing a failure or losing any kind of contest, he can ask the
master for a second chance with a reckless roll. The reckless roll is
basically a reroll that will replace the previous one - even when
worse: to gain the right to attempt it, the player must propose a bet to
the master by putting something at stake that will happen to his
character (and/or his surroundings, including other players) in case of
a subsequent failure: the master can choose to accept the bet, refuse
it, or override it with a different bet which the player can also accept
or refuse. If there’s an agreement, the player can (and must) execute
the reckless roll. In case of full success or partial success, nothing
happens; in case of success (full success, partial success or winning
contest) nothing happens; in case of failure, the bet result will be
honored by the master within the story, in addition to the standard
failure consequences.

RECKLESS DIE
DIE
Each time a player is not satisfied with the number of dice he’s
entitled to get for a roll or a contest, he can ask the master for a
reckless die. The player propose a bet to the master by putting
something at stake that will happen to his character (and/or his
surroundings, including other players) in case of a subsequent failure:
the master can choose to accept the bet, refuse it, or override it with a
different bet which the player can also accept or refuse. If there’s an
agreement, the player gets the additional die. In case of success (full
success, partial success or winning contest) nothing happens; in case
of failure, the bet result will be honored by the master within the
story, in addition to the standard failure consequences.
29

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EVENT - Version 1.2.

181020-EN - Licensed under C

Joey, Dawson, Pacey and Jen decide to spend the evening playing Event. Joey, the only

3. It must be relevant and widely known: each character should have

● Armadillo, bouncer and occasional dishwasher at “The Three

● Amanda Laravel, currently unemployed - yet damn good at cooking.

WHAT DO I LOOK LIKE?

WHAT CAN I DO?

● Any answer that is identical or comparable to a previously

SUCCESS AND FAILURE

● Another die for each b

● If all the dice have scored a value of 1: critical failure.

● In all other cases: f ailure.

● Failure: The action fails without aggravating side effects: the

Jen is the first to know the consequences of her Valy’s critical failure, which is narrated

detail he feels like to add. Here’s what he would come up with:

While searching a shelter for the night the group makes a grim discovery: the corpse of

ABILITIES AND BOOSTS

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Event RPG

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Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

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Event RPG

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

EVENT - Version 1.2.

181020-EN - Licensed under C

Joey, Dawson, Pacey and Jen decide to spend the evening playing Event. Joey, the only

3. It must be relevant and widely known​: each character should have

● Armadillo, bouncer and occasional dishwasher at “The Three

● Amanda Laravel, currently unemployed - yet damn good at cooking.

WHAT DO I LOOK LIKE?

WHAT CAN I DO?

● Any answer that is identical or comparable to a previously

SUCCESS AND FAILURE

● Another die for each b

● If all the dice have scored a value of 1: ​critical failure.

● In all other cases: f​ ailure​.

● Failure​: The action fails without aggravating side effects: the

Jen is the first to know the consequences of her Valy’s ​critical failure​, which is narrated

detail he feels like to add. Here’s what he would come up with:

While searching a shelter for the night the group makes a grim discovery: the corpse of

ABILITIES AND BOOSTS

You might also like

3. It must be relevant and widely known: each character should have

● If all the dice have scored a value of 1: critical failure.

● In all other cases: f ailure.

● Failure: The action fails without aggravating side effects: the

Jen is the first to know the consequences of her Valy’s critical failure, which is narrated