1KM1KT Free RPG Community

Time frame: 3 sessions of 3 hours each
Ingredients: Committee - Ancient - Glass

The Committee for the Exploration of Mysteries and the Enlightenment of Mankind is the foremost institution of learning and research in the world of the 1930s. Its crack team of scholars and savants travel the globe unearthing ancient artifacts and discovering the remnants of lost civilizations. Along the way they encounter hazardous landscapes, hostile natives, and cunning death traps, but the members of the Committee have always returned with tales of daring and the rich reward of unearthed knowledge. Yes, it's a pulp adventure game, my pulp adventure heartbreaker perhaps since I've never seen one that quite does what I want it to.

The first session is taken up with character creation and "research," in which the players and GM cooperatively create the place they'll be exploring and route they'll be taking to get there. During this first session everyone is required to hoist a glass of a festive beverage to evoke the leisure of the Committee as they plan their next expedition into the unknown. The session ends with a toast to their upcoming great adventure.

The use of "glass" changes in the second and third sessions--now players must use an hourglass (like the 3-minute hourglass in a Boggle game) to time their conflict resolution, thereby enforcing the rapid-fire pace of the pulps. The second session focuses on the journey to the exploration site and the beginning stages of that exploration. The players are armed with their "research," the planning they did in the initial session. But the mechanics determine how accurate this "research" actually is and what unknown dangers await the intrepid explorers. The second session must end in a cliffhanger.

The final session resumes by resolving the cliffhanger and completes the exploration of the ancient site. Then, the Committee can return to the world and regale the press with news of their latest discoveries and end the expedition the way they began it--with a hearty toast to learning, travel, and adventure!

I'm thinking part of the mechanics will entail players deliberately creating complications for their characters in order to gain glory, acclaim, or something similar. This currency can then be spent in later conflicts to improve their chances.

A question: the time requirement entails all aspects of play, right? So I have to include the GM prep necessary before the second and third sessions as part of the 3 hours of each?

Maybe I can avoid GM prep (and even the GM role entirely) by having the players compete for glory and introduce adversity for each other--a Committee that doesn't actually cooperate because they're a bunch of gloryhounds perhaps? Hmm, we'll see as this develops.

So I've had the chance to noodle this over a bit and come up with some rules.

The game has a dual focus. On one hand, the players and GM are playing out the travel and exploration. But in fact, they're recounting the details of their successful expedition back in the lounges of the Committee, trying to garner the most acclaim from their peers. So success is in some ways assured (though there is a possibility that a character has died and is being discussed as part of the memories of the others), but the style with which they succeeded is open to question.

Character Creation

Each character has four stats – Daring, Genius, Instinct, and Charisma. Divide 12d6 between them, and one stat must be the highest. Each stat gets a descriptor (Two-Fisted, Crackshot, Jungle Lord, etc.) – you get to roll an extra d6 for hazards that fall within the descriptor. You can get this bonus die a number of times equal to the number of dice in the stat associated with it. Each character also begins with one Acclaim - they are members of the Committee, after all.

Each character also has Gear and Associations – the level of these depends upon which of your stats is the highest, and each gets a descriptor just like stats.

Highest Stat...............Gear........Associations
Daring........................2d6..............2d6
Genius.......................3d6..............1d6
Instinct......................2d6..............2d6
Charisma....................1d6.............3d6

Route and Exploration Site Creation

The players and GM cooperatively create the route and exploration site. As part of this they'll establish a set number of known hazards (impassable gorge, hostile natives, competing teams of explorers, etc.). After this is done, the GM allocates x# hazard dice (d10s) among these known hazards. In addition, there are a number of unknown hazards that the character's "research" has missed; the GM creates these and allocates y# of hazard dice among them.

Overcoming Hazards and Receiving Acclaim

In order to overcome a hazard, a character must use their abilities (stats), Gear, and Associations to master the challenge presented by the hazard. This means using the result of one of more d6s to match or exceed the total roll of the d10s allocated to that hazard.

The GM aggressively frames the scene highlighting that hazard. The greater the hazard, the more over-the-top should be the description. Once the GM's description is complete, he rolls the d10s allocated to that hazard and the player rolls the dice of one stat. Play is flexible with respect to which stat can be used, but the player must briefly state how a given stat can be used to overcome the hazard. If more than one of the other players disapproves of this choice due to its inappropropriateness it is vetoed, and then another stat must be chosen until there is no veto.

Once a stat is chosen, the player rolls the appropriate number of d6s. As the dice are rolled, the GM turns over the hourglass, giving the player 3 minutes to narrate the resolution of the hazard.

Narration must describe how the character stylishly overcomes danger that would cause ordinary men to quake with fear. If more than one die is used to match or exceed the hazard roll, a complication and how that complication was overcome must be narrated for each extra die used. Each die is put forward one at a time as that piece of narration is completed.

As part of narrating a first complication, the player can weave in the use of Gear or Associations. If they do so, they can immediately roll those dice and have them available to overcome the hazard.

Even more than overcoming the hazard itself, a simple task for the mighty men of the Committee, each character wants to earn the Acclaim of his fellows and the adoration of the public once the report of the expedition reaches the press. Easy victories do not gain much Acclaim; rather, it is a story of high drama and tension that earns the respect of the capable Committee members. On the other hand, appearing to struggle too much against a hazard can cause your peers to lose respect for your feats of daring. After all, they know they would have handled it much more proficiently. So the amount of Acclaim gained for a challenge depends upon the number of dice used to match or exceed the hazard roll:

# of Dice Used........# of Acclaim Received
1...................................1
2...................................2
3...................................3
4...................................1
5...................................0
6+................................-1

If time runs out before you could complete your narration, but the hazard roll can be matched or exceeded with the dice you have remaining, you must immediately stop your narration and utter the phrase, “But, of course, in the end it was of no consequence.” Play moves forward and you lose one Acclaim.

If time runs out and you cannot match or exceed the hazard roll and no one has chosen to aid you (as described below) or the person aiding you cannot match or exceed the hazard roll either, then the exploration is stymied (see below). Utter the phrase, "I'm embarrassed to say that for a time we were uncertain how to proceed."

If it becomes apparent that you cannot meet or exceed the hazard roll, each other player in turn (starting from your left) is given the option of spending a point of Acclaim to roll the appropriate dice of one of their stats and try to match them against the hazard. If successful, that player narrates how their character aided your character (adding complications as normal) and they get the Acclaim for that hazard instead. If time runs out but the other player can match or exceed the hazard roll, they must utter the phrase, “But, of course, in the end it was of no consequence,” and both of you lose one Acclaim. Play then moves forward.

Using Acclaim

Obviously, the player whose character has the most Acclaim at the final toast at the end of the game, wins. They are acknowledged as the most adventurous and enterprising member of the Committee and become a darling of the press for this expedition’s coverage.

In addition, Acclaim has three other uses during the game. First, you may spend one Acclaim to roll a d6 and use it in conjunction with your other dice to overcome a hazard roll. But this extra d6 does not count for figuring the Acclaim received from that hazard. To do this, you must narrate a flashback of a prior adventure your character had with the Committee in which he discovered a technique, fact, item, etc. that aids him in more easily overcoming this current hazard. This can only be done once per hazard.

Second, another player can spend one Acclaim to roll an extra d6 and add it to the your hazard total, making it harder for you to overcome it and gain Acclaim. To do this, the other player interrupts your narration (eating up your precious time) to describe a technique, item, fact, etc. that your character does not have or know that would have made the hazard easier. This can only be done once per hazard.

Third, a player can spend one Acclaim to aid another character and perhaps steal their Acclaim for that hazard (see above).

Being Stymied

When stymied, the exploration has run into a serious problem that must be worked around, expending valuable resources in the process. Each player must reduce their character's Gear or Associations by one die. If this is impossible, lower one of the character's stats [maybe the second lowest?] by one die. If this makes a stat of any character equal zero, then that character has died during the expedition and immediately gains one Acclaim (it's a heroic death after all). Another player should immediately give the character a proper eulogy, then continue play. The player of the deceased character can use accrued Acclaim to aid or hurt any other character for the rest of the game.

After this reduction and accounting for any deaths, each player can choose to wager any amount of their Acclaim. For each point wagered, they get to roll 1d6. The player with the highest die after removing any ties narrates how his character got the expedition around the stymied situation. That character receives new Acclaim in the amount of 2x the Acclaim wagered, while all others lose the Acclaim they wagered.

Between hazards the GM or a player can request a scene to introduce color, side issues, entertaining trivia, and social interaction between the characters.

Still a LOT of work to do, but that's where I am right now. Kind of a pulpy romp with each intrepid member of the Committee trying to outshine the others.