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This is just fiction, duh!
SNOWFLAKE TRIGGER WARNING: Dear Snowflakes, go read another blog, you will not like this one {London}. It's full of adult children with bundles of humor, creativity, and honesty. If you read my blog, I'm not harassing you, heads up. I did put a joke too close too the warning in one post {humor seems to be offensive since 2015}, so I'll put the joke of the day at the bottom from here on out {WIN/WIN}.
WARNING: It seems that my couched vocabulary isn't cutting it in the warning section, so here is an amended warning. FANDOM does have wikis that are all ages, but White Wolf products, articles, and blogs on this wiki are for adults only, since they deal with topics like becoming a demi god, black magic, blood drinking, cannibalism, casual mass murder, child kidnapping, demons, foul language, Frankenstein creatures, God, goddesses, gods, Mummies, nuclear missiles, rape, religion, serial killers, slavery, snuff films, theft, The Robot Devil, Vampires, Werewolves, white magic, Wraiths, and so on. Would you let your kids on the “IT” wiki {Great book}? It's not my responsibility to monitor your children, so please feel free to do that yourself, or get a parental lock on your internet browser {Your kids probably already have the password}. If my blog offends you at ANY point, you have the option to not read it. I don't get paid for any posts I do. I don't take credit for this, but it sounds perfect, “Getting offended by something on the internet is like choosing to step in dog crap instead of walking around it.” If I scream into your face, that's a little different.
HEADS UP: My blog is for me, but I have comments enabled, cause why not, but it's for me {I still adore my fellow Chantry members!}. I'm an arrogant, selfish, narcissistic, demon worshiping, demon possessed, lizard blooded writer. Hail Ananasa! Hail Cthulhu!, Hail Leviathan! Hail Nergal! Hail Ralph! Hail Satan! Jesus is a fantastic investor! I do however take requests, and love to work on pen and paper concepts with anyone who asks. Freedom of speech is the only safeguard against tyranny, so feel free to comment below, and notice how you may type in foul language without stars replacing the characters. If you do decide to comment, you would technically be harassing me, especially if the post is a month old, which is fine. You may in fact insult this blog AND my character, however liable and death threats will NOT be tolerated.
StrangerThings, I haven't heard from you in a while, but here's what I've been up to, and I think this is as light weight as it gets. I don't know what kind of system you wanted for you pen and paper game, but I think that an emphasis on words over math is the way to go, in addition to KISS {Keep It Simple Stupid}. Let me know what you think.
Credits: His Majesty Mr. Russel Hammond for protecting my freedom of speech all the way from Brazil, IanWatson for creating the wiki, Atvelonis the wiki manager, StrangerThings, the top contributors for the week [BroDavid, JC10169, Mn70os, Brad Tungis], new contributors [Spectollder, Mn70os, Brad Tungis, Fydr, Antoniogiovanni, AbsolutGrndZer0, ShiroEnya], FANDOM, and lastly my Chantry for liking/hating the chromatic orbs.
Language VS Math: It's been proven that language is an innate ability that humans have hard wired into their brains, but math isn't. There are tribes in the amazon that only have words that roughly translate to "few", "some", and "more." It seems that areas of the brain that are highlighted with a MRI when most math calculations are performed are separate from sectors of the brain that are highlighted when language is performed.
http://discovermagazine.com/2009/jan/039
https://www.pnas.org/content/113/18/4909
https://theconversation.com/when-did-humans-first-learn-to-count-97511
https://theconversation.com/did-artists-lead-the-way-in-mathematics-75355
Generic Light Weight Story System:
Story Stuff:
Characters: Each Player designs a Character focused on words, not dice results that fill up charts on some paper. Instead of numbers, each Player picks four adjectives, nouns, and verbs to describe major aspects of their Character. Each Character will need the following to start; Age, height, weight, hair and eye color, a short description of the Character's looks, a back story, motivation before game start, motivation at game start {day to day activities}, goals {long term objective that would move the story forward in a major way or end it out right}, and a hidden agenda XOR a secret {Doesn't have to be incriminating or even known to the Character}.
Who/What/Where/When/Why/How?:
Main Non Player Characters: Write up three antagonists, neutrals, and protagonists that will interact with the group.
Narrative/Motivation/Consequences/Cause/Effect: The narrative arc is just a bunch of stuff that happens in order, but what drives a story is motivation, consequences, cause, and effect.
Location, location, location: Write up three to nine main locations, in the same fashion you would a Character, and describe the people/organizations that run the property. Roll the dice or draw a card to give the Storyteller a basic idea of that location's current financial status. Don't worry about the specific numbers associated with day to day operations, instead use the result to get a general sense how well off the location is.
Give the Players agency: Instead of a full blown story written by the Storyteller {Which will be destroyed in less than twenty minutes}, let the Characters tell you the story, based on the Non Player Characters and the locations. I like to use “Yes, but...” or “Yes, and...” to let my Players do what they want, but they still have consequences to attend.
Random chaos generation:
Purpose: The need to generate chaos is only necessary if it would add drama to the story, end an argument, or end a tie, not every time a Character opens the door or says “hello” to a stranger. If a Player wants their Character to “do” something that is more than mundane, have them roll 2D10 or draw a tarot card(s).
Bell Curve: Use 2D10s to go from 0 to 99, and 65% as the target number for all rolls. All modifiers add and subtract from dice rolls, not the target number of 65%. If a yes/no answer is needed, all even rolls will be yes, all odd rolls will be no.
Animal Spirit/Tarot Cards: Have the Player draw an animal spirit/tarot card from the deck and the whole group interpret the results as best as possible. If a number is needed, all card decks I've seen have a proper order by number, suit, or both. If a yes/no answer is needed, all even cards will be yes, all odd cards will be no.
Skill/Chance: Bell Curve: Anytime that a Player has one adjective, noun, and/or verb associated with an action, they receive a +5% bonus per word up to 15%. Any time the Player doesn't have an adjective, noun, and/or verb associated with the action {and that action is still possible}, the Storyteller may assign a -5%/-10%/-15% penalty, based on how difficult the Storyteller thinks the action is. Sometimes there are outside forces, circumstance, negative words, or equipment that would help or hinder the Character, and in those cases, give them a 5%/10%/15% bonus or -5%/-10%/-15% penalty to their roll. All numbers rolled in the range of 0 to -30 are bad, interpreted democratically by the Storyteller and the group, while all numbers in the range of 99-129 are done very well, interpreted by the Player.
Skill/Chance: Animal Spirit/Tarot Cards: Anytime that the Player has one adjective, noun, and/or verb associated with an action, let the Player draw an extra card per word and pick the one they want. Any time the Player doesn't have an adjective, noun, and/or verb associated with the action {and that action is still possible}, the Storyteller may have them draw 1 to 3 extra cards and then the Storyteller picks the one they want, based on how difficult the Storyteller thinks the action is. Sometimes there are outside forces, circumstance, negative words, or equipment that would help or hinder the Character, and in those cases, have them draw an additional 1 to 3 cards, then they pick the best one or the Storyteller picks the worst one.
Respond to an action: If another active entity is aware of a Character's action, they may react to the action and try to help or oppose it. For an opposed roll, they both roll dice or pick cards and who ever beats their target number by the most or whoever has the most auspicious card wins the opposed action. If an entity is trying to help, let them roll/draw first, and if they succeed, grant the Player who declared the action a bonus, else they failed the roll and didn't help, so impose a penalty on the Player instead.
Final Resolution: The Storyteller gets the executive veto IF the group is dead locked.
Experience/Learning/Life:
First hand: After three to ten game sessions, let each Player pick an adjective, noun, or verb for their Character. These words should probably be related to the Character's activity during those sessions.
Study: A Player may decide to have their Character study in between missions, but they may not do side work with the group. After ten to twenty sessions, let them pick an adjective, noun, or verb associated with their studies.
Trauma: These are negative adjectives, nouns, and verbs that become associated with a Character after they have a bad session. For example, if a Character gets cut on the face with a roll from 99-129, make them take the word scarred or ugly. If a Character is caught stealing, make them take the word wanted or criminal.
Storyteller Suggestions:
Lie: The best Storytellers lie to their Players to keep the game on track. One time I had a Player suggest something that was a great solution, but I didn't have it marked down as the solution, so I said no. I've always regretted this, I should have casually said, "It works perfectly", or something like that. Another time I purchased a book for $30 and I wanted to stick to it, but it said to blow the party up with a car bomb if they failed, which pissed a Player off really bad. In that case, it didn't matter since the whole group was mad at him, but if the group hadn't been pissed at the player, that could have been bad.
Example Character:
Name: Jimmy Quick Pick
Age: 17
Height: 5', 2”
Weight: 110
Hair: Green
Eyes: Red
Description: A short boy covered in a mish mash of clothes minus a pair of shoes, feet and legs covered in grim from the long hours spent in the river scrounging for baubles, a cocky smile when you meet him for the first time, bright eyed since he's not in the work houses any longer.
Back History: Jimmy only remembers his early days at the work houses, his friends maimed in work place accidents, his other friends the mice that ran across his body at night, and the harsh beatings he received when his quota wasn't met. Jimmy finally met the right scallywag who taught him how to pick locks with bits of metal they gathered off the floor, and it wasn't long after that he met his new crew, The Baby Ducks.
Motivation before game start: Don't get recaptured by the work houses, learn street etiquette, drink grog to forget about life.
Motivation at game start: Help the local dirty kids as best as possible, sneak into work houses and teach kids how to pick locks,
Goals: Find out who his real parents are, get back at the work houses,
Hidden agenda XOR secret: Secret {Jimmy doesn't know it}, Jimmy was kidnapped by the thieves and pressed into slavery. He has a birthmark on his lower right calf shaped like a unicorn which could prove his identity as, James Paterson Oneal.
Verbs:
Gather information, quick talk authorities, gather rubbish in the river, pick locks.
Adjectives:
Quick, aware, dirty, cunning.
Nouns:
Role in society: Scavenger/Thief
Contact: Freddy “Four Fingers” the fence, whenever Jimmy and the crew actually pull a big one on the work houses, good old Freddy Four Fingers knows how to make it disappear.
Item: Set of lock picks.
Animal Companion: Sir Isaac Newton, An orange tabby that hangs around the river where the baby ducks work, always very friendly to the children, will come from a few blocks a away if he's called by any of the Baby Ducks.
Joke of the Day: A young hillbilly comes home for the holidays and has many conversations with the family. At some point his uncle comes over to him and wants to hear about “that higher education stuff,” so the youngster says “pi r squared.” The uncle looks at him dumb founded and says, “That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard, everybody knows pie are round.”
Circles are complete; Triangles are immutable. Hallelujah, Hail Cthulhu, Praise Evolution,