The Wrath of the GodsA role playing game of tragedy and disaster in a

mythic ancient world

by Arturo Gonzalez-Escribano

Apr, 2006

The text of this game was prepared using LATEX. Figures were composed withthexfig program.

The Wrath of the Gods (c) 2006, Arturo Gonzalez Escribano

Contents

Preface v

1 Introduction 11.1 The escenary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.2 The characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

1.2.1 Normal people . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.2.2 Protectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

1.3 The players and the game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.4 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

2 Preparing the game 52.1 What do you need to play? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52.2 Choosing the escenary and threat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52.3 The community map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62.4 Creating protectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

2.4.1 Protectors description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72.4.2 Protectors attributes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

2.5 Creating normal people . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92.5.1 Normal people description and attributes . . . . . . . . . 92.5.2 Main connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92.5.3 Secondary connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

3 Game mechanics 133.1 Scenes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

3.1.1 Framing and free play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133.1.2 Facing troubles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

3.2 Determining an outcome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143.2.1 Normal people alone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

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iv CONTENTS

3.2.2 Protectors in normal state . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143.2.3 Protectors in Hero-State State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153.2.4 Several protectors around . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

3.3 Effects of the outcome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163.3.1 Positive outcome: Protectors in normal state . . . . . . .. 163.3.2 Positive outecome: Protectors in Hero-State . . . . . . .. 163.3.3 Negative outcome: Normal people alone . . . . . . . . . . 163.3.4 Negative outcome: Protectors in normal state . . . . . . .163.3.5 Negative outcome: Protectors in Hero-State . . . . . . . .173.3.6 Protector’s death: The last hero action . . . . . . . . . . . 18

3.4 State changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183.4.1 Changing to Hero-State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183.4.2 Coming back to normal state . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

4 Driving the game 194.1 Opening secenes and conflict stakes ??? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194.2 The threat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194.3 The arriving of the disaster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204.4 A dying community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204.5 Last hope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214.6 Ending the game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

5 Examples of play 235.1 An scene during the threat discovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235.2 An scene during the arriving of the disaster . . . . . . . . . . .. 235.3 An scene during the dying community stage . . . . . . . . . . . . 235.4 An example scene of the last-hope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

A Charts and models 25

B Ancient Greek deities 29

C Classical Greek names 31

Acknoledgements 33

Preface

Dusk time. Nyx is extending her cloak over the lands of this an-cient world, where myths are truth and the scent of the old tales isalive. The starlight is reflecting in the sea foam, and the slow wavesdo not prelude the fate of this land. Soon, the wind is up, Eoloisblowing fiercy. The trumbling breath of the storm sounds liketheHarpies laughing. It looks like Titans were freed from Tartaro today.The Furies should be walking on our world, coming to us with theirserpent-hairs flowing in the air and their eyes gushing blood. A godshould be angry with us, and the wrath of the gods is terrible.Ourland is doomed. Who may dare to face it?

But the mythic seer Tiresias had long ago a dream. He saw theMount Olympus. He saw the gods again. Some of them were weep-ing for the fate of our wonderful land. There were still some beau-tifull people, some untouched by the harm. Should all of themalsoperish? Some of the gods have flown down in the darkness. Theyhave search in the deep night for a very few chosen ones. They havewhispered in their ears. They have given them a token of the gods’power. Thus, protectors will be raised for the sake of gods. Theywill try to save their people from this chaos. But they are still onlymortals; and the choices of mortals are always hard. They will fightuntil the end, but who knows if they will succeed. Who will becomea real heroe? Who will make feats worth of an ethernal poem, oraVirgil’s tale?

v

vi PREFACE

Chapter 1

Introduction

The Wrath of the Gods is a role-playing game where the characters face an over-whelming threat which surely will destroy their community and their world. Theplayers play the role of special people which are both, boosted and hindered bythe emotions of other significant characters. They share their happiness and hopes,but also their pain and deception. Thus, they need to protectothers to save them-selves. When pain becomes unbearable, they have the choice to invoke the powerof their protector god.

Getting in a heroe-trance where they are disconnected from their emotions,they are able to perform amazing deeds. But a heroe may easilyrisk too much,endangering both, their safety and the safety of the others.Will any one of themsurvive the terrible coming disaster? Probably not, but they will make a good talefighting until their last stance.

1.1 The escenary

This game may be played in many different scenarios of the acient world universe.The exact one will be chosen by the players when they begin to play the game.The elements which must be present to produce the proper situation are:

A community: The characters of this story are protectors of some people froman endangered community. It may be a whole nation, even the anempirelike Rome; the population of a city-state like Athenas or Sparta; or the smallcrew of a ship travelling to forbidden lands in a mythic questlike the Argos.

A threat: By any means they have awoken the wrath of a god. Thus, the com-

1

2 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

munity is going to face a terrible fate. A disaster of unbelievable magnitudethreats to destroy the whole community and its memory. No help may beexpected from outside.

In ancient times natural and human caused disasters were in general as-cribed to the whims of the gods. Thus, the threat may be almostanything.

EXAMPLES OF SITUATIONS: The last days of Pompey when theVesubio volcano buried the city with fire, ashes and stone. The popu-lation of Rome facing a terrible fire, started by the emperor-god Nero,which predates the city. The huge floods and the strike of The Leviatan,like in the story of Andromeda and Perseo. A small village of Persia un-able to defend against the mythic invader armies of Alexandro The Great.Facing a terrible plague which will continue until everyoneperishes (ill-nesses; swarms of critters; you may even use the seven plagues of Egyptdescribed in The Bible as models). A disastreous earthquakedestroyingthe city of Alejandria, with its mythic lighthouse and library. The Atlantiscontinent being sunken in the ocean by the rage of the gods.

1.2 The characters

1.2.1 Normal people

The main population of the community are normal people. Theyare skilled intheir specific activities. But this will not help them too much when trying totackle the coming dangerous situations. No matter if they are warriors, merchants,housewives or senators. They will find themselves not to be prepared for the natureof the disaster.

These normal people need the guidance of a protector, a chosen of the gods,to struggle adversity. When alone, they easily fall to fear and panic. Without aprotector they are damned.

1.2.2 Protectors

The other gods are sorrofull for that poor people, some of them innocents andbeatifull mortal creatures. They have searched for some special ones among them.Some who are worthy to get the favour of the gods to protect their peers. Somewith the potential to become heroes. Thus, those chosen by the gods are:

1.3. THE PLAYERS AND THE GAME 3

Skilled in struggle situations: Protectors are strong, sneaky and crafty. They areinnate or trained fighters with survival abilities. They maybe aware of theseabilities, being trained in military corps or an esoteric order, or they maylook like normal people and discovering their potential when facing trouble.

Easily boosted by the emotions of others:When defending their friends or com-munity they find strong psychological support and they may arise as un-known heroes. However, the despair and fear of others also affect thembadly. They suffer the pain of others as well as their own pain.

The gods will name them as protectors. They will give them a token of theirpower. When the pain becomes unbearable they will be able to invoke the god’spower and enter in a divine-trance state. As heroes of a god they will be com-pletely disconnect from their emotions. Unharmed by them, and with enhancedphysical/spiritual senses, in this state they become amazingly strong, quick and/orskillful. However, being disconnected from their emotions, they may easily risktoo much and endanger not only themselves, but also the people they try to pro-tect. Moreover, enpowered by a god it is easy to forget about others. Thus, it isnot always easy to come back to the normal state.

1.3 The players and the game

One of the players will be designated as theGame-Master (GM). She will play thenormal people, and she will present thethreat and its associated troubles to theother players; creating continuous and escalating dangerous situations for them totry to overcome. Each of the other players will play aprotector character.

The game will begin with the players creating together a threat, a setting, andpopulating it with protectors and some significant and related normal people.

After that, the game will consist in several scenes. Before each scene the play-ers will have the opportunity to comment about their fears and expectations aboutthe threat. This will be used by the GM to create and frame an appropriate trouble.During the scene the players will try to deal with it, protecting the normal people.If they fail the normal people will suffer, and they will also. The accumulatedpain will become a terrible burden. Thus, from time to time the protectors willneed to endanger themselves and their friends going into thedivine-trance state.The threat will escalate continuously as the end approaches. Protectors and nor-mal people will eventually fail, one by one, to overcome the troubles; they will beswallowed by the threat tides.

4 CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

The end of the game arrives when either, the community is totally destroyed,or a small quantity of survivors manages to escape in the lastmoment. Gamemechanics will promote an increasing tension and a sense of doom and tragedy.

1.4 Overview

The second chapter further defines and describes the game elements. Chapter 3guides you to prepare the game and create a community. In chapter 4 we presentthe main game mechanics. Chapter 5 is dedicated to explain how to drive thegame, in order to create tension and enjoyment.

Chapter 2

Preparing the game

In this chapter we define the game elements and we describe howto prepare thegame. The preparation stage will take as long as the players want to invest on it.From fifteen minutes to several hours.

2.1 What do you need to play?

To playThe Wrath of the Gods you only need some sheets of paper, a pencil and atleast one 8-sided die; one die per player would be perfect. The paper sheets will beused to draw a map of the significant community members an their relationships,as well as to keep track of character details. The dice will beused to generaterandom numbers, introducing an uncertainty factor when thecharacters deal withtroubles.

2.2 Choosing the escenary and threat

The preparation begins with the players discussing and agreeing on an interestingescenary and threat. They should determine who is the endangered community.Who are they? Where are they living? And the nature of the threat. What isgoing to happen? How is the community going to be endangered up to a completedestruction?

Some information about the place or places where the community dwells orthe adventure is going to happend is also convenient. A general description of theescenary is enough, but players may add as many details as they want.

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6 CHAPTER 2. PREPARING THE GAME

If they wish, they may also discuss how did they manage to awake the wrathof a god. The classical myths and tales are full of examples featuring any kindof reasons for a god to get angry. Remember that the sin of an emperor/empress,king/queen, or hero/heroine may be the bane of his/her wholeland and its popula-tion. A profanation of a temple, a promise to a god which is notcarried out, eventhe simple fact of not supporting a godness when a mortal is required to judgewho is the most beautifull deity among several ones may be enough to innitiatethe disaster. If the god or godness is not powerfull enough tofulfill her revenge,she may ask for the help of a main Olimpus’ god.

However, if you do not feel like filling up these details, remind that in mostsituations it is not necessary to know why the community is facing the disaster.Ancient people and heores were involved in many strange situations without anyidea of the ultimate reasons.

EXAMPLE OF AWAKENING THE WRATH OF THE GODS: We use thestory of Leto as inspiration. The community is the poeple living in theerrant island of Delos. The titan Leto is fleeing from the wrath of Herabecause she is pregnant of Zeus. She finds in Delos a place to hide andhave birth to Artemis and Apolo. Hera cheated, decides in herrage tomake the island disappear. She convinces Eolo to blow the floating island,through the columns of Hercules, out of the world. What will do thepeople living in the shores of Delos when they realize that the terriblestorm which destroys their crops and houses is also blowing the wholeisland to its doom? Even if any ship has survived the storm, the fiercewaters around the moving island will prevent them to flee.

2.3 The community map

The community map is a tool to help the players to remember whoare the protec-tors and their significant people, and how are they interrelated. It is drawn on asheet of paper, and it will be at eye-sight of the players during play.

The community map represents a relationship map. Boxes willrepresent char-acters and they will contain their names and keywords. A relationship will be rep-resented by a line or arrow joining two boxes, with an associated label describingthe nature of the relation. In different paper sheets (as many as needed) the playerswill write the descriptions of each character and will keep track of their variablestats.

2.4. CREATING PROTECTORS 7

The normal-people who are relevant for the game are those related to the pro-tectors. The players will create two significant normal people for each protectorand relationships will be established. At any moment duringplay, the GM mayintroduce other characters to justify actions of the significant normal people or foradding color. But they will not affect the game mechanics.

Creating the community map is the first thing to do after choosing the settingand the threat. In Appendix A there is a model for the community map. You mayfill it up during the creation. It is prepared for up to six protectors. You may ignorethe boxes you don’t need.

2.4 Creating protectors

Each player will create one protector character. The playerwill be the ultimateresponsible of that character definition and actions. However, I suggest to do theprotector-creation as a group activity. Let other players discuss your characterconcept and expect usefull suggestion from them. Players may use a chart like theone presented in Figure A.1 in appendix A to keep track of their relevant protectorsinformation.

2.4.1 Protectors description

Each player writes ashort description paragraph for his/her character. It maydescribe the look, origins, job, social status, live style,uses, preferences, expecta-tions, and dreams of the character. Try to use evocative terms which captures theinterest of the other players. These descriptions may be discussed by the groupand players may rewrite them as many times as desired, until they are happy withtheir characters concept. Based on the description the player should select theprotecting deity and the token of power which she receives. If you use an scenarybased in the ancient Greek or Roman world, you may use the reference chart inappendix B to select a deity with appropriate attributes.

Don’t forget to give a propername to your protector. To try to keep the tone ofyour choosen escenary, you may choose it among the clasical names of charactersin the ancient world tales. Ask for suggestions to the other players in case ofdoubt.

The player chooses one of the empty square-boxes in the community-map, andwrites inside it the protector name, a keyword of her job or concept, and the nameof her protecting deity.

8 CHAPTER 2. PREPARING THE GAME

EXAMPLE OF CHARACTERS CREATION: There are four players. Oneof them will be the GM. Juan is the first player. His character isAdrastos.A shepard at the service of one of the oligarchs of Delos. He isnot worryabout the future and he just enjoys life when he has the opportunity. Hespent a lot of time in the wilderness and his protector deity will be Pan.His token is a magical flute which invokes the power of the god.Thesecond player is Loli. Her character isArsinoe, a priestess of the templeof Demeter. She is devoted to the prosperity of the people of Delos, andshe protects artists and writters. She receives from Demeter a token, ametal mirror which reflects to her the face of the godness. Carlos is thethird player. The name of his character isLisias. He is a well-know healer.He likes wealth and he is ambitious. He uses aggresive drugs and strangemagical procedures which are not approved by other healers.But he isquite successfull. He is devoted toAsclepio and he has received a magicalmagical goblet where normal water becomes an elixir which brings thedivine power to him.

2.4.2 Protectors attributes

Protector characters have several numerical attributes (Motivation, Pain, andDam-age), and a state indicator. We briefly describe here their meaning and innitialvalues.

Motivation: This numerical value indicates how strong are the emotionalcon-nections between the protector and her significant normal people. It is in-creased by their success and it is spended to boost the protector actions. Itsinnital value is 6 and it constantly changes during play.

Pain: This number indicates the emotional tension accumulated bythe protector.It begins as 0 and it is increased when the significant normal people orthe protector suffers; mainly failing to overcome a problemand facing itsconsequences. The pain is a hindrance for the protector actions. When paingrows the protector effectivity decreases. Its maximum value is 4. Oncethis limit is reached, more Pain increases are ignored. Painmay be onlyeliminated by getting into the Hero-State.

Damage: Its innitial value is 0. It is increased when the protector fails to over-come a problem when in Hero-State. It indicates how much severe damage(physical or psycological) has suffered the protector. When it reaches 3 the

2.5. CREATING NORMAL PEOPLE 9

protector is so damaged and dispirited that her faith, her vows with the god,and her token of divine power break. From that moment on she isconsid-ered a normal person, unable to protect others anymore.

State: It indicates if the protector is in Normal or Hero-State.

2.5 Creating normal people

The significant normal people are also created by the players. Each normal-personcharacter who is relevant to the story will be attached to oneprotector by a rela-tionship. There will be two normal-people directly relatedto each protector. Theyare called hermain connections.

2.5.1 Normal people description and attributes

Normal people characters are described by aname, a short description (around acouple of lines), and by a numerical attribute namedPanic.

This numerical attribute indicates how near is the character to finally lost hercontrol due to fear and distress. Its innitial value is 0. It is incremented each timethe character suffers stress or gets in panic. When it reaches 15, the characterbecomes crazy or hysteric, do something stupid, and managesto get killed.

2.5.2 Main connections

Each player creates by turn the first of her two connections. In a piece of papershe writes her name, a couple of lines describing her and a line describing therelationship with the protector. The player’s idea may be commented with theother players for discussion; the GM may also propose ideas.However, the playerhas the last word about who her connection is and why. Playersare encouraged todefine interesting and strong relationships; remind that they will need to protectthem during actual play.

Once created, the player writes the name of the person in the community map;in one of the normal-people boxes (the rounded ones) attached with a line (rela-tionship) to the protector box. A label summarizing the relationship between themis written in that line.

In a second round, the players proceed in the same way, creating their secondmain-connection.

10 CHAPTER 2. PREPARING THE GAME

Bes

t fr

iends

Community map

Arsinoe

Lisias

Healer

(Asclepios)

(Pan)

Shepard

Adrastos

Priestess

Solon (Prince)

Get drugs from Trasibulo

(Demeter)

Romantic affair

Clistena

At the service of

Healer of

Lives in the temple

Fidon (Seer)

Aristides

Aspasia

Figure 2.1: Example community after creating main-connections

EXAMPLE OF CREATING MAIN CONNECTIONS: Fisrt round. Juan de-cides that the oligarch to whom Adrastos serves is namedAristides. He isa respected member of the community and he treats all his servants andslaves well. Loli createsAspasia a middle-aged woman who is the bestfriend of Arsinoe from the childhood. Aspasia married a wealthy manmuch older than her and she widowed long ago. She is also protectingartists and giving good money to keep the temple. Carlos decides thatLisias is getting so well-known that he has been called to thepalace, toserve princeSolon of Delos. Second round. Juan states that Adrastosis involved in a romantic affair with a young and pretty girl namedClis-tena. Adrastos is light-hearted and he says he is not taking the thing tooseriously, but he is deeply moved by her devotion. Loli addsFidon, a seerwith a vast knowledge and wisdom, retired to the temple. Arsinoe and himhave had many deep talks and she admires him. Finally, Carlosdecidesthat Lisias needs someone who provides him the strange and dangerousdrugs he needs. He introducesTrasibulo, a local merchant who deals insecret with forbidden goods. You can see the community-map after thisstage in Figure 2.1.

2.5. CREATING NORMAL PEOPLE 11

2.5.3 Secondary connections

After creating the main connections, each player by turn creates one relationshipbetween one of her main connections and any other normal-person in the commu-nity map. A line is drawn in the map between the two rounded boxes and a labelfor the relationship added to the line.

Normal-Persons at a distance of two from a protector, are called hersecondaryconnections. At the end, each protector have two main connections and oneormore secondary ones. Creating persons who are interesting and easy to connect-with, the player may achieve that other players choose her connections as sec-ondary, increasing the integration of the protector in the community. More inte-gration may mean some risk but much more chances in the game.

Bes

t fr

iends

Community map

Arsinoe

Lisias

Healer

(Asclepios)

(Pan)

Shepard

Adrastos

Priestess

Solon (Prince)

Get drugs from Trasibulo

(Demeter)

Romantic affair

Clistena

At the service of

Healer of

Lives in the temple

Fidon (Seer)

Daugther of

Aristides

Aspasia

Dru

g d

eale

r fo

r h

er

Lovers

Figure 2.2: Example community after creating secondary-connections

12 CHAPTER 2. PREPARING THE GAME

EXAMPLE OF CREATING SECONDARY CONNECTIONS: Juan intro-duces that Clistena is the last daughter of Fidon. Her motherdied whenshe was birth and then Fidon retired to the temple with her. She lived inthe temple all her childhood. She has always find him distant and unacce-sible. When she was old enough she part away from him and the templewith angry words. However she really loves her father deeply. Loli seespretty clearly that after widowing, Aspasia has found a caring lover inAristides, also a wealthy and educated man. Although he is already mar-ried and they have to meet in secret. Carlos decide to create some moreconflict in the community-map and he ask the other players what theythink about Clistena discovering by chance in the temple some kind ofdrugs reserved for the oracle. She became somehow adicted toit, but sheparted away from the temple. She is now getting it from Trasibulo. Theother players enjoy the twist and they agree with the new relationship.In Figure 2.2 we show the resulting community map. Notice that Adrastoshas five connections (2 main, 3 secondary); Arsinoe has four (2 main, 2secondary); and Lisias has three (2 main, 1 secondary).

As it is shown in the examples, connections may be used to create conflictingor problematic relationships. The protectors should have areason to care for theirconnections, but it does not need to be a plain and open reason. Conflicting re-lationships may lead to climatic scenes focused on redemption or moral choices.However, for novice players it is easier not to try complicate things with the mainconnections, as they should protect them from the first scene.

Chapter 3

Game mechanics

In this chapter we introduce the mechanics used during normal play. They de-scribe the play order and the mechanics associated with facing troubles and theeffects of the outcomes. In chapter 4 it is discussed how to drive the game anddetermine how it ends.

3.1 Scenes

3.1.1 Framing and free play

The play is a chain of scenes. Before each scene, the GM and players may discussthe possible troubles and threat applications to be faced bythe normal-people andprotectors. Then, the scene is framed by the GM, introducingand describing thesituation and the place where the next trouble begins. It maybe the continuationof a previous scene.

In a complete new scene the trouble will begin affecting one or two signifi-cant normal-people, and it may propagate its effects through the community map.The players will choose when and why to introduce their protector characters. Inscenes which are continuation of previous ones it is easy to determine who werewhere and with whom. It is not necessary that all protectors appear in all scenes.The GM should try to ensure that all players have similar opportunities to inter-act and enjoy. Carefully choosing the significant normal people involved in theconflicts will help to distribute the focus.

The players describe the protector actions and the GM describe the actions ofthe other characters. Nevertheless, players may suggest ideas about the actions of

13

14 CHAPTER 3. GAME MECHANICS

the normal people and the GM should try to use them. Optionally, if the groupagrees on it, players may also talk and dialog for their main connections. Remem-ber also that the GM may introduce at any moment new extra characters, to justifynormal people actions or for adding color; however, they will not be relevant forthe game mechanics.

3.1.2 Facing troubles

When the situation arrives at a point where the protectors orthe normal peoplereally face the trouble and try to overcome it, a die roll willbe needed. Thisroll will determine if the outcome is favorable and the trouble is overcomed or ifassociated complications appear. See sections 3.2 and 3.3 for details. The GMand the players should discuss, before the roll, which will be the main lines ofwhat would happen in both cases: passing or failing the roll.

3.2 Determining an outcome

When one or more characters acting together face a trouble, the general outcomeis determined by a die roll. In this section we also describe the mechanical-effectsof succeeding or failing this die roll. The details are afterwards narrated by theGM and players.

The outcome is always determined by throwing a 8-sided die. It the resultis equal or lower than a givendrive-number, the outcome is positive, negativeotherwise. The next sections describe how to calculate the drive-number for eachsituation.

3.2.1 Normal people alone

When a group of normal people are facing a trouble alone, without any protectorhelping, they are easily scared. The drive-number is always2.

driveNumber = 2

3.2.2 Protectors in normal state

When a protector is around, she will take the leadership of the group and theresponsibility of their outcomes. The normal people may only support her and

3.2. DETERMINING AN OUTCOME 15

give color, but mechanically speaking they are of little help. The basic abilities ofa protector gives her a drive-number of 5.

The effect of Pain:However, when the protector is suffering pain his abilitiesare quickly diminished. She must substract herPain stat from the drive-number.

driveNumber = 5 − Pain

The effect of Motivation: The pain may be temporally mitigated by the strongmotivation of a protector to save their significant normal people. Their successesencourages her. For any roll, the player may spend 3 points ofMotivation per eachpoint of Pain she wants to temporally ignore.

−1 Pain (only for this roll) × 3 Motivation

3.2.3 Protectors in Hero-State State

When a protector character is inHero-State he is ignoringPain and motivations.Her perception and abilities increases. She uses a drive-number of 6, which cannotbe modified by anything.

driveNumber = 6

3.2.4 Several protectors around

When a group of characters with more than one protector around faces a troubleone should act as a leader. Use her drive-number for the wholegroup, and applythe result to all the characters in it. If the protector who isnormal-state fails,another may take the leadership and roll again to save the normal people from thebad outcome. It a protector in hero-state fails a roll, the bad outcome cannot beavoided.

All the protectors present at the scene place may, one by one,try the roll until:(a) they give up; (b) one of them succeds; (c) a protector in hero-state fails; or (c)everyone has failed. Negative effects are narrated and accumulated for protectorson each failed roll. Normal people only get negative effectsif all the rolls arefailed. See details in sections 3.3.4 and 3.3.5.

16 CHAPTER 3. GAME MECHANICS

3.3 Effects of the outcome

3.3.1 Positive outcome: Protectors in normal state

When a character or group of characters overcome a trouble they rejoice and thestress is slightly reduced. A protector in normal state is encouraged by the successof her connections. She gains 1 point ofMotivation per each of her connectionswho is involved in a positive outcome. It doesn’t matter if the protector and theconnections are physically in the same place or not. Eventually, they will knowabout it.

+1 Motivation × connection success

3.3.2 Positive outecome: Protectors in Hero-State

When a protector is in Hero-State she is not emotionally connected to anyone.Thus, shecan not receive motivation points.

3.3.3 Negative outcome: Normal people alone

Normal people who faces a trouble without a protector and fails, immediately getsin crisis. All of the characters in the group gets 3 points ofPanic.

If any of them reachesPanic = 15, the stress is too much, she got crazy orhysteric, do something really stupid and manages to get killed. It may be narratedby the GM or a player.

+3 Panic

Panic = 15 =⇒ death

3.3.4 Negative outcome: Protectors in normal state

A protector who is in normal state gains 1 point ofPain if herself or any of herconnections is involved in a negative outcome no matter where it happened, whorolled the die, or the amount of connections involved. The maximum value of painis 4. Moreover, all the normal people who see their leader protector failing a rollalso gets scared, getting 1 point ofPanic.

Protector or any Connection involved in a fail =⇒ +1 Pain

3.3. EFFECTS OF THE OUTCOME 17

Normal people involved in a fail =⇒ +1 Panic

If a protector fails but there are other protectors around they may also try toroll. If a protector in hero-state tries the roll, the resultis definitive and no onemore may try. If one of the protectors get a positive outcome,the Panic effectto the normal people in the group is blocked. However, for each one who fails, anegative outcome is narrated, and all the protectors in normal state in the group getaPain point. Thus, at the end, all normal state protectors involved will accumulateas manyPain points as failed rolls. Remind that the maximum value of painfor aprotector is 4. Normal people only get thePanic point if all protectors fail, theygive-up before succeding in a roll, or a protector in hero-state fails the roll.

3.3.5 Negative outcome: Protectors in Hero-State

A protector who is in Hero-State ignores pain. However, in this hyper-ability stateshe may easily endanger herself. If she fails a roll, she has pushed it too much andshe gets 1 point ofDamage.

If a protector arrives atDamage = 3 she has exerted her divine power toofar without success, hurting herself badly. Her faith, self-confidence, and divinetoken of power, all get broken. For the rest of the game she becomes a normalperson, and she may not act as protector anymore. As a normal person she beginswith Panic = 0.

+1 Damage

Damage = 3 =⇒ becomes normal person

Moreover, when a protector is in Hero-State she is not exerting his emotionalsupport to others and her behaviour may be scaring. When normal people see howsuch a hyper-powered person fails to protect them their fears arise.All the normalpeople involved in the group gets 3 points of Panic. It does not matter if thereare other protectors around, this panic may not be blocked and no more protectorsmay try the roll. Other protectors in the group get 1 point of Pain if they are innormal state.

All normal people in the group : + 3 Panic

All other protectors in normal state in the group : + 1 Pain

18 CHAPTER 3. GAME MECHANICS

3.3.6 Protector’s death: The last hero action

Once a protector has accumulated 3 points of Damage she becomes a normalperson and cannot protect anyone. However, at any moment, when she is in ascene where normal people is going to suffer (because a failed roll of anyone),she may invoke her last-stance action as a hero. She behaves as a hero to save thenormal-people from the negative effects, at the cost of her life.

3.4 State changes

3.4.1 Changing to Hero-State

When a protector in normal state fails a roll the outcome is going to be nega-tive and she is going to suffer. However, to avoid the negative outcome, shehasthe chance to change toHero-State. The player should narrate how the charac-ter invokes the divine strenght through her power-token andhow the character issurrounded by the mythical aura.

Then, the protector should roll again with the drive number of the new state(drive-number 6). Ignore the previous roll and apply the result as the new rollindicates. Getting into Hero-State always make thePain disappear, it is reseted to0.

Normal State + Failed roll −→ Decides to Change state =⇒

Hero State ; Pain = 0 ; Reroll

3.4.2 Coming back to normal state

Once inHero-State the character is emotionally disconnected, and she need to doa strong effort to come back tonormal state. At the beginning of any scene theplayer may ask for aroll to come back to normal state. She throws one 8-sided dieand she succeeds if she gets equal or less than atarget number which is 2. Thistarget number may be improved by+1 per each 3 points ofMotivation spent. Ifshe successes, the character comes back to normal state and proceeds normally.Do not forget: When a protector comes back to normal state shehas aPain scoreof 0.

targetNumber = 2

+1 (only for this roll) × 3 Motivation

Chapter 4

Driving the game

In this chapter it is described how to drive the game. It includes suggestions onhow to produce the appropriate increasing tension and tragedy.

The play will be organized in several stages. The pace rate should be chosenby the GM accordingly to the pressure due to the good/bad luckin the rolls. TheGM should consider that this game presents a complicate death-spiral. There aresome chances to avoid it for a time, but at the end all characters will begin to falldown. When half of the connections are lost, you will need to quickly advance tothe end.

On the other hand, some people may prefer to get some guidelines about theappropriate times to advance to the next stage. It is a matterof taste. Theseguidelines would be based in the accumulated number of successes (some num-bers could be obtained by actual play but are not yet provided). In this case, somebad-luck plays may end before reaching too far and some god-luck plays wouldallow some people to escape alive.

A really important advise: Never let arise the idea that it ispossible to find away to face the threat and win. It will immediately destroy the tension and theintended effect of the game.

4.1 Opening secenes and conflict stakes ???

4.2 The threat

The game begins with the discovering of the threat. The first scenes should intro-duce the main characters doing their normal activities and facing the first small

19

20 CHAPTER 4. DRIVING THE GAME

alterations produced by the arriving disaster. It is possible that they are the oneswho discover the threat through observation, or experimenting the first effects.Perhaps and oracle or a seer predicts the coming disaster, but the local authoritiesare not realizing the full magnitude of what is coming.

The first scenes should begin with normal people getting nervous, even frighten.Trying to continue with their normal lives or looking for theprotectors for coun-sel. The threat should be something ominous about which people do not talkopenly. The first troubles may involve the character’s belongings (crop-fields,carts, houses) or friends. They will suffer some losts, but they will not be neces-sarily endangered physically.

In some kinds of sceneries the threat should arrive by surprise, and you mayskip this stage.

4.3 The arriving of the disaster

In the second stage the threat will be public domain and quiteobvious. The firstbig-disastrous effects will appear. Population will go into panic.

In this stage the GM should deploy troubles with other frenzypeople, fightsto steal resources, riots, whole families trying to run awayfrom the unavoidablewith their goods. If they find people fleeing it is important that, sooner or later,they see them failing and dying without any chance.

Facing the theft of resources or getting properties destroyed by the crowd willbe good troubles if mixed with some more dangerous situations. One or morescenes with terrible scary big-scale effects of the threat nearby will be nice.

4.4 A dying community

The third stage would be characterized by the roar of the threat in its full rage.People will be massacred, they will be dying everywhere. Theeffects of the threatwill be wiping out even in the deepest refuges. Characters will seem toys in therage of the gods. The normal people will need to group around the protectors tohave a chance of survive. In this stage the main troubles willbe direct threats totheir safety. The GM should insist in the impossibility to face the threat or find anescape. Any any try should be brutally aborted.

4.5. LAST HOPE 21

4.5 Last hope

When every hope is lost, an unexpected way to flee should be discovered. Choos-ing this moment is the most complicate and delicate task for the players. In case ofdoubt, wait. The death-spiral increases quickly at the end,but it is better if everycharacter dies tragically than loosing the tension in the last moment. Indeed, thisstage is completely optional. You may avoid it and let them disappear with theterrible rage of the disaster.

The last hope should be a miserable escape with a frenzy rhythm and manylosses. At any moment they may fail and disappear forever. Don’t hesitate tocreate last minute complications if it becomes to easy.

Remember, by no means can the last hope be the discover of a weapon orcompromise solution to face the main threat and win. No pactswith the gods arepossible, and they will not hear any praise.

4.6 Ending the game

If no one survives it should be a sad moment, appropriate for reflexion about theterrible nature and effects of real disasters. If someone manages to flee away,there would be some initial rejoice. But let players narratean epilogue. Presentthe characters thinking about what have been lost in the way,how their world hasbeen utterly destroyed, and how the experience is going to change them, surelyfor the rest of their lives.

22 CHAPTER 4. DRIVING THE GAME

Chapter 5

Examples of play

We present here an excerpt of a possible actual play. The setting and threat arethose described in chapter 2. The GM is Ramon and the three players are Juan,Loli and Carlos. They have created their protectors and normal people like in theexample community map in Figure 2.2. Juan plays Adrastos theshepard, wearingthe magic flute of Pan. Loli’s protector is Arsinoe, the priestess who can invokethe power of Demeter looking into her mirror. Carlos is portraying the ambitioushealer Lisias, who has received a wondrous goblet from Asclepio.

5.1 An scene during the threat discovery

5.2 An scene during the arriving of the disaster

5.3 An scene during the dying community stage

5.4 An example scene of the last-hope

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24 CHAPTER 5. EXAMPLES OF PLAY

Appendix A

Charts and models

In this appendix we include charts and models for: (a) Keeping track of the protec-tor and connections details, including their descriptionsand numerical attributes;and (b) the community-map. The community-map model includeup to six pro-tectors and their associated twelve normal-people. You mayuses the boxes youneed leaving the others empty. The layout of the boxes is thought to help in thedrawing of the relationships to the secondary connections.

25

26

AP

PE

ND

IXA

.C

HA

RT

SA

ND

MO

DE

LS

Protector name:

Description:

Connection name:

Description:

Connection name:

Panic:

Panic:

Description:

Motivation:

Pain:

Damage:

Token:

Protecting deity:

0 2 3 41

State:

Normal

Hero

Fig

ure

A.1

:P

layer’sch

artfor

pro

tector

and

con

nectio

ns

27C

om

mu

nit

y m

ap

Figure A.2: Community map model for up to six players

28 APPENDIX A. CHARTS AND MODELS

Appendix B

Ancient Greek deities

29

30 APPENDIX B. ANCIENT GREEK DEITIES

Appendix C

Classical Greek names

31

32 APPENDIX C. CLASSICAL GREEK NAMES

Acknoledgements

This game is based onDisaster! a game designed and written in about 24 hoursfor the Ronnies contest in October, 2005. The game central motives chosen forthe game were:Fight andPain. The originalDisaster! game may be found in...

Changes from the originalDisaster! game include a more flexible structurefor scenes and a specific fictional background for the game. Those changes weresuggested by Ron Edwards on his comments toDisaster! after the October 2005Ronnies contest. Some mechanical procedures have been alsosimplified and fixedafter the first play-testings; including also the introduction of rules for severalprotectors facing the trouble in the same group.

This game was somehow inspired by the story ”Scanners live invain” by Cord-wainer Smith. Specifically the idea of the hyper-power obtained when someonemay disconnected from pain, the possibility of changing states, and the problem ofcoming back to your natural state (although I have somehow reversed the originalstory ideas).

The game concept and mechanics are in debt to many discussions held by mem-bers of The Forge forum. They are also highly influenced by some indie-gamesI had the opportunity to read before writting the game. Looking backwards Ispecially recognize the inspiration of ”Legends of Alyria”and ”My Life withMaster”.

33