By Ron EdwardsBy Ron Edwards

By Ron Edwards

Illustrated by James V. West, Ben Morgan,

Rod Anderson, and Jeff Diamond

Interior layout by Matt Snyder

Cover by Veronica V. Jones

Copyright 2002 Adept Press

Jam

es W

est

What’s a trollbabe? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

The Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Stakes and Consequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

The System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

Character creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

Scenes and Conflicts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

Resolving Conflicts: Pace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

Resolving Conflicts: ‘Fair and clear’ . . . . . . . . . . . .15

Resolving Conflicts: the Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

Injury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20

Resolving Conflicts: Complications . . . . . . . . . . .22

Roll modifiers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23

Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

Character-character interaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32

An overview of narration in play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33

Stakes, Consequences, and Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . .34

Adventures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36

Creatures and magic stuff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40

Hairy role-playing theory about this game . . . . . .41

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42

Inspirations and acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . .45

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Table of Contents

4

What’s a trollbabe?Let’s start with size. We’re talking 6’6" at the least, with a build to

match – a trollbabe is a big woman, no little aerobicized butts allowed,

although the degree of out-and-out brawn of your character is up to

you. All trollbabes are strong, though, easily the match of the strongest

humans, and ranging up from there. They can run all day and heft

weapons and pull bows that would wear out a human in moments.

Trollbabes have primarily-human facial features, and most lack the

characteristic trollish body hair and posture (see below). Their trollish-

ness is most obvious in their horns, which range from short goaty pointy

horns to big curling sheepy horns that include a ridge over their brows.

Big hair is also common; think 80s rock-and-roll.

I’m not bothering with whether trollbabes are troll-human hybrids.

They might be, or maybe they are simply born to one or the other peo-

ple. Maybe they’re magically-produced. Hell, I don’t care. What mat-

ters is that trollbabes do not exist in the setting except as player-char-

acters, and you shouldn't think of them as being a race of any kind. The

story opens with a cool trollbabe hiking along; provide whatever origins

or definition seems right to you and the people you play with.

Why play? Because a trollbabe is neither troll nor human – she is func-

tionally apart, yet tied into the fates and interactions of both peoples.

Trolls – big, shaggy, horned, grotesque, people-eating monsters – and

humans – plain old humans – simply don’t get along, and their conflicts

are escalating. The trollbabe may be perceived as an automatic friend

or an automatic foe by both humans and trolls, yet her perspective is

not identical with either one’s. Her presence cannot help but destabi-

lize the status quo in any particular situation, which makes for an inter-

esting life. Ultimately, she may also become the means of resolution.

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The setting

The lands are mainly rolling, lowmountains, with farms and pineforests filling the valleys. The sea is

almost always near. Think of fjords, mists,twisted trees, and frozen rivers.

In this setting, problems and wickednessarise from real-life, personal concerns: kin-strife, politicking, betrayal, injustice echoingdown the generations. They are expressed incurses, monsters, undead, and omens, asbefits a setting for fantastic adventure, but“evil” is not an external force or entity.

The human people may be thought of asCeltic or Nordic-Icelandic, with a rich andlengthy cultural history, but not very high-tech.They are pretty much, well, people as we knowthem. They wear clothes, fish and farm, workfor pay, accord mostly with well-known sexualmores, use weapons and tools, and, in thisgame, work scholarly magic in some individualcases. They resent being eaten by trolls andhunt them as a public nuisance. Various typesinclude those clustering in the towns and forti-

fied steadings, those who farm from privatesteadings, sailors, and the dangerous outlaws.

Trolls are rather different: shaggy andhorned at the very least, walking on their toes(i.e., their heels project far up and back), theywear little or no clothes, eat people sometimes,wander alone or band in small groups, workmighty nature magic in large groups, fightwith tooth and claw, and resent being huntedlike animals. Trolls live in caves, under bridges,under big trees, deep in scary forests, in haunt-ed ruins, and anywhere else lonely, inconven-ient, and grim. Different types of trollsinclude isolated tribes off in the boonies, mon-sters (i.e., habitual human-eaters), and evensome asssimilationists who have worked out apositive relationship with humans.

Conflicts among the two vary widely. At thevery least, we see troll vs. troll about humans,troll vs. human (with either having the advan-tage), and human vs. human about trolls.Given assimilationist-trolls and outlaw-humans, even more complexity is possible.

The World

Sforzya

Valkov

Holgaard

Dazhyford

Markiev

Utgarth

Ben

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7. Witten’s Holm8. Kragg Keep

9. Gravenford10. The Blood Gate

11. Black Ferth 12. Foggy Bottom

1. Otun’s Belch2. The Silent Forest3. The Stumpy Mountains4. Green Goo Swamp5. Stinkfoot Slough6. Rottenmere11

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77

55

66

22 33

88

99

1010

1111 1212

Dazhyford

Ben

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Rod Anderson

Every adventure of Trollbabe includessomething called "the Stakes,” whichis to say, a conflict at hand in the set-

ting of the adventure. Someone or perhaps awhole bunch of someones, in this place, atthis time, want something, and cannot get iteasily. The Stakes are whatever is desired.

Is the person who desires the Stakes a victimof injustice, or its perpetrator? Is the desiredthing a person, a relationship, a resource, a sta-tus, a political goal, or what? How does thisfactor into the troll and human issues discussedpreviously? Preparing and defining these thingsare left for a later section, but the key pointhere is that any adventure is filled with individ-uals, run by the GM, who are busily in actionregarding problems and agendas.

The point of having Stakes is to generatesomething else entirely, called Consequences.Consequences are how the conflict at handturns out: the resulting status of the Stakesand the fates of everyone involved. Again, atrollbabe’s very presence tends to amplify orto complicate most people’s takes on whateversituation is occurring, and therefore tends tomove a conflict about some Stakes into a reso-lution with Consequences.

The player has no responsibilities regardingConsequences; the trollbabe does not have to

“fight for justice” or be anything to anyone –except that, given what she is, she will beinvolved as far as everyone else is concerned.Consequences will occur, as the Stakes mustchange, develop, and come to any form ofresolution through the course of the troll-babe’s presence and voluntary-or-involuntaryinvolvement in the situation.

Stakes and Consequences occur at a specificScale, or basically, the extent of people andterritory that are affected by the outcome ofthe situation. The smallest Scale would beone-on-one interaction, with theConsequences essentially affecting the well-being of single or very few persons. LargerScales include extended family, an organizedgroup like a war company, on up to villagesand whole lands. The range of Scales is pre-sented later in the rules. For now, the point isthat Trollbabe play begins at the personallevel, and that the Scale of play may increasespecifically and only at the request of a player,between adventures.

Eventually, if the players want, Stakes andConsequences may be occurring at the level ofthe entire land, in which case results mightinclude such drastic events as the trolls wipingout humans, humans wiping out trolls, or somesort of accord being reached for good and all.

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Stakes & Consequences

Your character only requires one number,ranging from 2 through 9.

The character can do three things: Magic,Fighting, and Social stuff. Roll a d10 andrefer to the number. To do Magic, roll overthat number; to Fight, roll under that num-ber, and to interact Socially, roll whichever ofthe two is better, including that number.

For example, say the number was7; I’d need 8-10 for the characterto do magic, 1-6 to fight, and 1-7to interact. Or say my number

was 2; I’d need 3-10 for the char-acter to do magic, 1 to fight, and2-10 to interact.

There’s more to it, especially combining twoor more of the three action types, getting re-rolls for failed rolls, and more. The number isthe foundation for everything else. Rollingagainst the number often includes the optionto re-roll a failed roll; the whole combinationof initial roll plus re-rolls is called a Series.

Incidentally, the character’s number mayincrease or decrease by 1, as the player sees fit,either once during a session or between sessions.

The System

Choose the number for the character. Itmay be any value you please from 2through 9. No 1s, no 10s.

Pick any subset for each of the threetypes of action as a specialty. This has nogame effect beyond your ability to addsome "special effects" to an action if itcoincides with your specialty.

� MAGIC: troll magic, human magic� FIGHTING: unarmed, hand-held

weapons, missile weapons, athletics� SOCIAL: scary, sexy, fun, insightful, feisty,

perky

Again, you may use any of the three actiontypes for any appropriate purpose; the specialtyis there just for fun and a little extra flash whenyou do that particular sort of thing.

Add some details about the character’s appear-ance. Trollbabe is intended to produce a veryvisual, event-heavy style of play, and the fol-lowing things can make a big difference.

� Hair color and style (shaggy, spiky, bushy,silky, whatever)

� Horns’ size and shape (Horns are notantlers. Trollbabes have horns.)

� Two items, not physically valuable but withsome personal importance of some kind;they may well reflect the character’s special-ties if desired:� one human item, such as a book or

written material or a worked ornament� one trollish item, such as a lucky stone

or rune-scrawled animal skin� What sort of clothes the character favors,

based on troll customs, human customs, orany combination of the two.

Kit the character out with whatever weaponor simple equipment you’d like, if any. Theonly limitation is that she begins the gametravelling somewhere, on foot. Pick a destina-tion simply by checking out the map, becauseit’s up to you. It may or may not be the sameas the one chosen by another player.

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EXAMPLE TROLLBABE: Retta.Her number is 6, thus shehas the rolls 1-5 Fight, 7-10Magic, and 1-6 Social.

She has shaggybrown hair andpretty hefty

curling-back horns;her specialties are Troll

magic, Athletics, and Fun.She wears a vest laced in front, baggy trousers, and goesbarefoot; she owns two smallish (for trollbabes) axes, aswell as a lucky rock and a letter from a sea-captaininviting her to meet him.

Character creation

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EXAMPLE TROLLBABE:Tha. Her number is 3,thus she has the rolls 1-2 Fight, 4-10Magic, and 3-10 Social. She has silky black hair and pointy goat-typehorns; her specialties are Human magic, Unarmed fighting, and Scary.She wears a human-style robe and cloak, with a sinister and ornate skull-ornament as a brooch, and carries a gnarled trollish magic-staff.

Ben Morgan

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Ascene occurs when everyone at thetable knows about a place, somepeople in it, the conditions, and

(most importantly) some point-at-hand thatwill result in some kind of event. Not alldescription or subjects during role-playing arescenes, but a lot of them are.

In this game, a scene may be initiated – whichis to say, presented to everyone – by the GMalone, and the GM also has the final call regard-ing ending scenes. However, a scene may berequested at any time during play, and similarly,a scene may be ended at a player’s request aswell. This is an important point, as a player maywell want to get some element or concern intoplay as the GM hares off to some new scene.

Let’s say that Tha is engaged insome sort of interesting scene, inwhich she successfully discoversthe skull of a fanged humanoidand overcomes its fell influence.The GM decides to close thatscene just as Tha lifts the skulland squints challengingly into itseyesockets, and to pick up a newscene. Why? Because beating theskull was all that needed to bedone in terms of conflicts, andthe image of Tha exerting herdominance over it is a nice strongone to finish on.

This kind of director-style "cutting" onlyworks if the players are not being "cut out" ofthe process. The GM must remember thatTha’s player might object and ask for her sceneto continue, as the player may have anotherconflict in mind; conversely, this player mighteven have requested that very cut instead of itbeing the GM’s idea. In all such cases, it isperfectly all right to discuss whether the cutoccurs at all, which is very different from argu-ing about whether it did occur. The buckstops at the GM but that doesn’t mean that heor she shouldn’t listen to everyone else.

One reason to declare a scene isbecause the old one is over, andthe GM (or whoever, via sugges-tion) sees no reason not to moveon to further potential for con-flict or other interactions.Following the skull-scene, the GMmight say, "All right, so now you’reback at the temple …" and somediscussion might ensue regardingwhether Tha had something elseto do. Or perhaps the player says,“Sure!" and begins to talk aboutwhat Tha is up to at the temple.

Another reason is that playeractions may simply require a sceneto exist. If a player states that thetrollbabe is following someone tosee where he goes, the GM isessentially obliged to create ascene set in either where he’sgoing or wherever he turns tochallenge the trollbabe aboutbeing followed, or anything similar.Scenes like this pop into exis-tence all the time.

Players may have to re-orient themselvesslightly regarding how scenes and actions getannounced in Trollbabe. Past experience maylead them to state something like, “I’m goingto the marketplace,” in expectation of nowhaving a scene at the marketplace. In thisgame, the character’s actions don’t need to beannounced until the scene is established inthe first place, so the dialogue might be morelike, “I want a scene at the marketplace,” andthe GM says, “Sure, you’ve just arrived there,”at which point more traditional role-playing(i.e. actions-announcements) would ensue.

Scenes are mainly distinguished in terms ofwhat conflicts arise within them (i.e. amongthe imaginary characters), and how those con-flicts are worked out in some way. The dice in

Scenes and Conflicts

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James V. West

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Trollbabe operate specifically to resolve theseconflicts, which is different from resolvingspecific actions or tasks. One doesn’t roll “tohit" or “to cast a spell" or “to perceive." Whenthe dice hit the table, something is going tobe done soon: a foe will be defeated, an argu-ment will go one way or another, or the magi-cal storm will destroy a town.

Not all scenes include conflicts, but conflictsalways occur within scenes. Unlike scenes,however, anyone may declare that a conflicthas arisen and that it needs to be resolved; noone else in the group may over-ride that decla-ration. The person declaring the conflict mustspecify who is in conflict, about what, andwhat Action Type is involved – basically pro-viding everybody with a “squaring off" contextin which to get involved, knowing who is upagainst whom, and about what.

� If the declarer of the conflict is the GM,he or she states which trollbabe charactersare necessarily involved.

� If the declarer of the conflict is a player,his or her character must be involved, andthe declaration should specify what NPCsare involved as well.

� Players of trollbabes who are not involvedin the conflict may become involved ifthey choose.

Characters involved in conflicts must stateGoals, which are essentially the desired outcomesfor those characters. Goals can actually affect theinitiation of the conflict itself, as follows.

A player may decide to initiate theconflict because the situation in aScene may be escalating into oneanyway. In doing this, the player isensuring that his or her trollbabe isgoing to be able to participate inthe conflict using her best score,because the player will be able tospecify the Action Type.

In playing Trollbabe for the first time, the GMis encouraged to let the players know when heor she is about to initiate a conflict, so that theycan practice taking the initiative in doing so.

A much more tricky concept arises a lot of

the time. On many occasions, the trollbabe’sstated action actually brings the conflict intoexistence in its entirety, including the presenceand intent of opponents. For example, statingthat the trollbabe is being watchful for ene-mies essentially requests that they be present.Failure means that whoever-it-is must havesuccessfully got the drop on the trollbabe!

It all depends on clarifying the Goalfor a stated conflict. When the play-er says, “Retta’s watching out forskulking thugs,” the GM must say,“OK, we have a conflict. What’s yourgoal?” If the player says, “To makesure nothing’s there,” then successwill mean no one’s there, but if theplayer says, “To see if anyone’s tryingto bushwhack me,” then successmeans that they are indeed doing so,but the trollbabe spotted them intime. Or if the player says, “To avoidanyone who’s trying to bushwhackme,” then success means they’rethere, but she gives them the slip.

Thinking like this might be a big switch forplayers and GMs. In this game, one doesn’tjust announce actions and wait for “theworld" to respond.

The most important element of any conflictis the player-character’s Goal. Announcedactions are not sufficient; actions are onlystated as means to achieve the stated Goal.Here are some points about Goals and theirrelation to Action Types.

� Goals for the three Action Types includebut are not limited to the following:� MAGIC: gain information, kill someone,

incapacitate someone, protect oneself orsomeone else, travel somewhere, send orreceive an object, control others or a sit-uation, or communicate with someone

� FIGHTING: subdue, incapacitate, out andout kill, or simply impress an opponent

� SOCIAL: inspire, lead, convince, bargainfor advantage, reassure, terrify, attract,intimidate, establish commitment, orgain information

� All three Action Types may be offensiveor defensive, as well as honest or decep-tive. For instance, Social may be used toconvince someone of the truth, to lie tothem, or to spot whether they are lying.

� Again, a character’s listed specialties haveno game effect beyond cosmetics; anyonemay use a given Action Type for anyappropriate goal.

The final point about conflicts is that failedgoals are failed goals. It doesn’t matter whetherthe consequences do not injure or kill thecharacter – that particular goal cannot beachieved by that character in this scene. Thus,losing a fight means losing it, even if the char-acter is all right afterwards; she cannot simply“attack him again" in the same scene.

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Ben Morgan

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Resolving Conflicts: Pace

The group must decide at what Pace theconflict is operating, in terms of howmany activities will be “covered" by a

single die-roll. For purposes of this section, theterm Series refers to the outcome of a rollagainst the character’s number; more aboutSeries and re-rolling the die is presented later.

Three Paces are allowed:

� ACTION BY ACTION: blow for blow duringcombat. The unit of a die-roll is a decisiveblow, not each and every little attempt oraction. This Pace requires three successfulSeries for the trollbabe to achieve her goalin the conflict. Three unsuccessful Seriesindicates failure, as does a result of “inca-pacitated" or worse at any time.

� EXCHANGE BY EXCHANGE: foe by foe for abattle, key moment to key moment for aduel. The unit of a die-roll indicates shiftsin tension level, across several decisiveblows or clashes. This Pace requires twosuccessful Series for the trollbabe to achieveher goal in the conflict. Two unsuccessfulSeries indicates failure, as does a result of“incapacitated" or worse at any time. � ENTIRE CONFLICT: the entire battle or

the entire fight. The unit of a die-roll settles the entire matter in

one go. Clearly, this Pace is based on asingle successful or unsuccessful Series.

The astute reader will note that an Action-by-Action Pace may include up to five Series,maximum, and that an Exchange-by-Exchange Pace may include up to three Series,maximum. To repeat, if a trollbabe is incapac-itated at any point during any conflict, theconflict is over.

Whoever initiated the conflict sets the Pace,but one other person (the GM if the conflict-declarer was a player; a player if the conflict-declarer was the GM) may increase or decreasethe Pace by one level. In other words, if youdeclare the Exchange-by-Exchange level, thenyou are saying, “You choose" to the other per-son. Only these two people may designate thePace, even if other players join their characters’efforts into the conflict.

Choosing the final Pace is an importantconcern, because the faster the Pace, the“more important" the die roll becomes – thewhole goal may ride on it. However, the slow-er the Pace, the more likely it is that injuriesand secondary effects will accrue before theconflict is resolved; furthermore, slower Pacesof conflict permit switching Action Typesfrom die roll to die roll.

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Resolving Conflicts: ‘Fair and clear’

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The scene is a lonely glen in a forest. Theconflict is an open fight between Retta,accompanied by her friend Skalgar, and asmall pack of hunchbacked rat-creatureswho want her for a sacrifice (how all this isinvolved in the Stakes is a larger issue, notrelevant for the example). The conflict wasinitiated by the player.

The “fair and clear” stage concerns whateveryone’s doing. All we know right now isthat there’s a conflict; we might have a goodidea of what Action Type is involved, or itmight need to be clarified. For instance, evenif things got a little tense just before the con-flict started, Retta’s player may state that hergoal is to leave peaceably, and thus theAction Type becomes Social, not Fighting.

But let’s say that it’s all about Fighting(rahh!). Now’s when Retta is designated tobe hurling one axe into a rat-thing or anyother sort of physical activities describingher fighting style, and Skalgar might be des-

ignated as doing some sort of “salmon leap”into their midst. It’s all pretty much color-text at this point, more of an impression orestablishing shot than resolution, which willawait the die roll.

However, to say all this stuff, the player needsto know more about what the rat-things aredoing. Now’s the time when the GM is talk-ing about how they are spreading out andtrying to grab our heroes from multiple angles,or about how one of them is chittering outsome horrible invocation to their ancestralMama Rat Spirit. Again, since it’s all color-text, the content of what the player-charac-ters and NPCs are really doing should emergeand be modified through dialogue, not as aset of take-your-turn stated announcements.For instance, Retta’s player could state thather target for the hurled axe is the chantingrat-thing, and that Skalgar isn’t leaping afterall, but concentrating on defending againstthe grabbing individuals.

Next comes a “fair and clear” stage inwhich characters’ options may be dis-cussed without any commitment to

their actions. During this step, the GM must beopen about what the various NPCs are up to, evenincluding some whose actions are not known tothe player-characters. The GM may hold backsome information, but he is not allowed to spring“new stuff" on the characters in the middle of theresolution, as that would be a new conflict.

The “fair and clear" stage is over when every-one has announced what the various charactersare doing, and some trappings (colorful details)of the actions are shaping up to be like. At thispoint, the initiator of the conflict may set theAction Type, if it wasn’t clear already, and theplayer of each trollbabe involved may set hergoal. If someone is casting a spell to rouse the

anger of the sea gods, or if someone else is bran-dishing a length of two-by-four, then now’s thetime to get these things stated.

During this phase, the player of any involvedtrollbabe may also request that additionalAction Types be included as well. Rules fordetermining whether and how these play intothe conflict are presented later.

Only when the “fair and clear” stage is overare the characters’ actions “begun” in the imag-inary game-world. Until then, that is, untileveryone is satisfied regarding his or her charac-ters’ actions in terms of announcement, noth-ing has begun to happen and no one is official-ly committed in any sort of way. The transitionfrom this stage to the next one, actually resolv-ing the Conflict, must be formally acknowl-edged during play.

FAIR AND CLEAR

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Conflicts are resolved using the d10 rolldescribed earlier. Each roll, however,carries with it a sequence of potential

re-rolls. As mentioned previously, the initialroll plus its re-rolls (up to three) is called aSeries. The way the roll eventually turns outdetermines who gets to narrate the results:

� If the Series is successful, then the GMdescribes the outcome, making sure to keepthe stated goal successful. He cannot intro-duce new character actions or conflicts yet,but any implications and permutationsfrom that particular resolution are welcome.

� If the Series fails, then the player describesthe outcome, with exactly the same restric-tions and parameters.

Embellishments may be suggested by others tothe person who is narrating the outcome, butthat person has the final say. Personal style differ-ences in these descriptions among players and

GM are not only acceptable but encouraged.As outlined in the Series chart, when you fail

a roll, you may re-roll by checking off an itemfrom the re-roll list on the sheet. Every Seriesincludes three potential re-rolls, given enoughresources to “pay" for them. Note that a Seriesremains the same Action Type (or combina-tion of Types) throughout its course, even ifthe elements that are being brought in for re-rolls may seem very different.

Failing the first roll establishes that the char-acter’s goal was stymied in some way, usually insome painful or discommoding way for her.The player describes how: whether her weaponwas knocked away, her limb was wrenched, shewas knocked over and down, or she delivered auseless blow and the foe grinned at her (tochoose some examples for Fighting). The seriescan stop here, in which case the character haslost the conflict at hand and has failed toachieve the goal in question, but she is not par-

Resolving Conflicts: The Series

James V. West

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ticularly injured in the long term.However, the player may also check off one

item from the following list, to bring some-thing like it into play:

� A carried object � A sudden ally� A found or reached item� A remembered spell or other magical effect� A handy geographic feature

In doing so, the player may actually inventstuff into existence in the scene, retroactivelymaking the scene much more complex, evenflashbacking to some extent. For “sudden ally,”he or she shouldn’t use an existing named char-acter under the GM’s control, though, unlessthe GM approves. (If you forget and do so, andthe GM vetos it, all you have to do is choose orinvent someone else; your sudden ally and asso-ciated re-roll have not been cancelled.)

Using this new element of play (or having itgo into action) means you get to re-roll. Theinconvenience of the first failure still applies, butif you succeed with the re-roll, the character pre-vails after all, with the new element’s help. If there-roll fails, the character loses the conflict, and

may be considered injured, in whatever wayseems most appropriate for the conflict (yes,there are such things as social injuries). Theplayer decides upon the details of the injury.

The player may check off another item andget a second re-roll. If it succeeds, the troll-babe succeeds, although her injury remains (itbecomes “felt" later; see below). If this secondre-roll fails, however, the trollbabe not onlythoroughly loses the conflict at hand, she isflat-out incapacitated: knocked senseless, hurttoo badly to move, or anything similar. Again,the player describes the details.

However, you may check off a third item,bring it into play, and get a third and final re-roll. If this one is successful, the goal is stilllost and the trollbabe is still incapacitated, buther unconscious, or bleeding, or knocked-stu-pid self can be somehow brought into less-disadvantageous circumstances as the playerdescribes. If this third re-roll fails, she is basi-cally the chew-toy of whatever force or entitywas opposing her efforts. At this point, thefate of the trollbabe until the next scene isdescribed by the GM, unless the playerdecides that she has been killed.

THE SERIES: EXAMPLE 1Tha is involved in a military confer-

ence with some human leaders, andshe tries to convince them of a cer-

tain battle plan, but fails her Socialroll. The player states that she

seizes a (heretofore unmentioned)dagger from her belt and uses it tostab a crucial part of the (hereto-

fore unmentioned) map on thetable, to emphasize her point. She

checks off the “object you’re carry-ing" item from the list and re-rollsSocial. The player must also state

how her first failed roll discommod-ed or inconvencienced her, and

states that for a moment there,everyone laughed at her idea, and

that some still think it won’t work.

THE SERIES: EXAMPLE 2Tha fails her Magic roll to control aterrible lich, and it looms up outof the tomb to consume her. Theplayer brings in a small pack ofwolves, checking off “sudden ally,”stating that they harbor a cen-turies-old feud with the long-deadsorcerer, but the re-roll fails as well(now Tha is injured, presumably inthe wolf-lich-Tha scuffle). Theplayer then checks off “founditem,” stating that Tha manages toseize the lich’s crown from thetomb and use its magic against itsowner, for a second re-roll.

�

18

Again, as illustrated by the above examples,the content of whatever is allowing the re-rolldoes not have to “match" in any way theAction Type at hand, nor does it alter it. Forinstance, when Retta uses a remembered spellas a means of gaining a re-roll in a Series, theroll is still her Fighting, not a new Magic roll.The same goes for Tha’s use of the wolves,which permit her to re-roll her Magic, not anew Social roll.

Note that re-rolls refer to whatever dicewere used in the initial roll, such that if morethan one Action Type was being employed,hence either two or three dice were beingused, that initial roll is repeated with its fullcomplement of dice.

The degree of failure represented by “discom-moded,” “injured,” and “incapacitated" mustmake sense relative to the whole goal at hand.Even the most minor degree of failure must

still mean overall failure of the goal, so that if are-roll is not taken, the goal is failed. This issuemust be addressed during the “fair and clear"phase, such that everyone has a good idea ofwhat failed dice-outcomes might mean.

Once one of the listed elements for re-rolling has been checked off, it cannot beused again. All these elements “refresh,”becoming available again, after an agreed-upon time, usually waiting until the next ses-sion of play. A player may also request thatthis interval be an in-game-world lapse oftime, or following a real-world lapse of timeduring the session (e.g. one hour). In case of adisagreement regarding this issue, the GM isthe final arbiter.

One other source of re-rolls is available:Relationships. How relationships are formedand broken, and how they permit more re-rolls, is the topic for a later section.

THE SERIES: EXAMPLE 6Retta is involved in the same bat-tle, and in the midst of melee sheinspires her troops by her prowess(Fighting + Social), except that theroll fails. The player states that sheis overrun with foes, but uses aspell to make her axes blaze withlight, calling everyone’s attentionto her, and gaining a re-roll.

THE SERIES: EXAMPLE 3 Retta fights a monster bear on a

cliffside, and fails her Fighting roll.The player states that she is dis-commoded by losing her footingand tumbling down, then states

that she uses an overhangingbranch to tumble over athletically

and spring back into the fray (notethe specialty). The player checksoff “handy geographical feature”

and rerolls Fighting.

THE SERIES: EXAMPLE 4 Retta fails her Fight roll in themidst of a crowded barroom, andthe player gains a re-roll by stat-ing that she remembers an oldtrollish spell against beer (hencewhat everyone is full of ), but thisfails as well, and the player muststate how this results in an injuryfor her. The player then gains asecond re-roll by stating that shepulls a (heretofore unmentioned)boot knife.

THE SERIES: EXAMPLE 5Tha rolls combined Magic + Socialto inspire the whole band of war-riors, but fails with both dice. The

player states there’s a neat rockto stand on nearby ("handy geog-

raphy"), permitting her to addsome dramatic staging to her

speech and hence gain a re-roll(this might work well with herScary Social specialty as well).

19

Initial Roll

SUCCEEDGoal achievedGM describes it

�

FAILTrollbabe discommoded

Player describes itStop here? Goal fails

First Re-Roll

SUCCEEDGoal achievedGM describes it

�

FAILTrollbabe injuredPlayer describes it

Stop here? Goal fails

The series ends with any boldface print, unless:

(1) the box permits travelling on an arrow

&

(2) the player wants to continue.

Second Re-Roll

SUCCEEDGoal achievedGM describes it

�

FAILGoal fails

Trollbabe incapacitatedStop here? GM Describes her fate

Third and Final Re-Roll

SUCCEEDPlayer describes her fate

�

FAILGM describes her fate

orPlayer describes her death

20

Injury is a very general term. An injured char-acter ignores the “discommoded" step andproceeds to further injury right away on a

failed roll; therefore she is limited to a total of twore-rolls instead of three. Multiple injuries continuethis process, such that a doubly-injured characterproceeds directly to incapacitation with a failedroll, and a triply-injured one proceeds all the wayto the end of the series.

Note that all injuries are equal and apply in allways to further conflicts, regardless of ActionTypes. Also, injuries do not come into play inany meaningful way until the current Series isentirely over. This does include, however, thesubsequent Series within an Action-by-Action orExchange-by-Exchange conflict.

Once established, injuries “heal" in precisely thesame manner as re-roll items are “refreshed" –either at the beginning of the next session, or at anegotiated time in-game or out-of-game.

Incapacitated characters are not able to makechoices about their actions, whether due to pain,to being unconscious, to being enspelled, or any-thing else.

The only questions remaining are (1) whathappens to them, and (2) who says so. The fol-lowing issues need to be understood.

� No one can kill a trollbabe except for that char-acter’s player. Death is never possible through

dice outcomes or without player permission.� A character cannot “exit" a given adventure.

She may awaken after some time, whetherfive minutes or days later, but she remains inthe adventure at hand.

� When the GM narrates the fate of an inca-pacitated character, he or she usually takes theopportunity to place them into a scene entan-gled much more deeply in the Stakes of theadventure. In other words, when the GMbegins a new scene, he or she may place thecharacter in it from the outset in whatever cir-cumstances might be desired.

� When the player narrates the fate of such acharacter, he or she states how she came to thenew circumstances; this usually depends onwhatever was used for the re-roll that led to thisoutcome – e.g. a sidekick may have rescued herand brought her to a safe hideout. However, theplayer may not initiate a new scene, merely nar-rate the trollbabe’s exit from the scene contain-ing the conflict which incapacitated her.

Levels of injury contain the lower levels, suchthat when an incapacitated trollbabe recovers,she is still injured (which must be recoveredfrom independently), and when an injured troll-babe recovers, she is still discommoded(although this has no game effect and “disap-pears" instantly).

Injury

21

Tha is engaged in a magical con-flict. Her goal is to exorcise amalevolent spirit out of a help-less child and back intothe cursed pool fromwhich it emerged.

If her first roll fails,she is discommod-ed. The playermight state thatthe spiritdemonstratesits grip on thechild by blowingan evil breathon Tha, sendingher back chokingand gagging.

If her first re-rollfails, she is injured.The player might statethat magical force getssucked out of her and imbuesthe spirit with power, such that

the child bloats up to twice nor-mal size.

If her second re-roll fails, she isincapacitated. In this case,

the GM will describeher circumstances,

ranging from beingherself possessedby the spirit orbeing psychicallythwacked againsta roofbeam, orwhatever.

The player mayopt for the third

re-roll. If it fails,the GM retains

“story rights" overwhat happens to

Tha; if it succeeds, alldecisions about Tha’s

incapacitation (includingwhere and how she recovers)

are up to the player.

INJURY

James V. West

22

As stated previously, the person whoinitiated the conflict also sets theAction Type for the conflict, and

any acting trollbabe’s player may includeadditional Action Types. The GM may vetothese additions. For example:

� Social + Magic to convince or settle downa hostile group with a show of power

� Social + Fight to lead and inspire troops� Fight + Magic to generate magical protec-

tion during combat� Social + Magic + Fight to make one’s

sword flame with magical light, for pur-poses of leading and inspiring troops asone fights

One consideration regarding added ActionTypes is that magic, expressed as an ActionType, is not a snap-shot process. Thereforeadding it to an existing Social or Fighting con-flict requires non-emergency circum-stances. Snap-shot magicdoes exist inTrollbabe play, butonly through there-roll mechanics.

To resolve these andsimilar cases, roll onedie for each Action Type,separately (but simulta-neously) for each one.Thus one might berolling up to three dice.

� A single success is treated as a plain, sim-ple success using the above rules.

� Two successes are also treated as a plain,simple success (the benefit to rolling twicewas the increased chance of success).

� Three successes mean the player gets tonarrate the outcome instead of the GM.

� A failure with two or three dice (that is,none were successful) proceeds directly tothe “character is injured” stage, bypassingthe “discommoded” stage entirely.

� A failed re-roll with two or three dice (asabove) proceeds to the final box of thediagram.

Sometimes, when more than one trollbabeis involved, the order of actions becomesimportant. This may be resolved during the“fair and clear" stage of discussion, if everyonesimply agrees upon the order. However, if

even one single person dissents,then use this method: all rolls

occur simultaneously, andconflicts are deemedto have beenresolved in order of

lowest to highest valuesrolled, regardless of suc-cess or failure. (Note that

this method dictates thatsuccessful magic is slowerthan successful fighting,

on the average.)

Resolving Conflicts: Complications

Rod Anderson

23

For the most part, opposition of anykind is already established within theresolution system and very little else

need be known about a particular foe or situ-ation beyond the fact that a trollbabe isengaged in a conflict with it. Under nearly allcircumstances, trollbabes only use the singlenumber for any action, which makes the dice-rolling fairly painless.

However, the GM may assess a given rollfor a Modifier, which reduces the chance ofsuccess. A modifier is rated at –1, –2, and soon. It shoves the chance down, so if you havea Magic modifier of –2 and your number is 6,ordinarily your Magic roll is 7-10, but nowit’s a 9-10. Similarly, if that Modifier appliedto Fighting, your usual roll of 1-5 wouldbecome 1-3.

If the modifier takes your number to 0 orbelow, or to 10 or above, treat the outcome asan automatic first-roll failure.

Ordinarily, a modifier only applies to oneAction Type. Note that if the modifier appliesto Magic and the character’s Social is based onMagic, then it applies to the Social as well,and the same goes for Fighting. Only themost severe modifiers should apply to allAction Types. The only enforced all-Typemodifier in the rules of the game is an injury.

Ordinarily, a modifier applies only to theinitial roll, and re-rolls are made at theunmodified number. A GM may decree that agiven instance’s modifier applies to re-rolls aswell, but the modifier for the re-rolls maynever be worse than –1.

Modifiers are most often assigned when afoe or situation has a particular identity orstyle that the GM would like to emphasize, aswell as simply making the opposition moredifficult. Such Modifiers may only be assignedrelative to the Scale of the adventure. Anascending list of Scale magnitudes is providedin a later section, with appropriate Modifierslisted; for now, all you need to know is thatthey only apply at higher Scales and are neverworse than –2. The exception applies to Magicactions, which may incur very heavy Modifiersif their goals exceed the Scale of the adventure.

Modifiers are potentially a big problem forrole-playing, as they might be used to devaluea character’s accumulated re-roll rights bymaking all the re-rolls less likely to succeed.The big danger here is “de-protagonizing" thecharacter – diminishing the player’s efforts toauthor the trollbabe’s story by making herincompetent. Therefore a GM may not assignthem freely.

Modifiers get included into play in two dif-ferent ways: either due to the inherent fea-tures of the action in question, or due to theinherent features of the opposition in ques-tion. The first generally applies to magic, andthe second may apply to just about anything.

Magical actions are kind of weird, becausein game terms they do not differ from othersorts in any way, but in story or setting termsthey are tremendously different. To establishboth the similarities and differences in play,three things must be considered: the magic’stype, its trappings (as distinct from its Goal),its Scale, and any Modifiers that accrue basedon these things.

Magic comes in two types: trollish andhuman, which are pretty hard to get mixed up.

� Trollish magic is all about invoking andcommuning with the untrammeledwilderness, of any kind. It usually dealswith “whole areas,” like a river, a lake, amountain, the sky (ie immediately above),groups or types of animals nearby, andsimilar. It is especially effective or niftywhen performed in groups.

� Human magic is an individual scholarlyart, based mainly on altering body func-tion or behaviors. It is performed mainlythrough hypnosis, potions, and other“stagey" methods; a typical spell is cast byopening a phial and spraying a fine mistabout, or by lighting a special candle andintoning a mesmerizing chant.

Although a Magic action must be stated aseither trollish or human, the methods certain-ly overlap in some ways toward certain goals,such that either would probably work fine atcalming down or co-opting a pack of wolves.

Roll modifiers

24

Ben Morgan

25

The trappings of a stated Magic actionshould not be confused with the goal of thataction. In game terms, it really doesn’t matterat all whether “casting the spell" is performedby uncapping a vial, calling on a spirit, inton-ing a memorized magically-charged phrase, oreven activating some kind of charm. “To casta spell" is not a goal. Not even “Magicallycharm him" is a goal. To recap, the goals of aMagic action include the following:

� gain information, kill someone, incapaci-tate someone, protect self or someoneelse, travel somewhere, send or receive anobject, control others or a situation, com-municate with someone

Thus any number of trappings may be usedfor any given goal, and that in-game materialis left strictly up to the person who announcesthe action, as well as to the person whoresolves the action following the rolled series.Trappings are encouraged during play, as theyenhance the imaginative result of role-playingtogether, but again – do not mistake them forthe goal, which is what the roll is about.

The Scale of Magic is related to the abovepoint, because it should be applied specificallyto the stated goal and not to the trappings.Calling down the entire season of winter inmid-summer seems like mighty magic, but ifthe stated goal is only to freeze one campfireand make it go out, then the goal is quitesmall: just personal.

Two of the issues above – trollish vs.human, scale of the goal; but not trappings –present the possibility of incurring a Modifier.

� Off type: a Magic action whose goal is, inthe GM’s opinion, not consistent with thetype of magic it’s using, gains a –2 Modifierthat applies only to the initial roll.

� Scale: a Magic action whose goal exceedsthe Scale of the current adventure gains aModifier equal to the difference, based onthe Scale chart presented later. It mayacquire a -1 to re-rolls as well, if its dis-tance of effect exceeds the trollbabe’simmediate area of physical influence, or ifits duration exceeds the length of theimmediate scene.

Retta is on a ship at sea which isbeing tossed by a mighty storm. TheScale of the adventure is “smallgroup.” She casts a spell to calm thewaters, but specifies that it’sHuman magic, based on emotion.This magic is just right for its Scale(the crew is in danger, a small group),but its Type is questionable –storms don’t really have emotions,and the GM decides that nature-oriented Troll magic was the way togo. Retta gets a –2 Modifier thatonly applies to her first roll.

�Tha is getting out of a humantown which no longer appreciatesher presence. The Scale of theadventure is “small group.” Shecasts a spell to befuddle them allinto a daze to make good herescape, using Human Magic tobrew a vapor that will floatthrough the town. This magic ison-Type given its goal, but it’s def-initely operating at a larger Scalethan the adventure, so it gets a –1Modifier. Since the effect is onlyintended to last long enough toresolve an immediate conflict(getting out of town), the GMdecides the Modifier does notapply to re-rolls.

Oppositional modifiers are somewhat easier.Most of the time, all concerns for combat arehandled with regular Fight rolls. (As men-tioned above, statements of failure or victoryfor Fighting are actually easier to adjudicaterather than for Magic or Social conflicts.)

However, a given character or situation mayalso be defined pre-play as carrying aModifier, to be used during conflicts with it.To set the modifier, follow these steps:

26

1. How big is the Modifier?2. To what Action Types does it apply:

Magic, Fight, or both? Conversely, does itapply only to Social?

3. Does it apply to re-rolls or not?Modifiers for these concerns must be

assigned within the restrictions set by theScale of the adventure, as described above.

Ingarde Skullsplitter is a humanwarrior-maiden who is well willingto die for her family’s honor. To her,defending this honor also meansacquiring the right to bury herbrother in the town graveyardeven though the brother died inan attack on the town. This con-flict is part of an overall Stakesconcerning who really runs thetown. Fighting Ingarde may wellreceive a –1 Modifier due to hercommitment to the issues feedinginto the Stakes; if the GM has aspecial liking for Ingarde, he or shemight make the Modifier apply tore-rolls as well.

�A tribe of firefly-people lives in anarea and their self-designated terri-tory happens to be threatened bythe conflict between two groupsof trolls. Perhaps at some point inthe adventure, the firefly-peo-ple attack all and sundry in abig swarm; their presencemakes doing anything else inthe situation just plainaggravating. Fighting themdirectly doesn’t receivea Modifier, but allother actions, includ-ing fighting anyoneelse, might receive a –1.

On occasion, players’ stated Goals crossScale to such an extent that things get silly.Announcing that a single trollbabe “kills theinvading army" is a good example – the per-sonal scale of the character is being used atthe much large scale of the army’s opposition.(If the trollbabe were operating, herself, atthat larger scale, most likely by using a rela-tionship with a whole army of her own, thatis a different matter and raises no problems.)

The GM should not assign Modifiers toreflect the “difficulty" of such Scale-crossingactions. The solution to the problem lies inthe fact that the GM narrates successful out-comes. If this Scale-crossing phenomenoncrops up, he or she may modulate the natureof the successful outcome to make moresense; i.e., the successful trollbabe manages tohalt the invading army for a while by killingits leader. However, this is the sort of thingthat should be made clear at the “fair andclear" stage of conflict resolution, rather than

after the dice havehit the table.

Rod Anderson

27

The central route to improving charactereffectiveness is to develop relationships.Examples of relationships include a

family member, a lover (requited or not), acomrade-in-arms, a mentor, a friendly rival, afollower, or a student/sidekick. They may alsobe negative, as with an unfriendly rival or evena bitter enemy. Relationships are emotional;one may have siblings but not count them asrelationships in game terms, for example. Onemay even form relationships with groups andcommunities, rather than individuals, depend-ing on the Scale of the adventure.

Relationships are established at the player'sdiscretion, using the following steps:

1. Some in-play interaction with that char-acter which includes a roll.

2. A further scene or interaction verbalizesthe relationship.

In other words, relationships arise out of sit-uations of conflict.

A relationship may be proposed for anyone(see below for trollbabe-trollbabe relation-ships), but the GM has the final word onwhether a given named NPC can be broughtinto a relationship or not, much in the samevein as whether a given named NPC may beused as a “sudden ally.”

A trollbabe has survived a battle,in part due to the intervention ofsome nearby band of warriors. Shetakes “one of the warriors" as arelationship, perhaps based on acomment of the GM's that theylost a few of their members in thefight. The GM has no authority toapprove or disapprove this rela-tionship; all it takes is a bit of role-playing to clinch it.

Let's say the GM had named theleader of the warriors during thescene ("Malgus the Large"). If thetrollbabe decides to establish a rela-tionship with Malgus following the

battle, the GM may veto thechoice because Malgus has a name.Of course, the GM may not haveany specific plans for Malgus, so heor she goes ahead and permits therelationship after all.

Either of the above two optionsmay occur exactly as written, nomatter how the warriors came intoexistence during play. They mighthave been brought into the Sceneby the GM, or they might havebeen invented on the fly by theplayer by using a “sudden ally” re-roll.

Relationships formed during an adventuremay be at any Scale at or below the Scale ofthe adventure. AVillage-scale adventure maygenerate relationships with the entire village,as well as with a family or person. Forinstance, if Tha wanted to form a relationshipwith the small pack of wolves that had arrivedto help her against the lich ("sudden ally") ina previous example, she would have to be inan adventure with the Scale at “small group"or higher. Otherwise, she might form a rela-tionship with a wolf or two, but not with thepack as a whole.

A given NPC or group can only provide arelationship for one trollbabe at a time. If twoplayers would like their respective trollbabecharacters to form a relationship to the sameperson or entity, either one must agree not totake the relationship, or the two characterswill have to resolve the issue through troll-babe-trollbabe conflict, which is discussedlater in the rules.

Breaking a relationship is a lot easier thanforming one; the player simply has toannounce the breakup and the characterneeds to express it during a scene, in any way.The other member of the relationship nowbecomes a plain old NPC again.

The person with whom one has a relation-ship is played a little differently from a usualNPC. The player gets to state what the person

Relationships

28

is doing or trying to do, but the GM providesany details or nuances or verbalized role-play-ing for him or her.

Retta has gained a comrade-in-arms, Skalgar Hog’s Son, and theplayer states that he is keeping alookout during their hike acrossthe frozen ridges. The GM cannotmake Skalgar stupid or carelessand simply state that the lookoutgets neglected; if there’s anyimportant outcome involved withthat issue, he would have to callfor a scene and conflict for Rettato roll in. The GM’s role is todecide how Skalgar likes being on-watch and to role-play his com-ments or minor actions.

Tha has preserved a fallen friend’sspirit in her skull-brooch as a rela-tionship. The player states thatthe spirit flies forth to seekknowledge of the black-sailedships. Again, the GM cannot sub-vert its intentions counter to theestablished relationship or statedactions, by making it rebel againsther or something similar. He doeshave the responsibility to role-play its appearance and demeanor.

Tha has another relationship, thisone with a rival sorcerer. This is atricky issue! The GM cannot runthe sorcerer as a full NPC, so as acharacter, he is very differentfrom the usual concept of a GM-controlled villain. Instead, it’s upto Tha’s player to state (forinstance) that he is involved insending out the black-sailed shipsin the first place.

Remember: no one ever rolls except for troll-babes. Thus a relationship-person’s actions arestill and always considered modifiers of thetrollbabe roll, even if the two characters aremiles apart and (in-game) acting independent-ly. Therefore stated actions for those charactersalways should be considered expressions of thetrollbabe’s goals and abilities, including emo-tional ties to these characters.

Relationships are added to the list of itemsthat may be checked off for re-rolls. Theymay be used only if the conflict at hand con-cerns that relationship in some appropriateway. No relationship may be utilized for allconceivable conflicts! Sometimes it is straight-forward - your lover is quite likely to hurlhimself into a conflict that threatens your life.Sometimes it’s a little harder, especially fornegative relationships.

As a very rough guide for what sorts of con-flicts are relevant to what sorts of relationships:

� Sidekicks back up trollbabes in fights,especially defensive ones, and often gainhandy information; they are excellentsources of re-rolls in the third re-roll of aSeries of any kind. However, they are ter-rible for social interactions.

� Enemies are useful to just about any con-flict, if their activities can be shoehornedin as interference. However, such inclu-sion becomes too farfetched very quickly,limiting the enemies’ utility.

� Rivals are much like enemies, but may alsobe included in positive ways on occasion,when the topic of the rivalry is itself at risk(say, a tribe’s survival is at risk and therivalry concerns status within the tribe).When that topic is not an issue in a con-flict, the rival relationship cannot be used.

� Comrades are useful in any conflict thatdirectly concerns the comrade’s own goals.They do not participate in other conflictsat all.

� Followers expect very specific behaviorsfrom their leaders and will back them uponly if those behaviors or values are beingdemonstrated.

29

Jam

es V

. Wes

t

30

� Mentors provide advice, lessons, and rules,which are often recalled in the thick of anExchange. As with enemies, the re-roll mayapply to any sort of conflict, but the limitis plausibility.

� Lovers usually back up their partners injust about anything ... unless the trollbabe’sgoal diminishes the central emotional roleof the lover in her life. In other words, theyare useful as re-rolls as long as the relation-ship is being validated.

� Family members most commonly getinvolved regarding direct, external threats. Formore subtle conflicts, the emotional ties offamily tend to interfere rather than aid.

All of these are subject to considerable fine-tuning regarding a particular NPC’s characterand the context of the relationship.

Retta is embroiled in yet anotherdust-up of some kind, and the firstroll goes badly; the player statesthat she is thwocked from behindby some skulking creep and goes toone knee. Then he states thatSkalgar looms up and tosses thecreep through the wooden slats ofthe nearby window, checking offthe relationship for this Series andgaining a re-roll. [Note: this is a rela-tionship that gets checked off, notthe “sudden ally" category of thelisted re-roll items.]

Another version of the above: theplayer states, instead, that Skalgarcharges in and gets tossed aside,but Retta now has enough timeto get up and really bash thecreep. The point is that bringing acharacter in for a re-roll mayeither involve the secondary char-acter “solving the problem" direct-ly or simply give the trollbabe her-self another chance, as the playersees fit.

�

Tha is carrying out a complexnecromantic ritual to bring anancient curse into a more con-structive form, and the first rollgoes awry. The player states thatan enemy of hers, a human baronwho lives miles away, has sent somemen to find and kill her, but theyran smack into the ancient cursethemselves and cope with it usingcharms they’d prepared against her.Thus the curse is weakened right atthe moment she’s trying to alter it,permitting her a re-roll.

�

Retta is presenting the case toSkalgar’s kin that he is no longer tobe outlawed, considering that hehas contributed a lot of blood andsweat to defending his kin’s territoryagainst an invading clan. Given afailed first roll, the player may bringthe relationship to Skalgar in as a re-roll, even though Skalgar is currentlylying wounded in a hut some dis-tance off in the forest.

Relationships can be damaging to the peopleinvolved. If a re-roll based on a relationship fails,no matter how the whole series turns out, theperson in question will wind up at one “conse-quence" level worse than the trollbabe does, if heor she is physically present during the conflict.

Retta finishes a Series during whichshe used her relationship withSkalgar Hog’s Son, in which she hap-pened to fail at the “injured" level.He was present during the conflict,and thus he is incapacitated andmay be considered unavailable forrerolls for some time, which may bespecified by the player as part ofhis or her narration of the result ofthe Series.

31

This is how people with relationships to themain characters can die: when a trollbabe isincapacitated, and if any relationships wereinvolved in the Series as re-rolls–and if thosepeople were physically present or otherwisedirectly involved–then they die. Note thatSkalgar Hog’s Son, in the debate example, isnot at risk because he is not present in theconflict itself.

The really nice thing, though, is that rela-tionships usually “refresh" automatically afterthat particular conflict has been resolved.Other re-roll items usually have to wait forthe next entire session, but relationships canbe counted on throughout a session fromconflict to conflict, as long as the particularconflict is relevant to that relationship. TheGM has the final word on whether a givenrelationship is relevant to the conflict or thestated goal of the action.

In two circumstances, however, a relation-ship may not refresh as quickly as that.

� A relationship may be used as a firstaction, in the sense that the player hasannounced the person to be “going infront" or taking the lead in the conflictahead of the trollbabe herself. The advan-tage to this is that, if the roll fails, thetrollbabe is not deemed to have lost theconflict in any way and may begin theseries with the next roll.

� A relationship may be used at long-dis-tance, such that a “flashback" of some sortis used to justify what the character is ableto do to get a re-roll.

In either of these two circumstances, the

relationship does not return for immediateuse in the following scene, but is unavailablefor the rest of the session. It may refresh asdoes a usual re-roll item, or through someaction that reflects on the relationship.

Retta has a relationship withHuurch, a troll shaman deep in thewoods. The player fails the firstSocial roll in a conflict concerningleadership of a pirate ship, milesand miles away from the woods.However, he pulls in the relation-ship for a re-roll by stating thatHuurch had given Retta a spellover storms. Later, this relationshipmay only refresh if Retta managesto meet Huurch or send word tohim that his spell had helped her.

One of the niftiest tricks with relationshipsis for them to carry on in play even if thetrollbabe dies. When this occurs, an automaticrelationship is established between the deadtrollbabe and any player-character who knewher. The player may use the relationships ofthe dead character as re-rolls, as agreed uponby both players, to the rolls of the living char-acters. This effect may be permanent, if theplayer decides simply to “play the NPCs" asre-rolls to the other player-characters’ rolls. Or,the relationship may be transferred over to theplayer-character who has been helped, again, ifboth players agree. Or, finally, if the playerdesires, the effect can fade out after a while.

32

Trollbabe-trollbabe relationships arepossible, and they are begun just asany other relationship as long as both

players agree. They may be broken by eitherplayer, again, using the same rules as for anyrelationship. However, in action, these rela-tionships work a little differently: they permita trollbabe to donate a re-roll item to anothertrollbabe’s Exchange, even across time andspace. This includes relationships as well asthe standard list of re-roll items.

If it so happens that two trollbabes comeinto direct conflict with one another, the sys-tem must be tweaked a bit. First, both charac-ters’ Goals must be explicitly stated andreviewed to see whether they are really in con-flict. The player who does not initiate theconflict (call for a roll) sets the Action Typeand will make the roll.

Before rolling, check the relevant ActionType to see whether the target player’s troll-babe’s ability exceeds the other character(whose player is rolling) in that category. Ifso, then the roll suffers a –1 continuingModifier. If more than one Action Type isbeing employed, then the Modifier applies toeach die separately. Note that either involvedplayer may bring in new Action Types asdesired, with no veto permitted.

The rules are furthered altered in one signif-

icant way: if the rolling character succeeds,but if any of dice rolled do not individuallysucceed, then the outcome must be moderat-ed to include some advantage or positive out-come for the “beaten" character.

The possible effects of the conflict on bothcharacters should be stated clearly during the“plain and clear" stage of discussion, taking boththe goal of the acting character and the possibleoutcomes along the Series into account.Furthermore, in all trollbabe-trollbabe conflict,regardless of the outcome of the Series, the GMnarrates the outcome of the conflict.

Retta and Tha come into conflict,initiated by Retta’s player. Tha’splayer sensibly chooses the MagicAction Type. The first playerchooses the initial Pace and Tha’splayer may adjust it. Tha exceedsRetta in Magic, hence suffers noModifier. Retta’s player addsFighting as a secondary ActionType, in which Tha is worse thanRetta. Therefore Tha rolls twodice, one for Fighting and one forMagic, with the former gaining a–1 continuing Modifier.

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Here’s the basic sequence of gettingthings done during play. All ofTrollbabe is conducted using the

following concepts.

1. Establish the Scene.2. Call for a Conflict, naming the Action Type3. Determine who is involved in the

Conflict and state their individual Goals4. Set the Pace of the Conflict5. “Fair and clear” stage: determine actions,

context, and events; set Modifiers6. Resolve the Conflict by conducting the

Series for all player-characters; providenarration and outcomes as dictated bysuccessful or failed rolls.

In Trollbabe, no need should ever arise tonegotiate who says what, or who has the lastword. All the rules are laid out in full.

� An adventure’s location is established by aplayer, when he or she designates thatplace as the character’s next destination.The Stakes and Consequences of theadventure are created by the GM, at theScale designated by the players.

� A Scene is initiated or terminated by theGM. Players may request Scenes orrequest that they be terminated.

� A Conflict is initiated by a player or bythe GM. Whoever does so (the “declarer")also sets the Action Type and states the

default Pace. If the declarer is the GM,then the player whose character is mostcentrally involved may adjust the Pace; thesame applies if the declarer is a player, inwhich case the GM may adjust the Pace.

� Goals are stated individually by all playerswhose characters are involved in aConflict. Each player may add ActionTypes to the stated one, but the GM hasfinal approval of these additions.(Trollbabe-trollbabe conflict uses slightlyaltered rules.)

� Modifiers are assigned by the GM underall circumstances.

� The order of actions is either agreed uponunanimously by all participants duringthe “fair and clear" stage, or determinedfollowing the initial rolls of all the Seriesin the Conflict.

� Relationships are created by players dur-ing or following Scenes.

� Relationships and re-roll items are usedby players during Series. The player stateswhat a relationship-person is doing; theGM states how he or she does it and withwhat commentary.

� Successful Series are narrated by the GM;unsuccessful Series are narrated by theplayers. (Trollbabe-trollbabe conflict usesslightly altered rules.) Narrations includethe outcome of the stated Goal(s).

An overview of narration in play

The Stakes of an adventure are theGM’s big decision during prepara-tion. The key to good Stakes is that

they must be interesting to players, not just tocharacters. The GM’s job is not to enforce“hooks" into an adventure, but to engageplayers’ interest in the issues it represents.

Such things involve passions – overwhelm-ing drives, ambitions, and interpersonal con-flicts, which have escalated to the level ofcommunity threats. People get all bent out ofshape over many things, but they boil downinto various permutations of property, family,and romance – which in practice becomecommunity issues of theft, fraud, feud, andmurder. Stakes that include conflicts aboutthese things among several NPCs are quicklyunderstood and quickly judged by players.

Dozens of possible Stakes exist, based onthe wide possibilities for conflicts of interest.They include:

� Feud: how can we punish those dastardsfor good? Or, how can the feud be halted?

� Land theft: who owns the land? How canthat be distinguished from who currentlycontrols it? How can we get control of theland ourselves?

� Framed-up culprit: how can he be pun-ished as fast as possible? Or, how can hebe freed and the real culprit found?

� Plain old oppression: how can we topplethe oppressor? Or, how can we stay onthe top of the heap?

� Complex war: what are we fightingabout? Who’s going to win?

� Leadership dispute: who’s in charge?What will happen then?

The other big issue for this setting is anydegree of conflict or cooperation betweentrolls and humans. This is highly customizableas well, depending on which group is morenumerous, what else might be happening, andwhether each group is unanimous in its posi-tion or is further subdivided into factions.

Trollbabes become embroiled in the Stakesin all sorts of ways. They may be enlisted by aplea or by employment, or they may have

pre-existing connections to the situation,whether established by the player prior to playor even by inventing a relevant NPC intoexistence for a re-roll (“My old pal! What areyou doing here!” “Well, Retta, I’m in kind ofa pickle and could use your help.”).

Stakes are set by the GM during prepara-tion for play. The GM does not have toexplain what the Stakes are at any time.

Consequences are quite simple: whateverresults, based on what happens when theStakes meet one or more trollbabes. That“whatever it is" is to be established throughplay, not through the application of GMagenda. In other words, adventures are to bebuilt to have multiple possible outcomes. Theonly concerns are that various NPC passionsand goals have found expression in some way,and that the community problem or localconcern is resolved for better or worse. Sincesomething must be in jeopardy for Stakes tomean anything, Consequences are constrainedto be concrete.

Consequences include outcomes like thefollowing:

� Someone does or does not die or meetsome other undesirable fate.

� A community does or does not remain inexistence.

� A castle is or is not destroyed.� A governmental system does or does not

stand.� A person or group is or is not permitted

to continue their actions.� One side of a military conflict wins or loses.

That concreteness is a virtue and an aid toenjoyable play. If the Stakes andConsequences concern abstractions such as acause is or is not furthered, or someone doesor does not believe something, or anythingelse non-tangible, then the story shifts awayfrom being about the trollbabe and towardbeing about the abstraction.

The Scale of Stakes and Consequences fallsinto distinct categories. Play begins at thesmallest Scale, and adventures may be scaledup to the next step at the request of any play-

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Stakes, Consequences, and Scale

er, between sessions. The limits to Modifiersare also listed here.

� A person’s or few person’s immediate well-being [No Modifiers permitted exceptregarding Magic actions]

� Small group: a family and its property, aband of outlaws [No Modifiers permittedexcept regarding Magic actions]

� Organized group: a ship and its crew, ahamlet of families sharing a commoncropland, a homestead with an associatedcommunity of servants and/or laborers[Modifiers permitted at –1, Magic actionModifiers unlimited]

� Village: a community centered aroundfarmlands or trade, but still governed on apersonal, family-interest basis that includesmost inhabitants [Modifiers permitted at–1, Magic action Modifiers unlimited]

� Substantial community: a township, castlefortress, or port town [Modifiers permittedat –1, Magic action Modifiers unlimited]

� Demesne: in modern terms, a county[Modifiers permitted up to –2, Magicaction Modifiers unlimited]

� Land: in modern terms, a state [Modifierspermitted up to –2, Magic actionModifiers unlimited]

In the longest terms, and if the Scale of playclimbs steadily, the results of a Trollbabe gamemay be so extreme and significant as toinclude the trolls wiping out the humans, thehumans wiping out trolls, or some sort ofpermanent accord being reached. Note thatthe Scale of adventures can never bedecreased, whether by GM or by player.

One tricky issue is GMing the importanceof smaller-Scale relationships within larger-Scale Consequences. The different levels ofrelationships have exactly the same gameeffects (permitting re-rolls), and this can beconfusing to those who are used to role-play-ing in more “realistic” or “representational”ways. One might be embroiled in an adven-ture that concerns the fate of a whole town oreven a land, and yet it’s a relationship withone person that turns the tide of the conflictat hand. Or that could be reversed – a con-flict concerning the fate of one little beggar-child might be re-rolled using a relationshipwith a whole army.

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Between adventures, the following con-cerns should be reviewed, addressed,and resolved among the members of

the role-playing group:

� Discuss Consequences from last time: whathappened, and what people might know orhear about in the future.

� The GM must offer to raise Scale of theStakes by one level; if anyone wants themraised, they are, and there’s no going back.

� Any trollbabe personal consequences may beestablished: adding or dissolving relationships,or changing the content of a relationship.

� A player may change the one number of hisor her trollbabe by 1, up or down, if desired.

� Each player states where his or her troll-babe is going next, which includes theoption of keeping her where she is.

The nice thing about being a Trollbabe player isthat the rules are low-pressure in terms of “whatyou’re supposed to do.” There are no personalitydescriptors or guidelines, no over-arching goal ofplay, and basically no need to do anything butdecide how to react to things during the course ofplay. All the player effort is generally spent onenjoying whatever it is that seems most fun orinteresting for the trollbabe to be doing.

The GM has a bit more to worry aboutbefore play, but not too terribly much. He orshe begins with the players’ stateddestination(s). Wherever it is, the key is, tonsof NPCs there are all wrapped up in someStakes conflict. It is perfectly all right for thenew Stakes to have nothing to do with previousConsequences, or conversely, for the new Stakesto arise from old Consequences directly. Thesituation offers the opportunity for the trollbabeto interact with all these NPCs, generatingstrong reactions and climactic scenes. Bear inmind: the GM’s job is not to set up the charac-ters for some mission or task, but to involvethem in an understandable conflict.

Lists of names are great things to have onhand during a game. It’s remarkable how easy itis to improvise an excellent NPC when all youhave are a sudden need for one and a list ofnames to go by.

� HUMAN NAMES (MALE): Ulf, Rolf, Ingald,Skarr, Gunnar, Halgrim, Joss, Thorgrim,Eki, Fergus, Rolind, Bran, Oskel, Oskar,Karl, Nargrim, Gram

� HUMAN NAMES (FEMALE): Inge, Unn,Freawaru, Rhiann, Sifal, Morgan,Gwyneth, Linn, Gretta, Hilde, Gunnhilde

� TROLL NAMES (MALE): Hrenk, Ottwol,Cherchak, Spuh, Hurrgle, Rundle, Narg,Schrack

� TROLL NAMES (FEMALE): Thetorra, Ich’ya,Washu, Skah, Mooram-Ah, Gorte,Schoonda, Eeron

The GM may also use relationships to prepscenarios, not only in terms of people involved,but also in terms of troll/human issues. He orshe might consider the proportion ofhuman/troll relationships. Whichever side isunderrepresented by the relationships of thetrollbabe involved, the other side should beplaced into the more sympathetic position.This idea is not required, but it’s a nice baselineto keep the “in-betweener" context of being atrollbabe in focus.

Preparation for adventures relies on the GMhaving a very solid understanding of Stakesand Consequences, but also knowing when tostop preparing and start playing. Not muchmore needs be set up than material such asthe following.

AT THE PERSONAL SCALE:

A white mountain cat bounds acrossthe character’s path on a high moun-tain road. It is actually a magical skin-changer, the child of a tiny tribe wholives deep in the forest. Skel, thecorrupt and corpulent chieftain of anearby village, has sent his cruel sonRothgar with a band of henchmento kill it. Consequences = the child iskilled or not killed.

�

A lonely troll, Aiga, has been cap-tured and is now living in a

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Adventures

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menagerie, displayed in a cage.The menagerie is currently show-ing in a human port town, and the“man-eating troll" is a big draw,irrespective of the fact that Aigadislikes human meat and won’t eatany. Hobwort, the owner, is willingto sell his captive for a betterprice, but Grotton, the two-headed trusty of the menagerie,hates Aiga and will kill him ratherthan see him freed.Consequences = Aiga is freed orremains enslaved.

AT THE ORGANIZED-GROUP SCALE:

A ship of rovers and raidersexplores far out to sea, comingupon a mysterious island, whichholds an elder secret Thing. Itcommands tortured spiritsbound into statues, and it isopposed by the ghost of anancient troll. All conflicts withthe Awful Thing suffer a –1Modifier. Consequences = thecrew is devoured body and soul,or they escape.

�

A band of trolls seeks their leg-endary home-place, led by a youngvisionary, Kadd. They negotiate abrief stop-off near a fortress andits associated village with the locallord, Ormgraven. However, a near-by pair of dangerous, vicious trollsbegins to raid the area. Magicalconflicts with the questing trollssuffer a –1 Modifier.Consequences = the band contin-ues with their quest, or they arestopped for good.

AT THE TOWNSHIP SCALE:

A town is threatened by bothsides of a larger-scale open warbetween lords, and the town lead-ers are desperate. The local trollsmight be inclined to help, exceptthat their shaman doesn’t wantto. Social conflicts with theshaman suffer a –1 Modifier thatapplies to re-rolls as well.Consequences = the town isdestroyed or it is saved.

�

In a sprawling human town (per-haps the same port town), a nastycult of spider-worshippers hasmarked a woman for sacrifice, toconsecrate their takeover of thetown. All conflicts with the cultpriest suffer a –2 Modifier.Consequences = the town is ruledby the spider cultist or histakeover is thwarted.

During play, GM techniques for Trollbaberequire being quite loose and ready to incor-porate player contributions quickly, up to andincluding treating a just-invented NPC as ifhe were your favorite, cherished, long-ago cre-ated crux-NPC for the session. Use successfulrolls as opportunities to bring in connections,insights, and other background material,rather than delivering such things throughpre-planned monologues. Failed rolls areopportunities or indications that the trollbabeis stymied, locked up, or otherwise cannotself-determine – that’s what “incapacitated” or“failed” can mean. Until those moments,though, don’t railroad, just keep piling on theconflicts, introducing relevant and interestingNPCs, and developing interactions.

Also, the GM is strictly enjoined from hav-ing a pre-planned outcome. Instead, his or herexplicit role is to permit the trollbabe interac-tions to tip the situation into whatever direc-

tion that it will. Abandon the notion of “get-ting them" into a particular place or climax,because they are already, by definition, in thepoint of crisis, and given the Stakes, a climaxwill have to occur simply through variousNPCs’ reactions to them. Use a key momentwhen it arises, to connect various conflict out-comes to produce the climax in a flash, withno “steering" necessary before that point.

Avoid hinging the entire adventureon a planned climax with a pre-des-ignated villain, as a successful rollearly in the session may quite easilyclean the “big villain’s" clock. InTrollbabe, the best plan is No Plan,with clearly-conceived Stakes.

Make use of failed rolls in a bigway. These are probably the mostimportant tools a GM can use inorder to set up the immediate,actual problems facing the troll-babe as a person. In plain terms, if

a player-character fails a given rollor conflict badly, the player maywell consider the opponent to bethe “big villain.” The GM does wellto accept this new status forthat NPC and to proceedaccordingly; after all, the need toengineer an early failure against apre-designated “big villain" has justbecome unnecessary.As such, a lot of responsivity iscalled for – the GM should lookat that conflict, as it was played,and consider how the trollbabe’sfailure translates directly into asource of pressure on the Stakes.Once that is determined, the newcircumstances of the trollbabe(generated either by player orGM) represent a heightened, rele-vant involvement in those Stakes.Keep on eye out as well for the

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Tha and Retta are adventuring inwidely-separate places. The for-mer is in a human fort town, per-haps coping with the “spider-cult”situation described in an exampleabove. The latter is exploring somelonely islands with her intrepidcrew and dragon-ship.

As the adventure progresses, thespider-cult is revealed in Tha’sadventure, and during one ofRetta’s scenes in some ruined tem-ple on some island, either a playeror the GM may suggest that sheencounters a statue of the spider-god, which had not been a pre-

planned element of the adventure.

Subsequent scenes and narratedoutcomes may well start cross-cutting between the two charac-ters’ situations. They might evenbegin affecting one another. Forexample, the climactic momentsof Tha’s adventure, in which she(say) confronts the head spider-cultist guy in the town, might bemodified heavily by whateverRetta accomplishes regarding thestatue on the island, whether it’sa matter of destroying it orfounding her own spider cultsect, or whatever.

ADVENTURES

first relationship established in thescenario – the NPC usually turnsout to be a crucial “hinge" for thedecisions of the trollbabe duringthe adventure and for theConsequences in general. This per-son, even if he or she was inventedentirely off the cuff, should betreated by the GM as if he or shewas planned exactly for this sce-nario and its Stakes “all along.” Thatis to say, not to pretend as much,but to utilize and care about thecharacter in that fashion.

About two or three serious conflicts into agiven adventure, the GM and players will haveamassed a tremendous amount of material, interms of relationships, successes and failures,and all manner of events relevant to theStakes. At about that time, everyone maybegin drawing the characters in a given adven-ture together, mainly by suggesting Scenes inwhich characters’ paths cross, or with NPCswho are involved deeply in the Stakes. Given

just a tad of attention to this “thread-gather-ing,” generating a genuine climax that resultsin Consequences is stunningly easy.

The above point only applies to trollbabesinvolved in the same adventure. In the biggerpicture, trollbabes do not have to cross paths!Since each new adventure begins with a play-er-designated destination of travel, let it be upto them. Some players will be perfectly happyto decide on a common destination for eachadventure. However, if adventures turn out tobe separate across wide tracks of geography,it’s still all right. Play them as parallel, withlots of cutting back and forth between scenes,and toss in cross-connecting persons or conse-quences as you see fit (players will probablybe doing this too).

Traditional role-players might be surprised athow little intervention by the GM is necessaryto achieve this cross-cutting added value to aset of adventures, especially given the power ofthe players to narrate failed goals. Nothingprevents the group from losing the wholenotion of “the party" entirely, and still con-structing coherent stories session after session,or even an entire multi-hero, multi-locale saga.

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Since Trollbabe is a fantasy role-play-ing game, exotic creatures, locales,and beings are most suitable.

However, I suggest not treating the “Trollbabeuniverse" as a grab-bag of potential encoun-ters. Instead of working from setting-down("Mold zombies lurk in the Black Swamp, soif you go there, you’ll encounter them"), workfrom adventure-up, which means thinkingabout Stakes as the first step.

Given the emotional and personal elements ofStakes, consider how they might be heightenedby including magical or exotic elements. Is asmall town’s existence threatened by the clash oftwo armies? Bring in a “town spirit" or godling-being, based on the town’s founder, for a posi-tive spin, or perhaps a nasty cult who tries tosave the town by sacrificing babies to the moon,for a negative one. Or feel free to give one sideof the military conflict control over savage,fanged horses who can belch fire. The idea isnot to pull in some kind of Trollbabe cosmolo-gy as a source, but rather to riff off and to

accentuate the emotional contextof the Stakes.

In one adventure example above,the white mountain were-catneed not be a “species.” It mightexist only in the context of thisone adventure. All it needs to beis rare, which is certainly satisfiedby being unique. Thus if the childwere-cat survives the adventureand perhaps becomes aRelationship, further adventuresmight include Stakes regarding hisdesire to find others like himself.

�

In another adventure example, agroup of trolls is questing aroundthe countryside. A magical Modifierapplies in their favor, but is notexplained. This represents a fineopportunity to include some entityor object that they use as a focusfor their quest and protects themfrom magical harm or interference.

I generally suggest avoiding terms like“demon" that imply a larger cosmology and

context for magical stuff in the story.Similarly, gods are certainly a major

part of people’s world-view during adventures,but story creation in Trollbabe tends to workbetter when the gods’ existence and influenceare ambiguous at best, rather than being agiven piece of the setting.

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Trollbabe is my bid for VanillaNarrativism. The group can creategreat stories with protagonists they

care about and give thought to playing, butwithout greatly disrupting or redefining mostwidespread assumptions about role-playing.The mechanics are built to call inDirector and Author stance with-out making a big deal of itor disrupting “the system"of how events are organizedand determined. Stakes, orrather, issues at hand, are

necessarily and openly part of play withoutany need for characters to have a pre-set agen-da or to protect or represent anything.

The hope is that one can enter into playingTrollbabe with a traditional outlook and thenengage in non-traditional, highly Narrativist

play without much pain or shifting, to what-ever extent seems comfortable at the table.

If this section has made no sense to youwhatsoever, then come on by The Forge

(http://www.indie-rpgs.com) andwander among the essays and discus-

sions there.

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Hairy role-playing theory about this game

Jam

es V

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ACTION TYPE: the means by which thetrollbabe character is dealing with a givenconflict – Fighting, Magic, or Social.Action Type is determined by the personwho declares the conflict.

ADVENTURE: a unit of play, over one ormore sessions, in which one or more troll-babes encounter other charactersembroiled in a conflict over Stakes. Thetrollbabe’s presence forces a resolution tothe conflict, resulting in Consequences.

CONFLICT: this term may be applied in twoways, one informal and one formal.Informally, it refers to any incompatibleinterests among characters, especially atthe level of the whole Adventure. Moreformally, it refers to events during aScene that must be resolved by applyingthe rules of the game. Any personinvolved in play may call for a Conflictduring a Scene.

CONSEQUENCES: the fate of the designatedStakes (persons, places, or things) asdetermined by the events of anAdventure.

DISCOMMODED: the trollbabe suffers nolasting effects, but has not yet succeededin her Goal in this Conflict. The Goalfails if the player does not choose to re-roll. See the Series Chart for details.

FIGHTING: an Action Type that is employedfor damaging, restraining, or otherwiseinfluencing an opponent using physicalforce. See the text for permissible Goalsusing this Action Type.

GOAL: a character’s intended purpose andoutcome during a conflict, stated by eachplayer for his or her trollbabe character,and by the GM for non-player characters.

HUMAN: a human being, not especially dif-ferent from humans as we know them.

INCAPACITATED: the trollbabe has failed inher Goal in this conflict, and she is notable to carry out further actions due topain, shock, unconsciousness, or magicalinfluence. If in some way the characterencounters further Conflict, the playerrolls using the final box on the Series

chart. See the Series Chart for details.INJURED: the trollbabe is hurt, and until she

is better, the player will roll using the“Discommoded" box as the starting pointon the Series chart. Injury during aConflict does not automatically entail fail-ing at the current Goal, but it does indi-cate failure if the player does not choose tore-roll. See the Series Chart for details.

MAGIC: an Action Type that is employedwhen marshalling arcane forces, whetherhuman or trollish, mystical or scholarly.See the text for permissible Goals usingthis Action Type.

MODIFIER: a number applied to a trollbabe’sthat reduces the likelihood of success. Itmay apply to one, two, or all Action Types.

PACE: the number of successful or failedSeries needed to determine the outcomeof a Conflict. Pace may be set as “action-by-action,” in which three successful orthree failed Series must occur; this Pacerequires from three to five complete Seriesto be rolled. Pace may be set as“exchange-by-exchange,” in which twosuccessful or two failed Series must occur;this Pace requires from two to three com-plete Series to be rolled. Pace may be setas “entire Conflict,” in which one success-ful or one failed Series must occur; thisPace only includes one Series to be rolled.

RELATIONSHIP: a person or group which hasbeen designated by a player as having anemotional tie to a trollbabe character.Relationships may be treated as re-rollitems, according to the standards for thedifferent types of relationship. See the textfor rules regarding establishing and break-ing relationships.

RE-ROLL: one of several possible steps in aSeries, permitting a chance to recoup afailed previous roll. Re-rolls are justified bychecking off a re-roll item from the char-acter sheet or by using an existing relation-ship. See the Series Chart for details.

SCALE: the extent to which a conflict affectspeople and places, especially in terms ofStakes and Consequences for adventures.

Glossary

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SCENE: a unit of play defined both by timeand space. Adventures are composed ofScenes; Conflicts occur within Scenes.Scenes begin and end as narrated by theGM, with input permitted by the players.

SERIES: the sequence of die rolls made by atrollbabe’s player, including one initial rolland up to three re-rolls. A Series alwaysresults in the trollbabe succeeding or fail-ing in her Goal, as well as the degree ofinjury incurred by her and any relation-ships that have been included in theSeries. See the Series Chart for details.

SOCIAL: an Action Type that is employedwhen influencing others through negotia-tion and communication. See the text forpermissible Goals using this ActionType.

SPECIALTY: a sphere of activitydefined for each ActionType, for which a giventrollbabe is especiallynotable. A specialtyhas no mechanics-oriented effect andmay be considered a sort ofpersonal Trappings, permit-ting more “color" in thedescription of the character’saction when the action cor-responds to the specialty.

STAKES: the person(s), place,or thing(s) that stand to bewon, lost, destroyed, or otherwisepermanently affected during thecourse of an Adventure, based on theinterests of the various characterspresent. By definition, Stakes aredesired by someone, or otherwise theobject of others’ ambitions.

TRAPPINGS: the in-game appearance andnature of magic, which is entirely sepa-rate from the character’s Goal in castingmagic. They have no mechanics-orientedeffect.

TROLL: shaggy, imaginary,unpleasant, and potentiallyanthropophagous humanoid

creatures. Fortunately imaginary in thereal world.

TROLLBABE: a female character, neither trollnor human; the protagonist of the storybeing created through play. Trollbabes are

neither created norplayed by theGM, but only by

players.

James V. West

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ARTISTRY AND IMAGERY

� The lion’s share of the inspiration must goto the brilliant work of Vaughn Bode,who may be taken as a primary influenceon me in general; his collections ofDeadbone Erotica and Cheech Wizard arerequired reading for Trollbabe folks.

� An illustration by Peter Seckler for hisfantasy setting Aedorea, of a hornedfemale “troll,” seems to have stuck in mymind and refused to be ignored.

OTHER ROLE-PLAYING GAMES

� Hero Wars, by Greg Stafford and RobinLaws, is the first role-playing game toprovide relationships with a major role inthe resolution mechanics. Honorablemention in this regard also goes to Albedoand Lace & Steel, both by Paul Kidd.

� The Pool and The Questing Beast, byJames V. West, introduce Monologues ofVictory and Monologues of Defeat.

� Donjon and Panels, both by Clinton R.Nixon, provide, respectively, ideas aboutGM vs. player description of outcomes(itself inspired by The Pool) and relation-ships as a primary, rather than a modify-ing mechanic.

� Everway, by Jonathan Tweet, presented theidea that prepared situations of play includemultiple outcomes which only turn out inparticular ways due to the events of play.

� Zero, by Lester Smith, and Wuthering

Heights, by Philippe Tromeur, are the firstgames to employ a single-number resolu-tion mechanic, with the latter game alsocontributing the over/under concept.

� Throwing Stones, by Jeff Siadek, TheDying Earth, by Robin Laws and others,and The World, the Flesh, and the Devil,by Paul Czege, all employ re-rolls as acentral element of resolution mechanics.The first calls a re-roll a “mulligan” andthe second introduces the concept of“refreshing” the ability to re-roll.

TALKING WITH FOLKS

� Dav Harnish and I discussed our frustra-tions with RPGs presenting multiple char-acter options about nothing; which prompt-ed me to think about a game with one char-acter type, one premise, and one concept.

� Julie Stauffer and I discussed multipleissues surrounding the gender of playersand gender of characters in role-playing.

� Comments from Paul Czege, James V.West, Clinton R. Nixon, Matt Snyder,Jared A. Sorensen, and Rod Anderson allhelped improve the manuscript.

PLAYTESTING

� Dav Harnish played the very first troll-babe! Other playtesters include MarioBonassin, Tod Olson, Julie Stauffer, TerryGant, Christine Battin, Bill Masek, andAnnie Keller.

Inspirations and acknowledgments

46

A

Action-by-action Pace, 14Action Type, 18, 22-23, 32-33Action Type (Goals), 12-13Adventures, 36Adventure (preparation), 37-39Aiga, 36-37Author Stance, 41

C

Carried object, 17Character creation, 8Combining Action Types, 22Conflict, 10-13, 33, 39Comrade, 28Consequences, 34-36Creatures, 40

D

Death (relationship), 31Death (trollbabe), 20Demesne Scale, 35Director stance, 41Discommoded, 17-19

E

Enemy, 28Entire Conflict Pace, 14Exchange-by-exchange Pace, 14

F

"Fair and clear” stage, 15, 22, 33Family, 20Fighting (Action Type), 8, 12, 15, 18,22, 30, 32-33Follower, 28Found or reached item, 17

G

Goal, 12-13, 26, 33Grotton 37

H

Handy geographic feature, 18Healing, 21Hobwort, 38Horns, 8

Human, 4-5Huurch, 31

I

Improvement, 7, 36Incapacitated, 17-20Ingarde Skullsplitter, 26Initiating (Conflict), 12Initiating (Scene), 10Injured, 17-20Injury, 20-21Items, starting, 8

L

Land Scale, 35Lover, 30

M

Magic (Action Type), 8, 12, 17-18, 21-25, 30, 32-33Magic (human/troll), 8, 23Magic (stuff ), 40Magic (time to cast), 22Malgus the Large, 27Mama Rat Spirit, 15Map, 5-6Mentor, 30Modifier 23, 25-26, 32-33, 35, 40

N

Names (human/troll), 36Narration, 12, 30, 33

O

One number (definition), 7One number (improving), 7, 36Order of actions, 22, 33Organized group Scale, 35, 27

P

Pace, 14, 33Personal Scale, 35-36

R

Refresh (relationship), 31Refresh (re-roll item), 18Relationship, 18, 27-33, 35

Relationship (beginning and ending), 27Relationship (re-rolls), 30-31, 33Relationship (trollbabe-trollbabe), 32Remembered spell, 17Re-roll item, 17, 33Re-roll, 16-18, 27-31Retta, 8, 12, 15, 18, 25, 28, 30, 32, 39Rival, 28Rothgar, 36

S

Scale, 25, 34-37Scene, 10-13, 33Series, 16-18, 30, 32Series Chart, 19Setting, 5-6Sidekick, 28Size, 4Skalgar Hog’s Son, 15, 28, 30Skel, 36Small group Scale, 35Social (Action Type), 12, 15, 17-18, 22,30-31, 33 Specialty, 8, 18Spider worshippers, 37, 39Substantial community Scale, 35Sudden ally, 17System, 7

T

Tha, 9-10, 17-18, 21, 25, 28, 30, 32,39Township Scale, 37Trappings, 25Troll, 4-5Trollbabe (creation), 8-9Trollbabe (definition), 4Trollbabe (interaction), 32

V

Vanilla Narrativism, 41Village Scale, 35

W

White mountain cat, 36, 40

Index