New to RPG
A Role Playing Game is a game in which several Players gather (usually 3 to 5) to share an imaginary adventure. One of the Player is the Game Master. He tells a story, and the other Players, (who we will just call Players), interact with the Game Master by playing a Character in that story. The Game Master has no control over the Free Will and actions executed by the free will of these Characters. But he controls everything else.
Usually the story the Game Master tells is set in a specific world. Medieval Fantasy is the most popular RPG Settings. But it can be a game set in the future, in space, or it can be a contemporary game. It depends of course on what the Game Master and the Players want to play. And according to that, the Game Master needs to make some Preparations.
As all games, RPG also has its own rules. The actions characters in the game will take, the challenges they will face, will need to be reflected on the table. SysCards is such a rule set that allows the "in-game" event to be ruled with simple and yet deep enough rules.
Usually the story the Game Master tells is set in a specific world. Medieval Fantasy is the most popular RPG Settings. But it can be a game set in the future, in space, or it can be a contemporary game. It depends of course on what the Game Master and the Players want to play. And according to that, the Game Master needs to make some Preparations.
As all games, RPG also has its own rules. The actions characters in the game will take, the challenges they will face, will need to be reflected on the table. SysCards is such a rule set that allows the "in-game" event to be ruled with simple and yet deep enough rules.
SysCards is played with Cards called "SySCards", and a pair of percentile dice. This is not the conventional way to play RPG which is usually played with a sheet of paper called the "Character Sheet", and several game manuals with thousands of "World Rules" to memorize.
SysCards keeps it simple, and bases its rules on simple algorithms easy to remember, allowing the game to focus on the story, while the game elements are summoned at the most crucial moments, intensifying the thrill of a great role playing game.
The Percentile Dice:
The Percentile Dice is a 100 faces dice. It is thrown both pair at once. The results go from 1 to 100. There's never a "0%" result. The "00" & "0" result mean "100%". The two digits dice represents the decimals while the one digit dice represents the single units. To read your Result, you first read the decimal dice and then the single unit dice.
For example, when you throw the dice, if the two digit dice shows "50" and the one digit dice shows "3" then the result is "53%".
If the two digit dice shows "00" and the one digit dice shows "8", then the result is "08", thus "8%".
The Game Master
SysCards keeps it simple, and bases its rules on simple algorithms easy to remember, allowing the game to focus on the story, while the game elements are summoned at the most crucial moments, intensifying the thrill of a great role playing game.
The Percentile Dice:
The Percentile Dice is a 100 faces dice. It is thrown both pair at once. The results go from 1 to 100. There's never a "0%" result. The "00" & "0" result mean "100%". The two digits dice represents the decimals while the one digit dice represents the single units. To read your Result, you first read the decimal dice and then the single unit dice.
If the two digit dice shows "00" and the one digit dice shows "8", then the result is "08", thus "8%".
The Game Master
The Game Master, (we will just call him Master) is the ruler of the game world. All characters, natural elements, climate, events, everything that happens and everything that "is" in the game world are made by his decisions. As you see, in a role playing game, when players enter the game world of a Master, they in fact enter somehow in the world of the Master, with their imaginary characters. So players will try to affect that world with their actions, and shape their story, of course trusting the fairness of the Master, but most of all, the rules that hold this world.
Once the Game Master has prepared his game world and the main characters who will play a particular role in his game, and the players have created their own characters, than the game is ready to be played.
The Game World:
The Game World is where the story told by the Master takes place. The most popular Game World of any self respecting RPG is the Medieval Fantasy era. You know the dragons, mages, knights, etc...
Other than that, there are many Worlds out there. From "Cyber Punk" to "Steam Punk", from a Western with guns and outlaws to a Futuristic Galactic game with blasters, worlds are infinite, left to the taste of the Master and its Players.
SysCards has been designed to rule any kind of interactions in these worlds and even support cross interactions between these worlds. (As in what would happen if some space bounty hunter finds himself in a medieval time or a spaceship lands in the west?).
If the Master wishes, he can prepare an illustration of the world in which the game is played, to be left around the table to remind players once in a while where they are.
Do not make a big deal of the game world. Generally the best games comes from improvisation. You can decide that you will play a mafia game in the early 19th century, or a historical game in ancient Rome. There it is! you already have your game world. Anyone who hasn't live in Mars for the past 100 years, has watched enough movies to know which kind of characters, events, tools and stories they will encounter in a particular game world.
Creature Types:
Commonly, the world in which you play will have creatures of different species. And different races for each species. In SysCards, each different species or race are considered as different Creature Types.
Some of these Creatures Types may be played by Players, (like Humans, Elves which are the most popular), while others will be considered as monsters, encounters, and animals part of the fauna.
In SysCards, there's no need to prepare a list with different properties for each creatures. The Master, if he wishes, only needs to prepare one symbolic SySCard for a Creature Type he wishes to use as one or multiple encounter.
Scales:
Different Creature Types also means different Scales. Compare a giant with a human. Compare a dragon to a fairy. Creatures may also differ by their speed. One second for one Creature Type may last 10 seconds for another "Quantum" Creature.
SysCards supports each kind of Creature Scale of any elements, thanks to the Resistance, Power, Velocity and Focus mechanics.
Non Player Characters
There may be important Characters in the game which will influence the story, but will not be played by Players but by the Game Master. These are called "Non Player Characters".
We suggest the Game Master to prepare one SySCard for each important Non Player Character.
Typical encounters, (like soldiers with the same training), may also have one NPC SySCard to represent each of them.
In the game world, any character non played by a player, is ruled by the Master. Even the big heroes and legendary creatures of that world. (This is one of the perks of being the game master). Players will often have to deal with them, and try to survive among them. NPCs are always "role-played" by the Master. When a player encounters one, and communicates with it, the Master will role-play the NPC.
Characters
SysCards has been designed to rule any kind of interactions in these worlds and even support cross interactions between these worlds. (As in what would happen if some space bounty hunter finds himself in a medieval time or a spaceship lands in the west?).
If the Master wishes, he can prepare an illustration of the world in which the game is played, to be left around the table to remind players once in a while where they are.
Do not make a big deal of the game world. Generally the best games comes from improvisation. You can decide that you will play a mafia game in the early 19th century, or a historical game in ancient Rome. There it is! you already have your game world. Anyone who hasn't live in Mars for the past 100 years, has watched enough movies to know which kind of characters, events, tools and stories they will encounter in a particular game world.
Creature Types:
Commonly, the world in which you play will have creatures of different species. And different races for each species. In SysCards, each different species or race are considered as different Creature Types.
Some of these Creatures Types may be played by Players, (like Humans, Elves which are the most popular), while others will be considered as monsters, encounters, and animals part of the fauna.
In SysCards, there's no need to prepare a list with different properties for each creatures. The Master, if he wishes, only needs to prepare one symbolic SySCard for a Creature Type he wishes to use as one or multiple encounter.
Scales:
Different Creature Types also means different Scales. Compare a giant with a human. Compare a dragon to a fairy. Creatures may also differ by their speed. One second for one Creature Type may last 10 seconds for another "Quantum" Creature.
SysCards supports each kind of Creature Scale of any elements, thanks to the Resistance, Power, Velocity and Focus mechanics.
Non Player Characters
There may be important Characters in the game which will influence the story, but will not be played by Players but by the Game Master. These are called "Non Player Characters".
We suggest the Game Master to prepare one SySCard for each important Non Player Character.
Typical encounters, (like soldiers with the same training), may also have one NPC SySCard to represent each of them.
In the game world, any character non played by a player, is ruled by the Master. Even the big heroes and legendary creatures of that world. (This is one of the perks of being the game master). Players will often have to deal with them, and try to survive among them. NPCs are always "role-played" by the Master. When a player encounters one, and communicates with it, the Master will role-play the NPC.
Characters
In the RPG jargon a player's characters is called a "PC", (Player Character). Usually, each player plays one single Character only to enforce a bond with their Character. The Player will control the free will of his Character, his decisions, and will throw the dice for any action the Character willingly takes. But it's tricky to play a Character.
Generally, when a player is playing a RPG for the first time, he has tendencies to decide when his characters is hungry, or needs to rest. It's a mistake. A player has no control of the natural state of his own body. (like in real life). It is the Game Master that controls the natural and biologic state of the PC.
The player has only control over the free will of his character, his decisions, his desires, and his actions. Everything that mother nature rules in real life, is ruled by the Game Master in the Game World.
When does the game starts:
When the game starts? The game starts exactly when the master starts to describe the environment in which the players are. The game master must describe everything that can be perceived by the players characters. When the master starts to describe his world the players start to imagine this world and begin to interact in it. The effects of each interactions are described by the master.
And this is how a role playing game starts, plays, and ends.
The Master rules by the rules...
No role playing game is fun without challenging, fun, and realistic rules. The game master directs the world by following those rules. And less he overpasses them, more the "game" part of the rpg is saved. The players like interactivity. They like to feel free and being able to do what their will says to do. Without rules, the game master's "will" would be the only truth of the world he directs.
Game System rules and dice throws are the pillars of the master's game world. And the players will have fun to enter that world, trusting those pillars. Sometimes they will fall from those pillars, sometimes they will do heroic acts, but in both cases, the players will know that those pillars are always there. Remove just one of these rules, and the whole world will crush in the eye of the player.
Tips for Game Masters:
Tips for Game Masters:
A Game Master never forgets that what he describes, must only be what the players characters perceive. He must not give any other information about his world to the players. He hides all information about his creatures and people from the players, telling them only what they can know.
Never control players. The Game Master is not allowed to tell the players what their character should do. The characters are totally directed by the free will of the players, as long as the characters have their own free will in the game. Sometimes, the characters may enter in the control of the master for some unusual reason, but those are only exceptions brought by some special situations. For example, if one character has a problem like sleepwalking, then it is the master that plays this character while walking in his sleep.
The Story. The base of the rpg is the scenario in which Players will play the game. It's a good idea to weight players preferences rather than imposing a story players may not truly appreciate.
No Ego. When Players are interacting in your world, remember that they are some kind of guests. Be fair. Do not take any of their actions personally.
Throw the Dice only Once. At one point or another, the dice will upset Players or even the Master. Your first impulse will be to re-throw the Dice for a "more suiting" result. Maybe you had something else in mind and the dice didn't favor what you expected. Well, to re-throw the Dice is a very bad idea. Maybe it will save the story, but at that very same moment, players will stop respecting the Game. Remember. This is a game, and rules are there to be followed. It's a way better idea to adapt the story according to the result. In fact, the Dice sometime comes up with a way better and more interesting dynamic which gives life to the game itself and create situations players will always remember.
Never create solutions, but only complications. Sometimes masters prepare a trap or a very disturbing situation for the player, but also makes the mistake to put a solution or a way out which they will want the players to find to solve the problematic situation in which they are. This is wrong. Because then, the master starts to ignore any other solutions and tends to focus only to his solution. But it is way more fun for a master to prepare complications to the players and see how they will find their own way out. It is way more fun to see players coming out with interesting ideas that the master didn't even think about. And so players creativity will also be used to build the story.
Limits of the Master: The Masters limit are the free will of the PCs. The master controls even the instinctive behavior and reflexes of player characters. But he cannot control their decision, their free will, and their actions.
Tips for Players:
Listen! As a Player you are a guest in the Master's world. You'll have a better time trying to perceive this World as a tourist, rather than trying to impose what your vision would be of that World. As a player your incentive should be to discover a world which is new to you
Accept the consequences of your acts. Do not roll back your actions, even if the Master is willing to accept it. This will ruin the flow of the game, the story and kill the realism of the game.
Tips for Players:
In a Role Playing Game (RPG), a "Player" is not just someone who plays a game. It is someone who plays the role of a character in a game world ruled by the Master. There, he will try to contribute to a story, by leading his character. He will also throw dices, and use his intelligence, creativity, and his own willpower to sometime keep his character alive in difficult situations.
In general, a player always play the character he desires. A character inspired from a movie, from a story, or a character he imagined, or he created with the master. More advanced players may like to play characters imposed directly by the master. In general it is the master who proposes a game to players, but it also happens that some players want to play a specific character in a particular world and ask the master to prepare such a game.
Listen! As a Player you are a guest in the Master's world. You'll have a better time trying to perceive this World as a tourist, rather than trying to impose what your vision would be of that World. As a player your incentive should be to discover a world which is new to you
Try to find your own convictions. A player who likes the idea of a scenario, and likes his character, has all the materials to be self convicted to the accomplishments of the goals he decided for his character.
Accept the consequences of your acts. Do not roll back your actions, even if the Master is willing to accept it. This will ruin the flow of the game, the story and kill the realism of the game.
Be patient. It is obvious that sometimes, when several players are playing a game, they will split and have some actions in different places. This means that the game master will have to split the game time, and direct some players first and other players right after. If the master is skilled enough to divide story lines properly, a bit of patience is the least you can give in return.
Don't cheat. This goes without saying. This will ruin the game more for yourself than anyone else.
Play your Role. Try to play the role of your character as if you were an actor by removing your own personality. If you rather not, than it's better to pick a Character closer to your own personality.
What now?
After this introduction to Tabletop RPG, please go to the following chapter "SyS Cards and Attributes" to learn more about URPGS.
What now?
After this introduction to Tabletop RPG, please go to the following chapter "SyS Cards and Attributes" to learn more about URPGS.
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