I'm playing Ben Lehman's system High-Quality RPG. Which is, as the name suggests, a very high-quality lightweight fantasy system. Download it for free at High Quality Roleplaying, it's a short and very entertaining read.
I'll start by rolling an intial trait...
1 = 1[d6]
Okay, I'll pick Tough. What profession am I?
6 = 6[d6]
A specialist? What kind of specialist?
4 = 4[d6]
I'm a Tinker. A Tough Tinker. Second trait?
1 = 1[d6]
I'll make that big. A big and tough tinker. I'll use the Rinkworks Fantasy name generator to determine his name: Worpolit.
Worpolit, the big hulking brute of a tinker. Okay, I can work with that. Where do I start?
5 = 5[d6]
Underground. And what are my circumstances?
4 = 4[d6]
Foolishness. Okay, what's my Signature enemy #1?
9 = 6[d6]+3[d6]
I get to make something up. Uh...
Movie monsters.
Okay, movie monsters. Okay, how about a psychotic magic-powered cyborg. What other signature monsters will we have?
7 = 3[d6]+4[d6]
Ordinary people, okay...
12 = 6[d6]+6[d6]
And another make-it-up...
Movie monsters.
Movie monsters again, you've got to be kidding me.
Underground pariahs.
Okay, how about Morlocks from H.G. Wells' book The Time Machine. Basically, cannibalistic albino troglodytes.
So, Worpolit the big/tough tinker finds himself foolishly getting himself into a pickle underground, where he'll have to deal with psychotic magical cyborgs, normal people gone wrong, and morlocks. Awesome.
I figure he foolishly volunteered to explore some caves and got a little bit lost. Do you agree, RPGSolo?
No.
Okay, what do you think happened then?
Move.
Anger.
Worpolit got into a bar-room brawl one day, killed a man, and was consequently chased by the legal authorities. So he went into hiding in a cave, and now he can't figure out how he came in.
LET'S GET CRACKING!
So, let's assume that he explored until he found something interesting. And what is that interesting thing?
Doppelganger.
Okay, I run into a werewolf. What's he doing underground?
Move.
A burden.
Okay, he wants to stash something underground. Is he in normal form when Worpolit runs into him?
Yes.
Okay, great. So Worpolit approaches him.
"Good morning, sir!"
Oppose.
Military.
We get to talking and Worpolit learns that our werewolf is actually a renegade resistance fighter type. That's actually a really cool character concept, I'm totally stealing that for the next time I'm playing Dungeons: The Dragoning. Worpolit asks the werewolf if he knows the way out.
Does he?
Yes.
Oh, good. Is he prepared to lead me out?
Yes, and...
And what?
Struggle.
Evil.
And he wants me to join him in the eternal struggle against evil authority! So, does anything interesting happen until we leave the caves?
Yes, and...
Waste.
Jealously.
We run into two Morlocks fighting over a rag on the way out. What else?
Excitement.
Suffering.
And there's a small crowd of people egging them on as they're fighting.
Do they notice us?
Yes, but...
The crowd notices us, but the two fighters don't. How many Morlocks are there?
5 = 2[d4]+1[d4]+2
Are they hostile?
Yes.
Gulp. This may wind up being a VERY short session. Do we get to start?
No.
Okay, this will definitely wind up being a very short session. How many morlocks attack Warpolit?
4 = 4[d5]
Oh, wait, no, I was being stupid. There's no initiative in HQRPG. Darn, it's been a while since I played. Okay, Warpolit makes a standard fighting action. Does the werewolf remain in human form?
No.
Okay, he morphs into wolf form. Does he make a standard attack action?
Yes.
Do the morlocks make a standard attack action as well?
Yes, and...
And what?
Spy.
The intellectual.
Um, how do I interpret that?
...
Okay, ignoring that 'and' result.
What's my strike/defense rolls?
4 = 1[d6]+3[d6]
Yep. Very dead. Does it take an action to were-morph?
Yes, but...
But morphing back is instantaneous. Okay, so my buddy morphs and does defense, instead of doing a standard action.
3 = 3[d6]
He rolls a pretty bad defense thing.
How about Morlock #1?
4 = 3[d6]+1[d6]
Okay, because the morlocks are overwhelming me numerically, his strike roll is actually 3+1=4, so that beats my defense. Imma have to roll damage in a minute. Morlock #2?
4 = 2[d6]+2[d6]
Thankfully, he misses. Morlock #3?
8 = 3[d6]+5[d6]
Hits as well. #4?
6 = 4[d6]+2[d6]
Hits. How about #5, who's paired up with the wolf?
5 = 3[d6]+2[d6]
Since a wolf is faster than a morlock, the defence gets an extra +1, and the morlock doesn't have the strength of numbers. So Morlock #5 misses.
But I've still got 3 damage rolls against Warpolit that need resolving.
15 = 5[d6]+4[d6]+6[d6]
A 6 means I'm dead, Jim. Well, that was a fast death. The game took less long than the setup. If it's at all comforting to Warpolit's spirit, I'm sure the werewolf took at least one or two of the buggers before going down.
In retrospect, it might have been better to run for dear life instead of trying to take on 5 enemies at once. I guess I'm just used to the D&D-esque hack-n-slash mentality... oh well, die and learn. This was a fun session in any case, even if I'm sort of sorry I never got to play out the concept of an anarchist guerilla-war featuring Morlocks and magical cyborgs.
I'll start by rolling an intial trait...
1 = 1[d6]
Okay, I'll pick Tough. What profession am I?
6 = 6[d6]
A specialist? What kind of specialist?
4 = 4[d6]
I'm a Tinker. A Tough Tinker. Second trait?
1 = 1[d6]
I'll make that big. A big and tough tinker. I'll use the Rinkworks Fantasy name generator to determine his name: Worpolit.
Worpolit, the big hulking brute of a tinker. Okay, I can work with that. Where do I start?
5 = 5[d6]
Underground. And what are my circumstances?
4 = 4[d6]
Foolishness. Okay, what's my Signature enemy #1?
9 = 6[d6]+3[d6]
I get to make something up. Uh...
Movie monsters.
Okay, movie monsters. Okay, how about a psychotic magic-powered cyborg. What other signature monsters will we have?
7 = 3[d6]+4[d6]
Ordinary people, okay...
12 = 6[d6]+6[d6]
And another make-it-up...
Movie monsters.
Movie monsters again, you've got to be kidding me.
Underground pariahs.
Okay, how about Morlocks from H.G. Wells' book The Time Machine. Basically, cannibalistic albino troglodytes.
So, Worpolit the big/tough tinker finds himself foolishly getting himself into a pickle underground, where he'll have to deal with psychotic magical cyborgs, normal people gone wrong, and morlocks. Awesome.
I figure he foolishly volunteered to explore some caves and got a little bit lost. Do you agree, RPGSolo?
No.
Okay, what do you think happened then?
Move.
Anger.
Worpolit got into a bar-room brawl one day, killed a man, and was consequently chased by the legal authorities. So he went into hiding in a cave, and now he can't figure out how he came in.
LET'S GET CRACKING!
So, let's assume that he explored until he found something interesting. And what is that interesting thing?
Doppelganger.
Okay, I run into a werewolf. What's he doing underground?
Move.
A burden.
Okay, he wants to stash something underground. Is he in normal form when Worpolit runs into him?
Yes.
Okay, great. So Worpolit approaches him.
"Good morning, sir!"
Oppose.
Military.
We get to talking and Worpolit learns that our werewolf is actually a renegade resistance fighter type. That's actually a really cool character concept, I'm totally stealing that for the next time I'm playing Dungeons: The Dragoning. Worpolit asks the werewolf if he knows the way out.
Does he?
Yes.
Oh, good. Is he prepared to lead me out?
Yes, and...
And what?
Struggle.
Evil.
And he wants me to join him in the eternal struggle against evil authority! So, does anything interesting happen until we leave the caves?
Yes, and...
Waste.
Jealously.
We run into two Morlocks fighting over a rag on the way out. What else?
Excitement.
Suffering.
And there's a small crowd of people egging them on as they're fighting.
Do they notice us?
Yes, but...
The crowd notices us, but the two fighters don't. How many Morlocks are there?
5 = 2[d4]+1[d4]+2
Are they hostile?
Yes.
Gulp. This may wind up being a VERY short session. Do we get to start?
No.
Okay, this will definitely wind up being a very short session. How many morlocks attack Warpolit?
4 = 4[d5]
Oh, wait, no, I was being stupid. There's no initiative in HQRPG. Darn, it's been a while since I played. Okay, Warpolit makes a standard fighting action. Does the werewolf remain in human form?
No.
Okay, he morphs into wolf form. Does he make a standard attack action?
Yes.
Do the morlocks make a standard attack action as well?
Yes, and...
And what?
Spy.
The intellectual.
Um, how do I interpret that?
...
Okay, ignoring that 'and' result.
What's my strike/defense rolls?
4 = 1[d6]+3[d6]
Yep. Very dead. Does it take an action to were-morph?
Yes, but...
But morphing back is instantaneous. Okay, so my buddy morphs and does defense, instead of doing a standard action.
3 = 3[d6]
He rolls a pretty bad defense thing.
How about Morlock #1?
4 = 3[d6]+1[d6]
Okay, because the morlocks are overwhelming me numerically, his strike roll is actually 3+1=4, so that beats my defense. Imma have to roll damage in a minute. Morlock #2?
4 = 2[d6]+2[d6]
Thankfully, he misses. Morlock #3?
8 = 3[d6]+5[d6]
Hits as well. #4?
6 = 4[d6]+2[d6]
Hits. How about #5, who's paired up with the wolf?
5 = 3[d6]+2[d6]
Since a wolf is faster than a morlock, the defence gets an extra +1, and the morlock doesn't have the strength of numbers. So Morlock #5 misses.
But I've still got 3 damage rolls against Warpolit that need resolving.
15 = 5[d6]+4[d6]+6[d6]
A 6 means I'm dead, Jim. Well, that was a fast death. The game took less long than the setup. If it's at all comforting to Warpolit's spirit, I'm sure the werewolf took at least one or two of the buggers before going down.
In retrospect, it might have been better to run for dear life instead of trying to take on 5 enemies at once. I guess I'm just used to the D&D-esque hack-n-slash mentality... oh well, die and learn. This was a fun session in any case, even if I'm sort of sorry I never got to play out the concept of an anarchist guerilla-war featuring Morlocks and magical cyborgs.
