Ace of Spades

[marsden_online]

This is the system (alpha rewrite) I'll be running one-offs under. See a writeup of a playtest which cranked wackyness up towards 11 here - http://www.livejournal.com/users/marsden_online/237853.html

The Narrative

A Narrative (capital N) is a game session from beginning to end. A Narrative consists of a number of scenes, which in turn may be broken down into one or more clips. These in turn are made up of narrations (small n) by the players.

A Narrative starts with a short evocative piece of prose describing a bit of the setting or action. For example:
“The howls and screams from outside grow louder, as does the beating on the walls. The makeshift barricades shudder under impacts on the doors and shutters. In the center of the hall the remaining locals huddle staring at the small group of strangers, some accusingly, some fearfully and some with desperate hope.”

This establishes a few basic building blocks – in this case something trying to get into a barricaded hall, some locals, and some non-locals presumably the PCs.

One player, designated the “Director”, starts the first scene off by asking further questions of the other players about the situation, one question per player. Example questions might be: What sort of building is the room in? What sort of people are the locals? What is outside? What is trying to get in? How close is it to succeeding? What purpose brought the PCs here?

The players answer in turn, each adding some details to the immediate setting. Once the first round of questions has been answered each player then briefly describes their main character, creating them to fit in with the established details and also having the opportunity to add further definition.

The director then picks a player to make the first narration. A narration is a short description of events, usually but not always from the perspective of the individual player’s character. Players are also free to narrate from the perspective of an NPC, especially if their main character is not presently involved. Narrations should last between one and five minutes then pass to another player – this may be done at the Director’s indication or by the use of a token (see Tokens). The Director may also narrate at any time but does so entirely from the viewpoint of NPCs. The Director may also ask a new question as a seed for a narration at any time.

During a narration a player is free to introduce new material, NPCs, plots and events and modify existing ones as they wish, with the following exceptions:

• It must not contradict anything which has already happened. (This is especially important for maintaining the personalities of NPCs)
• you cannot directly negate anything which has already been defined. (You can probably define a limit or a change or a means of destruction however)
• you may not dictate another PC’s actions or otherwise affect them in any consequential manner without the player’s consent. (Characters may be “written out” permanently or temporarily by their own player. New characters may as easily be written in, through the player taking full control of an NPC or narrating an entrance clip for the new PC).

The Director has the final say on whether a particular creation or definition is allowed.

Situations are resolved in terms of “clips”. One clip might be a gunfight, or a negotiation, or a race. Usually the PCs will have an immediate goal and there will be an obvious challenge between them and that goal, introduced by the Director or by a player. Everyone should have a chance at making at least one narration during a clip.

A series of clips makes up a scene. A scene might cover escaping from a building through the sewers, or a royal ball. Some scenes may only be one clip long, and what might be a complete scene under some circumstances may only be a clip under others.

Each new scene begins with the Director asking questions of the players about the new situation. For example if the characters have been unsuccessful in an escape, captured and bought before the King in chains then there would be questions would be about the chamber in which they were being presented to him and who else was present.

The Narrative ends when the players chose, as new scenes may continually be created. Any amount of game time may pass between scenes.

Tokens

Each player starts with two tokens.

You can gain tokens by:

• introducing unresolved complications as part of your narration (for example a new hostile or opposing force; triggering a security system; introducing an unresolved and immediately applicable conflict of interest with an NPC…). Only one token may be gained this way per each narration.
• pulling off an action in such a way that all the other players look at the director and say “that deserves a token” in unison (or a close approximation)
• The Director draws a Joker from his play-deck (see Cards) whereupon all players immediately receive a token.

You can spend tokens to:

• spend one token to take control of the Narrative or to pass control of the Narrative from you to another specific player (including the Director)
• spend one token in conjunction with an appropriate narration to change the suit of a card you have just drawn (for example tuning a bare failure (club) into a good success (heart) or vice versa)
• spend 5 tokens to bring the current scene to a swift conclusion (for example - we make it the rest of the way through the sewers without encountering any more obstacles; with the troublemakers removed the remainder of the dinner party is uneventful, everyone keeps the conversation light and nobody discusses business…)
• Spend 10 tokens to perform a scene or setting change on the scale of “and then we all wake up and it was just a dream”.

Cards

Where the success of a narrated action (often a clip) could be in doubt each player involved (including the Director) turns over the top card of their deck. Each suit represents a potential outcome; Spades – failed badly, Clubs – barely or partially failed, Diamonds – just or partially succeeded, Hearts – succeeded well. The face value of the card has no meaning. Cards can be averaged over a group or compared directly, depending on the requirements of the situation. The person deemed most appropriate by the Director then narrates an outcome to match.

Example: The players are trying to hurry the last few uninfected survivors of a zombie plague aboard a waiting zepplin, when the shambling horde catches up with them. One player opens fire with a heavy machine gun, knowing the zombies won’t be stopped but hoping to slow them down enough by impact for everyone to get on board. The player draws and narrates to:

• a Heart. The zombies fall like wheat before a scythe – some may even be too shot up to continue. The survivors and PCs pile aboard the zepplin which lifts off, ending the scene.
• a Diamond. The zombies are slowed enough for the survivors to get aboard the zepplin. The character abandons his position at the last minute and runs to catch the rope ladder, climbing to safety mere inches above a zombie’s grasp and ending the scene.
• a Club. The tactic works, but not well enough. The zepplin lifts off, a string of people hanging from the rope ladder, but the PCs are left on the ground and run for their lives. This could end the scene, or only a clip.
• a Spade. The gun jams/is out of ammo/is merely ineffective. The zepplin pilot sees the zombies and decides that he can’t wait any longer, leaving the PCs and the bulk of the survivors on the ground. Someone else better come up with a bright idea.


It is quite possible for all parties to have successes/failures as the outcome of a draw. In the case where there are an even number of cards drawn and they all cancel out, the Director may draw another card to act as a tiebreaker or a neutral outcome can be narrated. Once a deck is exhausted it is shuffled and reused.

A player may spend a token to declare that the card they drew is of a different suit (see Tokens).

Only the Director’s deck contains Jokers, of which there are two. When the Director draws a Joker he gives every player a token and then draws another card in its place.

Comments

[copper-em.livejournal.com]

This sounds a bit like a game I play with friends on long car trips - by far the most successful being: The Plot of the Possii (plural for possum - we had a German in the car and were winding her up) :)