Advanced Mechanics, 'Naked' Playtest Edition

Based on Original Draft Mechanics. To be used with these rules.

The Scattershot mechanics are designed in 5 variations; hands free, basic, intermediate (aka tournament), advanced and collectible card game.

In this game, you create a persona (or milieu, if you're the gamemaster). The relationships and interactions between these is the play of Scattershot. Spoken word and imaginary interactions are the whole of play. Good gamesmanship is closely related to teamwork.

There are 4 levels of play in Scattershot; Solitaire, General, Basic and Mechanical. As you become familiar with these mechanics, you will find the transition between the levels becoming an unconscious process and that the other players will know implicitly which is currently at play.

Solitaire play is when you play apart from your group. You may make only changes and decisions about the stuff you 'own' (and within reason), usually just your persona. Dice are rarely used; when they are it is only to create extra detail. You could even roll up a whole persona, if you wish.

Basically, you play your persona through a series of integrated, hypothetical situations involving the other players, overseen by the gamemaster (in his milieu). The point of view of your persona is the context you play from. The circumstances and relationships to other persona, props and the milieu are what frames your hypothetical thinking. Your persona will also interact with the background and props implicitly (using Scattershot's mechanics to augment the results).

The most basic way to make a persona is to idealize it's sine qua non. From wherever you derive your inspiration, try to think of the most basic and necessary components of this persona. Focus on those aspects that would significantly alter the persona if you took them away; the rest is all detail. The K.I.S.S. principle in Scattershot is 'Keep It Simple and Share'.

An easy mnemonic for sine qua non is '3 up / 3 down'. This means you should write down the first three things you want people to think of about your persona and then write down the last three things you want them to forget. When you have time, share these with the other people in the game before you write everything up. You'll find that people will enjoy helping make your persona better and it prevents them from accidentally writing up something too similar; it also helps keep the persona fitting in the milieu too (even if the milieu must change for it).

The best thing to start a persona with is a simple description. Use any creative outlet you like (drawings, photos, prose, lists, et cetera) and make a simple illustration on the top of your persona write-up. Keep your sine qua non in mind, but try to make it more fluid and intriguing.

Most aspects of a Scattershot persona are represented by rating numbers or rating degrees. Many ratings will come with a base number; this is a starting point for your persona's ability in that realm. When you raise a rating by 1 point, it costs 1 development point. If you increase the degree of a rating, it will also cost you a development point. Likewise, if you wish to lower a rating or degree by 1, it also costs a development point.

There are also a number of optional ratings (such as skills, advantages, disadvantages and abilities) which will cost development points to add to your persona write-up; once purchased these will provide a base number for their rating. The number of optional ratings you may take is unlimited.

There are no limits on the number of development points available for persona creation. Likewise, the gamemaster is not allowed to restrict them. Players can certainly get together and form development point cost challenges or other agreements, but cannot be held to them. If you choose to use significantly more development points than any other player, first consider how that will make them feel; have good gamesmanship win out in the end.

Next you need to make a space on your write-up for the persona's ratings. These measure the capacities and actions they will do with Scattershot's mechanics.

Ratings are either numeric; measuring magnitude, efficacy or resources or they are 'direct'; representing advantages, disadvantages or 'character' (notable details) about the persona.

The statistics are the 6 ratings every persona has. When creating your persona's statistics you start with base number of 10. You may add or subtract any number of development points from these statistics on a one-for-one basis. Make sure to take into account how others in your group may feel if you raise a stat higher than 14 or lower than 7 (human range); always practice good gamesmanship!

This is a measure of the raw muscle-power magnitude of the persona. Many actions are limited by how much strength a persona has.

This is a measure of the untrained physical prowess / efficacy of the persona. Success at more risky physical actions is determined with this stat.

This is simply a measure of the 'fight left in ya' as a resource statistic. It also suggests the health of the persona.

This is a rating of the persona's 'response time' or timing as an efficacy measure.

A persona's ability to gather the relevant information available (to their senses) is measured for its efficacy by this stat. The amount searched in one 'action' is also measured by the magnitude of this stat (on UE chart, more later).

This is a unique statistic, used alternatively as the magnitude measure of a persona's special abilities or as a resource spent using them.

These are optional efficacy ratings for specific actions a persona is capable of. These ratings may make use of a statistic as a limitation of magnitude. Each degree comes at a different cost:

Talents and training are purchased the same way (after which all are combined). The difference is only in the persona's description.

These are based on the Power stat (using the UE Chart for magnitude) and have costs listed with the skills.

These flashy superhuman abilities have narrowly defined effects (see list) and use no power expenditure. There are fairly simple mechanics for customization and create of these.

These thematically restricted, supernatural effects expend Power (as a resource); they can create any effect imaginable.

These discrete, magical abilities are reusable like any skill and require on Power expenditure.

Each advantage or disadvantage is a persona-specific, special efficacy or deficiency (frequently with residual modifiers). In the genre material, these are listed with the costs associated. Advantages and disadvantages act as ways to receive experience dice (rewards for the player) and creatively limit play. Advantages often come from a persona's origins, precipitating events, drives, kharma or fate. Others are kept secret to form mystiques and create intrigue during play. They can also act as modifiers bonuses or penalties, rated by situational variables.

A mystique is any aspect of your persona which isn't common knowledge to your group. These are usually special abilities, advantages or disadvantages, but they may also be unusually high (or low) statistics or skills. The purpose for this is to make your character more engaging for the rest of the group. Depending on your group, these do not actually have to be secret from any or all of them; the idea is that it must be treated that in play. It can be equally as fun for everyone to play as though no one knows these things; the important point is to take into consideration how the rest of the group will view how you play it. Remember to be a good gamesman!

When it comes to playing with a secret mystique, the idea is to create intrigue. Give the group that sense of 'What are you up to?' The more you can entice interest in your mystique, the better you are playing it; people will give you experience dice when you make them very curious. (Be careful, they might even use experience dice to bribe you into telling; don't do it!) When a situation comes up where the object of the mystique should affect play, but can't without people knowing about it, you are allowed veto power. For that time and only as far as the mystique goes, you become the speaker. If someone wants to trump even that, you may face off with them with a 'Solomon's Auction' (more on this later), but only if you don't want to reveal your mystique to them.

If a player (or gamemaster) thinks they have a verisimilar reason something they 'own' may guess your mystique using a contested resolution. They make their perception or intuition roll against your ability to conceal it (or Observation minus 2). To their roll add the bonus facet on the EU Chart (see attached) for your mystique's rating. If the mystique is an ad or disad, multiply the number of dice times 3½ and round normally. (If you don't agree, there is always a Solomon's Auction.)

1 Dice → Rating 4
2 Dice → Rating 7
3 Dice → Rating 11
4 Dice → Rating 14
5 Dice → Rating 18
Anything higher should be on the gamemaster's milieu sheet instead of yours.

Sometimes you want a persona who doesn't know something about themselves. In this case, you can take a blank mystique. It costs the same as any other ad or disad, but is not determined at some later date. In play it becomes a kind of sub-game for everyone to play. Each person may come up with any idea they think suits your persona; anyone with an idea will play it like it is their own mystique, trumping play when play contradicts it or should be affected by it. There can be many 'theoretical' mystiques in play as anyone cares to have; but they must be written on their persona write-up.

When someone makes one of these plays, you are required to judge whether the trump suits your tastes for play of your persona. The rest of the group must also consider whether the trump conflicts with their ideas too. If neither, this person loses their mystique and you must make sure that at least one other person has an idea (or can come up with one) that fits play so far. At any time, and for any reason, you may convert a blank mystique into a normal one; simply let everyone know.

More mechanics-based than the persona description, 'character' is the things that help in terms of developing or evolving your persona and each issue of Scattershot will contain many genre specific mechanics for this. Anything that embellishes who your persona is within the scope of the game but didn't cost any development points is also 'character'. As things occur to your persona in play making small but noticeable changes, you will note them between scenes in the 'character' section of your write-up (because, after all, role-playing builds 'character'). So called 'free' skills are also listed in the character section because of their reduced cost (which reflects their reduced importance in play).

Free skills are not priced as usual skills because of their limited opportunity or usability. You can buy these from a 'laundry list' included in each Scattershot supplement at the rate of up to 5 Free Skills for each development point spent. The starting level of each Free Skill is given on the skill lists. Any increases are at normal cost, but push these skills up into the usual skills section.

General play makes up the bulk of all play in Scattershot. You won't use any of the mechanics during general play. Play moves from person to person in no particular order and at no specific time interval. The speaker is the person who carries the play; respect their turn.

Simply put, what the speaker says is what happens in the game. While speaking, he will avoid altering anything another person 'owns' without their approval, out of respect. Anything the speaker introduces (props, settings, atmosphere, supporting characters, et cetera) belongs to that speaker; this is how one grows to 'own' more.

Whenever you like, you may give over control of anything you 'own'. Usually, this goes to the gamemaster (and is somewhat his job), but not always. One great example is when the speaker prompts another player to 'voice' a supporting character; well done, this player may find himself the new 'owner' of a new supporting character. If you want to take back something you 'owned', you may do so at any time.

During general play, all ratings count only so much as they stand out. An 'average' rating does not get mentioned. Superlative ratings will have their persona's character succeed in their appropriate situations. Marginal ratings 'attract' failure; if play puts this kind of persona into a somewhat relative situation, the speaker should present an opportune failure.

This may seem like a mean thing to do. It isn't. The player who 'owns' the marginally rated persona will expect this; this is what they made their character for. If anything, it dignifies the persona's sine qua non. If this player chooses, they may also invoke mechanics and call for a roll instead of an automatic failure. (See Basic Play below.)

It's okay to play with the potential of using the mechanics in mind. The difference between general and basic play is, in fact, usage of mechanics. The presence of the mechanics on the sideline is why we keep track of 'ownership'; when something you 'own' comes into play, if necessary, you will make the rolls for it.

The shift between general and basic play should be seamless and unconscious for everyone playing. (Cut the newbies some slack here.) In fact, you can drop into basic play, resolve a complication with a quick use of mechanics and then rise back into general play with on one the wiser. Other reasons you might shift over and back are things like resolving disagreements (when the speaker wants something to happen to something someone else 'owns') or to raise tension by banking everything on one dice roll, and those are just examples.

In basic play, the mechanics are at your side, helping you along; they don't control play. Basic play is not uncommon, but general play occurs much more often. Rating numbers move beyond mere influence over play to specific capacities and limits on what may be done. Here, mechanics work mostly to resolve mechanical complications, generate detail, resolve contests, support tension and negotiate contention.

Use of the mechanics in basic play only involves taking a rating and rolling dice against it (or against the rating connected to the efficacy number). Mechanical complications are situations that require a specific roll from the persona (like taking a test or surviving an explosion). When you want to know how much, how far or how long it took a persona to do something, a roll will have results that may be interpreted as such. When two persona (or a persona and a supporting character) are competing over something, they will both get dice rolls where a victor can be determined. When play reaches a 'turning point' anyone can call for a roll that will decide the outcome; until the dice land, no one knows what will happen (that's tension). There will also be times when two players disagree on an issue; in a few of those times, they may use a dice roll to resolve their problem.

When it seems unclear whether a roll should be made, the gamemaster must take into account the pace of the game and make this decision. It is up to him to mitigate the presentation of all complications. Don't forget though, that the speaker is the person who decides what is happening at all points. How you normally handle conversations and citations should be the key guide to how to handle unsure situations. Basic play suggests that you keep in mind how much time the speaker spends in the spotlight (including the gamemaster) and use your best judgment (as a group) to avoid having anyone become discourteously long-winded or having anyone left out of play.

The resolution cycle proceeds from the current circumstances in the game; from those modifiers are selected; the dice are rolled; the result gets calculated with the modifiers; this number is translated back into new circumstances; and play resumes. You'll notice that this can become a sudden impediment to play. This is why general play is preferred in most cases. Detail, contests and tension are good reasons to stop play for a dice roll. Otherwise, ask yourself, 'Is this really necessary?' If the speaker is going too far with what you 'own' the answer is an emphatic 'yes!'

There will be occasions where something clearly should have been mechanically resolved when it happened but it was missed. If it doesn't disrupt things too much, you should play it out retroactively and work the results of that roll back into current play. Above all, be flexible in this way; after all, we are all human.

But when the time comes, pull out those dice! When a dicey complication occurs, the speaker (even if he has to interrupted another) will choose an action his persona makes that calls for mechanical resolution. This action is the crux of what resolves the complication; there are no other rolls other than those which resolve actions. The speaker will also choose a rating he feels suits the circumstances and the action (with well timed advice). When that rating is combined with the modifiers which suit the circumstances, the dice roll becomes most appropriate resolution. If there is question about the choices made, you should solve this the way you solve any dispute with friends; remember good gamesmanship!

Take the modified rating, roll two 10-sided dice (2d10) and subtract their total from the rating. This is your MIb number; the acronym stands for Made-It-by or Missed-It-by (because it can be a negative number too). This number is a rating of the quality of the outcome (if not the quantity in some cases).

There are a few additional things you may do with this number before applying it to the situation and returning to play.

You may fine tune the resolution by moving the points around. If it's a contested resolution both sides may do this.

You may 'buy' your MIb up to 0 (minimal success) by introducing complications for your persona. Each complication added only results in a 1 point increase. The largest number of complications you may take is set by the 'epic threshold' (see below). Remember, in Scattershot, you don't just 'miss'; like when you swing at the baseball and hear 'whiff'. When the resolution comes out slightly negative, there will be additional factors like you'd expect from a near miss. Let imagination run wild, just keep in mind the MIb is a relative measure of failure here. If you have problems thinking, try to imagine a watered down catastrophe.

You may also 'spend' MIb points, adding benefits for your persona. Each benefits costs 1 point. Every point the MIb number is equal to or over the epic threshold must be taken as benefits. While few people will spend a success down to nothing, small successes are different from large ones. Spending the MIb points lets you create a more satisfying result than simply 'you hit'.

If you want, you may also buy or spend MIb points generated by adding experience dice (see below) rolled into the resolution. You may even elect to roll experience dice specifically to be able to buy or spend the points.

There are basically three different types of modifiers used while playing, deliberate, latent and residual. Deliberate modifiers are those applied in situations like buying or spending MIb points. You will have latent modifiers when you realize that a condition exists which you have become affected by. Residual modifiers are problems and complications that 'hang on' and continue to affect you; the end as they should, when you do something about them or when they wear themselves out.

Following all these possible adjustments, the remaining MIb number is a numerical rating of the impact of the action on the circumstances of play. The epic threshold (see below) affects all exceptional rolls. If a positive MIb number equals or exceeds the epic threshold, you can refer to it as a 'telling blow' (also known as a 'critical hit' in some circumstances). When a negative MIb equals or surpasses minus the epic threshold, call it s 'catastrophic (or critical) failure'. Any MIb number in between is a qualitative measure of success or failure.

The more positive the RMIb number is the more the action resolved reaches its ideal; the more negative, the more ineffective the action is. If contested, the negative RMIb measures how much the result resembles the ideal of what the contestant offered. A 0 RMIb means that the action succeeded in the most minimal way possible, without any measureable effect on the current situation.

In many ways, Scattershot mechanics are, for the most part, optional. There are a few that must always be followed. Keep this in mind when choosing your persona's actions.

The epic threshold is rating of how 'epic' a game is; the lower this number is the more epic the play will be. This is both meant as a guideline as well as a mechanic.

When a telling blow is scored, the owner of the recipient (or the loser) chooses the benefits for the speaker. These are normally persistent bad things or complications that happen to the subject, but occasionally may be good things for the speaker. For example, when Robin Hood scores a telling blow on the Sheriff of Nottingham, the 'owner' of the Sheriff could choose to take a disfiguring scar as a benefit to Robin; he could also give Robin's player a one point reputation for besting the Sheriff (or a +1 if there already is this advantage).

For a catastrophic failure, it is the player of the persona (the speaker) who must choose the results. It works the same way as it does with telling blows. This is an excellent opportunity to gain 'keeper' experience dice for spectacular failure; try to keep the results relative to what cause the catastrophic failure.

As the speaker, you may interpret the RMIb in a number of ways; it might be multiplied by a factor (based on the magnitude rating used), it may create a residual modifier (the length of which is based on the RMIb), it could be subtracted from a resource rating, it may also be used simply as the results (an RMIb of 3 could mean that 3 clues were found) or you can combine any of these, dividing points between them.

Because the speaker may not change things about anything he does not 'own', he must negotiate it with the player who 'owns' it. When an action is done by one persona on another persona or a supporting character, the speaker may only describe what the persona is actually doing, but not what the persona intends on doing. The 'owner' of the recipient will also describe a reaction, but not an intended result. The dice resolve which of these actions is more successful. There is no failure in Scattershot, only superior precedent or complication.

When an action involves something 'owned' by another person, they may choose to simply accept the result; in this case the speaker's MIb determines the whole result. This other person may also choose to resist the action, making it a contested action. The speaker has offered his action, now the other 'owner' must offer his reaction. Both parties then will roll separate MIb numbers (including experience dice) and the actions happen simultaneously in play. Subtract the recipient's MIb from the speaker's; this is the RMIb for the contested action.

Basic play is also shaped by using the mechanics to create unexpected detail. In a way, it's about ceding determination to the mechanics rather than making all the decisions yourself. This is a very complex issue, whether to use mechanics in basic play or not; keep in mind how your group plays and how they might react, not only to you making use of mechanics in this way, but also how they will feel if you do not. Each groups will have their own threshold for how often is 'right'; sensitivity to this is just good gamesmanship.

Beyond just 'making a roll' to see if your persona succeeds at something, you can include modifiers. These can either emulate how hard the attempt is or how easy. Because of the experience dice (see below), 'how hard' is more a matter of theatrics. Use the dice frequently against long odds for over-the-top game play. Avoid the dice against long odds for the pleasure of the surprise success. Either way, even when modified for ease, this also invokes the epic threshold, which doesn't come up without the mechanics.

Modifiers are not only bonuses added and penalties subtracted from your MIb, they serve as a mechanical rating of the situation of the resolution. Use this as a guide to judge when you are overdoing something. There are many situations where it appears that many modifiers would apply, but the situation doesn't seem to present a heavily modified roll. In those situations, choose only the modifiers that suit the tenor of your play. Ask yourself what makes the situation engaging and go with only those modifiers. Make fun your guide and stay in keeping with your group's play-style.

Opportunity - What is the window of opportunity? In time? To extent? Availability? Amount of exposure?

• Attacks of opportunity, covering fire, under the full moon, when you can see it, when it's all underwater, when it goes on sale, et cetera; these are all examples of opportunity.

Means - Are there enough resources? Enough props? Supplied consumables? Proper workspace? Plenty of labor? Scope - Are the dimensions adequate? Too big? Too brief? Too far? Too complex? For people, Scattershot identifies these levels of scope:

• Individual - Just one persona or supporting character
• Squad - A small handful of people; the more cohesive, the larger the group can be
• Mob - More people than one is normally able to continuously keep specific track of
• Faction - While this might be expressed as the size of a large neighborhood or a small village, it also means up to as many people as imaginable (see UE Chart)

For time in play, use these levels of scope:

• Immediate - It happens while you are saying it
• Involved - May take a few moments of concentration
• Scenic - Over a longer period of time (see UE Chart)

Engagement - Are you ready? En guard? Of increased focus? Prepared enough?

One way to double check is to consider which aspects of the EU Chart significantly apply to situation. (See attached.)

Experience dice are the measure of a player's ability to directly affect play. Do you just need that success? Would it be cooler to fail here? Do you have something devious planned later that requires a certain result now? Any player (or the gamemaster) may use experience dice (to raise or lower an RMIb) in any situation they witness (whether their persona is there or not), before, during or immediately after the roll. There are no restrictions! If you see it happen you can roll one of your own experience dice into it. In fact, even if there isn't a roll being made, but you think there should be, simply roll your experience dice and read the total as a success or failure RMIb. (Yes, you may create plot devices and deus ex machina this way.)

What are experience dice? They are 6-sided dice passed back and forth around the gaming group during play. You get them as rewards for good play or as mechanical payoffs for using certain mechanics in Scattershot. You roll them to affect how things proceed during play and once rolled, they must return to the 'pot'. To use them, roll them into the middle of play, state how they affect play, add up their face values and explain how they will be added or subtracted. If one isn't enough, you can always add another, until you get the result you like. (You might find the first roll goes too far; you may even roll more to lessen that amount.)

Why are they called experience dice? A player or gamemaster (not the persona) often gains them in many of the same ways one would get experience points in other games. They are the player's (and, believe it or not, gamemaster's) reward for good play. You can also get them 'on purpose'. In Scattershot, advantages and disadvantages are rated by the number of experience dice they bring into play. If you run out, you can even borrow them. (You can borrow even when you're not out!) Finally, they get used in the process of evolving your persona or milieu.

Whenever you determine play by someone exceeds your expectations (in the good way), you should give them one of your own experience dice. DON'T WORRY! Everyone else will be doing the same so you won't run out. (If you manage to exceed their expectations; keep trying!) Multiple rewards (from more than one person) are likely; you may even reward someone for identifying excellent play (when they award some). After the end of each scene or session, everyone is welcome to identify a 'most valuable player' who will receive dice from each person. (You could even ante up dice at the beginning of the session for this award.)

You don't just give and receive experience dice, you may also share them (offering to roll them for someone else playing), you may loan them to another at whatever terms you negotiate and the same goes for borrowing them from someone. That's how experience dice move about the people playing Scattershot. Now let's talk about how you get them from the mechanics.

There are 7 different kinds of experience dice, depending on how you get them or how you spend them. There are 5 ways to get them; keepers, gimmes, freebies, loaners and by buying them. There are also 3 ways you ways to spend them. (No, that isn't a typo; bear with me.)

• As above, you earn these instantly for making the play experience more fun for others; they award them to you.
• Don't be surprised if you receive some for doing something which supports someone else's secret. You won't know why.

• You receive these whenever one of your (or the milieu's) disadvantages affects you. (Note; it's very likely that you maneuvered your persona into these situations. Although sometimes other people might 'do it' to you.)
• You may also get these when someone else's advantage negatively affects only you.

• When you use one of your advantages in your persona's situation to benefit them, you get freebies that can be used at that moment. You may not save these up like keepers and gimmes.
• When conditions match a disadvantage or advantage on the milieu sheet that your persona benefits from, you also get freebies for that roll.

• You may borrow experience dice from the 'pot' for any roll you want to. You must use them right away or forfeit them.
• Unlike those borrowed from other people, you must give these to the person who 'owns' what your roll goes against. They must find a way to use them 'against' you within the same session or these dice are forfeit. (Note; you may forfeit them immediately if you want.)

• When you are arranging the development points for your persona (or milieu) when you create them, you may buy 1 experience dice for each development point you spend. (This is how you start your first game with some.) Don't forget to play fair when you decide how many to take; this is important to good gamesmanship.

• When you have received experience dice that someone took as loaners 'against' you, save them in a way that reminds you who you got them from.
• During the session you got them, when you find a way to use them, this is called 'payback'. It works a little like bad kharma for them pushing their luck. Try to be creative in this way. (You might even get some keepers this way. Maybe even from the 'victim'!)

• Any time between scenes, you may roll one of more of your experience dice in order to evolve your persona (or milieu).
• The higher you roll, the more development points you may spend. You may not hang onto development points; you must spend them immediately.
  

• During play, if you see an opportunity to change things for the better, you may spend an experience die. Roll this like normal. If you are simulating a roll made by something you are creating for that moment, count it as an RMIb number (you may go positive or negative with this).
• If you are introducing something that should have a simple rating attached to it, roll your experience die and look up the result on the UE Chart. (See attached.) This is how you introduce a plot device or significant prop. For example, if you decide that a door someone else 'owns' should have a lock on it, roll a die and that becomes the rating of difficulty to pick the lock.
• Once you commit to rolling an experience die this way, it becomes a dice-rolling situation, meaning you or anyone else may also add or subtract further experience dice to the roll. (This is how anyone can turn a plot device into a deus ex machina.)

You've probably already noticed that you stand to get many of your rewards from playing on your advantages and disadvantages (and those of the milieu). That's a good thing. Keeping this in mind while you create a persona or milieu will direct you towards embodying in it those things you want to see in play.

Often, the act of gamemastering is called 'running' the game. This is incorrect (but go ahead and call it that anyway). Unlike the players, whose context begins with what their personae know or can do, the gamemaster has more of what authors call the 'omniscient perspective'. Ultimately, all a gamemaster does is manage the in-game complications which come up during play. Each gamemaster has a different style for doing this and thus receives different forms of pleasure doing it. Some are hands-on and some are hands-off. Some orchestrate great epics and other invite players into a 'sand box'. All of these and many other styles are perfectly acceptable, completely doable and mixable. What's important is finding your own style and helping it work with the group's overall play style. Once again, this is a function of good gamesmanship; you know how to do that, so do it.

There is a continuum of types of complications in Scattershot. On one end are simple mechanical complications; they affect resolution of certain actions on a numerical basis. On the other are the 'whole game' complications; when these are resolved, this game ends opening room for another. The gamemaster is charged with managing all of these. For the most part, players and play will handle them just perfectly on their own. But sometimes the gamemaster must take direct action. For example, when playing out every mechanical complication is bogging down play and losing some players' interest, you must step in and require a more broad resolution than item by item. Other times you will introduce new complications (using your own experience dice) that will keep play from going 'too fast' and sapping the fun out of it; like when the persona are just zooming straight to their goals without any interference.

Each scene begins with a 'medium level' complication which someone wants to see resolved (or at least attempted). Once someone offers one that the group is interested in (and perhaps a setting), the gamemaster must craft the beginning of the scene. Take into account all of the factors offered for the scene, consider what the players apparently have planned, decide the most engaging outcome for the first action necessary (a consequential decision or action a persona makes), and think out how far you can go into that before it looks like you are cheating the player out of his choices. Start there.

For example, if on player chooses to have their persona use their streetwise skill to find some information that will get the group past the complication of not knowing what's going on. You have them roll their streetwise RMIb. Depending on what they rolled, you may decide (even though it was a success), that they are tied up in the back of some dive, being worked over (at least cosmetically - no need for injury…yet) by some thugs. You describe the scene and begin at the point where the boss comes into the light and makes a speech about people who stick their noses into other people's business. To reflect the success rolled, you make sure that the boss indirectly reveals the answer to the players' curiosity. Play begins at that point and no earlier.

Once the complication is satisfactorily addressed (even if it is not resolved), end the scene as quickly as you are able. In the example, you must let the players react to the confrontation at the beginning of the scene until they are stuck or satisfied. (Remember some challenges must always remain too difficult.) Try to keep play from bleeding over into a second complication, even if you have to do a 'jump cut' to a new scene. Aside from resolving a complication, you can also escalate, mutate it or even break it into a number of new, smaller complications. Just keep play moving; that's the most important part.

'In play' complications should be kept as notes for the group (or as 'mystiques' for an individual). If a running complication becomes complicated enough or 'big' enough, it must be transferred to the gamemaster's milieu write-up as a new advantage. If an advantage on the milieu write-up is dealt with during play, the gamemaster will have to remove it from the write-up. This is done exactly the same way players evolve their persona (see above).

“Suspense doesn't come from uncertain outcomes; it comes from putting off the inevitable.” – Vincent Baker

The amount that you make use of (or ask for) dice rolls depends on your and your group's play style. As gamemaster, you must make sure that it doesn't become excessive. While there is a small crumb of suspense involved with each roll, this isn't how you work suspense in your game. That is what complications are for. In fact, the easiest way to handle a failed resolution is to use the size of the number rolled (when it doesn't equal or exceed the epic threshold) as the 'size' of a new complication.

For example, if a persona is trying to pick a lock to gain entrance to a manor to discover some secrets to further play, you cannot, must not, simply stop play when the player fails the roll. Of course the lock remains unpicked, but the goal is still in reach. Perhaps the player will decide the persona would then climb the trellis to access an open window. This is where you use the absolute value of the failure RMIb as the number to beat when climbing the trellis. If the worst case scenario happens and all the ways this persona attempts to enter are foiled, change the consequences; instead of failing to enter, they are able to enter, but also raise alarm in the servant's quarters. Never forget, a failed roll is not an ending; it is a new complication.

There are many more reasons to skip dice rolls than there are to make them. Every time you call for roll, you introduce the possibility for failure…<cough> complication. As a good gamemaster, you know that too much complication makes for bad pacing and a bad game. In order to avoid too much complication, simply skip dice rolls. If you need more engagement from your players, remember: spare the dice and spoil the players!

At some point during play, one or more personae are going to run afoul of one (or more) of the supporting characters. This is one of the most difficult of gamemastering situations. You need to portray the supporting character as a worthy opponent without giving the impression that it's you versus the players. Intense characterization is the most common way of creating the illusion of competition without involving 'the gamemaster'. There are many others; most gamemasters have tons of ideas how to manage this. Just make sure you notice when this may potentially happen to you.

One major way to maintain an air of objectivity is not showing your supporting characters any favoritism. The simplest way to do this is to imagine they have a place in the ecology of your milieu. Who do they have to deal with or struggle against? Who are their peers and what relationships do they hold among them? Who do they prey upon and what protects them from their prey? When you establish a situational ecology in your mind, you are half way to keeping things apparently fair.

What you need to do is imagine what effects these will have on your supporting character that the players will notice? When you portray the personae's affect on the supporting character and how that affects their standings within their 'ecology', the players won't be able to imagine much in the way of favoritism. We call this effect the 'dynamic status quo'; when one supporting character is laid low, there are peers, superiors and prey just waiting for a chance at their resources and position. Thus, the more the personae change things, the more they appear to remain the same. (It's only apparent because the new version will no doubt involve a great deal more incompetence than the old.)

For each game, the gamemaster will generate a milieu sheet, much the same way the players create their personae (beginning with a sine qua non, description and development points). At the beginning of play, while the players create their personae, the gamemaster creates the milieu. This single write-up will dictate almost everything that belongs in play and shows the gamemaster what he has to work with or deal with.

These always start with a list of things that 'juice up' the game and make play livelier. It may contain the coolest bits about the background, great scene ideas, awesome supporting characters, tense relationships or significant props. Anything you think will make things great to play should be on such a list (even if it is only in your head). When you create the write-up of all this you will be making sure that it fits the tone of the game, sets the mood and reinforces the atmosphere. You may want to add anything else that will make this game very much 'in genre', like running gags or examples of the motif.

But keep it short!

A milieu write-up can be very handy for improvising. If you are really stuck for ideas, you can offer the 'public' parts of the milieu for the players to improvise a scene on. If worse comes to worst, you could just roll RMIbs on all of the above, making a list of what succeeds (spectacularly or fails spectacularly) and try to cook something up from that list. Don't forget; the milieu sheet is dynamic and needs frequent between-scene attention. It really is your game.

Laid out like a persona write-up, a milieu will also have statistics. These represent the ideal aspects of the game in the expression of its genre. Like a persona write-up, you will have 6 statistics with a base number of 10.

This is the magnitude of how fantastic or 'epic' the game will be. (The Ugly Rule: Epic Threshold = 15 minus Rank.) Low Rank means there will seldom be catastrophic failures that can completely change the direction of play. High Rank makes the game much more over-the-top.

Simply put, this is the efficacy of play's ability to 'turn' suddenly. With a high Reversal, expect a game filled with plot twists and surprises. When Reversal is very low, the game will proceed from cliché to cliché.

The measure of how long and how 'adventurous' a game is. Each time something happens in play to significantly raise the tension level, another point is added to Tension. When Tension reaches 15, play climaxes and, following dénouement, ends. In other words, a 'low tension' game can go on a rather long time and has a rather subtle beginning.

Low Intensity games will not have a marked effect on the personae, but be rather about how they change things. When the efficacy of Intensity is high, play becomes a study in how the game changes the personae.

The efficacy of the game information to trump the players. A high Trump means that the player has to rewrite aspects of his persona which are displaced by the game. A low Trump means that a persona's mystiques (see below) redefine the game.

This statistic is both the magnitude measuring how 'tough' the competition is (a relativity, of course) and a rating of how much the supporting characters redirect the play.

Each of these ratings compares how important they are to this game. When they exceed 10, the game becomes more epic than realistic. Superhuman ratings require over-the-top play. One main use for these is to maintain consistency over the whole game. You should also consider how they are relative to each other; this will help you understand the focus of how you'll play the game. When creating these, you prioritize them, creating the game you like.

Reconsider these stats for how they can work mechanically like Tension and Epic Threshold.

On the milieu sheet there are things listed that can crop up during play. Whether by accident of design, the advantages and disadvantages (Ads and Disads) note these situations. When they come up, one or more personae may receive experience dice based on how they relate to the situation and how much part their players were in bringing the episode into being. Everyone should consider them ideas and situations that they can and should hit the play with repeatedly.

One type of Ad or Disad is the relationship; when a relationship makes things more difficult for a persona, their player receives a number of experience dice relative to the difficulty. Some relationships require a certain amount of 'maintenance' by the players; they also receive experience dice when they work on this (coerced or not). Another type is predictable turns and twists of play. When the superhero winds up in a deathtrap, the player receives experience dice. (Even when the persona was 'looking the other way' when the player did it.)

Ads and Disads have different ratings of effectiveness. A 5 dice disadvantage should occur frequently and not unexpectedly. A 1 dice advantage might come up once in a while, but it can't have that much impact. Any Ad or Disad can appear at less than its full rating; see the listing for the alternatives. Minor Ads and Disads are often taken to inspire play to embrace the expected tone, mood or atmosphere of the game. Applying a motif to something brought into play that is listed as a minor Ad or Disad will also reward the player.

Milieu advantages are things which 'help' the game achieve its potential, often at the expense of the players for their persona. Milieu disadvantages are things which elevate personae and give players a genre-inspired kick. Or simply, if it makes you feel cool, it's a milieu disadvantage; if it makes the game cool, it's a milieu advantage.

A milieu's 'skills' are the list of 'places' that things are likely to happen during play. Drawn from the background and genre, these 'sets' should be both flexible and engaging, but not too cliché. One skill might be 'street-side nightscape'; this could be as much a dark alley as an empty subway platform. Trying not to be too specific.

Milieu skills also include things like significant props; six-guns are very common in an 'old west' game, but don't belong in a Færie Tales game. The Maltese Falcon would have been a high level 'skill' in the noir game of the movie of the same name. When casting the extras and mooks (supporting characters who have no significant lines or just 'bit players'), list them as 'skills' but be generic. Townspeople, peasants or the police are well chosen 'skills', but Mayor Bradley or Chief Gordon are not and neither are 'pedestrians'.

Try not to forget any of the predictable settings or essential parts of the background because if they become useful, you will have to spend development points adding them to the milieu. Taken together, all the milieu skills should represent the panorama on which the game takes place.

When it comes time to rate them, like statistics, you should use that as an opportunity to prioritize them so they embody the flavor of the game. Think of the number as how often or how intensely these settings, extras and props will be used. Same as the persona skills, the genre-specific material included in a Scattershot supplement for you to choose from as well as notes on how to make your own; just remember to keep them flexible enough that they don't become repetitive.

You may invoke 'powers' at any time (within verisimilitude) and for the milieu, they are the major supporting characters. When an extra begins to make repeat appearances, their listing has to be changed from a 'skill' to a 'power'. For minor characters, this doesn't cost any development points. When the extra, thug or mook rises to have relationships in the game and embody a certain amount of play, they must be converted to a power 'based' on a statistic. For example, if the leader of a minor gang comes into possession of a powerful artifact (and doesn't let it get taken from him), he becomes a power based on whatever statistic embodies the artifact. Props can do this, but only when so important that virtually everyone in play has a relationship to it.

If a supporting character is an archetype for this game, then they should be 'based on a statistic'; the statistic they 'use' defines their relative importance both within the genre at large and relative to this game (the value of the statistic). Minor returning supporting characters (also 'bit players' and 'character actors' when steeped in motif) aren't 'based' on a statistic and sometimes rise no higher than a running gag relative to the game.

Just like all persona write-ups, your milieu may (and likely will) have mystiques listed. A mystique works exactly as it does for the persona. Make sure you note them on your milieu write-up (at least the 'private edition') so that you can put them into perspective with the other parts of your game. Between sessions you may find that you need to raise or lower their rating based on changes you make during play. This is handled just like any other evolution on your sheet. Remember, blank mystiques are very sophisticated and complicated; you may want to steer clear of them until you're fully confident you can handle it.

This is the section of your write-up where you note things you want to stress out of the potential motifs and running gags. You may write a lot or a little; just make sure that you only note the things you will consciously make use of to distinguish your game from others of the same genre.

The personae in your milieu are your 'free skills'. Like extras, you don't need to spend much time deciding how they affect play (after all, that's exactly what the players do). If you want to have more influence over any of the persona, make a deal with its player and spend one development point on each bullet point you get them to agree to. There aren't any hard and fast costs for the personae in your game, but you should cost them out relative to each other and normal skill costs (except the base level is 9 to start). The main reason you want to add the personae to your write-up is so that you can make notes about how they are connected to the background, supporting characters and locations; these may be very important to understand what motivates the personae so you can anticipate how to play.

The better the players understand the milieu write-up, the better 'tuned in' they will be to the game. The more willing they are to make use of the powers, skills, advantages and disadvantages as they play, the more your game will come out the way everyone intended it to. This is the major reason you make up your milieu write-up at the same time as they write-up their personae. This is a group process for the benefit of the group; the better all the write-ups work together the fewer problems and misunderstanding will need to be dealt with. Having all the (public) write-ups 'on the table' is the beginning of making things fair to everyone at the essence of good gamesmanship.

The most sophisticated level of play is mechanical play. This is the time when you throw out all the 'soft rules' and group's habits and go totally mechanical. You use this for times when people want a blow-by-blow reenactment, heavy on the fairness; to generate detail with the strict timing of events; or for tension (the same way a countdown works). However, it is most often used for combat. In all other cases, steer towards the lowest level of play you can. Mechanical play can be very slow and tedious; if you aren't involving everyone equally and you can't engage them on other levels, someone won't be having fun. It is the best gamesmanship to think of how everyone will feel before you invest minutes to hours on this slow process.

Only a speaker can call play into mechanical play. It is up to the speaker to make sure that everyone is ready, willing and able to 'go mechanical'. Play now becomes turn-based, beginning with the speaker. When the speaker's turn ends, play passes to the next person to the right. One 'round' of mechanical play is the time it takes everyone to have one turn to play what they 'own'. It may take a little longer for the gamemaster to choose the actions of each of the supporting characters involved. For this reason, try to include only people who are involved directly in the situation that brought up mechanical play. Then, when it becomes your turn, you may choose which supporting character or persona to play first freely.

Mechanical play deals primarily with mechanical complications. You may need to make interpretations of ongoing, significant complications into the mechanical, start there.

When the speaker calls for a persona (or supporting character) they 'own', to perform an action, there are a number of factors that need to be dealt with. In the same way you can buy or spend RMIb points, you may 'front load' a dice roll. You do this by self-applying complications as modifiers on the roll. Anyone else may add a complication at the cost of 1 experience die.

1. Self-Applied Complications

• May improve the chances - Things like taking extra time to aim
• Might increase the potential result - For example, pulling back farther
• Could complicate the detail - Aiming at an entire area, instead of a specific subject
• When based on advantages, yielding freebies - Why do you think fighters always work to be at an advantage?
• If based on disadvantages, yielding keepers - You are not required to factor in your persona's advantages or disadvantages

2. Offering an Experience Die (or More), Another Player may Add a Complication

• To make a roll more difficult - Adding smoke to a battlefield
• To lessen the potential result - Shooting into a strong wind
• To complicate the detail - Showing only a smaller target, like the head, instead of the whole subject
• To specify an alternate result - Missing the intended subject, striking another

The speaker may take the offered complication and the die (as a keeper) and then roll normally or begin bidding an auction…
3. …Offering More Ex-Dice to Ignore the Complication

1. Those involved take turns raising the 'pot' until one of them does not bid
2. The highest bidder is the winner; the complication is thus withdrawn or added
3. Loser takes the 'pot' as keepers from the winner
4. Mike Holmes Rule: There is no double jeopardy; the roll then continues without further complications

The speaker may receive aid from other people and anyone may take loaners at any point.

This exact same process is used to settle disputed between players during play. Since it isn't a part of mechanical play, but instead a break from the game, there are a few extra caveats.

1. Stakes must negotiated by both sides to be clear to all present.
2. The non-contenders must collectively suggest at least two compromises
3. Any compromise suggestion accepted immediately ends the auction and all experience dice bid are returned to their owners.
4. Otherwise, the winner's stakes take effect; loser receives the bid dice as keepers

Beginning with the speaker who called for mechanical play, each person offers 2 actions for each persona or supporting character they have involved in the situation calling for mechanical play. The length of each of these actions depends on the scope of the mechanical play. These actions may be as short as immediately (such a dropping a box) or as long as a few hours (or running to the nearest farmhouse); whatever the length of time, it must be the same for everyone on every turn during mechanical play.

The scope of each action may also vary from mechanical play instances; it could range from individual persona all the way up to battalion to battalion. As with time, scope must also stay relatively at the same level for the duration of this instance of mechanical play. If a speaker calls for a different length or scope for this instance of mechanical play, treat it as a whole new instance and continue to resolve it that way. You may probably have guessed. Short times generally go with small scopes, but not always.

When you use mechanical play to resolve combat situations, you'll start with initiative (who goes first). This is not the point when the first swing is rolled for. This is the moment when the speaker declares that combat mechanical play has started. In most cases things will begin with the combatants getting themselves ready for battle. Only under ambush conditions will one side get 'the drop' on the other. Only by invoking a disadvantage may a persona be startled into inaction at the beginning of combat, in most cases, the time it takes the ambushed to prepare for battle is the decisive factor. Mechanical play continues around the group until one of the combatants is ready and strikes the first blow.

Combat is handled in the immediate time-frame and mostly on the individual level (intense, team training may allow a squad to act together in the scope of the individual). Two concepts to keep in mind during a battle are engagement and involvement. Engagement allows a combatant to react quickly with their opponent and to forfeit 1 of their upcoming actions for a hasty defensive action. Involvement prevents a combatant from reacting to actions coming at them from outside their field of view. It is quite common for a combatant to switch engagement from opponent to opponent, but they may only do this once each turn.

Most immediate actions will be taken off of your persona write-up. Each Scattershot supplement also contains lists of genre-specific, immediate actions for combat too. These are all affected by a number of genre-specific modifiers and complications, also listed. In general, you can attack, defend or move. Most combatants may move up to 7 yards running in an action. Actions which involve another combatant or significant complications will be resolved by MIb rolls.

There are some actions which may be completed in the immediate time-frame that do not require the use of an action; these are called free actions. The take insignificant amounts of time and often overlap with actions.

• Look Around - Disengaging for a moment to make an Observation roll; only once a turn
• Drop an Item - Just let it go; only as many times as you hold items
• Fall Down - Not the same as ducking, but it can make you harder to hit
• Move - Only a few steps, about a yard; only once per action
• Make a Soliloquy - Good for superheroes and psychological attacks; only as many times as doesn't strain your group's verisimilitude
• Change Special Abilities Application - Redirect on already in use; only once per action
• Make a Last-Ditch Dodge - When all else fails and you're out of actions; you may do this (at a -2 penalty), even when it's not your turn
• Any Other Act - It must be accepted as 'free' by the group during play

A persona or supporting character may use as many free actions as the Epic Threshold during each round. (Of course this doesn't count in Cinematic-style games.) No more than two of any free action may be used during a round; even if you do them outside of your turn. If you want to do more free actions than this, expend 1 action to 'refresh' this limit.

When you are engaged with an opponent and they make an attack (or feint), you may forfeit 1 action to perform a 'reactive' action. This may only happen if you have at least one action that is not forfeited in your next turn. It is possible to forfeit all your actions before your turn comes up; this way you may only 'pass' this turn. Only when the end of your turn passes (when you pass speakership to the right) do your actions refresh. One common form of reactive actions, other than dodging and blocking, is the following action.

A following action is anything that begins with a reactive action and blends it into something else. Battle-trained opponents often have skills like riposte; these are following actions (and are listed in Scattershot's skill descriptions). In a fencing battle, on your opponents turn, he may make an attack; if you haven't used up all your next turn's actions, you may riposte which has an attack following action; to respond to this, your opponent would have to forfeit his next action…and he can riposte as well; this may keep up for some time each combatant riposting the previous riposte. It only ends when someone avoids forfeiting all of their actions and changes tactics. (Just watch a fencing match in slow motion sometime.)

During mêlée an engaged persona may perform an 'involved action' that works like a series of attacks, defenses, and movements but only count as one action. Each included attack is treated as a separate engaging action where necessary. Such a flurry of actions continues (along the lines predetermined by the skill or ability 'scripting' it) until an attack 'hits' (from either engaged combatant) or there is an interruption. A flurry may last for no more 'actions' than as many as the epic threshold number of the game.

The detail of some actions (and some free actions) may create an advantage for one combatant in mêlée. Because these are too diverse to list, we divide them into three categories: you may seize, hold or check an advantage. Each significant advantage you hold against your foe (up to a maximum of the epic threshold in number) is a continual residual penalty modifier (after the action that caused it) of -1 to all of the subject's RMIbs. Each advantage checked by foe eliminates 1 point of this penalty. Changing who you have engaged in combat with erases any advantage you hold against others.

Here are a few mêlée examples to get you started
Seizing the Advantage (where there was none)

• Having the foe yield it to you
• Take the lead when foe seriously falters (they spend a point of failure MIb for this)
• Having (and using) a better reach

• Take the upper hand after a good hit or when foe must dodge as the last resort
• For an all-out attack (with no forfeiting for defense)
• By finding an opening when foe's RMIb versus a feint is poor enough (less than 0)

Holding the Advantage (when you already have some)

• Cornering your foe
• Focusing on them (you are thus off-guard to all else)
• Pressing your attack by 'advancing' into it
• Take the high ground

Check the Advantage (that is held against you)

• An upset happens when a foe makes a crucial mistake and it erases all previous advantage (such as a catastrophic failure)
• Backing off (good against pressed attacks)
• Focusing on your foe (thus you are off-guard to all else)
• All-out defense (leaving the only actions possible as defense or movement)
• Take the high ground
• Trick your foe into yielding it to you (maybe the old 'sand in the eyes' trick); this also eliminates all earlier combat advantage against you

Keep track of how many of these you have during mêlée. You may gain or lose them quickly; that's normal. You may only have the advantage against 1 opponent at a time. (With some modifications for cinematic combat.)

You may have noticed that some of the skills, abilities and especially the advantages and disadvantage have category symbols by them. Items with these categories 'work well' with other items with the same categories. When you see the group's write-ups having a wide variety of these categories, you should expect to use good gamesmanship at times when they clash. This is normal.

If you want a more 'unified' game, try to stay with only one or two categories. If that doesn't fit your idea for the game, then have the gamemaster signify which category is in play at any time (usually by laying out an image of the category). When someone wants to use something outside this category, it's up to the gamemaster to either change the category or work with the player on how to handle the exception. It is very likely that you will notice a definite link between some categories and certain types of scenes. This is intentional; it helps transition from one category to another between scenes.

We know this sounds really complicated, but in play, you will almost never notice it. This mechanic is primarily a springboard for when and how to use Solomon's Auction. Most groups of friends won't even need these mechanics, but they are handy for tournaments and conventions.

There will be many occasions where you find that the game you want to play isn't supported by a single Scattershot world book. At these times, you can run a fusion game. Pick the sections out of each world book that you want to include and run with it. When you pick two sections that parallel to each other, ask your group to try to stick to one or the other when creating persona. Neither is off limits, but making a persona with equal portions of both can be either awkward or contain certain exploits.

Normally it is just good gamesmanship to avoid using exploits, but other times these can become the sine qua non for a persona; when that happens, carefully explain to your group how you want to use the exploit in your sine qua non to make sure they are aware of it. Make certain everyone buys into any supporting character who makes use of an exploit.

Props should be universal in the fusion, but if you notice that one kind or another seems too good or too weak or too powerful, ask the group if they may be slightly altered so that the one you want isn't overshadowed by some other ones. Everyone should have a good idea how all the settings connect to each other before you start gaming around between them.

It will be tough to choose motifs and running gags that suit the fusion unless you have a very strong idea for it. When it comes to mood, tone and atmosphere, think very carefully. You should only take these from one of the world books. These are at the very certain of what makes a genre a genre.

This is a word we've made up for having a game so that it contains components and an overall run that gives the players the impression they are a part of a story such as you'd see in a movie or book. Attempting storyola without a little planning is often a recipe for disaster. (And the worst thing you can plan is a plotline.)

A storyola game requires a lot more work and interference from the gamemaster. Primarily the gamemaster keeps the story together. (As opposed to keeping it on track.) At times this will require a certain amount of veto power over where things are going. (This veto never trumps persona sine qua non veto.) You will also give the gamemaster all the details about any mystiques you have in your persona and almost all of his milieu write-up will be based on blank mystiques.

Tension Points on the milieu sheet become one of the most important mechanics. We suggest that you use some kind of persistent display of the current level of Tension Points at all times. Players will need to make sure their personae's actions support and maintain that level. Taking away a tension point must be handled like a special event. It should be the entire complication for one of the more intense scenes. The gamemaster will communicate to a few players that such a scene is coming up so they can include it into their play. This scene will need to strongly close or escalate the game's ongoing complications. Which complication gets what treatment must absolutely be left up to the results on play, not planning. When a complication is 'retired', you may need a side scene of dénouement to provide the right amount of closure.

Consider the advantages and disadvantages on your persona write-up; these will either grow worse or less significant during storyola play. There is every possibility that one may become the focus of the game. You should note on each how it might escalate relative to your sine qua non. Definitely mark those you don't want to come to dominate the game. Share these choices with the group before play begins. (Of course not if one is a mystique or maybe not the steps of escalation, but do share your offerings toward the 'grand complication'.)

The absolute, most important rule for tension points in storyola is NEVER BACK DOWN! No matter what scene comes up, it must occur in a fashion so that the tension level is maintained. Even if you are switching from an action scene to a scene of subtly, tension must be maintained. (Close to the final confrontation with the 'big bad', you must make sure that any relationships expressed should have a parallel amount of danger involved.)

The list of potential grand complications is a laundry list of things that must be foreshadowed early in the game. We can't really give you a handbook on how to foreshadow, but many novel-writing websites will. Suffice to say, there are double rewards for creative foreshadowing (half from a player or gamemaster, half from the 'pot'). Since you know what you will be foreshadowing, you might even take specific disadvantages. Dark destinies are great for this; by the end you can either succumb to them or overcome them. (The best part is you should have engaging ideas for how to do either, because only the play of the game is allowed to decide.)

Most storyola games are broken down into three phases. During the 'introduction', the main complications dealt with are those relating the persona to each other. This is when all the foreshadowing must take place. During this portion, a few of the milieu and persona complications are revealed. As play moves through this section, the gamemaster must keep an eye on causing an 'incident'. Basically, one of the complications has to put its foot down. This should not be an arbitrary choice by anyone (especially not the gamemaster); it must flow from which complication seems both the most interest to the group and the one with the most potential for problems for them.

The 'incident' must be a scene based on this complication and it should profoundly affect all the persona (at least indirectly or secretly). This will be the precipitating incident for the storyola. This scene will definitely include a loss of a Tension Point. The remainder of the first part of the game will revolve around how the personae direct themselves following the precipitating incident.

You will know it is time to switch to the 'obstacles' phase of the game when you lose a Tension Point to one of the other complications. Following this, the gamemaster must drive things into complication after complication. Once again, there are double experience dice for scenes where a complication gets escalated, when a persona 'loses' something or when play forces the loss of another Tension Point. The 'obstacles' section of the game is about wreaking havoc on the personae. This may sound mean, but actually storyola personae will have complications built specifically to do this to them.

Throughout this section of play, the gamemaster must pay careful attention to which complication seems to get the greatest interest from the players. Often this will grow out of the complication that caused the precipitating incident, but not always. It is a good time to practice subtly to raise this to the status of the 'grand complication'. When possible, the gamemaster should mutate and escalate all of the personae complications still in play into further components of the grand complication, linking them together. It works well to extend and alter one of the complications into something more suited to undermine all of the personae by combining the rest.

Using a sense of fairness, drama and good gamesmanship, during a scene that takes another Tension Point, after more than half of those are gone, you'll know when to bring the 'obstacles' portion to a close:

“Generally speaking, things have gone about as far as they can possibly go, when things have gotten about as bad as they can reasonably get.” – The Player, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard

At this point, the gamemaster will offer opportunities for the personae to pick themselves up and make their way to the 'climax'. The scenes during this section will lead clearly, step by step, to a direct confrontation with the main representative of the grand complication. During these scenes, any remaining complications will be dealt with and satisfied, leaving only the grand complication to confront.

Even at this point, no one at the table should know how things will end. The gamemaster is setting up the scenes to allow the players to take their personae to the limits they have and to address the 'final boss' in any way they feel aesthetic. One warning, if the players choose to lose the final complication (they have the experience dice; this will definitely a choice), the game turns into a tragedy. In a tragedy all the persona must 'lose' in the end:

“The bad end unhappily, the good unluckily; that is what tragedy means.” – The Player, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard

After that, you only need to play a little farther before the game ends. A lot of loose ends will need to be discussed and scenes run to tie them up; this is called the dénouement. Don't worry if it doesn't work on the first try. It takes practice to pull this off. It also takes a lot of teamwork; even though the gamemaster is paying attention to the storyola structure, the players absolutely must 'play along'. The players must realize that their persona will be brought closer and closer together and that some or one of their complications will become the focus of the game. There must be no contention over how this goes; teamwork and good gamesmanship must rule the day!

For more sophisticated storyola play, the group can choose a theme or central concept to build play around. When doing this, all personae and supporting characters must have a clear orientation on these concepts as they are chosen for the game. This means you pick them before anyone finishes their persona or milieu write-up. Theme is a concept or universal truth that the game will 'discuss'; persona can be created to prove or test the theme. When the theme's 'testers' lose, they become antiheroes in the game, supporting the theme with their failure. The central concept is similar, but usually explores an every-man slice of life (often taken to the extreme as in science fiction). Differently oriented personae live to make different statements on this central concept.

You can also employ metaphor in play. In this case, you must arrange a common metaphor for everyone to take part of relating to a theme or central concept. Persona are then made basic on a symbolic sine qua non such that they have a sensible relationship to the them or central concept via the metaphor. Again, you can pursue the same kinds of conclusion, but the gross activities of the persona are now observed symbolically within the metaphor.

I just want to take a moment and thank everyone who has read this far. You have my greatest respect. I also want to thank everyone reading this who partakes in the playtests. This project will never 'live' without your dedicated effort; I really can't do it without you.