Credits Game Design, Writing & Layout by Nathan D. Paoletta Cover Art by Eric Quigley Gimmick Art by JB Roe Maneuver Art by Gregor Hutton Editing by Ian Williams

Contributors Essays by Shelly Deathlock, Gregor Hutton & Tim Rodriguez Season Two Wrestlers and Promotions by backers of the Kickstarter campaign. Individuals are listed with their contributions.

Powered By Apocalypse World, by D. Vincent Baker & Meguey Baker Simple World, by Avery Alder The World Wide RPG

Acknowledgments In addition to the many authors, designers and creators of both games and wrestling–related media, I am indebted to all of the people who have read, played and talked about World Wide Wrestling since it was originally released. Without your enthusiasm, I wouldn't have seen the possibility for making this supplement a reality! One great thing about working on this project is that it got me into whole new worlds of , which in turn drove many of the new rules and guidelines found here. Specifically:

New Pro Wrestling (and its streaming service NJPW World)

CHIKARA, AAW and Freelance Wrestling (local and touring indies)

CMLL, AAA and (premier )

World Of Sport (primarily as archived on YouTube) Do yourself a favor and check some of those out; even better, find live pro wrestling in your area and go to a show! Suggestions for Further Reading I found these books to be invaluable in making this book happen and in my general wrestling education. Charlton, Chris. Lion's Pride: The Turbulent History of New Japan Pro Wrestling. Christopher Charlon, 2015. Levi, Heather. The World of Lucha Libre: Secrets, Revelations, and Mexican National Identity. Duke University Press, 2008. Matysik, Larry. Drawing Heat the Hard Way: How Wrestling Really Works. ECW Press, 2009.

Special Thanks A huge thank you to the members of the WWWRPG G+ Community, who have provided an amazing amount of support, ideas and con- structive feedback to make this supplement possible and awesome. Search for "World Wide Wrestling" on Google+ to join! Playtesters: Jason Cox, Joe Zantek, Matthew Caulder & Justin Hunt; William Nichols and company; Adam Ultraberg and company. Thanks for comments and suggestions that led to specific content in this supplement: Adam Ultraberg, Tim Rodriguez, Jon Cole, Edward Ortiz, Andrew Rosenheim and Mark DiPasquale. Extra Special Thanks: Justin Phillips, for the International Incident name! Thank you to all my supporters on Patreon, who ushered the Beta playtest draft of this game into the world, and continue to support my design work. You can join them at patreon.com/ndpaoletta Thanks to my Chicago wrestling bud crew for making being a wrestling fan such a positive life experience. Y'all are the best. Thanks Liz, for everything. and a very special thanks to my 568 Kickstarter backers! Table of Contents

About International Incident page 7 Global Wrestling page 9 Lucha Libre page 10 Héroes y Más page 14 THE BASICS: page 17 INTERNATIONAL The Splendor of Puroresu page 23 WRESTLING Catch Wrestling page 27 World of Sport: A Moment in Time page 31 Wrestling page 35 Expanding Your Game page 42 Mythic Moments page 43 Stroke page 46 Long-Term Advancement page 48 THE OPTIONS: Promotions page 50 ADDITIONS TO AND INSPIRATIONS FOR Tags & Troubles page 50 YOUR GAME Promotion Advancement page 52 Audience Moves page 54 Wars & Invasions page 60 Being More Creative page 63 Season Two page 74 The Season Two Roster page 74 BRUTAL: Pro Wrestling page 83 THE EXTRAS: EXAMPLE Developmental Territories page 85 WRESTLERS AND The Forces of Freedom page 90 PROMOTIONS Husman Extreme Wrestling Presented by Calbee Global page 93 Lupta Profesionala Moldova page 95 REFERENCE: The Gimmicks page 99 EVERYTHING YOU The Moves page 115 NEED DURING PLAY

About International Incident chapter one

elcome to an exploration of professional wrestling around the ABOUT THE SUPPLEMENT W globe! While the art of professional wrestling was born in the , it quickly spread worldwide. Each region that embraces wrestling blends it with their own local traditions, creating unique ver- sions of the form. It’s changed over time, evolving from the carnival sideshow to find a place in the cultural landscape of each era. Different places showcase fresh ways of enjoying professional wrestling as the various contexts, audiences and competitions give fans different ways to engage with the product. This supplement for the World Wide Wrestling Roleplaying Game considers four prominent modern professional wrestling traditions: Lucha Libre ( and Central America), Puroresu (Japan), Catch Wrestling (United Kingdom) and contemporary Indie style wrestling (the international ). All share attributes of the wres- tling covered in World Wide Wrestling, but they also contain unique features worth integrating into your game, especially for fans of these styles. International Incident explains some of the basic differences that set each style apart and why they’re important, and then provides new Gimmicks, Match Stipulations and other rules to support these differ- ent styles. Whether you want to run an entire Lucha Libre promotion or simply have the ability to bring an international talent into your current World Wide Wrestling game, this supplement will make it happen! To reflect the unique archetypes of each style, this text includes: ✶✶ 6 New Gimmicks ✶✶ 2 New Roles ✶✶ 7 New Match Stipulations ✶✶ 3 Guest Essays exploring fan perspec- tives on these new styles

everyone pops for the Brainbuster 8 About International Incident

In addition to the international styles, you will find optional rules for adding additional depth and breadth to any game of World Wide Wrestling. None of these completely replace or overrule anything in the core game; you can simply select the features that support the most interesting aspects of your Promotion. These optional rules include: ✶✶ Mythic Moments, an expansion to the Basic Moves that enable experienced wrestlers to become truly legendary (PAGE 43). ✶✶ Stroke, a system for determining who has power backstage based on how popular they are on camera (PAGE 46).

✶✶ Audience Moves, giving the audience a personality (PAGE 54). ✶✶ Promotion tags and troubles, a system for tracking how your pro- motion changes over time based on the successes (and failures) of the wrestlers in the ring (PAGE 50). ✶✶ Alternate Advancement, allowing for modification of the overall pace of play by changing how Advances are earned (PAGE 52). ✶✶ Multi-Promotion Events, advice and structure for handing inva- sions, inter-promotional wars and other types of multi-table play (PAGE 60). This supplement also includes a chapter for Creative which goes more in-depth about running the game. From how to handle swerves to how to guide players unfamiliar with wrestling through an Episode, Being More Creative (PAGE 63) is the result of play experience with the basic game in the years since its release. Finally, you'll find the Season Two Roster and set of Promotions and additional frameworks within which to a set your game of World Wide Wrestling. Contributed by backers and supporters of the Kickstarter that funded the creation of International Incident, the Season Two material is full of unique talent and evocative federations for you to pick and choose from to fill out your game. Welcome to World Wide Wrestling: International Incident!