Mythic: Dynamic Role-Playing
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TM Create dynamic role-playing adventures without preparation For use as a stand-alone game or as a supplement for other systems TM Adventure Generator Role Playing System by Tom Pigeon Published by Word Mill Publishing Credits “To help, to continually help and share, that is the sum of all knowledge; that is the meaning of art.” Eleonora Duse The author extends his heartfelt thanks to those friendly souls who helped make this book come true. Without contributors, playtesters, friends, helpful advice, guidance and criticism, there would be no Mythic. ARTISTS MORAL SUPPORT RyK Productions My wife, Jennifer, who believes all things are possible. To contact RyK, you can send email to [email protected], or visit Also, my daughter Ally, just because she’s so darn cute. their webpage at www.ryk.nl RyK Productions is responsible for artwork on pages: 12, 16, TECHNICAL SUPPORT 28, 37, 64, 70, 77, 87, 89, 95, 96, 97, 99, & 119 Apple, for making such an insanely great computer. Karl Nordman OTHER FORMS OF SUPPORT To contact Karl, send email to [email protected]. View Word Mill Publishing, my daytime job. his work on the web at www.angelfire.com/art/xxtremelygraphic/ Karl North is responsible for artwork on pages: 8, 19, 32, 34, 41, 47, 50, 57, 60 PRINTING W RDS Printing in Ontario, California. Thanks to Bob for his W guidance and for investing in technology that allows for the production of digital print-on-demand products. Word Mill Publishing 5005 LaMart Dr. #204 • Riverside, CA 92507 PLAYTESTERS [email protected] • www.mythic.wordpr.com A host of online and real-time gamers whose names are lost Mythic © Copyright 2003 by Tom Pigeon and Word Mill Publishing. Published to me now. Sorry. Thanks, even to that guy who hated this by Word Mill Publishing. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this work by any means without written permission from the publisher, except short excerpts for game and thought it a waste of time. the purpose of reviews or pages clearly marked for personal use, is expressly prohibited. The mention of or reference to any company or product in these HELPFUL ADVISORS pages is not a challenge to the trademark or copyright concerned. Daniel and Ginger Wagster of Adventure Games PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES ISBN 0-9718100-9-5 Incorporated in Moreno Valley, California. TM Introduction . .4 Chapter 1: Mythic Adventures . .6 Chapter 2: Character Creation . .12 Chapter 3: The Fate Chart . .24 Chapter 4: Task Resolution . .36 Chapter 5: Combat . .42 Chapter 6: Randomness . .58 Chapter 7: The Adventure . .66 Chapter 8: Game Master Emulation . .78 Chapter 9: World Creation . .84 Chapter 10: Character Advancement . .88 Chapter 11: Converting to Mythic . .96 Chapter 12: Notes and Suggestions . .100 Chapter 13: Extended Play Example . .104 3 Introduction elcome to Mythic, a universal, improvisational role- Improvisation - I call this an “improvisational” game because Wplaying game. If you are a veteran role-player, then you the action and details in a Mythic adventure are concocted will likely find much in this chapter that is old hat to you. as you go along. In most RPGs, a Game Master (GM) cooks However, it still contains concepts unique to Mythic, so you’d up an adventure, complete with details, and then runs the best give this section at least a cursory skim through. If you’re players through that adventure. In Mythic, you can start an new to the role-play gaming world, then this section will adventure with zero details. The players, and the Game hopefully clear up any confusion you have as to what this Master (if there is one), come up with the details as the craziness is all about. adventure progresses. The mechanics of Mythic are designed to facilitate this process smoothly. Adventure - This is the term Mythic uses for a complete, WHAT IS A played-out storyline. This consists of a quest or mission, from beginning to end. Usually, an adventure will take from ROLE-PLAYING one to two play sessions (about two to four hours or more) of actual game time. You can think of this as a complete GAME? story, like a movie or book. Those veterans who are still with me are probably Game Master - The Game Master (or GM) is the person groaning now. You have seen this headline in various forms who commonly runs an adventure for the players. The GM about a zillion times. For those of you new to this genre of is in charge of all details concerning the world of the games, you’re in for a treat. A role-playing game is, players and their characters. They describe the scenes, tell basically, virtual reality. People sit around a table, pretend what is happening, and decide the outcome of character to be characters (just like in a movie), and go on quests and actions. You can think of the GM as the story narrator. She missions. is also the person who knows and applies all of the game The action in a role-playing game (or RPG) takes place rules. You will find that in Mythic, however, a GM is not entirely in your imagination. Your character can be anyone, always necessary. or anything, you want to be. There are no limits. The rules set forward in this RPG, as all others, give you the Emulator - I call Mythic a Game Master Emulator because parameters you need to operate in this virtual reality. This you can use Mythic to take the place of a real, live GM. mostly consists of rules for advancing the story and You will see what I mean later. performing “task resolution,” or seeing whether a character’s action succeeds or fails. Player - The player is you, the person playing this game. Following are some terms you should become familiar We use this term to distinguish you from your character ... with: Character - The character is the player’s persona in the Universal - Mythic is a Universal RPG. This means that game world. You will use a character sheet to record all the rules within these pages are generalized to any type of details about your character, just like a dossier in the real game you want to play. They work just as well for a science world. Characters can, and probably should, have fiction world as they do for a fantasy or super-hero universe. personalities much different from your own. A character Setting-specific RPGs have rules specifically tailored to a can be anyone you want. unique genre and place, such as swashbuckling on the high seas or modern spies. Mythic’s open-ended nature allows Statistics - Characters are described using statistics of you to import elements from other games to create your various sorts. These are details, such as “strength” and skills, own worlds, or you can start with a brand new setting made which describe who your character is and what he can do. up on the spot. Although Mythic’s rules are universal to begin with, setting-specific rules will evolve throughout Attributes - These are statistics that describe a character’s game-play, giving you the best of both worlds. basic, innate abilities. Attributes are usually a set, finite list, such as: strength, intelligence, intuition, agility, etc. 4 Introduction Attributes are used to decide the outcome of some tasks will be asked to roll 1D100. This is done by rolling two and help in the development of skills and abilities. D10, with one die acting as the ten’s digit and the other as the one’s, resulting in a number from 1 to 100 (double 00 is Abilities - These are statistics that describe what a 100). You may want to get different colored dice to tell character can do. Usually, this is a list of skills. These can them apart. also be powers and supernatural abilities. Strengths & Weaknesses - Many characters will have specific strengths and weaknesses beyond their attributes HOW MYTHIC and abilities. This usually takes the form of bonuses and penalties for performing certain tasks. For instance, a DIFFERS FROM character with Eagle Eyes may gain a bonus when firing a ranged weapon. A character with Sea-Sickness may acquire THER S a combat penalty when fighting on a ship. O RPG Most RPGs operate under the principle that there are Details - “Detail” is a catchall word for any statistic, players and there is a GM. The GM prepares all the details attribute, or ability of a character or item within a Mythic of an adventure, and then “runs” the players through that adventure. “Strength” is a detail for a character. adventure. This usually requires a great deal of preparation “Breakability” is a detail for a window. “Password on the part of the GM and the handling of many details. Complexity” may be a detail of a computer firewall. Details Mythic is different in that it requires no preparation in Mythic are decided as you go along an adventure. For from the GM. Mythic adventures are meant to be played instance, a window’s Breakability detail is not important off the cuff, with perhaps a few minutes of brainstorming to until a character tries to break one. come up with the initial setup. Mythic can also be played entirely without a GM. The Ranks - Every detail in Mythic has a corresponding rank. same mechanics in Mythic that allow a GM to run an A rank is a description of potency ranging from weak to adventure without preparation also allows a group of players strong. The higher the rank, the more potent the detail.