the professional wrestling rpg of narrative action NATHAN D. PAOLETTA ndpdesign This game text is copyright © 2015 by Nathan D. Paoletta/ndp design. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to copy and distribute any portion of this text to facilitate play of the game, but not to alter or resell this content in so doing. ISBN 978–0–9863762–0–7 Illustrations are copyright by their creators and used by permission. Essays are copyright by their authors and used by permission. Content of the essays are solely reflective of that author's views. This publication is a work of fiction in that it contains fictional characters and enables readers to create their own original fictional content. However, real– world people and entities are mentioned in passing. This publication has not been prepared, approved, or licensed by any existing person or entity, and there is no affiliation between any mentioned and Nathan D. Paoletta/ndp design. Any resemblance of a fictional character presented here to a real– world person, living or dead, is purely coincidental. If you obtained this publication in digital form without paying for it and have enjoyed it, please consider purchasing a copy as well so that I can continue making these games in the future. Please create and share your own material for playing this game! Join the conversation and find more resources at: ndpdesign.com/wwwrpg Credits Game Design, Writing & Layout by Nathan D. Paoletta Cover Art by Eric Quigley Gimmick Art by Ramon Villalobos Maneuver Art by Gregor Hutton Editing by Ian Williams Contributors Original Design for "The Jobber" Gimmick by Bret Gillan Original Design for "The Hardcore" Gimmick by Ian Williams Original Design for "The Wasted" Gimmick by Alex Isabelle Original Design for "King of the Hill" match by Willow Palacek Essays by Nathan D. Paoletta, Ian Williams, Aubrey Sitterson, Epidiah Ravachol & Black Cat Season One Wrestlers and Promotions by backers of the Kickstarter campaign. Individuals are listed with their contributions. Powered By Apocalypse World, by D. Vincent Baker Simple World, by Avery McDaldno Acknowledgments I am indebted to many authors, designers and creators of both games and wrestling–related media, for the final form of this game. Some spe- cific acknowledgments: Games: Apocalypse World and the culture of Powered by the Apocalypse game hacking and conversation; Jared Sorensen's Darkpages; Matt Gwinn's Kayfabe; Joe Prince's Pro Wrasslin' Battle Royale card game and Contenders RPG. Podcasts: The Old School Wrestling Podcast; Straight Shoot and Straight Shoot Retro; Cheap Heat; The Art of Wrestling; Wrestling With Depression. Columns: David Shoemaker's writing for Grantland.com; Brandon Stroud's Best and Worst columns for Uproxx.com/prowrestling. Special Thanks There have been so many playtesters, readers and commentators on this game through its development process that I can’t list everyone here. Thank you! Particular thanks go out to: Liz, for taking me seriously. My wrestling bros Ian, Bret, Eppy, Ed and John. For some specific rules proposed during playtesting: John Stavropo- lous for Making the X and Ron Edwards for The Top Spot. The original rough draft playtesters: John Stavropolous, Tim Rodriguez, Anon Adderlane, and Terry Romero; Ian Williams and Bret Gillan; Alex Isabelle/Revan Adler, Girolamo Castaldo, and others. Thank you all for your patience dealing with the rough edges, and your insightful and motivational feedback. Folks who I played with and/or gave me great feedback on the Alpha draft: Jake Baerkircher, Evan Dicken, Dylan Weltch, George Foster Jr, Sakar and Graham; John Stavropolous and Dylan Clayton; Tim Rodri- guez, Adam Swiatlowski, Todd Love, Darren Watts and Dev Purkayastha; Paul Imboden, Eric Mersmann, and Aaron. Thank you for bearing with all the extra bits that I later took out! My "Wednesday Night Wars" Beta Playtesters: Ron “Bruto” Edwards, Keith “Keystone” Senkowski, Eric “Mammoth/Millionaire Marco” Mers- mann, Dylan “Atlas the Geek” Clayton and Ed “The Angel” Blair. Thank you all for your enthusiasm, goodwill, and excellently observant com- ments. This game is so much better because of you. Everyone involved in the greatest single Episode of play I’ve had, the Dreamation 2014 “ExtermiNation” Event: Epidiah “Brawny James Dio” Ravachol, Bret “Moose Johnson” Gillan, Jared “The Crimson Bat” Axelrod, Irven “Lyle Lawbreaker” Keppen, Ralph “Bash Hammer” Mazza, Joe “Joey Crak” Zantek, Jim “The Colonel” Crocker, and Mark aka “Ballistic”. Stras Acimovic and company for showing that, yes, this game works for those who aren't big wrestling fans (alongside other helpful feedback); Willow Palacek and the Madison crew for putting the game through its paces, pushing all the boundaries and really helping out in getting the details right (how Heat and Audience get reset, in particular, owes its final incarnation to your feedback!) 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 and a very special thanks to my 427 Kickstarter backers! this game literally wouldn’t exist without you Table of Contents About The Game page 7 THE BASICS: How To Play This Game page 12 EVERYTHING TO GET The First Episode page 16 STARTED Making The Roster page 34 How To Play Your Wrestler page 50 Moves page 56 THE DETAILS: EVERYTHING FOR Wrestling page 64 LONG–TERM PLAY Continuing a Season page 71 How To Be Creative page 78 Building Your Promotion page 84 Essays How Wrestling Works page 90 How Roleplaying Works page 95 How to Let Wrestling Make You a Better Roleplayer page 98 THE EXTRAS: CUSTOMIZATION, Being A Wrestling Fan page 101 BACKGROUND, Professional Wrestling: ADVICE AND Burlesque for Boys page 104 CONTEXT, AND EXAMPLE Professional Wrestling is WRESTLERS AND the American Dream page 107 PROMOTIONS Season One The Season One Roster page 111 Un Pueblo Guerrero page 119 Husman Extreme Wrestling page 121 Pacific Wrestling page 122 The Gimmicks page 125 REFERENCE: The Moves page 148 EVERYTHING YOU NEED DURING PLAY The Glossary page 156 About The Game CHAPTER ONE GAME ABOUT THE ABOUT THE he World Wide Wrestling RPG is a game that creates professional T wrestling pageantry and action. It’s about feuds, championships, betrayal, and righteous victory. It’s about the clash of good and evil on the grandest stage. It’s about whether you’ve got what it takes. And, in the end, it’s about what the audience thinks of your efforts. You don’t need to know much about real–world wrestling in order to play this game well! All you need is an idea for an entertaining char- acter. Wrestling is the drama of personal conflict, exaggerated until it becomes mythic. The game plunges your wrestler into these con- flicts, guiding you through the drama as it escalates in more and more crowd–pleasing ways. This gets complicated by the two concurrent stories always going on. One is the “on–screen” crafted story, told by larger–than–life wrestlers, managers, valets, and authority figures in the fictional wrestling universe you create at your table. The other is the “legit” story that happens off camera, as the professional entertain- ers wearing the spandex politick backstage in order to advance their careers, attract more eyeballs to ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ ✶ Using This Text the product, and do what’s best This text is arranged concentrically. If for business. you read it straight through, it starts This game is meant to be with the basic concepts and overview of accessible to both wrestling fans how the game works in broad strokes; curious about roleplaying games next, how to make characters and play and experienced gamers who a single session; next, how to prep for a continuing series of play and play subse- want to see what this whole wres- quent sessions; next, how to customize tling thing is about. Either way, if the game to your taste; and finally sup- you’re reading this you proba- plementary resources and essays on bly already know how to enjoy various aspects of wrestling. Some of the “double life” of a wrestling the material is repeated when it's rele- character, either from the wres- vant to more than one subject area. This tling side or from the RPG side. organization and the color–coded tabs on the right–hand pages are meant to help The characters in this game are find information on fly; throughout this professionals at playing roles, so text, choices were made to aid in finding you’ll play the role of someone things quickly during play, which some- playing a role! It's not difficult. times comes at the expense of repetition Focus on the wrestling first. As for straight–through reading. you get used to how the game 8 About the Game works, you’ll start blending the legit with the kayfabe and playing with the boundaries between “wrestling character,” “my character, a wres- tler,” and yourself as an audience member to the unfolding game. The key perspective you need to remember is that you’re playing a character who’s intentionally trying to entertain an audience. This concept is shorthanded as the “Imaginary Viewing Audience” through- out this text. The Imaginary Viewing Audience embodies the idea that your wrestling characters are always on screen. The folks who pay good money to be entertained are the ones who ultimately determine the success or failure of your individual wrestlers and of the promotion as a whole. Some of the game mechanics keep track of how engaged the Imaginary Viewing Audience is with the product you present. However, there’s also a non–imaginary audience—you and your friends! The goal of the wrestlers in your game is to gain popularity and acclaim.