If others are interested and would like to join in, please let me know, we still have an open slot available! For the character sheet, it is there for you to use, but if you decide on a better format for you, then feel free to do that. As for the actual explanations in the hiders, I wrote down as much as I think everyone would need, but if you have any questions or need clarification on something let me know. I'm happy to answer any questions.
Also, another nice resource in case my explanation is horrible, there is this little cheat sheet. I will be going into more detail than what's explained here, but it may help so here is that as well.
Come up with a Name and age (age should be between 4 and 18)
Character’s favorite thing
A bad thing they did (PM this to me)
A good thing they did (PM this to me)
Step 2: Stats
You have five stats that each start at 1 point
You are then given 10 points to divide between your stats however you want
No stat can go over five points
Step 3: Skills
Skills start out at 0
You are then given 15 points to divide between your skills however you want
I will allow you to add other skills besides the ones pre-set, but you must talk to me about the skill first
No skill can go over five points
Step 4: Relationships
Come up with a few relationships your character would have in their world (parents, siblings, stuffed animals, a favorite tv show, a person they stalk, etc.)
You get 6 points to put towards these relationships
Once again, you can’t go over five points
Stats
Feet: Moving your whole body without looking like a dork
Guts: How tough and dogged you are. Also the most likely place someone’s going to punch you
Hands: Fine dexterity and movement, so you don’t pick your eye instead of your nose
Brains: How much of what you see and hear actually gets through to your skull
Face: How cool, clever, and sneaky you can be
Skills
Feet
Dodging: Getting out of the way
Kicking: Putting the sneaker where it’ll do the most good
PE: Running, jumping, climbing trees
Guts
Courage: Standing up to bullies and eldritch horrors from beyond space and time
Wind: Health, breath, and fitness
Wrestling: Grabbing hold and squeezing and not letting go till the other guy says you’re the boss of him
Hands
Blocking: Using a thing to stop a thing from hitting you in the thing
Punching: Socking ‘em in the chops
Shop: Working with your hands
Brains
Notice: Spotting the forest and the trees, and the squirrels and the Bigfoots too
Out-Think: Solving problems with your smarts
Remember: Book learning and keeping up with details
Face
Charm: Winning friends and influencing teachers
Connive: Lying, tricking, and other vitally deceptive kid skills
Putdown: Ragging on the other guy’s mom
When you roll, you’ll normally be asked to roll a stat + skill roll which will be known as your dice pool
EX: If you have 4 points in Brains and 3 in Notice and you want to check a room for something suspicious, you would roll 4d10 for Brains plus 3d10 for Notice for a total of 7d10
You may also add relationship points to your dice pool, if you can argue that the relationship would affect the skill or stat.
EX: If you have a test at school and your mom has been helping you study for this test, you may add those relationship dice into the dice pool
You can never roll more than 10 dice at a time
To succeed in a roll, you are looking for matching numbers
The number of dice that match is called the width
The width indicates speed and damage
The number on the die of the matching dice is called the height
The height indicates quality and accuracy
If you roll more than one match, you only get to choose to use one of those, so if you are trying to do something fast and accuracy doesn’t matter than go for the widest roll. If you are trying to do something accurately and speed doesn’t play a large part, then go for the highest roll.
EX: If you happen to roll a dice pool of 10 dice and you get 2, 3, 3, 3, 3, 1, 1, 6, 5 then you have two sets to choose from four 3s or two 1s. Say you choose the 3s for your matching set, so you have a width of 4 and a height of 3.
If you decide to roll with relationships in your dice pool and still manage to fail, then the relationship takes a shock
Each shock reduces your relationship by one die
Those dice can be gotten back through spending quality time with the person or thing you have a relationship with
Quality time will require a stat + skill dice roll to be successful and it is going to be difficult to gain dice back
You can’t use the same stat + skill roll twice in a row during quality time
Relationships that are shocked down to zero dice is in crisis
To knock a relationship out of crisis will require quality time as well, but will have a much more difficult roll
Each failed roll during quality time when a relationship is in crisis will knock a die off that relationship permanently (Until character advancement happens)
You will be awarded with experience points at the end of every chapter and for good roleplaying
Unlike most games where these points will eventually level you up, you may spend these points right away to buff up your character
1 exp will buy you a skill point in any skill
2 exp will buy you a relationship point
3 exp will buy you a stat die in any stat
5 exp will buy your monster a new die or a new quality or extra
Figure out what your monster looks like (reference pictures can be helpful for this process)
Figure out its personality
Now that your monster has an appearance and personality give them a name
Give your monster a favorite thing
All Monsters have the ability to hide in plain sight. How does your monster hide?
Step 2: Locations
Think about your monster’s appearance and label the important bits of anatomy
These important bits of anatomy will be known as locations and you need at least 4 of them and no more than 10 of them
Give each location a creative name
Now you have to number the locations, but it’s a bit more complicated than just numbering them (If anyone needs help with this, please let me know and I will help you out.)
Your monster needs to have their locations numbered from 1-10, much like your character has locations listed on their sheet. Basically each location is going to have a range of numbers associated with it.
Step 3: Stats
Now that you have your locations figured out, you will focus on the dice pool for each location
Each number associated to a location will have 5 dice or points
EX: If a monster has a hit location with the range of numbers 3-6 associated with it, then the dice pool for that monster will be 15
Step 4: Qualities and Extras
After you have figured out the dice pool, you will be able to add one quality to each location (look at the monster quality section for what qualities are)
If you want to add an extra quality to a location, it’ll cost you a die from that location’s dice pool
After you have figured out qualities, take a look at the extras section. These cost 1 die per extra or per level of the extra to apply to that location.
NOTE: You can only roll 10 dice for any given action, so if you have more than 10 dice in a location, it’d be smart to spend those dice on qualities and extras
Attacks: This location attacks, inflicting w-1 damage
Defends: The monster can use this location to defend
Useful: The monster can use this location to do something useful. You get to make up what that useful ability is, this quality doesn’t usually cause damage. (It’s like from one of the monsters on the cheat sheet, the ability to swallow something and puke it back up whole)
Area: Each level of area gives your monster attack an area die of damage and a five foot radius of effect per Area die. Anyone caught in the blast rolls the area dice and the number on each die indicates a location hit for 1 shock damage.
Awesome: Taken once allows you to set one of the monster’s dice before rolling. Taken twice lets you change one die to any value after rolling. (You can only put two points in this per location)
Burn: At the end of every round the target takes an extra point of damage until the monster makes a successful action or the human rolls a successful Guts + Courage with a height of 6.
Gnarly: Each level adds 1 point of damage dealt by this location.
Sharing: Allows the kid to use a hit location’s ability even when the monster is hiding. (only need 1 point in sharing)
Spray: Allows you to use multiple sets of matching dice (only need 1 point in spray in that hit location)
Tough: Each point of tough, knock one point off any damage it suffers
Wicked Fast: Each point adds a point to the speed during the order phase
Each stat on a human, or location on a monster, links to a hit location.
The height of your roll will indicate what location you hit when you are trying to do damage
EX: If someone attacks you and gets matching 1s then they will do damage to your feet
When a location is hit you will reduce the dice or points in that stat or location by the width of the attack roll - 1
EX: If that person attacking your feet rolled three 1s then you will reduce your feet stat by 2
If a stat is reduced to zero dice, then any remaining damage rolls up or down into an adjacent hit location
Shock Damage: Temporary Damage that can be healed quickly
Scar Damage: Make you bleed or breaks bones, either way it’s permanent and takes a lot of effort to heal
Physical Damage: Damage done to your character or your monster physically
Emotional Damage: Damage done to your character emotionally (done using the putdown skill)
Phase 1: Declare
Everybody says what they want to do in order of lowest Brains + Out-Think pool to highest (Your monster and you go at the same time)
Phase 2: Roll
Roll, identify matches, choose which set to use (Tell GM what set you’re using)
Phase 3: Resolve
GM will write out what happens for that round of battle
When your character takes emotional damage your monster will take equal damage in the same hit location
When a monster’s hit location hits 0, your character’s corresponding hit location will go down to 0
Dodging or defending an attack roll against you requires you to get the height or higher to the attack roll and a width equal to or greater
If your width is equal or greater but your height is not, you can choose to take the damage in an adjacent hit location
To find out what’s going on with the other monster, your character can make a Brains + Notice roll to identify useful information about the monster after a round of battle or being around the monster 1 minute outside of battle while it is not hidden.
Campaign Introduction
Road trips. The quintessential American family vacation. Pile in the car with mom, dad and siblings, sing songs and play I Spy as you travel to some regional wonder, the park (theme or national), the lake, the beach, or distant family members. You might remember these as times of pure happiness, shining jewels of bliss in the treasure trove of your childhood memories. Or you might remember being bricked up by luggage, a backseat Amontillado, the doldrums of the vast lengths of highway you crossed, the tedium of being dragged to historical monuments that you couldn't care less about and the irritation of your parents who don't appreciate your lack of enthusiasm or the endless war of attrition between your siblings, trading each precious bit of patience and sanity in exchange for as much frustration and hurt feelings you could inflict on them. Is it coming back to you now? Sleeping with your face pressed against the car window? The hours of silence after everyone's run out of things to say? The lightheaded feeling when you first get out of the car?
This campaign is an homage to this most venerated of familial traditions. Only instead of trying to accurately simulate the road trip, the most existential of all vacation types, this will have monsters. Giddy, sanity rending monsters, eager to cut you open from your seatbelt strait jacket and free you from the slightly different kind of road trip. A long twisting odyssey through the murky subconscious of children's entertainment, both old and new. Talking animals plotting rebellion and mass executions in a quaint New England farm. A trip to the land of Oz to find a new ruler to unite the kingdom. Deluded heroes in matching spandex uniforms who fight villains conjured b their own dark emotions. A perfectly plastic theme park that offers everything except escape. Sprites that lure children to a parentless paradise where the dark beasts lurk and no one ever goes home. So, get packed and get some sleep. We're leaving at dawn.
