A simple RPG: 8 Tokens

A pile of glass beads, all quite shiny, in green, deep cobalt blue, clear, and teal.The GM and players agree on a setting and general scenario.

Think of a character. Write down three things your character is good at, and one thing your character is really good at. Write each in the form of “[Really good/good at] [gerund verb] [object] with/without [indirect object]”, such as “Good at performing songs with my flute”, or “Really good at crafting magic without a spell-book”.

Each player gets 8 tokens. The GM also gets 8 tokens.

The GM sets challenges by spending 1 to 4 tokens per challenge. Higher numbers of tokens should be increasingly rare and dramatic.

Spend the same number of tokens for your character to succeed at the challenge. If you are good at the challenge, spend 1 fewer tokens. If you are really good at it, spend 2 fewer tokens. Minimum is zero tokens spent. When the characters succeed at a challenge, regardless of how many characters, the GM adds 1 token to the GM pool.

You can choose not to succeed; if you would normally be good at the challenge, add 1 token to you pool, and if you’d be really good at it, add 2 tokens to your pool.

I’ve had an idea similar to this rattling around for a while. Also, wanted to see if I could write a very brief RPG. Not very well playtested; let me know if you try it out.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *