Basic
Moves
Basic moves available to all characters for the Powered by the Apocalypse version of Just a Game.
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Chat
– Merely talking with people with no particular goal in mind
doesn’t require a move, but when you want those people to behave a
certain way, then you need to use the chat move. This acts
differently dependent on whether it is being used with PC or NPC
entities: Roll +Presence:
- Against NPCs
- On a 10+ if it is at all within character for them to do so, they will behave the way you want them to. If it is out of character for them to do so, then the conversation will still reveal to the PCs a solution to their problem.
- On a 7-9 the NPC will require some convincing. This can be letting them attack you for several seconds to show that you are too high level for them to beat, bribing them or any other action that is necessary to prove “I am serious.”
- On a failure you completely misjudge the situation somehow: perhaps the enemies are concealing their actual levels, or maybe a diplomatic attempt is taken for a bribe and offends the person you are chatting with.
- Advanced Upgrade: On a 12+ not only do they do what you want right away, they also become your ally for the rest of the quest. If you treat them well enough, they become your ally permanently.
- Against PCs
- On a 10+, the other PC can choose whether or not to do what you want them to, but if they do behave as you want, they mark 1 experience and gain a +1 forward while pursuing that course of action.
- On a 7-9, the other PC can choose whether or not to do what you want them to. If they do, they mark 1 experience.
- On a failure, the other PC can choose whether or not to do what you want them to. If they choose not to do what you want, they mark 1 experience.
- Advanced Upgrade: The other PC must Keep Their Cool to resist doing what you want. If they do what you want, they mark 1 Experience and take a +1 ongoing as long as they are doing what you asked them to.
Exchange
Blows – When you have the enemy’s aggro and can’t lose it
before the enemy attacks, you are going to Exchange Blows with
them. This represents more of an extend round of blows rather than
one single attack and counter attack. Roll +Build:
- On a success you deal your harm and suffer harm from the attacker.
On a 10+ choose 2 other effect. On a 7-9 choose 1 other effect.- You create an advantage. Take +1 Forward or give +1 Forward to another party member.
- You deal a critical strike for +1 damage.
- You fought defensively. Take -1 damage.
- You force your opponent to go where you want them to go.
- You keep aggro.
- You lose aggro.
- On a failure, you suffer harm and choose one of the following:
- The enemy does not lay a critical hit. (you don’t suffer +1 damage)
- The enemy does suffers some damage. (you deal -2 damage)
- You don’t lose desired aggro.
- You don’t keep unwanted aggro.
- You are not at a disadvantage. (you don’t suffer -1 forward)
- You do not lose your position.
- Advanced Upgrade: On a 12+ choose one of the following additional effects.
- You completely hold the advantage. All party-members gain a +1 forward.
- You take no damage at all.
- You deal double your normal damage.
- Minion, normal and sentient enemies are driven away in a rout.
Keep
your Cool – Being stuck in the game is very stressful. Even
when it was just a game some people just didn’t know how to handle
it when things start popping out of the woodwork. Now that everything
is so real, that frustration can easily turn to panic. For example,
the first time you realize the game is real, your character might
have to keep his cool to avoid panicking or having some other extreme
reaction. Keep your Cool lets you stay calm and get out of a
bad situation. Whenever you need patience, calm or willpower, roll
+Will:
- On a 10+ you accomplish your desired task with no problem.
- On a 7-9 you will have a worse than desired outcome, a hard choice or a price to pay to accomplish your goal.
- On a failure….. LEEEEEROOOOOOYYY JENNNNNKINNNNS!!!!
- Advanced Upgrade: On a 12+ either you do what you want and do something extra or else you do what you want to do to utmost perfection. For example, never even breaking a sweat while staring down Cthulhu.
Look
for Trouble – When you check your immediate area for danger in
some way, roll +Lore:
- On a 10+ hold 3, on a 7-9 hold 1. Use the holds to ask one of the following questions:
- What’s my best way in?
- What’s my best way out?
- What’s the biggest threat?
- Who’s most vulnerable to me?
- What’s the best position?
- What haven’t we noticed yet?
- On a failure you complete misread the situation or give information to the enemy.
- Advanced Upgrade: On a 12+ you can ask the GM any question you want, not just those above.
If
you act on the answers, you get a +1 ongoing while the
information is relevant. For example, if you note the enemy witch
doctors as the biggest threat, you get a +1 while dealing with them
directly but once you start dealing with something else, you lose
that +1.
Read
the Story – There are a large number of players who steamroll
through the content without ever stopping to read the flavor text.
This was fine when this was all just a grade, but now that the game
is real, such behavior can be dangerous. Whether you’re digging for
gossip among the players and natives or reading through dusty tomes
of lore, when you Read the Story roll +Lore:
- On a 10+ hold 2, on a 7-9 hold 1. Holds may be used during the course of the adventure to ask the following questions:
- What sort of quest is this?
- What place is this?
- What sort of enemies will be here?
- What can they do?
- What vulnerabilities do they have?
- Are there any bugs to deal with?
- What is being concealed here?
- What sort of loot can be found here?
- Where do we need to go?
- What do we need to do?
- On a failure, you have dangerous misinformation or reveal information to the enemy somehow.
- Advanced Upgrade: On a 12+ you can ask any question you want, not just those listed above.
The
methods of Reading the Story and
the resultant answers must be plausible with the methods used and the
mechanics of the game. If you are playing a campaign where the game
had been running for a while before sucking people into it and the
quests remain the same, then it’s feasible for a veteran player to
remember playing a particular quest before. If, on the other hand,
the game was brand new, drew the players into an actual alternate
reality or else none of the quests are the same, then remembering
playing won’t help to remember some details, but might still be
useful to remember some general information.
If
you don’t have a good answer to the question “How do you know
that?” when the Keeper asks, then you need to pick another answer.
On the other hand, this is a good way to set some of the world’s
mechanics as well. If you have not yet established how the quests
work in the game, then having a player say “I’ve run this quest
before” as an explanation suddenly gives a bit more information
about the campaign world.
Resist
a Skill – When you are resisting the effects of in-game powers
or events rather than dealing with real emotions, patience or
willpower, you are resisting a Skill. For example, being terrified of
the game becoming real and getting in a real fight is a matter where
you need to Keep your Cool but being hit with a fear spell is
resisting a skill. Any attribute may be used to resist a skill as
determined below:
- Use Build to resist with the innate survivability of your Avatar.
- Use Presence to distract an enemy (assuming sentient) and cause them to fumble their action.
- Use Lore to understand the attack coming in and think of a loophole.
- Use System to resist with an active defensive skill.
- Use Will to try to force your avatar to ignore the effects of the skill.
Roll
+chosen Attribute:
- On a 10+ you are completely unaffected by the skill or event.
- On a 7-9 you are only partially affected by the skill or event.
- On a failure, you suffer the full impact of the skill or event.
- Advanced Upgrade: On a 12+ you are immune to that effect for the remainder of the scene and gain a +1 forward against the person who used it against you.
Shield
Other – Several powers and skills exist to help shield an ally
from an incoming attack, often at a cost to themselves. When you are
acting somehow to protect someone else from incoming damage, roll
+System:
- On a success, you protect the other person. On a 10+ you choose 2, on a 7-9 choose 1:
- You draw aggro.
- You can choose to lose 1 Mana or 1 Resources instead of suffer damage.
- You can suffer less damage (-1 to damage).
- You do not draw aggro.
- You deal some damage to the enemy (deal damage -2).
- You create an advantage. Gain +1 Forward or give +1 forward to an ally.
- On a failure, choose one:
- You protect your ally but lose a combination of Mana and Resources equal to 3. You cannot choose this if you cannot spend that cost.
- You and your ally each suffer half the damage.
- All allies are damaged, distribute as evenly as possible between all of your allies. If anyone needs to suffer more damage than someone else, choose your original ally first and yourself second. If there is not enough damage to damage everyone, then deal 1 Damage to everyone.
- Your ally suffers the attack as normal.
- Advanced Upgrade: On a 12+ both you and the person you were protecting are unharmed and out of danger. If you were protecting a non-combatant they become your ally.
Tap
a Skill – While many character powers and skills can be
represented by the other basic moves, but sometimes you want to do
something a little bit out of the line of the others. This is mostly
the case when you want to make a particularly potent attack or spell;
or perhaps you want to place a buff or debuff in advance or want it
to last longer. Regardless, for the variety of other skills, you have
have this move. Roll +System:
- On a 10+, you can use one of the following effects. Or you can have two effects if you let the GM add a flaw to the skill.
- On a 7-9, you can choose one effect or two effects and a flaw as normal; but you will also suffer a glitch chosen by you. This can be a literal glitch or it can be a standard result of a poor skill use.
- On a failure your choice of skill is horribly inappropriate, you use the wrong skill or some other terrible thing happens as defined by the GM.
- Advanced Upgrade: On a 12+ the GM will offer you some added benefit.
Possible
Effects:
- Deal your weapon damage +1.
- Add one of the following tags and deal Weapon Damage -1. You may choose to deal 0 damage if you wish, such as to create an Area Sleep spell.
- Area
- DoT
- Ignore-Armor
- Life Drain
- Mana Drain
- Slow Movement
- Add an Energy Tag appropriate to description.
- Add one range: Intimate, Hand, Close, Far (otherwise, the range is the same as the user’s current weapon)
- Buff an ally. They get one of the following benefits for the scene:
- +1 Damage
- +1 Ongoing to a particular task
- +1 Armor
- +2 Armor vs a specific type of damage
- +2 Forward. (only lasts one action)
- Debuff an enemy. Choose one of the buff effects. Every ally gets that bonus when attacking, being attacked or otherwise affecting that enemy in particular. (For example, a debuff on a dragon’s fire breath could cause it to do 2 less damage with fire while debuffed)
- Root an Enemy preventing all movement.
- Box a target (enemy, ally or self). The target can neither affect nor be affected by others for a moderate time.
- Incapacitate an enemy for a short time.
- Incapacitate an enemy for a long time, but they recover immediately after suffering damage.
- Heal 1 Health
- Recover 1 Mana
- Dispel an Effect
- Draw aggro
- Lose aggro
- Acquire a utility ability such as additional movement options.
Possible
Flaws for Skills with two effects:
- The GM picks from the glitches on partial success which always happens. On a 7-9 you also suffer another glitch or can suffer double the set gitch.
- A skill meant to recover one’s own Mana should not cost Mana.
- A skill meant to recover one’s own Health should not cost Health.
- The skill requires a particular focus or item to be on hand. The item is not consumed by skill use but can be stolen.
- The first time this skill is used, the player needs to spend 3 Resources in order to already have the necessary focus on hand.
- The skill requires extra time for you to use it.
- The skill has a problematic side-effect.
- The skill has a long cool down.
Possible
Glitches for partial success:
- The effect is weakened.
- The effect is of short duration
- You take 1 Damage, ignoring armor.
- You spend 1 additional Mana
- You spend 1 additional Resources
- You draw aggro.
Teamwork
– You can only go so far as a solo player. Short duration and
quick cast buffs and debuffs as well as simple cooperation allows you
to help out another player. When you use Teamwork, roll +Will:
- On a 10+ your ally gains a +1 Forward.
- On a 7-9 your ally gains a +1 Forward, but choose one of the following:
- You lose 1 Mana
- You lose 1 Resources
- You lose 1 Health
- You draw aggro.
- On a failure choose one of the following:
- You draw aggro and suffer one other cost from the above list but your ally gains a +1 Forward.
- You draw aggro and your ally gains nothing.
- Advanced Upgrade: On a 12+ the person you helped doesn’t roll. They simply act as though they rolled a 12.
Look
There
are a nearly endless number of possible looks available to characters
based on whatever genre game they are stuck in. In settings where
characters can travel from game to game, there might even be a
bizarre mix. Consider what sort of MMO character your character is
playing and describe that possibly with little quirks like having a
male voice on a female body due to having been a male playing a
female character. In general follow some of these guidelines:
- Choose a race. In games where everyone is human or something else, ignore this.
- Choose a gender. This can be male, female, androgynous, unknown, genderless or anything else.
- Describe gear. Do you just display your equipped outfits or do you use a cosmetic overlay? Do you have a reasonable appearance or is it over the top?
- Describe expression and personality.
- Describe a quirk.
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