Oppression Aware Podcast, Fairy Tales, and Games

This chapter provides the core information needed to play Magic Goes Awry. The “Role-playing” section gives an introduction to role-playing games for those who are new to them. The “Definitions” section explains terms and concepts that pop up throughout the game. Finally, “Dice Rolls” presents the core rules for playing the game.

 

 

Role-playing

Tabletop role-playing is all about a group of people creating a story together. In a role-playing game the participants take on one of two roles: the players or the game manager. The players each create and play one of the main characters in the story, called a player character. The game manager is the one who creates the world and the side characters, as well as the obstacles of the story. The players work together to have their characters overcome these obstacles.

As needed, dice are rolled and the game manager then narrates the outcome of these new actions. This process continues as the game manager and players take turns telling their parts of the story.

Depending on the situation, this back and forth can happen rapidly, especially when the player characters are having a conversation with a side character, or it can happen more slowly. Often this process involves the players taking turns to describe what their characters are doing. The game manager may help out by asking the players specific questions and by inviting players who haven’t spoken in a while to share what their characters are up to.

Sometimes story events will prompt the game manager to ask the players to make specific dice rolls before their characters take actions. This is a way of figuring out what the characters know about the situation they are in, and addressing both sudden occurrences and actions that are happening in secret. For example, if a player character is being secretly followed, then the game manager can have the player make a dice roll to find out if their character is able to spot the person tailing them. Another example is the game manager calling for all of the players to make a dice roll to find out what each character knows about a strange magical occurrence that the group is watching.

Because this is all about collaborative problem-solving, things tends to work best when the characters share information with each other, cooperate in good faith, and value each other’s interests. But because role-playing is such a creative process, there are many different ways to play. Some gaming groups might decide that they want to play a game where their characters all keep secrets from each other. Or another group might choose to shift the roles of player and game manager so that players take on a more collaborative roll in helping the game manager create the world, generate non-player characters, and come up with interesting outcomes for dice rolls. It is all about finding what is going to be fun for everyone involved.

 

 

Definitions

Session: Each meeting where a gaming group gets together to play is called a session. Sessions can take place in-person or online. Most often a session lasts for two to four hours.

Scene: A scene in this game is a continuous sequence of events. This is pretty much the same as it is in a book or movie. Most games will consist of a sequence of scenes with some narration connecting them to each other.

Character Creation: Character creation is the process by which a player creates their player character. This is a step by step process in which the player decides who their character is, what they can do, and what equipment they have.

Training: A significant part of character creation is determining what skills, abilities, and types of defense a character is trained in. Training is one of the factors that directly affects the number of dice a player gets to roll.

Skills: Skills represent broad ranges of capability, such as different areas of knowledge, social capacities, and physical endeavors. Collectively the list of skills in this game is intended to cover every task that a character without specialized training could reasonably attempt to do. Characters are trained in specific skills and this training does make them better at using those skills, but they may attempt to use any skill, regardless of whether or not they are trained in it.

Abilities: Abilities are specializations that either enhance a character’s skills or allow the character to do unique things, such as cast magic, that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to do. Characters can’t attempt to use abilities that they aren’t trained in.

Class: Character classes are broad groupings of abilities around a central theme. For example, the theme of the druid class is nature. Each character has a class and the abilities that they are trained in are chosen from their class’ ability list. In this way classes determine which abilities a character has access to learning.

Defense: Characters use defense when reacting to protect themselves from immediate physical or mental dangers. Each character is trained in a type of physical defense and a type of mental defense.

Species: In Magic Goes Awry humans and each type of sapient nonhuman, such as elves, merpeople, fairies, and talking animals, are all considered different species. Options for each character’s species are deliberately left open.

Species Trait: A species trait is a special thing that a character can do that represents one of the unique qualities or attributes of their species. For example, Flight is a species trait that gives a character the ability to fly.

Preparation: Any action that is taken to make a successful outcome more likely is considered preparation. For example, tying a rock onto the end of a rope can be preparation for throwing that rope over the branch of a tree. Preparation is one of the factors that directly affects the number of dice a player gets to roll.

Requirement: Certain skills, abilities, defenses, and other actions require specific equipment for the character to do them. For example, a character can’t do Melee Combat without a melee weapon. Having a requirement makes it possible to do the connected skill, ability, defense, or other action, but it does not grant any additional benefit, and it does not count as a preparation.

Help: Characters can combine their efforts by helping each other. When more than one character uses the same skill or ability to work together, they are considered to be helping each other. Help is one of the factors that directly affects the number of dice a player gets to roll.

Body Number: A character’s body number represents their capacity to do tasks involving physical skill, strength, dexterity, and endurance. The higher the number, the better the character is at doing physical things. So a physically focused character has a body of 5, a balanced character has a body of 4, and mentally focused character has a body of 3.

Mind Number: A character’s mind number represents their capacity to do tasks involving mental acuity, awareness, social skill, knowledge, and magic. The higher the number, the better the character is at doing mental things. So a mentally focused character has a mind of 5, a balanced character has a mind of 4, and physically focused character has a mind of 3.

 

 

Dice Rolls

This game uses six-sided dice to decide the outcome of events. Whenever a player character attempts an action that has a meaningful chance of both failure and success, a dice roll is used to determine how well things go.

 

Step 1: Decide What the Character Is Doing

Each roll begins with a brief discussion of what the character is doing.

1. Describe the Action: The player starts by describing what the character is attempting to do. For this, extreme detail is not needed, just a general idea of what action the character is taking.
2. Decide What Capability the Character Is Using: Based on the description of the character’s action, the player and the game manager work together to decide whether the character is using an ability, skill, or defense to do this.
   • Abilities: Because abilities represent a character’s specialized training, characters can only use abilities that they are trained in. This means that there are only a few abilities that each character can use.
   • Skills: Together skills cover every proactive action that a character could reasonably attempt with or without special training. Anything that a character does that isn’t an ability or defense will be a skill.
   • Defenses: Characters use their defenses when they are reacting to protect themselves from immediate harm. Physical defense protects against physical threats, and mental defense protects against mental and magical threats.
   • Note that many skills, abilities, and defenses have requirements for using them. This is usually straight forward. For example, a character can’t use a shield to defend themselves unless they are holding it.
3. Activate Enhancements: If there is an item, trait, or ability that the character is using to enhance this action, the player shares what that is and what effect it has.

 

Step 2: Determine the Number of Dice

Based on what the character is doing, use the following criteria to decide the number of dice the player will roll.

• Effort: Add one die to represent the character’s effort. This die is always added.
• Training: Add one die if the character is trained in the skill, ability, or defense that they are using. Characters are trained in their chosen skills, defenses, and abilities.
• Preparation: Add one die if the character is prepared. Characters are prepared when they have done something that isn’t required to accomplish their action, but which increases their likelihood of success. For example, tying a rock onto the end of a rope is preparation for throwing that rope over the branch of a tree. In addition, there are certain abilities and items that allow a character to be prepared under specific circumstances.
• Help: Add one die if another character is using the same skill, ability, or defense to help the character. This is always one die regardless of how many people are helping.
• Penalty: Remove one die if something is happening that greatly decreases the character’s chance of success. For example, a blizzard would greatly decrease a character’s ability to spot something hidden.

 

Step 3: Roll the Dice

The player takes the number of six-sided dice that was just determined and rolls them.

 

Step 4: Determine the Number of Successes

The total number of successes is determined by comparing the numbers on each die to the character’s mind or body number. Each skill, ability, and defense should state whether it is used with the character’s body or mind number.

• Body Actions: If the character is doing a physical task then the numbers on each die will be compared to the character’s body number. Each die with a number that is less than the body number counts as a success. Numbers that match or are above the body number do not affect the results.
• Mind Actions: If the character is doing a mental task then the numbers on each die will be compared to the character’s mind number. Each die with a number that is less than the mind number counts as a success. Numbers that match or are above the mind number do not affect the results.

 

Step 5: Create the Outcome

The game manager decides the outcome based on the number of successes the player got in their roll, combined with the description of what the character is attempting to do. A key aspect of this is that the bigger and more dangerous the character’s action is, the bigger the outcome of the roll will be.

• 0 Successes Is a Failure: The character’s action is not successful and the situation has become more challenging. This could mean that the character has attempted something and failed in a way that made the situation worse. It could also mean that the character’s action has been hindered by a new development, unexpected circumstance, or another character’s actions. If this was a roll to use magic, then the magic has gone awry and something truly unexpected has happened. Regardless of the exact outcome, this failure should create or reveal a new challenge. However in certain situations the characters will not be immediately aware of what this new challenge is.
• 1 Success Is a Partial Success: The character has accomplished something useful, but it comes with a limitation, side effect, or complication. This could mean that the character was only partially successful at what they were doing. It could also mean that their action was successful, but it has caused an unexpected consequence. If this was a roll to use magic, then a random magical side effect is likely.
• 2 successes Is a Full Success: The character’s action is completely successful. Usually this means that the character has accomplished what they intended to. The scale of their success and the exact outcome depends on the situation. Occasionally, the outcome will be significantly different than expected, such as when a character inadvertently attempts to do something that is impossible, but the outcome will still be beneficial.
• 3 Successes Is an Outstanding Success: The character’s action is tremendously successful. This is like a full success, where the character’s action is completely successful, but they also gain an additional benefit. Most often this means that the scale of the character’s success is greater, but it could also mean that they noticed something important, learned a helpful fact, gained a useful item, were unusually fast, or found an unexpected source of assistance.

Because coming up with unexpected magical effects, interesting complications, and additional benefits can be a lot of work, the “Making Things Go Awry” section has a detailed list of ideas and inspiration.