Flashback
 [2144 words]

Dear Next Designers,

Can I call you both ND, or even Andy and Andie? I’ll try not to waste too many words on this, but I felt like I should talk directly to you. I'm doing this at the last possible minute and am not feeling the best, so please forgive me if this is a horrible mess. Feel free to twist my ideas, adapt them, or replace them in any way you wish. This is more your game than it is mine now. 

Yours, 

Previous Designer (call me Peedee)

Dear Last Designer,

Hello Eldee. I extracted what I judged was the core of Peedee’s original design, articulated as the principles listed below. I then tried to give you enough meat to carry it home with judicious editing and elaboration. Have fun!

-Andy

Principles of Flashback 
•	There is no prep
•	Find out about the characters and the world by playing scenes full of action and adventure
•	Encourage genre twists and crazy mashups
•	Reincorporate and bring the disparate elements together into a coherent whole
•	Characters gain traits in flashbacks, where they elaborate their backstory
•	Interesting trade-offs in what-sided die to choose for your character’s traits

Need to Play
1.	Awesome people.
2.	A bunch of index cards
3.	Tools for writing on the index cards
4.	Various weird-sided dice

Building the Foundation
1.	Genre and tone. Agree on the general idea for your game: dungeon delving, gang of thieves, space exploration, contemporary drama... Keep it short and vague (a couple of words, a short sentence at most) because things will evolve from there. The tone of Flashback is mostly serious, with a sprinkling of humor. Madcap screwball comedy is out of bounds. Yes, there will be absurd situations at times. But the characters in the world take their world seriously. Have a discussion among the players about the tone, and which themes and topics anyone would like to avoid for any reason.
2.	Who is the GM. One of the players will be the GM. The GM will set scenes, provide well-crafted opposition for the other player’s characters, and be responsible for portraying the rest of the world aside from the player characters. From now on, the term “player” excludes the GM.
3.	Determine Wild Card. Some player should grab a few dice and roll them to get a total. Hand those same dice around to each player for them to roll. Whoever rolled the highest total is the Wild Card.
4.	Character Concepts. Every player should grab an index card for their character information. For now, the characters will each only have a name and a two-word description. The typical two-word description will be adjective-noun, but if you come up with something else awesome, that’s great. The players should not consult with each other at this time. Just write you’re your character’s information without seeing what the others are doing. Make sure you stay within the common tropes of the genre that was selected by the group to start. Except the Wild Card! The Wild Card character should be someone from an entirely different genre.
5.	Your Concept is a Trait. We’ll get into Traits later, but for now write down “d10” next to the two-word character concept. This means your character concept is a Trait that is associated with a 10-sided die.

Game Sequence
•	GM establishes the starting scene
•	Play the first scene for a while
•	GM calls for a question
•	Flashback to a scene that answers that question
•	Complete the flashback scene
•	Proceed with further scenes

Scenes
The GM sets a scene, establishing the setting, initial action, and which characters are present. Once the scene is set, the GM should allow the players to narrate their character actions, but keep looking for opportunities to present the characters with tough choices, ripe situations, or questions to answer. Any time a character wishes to do something to the world, the GM can either allow it or call for a roll. Any time a character wishes to do something to another player character, that player can either allowing or call for a roll. The GM calls scene end once the scene seems to have reached a natural winding down point, or in order to cut away to another scene for a flashback.

Starting Scene: In Media Res
The GM establishes a first scene by describing a scene that is already in the midst of action, ripe with possibilities. A chase through an asteroid field, a vicious knife fight, a deadly trap, a high stakes poker game. Keep it firmly grounded in the group’s selected genre. Choose two of the character to be in the scene, and ask the players what their characters are doing there and why. Don’t provide too much background detail, just a general sense of why the characters are there in the present scene. In Flashback, we establish backstory by actually visiting earlier scenes. Establish facts by seeing them played out in scenes, not by talking about them as players. Let the first scene play out for a little while until the GM finds a good question to ask about one of the characters that related to the action that has happened so far. For example, “I wonder how Alima got so much information about the occultists” or “How does Denis know the leader of the rebels, anyhow?” This question triggers the end of the present scene, and starts a flashback scene that will address the question.

Note: Wild Card and Mashup
Once we get past the starting scene, the GM and players are allowed to play around with the genre, and do some mash-up with other genres. And the Wild Card character themselves is a violation of genre, baked right in at the start. Here are your guidelines for dealing with genre twists and oddness:
1)	Don’t go goofy. Everyone in the world belongs in the world, and has an anchor that makes sense within the terms of the game. Anchor everything.
2)	Work with what you have. Don’t invent something from completely left-field. Pay attention to the details, people, locations, and established events that have already been introduced into the game fiction. Anything odd should be connected to established facts and related to established characters and events.
3)	Don’t add new things too fast. Let new elements take some time to make sense and find their place.

Flashback Scene
A flashback scene exists to answer a question that was raised about a particular character in the prior scene. We go back in time in order to see a bit of the pertinent character’s history. The GM establishes the scene as usual, establishing the setting, initial action, and which characters are present. Two things should happen during a flashback scene:
1)	The question should be answered
2)	The pertinent character should establish a single Trait
It is permissible for other characters to establish Traits as well, if the GM feels it is appropriate. Usually a Trait is established as a consequence of a major decision that the GM presented to the character during the flashback scene. Once the two main items have been accomplished, however, the GM should find a way to end the scene and pick a new scene. It can be a return to the scene before the flashback, or it can be a completely new scene.

Trait
A trait is a brief description of some character trait, and a type of die associated with it. Traits are:
◦	something they are good at
◦	a weakness
◦	a resource
◦	an ally, enemy or rival
◦	a lifelong goal or cause

Derrin's player gets a question about her fascination with the occult, and how it led her to learn about the curse of the Ancients. The GM frames a Flashback Scene that takes place in her freshman year, when she first met Doctor Durnfeld. The GM thinks he will offer Derrin a chance to walk away from the dangerous life of an adventuring archeologist. In about ten minutes of roleplaying, we learn that Derrin has a problem with authority. On Derrin’s character card, the player records “Problem with Authority” and chooses d12.
The player has free choice of which die to assign to the trait. The choices are: d4,d6,d8,d10,d12, or d20.

Calling for a Roll
Whenever a player tries to do something to the world outside of their own character, the GM can decide to call for a roll. Only do this if it seems there are interesting options available for failure. Whenever a player tries to do something to another player’s character, that other player can allow it or call for a roll.

There are always exactly 2 sides to a roll-off. If the GM is one of the sides, the pool of dice they roll is determined by how formidable the GM judges the opposition to the player’s actions to be.
•	Easy opposition – 2d6
•	Standard opposition – 2d6 + d10
•	Stiff opposition  - d6 + d10 + d12
•	Imposing opposition – d6 + d12 + d20

Players determine which dice to roll by follow this procedure:
1)	Start with a “free” d6
2)	The GM goes through the player’s Traits and decides which ones apply. For each that applies, the player adds the associated die to pool of dice they will be rolling.

Derrin is being questioned by local law enforcement, and she wants to avoid being asked uncomfortable questions. The GM has a different opinion how the scene should go, and so calls for a roll. The GM decides that the inspector is a Standard opponent, and so will roll 2 6-sided dice and a 10-sided. Derrin’s player starts with a d8 in their pool for free. Running through Derrin’s traits, the GM decides that Darrin’s two-word character concept “Mystic Archeologist” does not apply, and so Darrin’s player does not get the d10 for that Trait. However, it seems that the trait “Problem with Authority” certain does apply, and so the player also gets a d12.

A player who is not one of the two sides in a roll may assist one side or the other if their character has a credible way to use one of their traits to assist that side. If the GM decides to allow it, the player makes clear which side they are assisting and will roll their single trait die themselves when the roll-off happens.

Once each side has determined their dice pools, each side rolls. The side with the single highest roll wins the roll and can specify the result of the opposition.

When the GM wins, one of your options is to present the player with a tough choice in order to explore the character’s nature, morality, and motivations.

Marks
For every die that rolls a 10 or higher, mark an X on your character sheet. For every die that rolls a 1, mark an O on your character sheet.

Once a player gets 5 Xs or 5 Os marked, they should tell the GM. At an appropriate time, the GM will frame an appropriate scene in response. Once you get 5 Xs or 5 Os, erase ALL marks, both Xs and Os. If you get to 5 Xs and 5 Os on the same roll, it is treated as a 5 Xs result.

5X Scene
When a player gets a total of 5 X marks, the GM will soon find an opportunity to frame a Critial Dilemma scene for that player’s character. The GM will put the player in a very difficult spot, full of difficult decisions with no clean way to win. Depending upon the events of the scene, the player will do one of the following to the Trait with the highest-sided die associated with it. (Choose in case of tie.)
•	The character turns away from that trait. Cross it off and create a new trait that represents the new path the character is following
•	The character evaluates that aspect of themselves. Assign a new die to the trait, no larger than d10.

5O Scene
When a player gets a total of 5 O marks, the GM will soon find an opportunity for a Success Scene for that player’s character. The Success Scene should feature the player achieving tangible success toward personal goals, or reasonably satisfactory resolution of existing complications. There should still be roll-offs, but all results should be selected in the light of making sure the character makes progress. Depending on the events of the scene, the player will do one of the following to the Trait with the lowest-sided die associated with it. (Choose in case of tie)
•	The character rededicates themselves to an existing aspect of themselves. Change the die associated to the trait to anything you like.
•	The character discovers a new goal or aspect of themselves. Create a trait with any die associated with it you want.