The Great Depression brought many bad things when it landed. The United States were horribly hit by the crash and the prohibition didn’t help fight crime. However, you, as an upcoming member of a well know jazz band took these hard times as an opportunity. After many years of struggle and bad pay, you found yourself on the doorsteps of the Green Mill Gardens. This is one of a lifetime opportunity, you are the King of Bones and your rising star will now be seen by one of the most influential mafia boss of the century. They say that this opportunity was given to you because the last band had an “accident”. Do not mess up or the same thing could happen to you!
In King of Bones, you play the role of one of many musicians in the jazz band of the same name. With a group of your friends, you will use all types of dice (From d4 to d20) and made up instruments to partake in jams and try to win the favor of the boss played by one of your friends.
As a player, you create a character to be your alter-ego in the King of Bones jazz band. Characters are made of a name, an instrument, pros and cons. The name of your character is not necessarily his real name, it is probably safer for your family (And cooler) to use an alias. You never know when the boss can snap. Your pros and cons are small paragraphs that describes what your character are good and bad at as a musician and a person. They are used as guides to help you play your character.
Your character instrument can be anything, but before giving him an instrument, you must first find one in real life. However, you cannot use real instruments - it would not be fun - you must find a random object or set of object that can be used to produce music. For example, an empty carbonated drink bottle can make for a pretty good flute, though it will not sound as good. Try to find something that has not been used by the other players yet and then write what you think it would be as a real instrument on your character sheet. If, in the possibility you did not find anything original, you may use your mouth or hands as an instrument.
The player who takes the role of the boss has the job to make sure the rules of the game are used correctly and rate the jams to see if the band can continue to work at the Green Mill Gardens. He has similar jobs to a traditional GM, but he does not set scene or plays NPC, he merely oversee the whole play. Finally, the boss also creates a character, writing down a name, pros and cons to play his character.
Examples of characters:
Ella
Pros: Perfect Pitch, Bareknuckle Boxing. Ella is never out of tune. She has an instinctive ability to produce and recognize notes exactly. She is also able to protect the band from thugs and Looky-Lou’s with her fearsome fists.
Con: Extra Room. As a lady, it would be inappropriate for her stay in the same hotel room as the other band members.
Duke
Pros: Composer, Showman. Duke writes his own music, which is good enough to be on the radio. He also knows how to put on a show. He can assist as band manager.

Con: Segregation. Duke is a black man, so he is not welcome inside a lot of the best playing clubs, especially in the South.
Marcelle
Pros: Walking Encyclopedia, Army Buddies. Marcelle has memorized more songs than anyone. Hymns, marches, standards, and jazz hits are all at the tip of his fingers. He also has old army buddies all over the country, so he can usually find the band a place to sleep on the cheap.
Con: Building Access
Charles
Pros: Famous Blues Singer, Sweet Home Cooking. Charles is already famous as a singer, so he can essentially fill two roles in the band. He is also a talented cook, so he’s great to have along on tour.
Con: Criminal Record. Charles is wanted for theft in Alabama. He has served time for assault.
Andrés
Pros: Classically Trained. International Tours. Andrés has performed with professional orchestras in Spain. He knows a lot of Spanish and Latin American hits that the band has no other access to. He is probably the best technical performer among the candidates. He can also arrange tours for the band in Spain and Latin America.
Con: Communication Issues. Andrés understands English fluently, but some people have a hard time understanding him when he speaks. His first language is Spanish.
The game is separated into two distinct part during a night at the Green Mill Garden, the jams and the meetings. James are resolved with game mechanics, you will use the dice and your instrument to try and improvise a song and impress the boss. Once jams are resolved, the band has the chance to meet the boss at his private table and discuss how jams should be in the future. The boss always has something bad to say, even if the jam went surprisingly well. He has the job to create a conflict and have fun watching the players try to resolve it. He will probably say that one band member did not follow the rhythm or that another one messed up at the worst of time. Once the boss considers he has heard enough, he ends the meeting and gives his judgement. If he liked what he heard, he will give the band a new chance to impress him during a jam. If not, he may end the carer of one of the member or worse… You can never know with the boss.
To resolve a jam, the boss first decides the initial difficulty for this night’s jam. Difficulty is rated in dice from d6 to d20. A d6 jam is pretty easy and is used mostly for the first jam. On the other hand, a d20 jam is extremely hard and can push the players to their limit. To set the jam’s difficulty, the boss uses the results of last night’s meeting. If he liked last night’s jam and had a good time at the meeting, he may set the bar lower. 
When the jam starts, all the players sit in a circle (Including the boss) and prepare themselves in the order they want. The jams starts at the left of the boss and goes clockwise until it reaches the boss again. The order of the players set the order of the melody, the players play their instruments in order, so set your order to make sure the song sounds right. Jazz is all about improvisation and as such, jams are made to test your improvisation skills. 
Once all players are seated in order, the boss calls the beginning of the jam. You and your friends all roll a d4, the number is the number of notes you must play in one bar. The player at the left of the boss then starts playing immediately. Again, it’s all about improvisation and time taken to think will not be liked by the boss, he has no time to spare. The first player to play also has the hard job to set the speed of the bar, if he plays fast, then all players must end their bar at the same time and play as fast. This player then repeats his improvised bar and continues until this part of the jam has finished. 
For example, if you rolled a 3, you play three sounds with your instrument to make a bar. With your glass bottle, you could make two short sound and a longer one or anything else that has three sounds. Repeat and then continue to repeat until this part of the jam has finished.
The player to the left then starts playing his instrument according to his own die roll. He must stay on time or the boss will notice and be sure to tell him at the meeting. He plays twice and repeats until this part of the jam has finished. The chain continues until all players have played and the boss is satisfied. 
After each part of the jam, you restart the jam with a d6, then a d10 and so on until you reach the difficulty. If you successfully jammed to the difficulty, the jam ends and the meeting starts. During each part of the jam, every player must expand on his previous bar. The boss wants this jam to be better and better as the night goes on. Also, the boss may interrupt the jam before the difficulty has been met if he considers the show to be bad. If you don’t follow the tempo, have a hard time coming up with your bar or simply make errors, the boss will notice. Your career - and potentially your life – is on the line, try to smoother the boss during the meeting is such an event happens.
For example, if you rolled a 6 on the d6, you would now expand on the two short sound and one long sound with your glass bottle. Maybe adding two quaver in between the two short sound and another one at the end?
With the Jam done, the boss calls the meeting and the group gets to role-play the results of the jam. As said before, the meeting is a place of conflict where the boss gets to do what he wants and see you struggle to meet his demands. To make the meeting the best experience possible, here is a few guidelines to help the boss in his chaotic job.
A standard meeting is cut into five parts: The first part is the incident. Here the boss says what he disliked the most about the last jam and asks for the band members opinion. His opinion can be based on actual error from the players or random things he disliked, like the drinks or the women. In this part, the players must calm down the boss or try to push the blame on the other to survive the night. The second part is the blame. In this part, the boss finally push his blame for the incident on a player and enjoys as the players tries to defend, on attack, the blamed player. 
The third part is the boredom. At this point, the boss should start to seem annoyed and bored as the players continue to argue. This adds tension to the meeting and definitely scare the players. The fourth part is the second Blame. The boss changes his targets by actively attacks this newly blamed player. Now it is not a time for player to screw each other, but to work together so that the whole band can survive the day. Finally, the last part in the closing. The boss calls the end of the meeting and says his judgement on today’s meeting. If he desires, he may end the band’s career or a player’s career, but most of the time, they will survive. 
The boss should interact with the player during roleplaying. He is not there to sit and listen while the players yell at each other. If ever the discussion seems to stall or not move enough for the boss’ taste, he must not hesitate to change the subject or try to return on past statement by the player. The five phases are only a guide for meeting, parts can be removed or repeated, especially for the blames. It is easy and fun to change the blamed player to see the chaos that happens afterwards. Also, the incident can change during the meeting, the player will probably forget what it was anyway.
With that, you are ready to Jam. You are now a member of the King of Bones. Try to survive at least a night.