Tested on Elementals ===Introduction=== You wake up and don’t recognize your surroundings. This is not your home. This is not even your plane of existence. Looking around, you see the cage you are in is one of many that line the wall of this clean, sterile room. Immediately, your thoughts turn to escape. ===Setting=== The player characters are elementals, brought to our world via a complex set of magic mirrors. They’ve been captured to be the subject of experiments by magical scientists. Pulled out of their home planes, the human world is fundamentally strange and works in ways the elementals don’t yet understand. The difference is compounded by the elementals’ size; they are only 15 cm (6 inches) tall. The goal of the game is to tell the story of the elementals as they escape their captivity and try to survive long enough to find a way home. ===The Human Plane=== The story is set in a world that is fundamentally the same as ours, but one in which magic, particularly the summoning of elementals, has only recently been discovered. Corporate and governmental interests have quickly moved in to capitalize and regulate for the greater good. To summon an elemental without a permit is illegal. Society is divided on the ethics of summoning elementals, some believing it to be enslavement while, to others, it is too great an opportunity to pass up, whether for scientific advancement or for profit. ===Discovery of the Elementals=== The use of mirrors to tap into the elemental planes was discovered by an underachieving laser scientist by the name of Ronin Collignon. He patented the technique and promptly sold it to the highest bidder. He now lives on his own tropical island. ===Mckensie-Phillips-Morton=== MPM is a leading pharmaceutical company and holds all the patents for summoning elementals. It has large research facilities all over the world. Officially, they have strict and comprehensive guidelines in place to ensure the ethical and humane treatment of elementals, but individual employees and labs have been known to bend these rules on occasion. ===The International Society for the Protection of Elemental Creatures=== ISPEC is a co-ordinating organization between local and national protection groups that seeks to end the exploitation of elementals. They are secretive about where their funding comes from. ===The Elemental Plane=== Much like the human world, the plane elementals call home is fractured by cultural, ideological and geographical differences, though, in this case, the differences are even more polarized and easier to see. Also like the human world, there is plenty of peace and goodwill to be found between different elements, but sometimes it is practically impossible for some of them to physically coexist except in the realm of a more “neutral” element. The sudden and mysterious disappearances of some elementals is raising concern in this plane. Should any elementals of particular import be summoned into the human realm, it will surely expedite the speed at which the remaining elementals discover what is actually going on, then potentially learn how to move between planes to extract vengeance (or simply mount a rescue, depending on who’s speaking). ===When Worlds Collide=== Part of the game will be discovering what is a very alien world to the elementals. Every now and then, when describing something the player characters encounter or interact with for the first time, the GM is encouraged to ask one of the players (ideally, whichever PC’s element is the most relevant) what about it is the same or different from what they’re used to in the elemental plane. Whatever the player says becomes fact, though the rest of the group and the GM are encouraged to offer suggestions. Whether or not these differences between the worlds become relevant in a “mechanical” sense, this helps to add a bit of narrative flavor and get the players invested in the story. If these differences do become relevant mechanically—maybe a situation emerges where an elemental is now more or less powerful than they used to be, or they discover an ability they never had before—the GM is encouraged to find a way to reflect them in an interesting way. Just as the elementals are learning more about the human world, the human world is constantly learning more about them. The GM should look for opportunities to find interesting implications in the PCs’ successes and failures from which humans and other NPCs, both friend and foe, will adjust their behavior and strategies. For example, if it is discovered that an elemental of a particular kind is easily contained in a box made from its “opposite” element, anyone trying to trap that elemental should take advantage of that at the next opportunity and beyond. This “meta” game, which should definitely be reflected both mechanically and narratively whenever possible, will add an interesting dimension to the story. ===Character Creation=== A character is defined by a set of aspects. After the element of the character has been chosen, select six aspects to describe the character from the appropriate template. Create another three aspects for the character: their strongest personality trait; a skill they want to improve; and, finally, a vice. By default, all aspects have a modifier value of +1. Each player begins with 5 skill points to spend to increase any of these values, one for one. The physical form of the character is entirely up to the player and is not confined to humanoid. Depending on their element, the character may be able to shape-shift at will. ===Experience and Growth=== Each time a character gets what they want from a scene, they gain one experience point. If a character doesn’t get what they want from a scene, they get two experience points. Experience points may be spent to strengthen a character’s attributes. A player may spend 40 experience points to increase the modifier on an aspect by one. Spending 80 points allows them to add new aspect from their elemental template at +1. Spending 120 points allows the player to add a new, custom aspect (or add an aspect from another element’s template) at +1. Spending 200 points allows the player to add an additional element to their character, starting with three new attributes from that element’s template; this fundamentally changes the character. ===Elemental Templates=== [TK: Additional elements as desired; 10 aspects per element] Acid: Acidic, Spit, Splash, Air: Speed, Gust, Fly, Pressure, Vacuum, Chaotic Chocolate: Tasty, Melty, Glossy, Caffeine, Dark, Romantic, Comfort, Electric: Shock, Split, Reflexes Fabric: Flexible, Colors, Fire: Heat, Intensity, Burn, Ignite, Speed, Blast, Anger Light: Fast, Bright, Mineral: Heavy, Hard, Dig, Crystal, Vibration, Carve, Stubborn Metal: Shiny, Cold, Shadow: Dark, Hide, Shroud, Cunning Water: Flow, Drench, Chilling, Patience, Adaptable Wood: Growth, Leaves, Bend, Thorns, Vines, Roots Note: Players may also choose to create their own elemental templates during character creation. Each template should feature 10 aspects which suit the element in question. Some of these aspects may be mutually exclusive (assuming they still make sense for the element on their own), but players are advised to choose only one of these for their character unless they can explain how they can co-exist or be switched between. ==NPCs== The majority of the NPCs the characters will encounter will be humans. While a human character should not have any more aspects than an elemental, their much greater size means that any physical aspects start with an additional +4 before any skill points are spent. Human: Presence, Tough, Mass, Reach, Intelligent, Diplomatic, Violent, Empathetic, Greedy, Notice NPCs may sometimes be animals. Elementals will generally not be able to speak with animals without a special ability. Like humans, depending on their size and nature, an animal’s physical aspects may begin at anywhere between +1 and +10 before spending skill points. [TK: Animal Template(s)] Pet: Predator: ===Rules=== Whenever the outcome of an action is uncertain—this is primarily true when the action is opposed by another character—it is resolved by a competing dice roll. Two six-sided dice (2d6) are rolled, and any modifiers from circumstances and applicable aspects are added to the results. The higher number wins. A character may perform any action that they could reasonably perform, as agreed upon by the group. The player suggests which aspects will help their character perform that action. It could be decided that an aspect would actually be a hindrance, in which case it becomes a negative modifier. Upon learning an aspect would apply a negative modifier, the player may then choose not to apply it, but keeping it will award one extra experience point in addition to the one or two earned for getting or not getting what the character wanted in the scene. Each additional negative attribute awards one additional bonus experience point. Note: When rolling for NPCs, it may sometimes become necessary to think of advantages and hindrances in reverse when applying modifiers. If one of an NPC’s aspects would make it easier for a PC to get their way, it should apply a negative modifier, and vice versa, regardless of whether the NPC, themselves, would see it as an “advantage” or a “hindrance.” ##Play Example## Ithos want to persuade the little girl to help him. He’s cute +2, which will help, but also prideful +3: a hindrance. Thus, the modifier on his roll becomes 2 - 3 = -1. He rolls 2d6 with a result of 7; with the net modifier of -1, the final result is 6. This is lower than what the GM rolled for the little girl: 2d6 for a 6, minus empathetic (a +1 aspect that would make her more likely to help Ithos), plus hyperactive (a custom aspect at +4 that arguably makes her less likely to be helpful), for a final result of 9. Ithos does not get the help he wanted, but he earns 3 experience points: 2 for “losing” the scene, and 1 for rolling with a negative aspect. ===Initiative=== If a turn order seems necessary for a scene, the group collective decides for whom it would make the most sense to go first, dramatically speaking. The person whose turn it is selects the next character to act until everyone (including NPCs) have had a turn. One action per turn. ===Damage=== Should a roll result in a character taking harm, the difference between the rolls decides the damage taken. Damage by reduces the value on a character’s aspects, one to one. aspects can go no lower than 0. Once all of a character's aspects are at 0, the character is killed or otherwise removed from play. ===Healing=== An elemental can heal itself by gathering up some of its element in the environment and absorbing it. Doing so takes five minutes of in-game time for every point of damage the player wants to be recover. A character may never heal beyond the current “max” value of an aspect’s modifier. Those values may only be increased by spending experience points.