####################### # Uncle Joe's Diner # ####################### Somehow you've ended up on Earth in 1950s small town America. A shady government organisation is tracking you, with their sole intention being to wipe you off the face of the planet. Luckily you've been taken in by the patrons of Joe's Diner - a Nelanian couple going by the names of Joe and Jessica Johnson who are on Earth studying humanity on behalf of the Higher Council of Nelan. If you want to stay alive you'll have to conform. You need to blend in. Even if you do have a hidden agenda. ######################## # Character Creation # ######################## Choose an Alien Race. Assign Attributes. Define your Hidden Agenda ################# # Alien Races # ################# Volani A shy and inquisitive race of bug eyed, grey skinned diminutive creatures. They're the engineers of our galaxy, looking to log and classify every piece of technology in the universe. Special Ability: Comprehend - +3 to Dice Pool on all rolls involving understanding or using human technology. Cassiopaeans Horned, red skinned hedonistic pleasure seekers looking for a bit of fun. Whether its sex, drugs or rock and roll. Special Ability: Seduce - +3 to dice pool involving any aspect of flirting or seduction. Orions Reptilian hunters constantly searching for the ultimate trophy. Special Ability: Regenerate - heal own wounds completely with a Physicality Attribute check. Nelanians Galactic peacekeepers who look the most like humans save for their cat-like eyes. Special Ability: Calm - +3 to dice pool involving any aspect of diffusing an aggressor Octori Tentacled, floating squid people adept at changing the colour of their skin to blend in with their surroundings. Special Ability: Telekinesis - Can use Mobility Attribute to levitate and manipulate objects. Lupans Sly wolf-people with ferocious carnivorous appetites. Special Ability: Track - +3 to dice pool involving any aspect of physically tracking an item or person Attributes ========== Primary Attribute is decided by which Alien Race you choose to play and begins at 6. Rate the remaining attributes at 5,4,3,2 and 1. Higher score is better. Human range is between 2-4 for an average adult male or female. Perspicacity - Volani - incisive intelligence, innate curiousity Personalty - Cassiopaeans - charm, ingratiation, other social interactions Determination - Orions - strength of will and purpose Grace - Nelanians - calm, focus, centeredness Mobility - Octori - speed, agility, dexterity Physicality - Lupans - strength, durability, brute force What is your hidden agenda? =========================== Was your craft blasted out of the sky and you're just looking for a way to get off this rock? Are you an interstellar spy? Bounty Hunter? Intent on the total domination of Earth and its people? Record that you have 3 Story points to start, and you can begin play. ###################### # Playing the Game # ###################### Complications ============= When a situation arises that requires the resolution of any form of dramatic tension or conflict make an Attribute Check. The GM chooses the attribute you'll roll, although you may suggest an attribute, or even that a roll is called for. Roll a number of d10 equal to your attribute score. Every die showing a value of 6 or less is a success. In general, anything you'd want to do has a few "parts", which the GM will chose from this list (or add other ideas): - You accomplish what you want (this might be more than one "part" if the goal is large or complicated.) - You look normal doing it - You don't incur suspicion - You don't leave alien evidence behind - You avoid being harmed - You avoid harming another - You don't lose or damage your tools or possessions Before you roll, the GM will tell you what parts their are to the complication. Roll, and spend successes on the parts of the thing. Story Points ============ You can spend story points 1 for 1 to add dice to a pool before rolling. You can also spend story points 1 for 1 to add dice to a pool *after* rolling. If you do this, you will incur suspicion. Roll the dice as they're added. Whenever you spend Story Points, mark that attribute. If you have as many marks after rolling as the attribute, increase the attribute by 1 and erase its marks. Incurring Suspicion ================== Sometimes, either as the result of a roll or otherwise, you'll incur suspicion. Whenever you use your alien special ability, you will incur suspicion. The GM will determine which, if any, NPC(s) available are made suspicious by your action, and will add "Suspicious of " to their records, which will start at 1, although you might make a human extra-suspicious if you do something extra-alien-y. Don't step out of your UFO in town square or anything. Suspicion isn't bad on it's own, and it isn't bad in small quantities, so don't sweat it. Too much. Damage and Healing ================== Wound levels Stunned - recovery in minutes Injured - recovery in days Maimed - never recovers Killed When you are wounded, it adds a "part" you must buy before you can get what you want in a complication. Higher levels override the lower - if you were stunned and get injured, you're now injured. Maimed comes with a bonus "injured" which recovers in days, and both must be bought off before you can get what you want. After the initial injury, the maimed "part" will stick around forever (normally.) Causing damage -------------- Attack someone. The standard is to roll Physicality, with at least one "I hurt them" part. Reasonable hurt for the attack is a single "part", while more severe, credible wounds would be extra parts on the roll. Not being injured yourself is par for the course in anything like a fair fight. So, if you go at a cop with a golf club, expect something like: - he's stunned - he's also injured - he doesn't injure you with his gun as the parts the GM presents you with. ################## # About Aliens # ################## All aliens are equipped with a Janus Crystal - a super high tech device that makes them to all intents and purposes appear human - stress can warp the field though as can players invoking their defining attribute. And they can be stolen, misplaced, or broken. Any strong emotional response can reveal an aliens true appearance. #################### # Game Mastering # #################### Joe's Diner is run in a simple, almost mechanical style. Moment to moment, consider these: The Prime Directive =================== Never repeat. Note with each action you take as a GM which PC, NPC and type of action you pursued. The next thing you do should repeat none of these. In general, strive to give each PC an even number of turns - this is easiest if you simply apply actions to the PC who was acted on least recently. But often the flow of play will suggest otherwise. Avoid giving any NPC more than double their share of turns. That is: if you have 6 NPCs, don't reuse any of them more often than every 3rd use. The only hard rule is: never repeat on a PC, with an NPC, or the same action twice in a row. To Begin Play ============= After character creation, and at the start of each session, consult "What Happens Next," and then "To Change Focus" and establish some action, and go from there. What Happens Next ================= Consider each of the following in order, never doing the same thing twice in a row: If you've been playing long enough for right now, wrap up. Settle any lingering happenings, check in with the players to see that they're satisfied and bring play to a close. Find the highest non-zero Suspicion score. Have that NPC pursue their suspicions, then reduce the score by one. If any PC has not received story points this session, offer an opportunity to pursue a Hidden Agenda. Be clear, at least with yourself, what would qualify as mild/moderate/great pursuit of this opportunity. If in doubt, consider what they could do in the pursuit that wouldn't expose them to suspicion or danger (as mild), what might expose them to either suspicion or danger (as moderate) and what would certainly expose them to both suspicion and danger (as great.) Find the NPC with the no Suspicion score greater than 0, involve them with the PCs in a more than incidental way. Awkward, anxious, intimate, or vulnerable. Have one help the other, or threaten, or simply stumble into each other secrets or plans. If no such NPC exists, invent one. Consider a piece of evidence the PCs have left. Determine its significance and consequences, and make them known. Possibilities (non-exhaustive): a new NPC, an existing NPC gains suspicion, an existing NPC brings it to light, impact on the world (a government commission?) To Change Focus =============== When what happens next involves PC(s) who haven't been involved in what just happened, consider what you need from the PC to involve them in what's next, and ask them the appropriate question. Specifics are provided for examples - feel free to substitute. To be in a particular place: "Why do you go to the laudromat?" or "When are you next at the gas station?" Either can be asked either to establish a routine or to determine a one-off visit. To provide a setting: "What are you doing around 3PM?" or "Where are you when the library closes?" The time can be clock time or an event. To be at home: "What do you usually do about now?" or "What does dinnertime look like for you usually?" Indeed, once you have the hang of it, determine what you need and ask the leading question that will get you e.g. a moment of isolated vulnerability. Any of these questions can, of course, be answered in the negative. "I never go to Joe's Diner." In which case, open them to the whole table: "Well, who does go there? Who would be there next?" If necessary, this can allow a PC to "go" twice in a row. If it leads to scrapping a "what happens next?" note the event as having happened without PCs seeing it. Add suspicion or evidence as seems plausible. And Then... =========== Once you've kicked off some action, let it play out. Press players for action, or bring it to them. Consider the results of every roll. If it's a failure, what's the impact on them? "You don't get what you want" is never enough. Consider consequences of their actions. Are they acting suspiciously? Do they leave evidence of their presence? Remember, they're aliens to this Earth, not CSI fanatics. While some game mechanics explicitly call for an NPC to gain suspicion or for the GM to note evidence, these things might happen in the course of play - it's up you to decide when. Likewise, you're the arbiter of everything Earthly. How police behave, the forensic sciences of 1950's midwestern America, appropriate names for housewives with secret vices, the lot. The players can say what's culturally appropriate for their species, but they're in your house now - there's a precedent for vast shifts in the abilities of aliens under our yellow sun. When the current "What Happens" is beginning to settle, or is definitely not taking flight, return to What Happens Next. ###################### # Moment To Moment # ###################### Inventing an NPC ================ Give then a name, a rough description, and note their disposition. Dispositions are: Bully: Those that derive satisfaction from feeling more powerful than others. They're likely to threaten or torture those they know they can harass, needle and cajole those they're unsure of, and toady to those whose power they recognize as being greater that their own. Authority: The anchors and vectors of heirarchy and archetypal culture. They can be strong, friendly allies to normalized members of society. They need to correct variance, though, even if it's done in the most caring, gentle way. Or with rod and mallet. Bureaucratic: Observers, recorders and endforcers of the rules. Strangeness and normalcy isn't of a concern except as dictated by strict procedure. Nervous: Unsure of themselves and their position, nervous NPCs mostly want to avoid attention on themselves, even if it's just the fringes of a spotlight shone on someone else. That said, sometimes the best way to avoid scrutiny is to direct it elsewhere. Guilty: Sure that they have offended against what's Right and True, guilty NPCs are likely to know how best to hide - but also how to incriminate others. Marginalized: Not normal, and don't care. Either their focus is so far off the norm they don't see it, or else they reject the fuddy duddy squareness. Pursuing Suspicion ================== The kind of pursuit an NPC will do depends on the size of the suspicion they're pursuing, and their own Disposition. Based on their suspicion score, an NPC will do the following: 1: Settle suspicions - at this level, they want to figure out what kind of (already familiar) thing the alien is. Maybe they're criminals, or just strange, or enemy spies. Communists! The key is that the NPC will try to explain the alien as something they already understand. 2: Confirm suspicions - at this point, suspicion is too great to accept that the alien is something merely mundane. Now, the NPC wants to determine what the alien really is, having accepted that they aren't anything they've already heard of. 3: Learn more about the alien - convinced of the otherworldliness of the alien (without necessarily knowing them for what they are) the NPC wants to determine more about them. Could be they want to know about their hopes and dreams, or just ferret out their weaknesses in order to destroy them. 4: Spread suspicion to others - others must know! Either the alien is too wonderful to keep a secret or to dangerous not to leave a letter with the local paper "to be opened in the case of my demise." 5: Remove the alien from their life - murder is just the simplest, easiest option here. Moving to another city might be sensible, or else having the alien arrested and incarcerated.