Risky Lives

# Risky Lives

This minimalist TTRPG uses only paper, pens or pencils, six-sided dice and tokens of two different kinds (you may use stuff such as beans or poker chips).  

It's best used to tell stories of characters remarkable for using their strong points, and for going against the odds, to succeed at whatever life throws them.  

This game is my entry to the **Minimalist TTRPG Jam 2**.

## Character Creation

Start with a _concept_, then list up to seven **characteristics** for your character – these can be traits, powers, signature possessions, etc. For each one of these characteristics, roll a die: if you roll 1, give the characteristic a number 2 and pick up a _blunder token_; if you roll 6, give it a number 5 and pick an _insight token_; otherwise, simply note the rolled number.  

Describe their _appearance_ and _personality_ with a single phrase for each. Then give your character a **name** and they're ready!

### Tokens

This game uses two kinds of tokens: **insight tokens** and **blunder tokens**.  

If you have an **insight token**, you may use it whenever you want to give your character an advantage: instead of rolling a single die, you may roll two dice and pick up any of their results.  

If you have a **blunder token**, though, you _must_ use it at your next _risky proposition_ and you must pick the most unfavorable outcome.  

You may use an _insight token_ to remove one of your _blunder tokens_, and you _must_ use an _insight token_ to _go against it_ (see below), but you can't use two or more of a single kind of token on the same proposition.

## Telling the Story: _Risky Propostions_ and _Complications_

To play _Risky Lives_, a player starts the game's first scene by describing a situation. Often the game will be a conversation between the players describing their characters' actions, and how the situations they're thrown changes based on those actions' consequences.  

If an action has an uncertain outcome, that can put a character in danger, it's a **risky proposition**: the next player to describe how their character will deal with it will take part of a **resolution roll**. Consequences of failed rolls, as well as _complications_, must be decided in common accord (a single majority vote, if needed) among the players, including the one who failed their roll.  

This dynamic keeps going as actions, rolls and scenes pass, until the players decide to stop playing (for example, after a certain amount of time outside the game), and they may choose to keep playing this story in their next encounter, or to start a new one altogether.

## _Resolution Roll_

### Simple

Once your character is given a **risky proposition**, pick up one of their relevant characteristics, choose to **go with it** or to **go against it**;  you can only _go against it_ by spending an _insight token_, however. Then roll a single die.  

If you went **with it** and rolled a number **lower than** the characteristic's number, or if you **went against it** and rolled a number **higher than** the characteristic's number, your character succeded, either because of their prowess or because they were lucky in an unfavorable situation, respectivelly.  

If the roll was **equal to** the number, no matter how you went, it was a rousing success: not only your character did it, but you gain an _insight token_.  

Otherwise, you have two choices: either accept that your character failed the proposition, or pick up a _blunder token_ to succeed with a **complication**.

### Resisted

If two characters are on the opposite sides of a _risky proposition_, for both of them, each player do the steps above. The player who gets the best result wins the proposition; if both results are the same, or very close, the first player to accept a _blunder token_ wins the proposition.

## Time

The time in _Risky Lives_ is measured through **scenes**. A _scene_ is when something meaningful happens, usually a _risky proposition_, or more than one if they're dramatically related. Time that passes during a scene, or between scenes, isn't necessarily related to chronological time.

### Damage and _Out of Scene_

A common outcome from failed propositions or complications is **damage**: for the characteristic employed in the _resolution roll_, subtract one point from it. If a characteristic ever reaches 0, the character is **out of scene**, and must be, well, out of the next scene to recover from whatever affliction (physical, mental, social, etc.) the situation gave them; after that, the characteristic's number goes back to 1, and the character may come back in the next scene.  

A player may voluntarily make their character be _out of scene_ to recover a _damaged_ characteristic, even if its number is still greater than 1; the characteristic's number, however, cannot go over its maximum (usually the initial) value this way.  

If a character has the number 1 for each and all of their characteristics, _damage_ will, instead of taking them _out of scene_, make them permanently **retire**. Describe how your character quits taking risks and goes on to live a safe, albeit boring, life.

### Improvement

You may use a number of _insight tokens_, and make your character be _out of scene_ for a number of scenes, both equal to one of their characteristic's number; after that, when they return in their next scene, permanently raise the number of that characteristic by 1. The highest value a characteristic can have is 5.  

Describe how your character used this time to improve their characteristic, through study, practice, etc.