Required Equipment: Generic Jumbling Tower Game
Player Character Creation:
Name character
Choose four Characteristics
Background. Baby, Alien, Scholar, or other.
Positive trait. Rich, Athletic, Sexy or other.
Negative trait. Arrogant, Disabled, Coward, Addiction or other.
Tension trait. Choose reason for a PC or NPC tension.
Narrator:
Create 3 NPCs with quick summaries with each player related to their character.
Present plot points, NPCs, challenges, and ends episodes.
PC Characteristics help describe the story arc.
System:
Story challenges
Mundane challenge one pull. Simple task or circumstance.
Moderate challenge two pulls. Skilled task or circumstance.
Hard challenge three pulls. Dangerous (physically or socially) task or circumstance.
Challenge modifications
One pull can be added or subtracted by the Narrator or Players with Narrator approval. Max three, Minimum zero.
Drama crash
When the story tower crashes, a dramatic event happens for the pulling player. Such as injury, loss, shame, responsibility, fine, pregnancy, capture, knockout, or even death,
Death?
Characters can always return. Sometimes with a new trait like clone, twin, amnesia, undead, or injured.
Character Advancement:
Characters can earn, receive, or lose Characteristics through the story. When a story arc is finished, player choose or lose a trait with the Narrator’s approval.
Do enjoy!
I wanted to make a fun easy system to simulate the tension of TV Dramas. It can be any kind of tension, be it comic, horror, suspense, romantic, social, anything.
This can be used for games inspired be monster of the week shows, telenovelas, slapstick comedies, espionage or criminal capers, anime romance, cartoon sleuthing mysteries, or any story where tension is important.
Some classics Roleplaying Games such as Ghost Busters, Paranoia, or Call of Cthulhu may, with some fun modifications, benefit from using this simple system.
Thanks to the folks at Impossible Dream, makers of Dread. I tweaked their tower crashing mechanic to do what I needed it to do for this game.
Thank you Hasbro Gaming for making Jenna and popularizing the jumbling tower game.