Helm • 2017 rpg

Leaders of an empire must overcome challenges to fight instability.

Theme

Find a theme.
Rome.
Fantasy castle.
1920s underworld.
Space colony.

Characters

Name your character and their focus.
Focuses:
Military
Social
Economic

E.g. 
Lars - commander - Military
Brother Odin - high priest - Social
Lord Kinsworth - baron - Economic

Challenges

Everyone writes on paper two challenges for each focus.
E.g.
Fire dragon - Military
Arranged marriage fails - Social
Gambling racket bust - Economic

Setup

Shuffle challenges, draw number of players -1.
d6 = difficulty rating:
1-2 = 1
3-4 = 2
5-6 = 3

Beginning stability = 10.

Declare

Players not on a challenge may engage one.  
Challenges can have multiple players engaged.

Engage

How would your character handle the problem?  Roll d6.
Advantage

If challenge focus = character focus,
1-2, failure, -1 stability.
3, persists.
4-6, success, challenge rating -1.
Non-advantage

1-2, failure, -1 stability.
3-4, persists.
5-6, success, challenge rating -1.

Repeat for engaged players.
Resolve

Zero rating challenges are overcome, empire gaining stability equal to double original rating.  

Players engaged on non-zero rating challenges remain engaged.

Challenges that appeared on any previous turn reduce stability by remaining difficulty.
Repeat

Reveal new challenge, roll rating.
Declare.
Engage.
Game end

Stability = 0.
Stability = 20 / no challenges remain.