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SUGAR-RUSH MAKE-BELIEVE • 2018 rpg

Mikey Hamm • mikeyhamm.com

You are enthusiastic children with wild imaginations in a world of your own making, where bullies are ogres, parents are androids, juiceboxes are healing potions, and THE FLOOR IS LAVA!!!

Start with 1d6+3 ENTHUSIASM and 1d4 IMAGINATION, 1 special power per IMAGINATION point, and 1 HEALTHY SNACK or 1 SUGARY SNACK. Find more snacks during adventurers!!!

Whoever has the most IMAGINATION is GM. This can change throughout the session. The GM introduces PROBLEMS that must be overcome. Non-GMs can add extra PROBLEMS, too, and gain 1 IMAGINATION each time they do. 

When you try something risky, roll a number of d6s equal to your IMAGINATION. Each 6 is a success, and earns everyone 1 ENTHUSIASM. If you fail, the GM tells you how things get worse, and you lose ENTHUSIASM equal to your IMAGINATION.

If you ever roll two or more 1s, your imagination RUNS WILD. You create 1d4 PROBLEMS and everyone loses 1d4 ENTHUSIASM. WHOA!

If your ENTHUSIASM reaches 0, you fall asleep. If it goes above 10, you run off, create 1d4 PROBLEMS, lose all ENTHUSIASM and fall asleep. 

HEALTHY SNACKS give 1d6 ENTHUSIASM. SUGARY SNACKS give 2d6 ENTHUSIASM. 

Author Comments

Grant Howitt’s elegant winning entry last year made me really inspired me to make little games that do 1d3 interesting things.

In this game, I wanted the role of GM to be shared, passed back and forth, taking advantage of the idea that this world is created by the characters (sugared up children playing make believe).

I also am fascinated by press-your-luck mechanics, and tried to put in a few ways for that to happen (managing your enthusiasm, electing for more imagination power at a cost, etc.)

The game usually ends in a self-imposed TPK, with exhausted children littering the yard, but how long that takes is up to your play-style. Have fun!

Sugar-Rush Make-Believe was based on the song “Snake for a Hand”: https://mikeymaybe.bandcamp.com/track/snake-for-a-hand


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