The Revolution Will Take Us All • 2018 rpg finalist

The Revolution is coming. Fearful streets whisper: this rotting order will finally topple.

Choose from these characters:
* loyal soldier
* bitter lord
* anxious lover
* clever merchant
* naive rebel
* compassionate thief

Tell us their name, their wishful dream, their looming fear.

From a poker deck without face cards, lay 3 scene cards face-down for each player. Draw hands of 4 outcome cards. Never discuss them. 

Take turns. Reveal your next face-down scene. Roleplay your character. Describe surviving the turmoil. Imply their fragile world.

Themes:
* Clubs - Power
* Diamonds - Money
* Hearts - Companionship
* Spades - Hope

We join the roleplaying as troublesome things: endangered friends, spreading chaos, violent strangers. We bedevil you. When you can't bear more, place an outcome card across the scene to resolve it.

* Outcome > Scene: place face-up. Tell how your sacrifices make things better. 
* Outcome <= Scene: place face-down. Tell what you salvage for yourself, and the price paid by others.

When the last scene resolves, the Revolution comes. Sum outcome cards (revealing face-downs), then sum scene cards. Subtract the lower sum from the higher. If your remaining hand card is greater than the difference, you survive. From highest hand to lowest, narrate our epilogue: the fate of society and those who mattered.