Rough Cuts PDF

6 Micro Games
by
Brian Engard
ROUGH
CUTS
ROUGH CUTS
Writing
Brian Engard
Layout
Mark Richardson
Art
Cover
Three draft sketches in sepia for an equestrian monument,
by Leonardo da Vinci
Jury Duty
Courtroom sketch, by Butch Krieger
Jury by Luis Prado, Thumbs Up by Pearlyn Chiam from The Noun Project
Runners
Photo of a parkour athlete, by Stuart Bryce
Runner by Dillon Arloff, Target by Laurent Patain from the Noun Project
Snakegrinder
Photo of the New York Dolls, by AVRO
Meter by Ruud Smitt, RockNRoll by Hum from The Noun Project
The Wicked World

Screenshot from The Big Combo (1955), by Allied Artists
Icons by Thomas Tamblyn
I Hit It With My Axe

Two Vlusp Dwarves, by Lorenz Frlich
Comfort Zone
Sir Galahad, by George Frederic Watts
To the best of my knowledge, all art in this book is either Creative Commons or
public domain. If Im wrong, please tell me at engard@gmail.com and Ill remove
the offending piece.
What This Is
This PDF is a collection of micro-games that Ive created over the years. A micro-
game is a self-contained game (a roleplaying game in this case) that takes up very
little space, has very few rules, and is designed to accomplish a specic thing.
There are six micro-games in this PDF, presented in the order in which I designed
them. Jury Duty is a game that seeks to emulate the social dynamics of the
jury deliberation process. Runners is a game about parkour action in a post-
apocalyptic world full of monsters. Snakegrinder is a game about an 80s hair
band that travels through time, solving problems and getting into trouble. The
Wicked World is about angels who give up their angelic power in exchange for
free will, so they can become PIs and ght the demons on Earth. I Hit It With My
Axe is about dwarf barbarians making great boasts and then going on quests
to fulll those boasts, for glory and . . . well, for glory. Comfort Zone is a setting-
agnostic framework for fast, rules-light, hand-wavy games.
Rough Cuts
These are rough cuts because none of them have been edited or playtested.
This PDF is a bit of an experiment. Im putting it out there in the hopes of getting
people to read it and play the games. If you do so, and you nd issues in the
games, feel free to give me feedback. This is an evolving document; as I get
feedback, Ill update it. Send me feedback at engard@gmail.com, with the subject
line ROUGH CUTS FEEDBACK.
Pay What You Want

You may have noticed that it didnt cost you anything to download this PDF. That
doesnt mean that its free, per se; rather, this is a pay what you want product. If
what you want to pay is $0, thats ne; I hope you enjoy and play these games. If
you like them though, I hope youll throw some money my way. If youd like to, go
here to send me money through PayPal:
[http://2d6cents.com/rough-cuts/]
Licensing, Remixing, and So Forth

All of the text in this book is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported License. This means youre free to remix the games in this PDF and
even sell what you make, as long as you credit me for the original design. Id also
appreciate it if you pointed people to this PDF in whatever work you make. As far
as printing and distributing go, feel free to do as much of that as you want. I wont
stop you.
JURY DUTY
Social Dynamics of a Jury
SETUP
JURY DUTY
What Youll Need
A big stack of index cards.
A pencil for each player.
A bunch of tokens poker chips, pennies, whatever seven per
player.
At least four players (yeah, I know that a criminal jury has twelve
members; get over it, Im not going to make a game that requires
twelve players).
Elect a Foreperson
Before you start play youll need a Foreperson. The Foreperson acts as
facilitator for the game, bringing structure when its lacking and calling for
votes when theyre warranted.
The Foreperson is not the GM

There is no GM. Everyone has equal opportunity for input into the ction of
the game, the foreperson no more so. The Foreperson is only there to make
sure things keep moving, not to tell everyone whats happening.
The Foreperson is not in charge

While the Foreperson can and should suggest that things move on when
theyve ground to a halt, and while the foreperson can call for votes, these
things always happen by mutual consensus. In other words, if the group
doesnt want to move on or participate in a vote, it doesnt matter what the
foreperson suggests; theyre just suggestions.
The Foreperson is a facilitator

Just like in an actual jury, its the Forepersons job to bring structure to the
proceedings. The foreperson might need to help resolve disputes, make sure
everyone gets heard, suggest that arguments that have come to a standstill
be tabled for the moment, and call for votes. Really, anyone can do any of
these things; its just the Forepersons responsibility to do them.
Everyone who isnt the Foreperson is a juror

And so is the Foreperson. Everyone at the table is a juror, and has equal
power and equal say in the game.
ROUGH CUTS 2
Establish the Case
JURY DUTY
Once youve got your Foreperson, its time to gure out what the case is
about. This game focuses on criminal cases (I may make rules for civil cases
later), so youll need two things.
A defendant
You can come up with a single defendant or multiple defendants, depending
on what the table wants. This is determined by group consensus, and should
involve a discussion. Take an index card and write the defendants name on
it, along with a high concept. A high concept is basically a short descriptive
phrase that sums up who the defendant is.
Example: Jeb Mallory, out-of-work car salesman.
Charges
What is the defendant charged with? Come up with as many charges as you
want to, but the more charges you levy against the defendant, the longer the
game will take.
Example: Jebs charged with Aggravated Assault.
Once youve done both of those things, put those index cards in the middle of
the table where everyone can see them.
Establish the Jury

This is the last step of setup. First, everyone gets an index card. Then youre
going to write a bias on your index card. A bias is your characters motivation
as it pertains to the case; it informs how youll be voting and what constitutes
a good outcome for you.
Example: just wants the trial to end quickly, hates young punks, hard-on for
justice.
Heres the trick: the bias you just wrote probably wont be your own. Once
youve written it, put it face down in the middle of the table. Once theyre all
there, the foreperson should take the pile, shuffle it up, and hand a random
bias to each juror (including herself). Keep your bias secret, but make sure you
play to it.
Hand Out Inuence Chips

Remember those tokens? Heres where they come in. Everyone gets four of
them, and the rest go in the middle of the table somewhere. The inuence
tokens in front of you are yours to spend as you please. The ones in the
middle of the table are in the table pool.
ROUGH CUTS 3
DELIBERATION
JURY DUTY
Structure
While deliberating over a case there are a few things you can do:
Spend inuence chips
Talk about the case
Calling for Votes
Spending Inuence Chips

Inuence chips are a physical representation of social currency. They
represent how much weight your opinion has, and your spending of
inuence chips represents you leveraging your opinion at the table.
You can do two things with inuence chips.
Establish a fact
You can spend an inuence chip to the table pool to establish a fact about the
case. This fact can be testimony you heard, evidence that was presented, or
even observations about the defendant or the attorneys. When you establish
a fact, you write it down on an index card and put it in the middle of the table.
Write your name on it somewhere too; its important to keep track of whose is
whose because, whenever someone cites one of your facts in an argument,
you get an inuence chip from the table pool. Once a fact is introduced, its
there for good. That doesnt mean that contradictory facts cant be introduced,
though.
Inuence a juror
Any time youre arguing the facts with another juror, you can choose to offer
one or more inuence chips to that juror. If he takes them, the next time a vote
is called you get to vote for him. That is, you write your own vote down, then
you write his vote down and hand that in too. Once youve voted for him once,
theres no further obligation on the other jurors part to let you keep doing so
(unless you give him more inuence chips).
Talking about the Case

Most of the game is going to be spent talking about the case, arguing the
facts, and trying to come to common ground. This is free-form role play and
there are no hard-and-fast rules for it. You can, however, spend inuence
chips during the course of normal talking.
Your bias should inform how you want the case to turn out. Its your job to
try to convince your fellow jurors to vote your way. Convincing them for real
ROUGH CUTS 4
is going to be a lot more potent than buying their votes with inuence chips
JURY DUTY
because its a more lasting change.
Call for Votes

At any time, anyone (usually the foreperson) can call for a
vote. This is done by secret ballot: everyone writes their
vote (guilty or not guilty for each charge) on an index
card and puts it face down near the foreperson. When
everyones done, the foreperson gathers them all up, shuffles them, and reads
them off. If everyone votes the same way then a verdict has been reached and
the game is over. Hooray! If not, keep playing until you reach a verdict.
If everyone gets to the point where they dont want to (or cant) play anymore
but a verdict hasnt been reached, the jurors can declare a hung jury by
mutual consensus. Typically that means that nobody gets what they want, but
it happens sometimes.
ROUGH CUTS 5
JURY DUTY INFLUENCE COUNTERS
Print this page and cut out the inuence counters to use during the game.
JURY DUTY VOTE COUNTERS
Print this page a and cut out the vote counters to use during the game.
NOT- NOT- NOT- NOT-

GUILTY GUILTY GUILTY GUILTY
NOT- NOT- NOT- NOT-


RUNNERS
Post-Apocalyptic Parkour
SOMETHING BAD HAPPENED
RUNNERS
Were not sure what. We just know that there are monsters everywhere, that
theyve taken over the world and that were an endangered species. Nobody
alive now remembers the time before the monsters, though there are still
records of it all over the place.
They infest the cities; the streets are teeming with creatures out of nightmare,
hiding just below the fog that permeates everything out there. The rooftops
and the sewers are the safest places, but even those are starting to get
dangerous.
The countryside is worse. See, in the cities at least we have places to hide,
buildings and sewers we can barricade ourselves into to keep the monsters
out. Out in the country, in the suburbs, youre exposed. You can barricade
yourself for a little while, but what if you have to get somewhere? What if you
need supplies, or need to get a message to someone who isnt in the same
building? No, the cities as dangerous as they are are the safest places on
Earth.
Speaking of supplies and messages, thats where we come in. Were Runners.
Weve trained all our lives to be the ones who go out there, who outrun and
outwit the monsters, who get the stuff we need and deliver messages to and
from other enclaves. Without us, the whole thing falls apart.
Without us, everybody dies.
How to Do Stuff
Runners is a game about parkour, action, and monsters. You play couriers in a
post-apocalyptic setting where monsters are everywhere.
As Runners, youre competent. Extremely competent. You have three skills,

each a broad area of expertise; if you set out to do something related to one
of those areas of expertise, youll succeed. Its that simple.
Of course, that doesnt mean its a cake-walk.
Any task that the GM decides is important enough for a roll is going to come
with a number of consequences attached to it. Youll succeed, but youll have
to deal with those consequences. Those consequences will be Clumsy, Slow,
Obvious, or Hit.
Clumsy, Slow, and Obvious are narrative license for the GM to get you into
more trouble. A Clumsy jump knocks a chunk of the ledge off, making it
harder for the next guy. Being Slow when breaking into a building makes it
ROUGH CUTS 9
more likely that the automated security system will nd you. If youre Obvious
RUNNERS
when climbing over some rubble, you might attract the attention of some
nearby monsters. A Hit is a special case (more on that later).
When you complete an action, you can choose to simply take it as is and
deal with the consequences, or you can roll for it. When you roll, youre
rolling between 1 and 4 fudge dice (dF). Each + you roll gets you a benet
(this can allow you to turn a consequence into a benet); the benets are
Stylish, Fast, Elegant, and Upper. Stylish opposes Clumsy, Fast opposes Slow,
Elegant opposes Obvious; these are narrative license to put yourself in an
advantageous situation, or pass off an advantage to an ally. Upper is, again, a
special case (more on Uppers later).
Every - you roll forces you to take an additional consequence, or turn a

benet into a consequence if you started with any by default. Blanks are
ignored.
You cant spend more than one die on a single axis (theyre mutually
exclusive and they dont stack), with one exception: the Hit/Upper axis. If
youve got extra +, you can buy more Uppers with them. If youve got extra
-, you can buy them off by taking more Hits.
Note that if you dont have a relevant skill or tag for an action, you cant even
attempt it; you automatically fail.
Uppers
Uppers are special points that help you do things better. Its best
to represent these with some sort of non-edible token so you dont
have to keep erasing on your sheet (and so you dont, yknow, eat
them). You dont start with any Uppers, but youll get plenty of them
during play.
Every + you spend on the Uppers axis gets you an Upper. You spend Uppers
to invoke your tags. You can invoke any tag you want (it doesnt have to be
tied to the skill youre using), but it has to be relevant to the action youre
performing. Invoking a tag costs 1 Upper and allows you to treat one die that
you rolled as if it had come up a +. You can invoke as many tags as you want
to on a single roll, but you can only invoke each tag once.
Hits
Hits are the counterpoint to Uppers. You take Hits when you have
extra - on your dice after rolling for an action and spending the
others on consequences. Each Hit you take gets written down in
ROUGH CUTS 10
one of the slots on your body (take a look at the character sheets). You get to
RUNNERS
decide where your Hits go, and you get to decide what form they take. Hits
are narrative justication for things to get harder for you, and they make things
harder mechanically too.
Whenever you perform an action that one or more of your Hits would make
harder, you roll a pain die for each Hit that applies along with the dice you
normally roll. Each pain die is a dF (it helps to use a different color, or roll them
separately), though only the - count for pain dice; + and blanks are ignored.
Hits increase in severity from Minor to Major to Severe. Minor Hits represent
transitory things: getting the wind knocked out of you, getting a sprained wrist,
getting your bell rung, and so forth. Also, whenever youd take a Minor Hit,
you can choose to cross off one of your gear tags (thats a tag that represents
some piece of equipment) instead. Its lost until you can recover it. Minor hits
go away as soon as you get a chance to rest up and recover.
Major Hits are pretty serious injuries. Maybe your leg is broken or youve got
a bullet in your gut. These require medical attention before you can recover
from them.
Severe Hits are things youre unlikely to recover from without severe
intervention, like replacing that severed arm with a cybernetic prosthesis, or
getting major surgery to remove all those bullets.
If you ever ll up your last Severe Hit slot, youre dead.
FOR THE GM: SETTING DIFFICULTIES

Setting difficulties seems like one of the harder things to do in Runners at rst
blush, but it's actualy pretty easy.
Start with this rule:

If an action is covered by a Runner's skills or tags, she can do it.
Any Runner is good at moving around: running, jumping, climbing sliding,

and other acts of parkour. For the most part, you should just let these things
happen and move on. Same thing goes for actions that fall under a Runner's
primary or secondary skills. If he's an Inltrator, he can sneak into a place and
steal stuff from it. If she's a Fighter, she can kill things. Most of the time you
shouldn't even bother calling for rolls; just let these things happen.
ROUGH CUTS 11
Observe the second rule:
RUNNERS
If there's no good reason for a consequence to arise, then the Runner's
success is Stylish, Fast, and Elegant.
Runners are highly competent individuals. They know what they're doing, and
they're really good at it. Things that fall under the purview of their skills are
usually routine. The time when this is not the case is when drama, tension,
or opposition are in play. These things should take center stage. If someone
opposes what the Runner is doing, call for a roll. If calling for a roll would
create drama or tension, then you'll want a roll.
However, observe rule three:

A roll never involves a chance of failure, only a chance of success at a cost.
You may decide that sneaking up on that guard requires a roll, but botching
the roll doesn't mean the Runner doesn't sneak up on the guard. If a Runner
wants to sneak up on a guard and snap his neck and he has the skills
and tags to justify it, it'll happen one way or another. However, it may cost
something. You may decide that that action is Slow. That may be ne with the
Runner, in which case it just happens -- slowly. She may also decide that that
guard needs to die quickly, in which case she'll roll for a better ressult (though
she may end up with a worse one). When this happens, go to rule four:
Consequences are opportunities for you, Benets are opportunities for the
Runner. Both are opportunities for interesting play.
When a Runner rolls a bunch of Benets, that's an opportunity for her to be

awesome. She gets to narrate how she drops to the ground and runs up
behind the guard without a sound, leaps through the air, graps him by the
head, and whips around, snapping his kneck cleanly and quietly. That's ne;
that's a moment of fun description and a reward for a good roll (or some spent
Uppers). On the other hand, what if the Runner doesn't roll so well? That's
an opportunity for you to introduce more challenges for her (or her friends)
to overcome. If she botches that roll and winds up with an Obvious, Slow
sneak attack with a Hit, that's your chance to narrate how she makes a noise
sneaking up on the guard, he turns to shoot her, and there's a struggle for the
gun that leaves the guard dead and the Runner hurt. Maybe that shot echoed
throughout the complex and alerted more guards. When Benets are rolled,
you should always ask the questions, "What does that look like?" and "How
does that help you?" When Consequences are rolled, you should answer the
questions, "What went wrong?" and "How did things get worse?"
ROUGH CUTS 12
THE TRADE: A SAMPLE SITUATION
RUNNERS
In this sample situation, the Runners have been tasked with making their
way across 'Ton (the city they're in), which is infested with monsters and rival
gangs. There's a neutral gang on the other side of town that's agreed to barter
information with the Runners' gang. The Runners have to deliver information
from the Stonewall Gang (their gang) to the Locust Street Boys (the neutral
gang), negotiate the trade, then (if all goes well) bring the newly obtained data
back to Stonewall.
Sneak past a rival gang

Sometimes it's better to avoid confrontation rather than inviting it. Sneaking
through the shadows is Slow, while going via the rooftops is Obvious (but
somewhat faster).
Fight a rival gang

When shit goes wrong, you have the throw down. Fighting someone from a
rival gang is Obvious and requires a Hit.
Find your way through the Labyrinth

The Labyrinth is a dangerous place full of vicious survivalists and even more
vicious monsters. Getting through it is Slow and Clumsy, and may even require
a Hit.
Outrun a pack of zombites

These slavering once-people want to make you lunch! Run! Fleeing is Clumsy
and Obvious, but is also Fast.
Fight a pack of zombites

You sure you want to ght them? It'll be Slow and Obvious and will require at
least one Hit.
Escape a tentacled horror

You don't mess with these things. You run away as fast as you can. Doing so is
Obvious and Clumsy, and requires a Hit or two at least.
Find the Locust Street Hideout

The Locust Street Boys stay well hidden; they're in dangerous territory.
Finding their hideout is Slow and Clumsy.
ROUGH CUTS 13
Negotiate for the data
RUNNERS
They're willing to trade, for the right price. This is best handled with pure
roleplay, but if you want to force a roll, it's Slow and either Obvious or Clumsy.
Also, once you have it you have to get back.
Outrun a rival pack of Runners

Someone else wants your data. Running from them is Fast, but is also Clumsy,
Obvious, and requires a Hit.
Fight the Runners

Sometimes you just have to stand your ground. If you do, it's Clumsy, Obvious,
Slow, and requires a Hit.
ROUGH CUTS 14
RUNNER UPPER COUNTERS
Print this page and cut out the Upper counters to use during the game.
RUNNERS THE TRADE SAMPLE CHARACTER
Name: Caduceus CONSEQUENCES BENEFITS
Runner -
-
+
+
Endurance, Lucky, Fast, Surge, Leaping
Clumsy
Slow
Stylish
Fast
Obvious - + Elegant
Medic Medkit, Drugs, Steady, Detached, Laser Scalpel,

Hit - + Upper
Cyber-eyes HITS HEAD
ScientistCreature Knowledge, Intelligent, Analytical, Scanner

Minor ______________
Major ______________
Severe ______________
RESOLUTION
Your skills and tags allow you to accomplish tasks. You always succeed.
TORSO
The GM will tell you what the default consequences of a task are. ARMS Minor ______________
Roll between 1 and 4 dF (Your Choice).
Each + allows you to get one Benet.
Minor ______________ Major ______________
Each - allows you to get one Consequence. Major ______________ Severe ______________
Blanks are ignored.
You can choose each Benet or Consequence once. They are mutually exclusive. Severe ______________
Hits and Uppers can be chose multiple times, and not mutually exclusive.
UPPERS
You start with no Uppers.
You can spend + you toll to get Uppers.
You can spend Uppers to invoke Tags on rolls.
Invoking a Tag allows you to treat 1 Die as a +.
HITS
You can buy off - you roll by taking Hits. Each Hit buys off one -. UPPERS LEGS
Each Hit you take forces you to ll in a slot on your body.
When a Hit on your body would apply to an action, roll a Pain Die.
Pain Dice are additinal dFs, but only the - side counts.
Minor ______________
Instead of taking a Minor Hit to your body, you can choose to cross off a Gear Tag. Major ______________
Minor HIts go away when you get a chance to breathe and recover.
Major Hits go away after treatment. Severe ______________
Sever Hits dont go away without signicant justication (like a replacement limb).
Name: Cutter CONSEQUENCES BENEFITS
Runner -
-
Cyber-Legs, Leaping, Wall-running,
+
+
Clumsy
Slow
Stylish
Fast
Impact Absorption, Grapel Gun
Obvious - + Elegant
Infiltrator
Sneaky, Charming, Lock-Spoong Kit, Stealth Field,
Hit - + Upper
Exit Strategy, Spatial Awareness HITS HEAD
Tech WhizSkulljack, Cryptophile, Intrusion, Gadgets

Minor ______________
Major ______________
Severe ______________
RESOLUTION
TORSO
Minor ______________ Major ______________
Blanks are ignored.
UPPERS
HITS
Minor ______________
Name: Faber CONSEQUENCES BENEFITS
Runner -
-
+
+
Quick, Unpredictable, Swingline, Wall-running,
Clumsy
Slow
Stylish
Fast
Leaping
Obvious - + Elegant
Martial Artist
Precise, Striking, Grappling, Sword, Throwing Knives,
Hit - + Upper
Blocking HITS HEAD
Pathfinder
Local Knowledge, Maps, Waynding, Tracking
Minor ______________
Major ______________
Severe ______________
RESOLUTION
TORSO
Minor ______________ Major ______________
Blanks are ignored.
UPPERS
HITS
Minor ______________
Name: Malik CONSEQUENCES BENEFITS
Runner -
-
+
+
Agile, Limber, Climbing, Sliding, Spatial Awareness
Clumsy
Slow
Stylish
Fast
Obvious - + Elegant
Shot-Caller
Plan, Contingencies, Local Knowledge, Authority,
Hit - + Upper
Access Card, Charming HITS HEAD
Fighter Tactician, Opportunist, Pistol, Tough

Minor ______________
Major ______________
Severe ______________
RESOLUTION
TORSO
Minor ______________ Major ______________
Blanks are ignored.
UPPERS
HITS
Minor ______________
RUNNERS CHARACTER SHEET
Name: CONSEQUENCES BENEFITS
Runner Tags (5):

Clumsy
Slow
-
-
+
+
Stylish
Fast
Obvious - + Elegant
Primary: Tags (6:

Hit - + Upper
HITS HEAD
Secondary:
Tags (4):
Minor ______________
Major ______________
Severe ______________
RESOLUTION
TORSO
Minor ______________ Major ______________
Blanks are ignored.
UPPERS
HITS
Minor ______________
Snakegrinder
Misadventures through Time
What the Hell is This Thing?
Snakegrinder
Snakegrinder: Misadventures through Time is a game about an 80s hair
band that travels through time getting into trouble and causing mayhem while
trying to right some wrong. Its one part Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure,
one part This is SpinalTap, and a little bit of Quantum Leap.
Yeah, its that kind of game.
Time Travel, Huh?

Time travel in Snakegrinder is deliberately hand-wavey. Dont worry too
much about temporal paradoxes or other shit like that; this is the kind of time
travel you saw in Bill and Ted, where your future self can help you out with no
problem, and killing your great ancestor is no big deal. Time is resilient; itll
self-correct paradoxes and shit. Dont worry about it.
But why are the members of Snakegrinder traveling through time? Who the
fuck knows? Something chose them and now they get dropped off in some
time period where theres some big problem that needs solving. Theyve
gured out that theyre supposed to try to solve the problem and, once they
do, they move on to somewhen else. They all hope theyll get back to their
own time someday (the 80s are fucking awesome, after all) but, again, who
the fuck knows?
They also know that theyll move onto another time zone when they really
fuck things up on a catastrophic level. Which happens from time to time.
Chronic Fuck-Ups
Snakegrinder was never a popular band, probably because its members
never could get their shit together. Its not that theyre not talented, and its
not that they dont love the music but . . . well . . . music is hard. So is being
responsible. And helping people. Its all just such a goddamn hassle.
So yeah, Snakegrinder gets sent places to help people out, but the often
fuck things up and leave a time zone worse than it was when they got there.
Sometimes a lot worse.
Yeah, its that kind of game.
What this means is that youre going to fuck shit up more often than you make
it better. Youve got a task to perform that youre ill-suited for, and youre going
to fail. A lot. In fact, the default assumption is that youre going to fail most of
your rolls.
ROUGH CUTS 22
However, it aint all bad. See, the more you fail, the more you learn from your
Snakegrinder
failures (oughta be pretty goddamn smart by now, right?), and the more karma
seems to balance things out a bit. Every failure brings you closer to getting
a little bit better, and every time you get a little bit better youre closer to
actually doing something right. In practice itll look a lot like: fail, fail, fail, fail,
fail, HOLY SHIT I FUCKING DID IT!
Awesome Stuff and Bullshit

Your rocker has abilities divided up into two categories: Awesome Stuff and
Bullshit. These are what dene the kind of rocker you are.
You get one Awesome Thing at the start of the game. This is
something youre good at, something you consistently do right. It
might be playing killer guitar solos, or a way with the ladies (or the
guys), or the fact that you know fucking krav maga. Anything you
want. Awesome Stuff will allow you to roll Awesome Dice, which are good.
You also start with three pieces of Bullshit. Bullshit is the stuff that
gets in your way, that fucks you up, that makes your life such a
goddamn hassle all the time. Maybe youre always drunk, or maybe
you tend to shout at people a lot, or maybe you just cant stop saying really
stupid things to people who could easily beat the shit out of you. Bullshit is
optional; it both helps you (with Fuck Yeah Points, page 24) and hurts you
(with Bullshit Dice).
How a Scene Goes

On your turn, youre going to frame a scene where your rocker is the main
character. Youre trying to solve one of the Problems on the table (ostensibly,
at least), so you get to set things up and explain how youre going about
doing that. The other players at the table provide your opposition, the minor
characters that help you (or get in your way or just stay the fuck out of the
way), and anyone else in the scene (including their own rockers, where
appropriate).
When it seems like some sort of resolution is appropriate, youre going to roll
the dice. First youll narrate how youre actually confronting the obstacle in
question. Then youll assemble your dice pool.
You get one Awesome Die (a d6; we recommend electric blue) for every
Awesome Thing you can narrate into your action. Since you only start with
one Awesome Thing, youll probably only roll one on your rst turn. Dont
worry, youll get more later.
ROUGH CUTS 23
You also get a Bullshit Die (also a d6; maybe black or red) for every piece
Snakegrinder
of Bullshit that you willingly narrate into the action. Thats right, Bullshit is
entirely optional. However, you also get a Fuck Yeah Point (FYP) for every
piece of Bullshit you narrate in, and those things are important (more on them
later).
Then you roll your dice. Every Awesome Die that comes up a 4, 5, or 6 allows
you to reduce the value of one Problem (check out page 25 for Problems) on
the table by 1. Rock on!
Every Bullshit Die that comes up a 4, 5, or 6 forces you to add a point to one
Problem on the table, or create a new Problem with a value of 1. Thats not so
good.
Every Bullshit Die that comes up a 1 forces you to take on one piece of
Temporary Bullshit (page 25). It also increases your Bullshit-o-Meter by 1
(also page 25).
FUCK
Fuck Yeah Points
YEAH~ FYPs are how you get better, and also how you pull off truly epic shit.
Every piece of Bullshit that you narrate into an action gets you an
FYP, and you can spend them (at any time) to do the following:
Guitar Solo! (2 FYPs):

Your badass guitar licks (or similar, appropriately awesome thing you
can do) nets you an additional Awesome Die for this roll only.
Awesome Shit Happens! (4 FYPs):
You get to write down a brand new Awesome Thing that you get to
keep for the rest of the Gig! Way to go!
Right Place, Right Time! (5 FYPs):
You get a special Awesome Thing representing something your
future self left behind for you! It might be an item, or a helpful person,
or a piece of advice, or whatever. It acts like an Awesome Thing in all
respects, except that (after a roll), you can erase it from your sheet to
disregard all the Bullshit Dice you rolled this action. Hot damn!
Gratuitous Sex Scene! (5 FYPs):
Yeah, get some! After doing so, roll a die. Erase that many points from
your Bullshit-o-Meter, along with one piece of Temporary Bullshit.
Sexy!
Future Self Teamup! (8 FYPs):
Your future self shows up to kick ass with you! Add a Bullshit Die to
your pool, but roll double the number of Awesome Dice for this action
only! Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaah!
ROUGH CUTS 24
Temporary Bullshit
Snakegrinder
Temporary Bullshit is bad stuff that happens to you. Every time
you roll a 1 on a Bullshit Die, you write down one new piece of
Temporary Bullshit and increase your Bullshit-o-Meter by 1. If your
Bullshit-o-Meter is already full (6 points) and you have to do this, you say
Fuck this shit! and go off and have yourself a relaxation scene to unwind.
Briey describe how your rocker is going off to relax and blow off his
responsibilities. Clear out your Bullshit-o-Meter after relaxing; the time did you
good! However, you also probably got drunk or high or otherwise lost your
edge a bit, so roll a die. Get rid of that many pieces of Temporary Bullshit and
that many Awesome Things (but you always keep the one you started with).
Problems and Gigs

Every Gig (thats what we call adventures or scenarios or whatever) has a
Time Zone, a Cast, and a Problem.
The Time Zone is the era youre playing in: stone age, medieval times,
the future, whatever. Be as specic or as general as you want, as long as
everyones on the same page.
The Cast is a list of characters and locations that are important in the Gig.
These provide inspiration and quick reference, and make it so people dont
have to look at the ceiling and say Um, uh so much when its their turn to
frame a scene or portray a character.
The Problem is what youre there to solve. Its described in terms of whats
actually going on that needs to be solved, and it starts with a rating of 10.
You may have noticed that there are slots for four more problems, right? Yeah,
thats because youre going to fuck shit up while youre there. Every time you
roll a 4, 5, or 6 on a Bullshit die, you have to either add a point to an existing
Problem or create a new Problem with a rating of 1. There can only ever be
ve Problems in play at a time.
If a Problem ever reaches a 0 rating, erase it. That slots free now. If
the starting Problem reaches a 0 rating, congratulations! Youve almost
accomplished your goal and itll be time for you to move on, no matter what
kind of mess youre leaving behind. Thats someone elses problem, right?
If a single Problem ever reaches a rating of 20, or if three Problems have

ratings of 8 or higher, youve fucked up big time. Youre likely to be driven out
of town in front of torches and pitchforks and you barely escape with your
lives when the timestream picks you up to unleash you upon some other poor,
ROUGH CUTS 25
unsuspecting Time Zone.
Snakegrinder
In any of these cases, the Big Finale triggers.
The Big Finale

When the starting Problem reaches a value of 0, a single Problem hits 20,
or three Problems are at 8 or more, the Big Finale triggers. In the Big Finale,
everyone participates. Everyone collaborates to frame the scene, going
around the table and adding as needed. Each rocker talks about how he or
she is contributing to the big win (or mitigating abject failure), and everyone
gets to narrate in their Awesome Stuff and spend FYPs however they want.
However, tensions are high during the Big Finale, and hair bands are big on
drama. Everyone has to invoke at least one piece of Bullshit. The good news
is that Bullshit counts double: you get twice as many FYPs for invoking your
Bullshit.
The bad news is that Bullshit counts double: Each 4, 5, or 6 adds 2 points to a
single, existing Problem (no creating new ones). Reading the aftermath of the
Big Finale goes as follows:
If all Problems are at 0, well hot damn! Youve gotten the best
possible ending. Theyll be singing your songs and erecting statues
for years to come.
If the main Problem is solved but youve got one or two other
problems still around, things are still pretty good. The people
youve helped are grateful, even if you screwed up a bit. Youll be
remembered fondly.
If the main Problem is solved but youve got more than two other
Problems in the works, youve left things a bit worse than they were
when you got there. Youll be remembered as those fuck-ups who
came in and fucked everything up.
If the main Problem isnt solved but youve only got one, two, or three
other Problems, people hate you. Theyll actively badmouth you when
youre gone. Your name is mud.
If youve got ve Problems still in play, boy have you ever fucked up.
Youre the most reviled, hated, despised motherfuckers ever to visit
that Time Zone. God help you if you ever have to come back here.
ROUGH CUTS 26
Moving On
Snakegrinder
When alls said and done, regardless of the outcome of your little visit, the
timestream picks you up and drops you in a new Time Zone. When this
happens, follow these steps.
1. Erase all the Awesome Things you earned during the Gig.
2. Erase all of your Temporary Bullshit. Clear out your Bullshit-o-Meter.
3. Get rid of all your Fuck Yeah Points. You dont get to keep them.
4. If you got the best possible ending, write down two new Awesome
Things on your character sheet. If you got a good ending (but not the
best), just write down one. These represent the things you learned
during the Gig.
5. If you left any Problems still in play, add a piece of Bullshit to your
character sheet. This represents the hang-ups that came out of your
little adventure.
6. If you got the worst possible ending, erase all Awesome Stuff from
your character sheet except for the one you started with. Add two
pieces of Bullshit (in addition to the one above). You done fucked up,
and it shows.
7. Pick a new Gig (or make one up) and start playing again!
ROUGH CUTS 27
FUCK YEAH COUNTERS
Print this page a few times and cut out the guitar picks to keep track of your Fuck
Yeah Points during your gnarly adventures through time!
FUCK FUCK FUCK

YEAH~ YEAH~ YEAH~
FUCK FUCK FUCK

YEAH~ YEAH~ YEAH~
FUCK FUCK FUCK

YEAH~ YEAH~ YEAH~
FUCK FUCK FUCK

YEAH~ YEAH~ YEAH~
GIGS
Stone age throw down
CAST: PROBLEMS:
Og, Chieftan of the Black Rocks Main Problem: War is Brewing (10)
Murg, Chieftan of the Big Tusks __________________________
La, Ogs wife __________________________
Ree, Murgs wife __________________________
The Warriors of the Black Rocks __________________________
The Warriors of the Big Tusks __________________________
Medieval wedding woes

CAST: PROBLEMS:
Fiona, the bride to be Main Problem: One Bride, Two
Emory, Fionas true love Grooms (10)
Rupert, Fionas betrothed __________________________
Lord James, Fionas father __________________________
Lord Dunstan, Ruperts father __________________________
Alexander, Fionas brother __________________________
__________________________
futuretime corporate boogaloo

CAST: PROBLEMS:
Marcus, CEO of BigTime Main Problem: Big Brother Keepinem
Industries Down (10)
Mary, Leader of the ressistance __________________________
Albert, a Reporter __________________________
Corporate Soldiers __________________________
Ressistance Guerillas __________________________
__________________________
gig:
CAST: PROBLEMS:
_________________________ Main Problem (10):____________
_________________________ __________________________
_________________________ __________________________
_________________________ __________________________
_________________________ __________________________
_________________________ __________________________
_________________________
Snakegrinder
Tommy Cabbot
Lead Singer
Misadventures through time
AWESOME STUFF
Everybody Loves the Front-Man
+1 Awesome Die for each Awesome Thing you narrate in.

Each Awesome Die that comes up a 4, 5, or 6 subtracks 1 from a Problem.
BULLSHIT
Two Seconds from a Stupid Decision
Secretly Obsessed with Folk Music
Adrenaline Junkie
+1 Bullshit Die and +1 Fuck Yeah Point for each piece of Bullshit you invoke.
Each Bullshit Die that comes up a 4, 5, or 6 adds 1 to a Problem.
Bullshit Dice that come up as a 1 adds a Temporary Bullshit and increases your Bullshit-O-
Meter.
Bullshit-O-Meter Fuck Yeah Points

2 : Guitar Solo!
Man
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+1 Awesome Die for this roll FUCK
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4 : Awesome Shit Happens! YEAH~
e
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sh at th +1 Awesome Thing.
it! 4 Wh
5 : Right Place, Right Time!
2 Man, what a Hassle 5 Are you Fucking +1 special Awesome Thing. Erase it after a roll
al 6 I Kidding Me? to disregard Bullshit.
De m
ig the Frea 5 : Gratuitous Sex Scene!
oB Fu king
1N ck Roll a die and reduce Bullshit-O-Meter. Erase
Ou
tH one Temporary Bullshit.
ere
! 8 : Future Self Teamup!
Add a Bullshit Die and Double Awesome Dice
for this roll.
Snakegrinder
Darren Darryl
Lead Guitar
AWESOME STUFF
Fastest Fingers Around

BULLSHIT
Bad Timing
Almost Always Drunk
What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Meter.

2 : Guitar Solo!
Man
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it! 4 Wh
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oB Fu king
Ou
ere
for this roll.
Snakegrinder
Susan Wu
Bass
AWESOME STUFF
Musical Prodigy

BULLSHIT
Nobody Recognizes My Talents
Troublemaker
In Everybodys Business
Meter.

2 : Guitar Solo!
Man
?
3T k,
his
is B Fu
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it! 4 Wh
De m
oB Fu king
Ou
ere
for this roll.
Snakegrinder
Dylan Shoe Schuster
Drums
AWESOME STUFF
Rythm Savant

BULLSHIT
Not Too Bright
Perpetually Stoned
In Love with Allison
Meter.

2 : Guitar Solo!
Man
?
3T k,
his
is B Fu
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ull
it! 4 Wh
De m
oB Fu king
Ou
ere
for this roll.
Snakegrinder
Allison Alvarez
Backup Vocals
AWESOME STUFF
Smartest One in the Band

BULLSHIT
Tommys Hot. So is Darren.
Fiery Temper
Stubborn as Fuck
Meter.

2 : Guitar Solo!
Man
?
3T k,
his
is B Fu
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e
ull
it! 4 Wh
De m
oB Fu king
Ou
ere
for this roll.
Snakegrinder
Larry Mayhem Darryl
Roadie
AWESOME STUFF
Tools Speak to Me

BULLSHIT
Inferriority Complex
Darrens a Fucking Asshole
One Bad Eye
Meter.

2 : Guitar Solo!
Man
?
3T k,
his
is B Fu
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ull
it! 4 Wh
De m
oB Fu king
Ou
ere
for this roll.
Snakegrinder
Name:
Role:
AWESOME STUFF

BULLSHIT
Meter.

2 : Guitar Solo!
Man
?
3T k,
his
is B Fu
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De m
oB Fu king
Ou
ere
for this roll.
THE WICKED WORLD
Angels and Demons
This work is my own. Parts of it, recovery and the mystery map, were inspired
THE WICKED WORLD

by Jeremy Kellers Technoir.
WELCOME TO THE WORLD

This is a game about crime and corruption. It's a game about angels and
demons. It's a game about nding the truth, standing up for what's right, falling
from grace, and getting the shit kicked out of you along the way. Welcome to
The Wicked World.
A long time ago the demons came. It wasn't hellre and brimstone and
wholesale slaughter; that's not how you get real power. They came in a
pleasing guise, offering us things and buying their way into human society.
They inltrated, infested like a cancer, and it grew. They're everywhere now,
they have agents at every echelon of society. They control things, and they're
steering things in a bad direction.
That's where you come in. God's always been all about the power of free
will, he's always wanted mortals to sort things out for themselves without
interference. Here's the thing though: the demons interfered rst. He let it go
as long as it could, but sometimes an inhuman problem needs an inhuman
solution.
You're an angel, but you're special. You haven't fallen per se; more like
descended. You live amongst the mortals. You've lost your wings and most
of your powers, you move at the speed of your legs rather than the speed
of thought, and you no longer hear God's song. You're still immortal though,
and you've got free will now. Your job is to help the mortals ght the demons.
Once they're pointed in the right direction, mortals can be formidable. They
need someone to do that though, and they need someone to nd and stop
the strongest of the demons. That's your job.
You're an angel PI who hunts down demons. Welcome to The Wicked World.
What Youll Need

Youll need at least two people to play the game, preferably four or ve.
One of them is going to take on the role of the Arbiter, while the others play
Investigators.
Its the investigators job to hunt down clues, chase leads, interrogate
witnesses and suspects, follow the clues to a demon or a demons unky, and
take them down. Each Investigator is an angelic detective in the story.
The arbiter plays everyone else; she portrays all of the non-player characters
ROUGH CUTS 38
and also gures out what the mysterys all about, and whos at the center of it,
THE WICKED WORLD

so the investigators can hunt them down and take them out.
Youll also need a few other things:
Pens or pencils for the players to write things down.

A good-sized bag or other container that you can use to hold a bunch
of tokens.
The tokens at the back of this le; youll need to print the token sheet
out and cut them all out.
The character sheet at the back of this le, one for each investigator.
Some note cards.
A sheet of paper for plotting out the mystery.
Setup
Setup consists of four phases.
The Ideals Phase

Angels follow ideals; its just intrinsic to their nature. Even an angel with free
will has an ideal, though that free will allows the angel to ignore his ideal when
it suits him. The ideal still pulls on the angel though, and he nds that things
go a bit easier and that the world feels a bit more right when hes pursuing it.
Pick one of the following ideals. Only a single investigator can have a given
ideal; if it helps, pass this page around the table and cross ideals out as you
use them. Theres a spot for your ideal on your character sheet; write it there.
Ideals: Vengeance, Hope, Knowledge, Death, Protection, Justice, Charity,

Order.
The Traits Phase

Next, youre going to choose Traits. Pass this page around the table, each
investigator picking a trait, crossing it off, and writing it on an index card. Do
this until each investigator has chosen six traits; no two people can choose
the same trait.
Arbiter, once all the traits are written on index cards, gather them up, shuffle
them, and deal six to each investigator. Investigators, once youve got your
six, look at them and write them on your character sheet. If the trait seems
negative, write it in the space below the free will bar. If it seems positive, write
it in the space above the bar. If you cant decide, pick a spot and put
it there. The Free Will Bar is the vertical bar with this symbol in the
middle: [Icon of a stylized human gure standing inside a bar, with
an arrow pointing up and one pointing down.]
ROUGH CUTS 39
Traits:
THE WICKED WORLD

Scary Motherfucker Friends in Low Places
Empathetic No Hesitation
Greased Palms A Hound with a Scent
Do Whats Right Thousand-Yard Strare
Friend on the Force Escape Plan
Nose for Trouble Kind to Animals
Always Efficent Ear to the Ground
Justied Brawler
Generous Spirit Demonic Ally
Strong Like a Bull Well-Connected
Pain is for the Weak Apply Pressure
Headshot Unappable
The Honest Lie Never Surrender
Do What It Takes Shadow in the Night
In Vino Veritas Iron Will
The NPC Phase

The next thing youre going to do is come up with an NPC deck. Arbiter,
youre going to hand out two index cards to each investigator and keep two
for yourself. Next, everyone writes the name of an NPC on the top of each
card, leaving a little room below it. It can be just a name (James Holloway), a
name and a title or nickname (Jimmy the Snitch), or a name and a role (Jim
Holloway, Local Fence).
Once everyones named two NPCs, everyone passes their cards to the left.
When you get a new set of cards, write a trait on each NPCs card. You can
use the traits above or come up with new ones. Do this one more time, then
everybody hands their cards to the Arbiter, and the Arbiter shuffles them up to
create the NPC deck.
The Essence and Free Will Phase

Finally, youre going to do something with the tokens youve printed out. You
can just use the tokens as youve printed them (I recommend using card stock
rather than regular paper), or you can affix them to poker chips or coins or
something to give them a little extra weight. Each player, including the arbiter,
takes a pile of tokens, all of a single color. Take all of the tokens of your color.
ROUGH CUTS 40
Next, take six of those tokenschosen at random or based on the pictures,
THE WICKED WORLD

as you likeand place them in the circle on your character sheet marked
Essence. Those tokens represent your starting essence. The rest of the
tokens go next to your character sheet in a pile; this is your Aether.
The last thing youll do is take the free will token and put it on the icon in the
center of your free will bar. The free will token looks like this:
[Icon of a stylized human gure standing inside a bar, with an arrow

pointing up and one pointing down.]
Now youre ready to start playing.
The First Scene

The Arbiter gets to establish the rst scene, but the investigators will establish
the rest of them. For the rst scene, follow these steps.
First, everybody (arbiter included) puts a token in the bag. You can choose a
token randomly or deliberately, but investigators must use a token from their
aether. The arbiter shakes up the bag, then reaches in and draws a token
without looking. Then the arbiter draws the top card off the NPC deck.
The color of the token indicates who the focus of the rst scene is. If the
color corresponds to an investigator, that investigator is going to be the main
character in the rst scene. The other investigators can be present too, but
whatever happens is going to happen to the main character, or involve her
in some way. If the arbiter pulls out one of her own tokens, the focus for the
scene is an NPC.
The icon on the token provides inspiration for what the scene is about. More
on that on page 44.
The NPC you drew is important to the scene in some way. Write that NPC on
the mystery map (that blank sheet of paper you have, arbiter).
Arbiter, youre going to establish whats happening in the scene, then you ask
the investigators what theyre doing about it. Start with something interesting:
some piece of action, an important choice, or a piece of the mystery. Youll
play any NPCs involved in the scene (this will include the NPC you drew, but
youre not limited to only that NPC, or even just the NPCs in the deck). Keep
playing until you come to a point where theres a conict.
ROUGH CUTS 41
Conicts
THE WICKED WORLD

A conict is a point where two or more people want different things to
happen. Maybe the Arbiter wants one thing and one of the investigators wants
something else. Maybe two investigators disagree on what should happen
next. Maybe its a three- or four-way disagreement. Whatever the case, youre
at an impasse and you need to turn to the rules to come to a decision.
When this happens, follow these steps:
1. Everyone puts tokens in the bag, invoking traits as necessary.

2. The Arbiter draws one token from the bag, without looking, to
determine a winner.
Investigators: Putting Tokens in the Bag

Investigators, you have two sources of tokens. The rst is your essence. As
long as youre pursuing your ideal in some way, you can put as many of your
essence tokens in the bag as you want. If youre going against your ideal, you
can still spend essence into the bag, but you rst have to spend one essence
token to your aether. Careful, though: at the end of the conict, any tokens
you spend from essence go to your aether.
In addition, you can put tokens from your aether into the bag by invoking
traits. You do this by narrating how that trait is helping you in the conict, but
there are two things you need to keep in mind. First: when you invoke a trait,
it has to make sense. It has to make sense within the context of the story and
it has to make sense within the context of your character. The other players at
the table have the right to veto your use of a trait if it breaks their suspension
of disbelief.
The second thing you have to keep in mind is that every trait has a cost. See
how your traits are written either above or below the free will bar? Thats
because, when you use a trait, it moves your free will token one space in that
direction. This happens for each trait you use. Each trait you use allows you to
spend one token from your aether into the bag.
All tokens you spend go to your aether after the conict.
Arbiter: Putting Tokens in the Bag

Arbiter, you dont have to worry about essence or aether. Instead, you worry
about the scale of a conict. The scale of a conict determines how many of
your tokens you put in the bag, as follows:
Personal: a single persons involved in the conict, and is working against

some minor environmental obstacle. 1 token.
ROUGH CUTS 42
Small: the conict involves a couple of people plus the investigator or
THE WICKED WORLD

investigators. 2 tokens.
Medium: youve got a decent-sized group of people acting against the

investigators. 3 tokens.
Big: a mob, a SWAT team, or another good-sized threat. 4 tokens.
Huge: an entire corporate security force or some other large-scale threat. 5

tokens.
In addition to the scale, if an NPC from the deck is involved in the conict, you
can put another token in the bag for each relevant trait that NPC has.
You get all of your tokens back after the conict.
Reading the Results

When you draw a token out of the bag, youll read the token to nd out what it
means.
The color of the token indicates who won the conict. Arbiter, if its your color,
that means the investigators lost. Any investigators on the losing end of the
conict get a scar (more on that on page 45), and you get to narrate what
happens. If the color corresponds to an investigator, that investigator gets to
narrate what happens. Any investigators on the losing end get a scar.
The icon on the token provides inspiration for the next scene.
Further Scenes
In each scene after the rst, an investigator is going to establish the scene.
The rst investigator to do this is the one to the Arbiters left; the privilege
then passes to the left amongst the investigators for the rest of the session.
When establishing a scene, investigator, youve got three things to look to.
The icon from the conict in the previous scene provides inspiration for your
scene. The arbiter will shuffle all of the NPCs again and draw a new one. That
NPC is central to the scene in some way.
Once youve looked at the icon and the NPC, youll ask a question. The
question should be both what you want to learn from the scene and what
your investigator learns from the scene. Leading questions are good, and a
question can establish facts.
ROUGH CUTS 43
For example:
THE WICKED WORLD

I wonder who killed Jimmy the Snitch and why?
After he robbed First National, where did Harry Block go into hiding?
Sally Sharps gone missing. Who took her, and why?
Arbiter, your job is to help the investigators answer that question by providing
opposition and information in equal measures. Your job is also to steer the
scene toward another conict. The NPC you drew is important to you too. If
that NPC isnt on your mystery map already, write him or her down somewhere
on the map. If the NPC you drew is already on the mystery map, connect him
or her to someone else on the map. If theres nobody else on the map, draw
a second NPC and write him or her down on the mystery map (more on the
map later on this page), connecting the two NPCs together. Theyre up to
something.
Keep playing the scene until you reach a conict, then run the conict and end
the scene. Play then proceeds to the left.
The Scene Icons

There are four icons on your tokens; each is meant to provide inspiration
when establishing a scene. Below are the four icons, as well as some
keywords to provide additional inspiration. The keywords are not strait
jackets; you can use them, ignore them, or come up with your own.
[Icon of a skull with a snowake or gear in it.]

Death, thought, cold, machinery, people, fear
[Icon of an apple with a monstrous maggot emerging.]

Demons, food, infection, monsters, deception, birth
[Icon of a shirt with diamonds unevenly distributed on it.]

Cothing, society, riches, protection, stars, warmth
[Icon of a human gure shrouded in shadow near a lit paper lantern.]

Darkness, light, sneaking, mystery, revelation, choice
ROUGH CUTS 44
The Mystery Map
THE WICKED WORLD

Arbiter, throughout the case youll be creating a mystery map on a blank
piece of paper. Heres how it works.
When you draw an NPC for the rst time, write that NPC down on the
mystery map.
When you draw an NPC who is already on the map, connect that NPC to
someone else on the map. If theres nobody else on the map, draw a second
NPC, write it down, and connect the two.
When you make connections, decide what they mean. Turn the lines into
arrows to indicate whether the connection is one way or reciprocal. Write
notes to remind yourself what the connections are. You can do this at any
point in the scene, as things happen.
At some point the map will suggest whats happening and whos at the
center of it. Thats what the map is for. Once youve gured it out, feel free to
stop using the mystery map (though you dont have to). Youre ready to start
steering the case toward its conclusion though.
Scars and Recovery

When investigators lose conicts, they get scars. A scar can be physical,
emotional, or metaphysical. No matter what kind of scar it is, it should be
based on the outcome of the conict and the traits that the winner brought to
bear on you.
Scars dont have a specic mechanical effect against you, but they do have a
ctional effect. If you have a broken leg, the ction should reect that. If youre
in the throes of a murderous rage, the ction should reect that too.
Once per case, investigator, you can call for a recovery scene. You do this
at the conclusion of a scene, not in the middle of one. When you call for a
recovery scene, decide whether youre recovering from your own scars or
helping someone else recover from theirs. You only get to choose one of the
two, and you only get one recovery scene. Describe what youre doing to
enable the recovery.
Youre an angel. As such, you recover from scars pretty quickly. You can
recover from all of your scars in a single scene if you want to. They wont kill
you, and you can heal them without a lot of effort. In fact, whatever doesnt kill
you makes you stronger.
ROUGH CUTS 45
During a recovery scene, you spend your scars to improve your character as
THE WICKED WORLD

follows:
You can spend 1 scar to add 1 token to your Essence. Theres no limit to the
number of Essence tokens you can have.
You can spend 2 scars to replace one of your traits with a new one. The new
trait has to incorporate one of the scars you spend in some way.
You can spend 3 scars to write an entirely new trait. The new trait has to
incorporate one of the scars you spend in some way.
Once youre done with the recovery scene, continue with normal play.
Free Will, Salvation, and Corruption

You have free will, the ability to choose between good and evil, corruption
and salvation. When you invoke your traits, you move your free will token
toward corruption or salvation.
When your free will token is at the top of your free will bar and moves up once
more, youve attained salvation. God calls you back to Heaven, where you
can dwell with the other angels in the Light of the Lord. Your investigator is no
longer a playable character.
When your free will token is at the bottom of your free will bar and moves
down once more, youve descended into corruption. Youve fallen well and
true, and youre doomed to dwell on Earth for the rest of your days, living
amongst the mortals and the demons. You lose all of your angelic powers and
your immortality, and when you die youll go to Hell. Your investigator is no
longer a playable character.
Either way, youre out of the game. The way you end your journey is up to you.
ROUGH CUTS 46
What Follows
THE WICKED WORLD

For the visually impaired, the following sheets of cut-out tokens consist of
these icons.
For the arbiter: three each of the skull icon, the maggot icon, the shirt icon,
and the lantern icon, all with a gray border.
For the investigators: one icon of the human gure in the up/down arrow
symbol, and four each of the skull, maggot, lantern, and shirt icons. There are
four sets, each with a different colored boarder: red, yellow, blue, and green.
The Character Sheet

For the visually impaired, the character sheet consists of the following
components.
In the center, stretching from top to bottom, is a vertical bar consisting of

seven segments. The top segment says Salvation and points up. The bottom
segment says Corruption and points down. The center segment has the icon
of the human gure in the up/down arrow symbol. This is the free will bar.
In the upper left and lower right are two boxes that are each labeled Traits.
The upper left one is for traits that contribute to salvation, the lower right one
is for traits the contribute to corruption.
In the upper right corner is a tall box labeled Scars. When you get a scar, this
is where you write it.
In the lower left corner is a circle labeled Essence. This is where you put
your Essence tokens. Below this circle is the word Ideal followed by a colon;
this is where you write your investigators ideal.
In the center, from right to left, is the games title, The Wicked World.
ROUGH CUTS 47
ARBITER TOKENS
INVESTIGATOR TOKENS
INVESTIGATOR TOKENS
INVESTIGATOR TOKENS
INVESTIGATOR TOKENS
THE WICKED WORLD CHARACTER
TRAITS SALVATION SCARS
TRAITS
ESSENCE
IDEAL:
CORRUPTION
I HIT IT WITH MY AXE
Boasts and Glory
Characters

First, choose a name. Its got to be a good dwarven barbarian name, like Rock
Hammercleave or Argyle Stonecod. Your name is very important; it sets the
tone.
Next, look at your two stats: Axe and Not Axe. At the beginning of the game,
youre going to get 15 tokens to divide between Axe and Not Axe. If you put
tokens in Axe, theyre red tokens. If you put tokens in Not Axe, theyre blue.
Finally, choose one of these Vigors. When you full your Vigor, do what it says.
Bloodlust: When you murder something in spectacular fashion, get a red

token. Put it in Axe.
The Thinker: When you overcome an obstacle through sheer wit, get a blue
token. Put it in Not Axe.
Overcoming Challenges
A Challenge is going to be rated in dice. Weak Challenges are 1d4; the most
powerful Challenges are 2d12 or even higher. 2d12 would be like killing a
dragon or something. A d4 is like jumping over a small gap in the terrain
maybe. I dont know, its easy.
When you seek to overcome a Challenge, spend tokens from your stats. If
youre ghting something, use Axe. If youre doing anything else, roll Not Axe.
Spending a red token from Axe gets you a d6, while spending a blue token
from Not Axe gets you a d6. If you spend red from Not Axe or blue from Axe,
its a d4 instead.
Each additional token you spend, regardless of color, steps the die up by 1:
d4 to d6, d6 to d8, d8 to d10, d10 to d12. If youve already got a d12 and you
spend another token, add a d4.
You can step that up as usual. You can spend as many tokens as you want,
because youre totally a barbarian dwarf that kicks ass.
When you spend a token from one of your stats, it goes to the other stat. It
does not change color.
Then you roll your dice, and the player who put the Challenge in front of you
(the Challenger, naturally) rolls the dice for that Challenge. If your roll is higher,
you beat the Challenge and get the Glory from that Challenge. Ill get to that in
a second. If you roll equal or lower, you havent yet beaten the Challenge; lose
a token permanently and try again.
ROUGH CUTS 55
If you run out of tokens, youve failed and must turn back; lose all of your

Glory. It goes back in the middle of the table.
Boasts
Before anyone does any killing or not killing, those at the table must put forth
Boasts. Pick someone to start off; maybe you just roll some dice or something
to gure it out. Maybe you choose the person with the most magnicent
beard, but thats kind of sexist if there are women at the table.
Anyway, the rst player boasts about what hell do, writes it on an index card,
and puts 1 Glory on that index card. Then the next person to the left raises the
Boast or concedes. When you raise the Boast, you either put another Glory on
an index card already on the table, or you add another index card (with a new
Challenge to overcome) and put 1 Glory on that. When you concede, youre
admitting that, yeah, you probably cant do better and you let that guy go
ahead and try to complete the whole Quest.
Quests
So, whoever got saddled with completing the Quest is going to be the
actual dwarf barbarian doing the killing and not killing. Everyone else gets
to narrate shit. So, the dwarf barbarian chooses the rst Challenge shell try
to overcome. A Challenge with 1 coin on it starts at a d4, and each additional
Glory coin on it steps that up. This works just like spending tokens to get
bigger and more dice, so really tough challenges will be lots of dice of varying
sizes. There is no maximum.
The rst player to the dwarf barbarians left is the rst Challenger. He gets
to narrate and roleplay back and forth with the dwarf barbarian, and gets
to present the Challenge. The Challenger gets to inuence what kind of
Challenge it is (Axe or Not Axe), but ultimately the dwarf barbarian gets to
choose how to respond. Its got to make sense in the ction; if the rest of the
table thinks it doesnt, the dwarf barbarian only earns half (rounded down) of
the Glory for that Challenge. Be fair about this.
Then the next person becomes the Challenger. This continues until one of
three things happens:
The dwarf barbarian chooses to turn and run like a coward. She loses
half her accumulated Glory for this Quest, but gets to bank the rest.
Round down.
The dwarf barbarian completes the nal Challenge successfully. She
gets to bank all of her Glory for that Quest.
The dwarf barbarian is defeated, having lost her last token. No Glory
ROUGH CUTS 56
for you; its all gone.

Once the dwarf barbarian is done, go through another round of boasts. Keep
going as long as you want to.
ROUGH CUTS 57
RED TOKENS
BLUE TOKENS
? ? ? ? ?
? ? ? ? ?
? ? ? ? ?
? ? ? ? ?
? ? ? ? ?
? ? ? ? ?
I HIT IT WITH MY AXE - CHARACTER SHEET
NAME:
CHOOSE YOUR VIGOUR
BLOODLUST
When you murder something in spectacular fashion, get a red token. Put it
in Axe.
THE THINKER
When you overcome an obstacle through sheer wit, get a blue token. Put
it in Not Axe.
AXE NOT
AXE
COMFORT
ZONE
Setting Agnostic Roleplaying

Character Creation
COMFORT ZONE
Take a blank piece of paper. Write your characters name at the top, and
maybe a high concept or brief description. Now draw a circle in the middle of
the paper. It should be big enough that you can write a decent amount inside,
but small enough that you can write a decent amount outside too. Inside that
circle, write ve things your characters good at. These are her Comfort Zone.
Hotwiring Cars
Legal Knowledge
Cardio Kickboxing
Shooting
Oration
COMFORT ZONE
Interviewing
Film Trivia
Crime Scene Investigator
Task Resolution
When you have to accomplish a task for which there might be consequences,
youre going to gather a dice pool. First, look at the stuff thats inside the
circle. If any of that applies to what youre trying to do, add a d6 to your dice
pool for each. If there are things you can think of that are part of the task that
arent inside the circle, write them outside of the circle and take a d4 for each
of them.
ROUGH CUTS 62
Done? Now roll your dice. Assign each die to one of the things that was part of
COMFORT ZONE
the task. When you assign a die to something outside of your Comfort Zone,
its value cant be higher than 5. Heres what they mean:
1 - Hard consequence.
You dont get anything you want from this element of the task, and something
pretty bad happens.
2 or 3 - Soft consequence.
You get something you want from this element of the task, but not everything.
Something bad also happens, but not too bad.
4 or 5 - Minor accomplishment.
You get most of what you want from this element of the task and suffer only a
minor setback.
6+ - Major accomplishment.
You get everything you want from this element of the task. Nothing bad
happens insofar as its concerned.
Now narrate what happens, based on those results.
Learning
For every d4 you rolled, put a hash mark at the bottom of your paper. For
every 1 you rolled, put another hash mark. These hash marks are your
experience points. You learn by pushing your limits and attempting things
outside your Comfort Zone, and you also learn from your failures.
You can spend 10 experience points to get either of these:
New Skill - Take one of the things outside your Comfort Zone, erase it, and
put it inside your Comfort Zone.
Expertise - Circle something inside your Comfort Zone. When you use it, roll a
d8 instead of a d6.
Damage, Death, and So On

Handle it within the narrative. If someone rolls a big pile of 1s during a
shootout, maybe they get shot and are bleeding out. Less likely if theyre
lecturing to a bunch of bored college kids. Go with what makes sense in the
moment, and rely on table consensus.
ROUGH CUTS 63
COMFORT ZONE
Character Name:
High Concept:
COMFORT
ZONE
Experience:

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6 Micro Games

The Wicked World

I Hit It With My Axe

Pay What You Want

Licensing, Remixing, and So Forth

The Foreperson is not the GM

The Foreperson is not in charge

The Foreperson is a facilitator

Everyone who isnt the Foreperson is a juror

Example: Jeb Mallory, out-of-work car salesman.

Example: Jebs charged with Aggravated Assault.

Establish the Jury

Hand Out Inuence Chips

Spending Inuence Chips

Talking about the Case

Call for Votes

NOT- NOT- NOT- NOT-

GUILTY GUILTY GUILTY GUILTY

NOT- NOT- NOT- NOT-

GUILTY GUILTY GUILTY GUILTY

Without us, everybody dies.

As Runners, youre competent. Extremely competent. You have three skills,

Of course, that doesnt mean its a cake-walk.

Every - you roll forces you to take an additional consequence, or turn a

If you ever ll up your last Severe Hit slot, youre dead.

FOR THE GM: SETTING DIFFICULTIES

Start with this rule:

Any Runner is good at moving around: running, jumping, climbing sliding,

However, observe rule three:

When a Runner rolls a bunch of Benets, that's an opportunity for her to be

Sneak past a rival gang

Fight a rival gang

Find your way through the Labyrinth

Outrun a pack of zombites

Fight a pack of zombites

Escape a tentacled horror

Find the Locust Street Hideout

Outrun a rival pack of Runners

Fight the Runners

Medic Medkit, Drugs, Steady, Detached, Laser Scalpel,

Cyber-eyes HITS HEAD

ScientistCreature Knowledge, Intelligent, Analytical, Scanner

Exit Strategy, Spatial Awareness HITS HEAD

Tech WhizSkulljack, Cryptophile, Intrusion, Gadgets

Blocking HITS HEAD

Access Card, Charming HITS HEAD

Fighter Tactician, Opportunist, Pistol, Tough

Runner Tags (5):

Primary: Tags (6:

Yeah, its that kind of game.

Time Travel, Huh?

Yeah, its that kind of game.

Awesome Stuff and Bullshit

How a Scene Goes

Guitar Solo! (2 FYPs):

Problems and Gigs

If a single Problem ever reaches a rating of 20, or if three Problems have

The Big Finale

2. Erase all of your Temporary Bullshit. Clear out your Bullshit-o-Meter.

FUCK FUCK FUCK

FUCK FUCK FUCK

FUCK FUCK FUCK

FUCK FUCK FUCK