BONEDOGS: dungeoneering, my way
You're a member of the Order of Bonedogs. You are exploring this old, abandoned house you found out in the wastes. You're looking for things of value to take home with you.
The first floor is like a normal house. But once you go upstairs or downstairs, it gets a little... weird.
There's another problem. You've just realized that someone else is here too, looking for the same thing you are. He could be way ahead of you, or he could be right behind you.
He won't hesitate to kill you, given the chance. But, then, you won't hesitate to kill him, either. After all, the Order has Rules.
YOUR CHARACTER
You have stats. I haven't decided what they are yet. One of them is Nerve, and another is Hands or something like that. You roll them randomly, based on your class.
You have skills. These don't have scores; they simply allow special things to be done and/or provide bonuses. Different classes have different skills available.
You have stuff what you have stored at home, but on the hunt you have what stuff you can carry. This is important because you have to carry the treasure too, so pack light.
There is no experience system. This is because your character is disposable. He will die a lot. When he dies, his appointed heir in the Order inherits his stuff. Your next character is that heir.
STUFF
Stuff is disposable. Equipment is destroyed, lost, stolen, or discarded to make room for other things. Guns are around, but bullets are hard to come by. Mostly you will be improvising.
DUNGEONS
Dungeons are ghost towns, abandoned high-rises, old mansions, bomb shelters, mines, etc. They get weirder the deeper you go into them, and more dangerous. The most dangerous floor has a guaranteed high-quality treasure on it. Otherwise, the only treasure you will find is what you get from digging around in drawers and such, which is a rare result on a rolling table.
Some of the dungeon is pre-determined. Most of it is rolled. The floorplan is set, as far as where the rooms are and what shape they are, but what is in them is rolled by the GM. This includes stairs to the next floor, and the treasure room in the deepest floor.
Monsters are rare and truly dangerous. Kill from safety if you can; lead them into your opponents' laps if you can; but you probably better just avoid them.
PLAYING
As players, you each create a Bonedog. You will all be hunting in the same house, which means killing each other is fair game. You all enter at different points. You explore the house looking for valuables, and preparing to kill each other, given the chance. Direct conflict is dangerous; better go with a sneak attack or traps.
As GM, I have a map of the dungeon. I don't show it to the players. I simply describe the rooms to them. None of them know where they are relative to each other. They can't even be quite sure whether they've been in the same rooms -- different characters get different descriptions, based on their stats and skills.
WINNING
Short-term, the winner is the person who lives through it. If more than one guy lived, the winner is the one with the most treasure (i.e., only valuable stuff; probably not useful stuff). Long-term, you want to have the most treasure overall, and the fewest character deaths.
THE THING
There's more to it than the exercise of getting in, killing each other, and getting out with the Gold. The game isn't "balanced." Not all strategies will be valid. You will have to experiment and discover for yourself what things are actually useful, and useful for your style. That's what we're actually Stepping Up about: who can grok this shit the best and fastest. Because that's the guy gonna come out with the most treasure and the fewest deaths.
The first floor is like a normal house. But once you go upstairs or downstairs, it gets a little... weird.
There's another problem. You've just realized that someone else is here too, looking for the same thing you are. He could be way ahead of you, or he could be right behind you.
He won't hesitate to kill you, given the chance. But, then, you won't hesitate to kill him, either. After all, the Order has Rules.
YOUR CHARACTER
You have stats. I haven't decided what they are yet. One of them is Nerve, and another is Hands or something like that. You roll them randomly, based on your class.
You have skills. These don't have scores; they simply allow special things to be done and/or provide bonuses. Different classes have different skills available.
You have stuff what you have stored at home, but on the hunt you have what stuff you can carry. This is important because you have to carry the treasure too, so pack light.
There is no experience system. This is because your character is disposable. He will die a lot. When he dies, his appointed heir in the Order inherits his stuff. Your next character is that heir.
STUFF
Stuff is disposable. Equipment is destroyed, lost, stolen, or discarded to make room for other things. Guns are around, but bullets are hard to come by. Mostly you will be improvising.
DUNGEONS
Dungeons are ghost towns, abandoned high-rises, old mansions, bomb shelters, mines, etc. They get weirder the deeper you go into them, and more dangerous. The most dangerous floor has a guaranteed high-quality treasure on it. Otherwise, the only treasure you will find is what you get from digging around in drawers and such, which is a rare result on a rolling table.
Some of the dungeon is pre-determined. Most of it is rolled. The floorplan is set, as far as where the rooms are and what shape they are, but what is in them is rolled by the GM. This includes stairs to the next floor, and the treasure room in the deepest floor.
Monsters are rare and truly dangerous. Kill from safety if you can; lead them into your opponents' laps if you can; but you probably better just avoid them.
PLAYING
As players, you each create a Bonedog. You will all be hunting in the same house, which means killing each other is fair game. You all enter at different points. You explore the house looking for valuables, and preparing to kill each other, given the chance. Direct conflict is dangerous; better go with a sneak attack or traps.
As GM, I have a map of the dungeon. I don't show it to the players. I simply describe the rooms to them. None of them know where they are relative to each other. They can't even be quite sure whether they've been in the same rooms -- different characters get different descriptions, based on their stats and skills.
WINNING
Short-term, the winner is the person who lives through it. If more than one guy lived, the winner is the one with the most treasure (i.e., only valuable stuff; probably not useful stuff). Long-term, you want to have the most treasure overall, and the fewest character deaths.
THE THING
There's more to it than the exercise of getting in, killing each other, and getting out with the Gold. The game isn't "balanced." Not all strategies will be valid. You will have to experiment and discover for yourself what things are actually useful, and useful for your style. That's what we're actually Stepping Up about: who can grok this shit the best and fastest. Because that's the guy gonna come out with the most treasure and the fewest deaths.