LOLRPG
List Of Lists Role Playing Game
2023-10-04
List Of Lists Role Playing Game
2023-10-04
This is a heroic fantasy role-playing game for people who like making lists. Players will create characters and play the role of their characters. Except for one player who will assume the role of List Keeper and will play the role of the world and its inhabitants. Their responsibility is to engage with and react to the player characters.
In this game there is only one stat and it is LIST.
Everything is a list:
You character sheet? Just a freeform list of attributes, skills, traits, and descriptions
Encounters? Stat blocks are also just a list.
Adventures? List of encounters.
Advancement? Add a new list item to your character sheet.
When you die / retire? Read a eulogy (aka a list of accomplishments). Take a moment to reflect. And then continue playing by creating a new list and a new character.
To play this game you will need:
these rules
paper and pencil (or the digital equivalent thereof)
a handful of six sided dice (or the digital equivalent thereof)
Give your character a name and some pronouns, and then create a list by writing down 5 - 6 things on a piece of paper about your character. Good things to start out with include:
ancestry / background
training / profession
unique skills and talents
significant possessions
impulses, beliefs, and instincts
Also leave room for a LIST OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS. (See: DEATH AND RETIREMENT)
Examples characters:
Name: Hrothgar Stonehammer (she/her)
Name: Yngrith the Wise (they/them)
80% of the time the game loop is this:
The List Keeper describes the situation your character is in.
You say what your character does.
It happens.
The List Keeper describes how the situation has changed as a result of your actions.
The other 20% of the time, the List Keeper may decide to have you roll dice for any of the following reasons:
You character’s action is risky.
The outcome of the action is uncertain.
Failure might be interesting.
It might just be fun to roll dice.
When the List Keeper calls for a roll, look at your Character Sheet and select any number of list items that could reasonably assist your character with their attempted action. Check those items off your list. You can roll that many six-sided dice, and you cannot use those list items again until you have rested.
Roll a number of six-sided dice equal to the number of list items you checked off. Read your highest roll.
1 - 3: You do not succeed at the task, and you suffer a consequence, complication, or condition
4 - 5: You succeed at the task, but with mixed results, or at cost.
6: You accomplish the task and get exactly what you wanted.
If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your roll you may continue to roll an additional die for each additional item you check off your Character Sheet for as long as you want, until you run out of list items. (And as long as you can justify or describe how the item helps you in this situation.) The cost, obviously, is list items.
At any point, you may ask the List Keeper for a DEVIL’S BARGAIN which if accepted will give you an extra die to roll and will also create a complication for your character, whether you succeed or not.
At any time you may take a moment to rest and catch your breath. This restores all of the checked items on your Character Sheet. If you do this while in a risky situation, the cost is that all enemies and obstacles also recover all of their own list items too.
Let the fiction of the story dictate the type and duration of rest required, be it a couple breaths and a sip of water, or two weeks recovering and tending your woulds at an inn.
At the end of every 2 - 3 sessions, or whenever it feels appropriate to the story, add a new list item to your character sheet. Make the list item relevant to your in-game accomplishments.
Create a LIST OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS on your character sheet. At the end of every session, reflect on your progress and write down any significant accomplishments.
When the story demands that your character stop adventuring due to death, dismemberment, or retirement, use your LIST OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS to memorialize them.
There are no special procedures for violence or combat. It is up to the player and the List Keeper to work together to zoom in and zoom out, and to fast forward or slow down as desired. You can resolve an entire combat scenario with a single roll to speed things along. (A potentially very risky roll!) Or you can roll blow by blow for a more dramatic, cinematic experience.
While engaging in violence, a failed roll or even a mixed success (see: DOING STUFF) may carry extra weight. The List Keeper, for example, may have the player check an item off their character sheet as a consequence.
Non-player characters, hostile or friendly, may have lists just like the player characters.
Here are some example creatures.
Bush Brat
Woodboggle
Mossman
Here is a special list for creating on the fly adventures: delving into dungeons, exploring the wilderness, pulling off a heist, or whatever else you please.
Generally, you will start somewhere between the beginning and the middle of the list, and then work your way down to the bottom of the list. And perhaps then back up to the top of the list. (see below: INTRODUCING BIAS)
Definitions:
Beat: a moment, the passage of time, sands running through the hourglass, dwindling resources. Ticking clocks advance: torches burn down, the cultist’s dark ceremony is one step closer to completion, the waters rise another foot, the wandering sentry moves to another location, the silent stalker gets closer, etc, etc.
Omen: a portent, a sign of things to come, tracks, spoor, a clue. Evidence of an upcoming encounter, or a local oddity. A secret revealed or a hidden passage. Alternatively, just create some space and some ambiance here: the river trickles over the rocks, a breeze whistles through the tunnels, some strange mushrooms grow on the walls. On the light half of the list, omens are minor or even light-hearted. Near the dark side of the list, omens are dark and foreboding.
Encounter: a chance meeting, a surprise, a conflict, an unexpected friend or ally. You meet somebody. Or something. Near the light end of the list, encounters will be neutral or even friendly. Near the dark end, they will invariably be aggressive, and may fight to the death.
Treasure: it’s treasure. Fortune favoring the characters.
Here’s how to use the list:
Get two six-sided dice that you can tell apart. One dark and one light.
The dark die is for going down the list toward the bottom, into the heart of the dungeon, metaphorical or otherwise.
The light die is for going up the list toward the top, out of the dungeon and back to safety.
Roll both dice and keep the LOWEST result. If the dark die is lowest, move that many spaces down the list. If the light die is lowest, move up the list.
INTRODUCING BIAS: If you want to draw the players deeper into the adventure, exchange the light die for one of a larger size. e.g. an eight-sided die. Or add +1 or +2 to the light die roll.