Dozens and Dragons

LOLRPG

List Of Lists Role Playing Game

2023-10-04

CONTENTS

  1. ABOUT
  2. CREATING A CHARACTER
  3. DOING STUFF
  4. RESTING AND RECOVERY
  5. ADVANCEMENT AND GETTING BETTER
  6. DEATH AND RETIREMENT
  7. VIOLENCE
  8. ENCOUNTERS
  9. ADVENTURES
  10. RESOURCES AND INSPIRATION

ABOUT

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:

To play this game you will need:

CREATING A CHARACTER

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:

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)

DOING STUFF

80% of the time the game loop is this:

The other 20% of the time, the List Keeper may decide to have you roll dice for any of the following reasons:

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.

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.

RESTING AND RECOVERY

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.

ADVANCEMENT AND GETTING BETTER

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.

DEATH AND RETIREMENT

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.

VIOLENCE

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.

ENCOUNTERS

Non-player characters, hostile or friendly, may have lists just like the player characters.

Here are some example creatures.

Bush Brat
Woodboggle
Mossman

ADVENTURES

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:

Here’s how to use 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.

RESOURCES AND INSPIRATION

Source of the whole List idea:
An Unfinished FKR Game to Play Your 5E Character https://macchiatomaster.blot.im/an-unfinished-fkr-game-to-play-your-5e-character
Source for the Adventure List:
Ladder Tables Or, A Random Table With A Memory https://www.mindstormpress.com/ladder-tables
Stocking the Adventure List:
Exploding the Encounter Die https://www.prismaticwasteland.com/blog/exploding-the-encounter-die
Overloading the encounter die https://www.necropraxis.com/2014/02/03/overloading-the-encounter-die/
Mechanics:
Action Roll from Blades in the Dark https://bladesinthedark.com/action-roll
Other inspirations and references:
Dungeon Hero https://lonespelunker.itch.io/dungeon-hero
A blog that is just a bunch of lists http://tilde.town/~dozens/listblog/
Dwemthy’s Array https://poignant.guide/dwemthy/
List of Lists of Lists https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_lists_of_lists
The advantages of queues on logs https://jack-vanlightly.com/blog/2023/10/2/the-advantages-of-queues-on-logs

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