Giant Mutant Hybrid Bighorns

a solo journaling role playing game about mad science and crime based on a true story

2024-03-15

About
Your Evil Plan
How To Play
Codex
Dice Pool
Progress Tracks
Credits

About

You are octogenarian mad scientist Montana Jack.

You have an evil plan to get rich by creating giant mutant hybrid bighorn sheep. It is an affront to nature and an insult to god, and the feds are after you.

This is a solo journaling role playing game about mad science and crime based on a true story.

You will need:

pen and paper
one deck of standard playing cards
a handful six and eight-sided dice

Your Evil Plan

For some reason you have decided that your path to glory involves creating giant mutant hybrid bighorn sheep.

Illegally obtain “parts” of the Marco Polo Argali, the worlds largest sheep.
Use mad science to clone embryos from the genetic material.
Implant embryo clones in Bighorn ewes.
Wait until one of the ewes gives birth to a genetically pure Marco Polo Argali.
Breed the Marco Polo with the bighorns and other wild sheep, creating Giant Mutant Hybrid Bighorns.
Sell the GMHB to a hunting preserve in Texas for huge profit!

How To Play

In brief:

Play revolves around a LOOP that includes using your playing cards to uncover challenges and tasks that need to be done, and then resolving those tasks with dice rolls. Then mark progress toward your goals (and the feds’ goals!) on a progress track. Finally, reflect on your progress and write in your journal. The game is over when you succeed, or when the feds catch up to you.

In detail:

Shuffle your playing cards and set the deck face down in front of you.

DEAL: Roll a six-sided die. Deal that many cards face down in front of you. Each deal represents an abstract block of time. A couple days, a week or so. Turn the cards over one at a time, interpreting the cards as you go using the CODEX.
ROLL: Resolve all the cards at once using the DICE POOL.
TRACK: Fill the CRIME and HEAT tracks based on the outcome.
JOURNAL: Write about the challenges and outcomes in your journal.

Codex

Each card is an open ended prompt. You will need to reflect, and then interpret it in a way that makes sense to you.

The card’s suit determines the card’s DOMAIN:

CLUBS: Law (Fish & Wildlife, FBI, Local law enforcement, Nosy kids, Intrepid reporters)
DIAMONDS: Science (technology, smarts, labs, operation, genetics)
HEARTS: Nature (husbandry, balance, frailty, ruggedness, chaos, illness)
SPADES: Crime (contacts, forgery, bribery, intimidation, smuggling, traffiking)

The card’s value determines the card’s FOCUS:

A: Items
2: People
3: Creatures
4: Foes
5: Environments
6: Discoveries
7: Places
8: Sensations
9: Creatures
0: Items
J: People
Q: Creatures
K: Foes

Dice Pool

Assemble a pool of six-sided ACTION dice and eight-sided CHALLENGE dice.

Always begin with one ACTION die. Add an additional die to a maximum of 5 for each of the following that is true: you have a skill that can help you, you have an item or piece of equipment that can assit you, somebody is helping you, there are other circumstances established by the game narrative that are beneficial to you.
Always begin with two CHALLENGE die. Add an additional die to a maximum of 4 for each of the following that is true: you are unprepared, outnumbered, outclassed, or surprised; the situation pushes on a flaw, hindrance, or fear; there are other circumstances established by the game narrative that hinder you.
Roll all the eight-sided CHALLENGE dice. Line them up in a row from highest to lowest.
Roll all the six-sided ACTION dice and assign one or more of them to each challenge die so that the ACTION dice total is greater than the CHALLENGE die value.

Each roll has multiple outcomes. Here is how to interpret the outcome for each individual challenge die in the dice pool:

ACTION > CHALLENGE: Success. You get what you want. Mark one progress on your CRIME track.
ACTION = CHALLENGE: Mixed outcome. You get what you want, but at cost. Choose one of the following: mark one progress on both the CRIME and the HEAT tracks; mark one progress on the CRIME track but suffer a condition (automatically add one CHALLENGE die to your next roll); mark one progress on the CRIME track and make a hard choice.
ACTION < CHALLENGE: Failure. You don’t get what you want and things potentially get worse. Mark one progress on the HEAT track.

Special outcomes:

CATASTROPHE: There is a CHALLENGE die that does not have an ACTION die allocated to it. A tremendous setback. What happens? Mark an additional 2 progess on the HEAT track.
SPECTACLE: You have all successes and an ACTION die is leftover unallocated. Excessive, extravagent success. You succeed with a little too much gusto, a little too much brilliance. Mark an additional 2 progress on the CRIME track, and 1 additional progress on the HEAT track.

Progress Tracks

You have two tracks: CRIME and HEAT.

If you fill either of them, the game is over. You either successfully pull of your weird crime, or the feds catch up to you and seize all your equipment and mutant sheep and haul your ass to court.

Each track is six boxes.

On the CRIME track, each box represents one step of your EVIL PLAN. On the HEAT track, each box represents the feds closing in on you.

To mark progress on a track, draw a slash across the box from corner to corner (like making an X) or from side to side (like making a +). Once there are four slashes in the box (it has an X and a +) that box is complete. Start marking progress in the next box.

TIP: For a quicker game, Consider a box full with only 2 lines, either an X or a +.