The Pool

The Pool is a rule-light, creativity-heavy dice-based RP system. The rules are rather simple and, due to their nature, can apply to any form of RP. I am here to present you with this RPing system and see if anyone would be willing to join an RP based around it. Suggestions of RP themes to which it could apply would be immensely appreciated.

Without further a due, let me present to you... THE POOL!

The pool is an RPing system geared towards a player and GM narrative collaboration. You can use it for any setting you like. For this, you will need a lot of d6 (six-sided die) including a handful of GM die which will look different from the rest. (This won't really matter on here though.)

Before character creation begins, every player is handed 15 die. This is their starting pool.

Step 1: Character creation

Once you've decided on a setting, the character creation begins. Making a character is simple; just make a 50 word story. Pretend you're writing a book and this is the introduction of your main character. You only have 50 words to play with, so focus on your character's most important features and how they fit into the chosen setting. Your character's name being mentionned does not count towards your word limit (ex: in the sentence "Mike is a tall man", there are 4 words, seeing as mike's name does not count as a word).

EXAMPLE OF A STORY:
I’ve created my first character for The Pool.
The setting is a world of darkish magical
fantasy.

“Damart is a sorcerer trained in elemental
magic by the secret Lost Land order. He was
expelled from the Order after falling in love
with a young initiate who died when he tried to
teach her a spell she could not control. Now
Damart seeks the means to bring her back to
life.”

Step 2: Assigning traits and bonuses

Now pick the most important elements of your character's story. These are traits which will help you gain control of the narrative. These can be anything from friends, to enemies, to a good horse, to a knack for attracting trouble. Whatever is important about your character can be a trait, though you can word a trait any way you wish, make sure it does not contradict or expand your story.

Make sure your traits are sufficiently specific to avoid game conflict or vagueness. Avoid specific traits like "Magic" or "Scholar", be specific like; "Elemental magician". You can then add bonuses to traits via dice. Adding a bonus to every trait is unecessary. The cost of a bonus is the bonus times itself, so a +2 bonus would be 2x2=4, 4 dices. +3 would be 9 dice and so on. It is very important to leave dice in your pool. At least 3 or 4.

EXAMPLE OF TRAIT AND BONUS ASSIGNMENT:
After writing Damart’s Story, I choose the Traits I
want and assign Bonuses to them. These
Bonuses cost a total of 9 dice, leaving 6 dice in
my Pool.
-Elemental sorcerer of the Lost Land Order +2
-Outcast of the Lost Land Order
-He is driven by love +2
-Searching for the means to raise his love from the
dead +1

Step 3: Casting the dice

Dice are cast to determine the general outcome
of conflicts. This is not the same as rolling when
you simply want to take an action. The swing of a
sword can be achieved through simple dialogue
with the GM, without throwing dice. The effect
of a die roll in The Pool is much broader than the
swing of a sword.
Anyone can call for a die roll whenever a conflict
is apparent or when someone wants to
introduce a new conflict. Just broadly state your
intention and roll.
To win a die roll, roll a 1 on any of the dice you
cast. Ignore any other results. If you don’t roll a 1,
you fail the roll.
When you roll, the GM will provide 1-3 GM dice to
add to the throw. If you can show an obvious connection between your intention and one
of your character’s Traits, you can add Bonus
dice to your roll if that Trait has a Bonus.
In addition, you can gamble up to 9 dice from
your Pool. Adding dice to your roll greatly
increases your chances of getting a 1. But if
you fail a roll you lose all the dice you
gambled. A bad throw can instantly reduce
your Pool to nothing.

EXAMPLE OF THE DIE ROLL:
Damart is in an ancient library. I want him to
find a piece of knowledge that will help him
on his quest, so I ask for a roll based on the
Trait “searching for the means to bring his
love from the dead +1”. The GM hands me 1
GM die (for my +1 Trait) and decides to give
me 2 more to roll as well (he can give me an
extra 1-3, remember). I still have 6 dice in my
Pool, so I add 4 of them to the roll as a gamble
to increase my chances.
I cast all 7 dice and, luckily, I get a 1. If I had
not rolled a 1 I would have lost the 4 gambled
dice from my Pool, leaving me with only 2.

Step 4: Success and Failure

When you roll successfully, you have two
options: add a die to your Pool, or make a
Monologue of Victory.

If you chose to add a die to your Pool then the
GM will narrate a positive outcome to the
conflict, but he will do so any way he chooses.
This means things might not go exactly the
way you wanted.

Making a Monologue of Victory (or MOV) is
the only way to ensure that the conflict
results in what you want. Giving an MOV is like
taking control of the game for a few
moments. You can describe your character’s
actions, the actions of those around him, and
the outcome of those actions. You can even
focus on less direct elements of the conflict such
as what’s happening in the next room or who’s
entering the scene.

You can do just about anything. In fact, these are
the only real limitations you must observe:

1) Don’t make alterations to the characters
of other players (such as killing them).
You can add complications for them and
affect the things around them, but don’t
intrude on the creation of a fellow player.

2) Keep your narration in synch with the
established facts and tone of the game. If
you need to ask the GM questions or
prompt the other players for responses
during your MOV, do so.

3) Keep your narration reasonably short.
Observing these rules of courtesy and continuity
will help everyone enjoy the game even more. If
you ignore these rules, the GM may end your
MOV at any time.

If you fail a die roll two things will happen. First,
you will lose any dice you gambled. Second, the
GM will narrate an outcome that is not what you
intended. The details of the outcome are entirely
up to him. He may introduce new complications
for your character or simply narrate a scene that
is opposite of what you wanted.

EXAMPLE OF A MONOLOGUE OF VICTORY:
With my successful die roll from the previous
example, I choose to give an MOV. The GM turns
it over to me, everyone listens...
“After a frustrating couple of hours searching
through ancient tomes, Damart is ready to give it
up. There’s nothing here. But then he notices a
very strange thing. In a darkened corner a book
is leaning against the wall. But it isn’t just
leaning, its moving! He takes a closer look and
the book scurries under a table. It can walk! He
crawls under the table and manages to get his
hands on it. The book squirms, but isn’t strong
enough to break free. On it’s cover are letters
from a very old language he has some
familiarity with. They read ‘Land of the Dead’.
There are bloodstains on the edges of the
pages.”

I decide that’s a good stopping point.
Everyone is very curious about this walking
book and now the GM resumes control of the
game, taking into consideration this new
element I have just invented.

Step 5: The continuing Story

If you have 9 dice or more left in your Pool at
the end of a session, you start the next
session with the same number. If you have
less than that, you start the next session with
9 dice in your Pool.
At the end of each session, you may add up to
15 new words to your character’s Story. They
can be new lines or additions to old lines. You
can also save them until the end of the next
session and then write a total of 30 new
words.
You may add new Traits when you choose.
You may add or increase Bonuses to Traits
anytime you wish the same way you did when
you created your character: the desired Bonus
times itself (+2 costs 4 dice, +3 costs 9 dice,
etc.). Dice already in a trait are also included,
so making a +2 trait a +3 trait will cost 5
dice (9-4=5). Additionally, all traits with
no boost gain a +1 boost at the end of a
session. So keep this in mind when wri-
ting them.

Step 6: At death's door

Your character does not have “hit points” or
any other measure of life. But he can die.
If your character fails a die roll in a situation
the GM deems utterly lethal, you can either
accept death and make a final MOV to
describe it (no rolling required), or make a
final roll to save his life. In this roll you cannot
use any Traits and the GM cannot grant you
any extra dice. All dice must be gambled. Your
fellow players may pitch in up to 9 dice each to
help your character survive.
No matter what the outcome of the roll, all the
dice you cast are lost--even dice gambled by
other players.

If you win this roll your character has survived
the incident, but you do not get a MOV nor do
you get to add any dice to your Pool. The GM will
describe how death was cheated.
If you fail the roll, your character dies. In this
case, you get to make a final MOV in which you
describe your character’s death in detail. Make it
a good one.



So what do you guys think?