Flashback

Framing Mechanic for One-Shot Tragic RPGs
Written by Josh Jordan
Edited by Levi Kornelsen

What is It?
Flashback is a method for framing tragic stories, for playing out one-shot and short-run character arcs that end with death… but without player removal, and without “chopping off” a game at some unsatisfactory point. The question here is: What if the first thing you did for your character was to narrate a spectacular death scene? The GM and players play out the story one scene at a time, but scenes are played in reverse order. The story plays out with each character needing five scenes (and characters may well share some or all of their scenes, depending on their setup), beginning with the end, in which characters most likely die or go insane. This was designed with horror in mind, but could work for any tragic storyline.

Setting It Up
In addition to whatever regular character stuff is needed (in general, this should be very little - Flashback  works best with extremely light rules systems or even none at all), every player should make a list with the following five items; some of them, they’ll flesh out at creation; others, they’ll discover in play.

• Desire: At creation, the player will note here a sentence or two about some item or goal their character wants, but which is dangerous to pursue. This desire should be tempting enough to encourage the character to make some bad choices.
• Dream: This is left blank at creation. During play, a note on how the character made early progress toward their goal will be placed here.
• Curse: This is left blank at creation. During play, a note on “compromise and near success” will be placed here.
• Doom: This is left blank at creation. During play, a note on “the low point” of the storyline will be placed here after than scene is played out.
• End: As the end of the creation process, a scene will be played out showing (but not fully explaining) the tragic end of the character, and notes on that will go here.

The Chain of Events
Use the following to guide you as you go into the five scenes. Start with scene 5: Death Wish, and move back from there. The list below shows is how the story would look if it were run in chronological order:

1. Desire: The character feels empty and incomplete. He hopes for some dangerous item or goal, which he believes will fulfill him and make life worthwhile.
2. Dream: As the character pursues his desire, he experiences major progress. It seems for a moment that nothing can stop him from attaining his goal.
3. Curse: Little mistakes and bad luck begin to catch up with the character. To prevent failure and to fight off his opponents, the character must make some painful or morally compromising choices.
4. Doom: The character begins to despair. It seems that his chances for success are almost gone, and the people around him are paying the price for his bad choices.
5. Death Wish: As a result of fate, his opponents, or his own choices, the character meets his tragic end.

The Nature of Conflicts
A game run in this fashion completely inverts one of the regular assumptions about roleplaying games. In play, the point of descriptions and actions is not to determine what happens next - you already know that - but, instead, how it came to pass, and what that says about the characters. This means that if there is a conflict of some kind, that conflict can, absolutely, contribute to the story - if the character was driven to the maddening sight of the diabolical beast out of fear of the things in the sewers, that’s not the same outcome as if they went there in full knowledge of their doom in order to hold it back long enough for someone else to plant the explosives that would seal it underground.

What Must Be Left Unknown
Given that conflicts and challenges work in this way, it means that a single hard rule should be kept in mind - you can’t explain how the characters got to the start of the scene that they're in. That’s something that will be figured out in the next scene to be played out.

The Scene Frames
What this results in is a game where each scene except for the last one played starts with a general overview (from the list of five steps), in conditions that are not explained, and that the scene doesn’t end until it can naturally lead to the last scene that was played. Explaining why the current scene started as it did? That’s the job of the next scene you play out. And remember, there should be several possible ways to get from the start of the scene to the end, so there’s room to make decisions and have conflicts over the “how”.

Foreshadowing
Since everyone already knows “what happens next”, everyone can drop little hints about it, and the GM can drop in odd obstacles when starting a scene. If the squarejawed hero is in the sewers with the spunky reporter, and we all know that the spunky reporter isn’t in the next scene… Then it needs to be determined just why that’s the case. Players can (and should) have a vision of how they’d like to solve these things, which they can reference and attempt, and the GM can (and should) challenge them.

Flashbacks
While the total contents of the next scene to be played (which is the previous one chronologically) must remain unknown, the GM can drop small hints. If the spunky reporter that has to be gone before the next scene is cursing that “bastard weasel of a shopkeeper”, that’s a hint of what came before - and, thus, of what will be played out next. The GM should be wary of overdoing this; a little goes a long ways.

Powershop

A modular mini-game for shopping scenes in RPGs

Setting:

The PCs are shopping at a market or bazaar. The GM has determined that the players will be able to buy what they are looking for, but would like to spice up the results of the shopping endeavor.

You Need:

• A Game Master
• Two or more Player Characters (PCs)
• A deck of playing cards

How to Powershop:

1. The GM will briefly determine determine whether any players have advantages or disadvantages during this shopping trip. An in character advantage for this shopping trip compared to the other PCs might be higher charisma, better haggling skill, more familiarity with this store, etc. A disadvantage might be poor personal hygiene, bigotry of the townspeople, low intelligence, etc. (This whole determination should take no more than two minutes, though the players are welcome to make suggestions during that time about who should get an advantage or disadvantage.)

2. The GM will deal one to three cards to each player. Players with an advantage receive three cards. Players with a disadvantage receive one card. Other players receive two cards.

3. Players all reveal their cards. The player with the highest spade or club (aces are high) successfully buys the most expensive item he wants to buy, and discovers that it is of unusually high quality. (The GM should give some small in-game bonus to this high quality item.)

• The player with the lowest spade or club, or with no spades or clubs, successfully buys the most expensive item he wants to buy, and discovers that it is of unusually low quality (with some related, small in-game penalty for its use.)
• The player with the highest heart or diamond successfully buys the most expensive item he wants to buy, and only has to spend 75% the list price.
• The player with the lowest heart or diamond, or no hearts or diamonds, can buy the most expensive item he wants to buy, but only if he is willing 125% of the list price. The item will not be available at a lower price anywhere else during this game session.

In the case of a tie between two players, both players receive the appropriate shopping benefit or penalty.

Apocalypse Manager

Apocalypse Manager

A modular mini-game for RPGs set during impending Apocalypse

You need:

• A GM and at Least Two Players
• A Deck of Cards
• Paper and a Pencil

How to Play Apocalypse Manager:

Have the GM ask each player the following three questions: (Feel free to rephrase this to more tightly match your game.)

• Does your character have more food or water than she did at the beginning of this session?
• Did your character actively prevent the death of innocent bystanders this session?
• Did your character generally behave this session in a way her parents and grandparents would consider to be law-abiding?

For each Yes answer, deal that player one card from the deck. The GM then deals himself one card per player (minimum three cards). Players then choose how they want to distribute their cards. Players can play cards into the Global pile, the National pile, or the Local Pile (or any combination).

• The Global pile affects how the apocalypse is progressing across the entire world.
• The National pile affect how the apocalypse is progressing in the nation or larger region where the characters live.
• The Local pile affects how the apocalypse is progressing in the town or local area where the characters actually live and work.

Once the players have distributed their cards, everyone reveals their cards, including the GM. Players must determine if they have beaten the GM on the Global, National, and Local levels.

If the GM beats the players in one of these three categories, add one to that Apocalypse level. For example, if the GM beats the players on the Global level after the first session, the Global Apocalypse Level is 1.

If the players beat the GM in one of the three categories, subtract one from that Apocalypse level. For example, if the players beat the GM on the National level after the first session, the National Apocalypse Level is -1.

Whenever any of the apocalypse levels reaches 5, add one to the other two levels. If Global, National, and Local ever all reach 4 or higher, the campaign ends in a fiery apocalyptic doom.

Whenever any of the apocalypse levels reaches -5, subtract one from the other two levels. If Global, National, and Local ever all reach -4 or lower, the campaign ends with the whole world safe from the apocalyptic threat. The apocalypse is over.

It is up to the GM and the players to determine what actually gets better or worse about the world as these three Apocalypse levels go up or down. Here just a few examples to spark your creativity:

The beginning of the first Matrix movie is at Global 4, National 4, Local 3.

In my opinion, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome has a Global 2, National 4, and Local -2.

The movie Shaun of the Dead reaches Local 5 by the end.

28 Days Later is a good example of National 5, but the rest of the world is fine, so Global is -3.

Planet of the Apes is post-apocalypse, so all Global, National, and Local are all in the negative.