X-Treme Dungeon Mastery

5. lf thetrickisnotworkingt,ry adiustintghelength StepThree:Dosometrick. Whenthediestartsto
of threadandtheplacemenotf thetackystuff. slowdown,floatit up intoyourhand.

6. Usethissubtlyandwithoutanysortof buildup. Uber Volatilis SorsTricks:

It iusthappensD. oingthiswithoutdrawingattentionto To floatthe die up Hookthethreadbetweenyour
it makesit thatmuchmorepowerful. thumbandforefingerM. oveyourhandforward

andleanbackat thesametime.Thediewill

7.Youcanrigthetapeon thedieto comeoff rise.Alternativelyp,utthethumbof youroppo-

easilyP. rovidinga quickout,iustin caseanyonewants sitehandon thelineandpushthethreaddown.

to lookat thedie.PerformthisawayfrompeopleT. hey To passthe die througha hoopof frngersCreate

aregrabbyJ. ustleavea littletabof tapethatyoucan a hoopoutofyour fingerasroundthethread
gripin anemergencyO.r breakthethreadat thevery abovethedieandin thatsamemotionpassthe

edgeof theepe. What'stheplayergoingto say,"Oh I hoopdownandaroundthedie.
knowhowyou do it. You'vegottapeon yourdie?" Cageof WonderCarefullcyreatea cageby

puttingthefingetripsofyour handstogethearnd

Uber VolatitisSors archingyourfingersto separatyeourpalmsD. othis

(l-atinfor "AberWingedFortune") aroundthespinnindgie,thethreadgoingin the

Effect:TheXDM decidetso ignoreeverythinhgehas middleof thebigholeyourthumbsandforefingers

everlearneadboutbeingsubtleanddo a fullfloat createdN. ow rotatethecagearoundthedieasbest

of a D2O.Perhaptso impresaslovedone. youcanwithouthittingthethread.

PreparationS:ameasin VolatilisSorsO. nlythis

time,stripout a threadthatisa fewincheslonger.

Placea bit of tapeovertheucky stuffandhideit

by placingit frrmlybehindyourear,allowintghe

threada, nddie,to hangdownin frontof you.

Placethediein yourbreaspt ocketor iustholdit
in yourhand.

Performance:

StepOne:KeepthediehandyT. hisisn'tanim-

promptueffect,butdo yourbest o makeit look

likesuchP. ullthedieoutandholdit in frontof

yousothatgravirymakesthethreadtaut,almost

to thepointof liftingit off yourhandY. oushould

beleaningforwardslightly. Aroundthe Back:Thisisa bit...ummhardand

gutsy.Butheyif you'relookingfor a challengtehis

StepTwo: Grabthediein bothhandsby itsedges isit. Usea touchmorethreadfor thisone.Spinthe

andspinit likeyouwouldon a table.Leanto your dieto yourrightwitha throwingmotionandleanin

leftandthespinnindgiewillfloatleft.Leanto thatdirectiotnoo.Thediewillclearyourbodyand

yourrightandit willfloatright.Useyourhandsas startto archaroundthebackside.Helpit on itsway

neededagainstthethreadto helpcontrolit. Your by continuintgo leanyourheadwhereit needsto go.

handshouldalwaylsookliketheyarecontrolling Thethreadwillwrapigelfaroundyourneck.Lower

thedie.Youwanttheplayertso thinkthatthe yourshouldearndmoveout of thewayasthedie

magicisin yourhandsn, otin someinvisiblceon- comesaroundtheotherside.Catchthediewhenit

nectionto yourhead. finishedis iourney.Reversteheactionsto untangle
thethreadfromyourneck.

100

f,HenrERTFTTRTEI(ErrNe,n $nrerrnsrro Qo

XDMshavetraditionallpyushedthe horizonosf lf youhavepurchasetdhisbookandhappento

roleplaying amingN. everwasthissoevidentthanin livein a suruivalicsot mpoundcutoff fromtheinter-

KillerBreakfastht,eevenwt here"You'llDieLaughing!"netor civilizatioinn generaalndstillwantto know

lf you haveattendeda KillerBreakfasatsthey whatKillerBreakfasistabout,we'lltry describinigt,

havebeenrunat selecct onventionasroundtheworld, butyoushouldknowthatl'm worriedaboutyouand

thencongratulatioynosu, havejustgoneup a levelasan hopeyoufinda wayto escapseoon.

XDM!KillerBreakfashtasbeenrunpersonallbyy Tracy KillerBreakfasista parodyof traditionarlole

andLauraHickman(Leve8l 29 and262 XDMsrespec- playinggamesperformedin frontof anaudiencaend

tively)at the LUCCAConventioinn Luccal,taly,'at usingaudiencme emberassparticipantlst .takesrole

theGenconOZ Conventioinn BrisbaneA,ustraliaa, nd playingamerulesandturnsthemon theirheadin

hasbecomea hallmarokf theGenconConventioin thegrandestrtaditionof XDMs.

Indianapollins,dianaW. henyouperforma KillerBreak- A Brief Historyof Killer Breakfast:

fastyou arecontinuingan internationatrladition!

lf you haveneverattendeda KillerBreakfast Thisbizarremethodof playingroleplayinggames

thenthe restof usfeelverysorryfor you.Youshould cameaboutsomeyearsagowhenTracyHickman

nothesitatoenemoremomentandgoto www. decidedto auctionoff a gameH. erealized-aftethr e

killerbreakfast.cwomhereyoucanwatchoneof our playerisn thatgamehadspendquiteanamazinsgum

morespectaculaprerformancethsroughthemiracle for theprivilege-thaatlot of peopleprobablywanted

of onlinevideostreamingY.oucanevensubscribe to playin hisgamebuttherewereonlysomanyseats

to it throughiTunesT. hereisno betterwayto learn thata gamesessiocnouldaccommodaatet a time.He

whatKillerBreakfaisstallabouthanwatchinigt being wonderedif therewasa wayto sharehisXDMskills

performed. withmorepeopleduringa singlesession.

ThusKillerBreakfawstasborn:a fungamethat

* Thiswasconductedin Englishby Tracy EI Lauraand convertedinto couldinvolvea lot of peopleat once.Let.eacohf
themplayfor a shorttime,killtheircharactera,nd
lulian by our incredibletranslatorsP. layer'sresponsewserein ltalian
convertedinto English.We're not entirelysureif we got everythingright but moveto thenext.
aseveryonehada goodtime we cannotcomplain.Seephotoon p | 02.

101

Herearethebasicrulesof a properlyrunKiller
Breakfast:

l. Thefirstruleof KillerBreakfasist:YOUWILL

DlE. No amountof ruleslawyeringb,eggingo,r
whiningwillchangtehisfact.Yourcharacteinr
thegameisgoingto dieshortlyafteryoustart
playingG. etusedto theidearightnow.

2. Playersstartwitha firstlevelcharacteTr.hisis
a pre-generatcehdaractesrheewt hichhasthe

statisticfsor a charactenrot evena kindergarten
teachewr ouldlove.Thischaracteirsgivento
theplayerat thelastpossiblme omentbefore

comingon stagesothattheywill haveaslittle
emotionaalttachmentot thecharactearspos-

sible.

Theconcepwt assimplea, ndit wasfirstperformed 3. Playerssitdownatan emptyspotat thetableon
stageA. t thismomentt,heplayerisaskedto
a t t h eG e n c o nG a m eC o n v e n t i otnh e nb e i n gh e l di n
MilwaukeeW, isconsiTn.hegamewasinitiallycalled writedownthetime,includinsgecondsth, athis
"KillerDungeonb"uton a subsequeynetar,a program
directorfor theconventiotnooka disliketo Tracyand, characte"sr prangto life"meanintghemoment
in a punitivemove,programmetdheevento take heor shesatdownat thegametable.

placeat 9:00 a.m.on Saturdamy orningu, nquestion- 4. Newplayerast thetablemustexplainhowtheir
ablytheworstpossiblteimeto holda GenconEvent. charactearrrivedat thisparticulapr ointin the
adventurelf. playerse' xplanationosf howtheir
RathetrhantakeoffenseT, racydecidedto wear c h a r a c t egro t h e r ea r en o t s u f f r c i e n t leyn t e r t a i n -
it asa badgeof honor.Fromthattimeonwardwehave
proudlyruneachof ourKillerBreakfasotnsSaturday ing,valianto, r clevert,hentheyDIEat onceand
morningd, efyingconventiotnraditionbsy drawinghuge

crowdsT. heonlyexceptionhasbeenon those I WASfiA ilERINa,ANO7 ool
yearswhenwehavemovedtheevento Friday
SOAIPNfNVO,iKlYEEO-YA9RSCF,ALNAELPLOINKOTAARLO,'AUNNO?7,HEARCEC7IO4Efi,NTALLY
in orderto accommodaoteurdevouJt ewish
gamers. OOE| ANYONE

Killer Basics HAVEA SPAREPAIR
OF PANIS?
Thebasicideaisthatthisisa roleplaying ame
beingrunby themostunjustu, nsympathetgicame- CONaPaTULATION',
YOULIVEF, OR,
mastewr hoeverlivedto makeplayer'slivesmiserable.

Deathcomesquicklyin thisgamea, ndif it evercomes

justly,it isalmosat lwaybsy accident.

At leastt,hat'stheplayer'sperspectivoen the

ioke.
XDMsknowdifferentlyH. avinga ierkfor a game

masteirsn'tfunor funny. Creatinganoutrageous
caricaturoef a badgamemasteirsfunny.Makinga ioke
outof allthebadwayspeopleplayroleplaying ames?

Thatishilarious.

102

trrmn$nraxresrroQo

mustIeavethetable.lf theirexplanatioisntoo B ef o r e w a r n e dR:u n n i nag p r o p e rK i l l e rB r e a k -

long,too boring,or too stupid-thentheyDlE, fastisa gruelincghallengelt. istheequivalenotf do-

getup fromthetableandmakeroomfor thenext ingtwo hoursof improvisationtahleatear ndstandup

playerto bemoreinteresting. comedyat thesametime.lt isnotforthefaintof

heart.

5. Ihere arethreewaysto survivferomroundto

round.Yourpathetic haractewr ill bepitted DeathTakesPlanning:Themes,Props
againsctreaturessohorribles, oviciousa, ndso and Stunts

powerfutlhattheywill killyouon aninitiativeroll P r e p a r i nagnX D M K i l l e rB r e a k f arset q u i r eas

a l o n e .T h eo n l yw a yy o u w i l l s u r v i v ef r o m o n e greadt eaol f advancpelanningT.heKillerBreakfasts

roundto thenextisif youdo oneof thefollow- at Genconincludetheadvancpereparatioonf a

ingthreethingsA: somethinigncrediblbyrave, specially-authoDreVdDwithuniquevideosegments.

B somethinigncrediblsytupid(almosat lways YourKillerBreakfasdtoesnot haveto bethatelabo-

thesamethingasA), or C somethinigncredibly ratebutyoushouldknowthatpreparatiofnor a prop-

entertainingT. hemomenytourdeathis funnierthan erlyruneventcantakeconsiderabtliemeandeffort.

youarey, ou DIE!You'llhaveto beamazintgo live First,youshouldsettleon a themefor your

fromroundto round. KillerBreakfasItn. recenyt earswe'veenioyed

runningour eventsascrossebsetweenpopularsci-fi

Now,thesearetherulesof thegamebutthereisa andfantasgyenresa;ndmusicformsto create"Killer

lot moreto a KillerBreakfastht aniustoffrngcharacters.BreakfaMstusical"s.We'vecrossedDragonlance

"Dyingiseasy.Comedyt,hat'shard"istheabsolute withthebroadwamy usicaGl reaseW. e'vecrossed

mantraof a KillerBreakfaslt'.snotrickto killa StarWarswiththeBackStreetBoysW. e'vecrossed

characteinr a roleplayinggameb, utgettingtheplayer TheLordof theRingswithlohn Cash(.Someone
to laughwhileyou'redoingit istherealchallenge. describtehisparticulaprerformancaesFrodomeets

" G a m eo v e r ,m a n ! " "Beamme up,Scotty!" "l havea bad feeling "lt'sonly a model!"
aboutthis!"

" H e ' sd e a d , J i m ! " "SurrenderD, orothy!" "Nevergive up! "Thisgroup will self-
"Usethe force,stupid!" "GodzillaG! odzilla!" N E V E Rs u r r e n d e r l " destructin ten seconds

"ByGrabthar's ...goodluck,Jim."
h a m m e r . . . y o us h a l lb e
"SnakesW. hy did it
avenged!" haveto be snakes?"

" R u n ,F o r e s t !R u n l " "Theenginesjust can't
take it anymore!"

"Danger!Danger, " A c t i v a t et h e "l'llget you,my
WillRobinson!" O m e g a1 3 ! " " p r e t t y. . .a n dy o u r

l i t t l ed o g ,t o o ! " "

" S h a - n a - n a - n.a. . "Runaway!Runaway!" "Hastala vista,baby!"
s h a - n a - n a - n .a. .
hey,hey ... goodbye!"

" l ' l lb e b a h c k ! " "Setfor stun ... NOT!"

't
:

I

t

103I

-f

NASCAR.)Thepointisthatyouneeda themefor overon theirownquiteeasily. e
yourKillerBreakfastht atisoff-beaat ndrifewith l;
comedicpossibilities. HideousToysEveryyearwegoto thelocalToy a
Liquidator'Os utletstoreto searchfor trulyhid- a
Youshouldthenstartcollectingitemsandprops eoustoys-toysthatareridiculouosr whichone t'
for yourperformanceW. esuggestht efollowing: mightthinkwouldgivechildrennightmareTs.hen
webringthemwithusfor KillerBreakfasTt.hus, t
. GenericTicketsYoucanpicktheseup a most playercsanbeconfrontedby suchthingsasa me-
localoffrcesupplyor departmensttoresG. et chanicadlragondesignetdo latchontoyourarm t
yourselaf rollof numberetdickes.Thiscanhelp andgrowl.Usingbizarretoysassetpiecesin your s
yourcrewkeeptheaudiencien orderby giving KillerBreakfaspterformancceanbea realboost.
out ticketsin theorderpeoplearriveandthen I
callingthemup to playin thatsameorder.lt WASALIIIOSTLEVEL I
alsohelpsyouto knowaftenrardjusthowmany 1
playerysoumanagetdo off duringtheperfor-
mance.

Watchwith a secondhandlt's alwayshelpfutlo
haveanoffrciatlimekeepewr hocanclockthem
in andclockthemout whentheyaredonewith
onestandardofficiatlime.

CharacteSr heetsYouneedto preparethese
in advanceT.rueXDMsusetheXD20system
asthebasisfor theirKillerBreakfasgtames.

PreparseixKillerBreakfasctharactesrheetosr
downloadthetraditionaol nesfrom www.
xtremedungeonmastery.cBoemsu. reto create
enoughcopiesof allsixof thesecharactesrheets
to coverthenumberof characterysouexpecto
blowawayduringthecourseof thegame.

CueCardsKillerBreakfasdtoesnot iustinvolve Pilesof diceWeusuallybringa largenumbeor f
theplayerson thestage.lt getstheaudience dice,notsomuchto determinaenythingat all,
intothegamet,oo. Youneedto havecuecards butmostlyto strikefearin thehearuof gamers.
for theaudiencceontainintghingsfor themto There'snothinglikeseeingthelookon theirface
shoutout in unisonduringthegameW. einclud- whenyou say,"The dragonhitsyou! Let'sroll for
eda shortlistof our favoritefsor yourconve- damage. .." andyoupickupaboutflftydicein
niencebutanypopulafrantasoyr sci-fpr hrase bothhands.
willwork.
. Audio/Visuallsf youaregoingto featuremusic
. BadMiniaturesThesearemorefor showthan in yourKillerBreakfast-anwdhatXDMwouldn't?
actuaul seduringthegamea, stheregener- Thenyou'llneedto writeparodylyricsthatfrt
allyisn'tenoughtimeto dealwithpositioning yourgameto themusico, btaina karaokeversion
miniaturesW. epersonallryecommentdheuse of thesong,figureout howyouwillgetthewords
of Legopeopleasminiatures-especitahlleylittle to youraudienc(eeitherproiecthemfor the
medievaolr sci-frLegopeopleT. heyareeasyto
transportd, o not requireanypaintinga, ndfall

10+

- --r

Klrren$nrmresrro So

audiencoer providethemwithphotocopiesa)n, d Holdtheaudiencoeutsidetheroomif possible

figureout howto playthemusicandsingit at butbesureto allowenoughtimefor themto enter

thesametime.Thiswilllargelydependonyour theroomandfinda seat.Dependinogn thesizeof

capabilitiaens dthetechnicaelquipmenatvailable theaudienctehiscantakeupwardof halfanhour-

to youwhereyouareperformingL.earnto deal anothereasonwhyyoushouldarrivesoearly.Spend

withtheunexpected. thisentrytimepacingupanddownin frontof the

audiencleikea cagedtiger,eyeingthemhungrilyl.ust
Wealsorecommentdhatyougetyourselaf crew, beforethegamebeginsd,o a fewcalisthenitcosshow

especiailfly ouareexpectintgo runthiseventfor a themthatthisisserioubsusiness.

largneumbeor f peopleA. crewcanbeinvaluabtloe
anXDMin KillerBreakfasyqouhaveenoughto worry The Grand Opening
Youshouldbegintheshowby explainintghe
abouwt ithoutdealingwithcrowdcontrol,ticketcollec-
tiont,icketgivingt,iming,andothergenerahl ousekeep-rulesto KillerBreakfastot themin themostenter-
IngitemsA. well-trainecdrewcanmeanthedifference tainingwaypossibleT.racyandLaurahaveanonline
videocalfedthe KillerBreakfasStaferyPresentation
betweeannenjoyableventfor yourplayersanda
whichprovideas properstartto anyKillerBreakfast.
sluggioshne.
Forovertenyearsnow,LauraandTracyhave XDMsmayavaitlhemselvoefsthisvideoaswellas
beepnrivilegetdo beassisteidn our KillerBreakfaspter- basic heerbsyspeciaolrderingtheDVD(NTSC
formancbeysa groupcallingthemselvethseKokomo format)throughtheXDMwebsite.
After you havegottenthe rulesexplanatioonut
lnegularTsh. esegallanvt olunteeresachyearcometo
theGenconConventioanndprovidestaffsupporftor of theway,it'stimeto openthegameitself.lf you
oureventhatisunparalleleadndunexcelleYd.oucan't areusingmusicduringthegamet,hiswouldbethe
havtehem:Theyareoursandwe'llfightyouforthem. ideatlimefor theopeningnumbewr hichshouldset
thethemeandtonefor thegameF. orexamplei,n the

KillerBeats 2OO7GenconKillerBreakfaspterformancPehanfoms

Soyouarestillintenton runninga KillerBreakfasto, f theRavenlofwt,eopenedwiththefollowinglyrics
set(withapologiesto) thetuneof "Phantomof the
eh?Don'tsaywe didn'twarnyou. Thenextstepis
foryouto createa beatchartthatincludetshetiming Opera:"
(LAURA)
ofyourKillerBreakfapset rformancYeo. uonlyhavea
Wewroteadventurgeame/sfor TSR
llmitetdimeto performandyouneedto makesureyou
Butoneabovefheresf/ Wasquitebizarre.
geet verythinign beforethenextseminadr emandysou
Nowit's returnedagain/ thoughnotthesame...
$veupthe room.
Thewritersof theRavenlohftavecome...
Thisbeatassumeysouarerunninga two-hour
Toplaytheirgame!
KilleBr reakfast.
(TRACY)

Preshow Comeplaymy RPG/ for thesetwo hours

Beforethegamebeginsyoushouldarriveabout We'llkill morecharacte/rsthantenJackBauers!
anhourearlyif possibleY.ouwillneedto makesure It's KillerBreakfastitme.Youglancebehind...

thaat nyaudio/visuanleedshavebeenproperlysetup Themakerosf theRavenlofrteturn...

andthattheyareworkingasyouexpectD. othisevenif Toblowyourmind!

youhaveperformedin thisvenuebefore,becaustehere

arealwaylsastminutechangesw,hichwill needto be It wasat thispointthatLauraandTracyboth

deawh ithpromptly.Setout yourcharactesrheetslo, ok climbedaboarda recently-procurleudggagdeollyand

attheroomwithaneyetowardhowpeoplewill flow hadourcrewpushusthroughtheaudiencwehilewe

througthheroom,wheretheywill gettheircharacter sang.

sheewt,hichsidetheywill comeup to thestagea, nd (rAuRA)

whicshidetheywill departhesuge. Thosewho haveplayedthe gamed, raw backin

r05

dread.Charactersspringto life.. . a bottomlescsrevassaen, dSet2 wastheJungleCruise
(TRACY) througha dragon-infestsewdamp.

Thendropdowndead!

(DUET) lmportantTip: Youshouldtry to completely

Andthoughyou pleadandbeg/ androllyour clearthetableof players-iontherwordsk, illallof

dice. . themat once-beforeyouchangesets.lt makesfora

TheDMof theRavenlofwt ill kill.. . nicetransitionfor theaudiencaendletsyoustartfresh,

Andnot thinktwice! withlittlebaggagien eachset.

Thisisexactlythekindof bigproductionnumber Bothof thesesetsshouldtakejustaboutten

thatXDMslivefor!Planon theseopeninsgequences minuteseach,bringingyourgameto about hethirty

(includintghegameintroductionto) takeup no more minutemark.You'llneeda pacingbreakat thispoint,

thantenminutes.Youneedto gettheplayersinto sogivecontroloverto yourassociatoe runthefirst

thegame. LauraQuest.

S e t# 1 s . 2 LauraQuest #1
LauraQuesuarelittleaudiencpearticipation
Nextyou needto planon a coupleof setsA.

"set" in KillerBreakfasistessentialalyscenelikein gametshatbreakup theKillerBreakfasatndgivethe

a playor a movie.lt usualltyakesplacein a specific XDMrunningit a chancteo breatheT.heyarenamed

settingor location(youwon'thavemuchtimeto do afterLauraHickmanw, hooriginatetdheLauraQuest
more)anddealswitha specifijcokeor dilemmathat andwhohasbeenperformintghemnowfor years.

isrelatedto thegeneratlheme. TherearethreetraditionaLl auraQuests:

Forexamplein, the2008 editionknownas

AnimatedKillerBreakfaswt,e usedthethemeof role l. AlienAbductionThisinvolvebseachballsbeing

playingmeetsWaltDisneyT. heentireadventure thrownintotheaudiencea,skingthattheybounce

wasstructuredarounda bizarreversionof Disney- it backandforthovertheirheadsuntilthemusic

land.Playersstartedin a tavernset(wheretheTown stopsT. hosestillholdingtheballwhenthemusic

Squarieslocateda) ndthenproceedetdo encounter stopsgetsa prize.Thisisoftena speciaTl -shirbt ut

bizarresetsthatmirroredtheJungleCruiseP, irates canalsobesomethinagsmind-blowingelxyciting

of theCaribbeanth, eMatterhorna, ndlt's a Small asbeingbumpedto thefrontof thelineto come

World.In thiscaseS, etI wouldberepresentebdy on stage.

theTownSquareTavernw, hichwassurroundebdy

1 IHINK 1HISfIEANSTHERESA
sETCHANaECOMIN6.,,,

106

2. RedShirtAptitudeTestThisisbasedon a South Now,Dungeonmastetor"thetuneof ,rDonrCt ry for
AmericangamecalledCai.In thisgamet,he Me,Argentina."

leadeor n stagedemonstratefosurdifferenpt osi-

tions-handfsormingvisorovereyesa, rmscrossing It waswayfoolish.. .
chesto, nearmbentwiththeotherarmtouching ThatmoveI made...
I forgotandjustopenedthedoor.. .
theelbowa, ndarnis.astideswithhandsonwaist Andmy dex-ter-i-tdyidn,thelpme onebit,
- thentellstheaudienctehatwhensheshousCai ButI'm a cleric,
theymustperformoneof thethreehandpositions
Andcheckingfor trapsisn,twhatI should
thatisdifferentthantheonesheisdoing.lf they
matchher,theyareout. do.

3. Diceof the GodsThisisa gamewherepeople That'sFrank'jsob,
areaskedto rolltheirD20 die.Anyonewhorolls becausehe'saThief...
anythinogtherthana 20 isout.Keeprollinguntil
yougetthenumbeor f liars. . . I meanwinners I blamehim,andthinkyoushouldt,oo!
downto a manageabslieze. Torun thisgame'snot easy.
Youshouldgetpaid.

Thesequestsareimportanat stheyprovideanop- For sufferingthroughplaythat,spoor,
portunityfor theaudiencteo beinvolvedandtheyallow from idiotslikeFrank,
theXDMto gathehr isor herthoughsbeforelaunching whoreallyshouldquit.
Youarea GEN-IOUS!
intothenextsetsP. lanon thistakingyouto about35
minuteisntotheperformance. Quotingtablesandchartsoff thetopof your
head.

Set#3 And I thinkyourhygiene,squitegood,

Thisisa bit longesr inglesetthatyoushouldplan no matterwhatanyonesays!
on takingyouto aboutthefrftyminutemarkin the Don'tkill menow,dungeonmaster!
performanclet .willbeimportantto keepthepaceof Thetruthis.. . I don't deserviet!
thegamehighthroughthisset. Nl throughmy wildplay,

LauraQuest #2 the mapsthatwedrew!
Yougetanotherbreakhereat thefifty minute I broughtDor-i-tos...
Andalwaylsikedyou!
mark.ThisLauraQuesst houldagaintakeaboutfive
minutesandgetyoubackintothegamefreshat just Thismusicanlumbesr houldtakeyouiustpast
beforethehourmark. theonehour,twentyminutemarkandsetyouup
for thepushtowardtheendof thegame.
Set#4

Makethisonea tenminutesetandperformit with Set#5
ener€iyY.ouwillflnishthisat aboutheonehourten Thissetisaboutfifteenminutesandshouldtake
minutemarkin theperformance.
youintoyourfinalLauraQuest.lt iseasyto letyour
guarddownin thisset. Keepyourenergyup andthe
StretchSong

You reallyneeda breathear t thispointin the deathcounthigh.Planonthissetrunningto theone

marathons,othisistheperfectplaceto performthe hourthirty-fiveminutemark.

StretchSongT. hisisthemiddlesongof thethreethat LauraQuest #3
makeupyourperformancaendisintendetdo give
ThisisthefinalLauraQuesat ndyourlast
everyonea littlerest.Thissongcanevenbea ballad, breathebr eforetheendof theperformancelt.
solongasyouhavesomeonwe hocanperformit. In shouldleaveyouwithjusttwentyminutesto go.
2OO7f,or exampleL,auraperforme,d,Don,tKillMe

107

lJrnHnnrEXDM

Set#6 whatis trulyfunnybasedasmuchaspossibloen the

Yourfrnasl etandyoushouldmakethisone actionsor descriptionysougetfromtheplayerisn the

specialC. raftthissetarounda largescalebattlein game.

whichyoucaninvolvetheaudienceT.hissetneedtso Onetechniqufeor makingthisworkisto get

bespectaculaanr dhaveanepicscaleto it. lt should actiondescriptionfrsomallof theplayerast thetable

alsobedevastatingelyxplosivelt. isnot uncommonto beforeyoudeterminteheresultosf theiractionsY. ou

reachfor eithertheHolyHandGrenadoef Antioch needto keepa picturein yourheadof allof these

or a thermonucledaer viceat thispoint.Finishoff the actionsandconsidehrowthosesameactionsmightcon.

entireaudiencwehileyouareat it*andleavethem tradictor clashwitheachother.Bycombiningcharacter

witha bang! actionsyou canoftencomeup with outrageoucsonse-

Big Finish quences.
Havingthusdestroyendot onlythe playeros n-
ForexampleA: giantlapanesme onsteirsstomp-
ingdownthestreetowardyourplayersc' haracters.
stagebut theentireaudiencaeswell,thereisnothing Youaskeachof theplayerast thetablewhattheirchar.
leftto do butsingtheclosinsgongT. raditionalltyh,is acterisgoingto do. Onesayssheisgoingto leapintoa
hasbeenourrenditionof "ChainmaWil oman"to the
tankanddriveit towardthemonsterT. henextsayshe
tuneof RoyOrbison's"PrettyWoman"butyoucan will pulla missileout of hisbackpacakndfrreit toward
chooseyourownappropriatceloserasyouseefrt.
themonsterT.hethirdsays hewilliumpoutof the

acRreobulmoienuWTNesmttnhhoohooiawntywshtw?tgttehhTootemahhupataoyleuvdtos'tbislttuGbiyeoomheygnaapcoetuavohutheuern.ttehseataaerelxnesbapKtutaeniclrsdlectpdicermeiBfsrferfsieoccfKauruhmikllalptlfaenaanrisfBcwitctn.os,reeemf aaiknfdastwttgffmhhloueaiiirsrsncytds,hs..aTTciteflhhhhetlieeaeaes,rpfrrfcarooaaaflctulcnrthktrrhehetieelehsiertddaAadeaaeolciswprswtuosiFaiionnnuyoundbmfrrnsheycopdartetnhsehviT.tnereoethhbtmftoeaeetteihnteshaaeknsendss.iAtlkyeeaeiwnbnccn,duthlokaeteatnrrhhrnepdceiedsdrihisstewfartihtxherraieataisthgsiccittotththoahsnedteflereh's.

worfd-claXssDM.Tracyisa 1772nLdeveXl DMand frfth,hidingcharacte(rkillfive,killthree),blowingup
hefrndstheperformanceequivalentot a marathon. thetank(killone,kill four)iustastheshellisfiredinto

Theultimatesuccesosr failureof a KillerBreak- theair,explodinagmongtheplaneosf theJapaneAseir

fastrestsfirmlyon theshoulderosf theXDM running Forcec, ausinsgeveratol fallfromtheskyintothestreet

theshow.Youhaveto thinkquicklyon yourfeet, belowasflamingdebris(killtwo,killsix).

bepreparedto changedirectionfrommomento

momenat ndkeepyourmindsearchinfogr thenext

interpretatioonf playeractionsandhowtheymight

beconstrued-omr isconstrued-tihnemostentertain- ACTUALLPYRETTY
ingfashionH. aveno illusionsP:erforminagKiller

Breakfasistaboutbeinginstantlyfunnyfor two hours

usingmateriatlhatisconstantlbyeingthrownat you

fromveryintelligenptlayerws howouldlikenothing

betterthanto putyouoff yourgame.

What's So Funny?

Thefirstlawof XDMinga KillerBreakfasistthat
it mustbeentertaining-whicmheanysoumustbe

entertainingH.avinga senseof humor,timing,and
pacingarecriticatlo makingyourKillerBreakfast
function.

Moreimportantlyy,ouneedto havea senseof

108

(rmn$neerrnsrroQo

Keepingthe Lid On, While StayingOff the arguewiththem(theydon'tdeserviet), neverexplain

Bottom: anythintgo them(theywon'tunderstanitd), and

Don'tcounton theplayertso provideentertain- don'tlistento themraveon (theyaren'tworththe

ment;sometimeysou'llcomeacrosas goldenplayer time).

w h oi s t r u l y e n t e r t a i n i n g - a nwdh e nt h a t h a p p e n si t, Justkillthem,bootthemoff thestagea, nd

makeysourjob somucheasiera,ndyoushouldkeep moveon withthegameY. ou'reanXDM!Standtall!

themaroundaslongaspbssibleB.utfor themostpart, You'resupposetodoff theircharactearndyoudon't

youcancounton playersin anyKillerBreakfasgtame oweanexplanatiofnor it to anyonel,easot f allsome

to feedoff thebottom-toreachfor thelowesct ommon pansyw, hinyplayer.

denominatoorf pottyhumorandthegrossliyuvenile. Dealingwith Bribes,for Fun and Profit
It isyourjobasanXDMto bothkeepthelidon,
Finallyo,netraditionhasmadeis wayintoKiller
meanintghatyouensurethatthegamedoesnot get
Breakfasfot r goodor ill, andthatisbribesI.n many
outof hand,andkeepyourplayersfromdragginygour roleplayinggamesb,ribingthegamemastiesra tried
gamedowninto the muck.
andtruemeanosf gettingyourwaywhenthediceare
W h e nw et a l ka b o u tk e e p i ntgh el i d o n ,w h a tw e nothelpingyou. Thisisreflecteidn theKillerBreak-
fastparodyof suchgames.
aremostlytalkingaboutismaintaininfgrrmcontrolof
theperformanceP.layerisn a KillerBreakfaspterfor- A fewTwizzlerasnda bagof Doritosisfine,but
sometimetshesegifu cangetentirelyout of hand.So
mancewill naturallyattempto wrestcontrolof the
gameawayfromthe XDM. Someplayersmisukenlysee
thisasa contesbt etweenyouandthem,ratherthanas wehavetriedto establisthhefollowingasiron-clad
rules:
anentertainment.

KilltheircharacterD. o it now.Do not passgo,do l. No CashBribesAn XDMnevertakesa cash

notcollec$t 200 . . . iustkillthem. bribe.Theonlyexceptiotno thisruleiswhen
At thesametime,you needto keepeveryonoeut thegameisbeingrunasa charityfundraiser
andthenonlyif allthemoneygivenasbribesis
of thegutter.Themomentsomeonsetaruusingbawdy
donateddirectlyto thecharity.Endof story.
humorandtriesto dragyourgamewiththemintothe
gutter. . . well,youshouldjustkillthem,too. Senda

messagtheatyouwillnot toleratesuchbehavioirn your

gameX; DMsdo notdwellin thegutterl

Tempo!Tempot Tempo! A IHOUSANOOOLLA?P, ONATION
Comedyisallaboutiminga, ndin thiscasethat
10 lHE ORPHANA6EC,,O, NERfrTULfrT'ON!S
alsomeanstempo!Youhaveto keeptheenergyhighall lHE SHARKIHAT IS EAT|n.lY,OOUONLY
HASTI]REEROWSOF TEEIH,

throughtheperformanceT.hemomenyt ouslackoff,

you'reshowinwg eaknesasndyourplayerws illpounce!

P a c ey o u r s e ldf u r i n gt h eg a m ea n dt a k ea l lt h e

advantagoef thesongsandLauraQueststo giveour

overheatinbgraina rest. Butwhenthebellringsy, ou

haveto comeoutswinginagndnotletup untilit'sall

over.

Deathls Firm, Final,and Unquestioned!
Themomenyt ousensesomeonaet thetableisgo-

ingto arguewithyouor challengyeourcallratherthan
p l a yw i t h y o u , k i l l t h e i rc h a r a c t e r .

Rightnow. Killtheircharactearnddo soin the
mostemphatiacndunquestionawblaeypossibleN.ever

109

2. NeverRewardExtravaganBtribesYoumust thewizardisnowthegamemasterT. hegamemaster,
neverrewardanexpensivberibewithanymore of coursei,snowthewarrior.
consideratiothnananinexpensiovene.Killone

iustasquicklyastheother. Murder in the Dark Game

Deathwasnevermeanto bethismuchfun. Murderin theDarkisa gamethatyouthplayat
partiesT. heconcepitssoundh, owevera,ndelements

KennyBakerGame of it mightbeuseto createsomeveryinterestinagnd
strangedynamicdsuringa roleplayinggame.
TheKennyBakeGr ameisa reallyfunconcept
Forexamplei,f youhavefiveplayerst,henyou
thatTracy'sdaughterA, ngel,mentioneadt one
point.Duringthisgametheroleof thegamemasteirs havefrveslipsof paper.Eachonesayssomethindgif-
ferent.Perhaposnesays",You havejoinedthisgroup
constantlcyhanginfgrompersonto personI.n fact,in in orderto killtheveryKingyouaretryingto save.,,
anideaKl ennyBakers. ituationth, iswouldatsomean And anothesrays",Youowea debtto theKingand
thatalltheplayersrotateaswell. In otherwords,every havejoinedthisgroupin orderto prevenht isassas-
somanyminutes( | 5?)everyoneat thetablemoves sination.T"hethingis,thepaperasrepasseodutat
overa spot.Theguywhowasplayingthewarrioris
randoma, ndnot necessarailyt thestartof thegame.
nowplayingtheelf,thegirlwhowasplayingtheelfis Eventhegamemastedr oesn'tknowwhateveryone,s
nowplayingthewizarda, ndtheguywhowasplaying motivesare.

PARr(yANlrSREALLEYRl,Vq

gqy u,ilrRs0c!0pfiTl{:

; Tlre reasonitt calledthe Kenny BakerGameis basedon a variation
of heartsthat our relativeKennyBakercameup with, in whichaftereach
round,the handyou haveis passedto your left,

110

XDMrHEp.nvsRs$EcrroN

Yl/ vv

{/

S/--

\ra.-\IHJI

:w\

,// I,{( (.

f, HamERFoURTEEHNo:wYouF-nvrHEQelce

krdan slogskneedeepthroughtheblack,foul beyondthelightof hisburningsword.krdan bared

watersH. ismassivebicepstwitchwith anticipationth, eir histeeth,growlingashe advancetdhroughtheswirling

enormoupsowerbarelyheldin check.Eachbone-chilling blackwatersaroundhisfeet.

stephe takesthroughtheankledeepwaterabouthim SuddenlyK,ardan'ms ammotbhodyshookat the

heightenhsisbuildingrage,nearlyblindinghimin hislust soundof a scream.lllirionH!ervoicepiercedhissoul!

for justiceandrevengeA.lmostforgottenarehiscompa- Thesoundhadcomefrom justbeyondthedoor

triots,fivetruefriendswhohavepledgedtheirlifeto him to hisright!

andmaywellbe calleduponto redeemthatpledgethis

verynight. FreezferameP. opquiz.Multiplechoicea, nd

Threedaysbefore,themightywarriorandhiscom- pleasefeelfreeto rereadtheabovetextagainbefore

panionsfoughttheirwayinto theMountainTempleof eachanswer.

Thog-kjarina searcohf Kardan'bsetrothedt,hePrincess Kardan'nsextactionwillbe:

Illirion.Thebarbarianm'sortalenemyl,mhothisof Chaos,

threatenedherdeathk. rdan knewthattheHighPriest l. Kardanwillcheckfor trapsl.f hedoesnothave

Imhothiscarednothingonewayor theotherconcerning thisabilityK, ardanwillturnto a membeor f the

thelifeof a princessH. isonlythoughwt asto causepain partybehindhimanddeterminwehichof them

to thebarbarianlordbeyondanywoundthatweapons cancheckfor traps.

of steeml ightinflict.ln this,Kardanknewwith clenched-

teethsuretythatImhothishadsucceededH. islovesuf- 2. Kardanwilltakethisopportunityto searchfor

feredbecausoef him,andtheknowledgoef it burnedhis secredt oors.Thisshouldtakeabouttenmin-

souL utes.

Kardandrewhisgreast wordEiric,flameslicking

downits shininglength.Itsflickeringbluelight,illuminated 3.Kardansimplyassumethsatthedooristrapped

thedeepesctorridorof thetempledungeonR. otting anddeviseascomplemx eanosf openingthe

woodencelldoorssaggeidn theirstoneframeworkon doorfroma safeandprudentlocationdown

eitherside,theirranksdisappeariningto theblackness thecorridorutilizingfifty feetof rope,several

112

HowYouPrnvrHEQmm

spikesb,lock,tacklea, ndpulleysw, hichhehas ALLEN:"Right!"(ToDM) "Whatkindof wooden
notedon hischaractesrheet. doorisit?"

4. Kardant,o befairto theotherpartymembers, DM: (Somewhafltustereds,earchinhgismemoryfor
asksthemto voteon whattheyshoulddo next. thetypesof woodhelearnedin shopclassbut
cannothinkof any.)"A woodenwoodendoor!"
5. Kardanwill moveto thebackof thepartyand
allowthethiefwith betterstatsto takecareof ETHEL(:Fromthemiddleof theparty. Ethel
thisone. learnedlongagothatthosewhostandat theback
of thepartycangetattackedthere,too.) "Which
Beforeyou answetrhissimplequiz,let'stakea w a yd o e st h e d o o ro p e n ? "
momentto joinanothear dventurien anothepr lace
andtimeandseeif thisismorefamiliatro you.The D M : " T o w a r dy o u ,i n t ot h ec o r r i d o r . "
scenea: kitchentable.Thepizzaiscold,thedrinks
arewarm,andtheeternadl ungeongoeson. . . and ETHEL":Whatkindof handle?"
on...andon...
DM:"Oh, for cryingout.. . a regulahr andlel,ikea
DM:"Like,uh,youarein thishallwaayndit ends lever."
ina door."
ETHEL":Okay!Now,I climbthewalloverthedoor
ALLAN:"A door!"(Turningto fellowplayers andwithmy hammedr rivea spikeintothestone-
Betty,Charliea, ndEthel.)"Hey, it'sa door. workoverthedoor,thenI godownthehallback
Whatdo wedo for a door?" thewaywecamefrom.. . oh, 30 feetanddrive
anothesr pikeintothewall.ThenI takemy 50'
CHARLIE(:ToAllan.)"Whatkindof doorisit?" pieceof rope-seei,t's righthereon my character
sheet-anmd akea loopin it, andusingmy ten-
A L L A N : ( T o t h e D M , s u s p i c i o u s l"yR. )i g h t !W h a t footpole..."
kindof doorisit?"
DM: "You draggeda ten-footpoleintothedun-
DM: (ChecknsotesT. hedescriptioin theadven- geon?"
turedoesnottellhimthekindof door.DM mo-
menurilyconsiderwshethetrhereisa Random ETHEL":See!lt's righthereon my charactesrheet.
DoorTypeTablesomewherien the Dungeon Anyway,I usemyten-footpoleanddrapethe
l4aster'Cs uidethatheisnotawareof andthen loopoverthehandleT. henI bringtheropeover
responds".l)t's ... a woodendoor!" thespikeandovertheotherspikeandthen,
standintghirty feetawayfromthe doorwith my
ALLAN:(To fellowplayers.")lt's a woodendoor! backagainstht ewall,I pulltheropeandopenthe
Okay.Whatdo wedo for a woodendoor?" door."

BETTY(:Leafrntghroughherspelbl ookpages) DM: (Aftera shortpausewhilethe DM considers
"l thinktheremightbea spelflor thiskindof whethehr ewantsto botherwiththeactuapl hysics
thing.Firebal.l..Flamestrik.e.." involveidn thisfeatof engineering"O.)kay."

C H A R L I E(:T o A l l e n . )" A s k h i mw h a tk i n do f ALLEN:"Wait!Weflattenourselveasgainstthewall,
woodendoorit is." tool

XDMrHEFnvsRsSECrroN

D M : " F i n e .W h a t e v eTr .h ed o o ri so p e n . " intricatelcyarveddoorwith imageos f-"

Tracydidn'twaitfor him.

ETHEL":l climbup overthedoorandpeekdown "l goandopenthedoor."

carefullyfromthetop of thewindowcasement. A stunnesdilencaeroundtheuble ... then

Whatdo I see?" chaos!

DM:"Yousee. . (bigdramatipcause.). .aten-foot TThraecoytshheorpultaeyd'eY,rEshSo,IuDteOd",!N" o hedoesn't!"
widecorridorrunningthirtyfeetin frontof you.

At theendyousee. ." Thenextroomhappenetdo beinhabitedby two

minotaursw, hohadheardtheshoutinglongbe-

ALLEN:(Filledwithdread)"Yes?Yl es?W! hatisit?" forethebarbariacnhargedin. Oneof thepartywas

criticallyinjuredandseveratol oksomebadlumps,

DM:"lt's. . . anothedr oor!" includintghebarbarian.

lustastheclericwaswrappingup a roundof
YouknowthisgameY. ou'veplayedin thisgame! healingT, racyturnedto theDM.

It isthereasown hy"Knightsof theDinneTr able"was "ls thereanothedr oorin theroom?"

thefirstplaceweturnedto whenwegotourcopyof "Wel|" hesaidcautiously"b, ehinda massive
'DragonMagazinee'achmonth.(Whenit stillwasa stonealtar,a bandedmetaldooris-"

magazinweithpages.W) e'veallsatat B.l.'stable. "l openit!"

T h ep a r t ym u s th a v eg o n et h r o u g ht h i r t y r o o m s

The DeadlyDungeonSession thatnight.Theychasetdhatbarbariaanllaroundthat

Thishappenetdo Tracyin a dungeosnessionH.e dungeonfromonemessto thenext.Eventualltyhey

wasplayinga barbariacnharactesrurroundebdy the cameuponanevilwizardT. racy'sforensicaccoun-

dungeoninegquivalenotf forensicaccountantEs.v- tantfellowadventurewrsereobviouslsyettlinginto

erydoorwecameuponhadto havepaintchipssent a pointlessa,ndtediouslpyrolongedp,arleywiththe

to thelabfor cobaltcarbondatingT. hepartywould old mystic.

spendthirtyminuteson sucha door.Theywouldwaste Thenandthere,Tracydecidedthathisbarbarian

anentireeveninogn a singleroom.Untiltheyfinally hatedwizardsH. econcoctesdomestoryabout he

endedup in anornatechamberT.heroomdescription barbarians'sisterbeingturnedintoa goatfor a while

statedthatthewallsandpillarswerecoveredwithrunes whenhewasyoun&andheneverhadgottenoverit.

butgaveno furtherdetailsT. heplayersquiteliterally Thebarbariawnalkedup to thewizardandspit

couldn'rteadthewritingon thewall,butyoucouldn't in hisface.

convincetheplayersof that.Theyspentallnightin that Whata battle!

oneroomlookingfor somethintghatjustwasn'there. Thepartyfellbackintothecorridor;themagic

After thatplayingsessionT,racywasangryand flew!Theparty'sownwizardi,n theexcitemengt,ot

discourageOd.neof theotherplayersaidto him, carriedawayandthrewa frrebalilntotheroomwhich

"Hey,you'rea barbarianB. ebarbaric!" wasonlythirtyfeetsquarewitha tenfootceiling.

An ideacanbea dangerouthsing. Toasties!

Thenextweek,Tracywasdeterminetdo play Manya bravePCwascharbroiletdhatnight.

hisbarbarialnikea barbariaTn.hegamestartedin that Butwhata greatstoryto tell!

samerunecoveredroom.

TheDM said,"Well,youarein a roomwhere The Boring Long Life Character

runescoverthewalls." Whydo weplaythesegamesT?o beboring?Do

And oneof theforensiacccountanstsaid,"lf I wesayto ourselve"sL, et'sallgettogethenr extweek

holdthegnomeupsidedown,canshereadtherunes?" and,insteadof leadingoureverydanboringlives,Iets

Tracyturnedto theDM andsaid,"Whereisthe makebelievewearefantascyharacterlesadingboring

doornearestto my character?" lives."

"Wellr"hesaidsolemnly"t,o yourleftyouseean Truthbetold,wedon'tcarefor PCswhoare

11+

HowYouF-nvrHQEmm

highetrhan8th levelW. earedeeplysuspiciouosf rity.Youcansoakup anawfullot of experiencpeoints

thosewhoclaimto havea thief/druid/assas(s6in9th by sittingbackandlettingothercharacterdso thedying

leveiln each)witha swordof +2O InstantlKy ill for you,butwhereisthefunin that?

Anythinagnd+ 60 Armorof Weightleslms penetra- Youmuststartby makingupyourmindto be

bilityand50 bazilliognoldpiecesS. uchcharacters heroic,evenif yourcharactedries.

areasboringastheycome.Theyareno fun.They Look,weknowyourcharacteisr speciatlo you

aren'et veninterestingW. hatkindof storycanyou buthecoulddiefromsomeDM'sdumbtrapandwhat

tellabouta charactelrikethat? wouldyouhave?No storyworthtelling.lf yourcharac-

"Oh, mycharactewraschallengebdy Zeusto a terisboringalivet,henheisworsethandead.

wrestlinmgatchandl, like,killedeveryonoen Olym- WhatisthealternativeB?ecometheherothatyou

puslastnight." longto be.lt isn'twhetheyr ouliveor die,it's howyou

Yawn. playthegameS. oif you'regoingto play,playwell!Be

Manyyearsago,whileTracyworked a hero!

asgamedesigneart TSR,he

talkedto a fellowoverthe

phoneT. hisyoungstehrad ThingsWhich You Can Do to

calledwitha questionand Make Your GameBetter

theswitchboarsdenthim Therearesomespecificthingsthat

upto Tracy. youcando thatwill makeyourcharac-

"Thecharacterins my ter better.

gameareallaround65 and, Findyour Character's
like,if theykilleda god,would
anythinbgadhappento them? Kryptonite

l, meanw, ouldtheclericsbe Weallknowhowhelp-
pisseodr something?"
f u l c h a r a c t ebra c k g r o u ncdasnb e .
PerplexedT,racy
Don'tiustlet yourcharactesrpring
asketdhiskidif heused outof nothing-givehima place

theoffrciaAl DetD hecomesfromanda background.

modules. You'llbesurprisehdowmuchthis

"Yesr"he littleexercisien storymakinwgill
replied",we go
throughabout helpyoudefinethelikesand
threeor fourof
themeveryFriday dislikeosf yourcharacter.

night." Howevera, syouarecreat-
MontyHaulhasfounda
===*-+=,- ingthe backgrounsdtory takea
newstandard!
No, thankyou!Giveusa charactethr atdoes lessonfromKryptoniteD. idyou

bravedeedsGl iveusa charactearboutwhichwecan everwondewr hytherearesomany
tella goodstory evenif hedoesbuythefarm!
differenkt indsof KryptoniteW? hyisthisstuff(asup-
It wasBenFrankliwn hosaid", To beremem-
berede, itherwritea bookor do somethinwgorth posedlyultrarareelemenftroma destroyepdlanetfar
writinga bookabout."
fromourown)soreadilyavailabtleo nefariouusnder-
Themistakennotionw, hichwasbuiltup over
thelasttwenty-fivyeearsi,sthatin a roleplaying worldfigureswhentheyneedit?
gamesurvivinmg eanswinningT. hisphilosophrye-
sultedin a lot of peoplegivingup heroicsfor secu- SurprisingsliympleS: upermawnouldbeSuper-

borewithoutit. Hewouldbeunstoppablaen, dwhereis

thestoryin that?

Achilleshadhisheelandeverygoodcharactehras

hadhisor herequivalensitnceY. ourcharactenreeds

somevulnerabilitayndyouarejustthepersonto seehe

getsit.

XDMrHEEeveRsSECrioN

Give your characterautomaticreactions Of coursew, erealizethattheappeaol f role-

Thisdoesn'thaveto beasrestrictivaesit sounds. playinggameissthatit canbea cooperativeen-
Youshouldgiveyourcharacter:
deavorW. eheartilyencouragaespiritof camaraderie

amongpartymembers.

l. Threethingshewill fight over Thiscanbeany- Butif theresultisnot heroict,henit,stimeto

thing:A ladyin distressa;manin distressin; justice takemattersout of thehandsof thecommittee.

to thepoor;iniusticeto therich... whateveyrour Wesuggestht efollowingguidelines:

charactebrackgrounmd ightindicate. If your charactehrasnotdoneanythingin thelast

fiveminutesd,o something.Anything!

2. Onethinghewill quailfrom evelytime. Fear If you cannotsolveapuzzlein tenminufes.Leaye

of anythingworksfinehere.Fearof anytypeof it. lf youcan'tsolveit, youeitherhaven,ftound

monsteor r obiector action.Tracyoncehada enoughinformationto dealwithit properlyo, r the

clericwhoprofesseadprofoundfearof rope.This DM isn'tdoinghisiobright.Theanswelrieselse-

seemedharmlesesnoughto therestof theparty wheren, otin standinagroundandponderinglf.you

untiltheyrememberetdhe entrancteo think youhavea solutionc, omeback.Other-

thedungeonwasdowna wise,geton withit.

t h i r t y f o o t s h a f t .T h i s I 1HINK Be dramatic
forcedanotherplayer
HE CAME lf youhaveanytraining
to tell Tracy'scleric THISWA!Y
a storyabouthis in theateru, seit. Yourvoiceis
yourmostpowerfutlool in any
"magicrope roleplayinggameT. hrough
powder"which yourvoiceyoupaintthe
wouldmakeany
ropeabsolutelsyafe. pictureof yourcharacter.
T h a tt h e m y s t e r i - Let your voiceportray

ouspowderwas yourfeelings.

saltwasnever Also,drawon

mentioneidn realfeelingsD. on't

frontof the letyourcharacter
fearfucl leric. justwandelrike

3. Onethinghewill '- .: a mindleshsulk
throughyour

fight to the deathfor. Makeit a goodone,be- gamesY. ourown

causethismaybe the lastone.Don,tbeshy;pick experiencecsangivedepthof understandintogwhat
somethinwgellbeyondtheabilitieosf mortaml en. yourcharacteisr feeling.

Somethinngobleandimpossibsleoundgsood.you Be creative
mightalsopreparea tear-jerkinsgpeechto de-
liverfor yourdeathsceneif whateveyroupicked Try to takeaninnovativleookat everything
thatisaroundyourcharacteinr thedungeonU. sing
provedto bea littlebeyondyourrange. everythinagroundyou:lf youcanseeit, oddsareyou

Take chargeof your own destiny canuseit to somedramaticadvantageT.hismeans

No onecontrolsyourcharacteorr shouldcon- trainingyourseltfo obseryeverythinagroundyou
trol yourcharactebrutyou.Whatyourcharactedroes andhavetheinnovatiotno useit.

shouldbeup to youandnotsomecommitteeof others. OnceTracywasin a dungeonwheretheparty
ln yourhandsistheabilityto controlthegameflow.lf ranintoa library.lt wasobviousthatthebookin the
thegameisdraggingy,ou canchangethat.lf thegame centerof theroom(theonewiththecolumnof light

istoo fast-welli,t's nevertoo fast. shiningon it) wastheonetheDM wantedusto look

HowYouF,nvrHQEnnne

at.Tracy,howevers,tartedaskingabouttheother aswellastheircapabilitiesst,rengthsa,ndweaknesses.

bookin thelibrary. lust asyourpartyisbalanceadndworksto utilizeallthe

" ] u s t b o o k s "s a i dt h e D M . talengof itsgroupto itsadvantageso: too mustyour
"Givemesometitlesr"Tracyreplied. gamegroupworktogethefror thebestsuccess.

TheDM,thinkingto embarrahssim,cameup

withsometerribletitleslike LoveRitualosf theOrcs Conclusions

andPassioDnanceosf theOgres. Considethr is:Whatarethehit dice,armorclass,

Tracy'scharactetrookthebooks. anddamagsetatisticosf a minotautrhatyoudiscover

TheDM thenforgotallabout hem.. . afterhastilybustingdowna door?

. . .Untilthepartywasconfrontedby a groupof Now,whatarethehit dice,armorclassa, nddam-

orcsandTracypulledthose(fullyillustratedw) orks agestatisticosf a minotautrhatyoucreepup on after

outanddisplayetdhemto theattackers. spendintgwentyminutecsheckinagdoor?

Now, thatdistractetdhe orcs! TheyarethesameS. tatisticallsye, ttingasidefirst

lf it's describedit, canbeused.DriveyourDM roundsurprisefactorst,hereisno realstatisticadliffer-

crezyE. venif youdon'tuseeverythinygoufrnd,be encebetweenbeingcarefual ndbeinggonzoh, ang-it-

awaroef it sothatyou over-the-edgteo,-the-wabllrave.

coulduseit if you gIO OUY,BLACKHAIQ,, Tracyoncehada paladinthatwastheworst
needetdo. Mac- SHEEPSKINOOA, CARRIES pain-in-the-reparladinyoucould
Guweroftenescapes possiblhyopeto avoid.Hewas
withnothingbuta A REALLgYIO AXE?
Mr. Cleanalltheway.Tracyhad

papercliplf. youhave workedout a dealwiththeDM that,

a paperclipth, enuseit. solongasthememberosf theparry

Inanimatoebjecu didnotconducat nyoutwardly

arenot the onlythings questionabalcetof evil,thepala-

thatyou canuseto dinwouldnotchecktheiralign-

youradvantageN.PCs, ment.Thismeanthat

whenrunproperlya, re wehada paladinin

a $eat sourceof a partyof neutraal nd
informatioanbout chaoticevilPCs.But,oh,

whatisgoingon howcarefutlhosePCshad

aroundyourchar- to be.

acteraswellasoccasion- Our queswt asto retake

allyprovidindgirecthelp. a castleo, wnedby a goodking,

NPCscanbefunif you whichhadbeentakenoverby an

usethemright.Don't evilwizardA. t onepoint,thepala-

engagien meaningless d i n s t o p p e dt h e p a r t yf r o m b r e a k -

parleyusnlesasllyouare ingdowna dooron thegrounds

a f t e ri s p l e a s a ncto n v e r s a - thatthedoorwasactuallythepropertyof a goodman

tion. (theking)andthatwreckinhgispropertywouldbe

BeThoughtful of Other Players'Needs wrong.

In yourheadlonrgushtowardindividuality, Thisgroupgotin thehabitof sendintghepaladin
remembetrhattheneedsof otherplayersin your
to "scoutaheadq" uitea bit.
At onepoint,whilethepaladinwas"scouting
grouparegoingto bedifferenthanyoursandare aheadrt"hepartyturnedrightwherethepaladinhad
justasimportanat syourown.Youmustkeepyour goneleft,andencounteretdwo bugbeagruardswatch-
otherplayersin mindin thesamewaythata goodPC inga smaltlreasureT.hegnomewastheonlymember
wouldkeeptheothermemberosf hispartyin mind, of thepartywhospokebugbeaarnd,beingsomething

117

xDM rHEEeveRsSECrroN

of a rascalb, egannegotiatinwgiththebugbearslf.the to addrestshebugbearfsor himin theirbaseand

bugbearwsouldtell uswherethereallybigtreasurwe as, fallentongue.

thenthepartywouldretreaat ndnobodywouldget Thepaladinbegan,"lf theywillbut

hurt.Thisseemeadgreeabtloethecreaturessincethey repent. ."

wouldstillbeguardintgheirowntreasure. Thegnometranslate"dl,F YOU WILLBUT
It wasat abouthistimethepaladinreturned. TELLUS.. .

Seeintghebugbearhse, drewhisswordat onceand "Of yourevilways. ."

charged. "WHERETHETREASURIES.. . "
Playinag gamethiswaynotonlymakeysourgame "ThenI willspareyourlives!"

improvebut it demandtshatothersplaybetteraswell. "WEWON'TSICHIMON YOU!"

Theplayeor f thegnomecharactehradonlysecondtso Thebugbear'esyesgrewwide,thenthey

think.Heturnedto meandheldup hishandss,aying, repliedwithveryexplicitdirectiontso thelarger

"No! Stop!Theywantto repent!" treasure.

Thepaladinstopped. Thegnometurnedto thepaladinandsaid,

Holdinghisgreatsworwdiththetip downandrest- "Theyagree."

inghispalmson is hilt,thepaladinaskedthegnome It isn'twhetheyrouliveor die.. .

|pzo RPrsP,nuNcsYsrEM

(;;( r\)

I

]
(

\re

)

)

t

;,N9/= I

:f\;d

ffi

IHImERFTFTEEJNH:eXDzo$asrcQnnm

Oncein anXDM'slifetimea, revolutionary effort,andcreativityon gamews hicharesocompli-

concepot f unprecedentepdowermanifestistselfto catedlydauntingthatyouaretheonlypersonin your

thegamingworld.Forthegamerosf theRenaissancehousewhocouldpossiblpylaythem.Let'sfaceit:

it wastheinventionof thetwenty-sideddie.Foryou Wearesurroundebdy gametshatnooneiswillingto

my luckyfriend,it'stheXD20gamesystemY. ou playwithus.lndeedt,hereisa highlikelyhoodthat

learnthissimplesystemonceandyouwill neverhave yourspousef,riend,mother,father,sisterb, rother,

to learnanothesr ystem.. . everagainE. verwanted or childrenfleeat theverymentionof oneof your

to playa ledi mastewr hofighsLordSothin Toon roleplayinggames.

Town,withouht avingto do insanecalculationthsat Wellnot anymorel

breakdowtnheveryphysicosf timeandspaceE? ver Welcometo theXD20 BasicAll-PurposReole

wishedyoucouldteachyourbuddyhowto play PlayGame.Foryou RoleplayingAfficianadoosut

hisfirstdungeoncrawlwithouthavingto handhim there,thisistheBasicversionof theXD20game

volumeaftervolumeof player'sreferencetsa,bles, systemT. heAdvancedversioncontainas lot more

andcharu?Everwanteda systemthatwill makeit wordsandstrivetso maintaitnheillusionof being

actuallpyossibl(ehoweveurnlikelyf)ora leveol ne overlycomplicatedB.utthisbasicversionisthegame

halflingto killa leve2l 4 deathknight?My dear youcanplaywithyourparentss,pousef,riends,

friendsof theXDM fraternityt,hetimehascome. siblingso,r kids.

Welcomteo theXD20RoleplayingGameSystem! Thinkof it asanolivebrancht,hebridge

TheXD20 RoleplayingGameSystemp,ro- betweenourworldandtherestof humanity.

ducedexclusivefloyr XDMs,isa shiftin gaming

paradigmWs.iththisgamesystemyouwillsoonbe

takingyourplayerosn fantastiacdventurethsatare lntroduction to Role Playing

filledwiththesameexcitemenwt,ondera, ndim- lf youaren'tfamiliawr ithroleplaying ames,

pendingdoomthatyourecalsl ofondlyfromwhen whatareyoudoingreadinagbouthisone?Only

adventurgeamews erenew. offrciallsyanctioneXdDMsareallowedto havethis

lf you'relikeus,you'vespenat lot of time, book-andif theycan'texplainwhata roleplaying

120 i

IHtr .h.L).{-tw ftADr\J ufuvrE

gameisabout,thentellthemtheyhaveiustlostfour . One regulationXDM+Gamemaster.
levelsY. ouwon'tknowwhatyousaid,butit will T h a t ' sa l l y o u n e e d .T h i si s t h e b a s i cg a m e ,

probablsyhockthesock off them! remember?

ActuallyX, D20isa reallygoodsystemfor

teachinpgeoplewhoarenewto roleplayingwhat Obiect of the game
thisgameof heroism-on-the-edisgaellabout.You're
Theobiectof yourgamewill bewhatevecr rary
goingto takea part,iustlikein a play,onlythelines thingyourXDMsaysistheobjectof thegame.lt could
aren'twrittenfor you-you'llbemakingupwhatyour beto recovetrheArc of theCovenantr,escuintghe
charactedroesalongtheway.Thinkof it aslow-pres- princesfsroma DeathStar,or tossingjewelrybackinto
surei,mprovisationtahleater. . . or playpretendif thevolcanothatit wasforgedin. lt canevenbegetting
youprefer.
backto AuntieEmin KansasW. hateveyrourXDMsays
Look,justgetsomedice.YourXDMwillshow istheobiectof thegamet,hat'stheobiectof thegame.
youwhichoneto rollandwhen.
Getusedto it.

About the XD2O Role PlayingSystem \ .v!I

TheXD20 roleplayinggamesystemisde- " t-< / < 9 t
signetdo adapt o anygenreof gamingY. oucan
playgenericspaceadventuregs,enericfantasay d- 2,t :
venturesg,enerichorroradventuregs,enericmystery
adventuregse, nericromanceadventure.s. . not to ??Eciiourrr'F ,l

mentionclandestinaedventureins anyheavilytrade- I

markedandcopyrightesdtory-worltdhatmay,by the ?i

wildesotf coincidencsee, emto modeSl arWars-like'
or Lordof theRrngs-likwetorldto whichyoumayor
maynot havepaida franchisfeee.

You,asanXDM,canmodelanythinwgiththis
systemin, cludingallyourotherfavoriteroleplaying
g a m e sK. n o c ky o u r s e lof u t .

Whatyou needto play (setting up)

Youneedthefollowingitemsin orderto playa
gameof XD20.

. One (minimum)nrenty-sidedie (moredice
arebetteranda fullsetof polyhedradliceare
bestof all... asksomeonief youdon'tknow

whattheseare).

t . One properlycompletedXD20 BasicCharac-

qt ter Sheetfor everyplayer.(Seepage122 for
fillingout a basiccharactesrheet.)

T * Starlt/arsis the unquestionedcopyrightof LucasfrlmL, td. and is used

tii herewithouttheir permissionW. e are,of course,referringhereonly

L to sirnilarmilieusthat may containcommonelementswith that heavily I
guardedwork,
l I Lordof theRingsis certainlycopyrightedby the J.R.R.Tolkien
Esuteand is usedherewithouttheir permissionW. e wouldn'tthinkof

condoningyour useof the word "hobbit" in your game-cenainlynot in f lf you do not havea regulationXDM, one maybe appointedfor you.
print.

XDroRoLEp,nuNcsYSrEM

Howdo youknowwhenyou'vewon?TheXDM XD2O Engine

w i l lt e l ly o uw h e ny o u ' v ew o n .H o wd o y o u k n o wi f TheXD20systemresolveasll (andwedo

you'velost?Sameway. meanALL) issuewsiththeroll of a twenty-sided

die.Whenevearnumbeirsneededin a rangeother

Playingthe game thanD20,usetheXD20Resulstablefoundin the
Appendice(spagel56) to determinteheresulting

H e r ei s h o wt h e g a m ei s p l a y e d : number.

Step1 TheXDM describewshereyourcharacters Or, wesupposyeoucouldactuallygeta setof

arelocatedandthesituatioinn whichtheyfrnd allthesedifferendt iceandmakeyourlifemuchsim-

themselveHse. willdescribyeoursettinglikehe pler,butwereallywantedyouto feellikeyouwere

istellinga story.Hemightincludelaserasndfog gettingyourgamingmoney'sworthandthatmeant

machineifsit willhelp. puttingin anoverlycomplicateadndelaboratteable

somewherinethe book.

Step2 Eachof theplayersp, retendintgo betheir

characte(rh, ence"roleplaying"d) escribethse CreatingYour Character

actionosf theircharactetor theXDM.Possible Theheartof anyroleplayinggameisthe

actionsincludemovingh, ittingstuff,doingstuff, charactearndtheshee(torsheetso)f paperwhich

or tafking.Describyeouractionlsikeyou aretelling detaitlheircapabilitieitse,msownedandusables,pell

a story. detailsa,ndendleslsissof specifrsckills.

B u tn o t h e r e .

Step5 TheXDMmay(butisnot requiredto) have
thevariousplayersat thetableroll diceto deter- BasicXD2O CharacterGeneration
mineif theirdescribeadctionsucceeodr not.The | . Writeyournameon yourBASICcharacter
sheet'
XDMtellstheplayera "targetnumber"which

theymustequaol r exceedin orderto succeeadt 2. Writeyourcharactenrameon yourBASIC
theirdescribeadction.Thisnumberisbasedon the
character,SsTATfromtheircharactesrheeat ndis charactesrheetY. oucanmakeup anyname
modifiedby factorssuchashowdifficultheaction youwish.Try to pictureyourcharacteirn your
wouldbeto perform.TheXDMwilltakecareof mindsothatyoudon'tgiveit a namethatthe
thisfor you.TrusttheXDM. otherplayerws illgiggleat.

Step4 Whethetrheactiondescribesducceedosr 3.DeterminwehatTYPEof characteyrouare
not,theXDMwilldescribteheresultl.f the playingS. omesuggestiofnrsomothergames
player'csharacteisrhurtasa resulot f anyactions, includek:nightb, ard,clerica, ssasstihni,ef,
thentheXDMwill haveyousubtracat nydamage wizardp, ilot,rogue,raider,or archeologist.
fromyourcharacter'hsealthasnotedon your Choosewhateveirsappropriatfeor thegame
sheetl.f yourcharacter'hsealthdropsbelow yourXDMissettingup.
zerothenyourcharactehras" died"in thestory,
anothewr ayof endingthegameT. heXDMwill 4. Determinyeourcharacter'SsTAT.Thatisgam-
describteheresultlsikeheistellinga story. er-talkfor "statistic.l"n BASICXD20youonly
haveone.lt's called"My Stat."Youdetermine
Step5 Theplayersl'ocationandcircumstancheasv- yourSTATby rollingoned8 (that'saneight-
ingchangebdecausoef theiractionasndthoseof sideddie)andsubtractingthnaut mberfrom
anycreaturetsheyhaveencounteredth,eXDM fifteenT. hisresulsin a numberbetweenseven
takeseverybodbyackto stepone.Repeaut ntilthe andfourteenR. emembeinr theXD20system,
winor loseconditionosf thegamehavebeenmet. theloweryourstatnumbert,hebetteryour

122

JHrXDzoSnsrQc avr

characterT..hinkof it asif youareat a football 7.DeterminyeourHEALTHT. hisishowmuchpun-
gameandshoutin"gWe'renumbeor ne!"t ishmenytourcharactecrantakebeforedropping
deadand,likelyf,allingoutof thegameW. rite
5.ModifyyourSTAT.lf yourcharacteTrYPE downyourSTATnumbexr 2.
hasmysticabilitie(scancastspellosr heaol ther
characterms ysticallyt)hencheckthe MYSTIC 8. DeterminyeourCharacteLrevelW. ritethe
boxandadd2 to yourSTAT. number1 in thespaceprovided.

6.WritedownyourSTATin the'MY STAT' CongratulatioYnso!urBASICXD20
spaceprovided. characteisr nowcompleteldyetailedin every
necessawryay.

IT IN HEREWASEASYI, ON YOUR CHAQ,ACIER
WROTE"LAOOEQU' NOEQ.
fiEET IS NOT IT1ESAilE

AS PUTTINoIT IN
YOURP. OCKEI,

* Thisaspectof XD20 systemis one of our favoritesbecauseit totaily
messewsith the mindsof establisheRdPGgamersT. heylookat their
charactersheetfor the first time and often startout by braggingto other
playersaboutwhat highstatsthey havefor theircharacters.
t Shouting"We're numbertwelve!"wouldnot be nearlyasgoodas
shouting"We're numbersix!"

123

$nsrcXpzo,*f HnnncrE$RHmr

p.nvenl{Ai\rE [\dvsnnc
f,Hnnacren\[nvr
QHenncrrnlYrr

14y5fAI

flEarrn f,HanecrEnpver

pensoNnr, NoN-BTNDiNGBASrcGHARACTENRoTES

,l;

-

fHnmEn$><IEENltr:n XDro{ovnNceop,evensQurnr

We knewthatyou wouldn'tbesatisfiewd iththe typesasthosementionedfor basicXD20char-
basicsysteme, specialslyinceit essentialslyays,,,Go actersb, ut if it makesyoufeelsuperiory,oucan
getanXDMandlethimdo allthework.',Sohere believethatadvancecdharacterasllowfor a vastly
youarewiththeAdvancedPlayer'Gs uidesothatyou widervariety.)
cantakeour nicesimplesystemandmakeit overly
complicatedj,u' stlikeeveryothergamecompany. 4. DeterminyeourcharacterSsTATSY! es,younow
havethreeratherthaniustone.Thesestatseach
AdvancedXD2O Character havea nameT: AC, PSYCHa,ndWAH.TAC
Generation standsfor "ToughnesasndConstitutionrr"epre-
sentingyourphysicasltrengthandhealthP; SYCH
AdvancedXD20 characterasrefar morecompli- represenytsourintelligencwe,isdoms, maru;and
catedthanthe basiccharactearndvastlyexpandyour WAH represenytsourmysticapl ower,karmaa, nd
optionsin play.t evenluck.Determintehesethreenumberbsy the
samemethodasin BasicCharacteGr eneration.
Followtheseinstructioncsarefullyandyouwill Foreachof yourSTATSy, ou rolloned8 (that,s
soonbereadyto playin thehigh-powerewdorldof aneight-sideddie)andsubtractht atnumberfrom
AdvanceXd D20. fifteenT. hisresultsin a numberbetweensevenand
fourteen.
I . Writeyournameon youradvancecdharacter Remembeirn: XD20 systemt,he/oweryour
sheet. stat-numbethrebetteryourcharacterD. othisfor
eachof yourSTATSseparatelyT.hisresultsin
2.Writeyourcharacfenrameon youradvanced threeseparatneumberse,achbetweensevenand
charactesrheet(. Seebasiccharacteirnstructions fourteen.
on names.)
5.Modiff yourSTATSl:f yourcharacretyr pehas
3. Determintehetypeof characteyrouareplaying. anymysticaalbilities(cancastspellsor healother
(AdvancedXD20 characrerfos llowthe same charactermsysticalloyr do anythingelsebeyond

+ But still paradigm-alterlngand more fun.
Comparatlvelyspeaklngt,hat ls.

25

XDroRorep,nvrNcSYSTEM

thepowersof mortalmen)thensubtrac2t from Look,let'sfaceit, whatyouhaveonyouat any

yourcharacterW's AH STATandadd4 totalto giventimeisgoingto bedependenotn (l ) howpre-
y o u rT A C a n d / o rP S Y C HS T A T S . . paredyouwerein thefirstplaceand(2) thesituation

youfindyourselifn.

6. Writedowneachof yourmodifreSd TATSin the Askif youarecarryinga battleaxeW. ell,if

threeboxesprovided. yourcharactetrypeis"warrior"or especialilfyit
7. Determinyeourcharacterh'sealthT: hisishow is"knight"andthegameweareplayingissetin a
fantasvyersionof MedievaEl uropethenl'd saythe

muchpunishmenpth, ysicaolr mentalt,hatyour oddsareprettygoodyou'vegotsucha weaponon

charactecrantakebeforedroppingdeador going you. On theotherhand,if youaskmeif youare

nutsand,in eithercasem, ostlikelyfallingoutof carryingthatsamebattleaxaendyour

thegameT. otalthetwolowesnt umberosf your charactetrypeis"paleontologisat"nd

STATSandwritethisnumbeirn theHEALTH thegamewe'replayingisseton a pres-

spaceprovided. ent-daydinosauisr landt,henthechances

aregoingto bemuchmoreslightunless

8. DeterminyeourCharacteLrevelW: rite you'rereferringratherirreverentltyo a
downthenumbe'r|' in thespace
EILL mother-in-larwatherthantheweapon.

provided. aUISARME, lf, howevery,ouclaimto becar-

CongratulatioYnso!urAdvanced Ar YOURS.EWICE, ryinga thermonuclewareaponandyour
iloNstEuR.! charactetrypeisa "cabinboy" playingin

X D 2 0C h a r a c t ei sr n o wc o m p l e t e luyb e r - a sixteentchenturyCaribbeapnirategame?

detailedin everywaythatcounts! Let'sjustsaythatthechanceosf thispar-

ticularitemappearinagreastronomically

Stuff: Skills, Weapons, badbutstillpossibl(emoreon whythisis
Supplies,Armor later).Likemostthingsin roleplayingi,t

Okay.Soyouwantto knowif your comesdownto a quickroll.YourXDM

characteisra blackbeltin TaeKwanDo, willassigynoua numberthatyouhaveto

iscarryinga Bill-guisarmheat,senough rollon a d2O.lfyouroddsaregood,the

rationsfor anexpeditiotno theSouth rollwill beeasyl.f youroddsarebad,the

Poleor Kevlabr odyarmor?Suchcritical rollwillbehard.lf youroddsareclown

questionasreanswerebdy theXDMusing shoesridiculousy,ouroddsarenear

theofficiaal nddefinitivXeD20rulesstatement: impossible.

"Maybe." Sometimeins roleplayinggamesy,ou
findvaryinglevelosf qualityin equip-

lf askedfor a clarificatioonf thisrule,you K,\t, m e n t .T h i si s u s u a l l ye x p r e s s eadsa
mayanswewr ith: "plus"or a "minus"weaponor device

simifyingitsmodifrcatiotno something

" T h a td e p e n d s . " or other.

* Youcansubtracatllfourfromeitheyr ourTACor yourPSYCH5TAT, lmportantSafetyTip In theXD20system
or youcansubtracot nefromyourTAC STATandthreefromyourPSYCH
STAT,oryoucansubtractwt oeachfromyourTACandPSYCHSTAT, lowernumberasrebetter.Thereforeif someone
or youcansubtractthreefromyourPSYCHSTATandonlyonefromyour wantsto handyoua " + 70 dragon-slaysewrord,"
TAC STAT,or youcansubtracat llfourpoinsfromyourPSYCHSTAT. youshouldiustlaughat themfor tryingto pawnoff
Hey,that'swhythisisADVANCEDI sucha cursedpieceof iunkon you!Whatyoureally
t A guisarm(esometimegsisarmoer bisarmew)asa poleweapounsed wantisa "-5 rustingsword"becausiet willnotonly
in EuropbeetweenI000-| 4OOA.D.lt wasusedprimariltyo dismount improveyourd20 dierollin combabt y 25o/obutwill
k n i g t sa n dh o r s e m e nL .i k em o s tp o l e a r mi tsw a sd e v e l o p ebdy p e a s a nbsy probablyalsocauseruston thetarget.
combininhgandtoolswithlongpolesi:n thiscasebyputtinga pruninghook
ontoa speasr haft.Thisweaponis,in moderntimes,knownonlyto RPG Yes,wereallyintendto messwithestablished
f a n a t i cassg e n e r a ltl yh em o s tu s e l e swse a p oann yr o l ep l a y i ng a m ecr o u l d
possiblcyhoose. role-playerhse' adshere.

126

THEXD2o {nveNcED pLAyERsGUrDE

Remembetor writedownstuffwhenyougetit for a fewminutesbeforebeingmiraculousrlyevived
sothatyoucanremindtheXDM laterthathewas by a nurseor a medicor whatever.

foolishenoughto haveallowedyouto haveit in the Now,insteadof beingout in thefreshair,out

firstplace. of yourmom'shair,andgettingsomedecenst un,

we'vemovedthewholethingindoorso, ntoyour

Doing Stuff: Movement and Actions mom'stable.Thenweplaythesamemindgameisn
Thisisa roleplayinggamesoyou'reonly
a moretroll-likeexistenceM.i oreimportantlyh,ow-
pretendintog bedoingstuff..That'swhywehave ever,wehaverulesanddicethatdeterminwehether
rulesto determinewhethetrhestuffyouimagine thethingsweimaginaectuallsyucceeodr not.
yourseldf oingactuallyworkswithwhateveryonelse
Wheneveyrouattempto do somethinign an
issupposetdo beimaginintgogether.
XD20gamei,t justworks.Unlessyouaretryingto
Okay,thatdidn'tmakethatmuchsenseto
do somethintghathasa reasonabelexpectatioonf
meeitherT. hepointisthatwhenyouwereoutin
failureI.meani,t wouldbemind-blowingalnynoying
yourbackyardplayingarmy,or copsandrobberso, r for everyonteo rolla dieeverytimetheytooka step
Ramboo, r whateveri,t alwayscamedownto oneguy downthestreet(."DidI trip?""Did I trip?")On
saying, theotherhand,if youweretryingto stepacrosas

"BangY! ou'redead!" ten-thousanfodotdeepcrevassberidgedonlyby a

And thentheotherkidsaying, one-incthhickgreasesdteecl able. . well,notonly

"Nu-huh!| shotyoufrrst!" w o u l dt h a tb e f a r m o r ee x c i t i n gt h a tj u s tw a l k i n g

Thisargumenwt ouldgobackandforthuntil downthestreetbutmostdefrnitelryequiresome
onekideitherwenthomeor laiddownon theground seriousclyonsidereddicerolls.

SEENASTRONOilICALLY A BLESSIN6THAT
IMPRO9ABLTEO
sHouLoPul YOUQ.

6AW YOU'REOOTNOrO 9PLEENRIOI|TSACK

gOROOlLSL,EEVVEEWNTTIIUAAELYLSOYOUfLfiEATCHEYINOaLUIKRE
THISSECONEAS STATSTrcAL

* In theory,althoughthisbeingan XDM game,you,llprobablybe Theveryquintessencoef progress.
doingmorethaniustsittingaroundthe tablesuckingdowniunk food in
your questfor ultimarevalor.

127

XDro Rgrs fr,nvrNcSYSTEM

Thebasicprocesfsor resolvinagnyphysicaalc- substitutfeor punchingsomeoneb,utthrowingdicewill

tionin thegameisasfollows: justhaveto do.Wecertainlyrecommenpdretending

witha swordovertherealthing.

l. Describethe actionWhenyoudo something Yourcharactehrasjustencountereadmonster

in thegamed, escribiet. lt'sassimpleassaying, which,for reasonnsowuncleabrutwhichmadesense

"l walkdownto theendof thecorridor,"or, at thetime,deservetso beput downandrightnow.As
"l leapintothedragon'ms outh,brandishing theoldsayinggoess, ometimeysoucatchthebearand

myhatpin." sometimethsebearcatcheysou... butwhichisit?

That'swhywe havecombart esolution.

2. ShouldI bother?TheXDMshouldthenask lf it'stimeto smackthemonsteor r seeif the

herselwf hethetrhisactionwarrantasnykindof monstesrmackysou,usethefollowingbasiccombat

dicerolling.lstherea possibilitoyf interesting resolution:

failure?lf somethinmg ightgowrong,thenyou

probablyneedto rollsomedice. l. Combart oundsAll combaitsresolveidn

Rounds-likbeoxingroundsb, ut usuallywitha lot

3. Determinethe TargetSuccesNsumberThe moredeadlyforceinvolvedG. eneraflye,verybody

XDMwilllookat themostappropriatceharac- involvedin thecurrentdonnybroogkesto takea

ter STATand,usingthatasa based, etermine t u r n d o i n gs o m e t h i n g - s w i n g i ns cgr,e a m i n gf l,e e i n g ,

a succesnsumberE. asietrhingshavelower praying-durinagcombartound.

numbersH. ardetrhingshavehighenr umbers.

Remembewr,henit comesto dierollsfor suc- 2. Whoshotfrrst?What'son second?| dunno,

cesslessisbestT. heXDMwilladdto (bad)or third baseUnlikereallife,combatroundsin most

subtracftrom (good)your basicstatnumberto ofherroleplayinggameas reusuallyorderedaffairs

determintehistargest uccesnsumber. witheveryonetakingturnsbeatingoneanother's

brainsintothefloor.Thinkof thisasthewaythe

4. Rolloned20 for basicsucceslsf yourollthe Britishwouldhavepreferredto frght hewarin the

targetnumberor highert,henyousucceed. Americasif thosepeskycolonisthsadn'tcheated

Otherwisey,ou fail. by duckingbehindtreesandfiringtheirgunswhen-

evertheywantedi,nsteadof takingturns.

5. Rolloned2Ofor degreeYounowroll l d20 That'snottheXDMway-asif youhadn't

dieto determinethedegreeof yoursuccesosr guessebdy now.Playerasndmonstergsetto t:tke

failureY. oumightsucceesdpectaculawrliyth theiractiondsuringa roundwhenevethr eXDM

a rollof a 20, or youmightfailspectacularly saystheydo. lf thatmeansthatalltheplayersget

withthatsame20 if youblewyoursuccesrosll. to taketheirturnandthenthemonsterasllattack,

that'sfine.lf thatmeantshatthemonsterasttack

6. XDM explainswhathappeneadsa resultThe firstandthentheplayersgetto react,that'sfine

XDM nowinterprettsheresultbasedon wheth- too. lf thatmeansthattheXDMiustpointsto the
er yousucceedeodr not andto whatdegree playewr henit istheirturnto actandthewhole

yousucceedeodr failedT. akeyourlumpsand thingismixedupandcrazyin a waythatmore

geton withit. resembleasctualife,thenthaf'sfinetoo. Solong

asoneruleisalwaysfollowede: veryongeetsto do

Hitting Stuff: Combat R.esolution somethinagt somepointin a combartound. (Or

Thisisprobabltyheonethingyou'llberolling moreif theXDMsaystheycan.)

themostdicefor solet'sgetit overwith.Players

loveto bashthingst;heywantto takeout their 3. Did l hit him?Combaitsresolvepdrettymuch

lifetimeof frustrationbsy pretendintghey'rebeating likeanyotheraction.TheXDM determineas

thelivingdaylightosut of somethinglt.'s no real TargetSuccesNsumberbasedon thecharacter

128

THEXDZO ADVAI{CEDPLAYERSGUIDE

or monster'rsnostappropriatSeTAT.TheXDM 6. AssigndamageAnyonedamageidn thegame-
will addto (bad)or subtracftrom(good)your charactercsontrolledby theplayerso,r mon-

basicsut numberto determintehistargetsuccess sterscontrolledby theXDM-subtractdsamage

number. fromtheirHealthStat.Onceyour Healthstat

4. Rolloned20 to determinebasicsucceslsf you dropsbelowl, youhadbetterbepreparedto
rofl thetargetnumberor highert,henyousucceed. do somefancybeggintgo keepyourcharacter
Othenruisyeo, ufail.Remembethr atyou always
succeewd ithany20 rolledandyoualwaysfail alivebecausuenlestshe XDM saysothenrise,
yourcharacteisr deadD. eadcharacterasre
honorablaendreveredin allXDMgamesb,ut

spectaculawrlyithanyrollof a l. onlyif theydiein heroicways.Dyingstupid

5.RolldamageHowmuchdamageyoudo isde- iscausefor ridiculeD. eathmaybemitigated
terminedby whatyou'reusingto do thedam- in theXD20systemby healinogr miracleosr
magicandthelike.Theseshouldbetreatedas,

age,duh!Usinga fistagainsstomeoniesa whole respectivel"yd,oingstuff"or "mysticasl tuff."

differenst torythanusinga tacticatlhermonuclear

weaponO. nceyourXDMestablishtehsedamage Thinking Stuff: SureYou Think
a weapondoesy, oushouldprobablywriteit down You're Smart

andkeepit. Othenvisea,sktheXDMhowmuch Hereis the basicproblemwith "mental"

damageyourweapondoesin dicetermsandthen mechanicasndproblemisn roleplaying amesY: ou

rollthosedicefor damage. andthecharacteyrou'replayingalmosct ertainly

do not havethesamementaal bilitiesF. aceit, when

FOR.AS 9ULKYASYOUR SOKI yourolledupyourcharacteirn yourfavoriteother
WANOOF O|S\NTEO(/4.T|OtSN,7 roleplayinggamey, ousomehowknewthat
yourcharactewr assmartetrhanyouin real
OF EXPECTEIO1 TO BC FRIENP- life.Normallyt,hat'sokay- becausief your

FOE OISCRIMINATINo, starshiipsbrokenin thegamey, ouwanfto roll

diceto fix thathyperdrivreatherthanhavethe

DM handyoua wrenchanda boxof washing

machinpearuandtellyouto buildone.

On theotherhand,if youcome

up to a pairof talkingdoorswhereone

alwaysliesandtheotheralwaystellsthe

truth,andyou'vewatchedLabyrinth

moretimesthanthe DM,youknowthe

answetro thisriddlecold.Theprob-

lemis thatthe idiot characteyrou are

playingin thegamemightnot.'

Thereisat leasot negame

out therethatgetsaroundthis

particulaprroblemby iustas-

sumingthatthedice

aresmartetrhan

you-or at least,

* lt seemedlike sucha good ideato trade out those"mental" points
for "strength" polntswhenyou createdyour character.I mean,what
gamecharacterever actuallyusesthosementalstatisticsanyway.Stay

tuned.

129

XDro RoLEp,avrNcSYSTEM

theproperarbiterof howsmartyourcharacteirsin CastingSpellsand Mystical Stuff
thegameY. ourcharactecromesupto a sphinxand
themassiveplyowerfucl ritterposesyou"the ques- Wait!Wait!Whataremy spells?Wherearemy
tionof theages."Nevermindwhatthatquestionis, s p e l l sH? e r ei st h et h i n gt h a tc o u l db l o wy o u rm i n d :
Feeflreeto castanythingyouwant.I meany, ou'relike

or what"four legsin themorningt,wo in theafter- a magicianp,riestv, oodoosomethingri,ght?Surely
noonandthreein theeveningh"asto dowithman's magicisbasedon fundamentarlastherthanprefab

progressiothnroughthismortalcoil.All youhaveto unis. SounlestsheXDMsaysotherwisein, ventany
do isrollyourdiceagainsytourcharacters'smart- spelyl ouwantfor thecircumstancyeosuarein.

nessfactorandeitheryourcharactegretsit or

doesn't-whetheyroudo or not.

Whilethismakeas certainleveol f TT{AOSURRENPER'
game-sensIem, ean,comeon!Thisisa
gameplayedmainlyon theimaginarsytageof THAA'URENOER!

yourmind,theplacewherepuzzleasndriddlesare

supposetdo besolvedW. hereistheproblem-solving

in roleplayingif thediceiustsolvetheproblemfor

you?And theydon'tevengiveyouthesolution

butiusttellyouthattheproblem"is solved,"
muchthesamewaythegovernmenwtorksin

economibcail-outs.

Here'stherulein XD20gamesT:hink

of yourcharacteirn thegameasthoughhe

wereyourbuddysittingnextto you..lf the

gamepresentysouwitha puzzlerequiringthe

useof higher-orddeirfferentiacal lculuasnd

youdon't happento beintothatsortof

thingrecreationalltyh,enturnto your

playercharacter,ollthedicefor himor herand Bewarnedh, oweverlt. isup to theXDM'sdiscre-
tionasto youroddsof castingit, andwhattheef-
seeif theyknow.YourXDMwillconsidethr eirap-
propriateSTATor PSYCHscorein thesamewayas fectsare.Magic,beingwhatit is,canoccasionally-ok,

doingphysicasltuff.+ o f t e n - g ow r o n g .F o rt h e m o s tp a r t ,c a s t i n gs p e l l si s t h e

On theotherhand,if youhappento bea foren- sameashittingstufFwhenthemagicyou'recooking

sicpathologiisnt real ifeandareplayinganXD2O up isintendedto do damage.lf, howevery,ouwantto

gamebeingrunby a forensicpathologisatndallthe casta utilityspell,likemass leepd, o thefollowing:

otherplayersat thetablealsohappento beforensic l. Tellthe XDM all aboutthe magicasl pectacular
pathologistist ,islegitimatfeor yourpartyto do an you wouldliketo createIf youhavetriedto pull
extensivaeutopsyon anydeadbodiesthatyoumight off thissamespellbeforej,ustgiveit a name.lf
frndlyingaroundin thedungeon.+. .evenif your it issomethinygou'vecookedup speciaflor the
playecr haractehrasanintelligencoef 18.
occasiono,r if theXDMwantsmorespecificosut

" On the otherhand,ifyou actuallybelievethat your playercharacter of you,you'regoingto haveto bea bit more
is sittingnext to you or speakingto you from his miniatureon the descriptivaeboutwhatyouexpecot ut of your
magicael ffect.
table, pleasehavesomeoneat the uble assisyt ou to the nearesthealth
professionalvailable. 5 See"Hitting Stuff:CombatResolutiono" n page128.

t See"DoingstuffMovementandActions"on page127.
f Sure,laughifyou dare... but I haveactuallyheardofsuch a group
of role playinggamers.

130

THEXDzo {nvnNcED PLAYERGSUrDE

2. Flightor fnzle?TheXDMwill modifyyourap- arounda tableclutchintghepapercharactesrhees

propriatestatistic(whichwill beyourSTATin the or huncheodvera keyboarwdhileplayingin massive

basicgameor WAH in theAdvancegdamea) nd multiplayeornlineenvironments-aplllayershavehad

tellyouwhatyou haveto roll for yourattemptat onesingulaor,verridinogbsessioTno: leveul p.

thisto workat all. Untilnow.

Levelinigs,for theXDM,a plaguethathas

3. Wimpor wow?Rollyoursecondd20 to deter- infectedtheotherwisheealthybodyof roleplayingl.t

minethe degreoef succesosr failureof thespell. isanentirelyartificiaml easurtehathasnoapplication

in therealworld.lt istruethatin militaryforcesa,

4. Whator whatever?lf deemednecessabryyyour Private(E-2)maybeproudto beadvancetdo Private

XDM,youmayneedto rolladditionadl20sto First-Cla(sEs-3)andthatceruinlylookslikeleveling

determineotherrandomfactorss, uchasduration, up.Howeverju, stbecaustehatE-2isnowanE-3

locatione, tc. doesn'nt ecessarmilyakehimappreciabhlyardetro

shootat, nordoesit allowhimto takemoredam-

ExampleYouarefacinganarmyof stonewarriors ageunderfrre.Evenif hemakeist allthewayto E-8

soyou say", l willcasta sleepspell!"TheXDM, (MasteSr ergeanwt)hilehewill,admittedlyb,eone
feelingunusualglyeneroutse,llsyouthatit flatout toughhombrethatyouprobablyshouldn'mt esswith

failsbecaussetonewarriorsdon'tsleepA. s they in a barfight,heisstillequallysusceptibtloe damage

continueto approachy,ou reviseyourprevious froma grenadbeetweenhisfeetasthatsameE-2.

ideaanddeclar"el willcastglaciaslleepon the We'renot sayingthatcharactesrshouldn'f
stonewarriors." advanceW. eallwantto getbetterandyourplayer

TheXDMwantsto knowwhatit isaboutglacial characteisrnoexceptionW. hatXDMisagainsist the

sleepthatmakeysouthinkit wouldmakeanydif- ideathatanyplayercharacterwsithenoughlevels

ferenceto stonewarriorsY. ouexplainthatglacial becomeasnindestructibtalenkon legs.

sleep"is a speciaslpellagainssttonewarriorsthat Weweregoingto throwout thewholeleveling

makethemfallintoa frozenstatesimilatro human thingaltogetherb,uteveryonsetartedto whineand

sleep." cryso.. .fine!Youcanhavea levelingsystemand

TheXDMasksyouyourlevelY. ousay7. The hereit is.
XDMasksyouyourWAH.Yousay| 3. Hethen Youaccumulateexperiencpeointsfor justabout

says",Okayrollan | 8 or better."Yourollyour anythingyou thinkyou shouldaccumulate
d20 andgeta l9! TheXDMgrumbleasndthen experiencpeointsfor doing.Theseareawarded

says",Creattheglaciasl leepspellhis thestone entirelyat thediscretioonf theXDM andit is
warriorsR. ollfor effect." noneof yourbusineshsowtheydetermintehis

Yourollagainandgeta 5. TheXDMinterprets number.

thisandsaysthatabouta quarterof thewarriors

arefrozenin theirtracks. Whenyou haveaccumulatesduffrcientexperi-

encepoints,your charactewr ill go up to the

Of coursemanyspellws on'trequiresomuch n e x t l e v e l .H o wm a n ye x p e r i e n cpeo i n t sa r e

rollingl.f, in theaboveexampley,ouhadbeena level requiredto getto thenextlevelisa complicated

18castinsgleepon a smalal rmyof leveol nepeasants formulap, artof whichinvolvecsoncentrated

theXDMwouldprobablyaskyouto roll for success meditationY.ourXDMwillletyouknowwhen

(perhapasl2 or better)andthat'sit. thishashappened.

Characterlmprovement3GainingLevels Whenyour charactegr oesup a level,addthe

Sincethebeginninogf themodernroleplaying numberof levelsthatyourXDM tellsyou
to add-hopefullyi,ustone-toyourprevious
gamep, layersaroundtheglobe-whethecrrouched characteler vel.lf, for exampley,ouwereIevel

XDro Rgrep,evrNcSYSTEM

I beforeandhavejustadvanceodnelevel,your Conversionfrom Other Systems
characteirsnowlevel2 andhasaccestso altthe
You'vespenthundreds-inf otthousandosf
rightsandprivilegetshatthisnewlevelprovides. dollarson otherroleplayinggamerystemsh,avea
redwagonfullof referencbeoolsthatyou love,and
That'sit. lt doesnotaffectyourotherstatisticosne youiustcan'tgocoldturkeywiththesuperio(rif
bit. Youdo not getmorehealthpointsY. oudo abbreviatedX)D20systemW. eundersundW. eeven
not getmoreTAC, PSYCHor WAH poins (if
sympathizAe.ll youreallyneededwasthisbook,but
you'replayingwithAdvanceXd D20characters). it'stoo latefor thatnow. Mostof thestatisticfsor
All thelevelallowsyouto do issayto theXDM, XD20gameasregeneratebdasedentirelyon the
"But, hey,I shouldbeableto hit thisuntrained expertandhighly-traineiuddgmenot f theXDM. So
goonmoreeasilybecausme y characteirslevel2!" if someonwe antsto usea weaponor magicaal rtifact
or,"l thinkI couldcastwaterlilyon themenacing fromanothegr ameg, lanceat theoverlycomplex
child,causel'vefinallyreacheldevel| 8!" Your statisticfsor thedevicea, ssigint a TAC statanda
XDMwilltakethisintoaccount-onr ot.
Damagsetat-Healthstator evena PSYCHor WAH

statif youfeelinclined-ancdallit good.

132

ADVAr{cEXDDzo,,f,HanncrER$Hrrr

p,nvrnlrfmm [dvsncnfrYrr
f,Hnnncrrn\fmnr
fHanecrrnJYnr MYSTAN

psvcH

prnsoNnr, NoN-BTNDiNBGAsrccHARACTENRorES

This mess age srill selF-
destpuct in lO secosrds-
Minimum saFe distaflce
is Foun hundned sneterrs-

Hawe a
shopl day!

f,HemERSEVENTEEXND:zoltrucroN MASTERflnvxonooK

lntroduction to XD2O for XDMs for thebookratherthaniustreadingit in thestore.
Foryouwill besubjectto thiscurseA. ll thepowers
YouareanXDM.Oneof thefew.Oneof the
proud.Oneof thoseselecftewwhohavebeenprivi- of thegamingspirits halbl ewithdrawanndleave
legedto beadmittedintotheinnercircleof knowledge youdesolateY.oushalsl earchin vainfor a gamethat
passeddownfromtheancientsX.DMsbringlifeand willsatisfyourlustfor entertainmenatn, deachshall
turnto drycardboaridn yourhandsY. ouhavebeen
funbackintogaming.

Youhavefoughtfor this,purchasetdhefranchise warned!r

righs,.andnowarereadyto bewhatsomanyhave Theory of GameRelativity
dreameodf becomingA. fully-fledgeXdDMI
Anythingthathappenisn a gameo, r that

mightworkin a gameo, r thatplayerswantto do in

a gamei,srelativeto itsstorysettingsurroundings.

A revolvemr ightbereasonabclyommonin a

1920shorrorsettin&butyou'dbehardpressetdo

lf youarenotanoffrciallsyanctioneXdDMand c o m eu p w i t ho n ed u r i n gt h eC r u s a d eLsi.k e w i s e ,
youarereadingthissectionof thebook,thenyou a phaserm+ightcomein handyduringtheBattle
shouldknowthatthispartof thebookisprotectedby of Thermopylabeu, tgoodluckfrndingtheright
anancienTt ibetancursep, assedownfromSunTzu,
whichwillaffecat llof yourdierollsduringperiodosf batteries.
thefullmoonandmanyof yourotherdierollsat all Whileyourplayerseemto havetheabilityto
othertimes.Woeuntoyouwholookuponthewords
pulliusttherightrabbiot utof theirhacat anygiven
moment('Oh, soXeryesisattacking|?pulla tactical

of theXD20DungeoMn asteryHandboowkithout

firsthavingbeenpurifiedo, r possiblhyavingpurchased f Likewe couldreallystopyou, but thisdid giveusthe opponunityto

franchisreighs,or at a minimumpaidfullcoverprice write a coolcurse.It's the waythey did copyrightbackin the old days
beforegovernmentsgot aroundto it, so we thought it might be effective

* lf you haven'tpurchaseydour localfranchiserights,you mightconsider here.Oh, that remindsme, thisbookis copyrighted.
doingso!
f Phaseris a direct-fire,beam-basede,nergyweaponfrom the StarTrek
universe,and we're sorry for borrowingit here.

13+

XDZO DUNGEoNMASTERYHANDBoOK

nukeoutof my backpack!t"h) eymaybeverylimited this,too.Wecalledit "ChapteFr ive:Designing
by therulesof thesettingin yourgameY. oudecide for Story"andit ison page42.Youshouldselect
if yourworldisbasedcloselyon historicacllassical eitherlineardesigno,penmatrixo, r closedmatrix
Greekmythology-inwhichcaseyoucanforgetthe for youradventureM. ountthison thenarrative
frame.Thinkof it asthebodyof thecar-thegen-
tacticanl ucleawr eaponevenremotelyshowingup, eralshapeintowhicheverythineglsewill frt.
andyoushouldsmackanyplayersuggestinitg-or you
candecidethatyourworldiscompletelgyonzoand 3. Createa basicbeatchartfor youradventureA
beatchartisanoutlineof theencounterisn your
Spartanasctuallydidhavetacticawl eaponosf mass adventureA. n examplceanbefoundin "Killer
Beatso" n pageI05 Thenatureandapproactho
destructioanvailablteo them. thisbeatchartwill dependuponwhichmatrixyou
HOWEVE&(anddidyounoticehowbigwe iustchosefor thegamel.n everycasemakesure
thatdifficultyof theencounterrsiseswith therising
madethathowevery)oumustdo thefollowingor action.
foreverloseyourstatusasanXDM:

(l ) Establistherulesof yoursettingfromthe
beginning.

(2) Onlychangtehemunderexfremdeuress.

An XDMmuif beconsistenint hisinterpreta-
tionof thesettingrulesY. oumaynot givephasertso
Spartanwsithoutgivingdisruptortso thePersians.

Adventure Design TRIPLOOKS

You'vecomeup withthebasicrulesfor your LIKEtT'SOOINO
setting(anythingfromstrictlyhistoricatlo, anything- rO 681 HAQOER
goesgonzo)a, ndit'stimeto createthedesignfor the
actuaal dventureH.ere'swhatyoudoto makeit all ASWEOET
cometogether: cLosEQ.l0
rHEIOP,
1. Establisthhe basicstructureof your adventure
Youdo thisby frrstconsiderinygouradventure |tt, ,;
in termsof theCambelliaMnonomyth(seepage
30). Yes,youshoulddo thisevenif yourgame
isaboutmutantclownsattackingSheboygan
withcream-pibeazookas]u..stbecausyeour
g a m ei s g o o f y ,d o e s n ' tm e a ny o u c a ni g n o r e
structurelf. anythingg,ameasboutmutant
clownsattackingSheboygarnequiremoreat-
tentionto structureN. arrativestructureisthe
frameon whichyouwillhangeverythineglsein
thegameM. akeit strong.

2. Determinethe generaml atrixapproachfor
your adventureWe'vealreadytalkedabout

* "Mutant ClownsAttack Sheboygawn ith theirCream-PieBazookasi"s
a trademarkof TracyHickman,CurtisHickman,and HowardTaylerand
is usedherewith their permissionA. dventuresbasedon thisincredibly
markeubleideashouldobtainthe permissioonf the copyrightholders
beforebeingwritten.XDMsdesiringto write adventureisn the "Mutant
ClownsAttack Sheboyganwith their Cream-PieBazookass" ettingmay
obtainthe non-exclusivreightsto do so by sending$5 U.5. to the
copyright holders.Copyright 2009, all rightsreserved.

135

XDzoR9LEp,avlxc SYSTEM

lf you'reusinga Lineardesignthenthisbeat XDM'siudgmenitskey.Youhaveto makethatiudg-
chartwillsimplybea serieosf encounterosne m e n tc a l lb a s e do n w h a t ' sh a p p e n i ni ng y o u rg a m ea t
aftertheother.In thiscaseit isimportanto
establisdhirectlyin thechartthearcof thestory thetime.
iself. Encountewrsill havea clearincreasien Wecan'tbethereandholdyourhandduringthe
diffrcultyup to theclimax.
g a m ec a l l ,b u t w e c a ng i v ey o u s o m eg u i d e l i n easb o u t
lf youareusinganopenmatrixcampaign whatmightconstitutae decengt eneraml odifrerT. ry
theseandseeif theyworkin yourgame.

designthenyouwillstillwantto chartsome

sortof story,but it will bealmoswt ithoutany

dependencoen locationY. ouwillstilltella story

but it will unfoldprettymuchwherevetrhe

playersfrndit. WHATc/00s
lf youareusinga closedmatrix-thenyouare
oo YouotvE
a trueXDM!Createyourbeatchartbasedon

expandinlgocationsm, akesurethestoryarcis

establishethdroughouttheflowof thematrix,

andimpresgsamerws ithyourincrediblgeame

designskills.

4. Fill in the restYouhaveprettymuchallyou
needto runtheadventuraet thispoint,butif
youwantto lockmoreof it downon paper,
designcoolandimpressivmeapsB. epreparedby
fillingin alltheblankysoufeelareneedful.

AdventureTranslation TLL FETCH
YOURC, LOWN
Oneof thecoolthingsabouttheXD20system
isthatyoucaniustprettymuchlift anyoldadven-
turefromanyone'gsamesystemandstillhavea good

time.Youhaveto throwoutalltheircumbersome

mechanicbsut,hey,that'swhatbeinganXDM isall
aboutA! pproacha publisheaddventurme odulelikea
c h o ps h o p :T a k ew h a t ' sv a l u a b l ef r o mt h e a d v e n t u r e
andleavetherestin a canal.

Theimportanthingisthatyoutaketheawe-
somepartsof anadventureth, enmountthemon an

XDMchassis.

TargetDiffrculty Determination

Thisisthebigone,theveryheartof XDM reso-
lution.lt'supto youto makethiscallandnooneelse
cando it for you.

EverythinsgtaruwiththebaseSTATfor any

action-whethethr atisfrghtingm, ovingt,hinking,
or magicT. hetrickcomesin assigninrgeasonable
modifiertso anyactionin thegameT. hatiswherean

135

XD zo DUNGEoNMASTERHYANDBooK

Youkidding me? -12 9erlously. Wa mean llke brcrthlng.lf someonc In your game ls
Forgetabout itl -1O golng to try and ure gravity on Earth,thls modifler would rpply
Relax,everyonel -8
Walk in the park -6 Theseare variousdegreesof easy,ranging from the almost sure
No problem -4 bet,to the casualapproachto somethingthat shouldn'tbe a big
I got it -3 problem.
Donethis before -2
Not sotough -1 lf no other factors apply,thsn modlflers don't elthca Lct thom
rofl agalnst thGir st.t.
Not sure +1
Newto me +2 On this side are the various degrees of hard, ranging from a bit
Anybody else? +3 tricky,to who in their right mind would even attempt this.
Tricky +4
Palmswet, mouth dry +5 "Clown Shoes"lr our XDM code for somethlng eopolntlcrely
S w e a t i n ' b u l l e t sh e r e +6 rldiculous that brlnglng lt up is laughable. "l'm golng to try
Must changeshirt +7 dlvlng Into the sun and comlng out th. other ide." Yeah,buddy,
C h a n g es o m e t h i n ge l s e . . . +8 roll the dice and wc'll soc. "Clown ShoesRldiculous" ir the ONLY
No way l'm doing thatl +9 tim€ the automati< 2Orucccssrulc is changed. Theflrct roll
Whodo you think I am? +1O determlnes lf the attempt camc off at all. Thc second ndur.l 20
Let me outt Letme outl +11 would lndlcate succesr,with any other rerult Intorproted as a
lmprobable +12 degree of failure. Wegotta draw the line somewhere.
Astronomical +13
lmpossible +14
Inconceivablel +15

137

XDro Rgrpp.nvINcSYSTEM

Nowthatyouhaveyournicebigtableto lookat, stuffbackon page127. That'sfinefor mechanics,
wearegoingto tellyoua basicXDMsecrethatyou butyourrealiob asanXDM isto bringmeaninignto
mustkeepfromyourplayersand,for thatmatter,from thenumberosf thisgameT. hatmeansthatyouneed
a l lt h eo t h e r ,n o n - X D Mg a m er e f e r e eosn t h e p l a n e t . to interpretheresultsfor theplayers.

Thissecreitssopowerfutlhat,shouldit getintothe H e r ei s w h e r ew e s e p a r a tteh e X D M sf r o m t h e
wronghandsi,t coulddestroyhobbygamingaswe everydawy imps:Yourinterpretetioonf themean-

knowit: ingbehindtherolliscriticatlo thegameD. o nottell

a playerhehasfailedhischeckT. ellhimwhatthat

failuremeansG! iveit to himin graphicdetail.You

mustneversay"Oh, youmissedyourTAC checkI.
guesysoudidn'tmakeit overthatchasm.l"nstead

youshouldsay,"You leapacrostshegapingchasm
but,weakenebdy yourlastencountewr iththeraven'

ousYak,yourlegsfailyou!Youclawa theairbutyou

alreadyknowyouwon'tmaketheledgeon thefar

side.Yourbodyslamsagainstthe far chasmwall,the

No matterhowrealistiycoutry to makeyour forcereboundinygouintotheemptygulfbelow..."
gamen, o matterhowdetailedtherulesor themodi- It isyouriob to interprethedicerollsandgive

meaninagndimpacto theirresultsn,otiustreport

Jportsscores.

fiers,it stillcomesdownto a singledierollthatcan

onlyresponwd ithoneof twentynumbersT.hismeans

thattheresolutiosncaleof thegamesresponsceanonly CAN 1 RC-ROLL

comein 5oloincrements.

Youcanspendalldaydealinwg ithcharuwhich

try to grapplewiththeideathatoneweaponessentially

is.03olomoreaccuratethanthenextweaponon the

l i s t ,b u t t h es e c o n dw e a p o nd o e s. 2 6 5 0 l om o r ed a m a g e .

Butin theend,you'restillrollingthatsamed20 andit

i s p h y s i c a l liym p o s s i btloe a c c u r a t e lsyi m u l a t ea n yd i f f e r -

encelessthan5ol0.

Youcanspendalldaywindingdownthrough

charsandtablesfor absolutaeccuracayndit stillisonly
goingto comedownto theresolutioonf thediceyou

roll.

We'renotdoingaircrafat ccidenint vestigations

here,andwedon'tneedthatleveol f realismJ.ustcut
to thechasea,ssiganreasonabnleumbear ndgeton

withthegame.

Dealingwith Doing Stuff a

Yes,wealreadytoldyouhowto takecareof doing o

* Yes,we knowall aboutbellprobabilirycurveswhentouling multipledice
thrownand how it givesa finerresolutionthanthe onewe'retalkingabout.
We havebeendoing this for over a quarterof a century. However,the point
isthat whileyou get a niceprobabilirybellcurveout of throwingtwo or
threesix sideddice, it still comesdown to only six possibleresultsper die
thrown.Justget usedto the ldeathat the finerthe resolutionofthe game
system,the more complex and unplayabliet becomes.Dealwith it.

138

XD z o DUNGEoNMAsrERyHANDBooK

Gota charactesrtandinugnderanArmageddon-sized

Dealingwith Hitting Stuff meteoar bouto annihilateheknownworldandall

Wealreadydealtwiththisa lot in theplayer youcancomeup withis.. .well,maybethat,sa bad
exampleb,utthepointisthatmagicu, nleshsandled
sectionon page128.l'm sureyouwouldlikeus properlyi,sa crutch.
to giveyoulos of additionarluleslikehowto

dealwith partiacl over,hardcover,movingcover, Toooftenmagicisviewedasthe exceptiotno the

coverchargess,ofacoversa, ndotherreallysmall- rule,ratherthana subseot f therulesthemselveTsh. is
ratherscientific-losgoicundinsgtatemenmt eantshat
detailsimulatioinssuetshatcropup in allsuch
gamesP. erhapysouwouldlikea tablethatlissthe in mostroleplayinggametsheyspendseveraclhapters
penetratiomn odifiersfor varioustypesof fences, tellingyouhowthephysicosf theuniversaerehandled
(combatm, ovements,killsa, ctionresolutiona)ndthen,
wallsc, ratesa, ndtrashcansversuas varietyof afteryoubarelyhaveyourheadwrappedaroundthose
crossbowbolts,rocks,depleted-uraniuhmowitzer
conceptsp,resenytouwitha sectionon magicthat
shellsa,ndbeam-enerwgyeapons.

Gee,doesn'tthastoundlikefun! turnsallthaton itsheadwitha completeldyifferenst et

Well,we'renotgoingto do it. Haven,yt ou of rules.

beenpayingattentionl?f youreallywantallthat Nutzto that.

stuff,goaheadandbuyotherpeople'Rs PGsU. se Whatareyougoingto do?Hereishowyou,asan

theirinformatioansa guidelinfeor makingyour XDM,shoulddeawl ithmagicS. omeof it starubefore

call.lt allcomesdownto themodifrerysouassigtno thegamebegins.

therolland,let'sbehonestw, hoamongyourplay-

ersshouldquestionyourjudgmentl?f youwantto 1. How relevanits magicin your game?Remember

includeallthatstuffin yourcalculatioonns a finaltar- whenwehadthatfatherlytalkon page134about

getnumberfor theroll,that'sfinewithus.Solongas theTheoryof GameRelativityY?oufirstneedto

youremembetrheXDMsecrewt egaveyouabove. decideiusthowmuchmagicisinvofveidn your

Youshouldcreativeliynterpretthemeaninogf gamel.stherenomagicat all?Doesit flowlike

combadt icerolls.Tempeyr ourdescriptionfosryour water,to thepointwhereeveryonecancastspells

audienceK.eepit lightforyoungero,r moresensi- willy-nillyD? oesit requireconsiderabtlryainingto

tive,players. evenachievtehesmallesetffecot r isit anincred-

iblypowerfuflorcewhichcaneasilygetout of

Dealingwith Magic (or not) handif notcarefullcyontrolledA?ll of theseare

Thisisprobablywhereyouhaveto workthe possiblaendyouhaveto knowthatbeforethe

mostin a game.Magicis,admittedlya,problem gamestartsandmakeit clearto yourplayersiust
howit'sgoingto be.
becausaeproperXDMdoeshisbesto putthework

off ontoplayersin thegameS. till,therecanbeno
helpfor it, soyou'lljusthaveto suckit up anddo it. 2. Adjustall magicfor relevancOe nceyouestablish
howmagicwork in yourgames, tickwithit and
Thebiggesptroblemwithmagicisthatit is

so...genericM. anyhackauthortshroughtheages alwaystartwiththesamegeneraal djustmenfsor

whowishedto getaroundplot-holetsheydugfor magicyoursetting.

themselveksnowyou cansmoothanythingoverwith
a liberaal pplicatioonf magicT. heheroiccharacter, 3. Do not treat magicasan exceptionto the rutes

whoyourreaderws ill followthrougha contracted Youmustalwaystreatmagicasanintegrapl artof

three-booskeriesi,ssuspendeadthousandfeetin youruniversen,otasanexceptionC.onsistenicny

theairby chainfsroma cavernceilingovera hungry t r e a t i n gm a g i ci s t h e k e y .

lavadragonH. e isdoomedandthisisonlybookone. As withallotherresolutionosf dierollsin the

SavehimwithmagicY. ourprincesis thrownover-
boardfromthepirateshipwitha cannonstrapped gamei,t remainysouriob withmagicnot to justgive
to herdaintyfeetandhandsS. aveherwithmagic. theresultbsutto interprettheirmeaninagswell.

XDro Rgrep,evrNcSYSTEM

Resolvingthe lmpossible Thepointisthatcharactermsustdiein gamesso
thatrealpeoplewhoplaythemdon't getthewrong
Youcometo a pointin thegamewhereyour idea.Gameswherecharacterdso not die-orwhere
playersareaskingto do thingsthataresimply
impossiblien yoursetting. theyneverfail-doa hugediserviceto theworldby
teachintghesepeoplethattheycando stupidthings
Thentheycan'tdo it. lsn'tthatthedefinitionof
impossibleN?o matterhowmuchtheywantto clap andbe all right.
for thefairyandwishwithalltheirheart hatthegiant
Moreoveru, nlestshereissomeelemenot f
forty-thousantodn boulderollingoverthemwillnot riskin thegame-inthiscasea, dventurersisktheir
lives-thenthegamelosesall purposeandchallenge.
flattenthemintoanunrecognizabslteickymassw, ell,it
So,if thecharacterins thegamewouldrather
wouldbea disservicteo themto letthemliveiustto be
nice. die,thenletthemdo soanddecreastehesurplus
playercharactepropulation.
Whatisthis"beingnice"peoplekeeptellingme
aboutanyway?

1+O I

f,HenrERETcHTEEy[Nz'o f,nrerunr fooex

Note:Weweregoingto putin anextensiveandcomprehensivlisetwith
statisticosf all themythologicalm, agicaml, onstrousa,ndmundanecreaturetshat
you mightencounteirn whatevegr enrestrikesyour imaginationb,ut thethought
exhausteuds.Look,youprobablyalreadyBOUGHTthosebooksfilledwith allthat
stufffrom someonelse,sowhyiustbry it alloveragain?Dragoutyourfavorite
monsrerbook,converthestatson thefly, andhaveagoodtime.

Howeverw, e knowthatyou willwantsomeformof crutchfor your gameso
wepresentto you severaelxclusivmeonsterasvailabOleNLyin theXD20 gamecys-
tem.Sinceyou professto beanXDM,we'llletyou practiceby fillingin thestatistics
for thesemonsfersY. ouevengetto NAMEthem. How uniqueis that?

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APPENDICES

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