Hey everyone, I haven't been posting much but that doesn't mean I haven't been doing anything. I am still working on the Sunscorched Marshes, right now I am doing the hexmap which is gonna be really big, and contributing to a really exciting GLOG zine I will post more about when it is released. But as a fun little distraction I also started writing SEX DRUGS AND ROCK & ROLL: THE TTRPG, a lite silly game with lots of random tables. Here are a bunch of scraps I have so far, with random tables and very basic rules. content warning for discussion of sex and drugs, of course
You are a scrappy ROCK & ROLL MUSICIAN and your three stats are SEX, DRUGS and ROCK & ROLL. These are the skills you solve your problems with. Roll a d6 to determine each of them. Then roll 3d100 on the WHO ARE YOU? table (note, I will write this table eventually) to find out what kind of person you are.
All the player characters are members of the same ROCK & ROLL BAND. You can all decide what kind of music you play, who plays what instrument, what drugs you are all hooked on, and what your band is named, or roll on the tables to figure it out (some of these tables are written and can be found below)
Every player character starts with a boring job that pays just enough to cover all your basic needs (meaning that you start at the STARVING ARTIST money tier), cheap beginner versions of all the instruments and gear you need to rock out, and three cumulative d20 rolls on the STUFF and PEOPLE tables (you can divide them up however you want).
SEX represents your powers of seduction and persuasion. Sleazy guile and charisma, projecting a calculated version of yourself, that type of thing.
DRUGS represents your capacity to transcend your biochemical limits and the insights this transcendence gives you. Also your ability to score drugs, cheap and fast.
ROCK & ROLL represents your connection to rock & roll itself, the single most important power in this world and beyond, and a very very useful way of influencing people. Being strongly connection to the spirit of ROCK & ROLL also makes you tougher and generally more badass.
When you try to use one of these stats to overcome a problem and the outcome isn’t certain, roll a d6. If your d6 roll is under your stat's value, you succeed. If the roll is equal to your stat, you succeed and increase the stat’s value by one. If the d6 roll is greater than your stat’s value, you fail and decrease the stat’s value by one. For every in-game week where you do not use a stat for a d6 roll, you decrease that stat by one.
When a stat is either 1 or 6, it confers special extra characteristics on you (i will decide what these are later). If all three of your stats are 1, you quit the SEX DRUGS AND ROCK & ROLL lifestyle and reabsorb into the mainstream. You move to the suburbs and the rest of your life is happy and boring. If all three of your stats are 6, you are consumed by SEX DRUGS AND ROCK & ROLL. You die immediately in a spectacular way that will make all the headlines. They will make a movie about your life eventually.
Tiered money system will eventually get written up in detail, its inspired by something I read from Scrap Princess i think. Basically instead of tracking your money in terms of actual funds, you track it in terms of career milestones/fame/what kind of lifestyle you can support and how hard you need to work to do that. The very highest tiers only accessible by signing major-label record contracts. There will also be a system for what kinds of specific things you can buy at each tier
STUFF
- Ridiculously cool car
- Exquisite, ultra-rare musical instrument
- 1d6 months’ stash of your drug of choice
- Weird possibly-cursed old book that inspires you to write awesome lyrics
- Lifetime supply of hair spray/corpse paint/glittery makeup etc
- Really cool and well-curated record collection, providing an encyclopedic knowledge of music history
- Big, old house with plenty of room to practice, may be haunted
- Dumpster-salvaged industrial-size printer and copier that can unleash a massive amount of flyers, zines, etc
- Absolutely unshakable proof (photograph, meteorite fragment, cursed amulet, etc) that you are not a human being but in fact an alien from beyond, the spawn of Satan, some sort of Fey creature, or something else cool
- Gun
- Daddy’s money- start out one money tier higher despite still being an unknown
- Smoke machine and a psychedelic lighting rig
- Wardrobe full of very stylish, eye-catching clothes
- Rudimentary but functional home recording studio
- Strange and flashy exotic pet
- College degree in musical theory, lends your music an air of refinement and artistry
- Hilariously large amplifier
- Lost demo tapes from a long-dead cult musician- the songs are brilliant and haven’t been heard by anyone but you for decades
- Very rare signed piece of memorabilia from your favorite rock & roll musician
- A cool job working as a bouncer or bartender or something at a local venue, you know all the local bands around here, and you get to roll an extra person you know on the PEOPLE table
PEOPLE
Eccentric washed-up musician who wants to guide your band to success as a springboard for their own comeback
Journalist frenemy who can probably be convinced to cover your band in their cool rock mag
Membership in the thriving fan club of your favorite rock & roll musician- meetups are twice a year
Talented, poetic lyricist buddy with no musical skill at all
Destitute, now-forgotten cult musician who still writes incredible music
Shifty A&R guy for a major label, wants to sign your band really badly but the contract is terrible
Not-so-streetwise drug dealer who owes you a favor
Artist brother who does amazing album art for local bands
Calculating socialite who wants to manage your band and steer you to stardom, but only to promote their latest business venture
Bizarre but charming friendship with a legendary reclusive novelist who offers to write your liner notes, generally lend you an air of culture and mystery
When you get high enough you can communicate with the ghost of your favorite dead musician, they’re prickly though
Incredibly attractive, charismatic, and stupid friend who cannot play any instruments but can kind of shake a tambourine or lip-sync on stage, journalists and industry people love them
Weird engineer buddy who builds one-of-a-kind instruments out of scrap metal, they don’t sound great but there’s a lot of subcultural appeal
Activist sister who will write very catchy agitprop lyrics for your band but insists on micromanaging your public image
Comically dumb cop who hates you with all his might and constantly tries to arrest you on drug charges, which would lend you authenticity
Concerned mom who just wanted you to be a doctor or a lawyer or something but will give you money to get out of any really tough scrapes
Friend of a friend of a friend owns an awesome venue, normally only the best bands get to play there but you have a little extra sway
Childhood best friend who is now a practicing Satanist witch, can set up a meeting with the Devil if you’re interested in selling your soul
Shady pawn-shop owner who provides constant access to really nice instruments at suspiciously low prices, but if you buy from him too much you might get mixed up in whatever it is that he’s mixed up in
Grizzled old local DJ with a soft spot for you and your band
RANDOM INSTRUMENTS TABLE
Roll a d8 for standard rock instruments, a d20 for a quirkier band, or a d50 for a really truly strange band
Vocals
Vocals and an instrument at the same time (roll again)
Electric guitar
Saxophone
Electric bass guitar
Drumset
Piano/keyboards
Acoustic guitar
Double-necked electric guitar/bass
Slide guitar
Tape manipulation/electronic effects/production
Banjo
Violin
Organ
Mandolin
Percussion (tambourine, congas, etc)
Sitar
Analog synthesizer
Harmonica
Just lyrics/songwriting
Washing board
Stand-up bass
Dulcimer
Melodica
Theremin
Flute
Just a backup dancer
Trumpet
Sheets of scrap metal
Accordion
Triangle
one of those giant 24 string guitars that prog metal musicians have
Weird handbuilt instruments, understood only by you
Bagpipes
Stylophone
Harp
Singing jug
Doumbek
Cello
Trombone
Hurdy-gurdy
Xylophone
Jaw harp
Kazoo
Singing saw
Tuba
Prepared piano
Prepared guitar (so heavily modified, it can no longer be considered an actual guitar)
Spoken word
Shamisen
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