| Arthropoda | |
|---|---|
| back to games | email zak@mimir.net | |
| Small Small World | |
| it's a jungle down there | |
| Your bug consists of three Traits. | |
| A New Bug | |
| an arthropod of your very own | |
|
Creating a Bug is very simple. No numbers, formulas or charts! All you need
is your imagination (and maybe a bug book with good illustrations to fuel your
decision). Answer the two questions:
Who are you? Choose a Species of arthropod. This can be any kind of buzzing, scuttling, hissing, crawling, flitting thing. If you're worried that another player may picking the same Species or you want to further personalize your Bug, go ahead and give it a proper name! What can you do? Every Bug has certain words that can describe it. These are called Identifiers and they help you think about how your Bug is different. A Bug without Identifiers would be a "generic" insect: A six-legged, squishy-bodied grub from one to two inches long. Each Identifier consists of an adjective and a noun. Samples include Buzzing Wings, Poisonous Stinger, Biting Mandibles, Jumping Hindlegs and Thick Chitin. Most Bugs should have from one to three Identifiers. And there's your Bug! Once everyone has made a Bug move ahead to Hatching a Plan. |
Four Bugs are playing Arthropoda:
Burn the Fire Ant Identifiers: Poison Stinger, Biting Mandibles Fandango the Fruit Fly Identifiers: Little Wings, Small Body Larchmont the Leafhopper Identifiers: Small Body, Jumping Hindlegs, Attractive Coloring Rufus the Wolf Spider Identifiers: Poison Mandibles, Sticky Webbing |
| Hatching a Plan | |
| getting ready for play | |
|
Unlike most roleplaying games where one player acts as the game master and the
rest play characters, Arthropoda puts every Bug into the role
of game master. Each Bug creates one or more Struggles that the other Bugs must
overcome. An entire game session consists of all these Struggles played through.
Environment First, you must all agree on an Environment: A location where all the Struggles should take place. This will give a sense of consistency to play. Environments can be as small as a single apartment room or as vast as an entire city. If an Environment cannot be agreed upon, try rolling a die on the list below. 1 - Filthy Apartment Building 2 - Grocery Store 3 - Suburban Home 4 - Vegetable Garden 5 - Rolling Farmlands 6 - One-Star Restaurant Struggles Next, each Bug should get a piece of paper to create a Struggle. Write down your own Identifiers down pass the paper to the Bug on your left. Write your Identifiers on this paper, even if the Identifier is already listed. Keep passing and writing until you get your own paper back. Everyone should now have a complete list of every Bug's Identifiers. Now you will create your Struggles! How many Struggles each Bug should write depends on the number of people playing. For a longer game, increase the amount of Struggles per Bug. 2 Bugs - 3 Struggles 3-4 Bugs - 2 Struggles 5-6 Bugs - 1 Struggle A Struggle is a single encounter with danger [xxx description xxx] Each Struggle is created using your Struggle Points. Difficulty 1 Point = 1 Die of Difficulty Identifier: -1 Die = -1 Point per Bug with Identifier Identifier: +1 Die = +1 Point per Bug with Identifier Reward: 1 Calorie = -1 Point Failure: Damage: 1 Die = 1 Point Failure: Future Penalty: 1 Die = 1 Point Success: Future Bonus: 1 Die = -1 Point |
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| Life's Little Struggles | |
| creating Struggles | |
| Trading off GMs, spending and gaining Calories, providing Obstacles for the bugs. | |
| Natural Selection | |
| run, bugs, run! | |
| Trading off GMs, spending and gaining Calories, providing Obstacles for the bugs. | |
| Top of the Heap | |
| winning a game of Arthropoda | |
| How to determine a winner and what winning means. | |
| Abdomen | |
| some afterwords | |
| How to determine a winner and what winning means. | |
| back to games | email zak@mimir.net | |