Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 mr_seth Mar 31, 2008 13:52:57	F R A G M E N T S An RPG by Seth Irvin Williams ~Player's Guide~ BACKGROUND The smell of mildew. The crackle of electricity. The drip of unknown liquid. You awaken in a dank tunnel somewhere, dimly lit by a string of lightbulbs, most of which are burnt out. Wires cross the walls, and your head throbs. What's worst... you can't remember anything... Wait... You can remember one thing... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CHARACTER CREATION Roll 1d100 - that's two ten sided dice. One will be the tens digit, one the ones digit. If you roll 00, hey, you've rolled 100. Your GM will give you a piece of paper with your one starting memory on it - this is your character sheet. You may decide your character's appearance, gender, build, et al yourself. If you want random roll based creation, there are plenty of RPG supplements that give charts for that. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PLAYING THE GAME The first rule of Fragments is that I can only tell you this rule. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FAQs Q: What? That's it? A: Yes. Q: Where the heck are we? A: You'll have to find that out yourself. Q: Do I give my character a name? A: Your character can't remember his name, sparky. Q: Don't we get to know anything else? A: No. Q: Why aren't you telling us anything? A: ... ------------------------------ I'll post the GM's guide later. Thoughts? Comments?
#2 knightbrokencross Mar 31, 2008 14:20:43	The only thing I can tell you is that this is the only thing I can tell you.
#3 cobalttheblueknight Mar 31, 2008 14:42:42	3, 3 = 33. Thats got to be good right? Maybe my guy remembers the first time he got . . . steak.
#4 mr_seth Mar 31, 2008 18:02:18	And here's the other half... keep this one clear of your players. F R A G M E N T S An RPG By Seth Irvin Williams GM'S GUIDE So, what IS going on here? If you started with the Player's Guide, you're probably a bit disoriented. And that's the idea. Fragments is a game where the players have as little power - in a metagaming light - to do things as possible. They can't pull obscure rules. They can't say "hey, he wouldn't react that way...". They can't even interpret their own dice rolls too well. And that's just where you want them. Confused. Scared. Helpless. Because Fragments is, at its core, a horror and suspense RPG. And what's more horrifying than loss of control? THE SYSTEM The suggested system of Fragments is easy to learn. Players roll a ten sider, modify the result with any modifiers from their Memory, and compare it to a target number. "Easy" tasks are difficulty 4, "moderate" are 5 or 6, "Hard" are 7 and up. "Impossible" are 20 or higher. You may interpret these as you wish. And you may change the system if you wish. As a matter of fact, it's suggested that you change the rules between sessions of Fragments to keep players thrown off balance. For example, you could switch to a Difficulty Class system, where you have to hit a certain number to achieve a goal - 5 is really easy, 10 a bit harder, 20 very tricky, 30 impossible - with players rolling a D12 and another die, the second die size depending on the character's aptitude with the skill in question. Inept PCs would roll a d12 and a d2. Skilled ones would add a d6 or d8. Masters would add a d20. Hit points are a decent way to keep track of player health; so are health levels - but common-sense rules for player health is the best, and requires no bookkeeping. You got hit in the leg? You're limping - your character is slowed down. Shot? You're bleeding to death. Might want to put a tourniquet on it. Shot in the chest? Massive bleeding, you're on death's door. Et cetera. Remember - you have the power. The PCs don't. They should be scared... intensely so. THE MEMORIES There is no d100 chart. Their roll means nothing. Another layer of misdirection... Think up about twenty memories, then write them out. A few examples follow, with suggested mechanical benefits under the first mechanic system suggested. Don't write the benefits down! Let the players guess at them. Traumatic or disturbing memories fit the theme of the game best. Deal one Memory to each player at the beginning of the game. *The boy's nose is already bloody, but you hit him again, and he falls down. This time he doesn't get back up, just lying there and whimpering, curling up into a ball... ....and you can't stop laughing. (+1 to rolls to intimidate and to fight dirty) *Your car is absolutely wrecked. The rod went all the way through the engine block. Now you sit on the sand, waiting for a ride you know isn't going to come... and wonder if it was really worth it. Wait. No, it was. It was definitely worth it. (+1 to mechanics and drive rolls) *You hear them screaming again as you huddle in the closet, peering out, your heart racing. This time it doesn't end with him hitting her. You stare as she hits back... with the lamp... and he doesn't get up... (+1 to stealth and spot checks) Ideally, these memory fragments should be written out on a small torn piece of notebook paper, slightly crumpled. Later on, players will earn back more of their memory - more fragments. When this happens, staple on the new fragment to one side of the original. GAME MASTERING FOR FRAGMENTS Fragments is a one-shot game. Keep track of the time played - there should be a limit built in. See the setting for more details on that - but make sure the players know what the deadline is for the end of the game. For longer deadlines, keep track of the time played across several sessions. This isn't suggested - if you can keep the game in one session, do so. You don't want to give your players time to mull things over. It'll break the suspense horribly. Brevity is your friend. Keep all answers to player questions short. Make them ask lots of questions. Keep them paranoid. THE SETTING OF FRAGMENTS There isn't one. There are thousands. Each game of Fragments should have a different setting, so that players have no idea what's coming next. The common setup listed in the PHB is the only familiar element - and even that should be changed if you feel like it. A few setups include: *The PCs are beneath a shantytown called "The Palace", which sprang up around a huge condemned airport. The building has become a congregating place for all manner of druggies, hobos, and a small but very active death cult. The PCs don't know it (obviously), but they're all addicted to a new designer drug called Slip... and because they're all in debt to a very powerful dealer who operates out of The Palace, he's arranged for them all to be OD'd (the source of their memory loss) and dropped in the service tunnels. The PCs now have six hours to escape the tunnels and the shantytown above without being killed by mad druggies who are convinced in their delirium that the PCs really need to share their high, dealers who want their payment, insane hobos, and the cultists - the real twist, as they've constructed a large bomb that's going to obliterate the airfield and everything within 150 yards of it at the end of... guess? Six hours. In that time, ideally, PCs should discover how the dealer is making Slip - the more disturbing the source of the drug, the better - find a way to get something that will restore their memories, discover the existence of the cult, and defuse the bomb. Less ideal (read: just about any) groups will probably be satisfied with escaping alive. *The PCs are all assassins of some sort. The sewer-like area they're in is studded with dozens of cameras, plus a few half-broken LCD timers that are counting down from 1 hour. Most disturbingly, there are lots... and lots... of firearms scattered throughout the place. The exits are big steel doors attached to pneumatic pistons. The PCs have one hour to either figure out how to lift the doors - by messing with the various pipes and wires on the walls - or to kill one of them. Once one of the PCs is dead, the doors lift, revealing a larger area, and the clock resets at an hour. If time runs out and no PC has died, the tunnels begin to flood with a nasty gas that will slowly kill them. *The PCs are survivors of a Resident Evil-style virus that reanimates the dead; they're currently in the sewers beneath a massive slum. The characters are actually infected with the virus themselves; they have until whatever time you set runs out to escape the city filled with the dead and load up on the antigen, or they start noshing on their buddies. As an added twist on this one, make different time limits for different characters. Have the player who you think would be best at such things become a zombie first - and stay in character as he starts shambling about, trying to eat his ex-friends. *...Et cetera. The more brutal, surreal and unforgiving the setting, the better. ~~~~ Thoughts?
#5 knightbrokencross Mar 31, 2008 18:21:31	I like it, though it might be hard convincing people to play this twice if we always keep them guessing. I suggest adding a mechanical layer to the game where players can have their characters get the feeling that they are coming to terms with the world, only to have it all ripped from under their feet all of a sudden. A game like this would work best if players got a steady grasp of what was going on, starting with zero, making their way through the mazes and the labyrinths, only to be told, all of a sudden, that all of what they thought they knew was a lie as well. That said, this really is a one-shot. The stunt can only be pulled once. :P
#6 mr_seth Mar 31, 2008 21:18:43	I concur. I actually whipped up Fragments in six hours, intending to use it at a con. It didn't work out, but I still think of it as an "Event Game".
#7 knightbrokencross Apr 01, 2008 6:31:42	Hm, yeah - a convention might be a good place to try this out.
#8 cobalttheblueknight Apr 01, 2008 13:16:12	I might spring this on my real life group someday.
#9 corjay Apr 01, 2008 21:03:58	To keep it from being a one-shot, you can provide a variable into the game that changes stats between sessions. Not to mention, fear, true fear, changes landscapes, so when they think they're walking on dry land, their feet are as heavy as mortar stones. You can also provide a mechanic that lets prevent their character from conceiving certain actions. Call it an Inhibitor mechanic.
#10 mr_seth Apr 02, 2008 0:16:16	To keep it from being a one-shot, you can provide a variable into the game that changes stats between sessions. Not to mention, fear, true fear, changes landscapes, so when they think they're walking on dry land, their feet are as heavy as mortar stones. You can also provide a mechanic that lets prevent their character from conceiving certain actions. Call it an Inhibitor mechanic. All that would work perfectly with the first setting given (The Palace). It could be written off to side effects and/or withdrawal symptoms from Slip. Start with one specific action per player, and make the action grow broader in scale as the game goes on... hmmm... that has promise.
#11 knightbrokencross Apr 02, 2008 19:35:05	If you do any changes to the game, let us know. I'm rather intrigued by "Fragments". The fact that I've pondered on writing something called "Fragments" myself helps in that interest, actually, and, in fact, the story that I had for that would probably be a good adventure for this RPG.
#12 lucasblackwolf Apr 03, 2008 5:54:39	This thing has such a potential in it ... I see it well based in some semi-freeform system, where the scarce few mechanics, presented to players might give them some fragile hope of being in control of the situation ... just to realise during the next session, that they've all been fooled by the expectations they had. Of course behind it all there must be some reason for the shifting mechanics (say a progressing disease or psychosis, fobias, growing with each mile spent underground, a plain old curse) otherwise they might just feel cheated by the GM. What is more, if the shifting mechanics are well timed, the players should find a way to work together as a group and overcome the fears and disgust they feel to each other, to join the fragments of their capabilities, fighting their handicaps (by helping each other to find reason around the fragment of their memories, possibly remembering more). This could create interesting situations with anti-heroes, going against impossible odds, with no realistic hope of any glory in their success, but a tiny chance to actually survive. Oh, and give the characters some good reason not to trust each other ... :P
#13 ombre101 May 01, 2008 8:46:12	nice... really nice... What classes should the PCs use for this game? It's obviously modern, so PHB classes won't work too well...
#14 mr_seth May 01, 2008 17:59:00	nice... really nice... What classes should the PCs use for this game? It's obviously modern, so PHB classes won't work too well... It's not a d20 RPG. There are no classes, just the ultra-minimalist rules stated above.
#15 knightbrokencross May 01, 2008 18:56:55	Any developments?
#16 khadmus May 10, 2008 20:05:47	Is there a way to DM this and play this in the same lifetime? I prefer being a player, although I do at times feel like dabbling as a GM; and consequently I am hesitant to read the guide.
#17 mr_seth May 12, 2008 12:54:36	The very fact that you have read the GMG should disqualify you from playing it... it's best as a game of suspense and disorientation. But if you have a guy that's willing to plop you down in an entirely different location, with a different set of rule modifications/twists to the game, I think it'd be okay. I think.
#18 hippokrene May 12, 2008 21:21:22	I am working on a PbP game based on the movie Dark City that has a similiar feel to Fragments. The PCs are amnesiacs who awaken from suspension tanks in an abandoned lab. As it’s not a one-shot, I will use character sheets. It wouldn’t do for me to forget one character is a crack computer hacker after two weeks of play. I like the idea of them gaining more memories over time and getting bonuses based on those memories.
#19 knightbrokencross May 13, 2008 6:25:11	Random bonuses? :D You could also have the memories be completely unrelated to what's just happened.
#20 hippokrene May 13, 2008 17:18:48	I'm not fond of random. The memory would be one of a set that allow the character to understand who they are and what's happening. I suppose the biggest difference between what I'm doing and what Fragments appears to do is that I want players (and their PCs) to experience gestalt while Fragments suggests there’s no meaning, only actions. In that manner, it's very nihilistic. Cross-purposes but similar methods.
#21 mr_seth May 13, 2008 18:44:57	Random bonuses? :D You could also have the memories be completely unrelated to what's just happened. The memories are, ideally, not related to what happened, but are instead traumatic events from far in the character's past. Perhaps in their childhood.
#22 knightbrokencross May 13, 2008 18:59:46	Or perhaps traumatic events from a different character's past. Or future?
#23 Lineov May 22, 2008 15:29:53	I like it! :D
#24 hippokrene May 23, 2008 21:22:28	I've started the game. One thing I've noticed that in the absence of any sheet saying what they can and cannot do, some players seem to assume they can do or be whatever they desire. For instance, one player has stated that his character takes up a fighter's stance, despite no indication from me that he knows anything about fighting. Another PC apparently knows Pi to the seventh value and acceleration in 1G despite no indication from me that she has ever taken high school physics or math, or that she has the memory for that type of thing.