I've had Rory Story Cubes for a while, but I've never been able to figure out how to work them into my games. I recently, though, came up with an idea, combined with the Adventure Generator from my Two Hour Fantasy game. But first . . .
WHAT ARE RORY STORY CUBES?
Rory Story Cubes resemble d6. However, instead of numbers, they have pictures on each side. They can be used for creating storie, story-like games, etc. The rules, those that exist, are rather open-ended, and the creator encourages people to use them in any creative fashion that they see fit.
After playing games like Mythic and Fate, I was trying to come up with ways to bring the story-like random events to my THW games. This is my attempt with the Rory Story Cubes.
HERE'S HOW IT WORKS:
I tried to keep the rules simple so gameplay wouldn't slow down.
STEP 1:
When you roll doubles during Activation, look at each individual number. We'll call this the Activation Number, or A# for now. Now, roll that many Rory Story Cubes (I'll call them RSC from here on since it's easier, and because I'm lazy). Going by the first cubes you look at, put together the event.
For example . . .
Muzzl the troll and Cameron the elf are wandering through a town when they encounter three members of the Mages of the Blue Stars. To keep things simple, I'm going to pretend no one passed the In Sight test. Now on to Activation . . .
Both scored a 3, resulting in a random event. This also tells me that I'll be rolling 3RSC.
Now, if you wish to keep things simple, you can simply roll the story cubes and go with the event.
Here, I rolled a clock, a door lock and a pad lock. I'm interpreting this as sundown and Muzzl and Cameron busted the mages trying to break into the building. This doesn't give either the advantage, but it does paint a picture of events. Considering no one won In Sight, it makes one wonder why they didn't designate a look-out. Then again, in a twist of irony, the Mages of the Blue Stars may not be very bright!
ADVANCED RULES:
These rules add a few more details to your random events.
- First, roll a second d6. If it is Even, the event is positive. If it is odd, it is negative.
- Now roll 1d6 for each character in the section. Whoever rolls highest is affected by the event.
- If more than one character rolls highest, those who tied scored highest.
- However, if no one rolled higher than the Second d6, the event affects someone or something else.
After rerolling the story cubes and getting a magic wand, set of scales, and boogyman, I roll a second d6 and get a 6; a positive event. Rolling 1d6 for each character, it turns out Muzzl, Cameron, and Mage #1 scored highest. They are affected by the event. Interpreting the story cubes, I'm guessing it's a battle of wills. Are our heroes intimidated by the magical beings or are the magical beings intimidated by our heroes? Who gets the mental edge in the fantastic face-off?
EVENTS THAT AFFECT GAMEPLAY:
These events usually only give you more details about the current situation. However, they can also influence gameplay, if you wish for them to. Here's how it works:
- If only one side is affected, those on that side make an unopposed Skill Check.
- If characters on both sides are affected, make opposed checks against opponents closest to their Reps.
- If one side outnumbers the other, the character with the highest Rep makes a second check.
- For unopposed checks, the difficulty is equal to the Activation #. If it's less than a character's Rep, it's considered Easy. If it's higher, it's considered Hard.
In this case, the characters make opposed checks, with Muzzl (Rep 5) making two checks against the Rep 3 mages, while Cameron (Rep 4) makes only one. Muzzl and Cameron both pass. Narrowing his eyes, Cameron aims his bow while Muzzle simply growls, dark eyes boring into his opponents. And if the mages weren't wearing brown pants before, they are now! Dropping their staves, they turn tail and bolt down the street.
And that's an example of how to use Rory Story Cubes in your THW games. You can find the story cubes at Amazon.com and Walmart.
Swordplay, along with Chain Reaction, Larger than Life, Two Hour Dungeon Crawl are available at:
